| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Fisherman's Luck by Henry van Dyke: which Dr. Samuel Johnson invented but did not put into his
dictionary) is one who is fit for the familiar give and take of
club-life. A talkable person, therefore, is one whose nature and
disposition invite the easy interchange of thoughts and feelings,
one in whose company it is a pleasure to talk or to be talked to.
Now this good quality of talkability is to be distinguished, very
strictly and inflexibly, from the bad quality which imitates it and
often brings it into discredit. I mean the vice of talkativeness.
That is a selfish, one-sided, inharmonious affair, full of
discomfort, and productive of most unchristian feelings.
You may observe the operations of this vice not only in human
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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 Lamentable Tragedy of Locrine and Mucedorus by William Shakespeare: MOUSE.
What an ass are you; here's a stir indeed: here's
'message,' 'arrant,' 'banishment,' and I cannot tell what.
SEGASTO.
I pray you, sir, shall I know whether you have drove him
away?
MOUSE.
Faith, I think I have; and you will not believe me, ask my
staff.
SEGASTO.
Why, can thy staff tell?
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