| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lady Susan by Jane Austen: made to it, then I can promise you a ready and cheerful consent; but it is
my duty to oppose a match which deep art only could render possible, and
must in the end make wretched. It is possible her behaviour may arise only
from vanity, or the wish of gaining the admiration of a man whom she must
imagine to be particularly prejudiced against her; but it is more likely
that she should aim at something further. She is poor, and may naturally
seek an alliance which must be advantageous to herself; you know your own
rights, and that it is out of my power to prevent your inheriting the
family estate. My ability of distressing you during my life would be a
species of revenge to which I could hardly stoop under any circumstances.
I honestly tell you my sentiments and intentions: I do not wish to work
Lady Susan |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln by Helen Nicolay: hired at a livery stable a small fleet horse.
A few moments before ten o'clock, leaving his horse at the rear
of the theatre, in charge of a call-boy, he entered the building,
passing rapidly to the little hallway leading to the President's
box. Showing a card to the servant in attendance, he was allowed
to enter, closed the door noiselessly, and secured it with the
wooden bar he had made ready, without disturbing any of the
occupants of the box, between whom and himself yet remained the
partition and the door through which he had bored the hole.
No one, not even the actor who uttered them, could ever remember
the last words of the piece that were spoken that night--the last
|
