| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Village Rector by Honore de Balzac: "He is actually ill in his bed from the effects of his last scene with
the man," said the Abbe de Grancour. "If it were not for that we might
get him to explain more clearly the difficulties that have defeated
all the various efforts monseigneur ordered him to make."
"The condemned man sings obscene songs at the highest pitch of his
voice as soon as he sees any one of us, so as to drown out every word
we try to say to him," said a young priest who was sitting beside the
bishop.
This young man, who was gifted with a charming personality, had his
right arm resting on the table, while his white hand dropped
negligently on the bunches of grapes, seeking the ripest, with the
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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 Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson by Robert Louis Stevenson: went back to Nice. But the real reason why you have been more in
my mind than usual is because of some little verses that I have
been writing, and that I mean to make a book of; and the real
reason of this letter (although I ought to have written to you
anyway) is that I have just seen that the book in question must be
dedicated to
ALISON CUNNINGHAM,
the only person who will really understand it. I don't know when
it may be ready, for it has to be illustrated, but I hope in the
meantime you may like the idea of what is to be; and when the time
comes, I shall try to make the dedication as pretty as I can make
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