| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from King Henry VI by William Shakespeare: Do pelt so fast at one another's pate
That many have their giddy brains knock'd out:
Our windows are broke down in every street,
And we for fear compell'd to shut our shops.
[Enter Serving-men, in skirmish, with bloody pates.]
KING.
We charge you, on allegiance to ourself,
To hold your slaughtering hands and keep the peace.
Pray, uncle Gloucester, mitigate this strife.
FIRST SERVING-MAN.
Nay, if we be forbidden stones,
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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 Deputy of Arcis by Honore de Balzac: that he was either a clerk in some office, or that he gave music
lessons in private houses.
One detail alone in the midst of this vague and useless information
was of interest. For the last few months Monsieur Jacques Bricheteau
had received a voluminous number of letters the postage on which
indicated that they came from foreign parts; but, in spite of his
desires, the worthy concierge had never, he said, been able to
decipher the post-mark. Thus this detail, which might have been very
useful to me became for the moment absolutely worthless.
I returned home, persuading myself that a pathetic letter addressed to
the refractory Bricheteau would induce him to receive me. Mingling
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