{"id":"01KG8AKZ9HH418SS6APNKH2DRE","cid":"bafkreigwcubkmdnjjxknvca7u677vmgmxgrlrloji7ymwrbgwoqo2s3xl4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":11184,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.843Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 4","source_file":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","start_line":11134,"text":"and the fingers were long and thin; the knuckles softly rounded; the\r\nnails hemispherical at the base; and the smooth palm furnishing few\r\ncharacters for an Egyptian fortune-teller to read. It was not as the\r\nsturdy farmer’s hand of Cincinnatus, who followed the plough and guided\r\nthe state; but it was as the perfumed hand of Petronius Arbiter, that\r\nelegant young buck of a Roman, who once cut great Seneca dead in the\r\nforum.\r\n\r\nHis hand alone, would have entitled my Bury blade to the suffrages of\r\nthat Eastern potentate, who complimented Lord Byron upon his feline\r\nfingers, declaring that they furnished indubitable evidence of his\r\nnoble birth. And so it did: for Lord Byron was as all the rest of\r\nus—the son of a _man._ And so are the dainty-handed, and wee-footed\r\nhalf-cast paupers in Lima; who, if their hands and feet were entitled\r\nto consideration, would constitute the oligarchy of all Peru.\r\n\r\nFolly and foolishness! to think that a gentleman is known by his\r\nfinger-nails, like Nebuchadnezzar, when his grew long in the pasture:\r\nor that the badge of nobility is to be found in the smallness of the\r\nfoot, when even a fish has no foot at all!\r\n\r\nDandies! amputate yourselves, if you will; but know, and be assured,\r\noh, democrats, that, like a pyramid, a great man stands on a broad\r\nbase. It is only the brittle porcelain pagoda, that tottles on a toe.\r\n\r\nBut though Harry’s hand was lady-like looking, and had once been white\r\nas the queen’s cambric handkerchief, and free from a stain as the\r\nreputation of Diana; yet, his late pulling and hauling of halyards and\r\nclew-lines, and his occasional dabbling in tar-pots and slush-shoes,\r\nhad somewhat subtracted from its original daintiness.\r\n\r\nOften he ruefully eyed it.\r\n\r\nOh! hand! thought Harry, ah, hand! what have you come to? Is it seemly,\r\nthat you should be polluted with pitch, when you once handed countesses\r\nto their coaches? Is _this_ the hand I kissed to the divine Georgiana?\r\nwith which I pledged Lady Blessington, and ratified my bond to Lord\r\nLovely? _This_ the hand that Georgiana clasped to her bosom, when she\r\nvowed she was mine?—Out of sight, recreant and apostate!—deep\r\ndown—disappear in this foul monkey-jacket pocket where I thrust you!\r\n\r\nAfter many long conversations, it was at last pretty well decided, that\r\nupon our arrival at New York, some means should be taken among my few\r\nfriends there, to get Harry a place in a mercantile house, where he\r\nmight flourish his pen, and gently exercise his delicate digits, by\r\ntraversing some soft foolscap; in the same way that slim, pallid ladies\r\nare gently drawn through a park for an airing.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 4"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJT5SDHGB7VJ4ZTE6NX8P","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKZ9HRY1A5EVF0W50X5QD","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:21.809Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:34.522Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}