| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from At the Sign of the Cat & Racket by Honore de Balzac: her distress of heart, Augustine went away, feeling the impossibility
of making a superior mind intelligible to weak intellects. She had
learned that a wife must hide from every one, even from her parents,
woes for which it is so difficult to find sympathy. The storms and
sufferings of the upper spheres are appreciated only by the lofty
spirits who inhabit there. In any circumstance we can only be judged
by our equals.
Thus poor Augustine found herself thrown back on the horror of her
meditations, in the cold atmosphere of her home. Study was indifferent
to her, since study had not brought her back her husband's heart.
Initiated into the secret of these souls of fire, but bereft of their
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare: No better terme then this: Thou art a Villaine
Rom. Tibalt, the reason that I haue to loue thee,
Doth much excuse the appertaining rage
To such a greeting: Villaine am I none;
Therefore farewell, I see thou know'st me not
Tib. Boy, this shall not excuse the iniuries
That thou hast done me, therefore turne and draw
Rom. I do protest I neuer iniur'd thee,
But lou'd thee better then thou can'st deuise:
Till thou shalt know the reason of my loue,
And so good Capulet, which name I tender
 Romeo and Juliet |