| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan by Honore de Balzac: the princess, but she asked him to dinner on a coming day.
On this occasion d'Arthez found a numerous company. The marquise had
invited Rastignac, Blondet, the Marquis d'Ajuda-Pinto, Maxime de
Trailles, the Marquis d'Esgrignon, the two brothers Vandenesse, du
Tillet, one of the richest bankers in Paris, the Baron de Nucingen,
Raoul Nathan, Lady Dudley, two very treacherous secretaries of
embassies and the Chevalier d'Espard, the wiliest person in this
assemblage and the chief instigator of his sister-in-law's policy.
When dinner was well under way, Maxime de Trailles turned to d'Arthez
and said smiling:--
"You see a great deal, don't you, of the Princesse de Cadignan?"
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells: upon me that at first I entertained little or no hope of our
escape being brought about by their overthrow through any
human effort. But on the fourth or fifth night I heard a
sound like heavy guns.
It was very late in the night, and the moon was shining
brightly. The Martians had taken away the excavating-
machine, and, save for a fighting-machine that stood in
the remoter bank of the pit and a handling-machine that
was buried out of my sight in a corner of the pit immedi-
ately beneath my peephole, the place was deserted by them.
Except for the pale glow from the handling-machine and the
 War of the Worlds |