{"id":"01KG8AKT5AQMVFBSJEGBM90GGX","cid":"bafkreibmtm53fvhto6c6jglj3mpge26boo4y43incuo45smgljlpg4r7b4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":11332,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:09.931Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 4","source_file":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","start_line":11263,"text":"“They are. For Benedict mortals must be home betimes: bachelor\r\ndemi-gods are never away.”\r\n\r\n“Ay, your Highnesses, bachelors are all the year round at home;” said\r\nMohi: “sitting out life in the chimney corner, cozy and warm as the\r\ndog, whilome turning the old-fashioned roasting jack.”\r\n\r\n“And to us bachelor demi-gods,” cried Media “our to-morrows are as long\r\nrows of fine punches, ranged on a board, and waiting the hand.”\r\n\r\n“But my good lords,” said Babbalanja, now brightening with wine; “if,\r\nof all suppers those given by bachelors be the best:—of all bachelors,\r\nare not your priests and monks the jolliest? I mean, behind the scenes?\r\nTheir prayers all said, and their futurities securely invested,—who so\r\ncarefree and cozy as they? Yea, a supper for two in a friar’s cell in\r\nMaramma, is merrier far, than a dinner for five-and-twenty, in the\r\nbroad right wing of Donjalolo’s great Palace of the Morn.”\r\n\r\n“Bravo, Babbalanja!” cried Media, “your iceberg is thawing. More of\r\nthat, more of that. Did I not say, we would melt him down at last, my\r\nlord?”\r\n\r\n“Ay,” continued Babbalanja, “bachelors are a noble fraternity: I’m a\r\nbachelor myself. One of ye, in that matter, my lord demi-gods. And if\r\nunlike the patriarchs of the world, we father not our brigades and\r\nbattalions; and send not out into the battles of our country whole\r\nregiments of our own individual raising;—yet do we oftentimes leave\r\nbehind us goodly houses and lands; rare old brandies and mountain\r\nMalagas; and more especially, warm doublets and togas, and\r\nspatterdashes, wherewithal to keep comfortable those who survive us;—\r\ncasing the legs and arms, which others beget. Then compare not\r\ninvidiously Benedicts with bachelors, since thus we make an equal\r\ndivision of the duties, which both owe to posterity.”\r\n\r\n“Suppers forever!” cried Media. “See, my lord, what yours has done for\r\nBabbalanja. He came to it a skeleton; but will go away, every bone\r\npadded!”\r\n\r\n“Ay, my lord demi-gods,” said Babbalanja, drop by drop refilling his\r\ngoblet. “These suppers are all very fine, very pleasant, and merry. But\r\nwe pay for them roundly. Every thing, my good lords, has its price,\r\nfrom a marble to a world. And easier of digestion, and better for both\r\nbody and soul, are a half-haunch of venison and a gallon of mead, taken\r\nunder the sun at meridian, than the soft bridal breast of a partridge,\r\nwith some gentle negus, at the noon of night!”\r\n\r\n“No lie that!” said Mohi. “Beshrew me, in no well-appointed mansion\r\ndoth the pantry lie adjoining the sleeping chamber. A good thought:\r\nI’ll fill up, and ponder on it.”\r\n\r\n“Let not Azzageddi get uppermost again, Babbalanja,” cried Media. “Your\r\ngoblet is only half-full.”\r\n\r\n“Permit it to remain so; my lord. For whoso takes much wine to bed with\r\nhim, has a bedfellow, more restless than a somnambulist. And though\r\nWine be a jolly blade at the board, a sulky knave is he under a\r\nblanket. I know him of old. Yet, your Highness, for all this, to many a\r\nMardian, suppers are still better than dinners, at whatever cost\r\npurchased. Forasmuch, as many have more leisure to sup, than dine. And\r\nthough you demi-gods, may dine at your ease; and dine it out into\r\nnight: and sit and chirp over your Burgundy, till the morning larks\r\njoin your crickets, and wed matins to vespers;—far otherwise, with us\r\nplebeian mortals. From our dinners, we must hie to our anvils: and the\r\nlast jolly jorum evaporates in a cark and a care.”\r\n\r\n“Methinks he relapses,” said Abrazza.\r\n\r\n“It waxes late,” said Mohi; “your Highnesses, is it not time to break\r\nup?”\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 4"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJW038SPT30W81W3A9MBY","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKT5AQKX64H99FBQ2NVXH","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKT5ARAHCND2HSWCBGABR","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:16.554Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:28.701Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}