| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Contrast by Royall Tyler: Mary did not tell me she knew of his spending his
money so foolishly. Seventeen thousand pounds!
Why, if my daughter was standing up to be married,
I would forbid the banns, if I found it was to a man
who did not mind the main chance.--Hush! I hear
somebody coming. 'Tis Mary's voice; a man with
her too! I shouldn't be surprised if this should be the
other string to her bow. Aye, aye, let them alone;
women understand the main chance.--Though, I' faith,
I'll listen a little. [Retires into a closet.
MANLY leading in MARIA.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Essays & Lectures by Oscar Wilde: teaching the sculptor that restraining influence of design which is
the glory of the Parthenon, the other keeping painting always true
to its primary, pictorial condition of noble colour which is the
secret of the school of Venice; for I wish rather, in this lecture
at least, to dwell on the effect that decorative art has on human
life - on its social not its purely artistic effect.
There are two kinds of men in the world, two great creeds, two
different forms of natures: men to whom the end of life is action,
and men to whom the end of life is thought. As regards the latter,
who seek for experience itself and not for the fruits of
experience, who must burn always with one of the passions of this
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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 Moon-Face and Other Stories by Jack London: intangible fabric which was the spirit of the place. It was a spirit of peace
that was not of death, but of smooth-pulsing life, of quietude that was not
silence, of movement that was not action, of repose that was quick with
existence without being violent with struggle and travail. The spirit of the
place was the spirit of the peace of the living, somnolent with the easement
and content of prosperity, and undisturbed by rumors of far wars.
The red-coated, many-antlered buck acknowledged the lordship of the spirit of
the place and dozed knee-deep in the cool, shaded pool. There seemed no flies
to vex him and he was languid with rest. Sometimes his ears moved when the
stream awoke and whispered; but they moved lazily, with, foreknowledge that it
was merely the stream grown garrulous at discovery that it had slept.
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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 Research Magnificent by H. G. Wells: Chichester. As he sat down two big retrievers, black and brown,
came headlong down the road. The black carried a stick, the brown
disputed and pursued. As they came abreast of him the foremost a
little relaxed his hold, the pursuer grabbed at it, and in an
instant the rivalry had flared to rage and a first-class dogfight
was in progress.
Benham detested dog-fights. He stood up, pale and distressed. "Lie
down!" he cried. "Shut up, you brutes!" and was at a loss for
further action.
Then it was Amanda leapt into his world, a light, tall figure of a
girl, fluttering a short petticoat. Hatless she was, brown,
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