| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Enemies of Books by William Blades: In all-devouring Flame,
They tell us of the Fate of Rome
And bid us fear the same."
The much finer and more extensive library of Dr. Priestley was left
unnoticed and unlamented by the orthodox poet, who probably felt
a complacent satisfaction at the destruction of heterodox books,
the owner being an Unitarian Minister.
The magnificent library of Strasbourg was burnt by the shells
of the German Army in 1870. Then disappeared for ever,
together with other unique documents, the original records of
the famous law-suits between Gutenberg, one of the first Printers,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, etc. by Oscar Wilde: him in very bad English what his business was. Lord Arthur handed
him the paper Count Rouvaloff had given him. When the man saw it
he bowed, and invited Lord Arthur into a very shabby front parlour
on the ground floor, and in a few moments Herr Winckelkopf, as he
was called in England, bustled into the room, with a very wine-
stained napkin round his neck, and a fork in his left hand.
'Count Rouvaloff has given me an introduction to you,' said Lord
Arthur, bowing, 'and I am anxious to have a short interview with
you on a matter of business. My name is Smith, Mr. Robert Smith,
and I want you to supply me with an explosive clock.'
'Charmed to meet you, Lord Arthur,' said the genial little German,
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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 Virginibus Puerisque by Robert Louis Stevenson: to George Eliot for her Rosamond Vincy; the ugly work of
satire she has transmuted to the ends of art, by the companion
figure of Lydgate; and the satire was much wanted for the
education of young men. That doctrine of the excellence of
women, however chivalrous, is cowardly as well as false. It
is better to face the fact, and know, when you marry, that you
take into your life a creature of equal, if of unlike,
frailties; whose weak human heart beats no more tunefully than
yours.
But it is the object of a liberal education not only to
obscure the knowledge of one sex by another, but to magnify
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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 The Koran: we were with you!' does not God know best what is in the breasts of
the worlds? God will surely know those who believe, and will surely
know the hypocrites.
And those who misbelieved said to those who believed, 'Follow our
path, we will bear your sins; but they could not bear their sins at
all; verily, they are liars! But they shall surely bear their own
burdens, and burdens with their burdens; and they shall surely be
asked upon the resurrection day concerning what they did devise.
And we sent Noah to his people, and he dwelt among them for a
thousand years save fifty years; and the deluge overtook them while
they were unjust: but we saved him and the fellows of the ark, and
The Koran |
