| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson: infallibly gone down in the Good Hope; an I had not been a thief, I
could not have painted me your face; and but that I had been a Grey
Friar, and sung loud in the choir, and ate hearty at the board, I
could not have carried this disguise, but the very dogs would have
spied us out and barked at us for shams."
He was by this time close to the window of the farm, and he rose on
his tip-toes and peeped in.
"Nay," he cried, "better and better. We shall here try our false
faces with a vengeance, and have a merry jest on Brother Capper to
boot."
And so saying, he opened the door and led the way into the house.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Enemies of Books by William Blades: the inside of a man's library, and whether it wants dusting or not?
My boys' playroom, in which is a carpenter's bench, a lathe,
and no end of litter, is never tidied--perhaps it can't be,
or perhaps their youthful vigour won't stand it--but my workroom
must needs be dusted daily, with the delusive promise that
each book and paper shall be replaced exactly where it was.
The damage done by such continued treatment is incalculable.
At certain times these observances are kept more religiously
than others; but especially should the book-lover, married
or single, beware of the Ides of March. So soon as February is
dead and gone, a feeling of unrest seizes the housewife's mind.
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