{"id":"01KG6GMNQWDZRJ4HV3ENJDS8FK","cid":"bafkreicsl4porj7syjbueumcqjzro7ucyeyrp6p4knt4wyhi5waqbgc4de","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":8312,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T03:55:03.883Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","start_line":8242,"text":"peacocks or room of roses (I call it by both names), on account of its\r\nlong association in my mind with one of the original proprietors of the\r\nmansion--the gentle Jimmy Rose.\r\n\r\nPoor Jimmy Rose!\r\n\r\nHe was among my earliest acquaintances. It is not many years since he\r\ndied; and I and two other tottering old fellows took hack, and in sole\r\nprocession followed him to his grave.\r\n\r\nJimmy was born a man of moderate fortune. In his prime he had an\r\nuncommonly handsome person; large and manly, with bright eyes of blue,\r\nbrown curling hair, and cheeks that seemed painted with carmine; but it\r\nwas health’s genuine bloom, deepened by the joy of life. He was by\r\nnature a great ladies’ man, and like most deep adorers of the sex, never\r\ntied up his freedom of general worship by making one wilful sacrifice of\r\nhimself at the altar.\r\n\r\nAdding to his fortune by a large and princely business, something like\r\nthat of the great Florentine trader, Cosmo the Magnificent, he was\r\nenabled to entertain on a grand scale. For a long time his dinners,\r\nsuppers, and balls were not to be surpassed by any given in the\r\nparty-giving city of New York. His uncommon cheeriness, the splendour of\r\nhis dress, his sparkling wit, radiant chandeliers, infinite fund of\r\nsmall talk, French furniture, glowing welcomes to his guests, his\r\nbounteous heart and board, his noble graces and his glorious wine, what\r\nwonder if all these drew crowds to Jimmy’s hospitable abode? In the\r\nwinter assemblies he figured first on the manager’s list. James Rose,\r\nEsq., too, was the man to be found foremost in all presentations of\r\nplate to highly successful actors at the Park, or of swords and guns to\r\nhighly successful generals in the field. Often, also, was he chosen to\r\npresent the gift on account of his fine gift of finely saying fine\r\nthings.\r\n\r\n‘Sir,’ said he, in a great drawing-room in Broadway, as he extended\r\ntoward General G---- a brace of pistols set with turquoise. ‘Sir,’ said\r\nJimmy, with a Castilian flourish and a rosy smile, ‘there would have\r\nbeen more turquoise here set, had the names of your glorious victories\r\nleft room.’\r\n\r\nAh, Jimmy, Jimmy! Thou didst excel in compliments. But it was inwrought\r\nwith thy inmost texture to be affluent in all things which give\r\npleasure. And who shall reproach thee with borrowed wit on this\r\noccasion, though borrowed indeed it was? Plagiarise otherwise as they\r\nmay, not often are the men of this world plagiarists in praise.\r\n\r\nBut times changed. Time, true plagiarist of the seasons.\r\n\r\nSudden and terrible reverses in business were made mortal by mad\r\nprodigality on all hands. When his affairs came to be scrutinised, it\r\nwas found that Jimmy could not pay more than fifteen shillings in the\r\npound. And yet in time the deficiency might have been made up--of\r\ncourse, leaving Jimmy penniless--had it not been that in one winter gale\r\ntwo vessels of his from China perished off Sandy Hook; perished at the\r\nthreshold of their port.\r\n\r\nJimmy was a ruined man.\r\n\r\nIt was years ago. At that period I resided in the country, but happened\r\nto be in the city on one of my annual visits. It was but four or five\r\ndays since seeing Jimmy at his house the centre of all eyes, and hearing\r\nhim at the close of the entertainment toasted by a brocaded lady, in\r\nthese well-remembered words: ‘Our noble host; the bloom on his cheek,\r\nmay it last long as the bloom in his heart!’ And they, the sweet ladies\r\nand gentlemen there, they drank that toast so gaily and frankly off; and\r\nJimmy, such a kind, proud, grateful tear stood in his honest eye,\r\nangelically glancing round at the sparkling faces, and equally\r\nsparkling, and equally feeling, decanters.\r\n\r\nAh! poor, poor Jimmy--God guard us all--poor Jimmy Rose!\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6GKYHXXDTPR7QVPBW00QM7","peer_type":"section","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG2T49K0H5GDRB0G4YDTPG8H","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6GMNQZ0N8XYESGF3M0EQST","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6GMNQZCZFY99DXKJJ59ASV","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T03:55:07.388Z","ts":"2026-01-30T03:55:19.148Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}