{"id":"01KG6G84XAZKTX0V0XSSJYQFFN","cid":"bafkreieetp2kpownp2sh3hyylwk5mz4ubbqutf7htvvwnfz2qnhks2z5yq","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":7287,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T03:48:16.153Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","start_line":7232,"text":"                      I. THE PARADISE OF BACHELORS\r\n\r\nIt lies not far from Temple Bar.\r\n\r\nGoing to it, by the usual way, is like stealing from a heated plain into\r\nsome cool, deep glen, shady among harbouring hills.\r\n\r\nSick with the din and soiled with the mud of Fleet Street--where the\r\nBenedick tradesmen are hurrying by, with ledger-lines ruled along their\r\nbrows, thinking upon rise of bread and fall of babies--you adroitly turn\r\na mystic corner--not a street--glide down a dim, monastic way, flanked\r\nby dark, sedate, and solemn piles, and still wending on, give the whole\r\ncareworn world the slip, and, disentangled, stand beneath the quiet\r\ncloisters of the Paradise of Bachelors.\r\n\r\nSweet are the oases in Sahara; charming the isle-groves of August\r\nprairies; delectable pure faith amidst a thousand perfidies: but\r\nsweeter, still more charming, most delectable, the dreamy Paradise of\r\nBachelors, found in the stony heart of stunning London.\r\n\r\nIn mild meditation pace the cloisters; take your pleasure, sip your\r\nleisure, in the garden waterward; go linger in the ancient library; go\r\nworship in the sculptured chapel: but little have you seen, just nothing\r\ndo you know, not the sweet kernel have you tasted, till you dine among\r\nthe banded Bachelors, and see their convivial eyes and glasses sparkle.\r\nNot dine in bustling commons, during term-time, in the hall; but\r\ntranquilly, by private hint, at a private table; some fine Templar’s\r\nhospitably invited guest.\r\n\r\nTemplar? That’s a romantic name. Let me see. Brian de Bois Gilbert was a\r\nTemplar, I believe. Do we understand you to insinuate that those famous\r\nTemplars still survive in modern London? May the ring of their armed\r\nheels be heard, and the rattle of their shields, as in mailed prayer the\r\nmonk-knights kneel before the consecrated Host? Surely a monk-knight\r\nwere a curious sight picking his way along the Strand, his gleaming\r\ncorselet and snowy surcoat spattered by an omnibus. Long-bearded, too,\r\naccording to his order’s rule; his face fuzzy as a pard’s; how would the\r\ngrim ghost look among the crop-haired, close-shaven citizens? We know\r\nindeed--sad history recounts it--that a moral blight tainted at last\r\nthis sacred Brotherhood. Though no sworded foe might out-skill them in\r\nthe fence, yet the worm of luxury crawled beneath their guard, gnawing\r\nthe core of knightly troth, nibbling the monastic vow, till at last the\r\nmonk’s austerity relaxed to wassailing, and the sworn knights-bachelors\r\ngrew to be but hypocrites and rakes.\r\n\r\nBut for all this, quite unprepared were we to learn that\r\nKnights-Templars (if at all in being) were so entirely secularised as to\r\nbe reduced from carving out immortal fame in glorious battling for the\r\nHoly Land, to the carving of roast mutton at a dinner-board. Like\r\nAnacreon, do these degenerate Templars now think it sweeter far to fall\r\nin banquet than in war? Or, indeed, how can there be any survival of\r\nthat famous order? Templars in modern London! Templars in their\r\nred-cross mantles smoking cigars at the Divan! Templars crowded in a\r\nrailway train, till, stacked with steel helmet, spear, and shield, the\r\nwhole train looks like one elongated locomotive!\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6G6QRHKDJS6PEV0YKDCE0V","peer_type":"section","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG2T49K0H5GDRB0G4YDTPG8H","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6G85XBS8H2D2J4KAGG96JA","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T03:48:16.938Z","ts":"2026-01-30T03:48:28.941Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}