| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Death of the Lion by Henry James: landlord, who had come to the door in answer to my knock. Two
vehicles, a barouche and a smart hansom, were drawn up before the
house.
"In the drawing-room, sir? Mrs. Weeks Wimbush."
"And in the dining-room?"
"A young lady, sir - waiting: I think a foreigner."
It was three o'clock, and on days when Paraday didn't lunch out he
attached a value to these appropriated hours. On which days,
however, didn't the dear man lunch out? Mrs. Wimbush, at such a
crisis, would have rushed round immediately after her own repast.
I went into the dining-room first, postponing the pleasure of
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Lady Baltimore by Owen Wister: you, Julia. We pulled your bell three times, and it's too damp for you to
be out. Don't forget," Mrs. Gregory said to me, "that you haven't told me
a word about your Aunt Carola, and that I shall expect you to come and do
it." She went slowly away from us, up the East Place, tall, graceful,
sweeping into the distance like a ship. No haste about her dignified
movement, no swinging of elbows, nothing of the present hour!
"What a beautiful girl she must have been!" I murmured aloud,
unconsciously.
"No, she was not a beauty in her youth," said my new guide in her shy
voice, "but always fluent, always a wit. Kings Port has at times thought
her tongue too downright. We think that wit runs in her family, for young
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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 The Psychology of Revolution by Gustave le Bon: assembly composed of individuals of widely different characters
soon splits up into a number of groups. The Convention very
early contained three--the Gironde, the Mountain, and the Plain.
The constitutional monarchists had almost disappeared.
The Gironde and the Mountain, extreme parties, consisted of about
a hundred members apiece, who successively became leaders. In
the Mountain were the most advanced members: Couthon, Herault
de Sechelles, Danton, Camille Desmoulins, Marat, Collot
d'Herbois, Billaud-Varennes, Barras, Saint-Just, Fouche,
Tallien, Carrier, Robespierre, &c. In the Gironde were Brissot,
Petion, Condorcet, Vergniaud, &c.
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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 On Revenues by Xenophon: export silver, and he cannot have a more excellent freight to export,
since wherever he likes to sell it he may look to realise a large
percentage on his capital.[4]
[1] Reading {adeos} after Cobet, or if {edeos}, transl. "in perfect
comfort."
[2] Or, "of exchanging cargo for cargo to the exclusion of specie."
[3] I.e. of the particular locality. See "The Types of Greek Coins,"
Percy Gardner, ch. ii. "International Currencies among the
Greeks."
[4] Or, "on the original outlay."
Or again, supposing prizes[5] were offered to the magistrates in
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