| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Enemies of Books by William Blades: century editions, and no new books had been added to the collection
for a long time.
We passed down a few steps into an inner library where
piles of early folios were wasting away on the ground.
Beneath an old ebony table were two long carved oak chests.
I lifted the lid of one, and at the top was a once-white
surplice covered with dust, and beneath was a mass of tracts--
Commonwealth quartos, unbound--a prey to worms and decay.
All was neglect. The outer door of this room, which was open,
was nearly on a level with the Quadrangle; some coats,
and trousers, and boots were upon the ebony table,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Democracy In America, Volume 2 by Alexis de Toqueville: conditions have been so equal that there were neither rich nor
poor, and consequently neither masters nor servants. Democracy
does not prevent the existence of these two classes, but it
changes their dispositions and modifies their mutual relations.
Amongst aristocratic nations servants form a distinct class, not
more variously composed than that of masters. A settled order is
soon established; in the former as well as in the latter class a
scale is formed, with numerous distinctions or marked gradations
of rank, and generations succeed each other thus without any
change of position. These two communities are superposed one
above the other, always distinct, but regulated by analogous
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