| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Cousin Pons by Honore de Balzac: with a formidable longing for revenge, evidently postponed. For the
first time in Amelie de Marville's life she had been put in the wrong,
and that in the sight of the husband over whom she tyrannized; and not
only so--she was obliged to be amiable to the author of her defeat!
You can scarcely find a match for this position save in the
hypocritical dramas which are sometimes kept up for years in the
sacred college of cardinals, or in chapters of certain religious
orders.
At three o'clock, when the President came back from the law-courts,
Pons had scarcely made an end of the marvelous history of his
acquaintance, M. Frederic Brunner. Cecile had gone straight to the
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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 Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers by Jonathan Swift: from me in one article; but it is in a modest manner, that
becomes a philosopher; as, Pace tanti viri dixerim: And pag.55,
he seems to lay the error upon the printer (as indeed it ought)
and says, vel forsan error typographi, cum alioquin
Bickerstaffius ver doctissimus, etc.
If Mr. Partridge had followed this example in the controversy
between us, he might have spared me the trouble of justifying
myself in so publick a manner. I believe few men are readier to
own their errors than I, or more thankful to those who will
please to inform me of them. But it seems this gentleman, instead
of encouraging the progress of his own art, is pleased to look
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