{"id":"01KG6G85XBSNG0QEPXX6HY4F7Y","cid":"bafkreiaygatszng67pxscd6n5yhmgvdtwoy6rtlijwdfq5iu7yawl4mjbi","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":7510,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T03:48:16.153Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 5","source_file":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","start_line":7449,"text":"plan of operations. But anyone knows that a good genial dinner is a sort\r\nof pell-mell, indiscriminate affair, quite baffling to detail in all\r\nparticulars. Thus, I spoke of taking a glass of claret, and a glass of\r\nsherry, and a glass of port, and a mug of ale--all at certain specific\r\nperiods and times. But those were merely the state bumpers, so to speak.\r\nInnumerable impromptu glasses were drained between the periods of those\r\ngrand imposing ones.\r\n\r\nThe nine bachelors seemed to have the most tender concern for each\r\nother’s health. All the time, in flowing wine, they most earnestly\r\nexpressed their sincerest wishes for the entire well-being and lasting\r\nhygiene of the gentlemen on the right and on the left. I noticed that\r\nwhen one of these kind bachelors desired a little more wine (just for\r\nhis stomach’s sake, like Timothy), he would not help himself to it\r\nunless some other bachelor would join him. It seemed held something\r\nindelicate, selfish, and unfraternal, to be seen taking a lonely,\r\nunparticipated glass. Meantime, as the wine ran apace, the spirits of\r\nthe company grew more and more to perfect genialness and unconstraint.\r\nThey related all sorts of pleasant stories. Choice experiences in their\r\nprivate lives were now brought out, like choice brands of Moselle or\r\nRhenish, only kept for particular company. One told us how mellowly he\r\nlived when a student at Oxford; with various spicy anecdotes of most\r\nfrank-hearted noble lords, his liberal companions. Another bachelor, a\r\ngray-headed man, with a sunny face, who, by his own account, embraced\r\nevery opportunity of leisure to cross over into the Low Countries, on\r\nsudden tours of inspection of the fine old Flemish architecture\r\nthere--this learned, white-haired, sunny-faced old bachelor excelled in\r\nhis descriptions of the elaborate splendours of those old guild-halls,\r\ntown-halls, and stadthold-houses to be seen in the land of the ancient\r\nFlemings. A third was a great frequenter of the British Museum, and knew\r\nall about scores of wonderful antiquities, of Oriental manuscripts, and\r\ncostly books without a duplicate. A fourth had lately returned from a\r\ntrip to Old Granada, and, of course, was full of Saracenic scenery. A\r\nfifth had a funny case in law to tell. A sixth was erudite in wines. A\r\nseventh had a strange characteristic anecdote of the private life of the\r\nIron Duke, never printed, and never before announced in any public or\r\nprivate company. An eighth had lately been amusing his evenings, now and\r\nthen, with translating a comic poem of Pulci’s. He quoted for us the\r\nmore amusing passages.\r\n\r\nAnd so the evening slipped along, the hours told, not by a water-clock,\r\nlike King Alfred’s, but a wine-chronometer. Meantime the table seemed a\r\nsort of Epsom Heath; a regular ring, where the decanters galloped round.\r\nFor fear one decanter should not with sufficient speed reach his\r\ndestination, another was sent express after him to hurry him; and then a\r\nthird to hurry the second; and so on with a fourth and fifth. And\r\nthroughout all this nothing loud, nothing unmannerly, nothing turbulent.\r\nI am quite sure, from the scrupulous gravity and austerity of his air,\r\nthat had Socrates, the field-marshal, perceived aught of indecorum in\r\nthe company he served, he would have forthwith departed without giving\r\nwarning. I afterward learned that, during the repast, an invalid\r\nbachelor in an adjoining chamber enjoyed his first sound refreshing\r\nslumber in three long, weary weeks.\r\n\r\nIt was the very perfection of quiet absorption of good living, good\r\ndrinking, good feeling, and good talk. We were a band of brothers.\r\nComfort--fraternal, household comfort, was the grand trait of the\r\naffair. Also, you could plainly see that these easy-hearted men had no\r\nwives or children to give an anxious thought. Almost all of them were\r\ntravellers, too; for bachelors alone can travel freely, and without any\r\ntwinges of their consciences touching desertion of the fireside.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 5"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6G6QRHKDJS6PEV0YKDCE0V","peer_type":"section","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG2T49K0H5GDRB0G4YDTPG8H","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6G85XAZDC365DNF1VZ92VP","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6G85XFV3GASQXHPCDMNN3Y","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T03:48:17.963Z","ts":"2026-01-30T03:48:29.153Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}