| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Little Britain by Washington Irving: overflowing of their zeal for good old English manners, and
their horror of innovation; and I applauded the silent contempt
they were so vociferous in expressing, for upstart pride, French
fashions, and the Miss Lambs. But I grieve to say that I soon
perceived the infection had taken hold; and that my neighbors,
after condemning, were beginning to follow their example. I
overheard my landlady importuning her husband to let their
daughters have one quarter at French and music, and that they
might take a few lessons in quadrille. I even saw, in the course
of a few Sundays, no less than five French bonnets, precisely
like those of the Miss Lambs, parading about Little Britain.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde: the only thing that makes me put up with them at all. Relations
are simply a tedious pack of people, who haven't got the remotest
knowledge of how to live, nor the smallest instinct about when to
die.
JACK. Oh, that is nonsense!
ALGERNON. It isn't!
JACK. Well, I won't argue about the matter. You always want to
argue about things.
ALGERNON. That is exactly what things were originally made for.
JACK. Upon my word, if I thought that, I'd shoot myself . . . [A
pause.] You don't think there is any chance of Gwendolen becoming
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