| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Art of Writing by Robert Louis Stevenson: the faces of men furiously moved; whilst the words in
Macaulay, apt enough to convey his meaning, harmonious enough
in sound, yet glide from the memory like undistinguished
elements in a general effect. But the first class of writers
have no monopoly of literary merit. There is a sense in
which Addison is superior to Carlyle; a sense in which Cicero
is better than Tacitus, in which Voltaire excels Montaigne:
it certainly lies not in the choice of words; it lies not in
the interest or value of the matter; it lies not in force of
intellect, of poetry, or of humour. The three first are but
infants to the three second; and yet each, in a particular
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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: every occasion on which his oath had been used, Chanticleer had
always crowed a second time. 'Perdition seize the naughty fowl,'
he muttered, 'I have seen the day when, with my stout spear, I
would have run him through the gorge, and made him crow for me an
'twere in death!' He then retired to a comfortable lead coffin,
and stayed there till evening.
CHAPTER IV
THE next day the ghost was very weak and tired. The terrible
excitement of the last four weeks was beginning to have its effect.
His nerves were completely shattered, and he started at the
slightest noise. For five days he kept his room, and at last made
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