| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Legend of Montrose by Walter Scott: after some courteous opposition, were persuaded to regard the
whole as a joke.
"And now, Allan," said the Laird, "please to remove your candles;
for, since the Saxon gentlemen have seen them, they will eat
their dinner as comfortably by the light of the old tin sconces,
without scomfishing them with so much smoke."
Accordingly, at a sign from Allan, the living chandeliers,
recovering their broadswords, and holding the point erect,
marched out of the hall, and left the guests to enjoy their
refreshment. [Such a bet as that mentioned in the text is said
to have been taken by MacDonald of Keppoch, who extricated
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Chance by Joseph Conrad: implacable slowness. And a voiceless melancholy comes over one,
invading, overpowering like a dream, penetrating and mortal like
poison.
When de Barral came out she experienced a sort of shock to see that
he was exactly as she remembered him. Perhaps a little smaller.
Otherwise unchanged. You come out in the same clothes, you know. I
can't tell whether he was looking for her. No doubt he was.
Whether he recognized her? Very likely. She crossed the road and
at once there was reproduced at a distance of years, as if by some
mocking witchcraft, the sight so familiar on the Parade at Brighton
of the financier de Barral walking with his only daughter. One
 Chance |