{"id":"01KG8AM9K7TR5JM9G8H0ECP153","cid":"bafkreiekvzsg3woes6ibxy3vijezf5gtkxjabyti6qjco4s2ljasl2e6ou","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":11475,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:26.985Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 20","source_file":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","start_line":11422,"text":"seed-sower, the profusion of thy good things; I, audacious as I am,\r\nresolved upon an emprise.\r\n\r\nThe Marquis, methought, though glorious, is not of the gods, the more\r\nreproach to their synod; but I will make them yield a place for him on\r\ntheir golden benches; I will make him an Immortal! How? Monumentalise\r\nhim to the remotest posterity in a book fragrant as violets, yet lasting\r\nas the Pyramids!\r\n\r\nYes, and as the prophets of old, announcing the mind of their deity, in\r\nsome instances dramatically put on his personality, even so will I\r\nassume that of de Grandvin. How otherwise, indeed? since he it is that\r\nkindles me, inspires me, usurps me. I will snatch at those themes--New\r\nItaly and the Old Masters--wherein this very night we heard him so\r\nsportively romance. I will render the fine festivity of his tone, as\r\nwell as the loftier touch; catch the rhythm of the waves of his seas of\r\ninvention; swim out there; in short, I did by implication say to myself\r\nan insane thing--I will imitate the inimitable!\r\n\r\nThe issue of the temerarious resolve, how humiliating! And no wonder.\r\nThe inordinate aim, and the inadequate achievement! The soaring ambition\r\nof the balloon, and its abrupt drop at a fatal puncture!\r\n\r\nYou who have basked in the vital beams of the Marquis, place not in\r\ncontrast his own radiant aspect side by side with the dim delineation of\r\nhim in the preceding sketch. And, for the attempted rendering of his\r\nthought and style in the piece to follow, take charitable example from\r\nthe Persian, who in his comment upon the Icelandic version of the fervid\r\norientalisms of Sadi and Hafiz, made humane allowance for the inherent\r\ndifficulties and presumably numb fingers of the translator in penning\r\nit.\r\n\r\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n                        PORTRAIT OF A GENTLEMAN\r\n\r\n\r\nJohn Gentian, Esq., or Major Gentian, or the Dean, or the Major, or\r\nJack--for all these styles are his according to circumstances and the\r\nperson mentioning or addressing him--is one of those socially notable\r\ncharacters whose names for all the notability will be found rather in\r\nthe trustworthy City Directory than in the not-always-reliable\r\nBiographical Dictionary. Accordingly in the former ‘John Gentian’ is set\r\ndown as hailing from the ‘Burgundy Club,’ the street and number of the\r\nclub-house duly and accurately given. In brief, John Gentian is a\r\nbachelor having chambers on an upper story of the club-house, a\r\nprivilege which at his solicitation was cheerfully accorded him, as by\r\nseniority of membership, to say nothing of happy qualifications in his\r\ncharacter, Dean of the Chapter of _Burgundians_, for so do they\r\ndenominate themselves, the brethren of that congenial fraternity.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 20"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJWBYEAWFNPZ7F62GDZWF","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM9K7BQKQKJCVYCZ02G7N","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM9KEFY9TRB09DQES7SGV","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:32.359Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:45.351Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}