| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Desert Gold by Zane Grey: as yet visited the patio, and surprise and delight were in store
for him. He found himself lost in a labyrinth of green and
rose-bordered walks. He strolled around, discovering that the
patio was a courtyard, open at an end; but he failed to discover
the young ladies. So he called again. the answer cam from the
center of the square. After stooping to get under shrubs and
wading through bushes he entered an open sandy circle, full of
magnificent and murderous cactus plants, strange to him. On the
other side, in the shade of a beautiful tree, he found the girls.
Mercedes sitting in a hammock, Nell upon a blanket.
"What a beautiful tree!" he exclaimed. "I never saw one like
Desert Gold |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Kenilworth by Walter Scott: fit man--for, thank Heaven, my acquaintance lies not amongst such
companions--when, as Heaven would have it, this tall fellow, who
is in all his dualities the very flashing knave thou didst wish,
came hither to fix acquaintance upon me in the plenitude of his
impudence; and I admitted his claim, thinking to do you a
pleasure. And now see what thanks I get for disgracing myself by
converse with him!"
"And did he," said Varney, "being such a fellow as thyself, only
lacking, I suppose, thy present humour of hypocrisy, which lies
as thin over thy hard, ruffianly heart as gold lacquer upon rusty
iron--did he, I say, bring the saintly, sighing Tressilian in his
Kenilworth |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Crito by Plato: yourself, your friends, your country, and us, we shall be angry with you
while you live, and our brethren, the laws in the world below, will receive
you as an enemy; for they will know that you have done your best to destroy
us. Listen, then, to us and not to Crito.'
This, dear Crito, is the voice which I seem to hear murmuring in my ears,
like the sound of the flute in the ears of the mystic; that voice, I say,
is humming in my ears, and prevents me from hearing any other. And I know
that anything more which you may say will be vain. Yet speak, if you have
anything to say.
CRITO: I have nothing to say, Socrates.
SOCRATES: Leave me then, Crito, to fulfil the will of God, and to follow
|
The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from The Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott: Ravenswood, and the absence of his own lady. By having the
former under his roof, he conceived he might be able to quash all
such hazardous and hostile proceedings as he might otherwise have
been engaged in, under the patronage of the Marquis; and Lucy, he
foresaw, would make, for his immediate purpose of delay and
procrastination, a much better mistress of his family than her
mother, who would, he was sure, in some shape or other, contrive
to disconcert his political schemes by her proud and implacable
temper.
His anxious solicitations that the Master would stay to
receive his kinsman, were, of course, readily complied with,
The Bride of Lammermoor |
