| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Letters of Two Brides by Honore de Balzac: the more certainly will the love and happiness she creates be fit to
weather the storms of life.
But, above all, I have insisted on the greatest secrecy in regard to
our domestic arrangements. A husband who submits to his wife's yoke is
justly held an object of ridicule. A woman's influence ought to be
entirely concealed. The charm of all we do lies in its
unobtrusiveness. If I have made it my task to raise a drooping courage
and restore their natural brightness to gifts which I have dimly
descried, it must all seem to spring from Louis himself.
Such is the mission to which I dedicate myself, a mission surely not
ignoble, and which might well satisfy a woman's ambition. Why, I could
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: longer time--had been misled (perhaps by her wishes)
to suppose that a much longer visit had been promised--and
could not but think that if Mr. and Mrs. Morland were
aware of the pleasure it was to her to have her there,
they would be too generous to hasten her return."
Catherine explained: "Oh! As to that, Papa and Mamma were
in no hurry at all. As long as she was happy, they would
always be satisfied."
"Then why, might she ask, in such a hurry herself
to leave them?"
"Oh! Because she had been there so long."
Northanger Abbey |
