| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Sentimental Journey by Laurence Sterne: walk along.
THE PULSE. PARIS.
HAIL, ye small sweet courtesies of life, for smooth do ye make the
road of it! like grace and beauty, which beget inclinations to love
at first sight: 'tis ye who open this door and let the stranger in.
- Pray, Madame, said I, have the goodness to tell me which way I
must turn to go to the Opera Comique? - Most willingly, Monsieur,
said she, laying aside her work. -
I had given a cast with my eye into half a dozen shops, as I came
along, in search of a face not likely to be disordered by such an
interruption: till at last, this, hitting my fancy, I had walked
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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 $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories by Mark Twain: that was laying for a title, or a title that was laying for rocks.
It seemed to me that with my inexperience it would be foolish to go
into action with this mitrailleuse, so I ordered it to the rear
and told the facchino to provide something a little more primitive
to start with, something less elaborate, some gentle old-fashioned
flint-lock, smooth-bore, double-barreled thing, calculated to cripple
at two hundred yards and kill at forty--an arrangement suitable for a
beginner who could be satisfied with moderate results on the offstart
and did not wish to take the whole territory in the first campaign.
But in vain. He was not able to mend the matter, all the verbs being
of the same build, all Gatlings, all of the same caliber and delivery,
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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 King Henry VI by William Shakespeare: Whom Henry, our late sovereign, ne'er could brook?
Thou art no friend to God or to the King.
Open the gates, or I 'll shut thee out shortly.
SERVING-MEN.
Open the gates unto the lord protector,
Or we 'll burst them open, if that you come not quickly.
[Enter to the Protector at the Tower Gates Winchester
and his men in tawny coats.]
WINCHESTER.
How now, ambitious Humphry! what means this?
GLOUCESTER.
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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 Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley: to or play with.
The water-fairies, of course, were very sorry to see him so
unhappy, and longed to take him, and tell him how naughty he was,
and teach him to be good, and to play and romp with him too: but
they had been forbidden to do that. Tom had to learn his lesson
for himself by sound and sharp experience, as many another foolish
person has to do, though there may be many a kind heart yearning
over them all the while, and longing to teach them what they can
only teach themselves.
At last one day he found a caddis, and wanted it to peep out of its
house: but its house-door was shut. He had never seen a caddis
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