| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The King of the Golden River by John Ruskin: When they were gone, Gluck took a farewell look at his old
friend in the melting pot. The flowing hair was all gone; nothing
remained but the red nose and the sparkling eyes, which looked more
malicious than ever. "And no wonder," thought Gluck, "after
being treated in that way." He sauntered disconsolately to the
window and sat himself down to catch the fresh evening air and
escape the hot breath of the furnace. Now this window commanded a
direct view of the range of mountains which, as I told you before,
overhung the Treasure Valley, and more especially of the peak from
which fell the Golden River. It was just at the close of the day,
and when Gluck sat down at the window, he saw the rocks of the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Ancient Regime by Charles Kingsley: is, to speakable reason--that they cannot be put into speech. Men
act, whether singly or in masses, by impulses and instincts for
which they give reasons quite incompetent, often quite irrelevant;
but which they have caught from each other, as they catch fever or
small-pox; as unconsciously, and yet as practically and potently;
just as the nineteenth century has caught from the philosophers of
the eighteenth most practical rules of conduct, without even (in
most cases) having read a word of their works.
And what has this century caught from these philosophers? One rule
it has learnt, and that a most practical one--to appeal in all
cases, as much as possible, to "Reason and the Laws of Nature."
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Lesser Hippias by Plato: Theages by the mention of Theages in the Apology and Republic; or as the
Second Alcibiades seems to be founded upon the text of Xenophon, Mem. A
similar taste for parody appears not only in the Phaedrus, but in the
Protagoras, in the Symposium, and to a certain extent in the Parmenides.
To these two doubtful writings of Plato I have added the First Alcibiades,
which, of all the disputed dialogues of Plato, has the greatest merit, and
is somewhat longer than any of them, though not verified by the testimony
of Aristotle, and in many respects at variance with the Symposium in the
description of the relations of Socrates and Alcibiades. Like the Lesser
Hippias and the Menexenus, it is to be compared to the earlier writings of
Plato. The motive of the piece may, perhaps, be found in that passage of
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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 Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare: The sun ariseth in his majesty; 856
Who doth the world so gloriously behold,
That cedar-tops and hills seem burnish'd gold.
Venus salutes him with this fair good morrow:
'O thou clear god, and patron of all light, 860
From whom each lamp and shining star doth borrow
The beauteous influence that makes him bright,
There lives a son that suck'd an earthly mother,
May lend thee light, as thou dost lend to other'
This said, she hasteth to a myrtle grove, 865
Musing the morning is so much o'erworn,
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