{"id":"01KG8AM4MG0HMDA1SYHGMS0YZS","cid":"bafkreie6sgumalynqkqtmccaf3c3p7fmdn437blrz2jypekwphcvoumyau","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":12348,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:26.988Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","start_line":12284,"text":"                                 No. 1\r\n\r\n                                                     LANSINGBURGH, N.Y.,\r\n                                                _Saturday, May 4, 1839_.\r\n\r\nMY DEAR M----, I can imagine you seated on that dear, delightful,\r\nold-fashioned sofa, your head supported by its luxurious padding, and\r\nwith feet aloft on the aspiring back of that straight-limbed,\r\nstiff-necked, quaint old chair, which, as our facetious W---- assured\r\nme, was the identical seat in which old Burton composed his _Anatomy of\r\nMelancholy_. I see you reluctantly raise your optics from the\r\nugh-clasped [_sic_] quarto which encumbers your lap, to receive the\r\npackage which the servant hands you, and can almost imagine that I see\r\nthose beloved features illumined for a moment with an expression of joy,\r\nas you read the superscription of your gentle protégé. Lay down, I\r\nbeseech you, that odious black-lettered volume and let not its musty and\r\nwithered leaves sully the virgin purity and whiteness of the sheet which\r\nis the vehicle of so much good sense, sterling thought, and chaste and\r\nelegant sentiment.\r\n\r\nYou remember how you used to rate me for my hang-dog modesty, my\r\n_mauvaise honte_, as my Lord Chesterfield would style it. Well! I have\r\ndetermined that hereafter you shall not have occasion again to inflict\r\nupon me those flattering appellations of ‘Fool!’ ‘Dolt!’ ‘Sheep!’ which\r\nin your indignation you used to shower upon me, with a vigour and a\r\nfacility which excited my wonder, while it provoked my resentment.\r\n\r\nAnd how do you imagine that I rid myself of this annoying hindrance?\r\nWhy, truly, by coming to the conclusion that in this pretty corpus of\r\nmine was lodged every manly grace; that my limbs were modelled in the\r\nsymmetry of the Phidian Jupiter; my countenance radiant with the beams\r\nof wit and intelligence, and my whole person the envy of the beaux, the\r\nidol of the women, and the admiration of the tailor. And then my mind!\r\nwhy, sir, I have discovered it to be endowed with the most rare and\r\nextraordinary powers, stored with universal knowledge, and embellished\r\nwith every polite accomplishment.\r\n\r\nPollux! what a comfortable thing is a good opinion of one’s self when I\r\nwalk the Broadway of our village with a certain air, that puts me down\r\nat once in the estimation of any intelligent stranger who may chance to\r\nmeet me, as a _distingué_ of the purest water, a blade of the true\r\ntemper, a blood of the first quality! Lord! how I despise the little\r\nsneaking vermin who dodge along the street as though they were so many\r\nfootmen or errand-boys; who have never learned to carry the head erect\r\nin conscious importance, but hang that noblest of the human members as\r\nthough it had been boxed by some virago of an Amazon; who shuffle along\r\nthe walk, with a quick, uneasy step, a hasty, clownish motion, which by\r\nthe magnitude of the contrast, set off to advantage my own slow and\r\nmagisterial gait, which I can at pleasure vary to an easy, abandoned\r\nsort of carriage, or to the more engaging, alert, and lively walk, to\r\nsuit the varieties of time, occasion, and company.\r\n\r\nAnd in society, too, how often have I commiserated the poor wretches who\r\nstood aloof, in a corner, like a flock of scared sheep; while myself,\r\nbeautiful as Apollo, dressed in a style which would extort admiration\r\nfrom a Brummell, and belted round with self-esteem as with a girdle,\r\nsallied up to the ladies--complimenting one, exchanging a repartee with\r\nanother; tapping this one under the chin, and clasping this one round\r\nthe waist; and finally, winding up the operation by kissing round the\r\nwhole circle to the great edification of the fair, and to the unbounded\r\nhorror, amazement, and ill-suppressed chagrin of the aforesaid sheepish\r\nmultitude, who, with eyes wide open and mouths distended, afforded good\r\nsubjects on whom to exercise my polished wit, which like the glittering\r\nedge of a Damascus sabre ‘dazzled all it shone upon.’\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJWC5G0HBHACB7H31MXQ6","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM4MBSMGYT353NQ82BNG7","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:27.280Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:46.627Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}