{"id":"01KG8AM637XRVEC1Q52376ZP11","cid":"bafkreicilfnpcfkccfivevmslqaifwevuqalmsexagp6sbvfnxulwxxmfu","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":7398,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:26.985Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","start_line":7335,"text":"men of mark--famous nobles, judges, and Lord Chancellors--have in their\r\ntime been Templars. But all Templars are not known to universal fame;\r\nthough, if the having warm hearts and warmer welcomes, full minds and\r\nfuller cellars, and giving good advice and glorious dinners, spiced with\r\nrare divertisements of fun and fancy, merit immortal mention, set down,\r\nye muses, the names of R. F. C. and his imperial brother.\r\n\r\nThough to be a Templar, in the one true sense, you must needs be a\r\nlawyer, or a student at the law, and be ceremoniously enrolled as member\r\nof the order, yet as many such, though Templars, do not reside within\r\nthe Temple’s precincts, though they may have their offices there, just\r\nso, on the other hand, there are many residents of the hoary old\r\ndomicils who are not admitted Templars. If being, say, a lounging\r\ngentleman and bachelor, or a quiet, unmarried, literary man, charmed\r\nwith the soft seclusion of the spot, you much desire to pitch your shady\r\ntent among the rest in this serene encampment, then you must make some\r\nspecial friend among the order, and procure him to rent, in his name,\r\nbut at your charge, whatever vacant chamber you may find to suit.\r\n\r\nThus, I suppose, did Dr. Johnson, that nominal Benedick and widower but\r\nvirtual bachelor, when for a space he resided here. So, too, did that\r\nundoubted bachelor and rare good soul, Charles Lamb. And hundreds more,\r\nof sterling spirits, Brethren of the Order of Celibacy, from time to\r\ntime have dined, and slept, and tabernacled here. Indeed, the place is\r\nall a honeycomb of offices and domicils. Like any cheese, it is quite\r\nperforated through and through in all directions with the snug cells of\r\nbachelors. Dear, delightful spot! Ah! when I bethink me of the sweet\r\nhours there passed, enjoying such genial hospitalities beneath those\r\ntime-honoured roofs, my heart only finds due utterance through poetry;\r\nand, with a sigh, I softly sing, ‘Carry me back to old Virginny!’\r\n\r\nSuch then, at large, is the Paradise of Bachelors. And such I found it\r\none pleasant afternoon in the smiling month of May, when, sallying from\r\nmy hotel in Trafalgar Square, I went to keep my dinner appointment with\r\nthat fine Barrister, Bachelor, and Bencher, R. F. C. (he _is_ the first\r\nand second, and _should_ be the third; I hereby nominate him), whose\r\ncard I kept fast pinched between my gloved forefinger and thumb, and\r\nevery now and then snatched still another look at the pleasant address\r\ninscribed beneath the name, ‘No. --, Elm Court, Temple.’\r\n\r\nAt the core he was a right bluff, care-free, right comfortable, and most\r\ncompanionable Englishman. If on a first acquaintance he seemed reserved,\r\nquite icy in his air--patience; this champagne will thaw. And if it\r\nnever do, better frozen champagne than liquid vinegar.\r\n\r\nThere were nine gentlemen, all bachelors, at the dinner. One was from\r\n‘No. --, King’s Bench Walk, Temple’; a second, third, and fourth, and\r\nfifth, from various courts or passages christened with some similarly\r\nrich resounding syllables. It was indeed a sort of Senate of the\r\nBachelors, sent to this dinner from widely-scattered districts, to\r\nrepresent the general celibacy of the Temple. Nay it was, by\r\nrepresentation, a Grand Parliament of the best Bachelors in universal\r\nLondon; several of those present being from distant quarters of the\r\ntown, noted immemorial seats of lawyers and unmarried men--Lincoln’s\r\nInn, Furnival’s Inn; and one gentleman, upon whom I looked with a sort\r\nof collateral awe, hailed from the spot where Lord Verulam once abode a\r\nbachelor--Gray’s Inn.\r\n\r\nThe apartment was well up toward heaven. I know not how many strange old\r\nstairs I climbed to get to it. But a good dinner, with famous company,\r\nshould be well earned. No doubt our host had his dining-room so high\r\nwith a view to secure the prior exercise necessary to the due relishing\r\nand digesting of it.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AKG12HDXBTWFN1G040GPY","peer_type":"section","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM637MS5WT6EF9MT7KHEQ","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM637A5ZN4XWE62FKV7MW","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:28.775Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:42.094Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}