{"id":"01KG8AJS9YHKNFM4DKQ7PAV2VA","cid":"bafkreibz5ebnrdt4o3ratmfsc2ewhpsoopdgbc5w7ldtdf5iwu5ofjnn7e","type":"chapter","properties":{"description":"# CHAPTER XLII. HIS ADVENTURE WITH THE _CROSS_ OLD GENTLEMAN\n## Overview\nThis is a chapter from the novel [Redburn: His First Voyage](arke:01KG8AJ9CVDS15WWAP46A9M4XP) by Herman Melville. The chapter, titled \"CHAPTER XLII. HIS ADVENTURE WITH THE _CROSS_ OLD GENTLEMAN,\" recounts an incident where the protagonist, Redburn, attempts to visit the Lyceum in Liverpool and is unceremoniously ejected. The chapter spans lines 8133-8183 of the source file [redburn.txt](arke:01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF).\n\n## Context\nThis chapter is part of the larger work, [Redburn: His First Voyage](arke:01KG8AJ9CVDS15WWAP46A9M4XP), which is included in the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. It follows [CHAPTER XLI. REDBURN ROVES ABOUT HITHER AND THITHER](arke:01KG8AJS9XB90CSQV2ZADZDR2R) and precedes [CHAPTER XLIII. HE TAKES A DELIGHTFUL RAMBLE INTO THE COUNTRY; AND MAKES THE ACQUAINTANCE OF THREE ADORABLE CHARMERS](arke:01KG8AJS9YFR12YJKJHFN968XA). The text was extracted from the file [redburn.txt](arke:01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF) using a structure extraction process.\n\n## Contents\nIn this chapter, Redburn describes his visit to the Lyceum. He is drawn to the building and the sight of \"sedate, happy-looking old gentlemen reading.\" He decides to enter, believing he will be treated with courtesy as a \"poor, friendless sailor-boy\" from a foreign land. However, he is met with hostility. An \"crabbed old gentleman\" shakes his cane at him, and another man forcibly throws him out into the street without apology. Redburn concludes that \"These Englishmen have no manners.\"\n","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:20.257Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"CHAPTER XLII. HIS ADVENTURE WITH THE _CROSS_ OLD GENTLEMAN","end_line":8183,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:38.127Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"CHAPTER XLII. HIS ADVENTURE WITH THE _CROSS_ OLD GENTLEMAN","source_file":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","start_line":8133,"text":"CHAPTER XLII.\r\nHIS ADVENTURE WITH THE _CROSS_ OLD GENTLEMAN\r\n\r\n\r\nMy adventure in the News-Room in the Exchange, which I have related in\r\na previous chapter, reminds me of another, at the Lyceum, some days\r\nafter, which may as well be put down here, before I forget it.\r\n\r\nI was strolling down Bold-street, I think it was, when I was struck by\r\nthe sight of a brown stone building, very large and handsome. The\r\nwindows were open, and there, nicely seated, with their comfortable\r\nlegs crossed over their comfortable knees, I beheld several sedate,\r\nhappy-looking old gentlemen reading the magazines and papers, and one\r\nhad a fine gilded volume in his hand.\r\n\r\nYes, this must be the Lyceum, thought I; let me see. So I whipped out\r\nmy guide-book, and opened it at the proper place; and sure enough, the\r\nbuilding before me corresponded stone for stone. I stood awhile on the\r\nopposite side of the street, gazing at my picture, and then at its\r\noriginal; and often dwelling upon the pleasant gentlemen sitting at the\r\nopen windows; till at last I felt an uncontrollable impulse to step in\r\nfor a moment, and run over the news.\r\n\r\nI’m a poor, friendless sailor-boy, thought I, and they can not object;\r\nespecially as I am from a foreign land, and strangers ought to be\r\ntreated with courtesy. I turned the matter over again, as I walked\r\nacross the way; and with just a small tapping of a misgiving at my\r\nheart, I at last scraped my feet clean against the curb-stone, and\r\ntaking off my hat while I was yet in the open air, slowly sauntered in.\r\n\r\nBut I had not got far into that large and lofty room, filled with many\r\nagreeable sights, when a crabbed old gentleman lifted up his eye from\r\nthe _London Times,_ which words I saw boldly printed on the back of the\r\nlarge sheet in his hand, and looking at me as if I were a strange dog\r\nwith a muddy hide, that had stolen out of the gutter into this fine\r\napartment, he shook his silver-headed cane at me fiercely, till the\r\nspectacles fell off his nose. Almost at the same moment, up stepped a\r\nterribly cross man, who looked as if he had a mustard plaster on his\r\nback, that was continually exasperating him; who throwing down some\r\npapers which he had been filing, took me by my innocent shoulders, and\r\nthen, putting his foot against the broad part of my pantaloons, wheeled\r\nme right out into the street, and dropped me on the walk, without so\r\nmuch as offering an apology for the affront. I sprang after him, but in\r\nvain; the door was closed upon me.\r\n\r\nThese Englishmen have no manners, that’s plain, thought I; and I\r\ntrudged on down the street in a reverie.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"CHAPTER XLII. HIS ADVENTURE WITH THE _CROSS_ OLD GENTLEMAN"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJ9CVDS15WWAP46A9M4XP","peer_type":"novel","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AJS9XB90CSQV2ZADZDR2R","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AJS9YFR12YJKJHFN968XA","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:42.910Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:20.978Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}