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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41146 ***
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+  Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have
+  been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
+
+  Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
+
+  On page 47, "Mrs. Read's" should possibly be "Mr. Read's".
+  Martin Folkes is also spelled Martin Foulkes.
+  On page 100, "Sheridan had no personal dislike" should possibly be
+  "Selwyn had no personal dislike".
+  On page 177, "set in half-a-dozen barbers" should possibly be
+  "sent in half-a-dozen barbers".
+  On page 287, "Woolbidding" should possibly be "Woolbeding".
+
+
+
+
+CLUB LIFE OF LONDON.
+
+  [Illustration: CAPTAIN CHARLES MORRIS.
+   _Engraved by W. Greatbatch from the Original Picture in the
+   Possession of the Family._]
+
+
+
+
+     CLUB LIFE OF LONDON
+
+     WITH
+
+     ANECDOTES OF THE CLUBS, COFFEE-HOUSES
+     AND TAVERNS OF THE METROPOLIS
+     DURING THE 17TH, 18TH, AND 19TH CENTURIES.
+
+     BY
+     JOHN TIMBS, F.S.A.
+
+     [Illustration: See Beef-steak Society, p. 143.]
+
+     IN TWO VOLUMES.--VOL. I.
+
+     LONDON:
+     RICHARD BENTLEY, PUBLISHER IN ORDINARY TO HER MAJESTY.
+     1866.
+
+
+
+
+     PRINTED BY
+     JOHN EDWARD TAYLOR, LITTLE QUEEN STREET,
+     LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+Pictures of the Social Life of the Metropolis during the last two
+centuries are by no means rare. We possess them in Diaries, Memoirs,
+and Correspondence, in almost countless volumes, that sparkle with
+humour and gaiety, alternating with more serious phases,--political or
+otherwise,--according to the colour and complexion, and body of the
+time. Of such pictures the most attractive are Clubs.
+
+Few attempts have, however, been made to _focus_ the Club-life of
+periods, or to assemble with reasonable limits, the histories of the
+leading Associations of clubbable Men,--of Statesmen and Politicians,
+Wits and Poets, Authors, Artists, and Actors, and "men of wit and
+pleasure," which the town has presented since the days of the
+Restoration; or in more direct succession, from the reign of Queen
+Anne, and the days of the _Tatler_ and _Spectator_, and other
+Essayists in their wake.
+
+The present Work aims to record this Club-life in a series of sketches
+of the leading Societies, in which, without assuming the gravity of
+history or biography, sufficient attention is paid to both to give the
+several narratives the value of trustworthiness. From the multitude of
+Clubs it has been found expedient to make a selection, in which the
+Author has been guided by the popular interest attached to their
+several histories. The same principle has been adopted in bringing the
+Work up to our own time, in which the customary reticence in such
+cases has been maintained.
+
+Of interest akin to that of the Clubs have been considered scenes of
+the Coffee-house and Tavern Life of the period, which partake of a
+greater breadth of humour, and are, therefore, proportionally
+attractive, for these sections of the Work. The antiquarianism is
+sparse, or briefly descriptive; the main object being personal
+characteristics, the life and manners, the sayings and doings, of
+classes among whom conviviality is often mixed up with better
+qualities, and the finest humanities are blended with the
+gladiatorship and playfulness of wit and humour.
+
+With a rich store of materials at his command, the Author, or
+Compiler, has sought, by selection and condensation, to avoid the
+long-windedness of story-telling; for the anecdote should be, like the
+viand,--"'twere well if it were done quickly." Although the staple of
+the book is compiled, the experience and information which the Author
+has gathered by long familiarity with the Metropolis have enabled him
+to annotate and illustrate in his own progress, notwithstanding the
+"lion's share" of the labour is duly awarded to others.
+
+Thus, there are grouped in the present volume sketches of One Hundred
+Clubs, ranging from the Mermaid, in Bread-street, to the Garrick, in
+Covent Garden. Considering the mixed objects of these Clubs, though
+all belonging to the convivial or jovial system, strict classification
+was scarcely attainable: hence chronological sequence has been
+adopted, with the advantage of presenting more connected views of
+social life than could have been gained by the former arrangement.
+
+The Second Volume is devoted to the Coffee-house and Tavern Life, and
+presents a diversity of sketches, anecdotes, and reminiscences, whose
+name is Legion.
+
+To the whole is appended a copious Index, by which the reader may
+readily refer to the leading subjects, and multitudinous contents of
+the Work.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                                                Page
+
+     ORIGIN OF CLUBS                                               1
+
+     MERMAID CLUB                                                  8
+
+     APOLLO CLUB                                                  10
+
+     EARLY POLITICAL CLUBS                                        15
+
+     OCTOBER CLUB                                                 17
+
+     SATURDAY AND BROTHERS CLUBS                                  19
+
+     SCRIBLERUS CLUB                                              23
+
+     CALVES' HEAD CLUB                                            25
+
+     KING'S HEAD CLUB                                             35
+
+     STREET CLUBS                                                 38
+
+     THE MOHOCKS                                                  39
+
+     BLASPHEMOUS CLUBS                                            44
+
+     MUG-HOUSE CLUBS                                              45
+
+     KIT-KAT CLUB                                                 55
+
+     TATLER'S CLUB IN SHIRE-LANE                                  63
+
+     ROYAL SOCIETY CLUB                                           65
+
+     COCOA-TREE CLUB                                              81
+
+     ALMACK'S CLUB                                                83
+
+     ALMACK'S ASSEMBLY-ROOMS                                      86
+
+     BROOKES'S CLUB                                               89
+
+     "FIGHTING FITZGERALD" AT BROOKES'S                          102
+
+     ARTHUR'S CLUB                                               107
+
+     WHITE'S CLUB                                                108
+
+     BOODLE'S CLUB                                               121
+
+     THE BEEF-STEAK SOCIETY                                      123
+
+     CAPTAIN MORRIS                                              149
+
+     BEEF-STEAK CLUBS                                            158
+
+     CLUB AT TOM'S COFFEE-HOUSE                                  159
+
+     THE KING OF CLUBS                                           165
+
+     WATIER'S CLUB                                               168
+
+     CANNING AT THE CLIFFORD-STREET CLUB                         169
+
+     ECCENTRIC CLUBS                                             172
+
+     JACOBITE CLUB                                               178
+
+     THE WITTINAGEMOT OF THE CHAPTER COFFEE-HOUSE                179
+
+     THE ROXBURGHE CLUB DINNERS                                  186
+
+     SOCIETY OF PAST OVERSEERS, WESTMINSTER                      193
+
+     THE ROBIN HOOD                                              196
+
+     BLUE-STOCKING CLUB                                          198
+
+     IVY-LANE CLUB                                               200
+
+     ESSEX HEAD CLUB                                             202
+
+     THE LITERARY CLUB                                           204
+
+     GOLDSMITH'S CLUBS                                           219
+
+     THE DILETTANTI SOCIETY                                      222
+
+     ROYAL NAVAL CLUB                                            230
+
+     WYNDHAM CLUB                                                232
+
+     TRAVELLERS' CLUB                                            233
+
+     UNITED SERVICE CLUB                                         236
+
+     ALFRED CLUB                                                 237
+
+     ORIENTAL CLUB                                               239
+
+     ATHENÆUM CLUB                                               241
+
+     UNIVERSITY CLUB                                             247
+
+     ECONOMY OF CLUBS                                            248
+
+     UNION CLUB                                                  253
+
+     GARRICK CLUB                                                255
+
+     REFORM CLUB                                                 266
+
+     CARLTON CLUB                                                273
+
+     CONSERVATIVE CLUB                                           275
+
+     OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE CLUB                                   277
+
+     GUARDS' CLUB                                                278
+
+     ARMY AND NAVY CLUB                                          278
+
+     JUNIOR UNITED SERVICE CLUB                                  280
+
+     CROCKFORD'S CLUB                                            281
+
+     "KING ALLEN," "THE GOLDEN BALL," AND SCROPE DAVIES          287
+
+     THE FOUR-IN-HAND CLUB                                       289
+
+     WHIST CLUBS                                                 295
+
+     PRINCE'S CLUB RACQUET COURTS                                298
+
+     AN ANGLING CLUB                                             301
+
+     THE RED LIONS                                               303
+
+     COVENTRY, ERECTHEUM, AND PARTHENON CLUBS                    305
+
+     ANTIQUARIAN CLUBS,--THE NOVIOMAGIANS                        306
+
+     THE ECCENTRICS                                              307
+
+     DOUGLAS JERROLD'S CLUBS                                     308
+
+     CHESS CLUBS                                                 313
+
+
+     APPENDIX.
+
+     ALMACK'S                                                    316
+
+     CLUBS AT THE THATCHED HOUSE                                 318
+
+     KIT-KAT CLUB                                                319
+
+     WATIER'S CLUB                                               320
+
+     CLUBS OF 1814                                               321
+
+     GAMING-HOUSES KEPT BY LADIES                                323
+
+
+
+
+CLUB LIFE OF LONDON.
+
+
+
+
+ORIGIN OF CLUBS.
+
+
+The Club, in the general acceptation of the term, may be regarded as
+one of the earliest offshoots of Man's habitually gregarious and
+social inclination; and as an instance of that remarkable influence
+which, in an early stage of society, the powers of Nature exercise
+over the fortunes of mankind. It may not be traceable to the time
+
+     "When Adam dolve, and Eve span;"
+
+but, it is natural to imagine that concurrent with the force of
+numbers must have increased the tendency of men to associate for some
+common object. This may have been the enjoyment of the staple of life;
+for, our elegant Essayist, writing with ages of experience at his
+beck, has truly said, "all celebrated Clubs were founded upon eating
+and drinking, which are points where most men agree, and in which the
+learned and the illiterate, the dull and the airy, the philosopher and
+the buffoon, can all of them bear a part."
+
+For special proof of the antiquity of the practice it may suffice to
+refer to the polished Athenians, who had, besides their general
+_symposia_, friendly meetings, where every one sent his own portion of
+the feast, bore a proportionate part of the expense, or gave a pledge
+at a fixed price. A regard for clubbism existed even in Lycurgan
+Sparta: the public tables consisted generally of fifteen persons each,
+and all vacancies were filled up by ballot, in which unanimous consent
+was indispensable for election; and the other laws, as described by
+Plutarch, differ but slightly from those of modern Clubs. Justus
+Lipsius mentions a bonâ fide Roman Club, the members of which were
+bound by certain organized rules and regulations. Cicero records (_De
+Senectute_) the pleasure he took in frequenting the meetings of those
+social parties of his time, termed confraternities, where, according
+to a good old custom, a president was appointed; and he adds that the
+principal satisfaction he received from such entertainments, arose
+much less from the pleasures of the palate than from the opportunity
+thereby afforded him of enjoying excellent company and conversation.[1]
+
+The cognomen Club claims descent from the Anglo-Saxon; for Skinner
+derives it from _clifian, cleofian_ (our cleave), from the division of
+the reckoning among the guests around the table. The word signifies
+uniting to divide, like _clave_, including the correlative meanings to
+_adhere_ and to separate. "In conclusion, _Club_ is evidently, as far
+as form is concerned, derived from _cleave_" (to split), but in
+_signification_ it would seem to be more closely allied to _cleave_
+(to adhere). It is not surprising that two verbs, identical in form
+(in Eng.) and connected in signification, should sometimes
+coalesce.[2]
+
+To the Friday-street or more properly Bread-street Club, said to have
+been originated by Sir Walter Raleigh, was long assigned the priority
+of date in England; but we have an instance of two centuries earlier.
+In the reign of Henry IV., there was a Club called "La Court de bone
+Compagnie," of which the worthy old poet Occleve was a member, and
+probably Chaucer. In the works of the former are two ballads, written
+about 1413; one, a congratulation from the brethren to Henry Somer, on
+his appointment of the Sub-Treasurer of the Exchequer, and who
+received Chaucer's pension for him. In the other ballad, Occleve,
+after dwelling on some of their rules and observances, gives Somer
+notice that he is expected to be in the chair at their next meeting,
+and that the "styward" has warned him that he is
+
+                      "for the dyner arraye
+     Ageyn Thirsday next, and nat is delaye."
+
+That there were certain conditions to be observed by this Society,
+appears from the latter epistle, which commences with an answer to a
+letter of remonstrance the "Court" has received from Henry Somer,
+against some undue extravagance, and a breach of their rules.[3] This
+Society of four centuries and a half since was evidently a jovial
+company.
+
+Still, we do not yet find the term "Club." Mr. Carlyle, in his
+_History of Frederick the Great_, assumes that the vow of the Chivalry
+Orders--_Gelübde_--in vogue about A.D. 1190, "passed to us in a
+singularly dwindled condition: Club we now call it." To this it is
+objected that the mere resemblance in sound of _Gelübde_ and _Club_ is
+inconclusive, for the Orders of Templars, Hospitallers, and Prussian
+Knights, were never called clubs in England; and the origin of the
+noun need not be sought for beyond its verb to _club_, when persons
+joined in paying the cost of the mutual entertainment. Moreover,
+_Klubb_ in German means the social _club_; and that word is borrowed
+from the English, the native word being _Zeche_, which, from its root
+and compound, conveys the idea generally of joint expenditure, and
+specially in drinking.[4]
+
+About the end of the sixteenth or the beginning of the seventeenth
+century, there was established the famous Club at the Mermaid Tavern,
+in Bread-street, of which Shakspeare, Beaumont, Fletcher, Raleigh,
+Selden, Donne, &c., were members. Ben Jonson had a Club, of which he
+appears to have been the founder, that met at the Devil Tavern,
+between Middle-Temple gate and Temple Bar.
+
+Not until shortly after this date do we find the word Club. Aubrey
+says: "We now use the word _clubbe_ for a sodality in a taverne." In
+1659, Aubrey became a member of the Rota, a political Club, which met
+at the Turk's Head, in New Palace Yard: "here we had," says Aubrey,
+"(very formally) a _balloting box_, and balloted how things should be
+carried, by way of Tentamens. The room was every evening as full as
+it could be crammed."[5] Of this Rota political Club we shall
+presently say more. It is worthy of notice that politics were thus
+early introduced into English Club-life. Dryden, some twenty years
+after the above date, asks: "What right has any man to meet in
+factious Clubs to vilify the Government?"
+
+Three years after the Great Fire, in 1669, there was established in
+the City, the Civil Club, which exists to this day. All the members
+are citizens, and are proud of their Society, on account of its
+antiquity, and of its being the only Club which attaches to its staff
+the reputed office of a chaplain. The members appear to have first
+_clubbed_ together for the sake of mutual aid and support; but the
+name of the founder of the Club, and the circumstances of its origin,
+have unfortunately been lost with its early records. The time at which
+it was established was one of severe trials, when the Great Plague and
+the Great Fire had broken up much society, and many old associations;
+the object and recommendation being, as one of the rules express it,
+"that members should give preference to each other in their respective
+callings;" and that "but one person of the same trade or profession
+should be a member of the Club." This is the rule of the old
+middle-class clubs called "One of a Trade."
+
+The Civil Club met for many years at the Old Ship Tavern, in
+Water-lane, upon which being taken down, the Club removed to the New
+Corn Exchange Tavern, in Mark Lane. The records, which are extant,
+show among former members Parliament men, baronets, and aldermen; the
+chaplain is the incumbent of St. Olave-by-the-Tower, Hart-street. Two
+high carved chairs, bearing date 1669, are used by the stewards.
+
+At the time of the Revolution, the Treason Club, as it was commonly
+called, met at the Rose tavern, in Covent Garden, to consult with Lord
+Colchester, Mr. Thomas Wharton, Colonel Talmash, Colonel Godfrey, and
+many others of their party; and it was there resolved that the
+regiment under Lieutenant-Colonel Langstone's command should desert
+entire, as they did, on Sunday, Nov. 1688.[6]
+
+In Friday-street, Cheapside, was held the Wednesday Club, at which, in
+1695, certain conferences took place under the direction of William
+Paterson, which ultimately led to the establishment of the Bank of
+England. Such is the general belief; but Mr. Saxe Bannister, in his
+_Life of Paterson_, p. 93, observes: "It has been a matter of much
+doubt whether the Bank of England was originally proposed from a Club
+or Society in the City of London. The _Dialogue Conferences of the
+Wednesday Club_, in _Friday-street_, have been quoted as if first
+published in 1695. No such publication has been met with of a date
+before 1706;" and Mr. Bannister states his reasons for supposing it
+was not preceded by any other book. Still, Paterson wrote the papers
+entitled the _Wednesday Club Conferences_.
+
+Club is defined by Dr. Johnson to be "an assembly of good fellows,
+meeting under certain conditions;" but by Todd, "an association of
+persons subjected to particular rules." It is plain that the latter
+definition is at least not that of a Club, as distinguished from any
+other kind of association; although it may be more comprehensive than
+is necessary, to take in all the gatherings that in modern times have
+assumed the name of Clubs. Johnson's, however, is the more exact
+account of the true old English Club.
+
+The golden period of the Clubs was, however, in the time of the
+_Spectator_, in whose rich humour their memories are embalmed. "Man,"
+writes Addison, in No. 9, "is said to be a sociable animal; and as an
+instance of it we may observe, that we take all occasions and
+pretences of forming ourselves into those little nocturnal assemblies,
+which are commonly known by the name of Clubs. When a set of men find
+themselves agree in any particular, though never so trivial, they
+establish themselves into a kind of fraternity, and meet once or twice
+a week, upon the account of such a fantastic resemblance."
+
+Pall Mall was noted for its tavern Clubs more than two centuries
+since. "The first time that Pepys mentions Pell Mell," writes
+Cunningham, "is under the 26th of July, 1660, where he says 'We went
+to Wood's (our old house for clubbing), 'and there we spent till ten
+at night.' This is not only one of the earliest references to Pall
+Mall as an inhabited locality, but one of the earliest uses of the
+word 'clubbing,' in its modern signification of a Club, and
+additionally interesting, seeing that the street still maintains what
+Johnson would have called its 'clubbable' character."
+
+In _Spence's Anecdotes_ (_Supplemental_,) we read: "There was a Club
+held at the King's Head, in Pall Mall, that arrogantly called itself
+'The World.' Lord Stanhope, then (now Lord Chesterfield), Lord
+Herbert, &c., were members. Epigrams were proposed to be written on
+the glasses, by each member after dinner; once, when Dr. Young was
+invited thither, the Doctor would have declined writing, because he
+had no diamond: Lord Stanhope lent him his, and he wrote
+immediately--
+
+     "'Accept a miracle, instead of wit;
+     See two dull lines with Stanhope's pencil writ.'"
+
+The first modern Club mansion in Pall Mall was No. 86, opened as a
+subscription house, called the Albion Hotel. It was originally built
+for Edward Duke of York, brother of George III., and is now the office
+of Ordnance, (correspondence.)
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Sketch of the Rise and Progress of the Royal Society Club. 1860.
+(Not published.)
+
+[2] _Notes and Queries_, 3rd S. i. p. 295, in which is noted:--"A good
+illustration of the connexion between the ideas of _division_ and
+_union_ is afforded by the two equivalent words _partner_ and
+_associé_, the former pointing especially to the _division_ of
+profits, the latter to the community of interests."
+
+[3] _Notes and Queries_, No. 234, p. 383. Communicated by Mr. Edward
+Foss, F.S.A.
+
+[4] _Notes and Queries_, 2nd S., vol. xii. p. 386. Communicated by Mr.
+Buckton.
+
+[5] Memoir of Aubrey, by John Britton, qto., p. 36.
+
+[6] Macpherson's History of England, vol. iii.--Original papers.
+
+
+
+
+THE MERMAID CLUB.
+
+
+This famous Club was held at the Mermaid Tavern, which was long said
+to have stood in Friday-street, Cheapside; but Ben Jonson has, in his
+own verse, settled it in _Bread-street_:
+
+     "At Bread-street's Mermaid having dined and merry,
+     Proposed to go to Holborn in a wherry."
+
+     _Ben Jonson_, ed. _Gifford_, viii. 242.
+
+Mr. Hunter also, in his Notes on Shakspeare, tells us that "Mr.
+Johnson, at the Mermaid, in Bread-street, vintner, occurs as creditor
+for 17_s._ in a schedule annexed to the will of Albain Butler, of
+Clifford's Inn, gentleman, in 1603." Mr. Burn, in the _Beaufoy
+Catalogue_, also explains: "the Mermaid in Bread-street, the Mermaid
+in Friday-street, and the Mermaid in Cheap, were all one and the same.
+The tavern, situated behind, had a way to it from these thoroughfares,
+but was nearer to Bread-street than Friday-street." In a note, Mr.
+Burn adds: "The site of the Mermaid is clearly defined from the
+circumstance of W. R., a haberdasher of small wares, 'twixt
+Wood-street and Milk-street,' adopting the same sign 'over against the
+Mermaid Tavern in Cheapside.'" The Tavern was destroyed in the Great
+Fire.
+
+Here Sir Walter Raleigh is traditionally said to have instituted "The
+Mermaid Club." Gifford has thus described the Club, adopting the
+tradition and the Friday-street location: "About this time [1603]
+Jonson probably began to acquire that turn for conviviality for which
+he was afterwards noted. Sir Walter Raleigh, previously to his
+unfortunate engagement with the wretched Cobham and others, had
+instituted a meeting of _beaux esprits_ at the Mermaid, a celebrated
+tavern in Friday-street. Of this Club, which combined more talent and
+genius than ever met together before or since, our author was a
+member; and here for many years he regularly repaired, with
+Shakspeare, Beaumont, Fletcher, Selden, Cotton, Carew, Martin, Donne,
+and many others, whose names, even at this distant period, call up a
+mingled feeling of reverence and respect." But this is doubted. A
+writer in the _Athenæum_, Sept. 16, 1865, states: "The origin of the
+common tale of Raleigh founding the Mermaid Club, of which Shakspeare
+is said to have been a member, has not been traced. Is it older than
+Gifford?" Again: "Gifford's apparent invention of the Mermaid Club.
+Prove to us that Raleigh founded the Mermaid Club, that the wits
+attended it under his presidency, and you will have made a real
+contribution to our knowledge of Shakspeare's time, even if you fail
+to show that our Poet was a member of that Club." The tradition, it is
+thought, must be added to the long list of Shakspearian doubts.
+
+Nevertheless, Fuller has described the wit-combats between Shakspeare
+and Ben Jonson, "which he beheld," meaning with his mind's eye, for he
+was only eight years of age when Shakspeare died; "a circumstance,"
+says Mr. Charles Knight, "which appears to have been forgotten by some
+who have written of these matters." But we have a noble record left of
+the wit-combats in the celebrated epistle of Beaumont to Jonson:--
+
+     "Methinks the little wit I had is lost
+     Since I saw you; for wit is like a rest
+     Held up at tennis, which men do the best
+     With the best gamesters: what things have we seen
+     Done at the Mermaid! heard words that have been
+     So nimble, and so full of subtile flame,
+     As if that every one from whence they came
+     Had meant to put his whole wit in a jest,
+     And had resolv'd to live a fool the rest
+     Of his dull life; then when there hath been thrown
+     Wit able enough to justify the town
+     For three days past, wit that might warrant be
+     For the whole city to talk foolishly
+     'Till that were cancell'd: and when that was gone
+     We left an air behind us, which alone
+     Was able to make the two next companies
+     Right witty; though but downright fools, mere wise."
+
+
+
+
+THE APOLLO CLUB.
+
+
+The noted tavern, with the sign of St. Dunstan pulling the Devil by
+the nose, stood between Temple Bar and the Middle Temple gate. It was
+a house of great resort in the reign of James I., and then kept by
+Simon Wadloe.
+
+In Ben Jonson's _Staple of News_, played in 1625, Pennyboy Canter
+advises, to
+
+               "Dine in Apollo, with Pecunia
+     At brave Duke Wadloe's."
+
+Pennyboy junior replies--
+
+                     "Content, i' th' faith;
+     Our meal shall be brought thither; Simon the King
+     Will bid us welcome."
+
+At what period Ben Jonson began to frequent this tavern is not
+certain; but we have his record that he wrote _The Devil is an Asse_,
+played in 1616, when he and his boys (adopted sons) "drank bad wine at
+the Devil." The principal room was called "the Oracle of Apollo," a
+large room evidently built apart from the tavern; and from Prior's and
+Charles Montagu's _Hind and Panther Transversed_, it is shown to have
+been an upper apartment, or on the first story:--
+
+     "Hence to the Devil--
+     Thus to the place where Jonson sat, we climb,
+     Leaning on the same rail that guided him."
+
+Above the door was the bust of Apollo; and the following verses, "the
+Welcome," were inscribed in gold letters upon a black board, and
+"placed over the door at the entrance into the Apollo:
+
+     "Welcome all, who lead or follow,
+     To the _Oracle of Apollo_--
+     Here he speaks out of his pottle,
+     Or the tripos, his Tower bottle;
+     All his answers are divine,
+     Truth itself doth flow in wine.
+     Hang up all the poor hop-drinkers,
+     Cries old Sim the king of skinkers;
+     He that half of life abuses,
+     That sits watering with the Muses.
+     Those dull girls no good can mean us;
+     Wine it is the milk of Venus,
+     And the Poet's horse accounted:
+     Ply it, and you all are mounted.
+     'Tis the true Phoebeian liquor,
+     Cheers the brain, makes wit the quicker,
+     Pays all debts, cures all diseases,
+     And at once three senses pleases.
+     Welcome all, who lead or follow,
+     To the _Oracle of Apollo_."
+
+Beneath these verses was the name of the author, thus inscribed--"O
+Rare Ben Jonson," a posthumous tribute from his grave in Westminster
+Abbey. The bust appears modelled from the Apollo Belvedere, by some
+skillful person of the olden day, but has been several times painted.
+"The Welcome," originally inscribed in gold letters, on a thick
+black-painted board, has since been wholly repainted and gilded; but
+the old thickly-lettered inscription of Ben's day may be seen as an
+embossment upon the modern painted background. These poetic memorials
+are both preserved in the banking-house of the Messrs. Child.
+
+"The Welcome," says Mr. Burn, "it may be inferred, was placed in the
+interior of the room; so also, above the fireplace, were the Rules of
+the Club, said by early writers to have been inscribed in marble, but
+were in truth gilded letters upon a black-painted board, similar to
+the verses of the Welcome. These Rules are justly admired for the
+conciseness and elegance of the Latinity." They have been felicitously
+translated by Alexander Broome, one of the wits who frequented the
+Devil, and who was one of Ben Jonson's twelve adopted poetical sons.
+Latin inscriptions were also placed in other directions, to adorn the
+house. Over the clock in the kitchen, in 1731, there remained "_Si
+nocturna tibi noceat potatio vini, hoc in mane bibes iterum, et fuerit
+medicina_." Aubrey reports his uncle Danvers to have said that "Ben
+Jonson, to be near the Devil tavern, in King James's time, lived
+without Temple-barre, at a combemaker's shop, about the Elephant and
+Castle;" and James, Lord Scudamore has, in his _Homer à la Mode_, a
+travesty, said--
+
+               "Apollo had a flamen,
+     Who in's temple did say Amen."
+
+This personage certainly Ben Jonson represented in the great room of
+the Devil tavern. Hither came all who desired to be "sealed of the
+tribe of Ben." "The _Leges Conviviales_," says Leigh Hunt, "which
+Jonson wrote for his Club, and which are to be found in his works, are
+composed in his usual style of elaborate and compiled learning, not
+without a taste of that dictatorial self-sufficiency, which,
+notwithstanding all that has been said by his advocates, and the good
+qualities he undoubtedly possessed, forms an indelible part of his
+character. 'Insipida poemata,' says he, 'nulla _recitantur_' (Let
+nobody repeat to us insipid poetry); as if all that he should read of
+his own must infallibly be otherwise. The Club at the Devil does not
+appear to have resembled the higher one at the Mermaid, where
+Shakspeare and Beaumont used to meet him. He most probably had it all
+to himself."
+
+In the Rules of the Apollo Club, women of character were not excluded
+from attending the meetings--_Probæ feminæ non repudiantur_. Marmion,
+one of Jonson's contemporary dramatists, describes him in his
+presidential chair, as "the boon Delphic god:"--
+
+     "_Careless._            I am full
+     Of Oracles. I am come from Apollo.
+
+     _Emilia._ From Apollo!
+
+     _Careless._            From the heaven
+     Of my delight, where the boon Delphic god
+     Drinks sack, and keeps his bacchanalia,
+     And has his incense and his altars smoaking,
+     And speaks in sparkling prophecies; thence I come,
+     My brains perfumed with the rich Indian vapour,
+     And heightened with conceits. From tempting beauties,
+     From dainty music and poetic strains,
+     From bowls of nectar and ambrosial dishes,
+     From witty varlets, fine companions,
+     And from a mighty continent of pleasure,
+     Sails thy brave Careless."
+
+Randolph was by Ben Jonson, adopted for his son, and that upon the
+following occasion. "Mr. Randolph having been at London so long as
+that he might truly have had a parley with his _Empty Purse_, was
+resolved to see Ben Jonson, with his associates, which, as he heard,
+at a set time kept a Club together at the Devil Tavern, neere Temple
+Bar: accordingly, at the time appointed, he went thither, but being
+unknown to them, and wanting money, which to an ingenious spirit is
+the most daunting thing in the world, he peeped in the room where they
+were, which being espied by Ben Jonson, and seeing him in a scholar's
+threadbare habit, 'John Bo-peep,' says he, 'come in,' which
+accordingly he did; when immediately they began to rhyme upon the
+meanness of his clothes, asking him if he could not make a verse? and
+without to call for a quart of sack: there being four of them, he
+immediately thus replied,
+
+     "I, John Bo-peep, to you four sheep,--
+           With each one his good fleece;
+     If that you are willing to give me five shilling,
+           'Tis fifteen-pence a-piece."
+
+"By Jesus!" quoth Ben Jonson (his usual oath), "I believe this is my
+son Randolph;" which being made known to them, he was kindly
+entertained into their company, and Ben Jonson ever after called him
+son. He wrote _The Muses' Looking-glass_, _Cambridge Duns_, _Parley
+with his Empty Purse_, and other poems.
+
+We shall have more to say of the Devil Tavern, which has other
+celebrities besides Jonson.
+
+
+
+
+EARLY POLITICAL CLUBS.
+
+
+Our Clubs, or social gatherings, which date from the Restoration, were
+exclusively political. The first we hear of was the noted Rota, or
+Coffee Club, as Pepys calls it, which was founded in 1659, as a kind
+of debating society for the dissemination of republican opinions,
+which Harrington had painted in their fairest colours in his _Oceana_.
+It met in New Palace Yard, "where they take water at one Miles's, the
+next house to the staires, where was made purposely a large ovall
+table, with a passage in the middle for Miles to deliver his coffee."
+Here Harrington gave nightly lectures on the advantage of a
+commonwealth and of the ballot. The Club derived its name from a plan,
+which it was its design to promote, for changing a certain number of
+Members of Parliament annually by _rotation_. Sir William Petty was
+one of its members. Round the table, "in a room every evening as full
+as it could be crammed," says Aubrey, sat Milton and Marvell, Cyriac
+Skinner, Harrington, Nevill, and their friends, discussing abstract
+political questions. Aubrey calls them "disciples and virtuosi." The
+place had its dissensions and brawls: "one time Mr. Stafford and his
+friends came in drunk from the tavern, and affronted the Junto; the
+soldiers offered to kick them down stayres, but Mr. Harrington's
+moderation and persuasion hindered it."
+
+To the Rota, in January, 1660, came Pepys, and "heard very good
+discourse in answer to Mr. Harrington's answer, who said that the
+state of the Roman government was not a settled government; and so it
+was no wonder the balance of prosperity was in one hand, and the
+command in another, it being therefore always in a posture of war: but
+it was carried by ballot that it was a steady government; though, it
+is true, by the voices it had been carried before that, that it was an
+unsteady government. So to-morrow it is to be proved by the opponents
+that the balance lay in one hand and the government in another." The
+Club was broken up after the Restoration; but its members had become
+marked men. Harrington's _Oceana_ is an imaginary account of the
+construction of a commonwealth in a country, of which Oceana is the
+imaginary name. "Rota-men" occurs by way of comparison in _Hudibras_,
+part ii. canto 3:
+
+     "But Sidrophel, as full of tricks
+     As Rota-men of politics."
+
+Besides the Rota, there was the old Royalist Club, "The Sealed Knot,"
+which, the year before the Restoration, had organized a general
+insurrection in favour of the King. Unluckily, they had a spy amongst
+them--Sir Richard Willis,--who had long fingered Cromwell's money, as
+one of his private "intelligencers;" the leaders, on his information,
+were arrested, and committed to prison.
+
+
+
+
+THE OCTOBER CLUB.
+
+
+The writer of an excellent paper in the _National Review_, No. VIII.,
+well observes that "Politics under Anne had grown a smaller and less
+dangerous game than in the preceding century. The original political
+Clubs of the Commonwealth, the Protectorate, and the Restoration,
+plotted revolutions of government. The Parliamentary Clubs, after the
+Revolution of 1688, manoeuvred for changes of administration. The
+high-flying Tory country gentleman and country member drank the health
+of the King--sometimes over the water-decanter, and flustered himself
+with bumpers in honour of Dr. Sacheverell and the Church of England,
+with true-blue spirits of his own kidney, at the October Club," which,
+like the Beef Steak Club, was named after the cheer for which it was
+famed,--_October ale_; or rather, on account of the quantities of the
+ale which the members drank. The hundred and fifty squires, Tories to
+the backbone, who, under the above name, met at the Bell Tavern, in
+King Street, Westminster, were of opinion that the party to which they
+belonged were too backward in punishing and turning out the Whigs; and
+they gave infinite trouble to the Tory administration which came into
+office under the leadership of Harley, St. John, and Harcourt, in
+1710. The Administration were for proceeding moderately with their
+rivals, and for generally replacing opponents with partisans. The
+October Club were for immediately impeaching every member of the Whig
+party, and for turning out, without a day's grace, every placeman who
+did not wear their colours, and shout their cries.
+
+Swift was great at the October Club, and he was employed to talk over
+those who were amenable to reason, and to appease a discontent which
+was hastily ripening into mutiny. There are allusions to such
+negotiations in more than one passage of the _Journal to Stella_, in
+1711. In a letter, February 10, 1710-11, he says: "We are plagued here
+with an October Club; that is, a set of above a hundred Parliament men
+of the country, who drink October beer at home, and meet every evening
+at a tavern near the Parliament, to consult affairs, and drive things
+on to extremes against the Whigs, to call the old ministry to account,
+and get off five or six heads." Swift's _Advice humbly offered to the
+Members of the October Club_, had the desired effect of softening
+some, and convincing others, until the whole body of malcontents was
+first divided and finally dissolved. The treatise is a masterpiece of
+Swift's political skill, judiciously palliating those ministerial
+errors which could not be denied, and artfully intimating those
+excuses, which, resting upon the disposition of Queen Anne herself,
+could not, in policy or decency, be openly pleaded.
+
+The red-hot "tantivies," for whose loyalty the October Club was not
+thorough-going enough, seceded from the original body, and formed "the
+March Club," more Jacobite and rampant in its hatred of the Whigs,
+than the Society from which it branched.
+
+King Street would, at this time, be a strange location for a
+Parliamentary Club, like the October; narrow and obscure as is the
+street, we must remember that a century ago, it was the only
+thoroughfare to the Palace at Westminster and the Houses of
+Parliament. When the October was broken up, the portrait of Queen
+Anne, by Dahl, which ornamented the club-room, was bought of the Club,
+after the Queen's death, by the Corporation of Salisbury, and may
+still be seen in their Council-chamber. (Cunningham's _Handbook_, 2nd
+edit., p. 364.)
+
+
+
+
+THE SATURDAY, AND BROTHERS CLUBS.
+
+
+Few men appear to have so well studied the social and political
+objects of Club-life as Dean Swift. One of his resorts was the old
+Saturday Club. He tells Stella (to whom he specially reported most of
+his club arrangements), in 1711, there were "Lord Keeper, Lord Rivers,
+Mr. Secretary, Mr. Harley, and I." Of the same Club he writes, in
+1713: "I dined with Lord Treasurer, and shall again to-morrow, which
+is his day, when all the ministers dine with him. He calls it
+whipping-day. It is always on Saturday; and we do, indeed, rally him
+about his faults on that day. I was of the original Club, when only
+poor Lord Rivers, Lord Keeper, and Lord Bolingbroke came; but now
+Ormond, Anglesey, Lord Stewart, Dartmouth, and other rabble intrude,
+and I scold at it; but now they pretend as good a title as I; and,
+indeed, many Saturdays I am not there. The company being too many, I
+don't love it."
+
+In the same year Swift framed the rules of the Brothers Club, which
+met every Thursday. "The end of our Club," he says, "is to advance
+conversation and friendship, and to reward learning without interest
+or recommendation. We take in none but men of wit, or men of interest;
+and if we go on as we began, no other Club in this town will be worth
+talking of."
+
+The Journal about this time is very full of _Brothers_ Arran and
+Dupplin, Masham and Ormond, Bathurst and Harcourt, Orrery and Jack
+Hill, and other Tory magnates of the Club, or Society as Swift
+preferred to call it. We find him entertaining his "Brothers" at the
+Thatched House Tavern, in St. James's Street, at the cost of seven
+good guineas. He must have been an influential member; he writes: "We
+are now, in all, nine lords and ten commoners. The Duke of Beaufort
+had the confidence to propose his brother-in-law, the Earl of Danby,
+to be a member; but I opposed it so warmly, that it was waived. Danby
+is not above twenty, and we will have no more boys; and we want but
+two to make up our number. I staid till eight, and then we all went
+away soberly. The Duke of Ormond's treat last week cost £20, though it
+was only four dishes and four without a dessert; and I bespoke it in
+order to be cheap. Yet I could not prevail to change the house. Lord
+Treasurer is in a rage with us for being so extravagant; and the wine
+was not reckoned neither, for that is always brought in by him that is
+president."
+
+Not long after this, Swift writes: "Our Society does not meet now as
+usual; for which I am blamed; but till Treasurer will agree to give us
+money and employments to bestow, I am averse to it, and he gives us
+nothing but promises. We now resolve to meet but once a fortnight, and
+have a committee every other week of six or seven, to consult about
+doing _some good_. I proposed another message to Lord Treasurer by
+three principal members, to give a hundred guineas to a certain
+person, and they are to urge it as well as they can."
+
+One day, President Arbuthnot gives the Society a dinner, dressed in
+the Queen's kitchen: "we eat it in Ozinda's Coffee-house just by St.
+James's. We were never merrier or better company, and did not part
+till after eleven." In May, we hear how "fifteen of our Society dined
+together under a canopy in an arbour at Parson's Green last Thursday.
+I never saw anything so fine and romantic."
+
+Latterly, the Club removed to the Star and Garter, in Pall Mall, owing
+to the dearness of the Thatched House; after this, the expense was
+wofully complained of. At these meetings, we may suppose, the
+literature of politics formed the staple of the conversation. The last
+epigram, the last pamphlet, the last _Examiner_, would be discussed
+with keen relish; and Swift mentions one occasion on which an
+impromptu subscription was got up for a poet, who had lampooned
+Marlborough; on which occasion all the company subscribed two guineas
+each, except Swift himself, Arbuthnot, and Friend, who only gave one.
+Bolingbroke, who was an active member, and Swift, were on a footing of
+great familiarity. St. John used to give capital dinners and plenty of
+champagne and burgundy to his literary coadjutor, who never ceased to
+wonder at the ease with which our Secretary got through his labours,
+and who worked for him in turn with the sincerest devotion, though
+always asserting his equality in the sturdiest manner.
+
+Many pleasant glimpses of convivial meetings are afforded in the
+_Journal to Stella_, when there was "much drinking, little thinking,"
+and the business which they had met to consider was deferred to a more
+convenient season. Whether (observes a contemporary) the power of
+conversation has declined or not, we certainly fear that the power of
+drinking has; and the imagination dwells with melancholy fondness on
+that state of society in which great men were not forbidden to be good
+fellows, which we fancy, whether rightly or wrongly, must have been so
+superior to ours, in which wit and eloquence succumb to statistics,
+and claret has given place to coffee.
+
+The _Journal to Stella_ reveals Swift's sympathy for poor starving
+authors, and how he carried out the objects of the Society, in this
+respect. Thus, he goes to see "a poor poet, one Mr. Diaper, in a nasty
+garret, very sick," described in the Journal as "the author of the
+_Sea Eclogues_, poems of Mermen, resembling pastorals and shepherds;
+and they are very pretty, and the thought is new." Then Swift tells us
+he thinks to recommend Diaper to the Society; he adds, "I must do
+something for him, and get him out of the way. I hate to have any new
+wits rise; but when they do rise, I would encourage them; but they
+tread on our heels, and thrust us off the stage." Only a few days
+before, Swift had given Diaper twenty guineas from Lord Bolingbroke.
+
+Then we get at the business of "the Brothers," when we learn that the
+printer attended the dinners; and the Journal tells us: "There was
+printed a Grub-street speech of Lord Nottingham, and he was such an
+owl to complain of it in the House of Lords, who have taken up the
+printer for it. I heard at Court that Walpole, (a great Whig member,)
+said that I and my whimsical Club writ it at one of our meetings, and
+that I should pay for it. He will find he lies; and I shall let him
+know by a third hand my thoughts of him." ... "To-day I published _The
+Fable of Midas_, a poem printed on a loose half-sheet of paper. I know
+not how it will take; but it passed wonderfully at our Society
+to-night." At one dinner, the printer's news is that the Chancellor of
+the Exchequer had sent Mr. Adisworth, the author of the _Examiner_,
+twenty guineas.
+
+There were gay sparks among "the Brothers," as Colonel or "Duke"
+Disney, "a fellow of abundance of humour, an old battered rake, but
+very honest; not an old man, but an old rake. It was he that said of
+Jenny Kingdown, the maid of honour, who is a little old, 'that since
+she could not get a husband, the Queen should give her a brevet to act
+as a married woman.'"--_Journal to Stella._
+
+
+
+
+THE SCRIBLERUS CLUB.
+
+
+"The Brothers," as we have already seen, was a political Club, which,
+having, in great measure served its purpose, was broken up. Next year,
+1714, Swift was again in London, and in place of "the Brothers,"
+formed the celebrated "Scriblerus Club," an association rather of a
+literary than a political character. Oxford and St. John, Swift,
+Arbuthnot, Pope, and Gay, were members. Satire upon the abuse of human
+learning was their leading object. The name originated as follows.
+Oxford used playfully to call Swift _Martin_, and from this sprung
+Martinus Scriblerus. _Swift_, as is well known, is the name of one
+species of swallow, (the largest and most powerful flier of the
+tribe,) and Martin is the name of another species, the wall-swallow,
+which constructs its nest in buildings.
+
+Part of the labours of the Society has been preserved in _P. P._,
+_Clerk of the Parish_, the most memorable satire upon Burnet's
+_History of his Own Time_, and part has been rendered immortal by the
+_Travels of Lemuel Gulliver_; but, says Sir Walter Scott, in his _Life
+of Swift_, "the violence of political faction, like a storm that
+spares the laurel no more than the cedar, dispersed this little band
+of literary brethren, and prevented the accomplishment of a task for
+which talents so various, so extended, and so brilliant, can never
+again be united."
+
+Oxford and Bolingbroke, themselves accomplished scholars, patrons and
+friends both of the persons and to genius thus associated, led the
+way, by their mutual animosity, to the dissolution of the
+confraternity. Their discord had now risen to the highest pitch. Swift
+tried the force of humorous expostulation in his fable of the Fagot,
+where the ministers are called upon to contribute their various badges
+of office, to make the bundle strong and secure. But all was in vain;
+and, at length, tired with this scene of murmuring and discontent,
+quarrel, misunderstanding, and hatred, the Dean, who was almost the
+only common friend who laboured to compose these differences, made a
+final effort at reconciliation; but his scheme came to nothing, and
+Swift retreated from the scene of discord, without taking part with
+either of his contending friends, and went to the house of the
+Reverend Mr. Gery, at Upper Letcombe, Berkshire, where he resided for
+some weeks, in the strictest seclusion. This secession of Swift, from
+the political world excited the greatest surprise: the public
+wondered,--the party writers exulted in a thousand ineffectual libels
+against the retreating champion of the high church,--and his friends
+conjured him in numerous letters to return and reassume the task of a
+peacemaker; this he positively declined.
+
+
+
+
+THE CALVES' HEAD CLUB.
+
+
+The Calves' Head Club, in "ridicule of the memory of Charles I.," has
+a strange history. It is first noticed in a tract reprinted in the
+_Harleian Miscellany_. It is entitled "_The Secret History of the
+Calves' Head Club; or the Republican unmasked_. _Wherein is fully
+shown the Religion of the Calves' Head Heroes, in their Anniversary
+Thanksgiving Songs on the 30th of January, by them called Anthems, for
+the years 1693, 1694, 1695, 1696, 1697. Now published to demonstrate
+the restless implacable Spirit of a certain party still amongst us,
+who are never to be satisfied until the present Establishment in
+Church and State is subverted._ The Second Edition. London, 1703." The
+Author of this _Secret History_, supposed to be Ned Ward, attributed
+the origin of the Club to Milton, and some other friends of the
+Commonwealth, in opposition to Bishop Nixon, Dr. Sanderson, and
+others, who met privately every 30th of January, and compiled a
+private form of service for the day, not very different from that long
+used. "After the Restoration," says the writer, "the eyes of the
+government being upon the whole party, they were obliged to meet with
+a great deal of precaution; but in the reign of King William they met
+almost in a public manner, apprehending no danger." The writer further
+tells us, he was informed that it was kept in no fixed house, but that
+they moved as they thought convenient. The place where they met when
+his informant was with them was in a blind alley near Moorfields,
+where an axe hung up in the club-room, and was reverenced as a
+principal symbol in this diabolical sacrament. Their bill of fare was
+a large dish of calves' heads, dressed several ways, by which they
+represented the king and his friends who had suffered in his cause; a
+large pike, with a small one in his mouth, as an emblem of tyranny; a
+large cod's head, by which they intended to represent the person of
+the king singly; a boar's head with an apple in its mouth, to
+represent the king by this as bestial, as by their other hieroglyphics
+they had done foolish and tyrannical. After the repast was over, one
+of their elders presented an _Icon Basilike_, which was with great
+solemnity burnt upon the table, whilst the other anthems were singing.
+After this, another produced Milton's _Defensio Populi Anglicani_,
+upon which all laid their hands, and made a protestation in form of an
+oath for ever to stand by and maintain the same. The company only
+consisted of Independents and Anabaptists; and the famous Jeremy
+White, formerly chaplain to Oliver Cromwell, who no doubt came to
+sanctify with his pious exhortations the ribaldry of the day, said
+grace. After the table-cloth was removed, the anniversary anthem, as
+they impiously called it, was sung, and a calf's skull filled with
+wine, or other liquor; and then a brimmer went about to the pious
+memory of those worthy patriots who had killed the tyrant and relieved
+their country from his arbitrary sway: and, lastly, a collection was
+made for the mercenary scribbler, to which every man contributed
+according to his zeal for the cause and ability of his purse.
+
+The tract passed, with many augmentations as valueless as the original
+trash, through no less than nine editions, the last dated 1716.
+Indeed, it would appear to be a literary fraud, to keep alive the
+calumny. All the evidence produced concerning the meetings is from
+hearsay: the writer of the _Secret History_ had never himself been
+present at the Club; and his friend from whom he professes to have
+received his information, though a Whig, had no personal knowledge of
+the Club. The slanderous rumour about Milton having to do with the
+institution of the Club may be passed over as unworthy of notice, this
+untrustworthy tract being the only authority for it. Lowndes says,
+"this miserable tract has been attributed to the author of
+_Hudibras_;" but it is altogether unworthy of him.
+
+Observances, insulting to the memory of Charles I., were not
+altogether unknown. Hearne tells us that on the 30th of January,
+1706-7, some young men in All Souls College, Oxford, dined together at
+twelve o'clock, and amused themselves with cutting off the heads of a
+number of woodcocks, "in contempt of the memory of the blessed
+martyr." They tried to get calves'-heads, but the cook refused to
+dress them.
+
+Some thirty years after, there occurred a scene which seemed to give
+colour to the truth of the _Secret History_. On January 30, 1735,
+"Some young noblemen and gentlemen met at a tavern in Suffolk-street,
+called themselves the Calves' Head Club, dressed up a calf's head in
+a napkin, and after some hurras threw it into a bonfire, and dipped
+napkins in their red wine and waved them out of the window. The mob
+had strong beer given them, and for a time hallooed as well as the
+best, but taking disgust at some healths proposed, grew so outrageous
+that they broke all the windows, and forced themselves into the house;
+but the guards being sent for, prevented further mischief. The _Weekly
+Chronicle_ of February 1, 1735, states that the damage was estimated
+at 'some hundred pounds,' and that the guards were posted all night in
+the street, for the security of the neighbourhood."
+
+In L'Abbé Le Blanc's Letters we find this account of the
+affair:--"Some young men of quality chose to abandon themselves to the
+debauchery of drinking healths on the 30th of January, a day appointed
+by the Church of England for a general fast, to expiate the murder of
+Charles I., whom they honour as a martyr. As soon as they were heated
+with wine, they began to sing. This gave great offence to the people,
+who stopped before the tavern, and gave them abusive language. One of
+these rash young men put his head out of the window and drank to the
+memory of the army which dethroned this King, and to the rebels which
+cut off his head upon a scaffold. The stones immediately flew from all
+parts, the furious populace broke the windows of the house, and would
+have set fire to it; and these silly young men had a great deal of
+difficulty to save themselves."
+
+Miss Banks tells us that "Lord Middlesex, Lord Boyne, and Mr.
+Seawallis Shirley, were certainly present; probably, Lord John
+Sackville, Mr. Ponsonby, afterwards Lord Besborough, was not there.
+Lord Boyne's finger was broken by a stone which came in at the window.
+Lord Harcourt was supposed to be present." Horace Walpole adds: "The
+mob destroyed part of the house; Sir William (called Hellfire)
+Stanhope was one of the members."
+
+This riotous occurrence was the occasion of some verses in _The
+Grub-street Journal_, from which the following lines may be quoted as
+throwing additional light on the scene:--
+
+     "Strange times! when noble peers, secure from riot,
+     Can't keep Noll's annual festival in quiet,
+     Through sashes broke, dirt, stones, and brands thrown at 'em,
+     Which, if not scand- was _brand-alum magnatum_.
+     Forced to run down to vaults for safer quarters,
+     And in coal-holes their ribbons hide and garters.
+     They thought their feast in dismal fray thus ending,
+     Themselves to shades of death and hell descending;
+     This might have been, had stout Clare Market mobsters,
+     With cleavers arm'd, outmarch'd St. James's lobsters;
+     Numskulls they'd split, to furnish other revels,
+     And make a Calves'-head Feast for worms and devils."
+
+The manner in which Noll's (Oliver Cromwell's) "annual festival" is
+here alluded to, seems to show that the bonfire, with the calf's-head
+and other accompaniments, had been exhibited in previous years. In
+confirmation of this fact, there exists a print entitled _The True
+Effigies of the Members of the Calves'-Head Club, held on the 30th of
+January, 1734, in Suffolk Street, in the County of Middlesex_; being
+the year before the riotous occurrence above related. This print shows
+a bonfire in the centre of the foreground, with the mob; in the
+background, a house with three windows, the central window exhibiting
+two men, one of whom is about to throw the calf's-head into the
+bonfire below. The window on the right shows three persons drinking
+healths; that on the left, two other persons, one of whom wears a
+mask, and has an axe in his hand.
+
+There are two other prints, one engraved by the father of Vandergucht,
+from a drawing by Hogarth.
+
+After the tablecloth was removed (says the author), an anniversary
+anthem was sung, and a calf's-skull filled with wine or other liquor,
+and out of which the company drank to the pious memory of those worthy
+patriots who had killed the tyrant; and lastly, a collection was made
+for the writer of the anthem, to which every man contributed according
+to his zeal or his means. The concluding lines of the anthem for the
+year 1697 are as follow:--
+
+     "Advance the emblem of the action,
+       Fill the calf's skull full of wine;
+     Drinking ne'er was counted faction,
+       Men and gods adore the vine.
+     To the heroes gone before us,
+       Let's renew the flowing bowl;
+     While the lustre of their glories
+       Shines like stars from pole to pole."
+
+The laureate of the Club and of this doggrel was Benjamin Bridgwater,
+who, alluding to the observance of the 30th of January by zealous
+Royalists, wrote:--
+
+     "They and we, this day observing,
+       Differ only in one thing;
+     They are canting, whining, starving;
+       We, rejoicing, drink, and sing."
+
+Among Swift's poems will be remembered "Roland's Invitation to Dismal
+to dine with the Calf's-Head Club":--
+
+     "While an alluding hymn some artist sings,
+     We toast 'Confusion to the race of kings.'"
+
+Wilson, in his Life of De Foe, doubts the truthfulness of Ward's
+narrative, but adds: "In the frighted mind of a high-flying churchman,
+which was continually haunted by such scenes, the caricature would
+easily pass for a likeness." "It is probable," adds the honest
+biographer of De Foe, "that the persons thus collected together to
+commemorate the triumph of their principles, although in a manner
+dictated by bad taste, and outrageous to humanity, would have confined
+themselves to the ordinary methods of eating and drinking, if it had
+not been for the ridiculous farce so generally acted by the Royalists
+upon the same day. The trash that issued from the pulpit in this
+reign, upon the 30th of January, was such as to excite the worst
+passions in the hearers. Nothing can exceed the grosness of language
+employed upon these occasions. Forgetful even of common decorum, the
+speakers ransacked the vocabulary of the vulgar for terms of
+vituperation, and hurled their anathemas with wrath and fury against
+the objects of their hatred. The terms rebel and fanatic were so often
+upon their lips, that they became the reproach of honest men, who
+preferred the scandal to the slavery they attempted to establish.
+Those who could profane the pulpit with so much rancour in the support
+of senseless theories, and deal it out to the people for religion, had
+little reason to complain of a few absurd men who mixed politics and
+calves' heads at a tavern; and still less, to brand a whole religious
+community with their actions."
+
+The strange story was believed till our own time, when it was fully
+disproved by two letters written a few days after the riotous
+occurrence, by Mr. A. Smyth, to Mr. Spence, and printed in the
+Appendix to his _Anecdotes_, 2nd edit. 1858: in one it is stated,
+"The affair has been grossly misrepresented all over the town, and in
+most of the public papers: there was no calf's-head exposed at the
+window, and afterwards thrown into the fire, no napkins dipt in claret
+to represent blood, nor nothing that could give any colour to any such
+reports. The meeting (at least with regard to our friends) was
+entirely accidental," etc. The second letter alike contradicts the
+whole story; and both attribute much of the disturbance to the
+unpopularity of the Administration; their health being unluckily
+proposed, raised a few faint claps but a general hiss, and then the
+disturbance began. A letter from Lord Middlesex to Spence, gives a
+still fuller account of the affair. By the style of the letter one may
+judge what sort of heads the members had, and what was reckoned the
+polite way of speaking to a waiter in those days:--
+
+     "Whitehall, Feb. ye 9th, 1735.
+
+"Dear _Spanco_,--I don't in the least doubt but long before this time
+the noise of the riot on the 30th of January has reached you at
+Oxford; and though there has been as many lies and false reports
+raised upon the occasion in this good city as any reasonable man could
+expect, yet I fancy even those may be improved or increased before
+they come to you. Now, that you may be able to defend your friends (as
+I don't in the least doubt you have an inclination to do), I'll send
+you the matter of fact literally and truly as it happened, upon my
+honour. Eight of us happened to meet together the 30th of January, it
+might have been the 10th of June, or any other day in the year, but
+the mixture of the company has convinced most reasonable people by
+this time that it was not a designed or premeditated affair. We met,
+then, as I told you before, by chance upon this day, and after dinner,
+having drunk very plentifully, especially some of the company, some of
+us going to the window unluckily saw a little nasty fire made by some
+boys in the street, of straw I think it was, and immediately cried
+out, 'D--n it, why should not we have a fire as well as anybody else?'
+Up comes the drawer, 'D--n you, you rascal, get us a bonfire.' Upon
+which the imprudent puppy runs down, and without making any difficulty
+(which he might have done by a thousand excuses, and which if he had,
+in all probability, some of us would have come more to our senses),
+sends for the faggots, and in an instant behold a large fire blazing
+before the door. Upon which some of us, wiser, or rather soberer than
+the rest, bethinking themselves then, for the first time, what day it
+was, and fearing the consequences a bonfire on that day might have,
+proposed drinking loyal and popular healths to the mob (out of the
+window), which by this time was very great, in order to convince them
+we did not intend it as a ridicule upon that day. The healths that
+were drank out of the window were these, and these only: The King,
+Queen, and Royal Family, the Protestant Succession, Liberty and
+Property, the present Administration. Upon which the first stone was
+flung, and then began our siege: which, for the time it lasted, was at
+least as furious as that of Philipsbourg; it was more than an hour
+before we got any assistance; the more sober part of us, doing this,
+had a fine time of it, fighting to prevent fighting; in danger of
+being knocked on the head by the stones that came in at the windows;
+in danger of being run through by our mad friends, who, sword in hand,
+swore they would go out, though they first made their way through us.
+At length the justice, attended by a strong body of guards, came and
+dispersed the populace. The person who first stirred up the mob is
+known; he first gave them money, and then harangued them in a most
+violent manner; I don't know if he did not fling the first stone
+himself. He is an Irishman and a priest, and belonging to Imberti, the
+Venetian Envoy. This is the whole story from which so many calves'
+heads, bloody napkins, and the Lord knows what, has been made; it has
+been the talk of the town and the country, and small beer and bread
+and cheese to my friends the garretteers in Grub-street, for these few
+days past. I, as well as your friends, hope to see you soon in town.
+After so much prose, I can't help ending with a few verses:--
+
+     "O had I lived in merry Charles's days,
+     When dull the wise were called, and wit had praise;
+     When deepest politics could never pass
+     For aught, but surer tokens of an ass;
+     When not the frolicks of one drunken night
+     Could touch your honour, make your fame less bright;
+     Tho' mob-form'd scandal rag'd, and Papal spight."
+
+     "MIDDLESEX."
+
+To sum up, the whole affair was a hoax, kept alive by the pretended
+"Secret History." An accidental riot, following a debauch on one 30th
+of January, has been distributed between two successive years, owing
+to a misapprehension of the mode of reckoning time prevalent in the
+early part of the last century; and there is no more reason for
+believing in the existence of a Calves' Head Club in 1734-5 than there
+is for believing it exists in 1864.
+
+
+
+
+THE KING'S HEAD CLUB.
+
+
+Another Club of this period was the "Club of Kings," or "the King
+Club," all the members of which were called "King." Charles himself
+was an honorary member.
+
+A more important Club was "the King's Head Club," instituted for
+affording the Court and Government support, and to influence
+Protestant zeal: it was designed by the unscrupulous Shaftesbury: the
+members were a sort of Decembrists of their day; but they failed in
+their aim, and ultimately expired under the ridicule of being
+designated "Hogs in armour." "The gentlemen of that worthy Society,"
+says Roger North, in his _Examen_, "held their evening sessions
+continually at the King's Head Tavern, over against the Inner Temple
+Gate. But upon the occasion of the signal of a _green ribbon_, agreed
+to be worn in their hats in the days of _street engagements_, like the
+coats-of-arms of valiant knights of old, whereby all warriors of the
+Society might be distinguished, and not mistake friends for enemies,
+they were called also the _Green Ribbon Club_. Their seat was in a
+sort of _Carfour_ at Chancery-lane end, a centre of business and
+company most proper for such anglers of fools. The house was double
+balconied in the front, as may be yet seen, for the clubsters to issue
+forth in fresco with hats and no peruques; pipes in their mouths,
+merry faces, and diluted throats, for vocal encouragement of the
+_canaglia_ below, at bonfires, on usual and unusual occasions. They
+admitted all strangers that were confidingly introduced; for it was a
+main end of their Institution to make proselytes, especially of the
+raw estated youth, newly come to town. This copious Society were to
+the faction in and about London a sort of executive power, and, by
+correspondence, all over England. The resolves of the more retired
+councils of the ministry of the Faction were brought in here, and
+orally insinuated to the company, whether it were lyes, defamations,
+commendations, projects, etc., and so, like water diffused, spread all
+over the town; whereby that which was digested at the Club over night,
+was, like nourishment, at every assembly, male and female, the next
+day:--and thus the younglings tasted of political administration, and
+took themselves for notable counsellors."
+
+North regarded the Green Ribbon Club as the focus of disaffection and
+sedition, but his mere opinions are not to be depended on. Walpole
+calls him "the voluminous squabbler in behalf of the most
+unjustifiable excesses of Charles the Second's Administration."
+Nevertheless, his relation of facts is very curious, and there is no
+reason to discredit his account of those popular "routs," to use his
+own phrase, to which he was an eyewitness.
+
+The conversation and ordinary discourse of the Club, he informs us,
+"was chiefly upon the subject of _Braveur_, in defending the cause of
+Liberty and Property; what every true Protestant and Englishman ought
+to venture to do, rather than be overpowered with Popery and Slavery."
+They were provided with silk armour for defence, "against the time
+that Protestants were to be massacred," and, in order "to be
+assailants upon fair occasion," they had recommended to them, "a
+certain pocket weapon which, for its design and efficacy, had the
+honour to be called a _Protestant Flail_. The handles resembled a
+farrier's blood-stick, and the fall was joined to the end by a strong
+nervous ligature, that, in its swing, fell just short of the hand, and
+was made of _Lignum Vitæ_, or rather, as the Poets termed it,
+_Mortis_." This engine was "for street and crowd-work, and lurking
+perdue in a coat-pocket, might readily sally out to execution; and so,
+by clearing a great Hall or Piazza, or so, carry an Election by choice
+of Polling, called _knocking down_!" The _armour_ of the _hogs_ is
+further described as "silken back, breast, and potts, that were
+pretended to be pistol-proof, in which any man dressed up was as safe
+as in a house, for it was impossible any one would go to strike him
+for laughing, so ridiculous was the figure, as they say, of _hogs in
+armour_."
+
+In describing the Pope-burning procession of the 17th of November,
+1680, Roger North says, that "the Rabble first changed their title,
+and were called _the Mob_ in the assemblies of this Club. It was their
+Beast of Burthen, and called first, _mobile vulgus_, but fell
+naturally into the contraction of one syllable, and ever since is
+become proper English."
+
+We shall not describe these Processions: the grand object was the
+burning of figures, prepared for the occasion, and brought by the Mob
+in procession, from the further end of London with "staffiers and
+link-boys, sounding," and "coming up near to the Club-Quality in the
+balconies, against which was provided a huge bonfire;" "and then,
+after numerous platoons and volleys of squibs discharged, these
+_Bamboches_ were, with redoubled noise, committed to the flames."
+These outrageous celebrations were suppressed in 1683.
+
+
+
+
+STREET CLUBS.
+
+
+During the first quarter of the last century, there were formed in the
+metropolis "Street Clubs," of the inhabitants of the same street; so
+that a man had but to stir a few houses from his own door to enjoy his
+Club and the society of his neighbours. There was another inducement:
+the streets were then so unsafe, that "the nearer home a man's club
+lay, the better for his clothes and his purse. Even riders in coaches
+were not safe from mounted footpads, and from the danger of upsets in
+the huge ruts and pits which intersected the streets. The passenger
+who could not afford a coach had to pick his way, after dark, along
+the dimly-lighted, ill-paved thoroughfares, seamed by filthy open
+kennels, besprinkled from projecting spouts, bordered by gaping
+cellars, guarded by feeble old watchmen, and beset with daring
+street-robbers. But there were worse terrors of the night than the
+chances of a splashing or a sprain,--risks beyond those of an
+interrogatory by the watch, or of a 'stand and deliver' from a
+footpad." These were the lawless rake-hells who, banded into clubs,
+spread terror and dismay through the streets. Sir John Fielding, in
+his cautionary book, published in 1776, described the dangerous
+attacks of intemperate rakes in hot blood, who, occasionally and by
+way of bravado, scour the streets, to show their manhood, not their
+humanity; put the watch to flight; and now and then murdered some
+harmless, inoffensive person. Thus, although there are in London no
+ruffians and bravos, as in some parts of Spain and Italy, who will
+kill for hire, yet there is no resisting anywhere the wild sallies of
+youth, and the extravagances that flow from debauchery and wine. One
+of our poets has given a necessary caution, especially to strangers,
+in the following lines:--
+
+     "Prepare for death, if here at night you roam,
+     And sign your will before you sup from home;
+     Some fiery fop with new commission vain,
+     Who sleeps on brambles 'till he kills his man;
+     Some frolic drunkard, reeling from a feast,
+     Provokes a broil, and stabs you in a jest.
+     Yet, ev'n these heroes, mischievously gay,
+     Lords of the street, and terrors of the way;
+     Flush'd as they are with folly, youth, and wine,
+     Their prudent insults to the poor confine;
+     Afar they mark the flambeau's bright approach,
+     And shun the shining train and gilded coach."
+
+
+
+
+THE MOHOCKS.
+
+
+This nocturnal fraternity met in the days of Queen Anne: but it had
+been for many previous years the favourite amusement of dissolute
+young men to form themselves into Clubs and Associations for
+committing all sorts of excesses in the public streets, and alike
+attacking orderly pedestrians, and even defenceless women. These Clubs
+took various slang designations. At the Restoration they were "Mums"
+and "Tityre-tus." They were succeeded by the "Hectors" and "Scourers,"
+when, says Shadwell, "a man could not go from the Rose Tavern to the
+Piazza once, but he must venture his life twice." Then came the
+"Nickers," whose delight it was to smash windows with showers of
+halfpence; next were the "Hawkabites;" and lastly, the "Mohocks."
+These last are described in the _Spectator_, No. 324, as a set of men
+who have borrowed their name from a sort of cannibals, in India, who
+subsist by plundering and devouring all the nations about them. The
+president is styled "Emperor of the Mohocks;" and his arms are a
+Turkish crescent, which his imperial majesty bears at present in a
+very extraordinary manner engraven upon his forehead; in imitation of
+which the Members prided themselves in tattooing; or slashing people's
+faces with, as Gay wrote, "new invented wounds." Their avowed design
+was mischief, and upon this foundation all their rules and orders were
+framed. They took care to drink themselves to a pitch beyond reason or
+humanity, and then made a general sally, and attack all who were in
+the streets. Some were knocked down, others stabbed, and others cut
+and carbonadoed. To put the watch to a total rout, and mortify some of
+those inoffensive militia, was reckoned a _coup d'éclat_. They had
+special barbarities, which they executed upon their prisoners.
+"Tipping the lion" was squeezing the nose flat to the face, and boring
+out the eyes with their fingers. "Dancing-masters" were those who
+taught their scholars to cut capers by running swords through their
+legs. The "Tumblers" set women on their heads. The "Sweaters" worked
+in parties of half-a-dozen, surrounding their victims with the points
+of their swords. The Sweater upon whom the patient turned his back,
+pricked him in "that part whereon school-boys are punished;" and, as
+he veered round from the smart, each Sweater repeated this pinking
+operation; "after this jig had gone two or three times round, and the
+patient was thought to have sweat sufficiently, he was very
+handsomely rubbed down by some attendants, who carried with them
+instruments for that purpose, when they discharged him." An adventure
+of this kind is narrated in No. 332 of the _Spectator_: it is there
+termed a bagnio, for the orthography of which the writer consults the
+sign-posts of the bagnio in Newgate-street and that in Chancery-lane.
+
+Another savage diversion of the Mohocks was their thrusting women into
+barrels, and rolling them down Snow or Ludgate Hill, as thus sung by
+Gay, in his _Trivia_:--
+
+     "Now is the time that rakes their revels keep;
+     Kindlers of riot, enemies of sleep.
+     His scattered pence the flying Nicker flings,
+     And with the copper shower the casement rings.
+     Who has not heard the Scourer's midnight fame?
+     Who has not trembled at the Mohock's name?
+     Was there a watchman took his hourly rounds
+     Safe from their blows, or new-invented wounds?
+     I pass their desperate deeds and mischiefs, done
+     Where from Snow-hill black steepy torrents run;
+     How matrons, hooped within the hogshead's womb,
+     Were tumbled furious thence; the rolling tomb
+     O'er the stones thunders, bounds from side to side:
+     So Regulus, to save his country, died."
+
+Swift was inclined to doubt these savageries, yet went in some
+apprehension of them. He writes, just at the date of the above
+_Spectator_: "Here is the devil and all to do with these Mohocks.
+Grub-street papers about them fly like lightning, and a list printed
+of near eighty put into several prisons, and all a lie, and I begin to
+think there is no truth, or very little, in the whole story. He that
+abused Davenant was a drunken gentleman; none of that gang. My man
+tells me that one of the lodgers heard in a coffee-house, publicly,
+that one design of the Mohocks was upon me, if they could catch me;
+and though I believe nothing of it, I forbear walking late; and they
+have put me to the charge of some shillings already."--_Journal to
+Stella_, 1712.
+
+Swift mentions, among the outrages of the Mohocks, that two of them
+caught a maid of old Lady Winchilsea's at the door of her house in the
+Park with a candle, and had just lighted out somebody. They cut all
+her face, and beat her without any provocation.
+
+At length, the villanies of the Mohocks were attempted to be put down
+by a Royal proclamation, issued on the 18th of March, 1712: this,
+however, had very little effect, for we soon find Swift exclaiming:
+"They go on still, and cut people's faces every night! but they
+sha'n't cut mine; I like it better as it is."
+
+Within a week after the Proclamation, it was proposed that Sir Roger
+de Coverley should go to the play, where he had not been for twenty
+years. The _Spectator_, No. 335, says: "My friend asked me if there
+would not be some danger in coming home late, in case the Mohocks
+should be abroad. 'I assure you,' says he, 'I thought I had fallen
+into their hands last night; for I observed two or three lusty black
+men that followed me half-way up Fleet-street, and mended their pace
+behind me, in proportion as I put on to get away from them." However,
+Sir Roger threw them out, at the end of Norfolk Street, where he
+doubled the corner, and got shelter in his lodgings before they could
+imagine what was become of him. It was finally arranged that Captain
+Sentry should make one of the party for the play, and that Sir Roger's
+coach should be got ready, the fore wheels being newly mended. "The
+Captain," says the _Spectator_, "who did not fail to meet me at the
+appointed hour, bid Sir Roger fear nothing, for that he had put on the
+same sword which he made use of at the battle of Steenkirk. Sir
+Roger's servants, and among the rest, my old friend the butler, had, I
+found, provided themselves with good oaken plants, to attend their
+master upon this occasion. When he placed him in his coach, with
+myself at his left hand, the Captain before him, and his butler at the
+head of his footmen in the rear, we convoyed him in safety to the
+playhouse." The play was Ambrose Phillips's new tragedy of _The
+Distressed Mother_: at its close, Sir Roger went out fully satisfied
+with his entertainment; and, says _the Spectator_, "we guarded him to
+his lodging in the same manner that we guarded him to the playhouse."
+
+The subject is resumed with much humour, by Budgell, in the
+_Spectator_, No. 347, where the doubts as to the actual existence of
+Mohocks are examined. "They will have it," says the _Spectator_, "that
+the Mohocks are like those spectres and apparitions which frighten
+several towns and villages in Her Majesty's dominions, though they
+were never seen by any of the inhabitants. Others are apt to think
+that these Mohocks are a kind of bull-beggars, first invented by
+prudent married men and masters of families, in order to deter their
+wives and daughters from taking the air at unseasonable hours; and
+that when they tell them 'the Mohocks will catch them,' it is a
+caution of the same nature with that of our forefathers, when they bid
+their children have a care of Raw-head and Bloody-bones." Then we
+have, from a Correspondent of the _Spectator_, "the manifesto of Taw
+Waw Eben Zan Kaladar, Emperor of the Mohocks," vindicating his
+imperial dignity from the false aspersions cast on it, signifying the
+imperial abhorrence and detestation of such tumultuous and irregular
+proceedings; and notifying that all wounds, hurts, damage, or
+detriment, received in limb or limbs, _otherwise than shall be
+hereafter specified_, shall be committed to the care of the Emperor's
+surgeon, and cured at his own expense, in some one or other of those
+hospitals which he is erecting for that purpose.
+
+Among other things it is decreed "that they never tip the lion upon
+man, woman, or child, till the clock at St. Dunstan's shall have
+struck one;" "that the sweat be never given till between the hours of
+one and two;" "that the sweaters do establish their hummums in such
+close places, alleys, nooks and corners, that the patient or patients
+may not be in danger of catching cold;" "that the tumblers, to whose
+care we chiefly commit the female sex, confine themselves to
+Drury-lane and the purlieus of the Temple," etc. "Given from our Court
+at the Devil Tavern," etc.
+
+The Mohocks held together until nearly the end of the reign of George
+the First.
+
+
+
+
+BLASPHEMOUS CLUBS.
+
+
+The successors of the Mohocks added blasphemy to riot. Smollett
+attributes the profaneness and profligacy of the period to the
+demoralization produced by the South Sea Bubble; and Clubs were formed
+specially for the indulgence of debauchery and profaneness. Prominent
+among these was "the Hell-fire Club," of which the Duke of Wharton was
+a leading spirit:--
+
+     "Wharton, the scorn and wonder of our days,
+     Whose ruling passion was the lust of praise.
+     Born with whate'er could win it from the wise,
+     Women and fools must like him, or he dies.
+     Though wondering senates hung on all he spoke,
+     The club must hail him master of the joke."--_Pope._
+
+So high did the tide of profaneness run at this time, that a Bill was
+brought into the House of Lords for its suppression. It was in a
+debate on this Bill that the Earl of Peterborough declared, that
+though he was for a Parliamentary King, he was against a Parliamentary
+religion; and that the Duke of Wharton pulled an old family Bible out
+of his pocket, in order to controvert certain arguments delivered from
+the episcopal bench.
+
+
+
+
+MUG-HOUSE CLUBS.
+
+
+Among the political Clubs of the metropolis in the early part of the
+eighteenth century, one of the most popular was the Mug-house Club,
+which met in a great Hall in Long Acre every Wednesday and Saturday,
+during the winter. The house received its name from the simple
+circumstance, that each member drank his ale (the only liquor used)
+out of a separate mug. The Club is described as a mixture of
+gentlemen, lawyers, and statesmen, who met seldom under a hundred. In
+_A Journey through England_, 1722, we read of this Club:
+
+"But the most diverting and amusing of all is the Mug-house Club in
+Long Acre.
+
+"They have a grave old Gentleman, in his own gray Hairs, now within a
+few months of Ninety years old, who is their President, and sits in
+an arm'd chair some steps higher than the rest of the company to keep
+the whole Room in order. A Harp plays all the time at the lower end of
+the Room; and every now and then one or other of the Company rises and
+entertains the rest with a song, and (by the by) some are good
+Masters. Here is nothing drunk but Ale, and every Gentleman hath his
+separate Mug, which he chalks on the Table where he sits as it is
+brought in; and every one retires when he pleases, as from a
+Coffee-house.
+
+"The Room is always so diverted with Songs, and drinking from one
+Table to another to one another's Healths, that there is no room for
+Politicks, or anything that can sow'r conversation.
+
+"One must be there by seven to get Room, and after ten the Company are
+for the most part gone.
+
+"This is a Winter's Amusement, that is agreeable enough to a Stranger
+for once or twice, and he is well diverted with the different Humours,
+when the Mugs overflow."
+
+Although in the early days of this Club there was no room for
+politics, or anything that could sour conversation, the Mug-house
+subsequently became a rallying-place for the most virulent political
+antagonism, arising out of the change of dynasty, a weighty matter to
+debate over mugs of ale. The death of Anne brought on the Hanover
+succession. The Tories had then so much the better of the other party,
+that they gained the mob on all public occasions to their side. It
+then became necessary for King George's friends to do something to
+counteract this tendency. Accordingly, they established Mug-houses,
+like that of Long Acre, throughout the metropolis, for well-affected
+tradesmen to meet and keep up the spirit of loyalty to the Protestant
+succession. First, they had one in St. John's-lane, chiefly under the
+patronage of Mr. Blenman, member of the Middle Temple, who took for
+his motto, "Pro rege et lege." Then arose the Roebuck Mug-house, in
+Cheapside, the haunt of a fraternity of young men, who had been
+organized for political action before the end of the late reign.
+
+According to a pamphlet on the subject, dated in 1717, "the next
+Mug-houses opened in the City were at Mrs. Read's, in Salisbury-court,
+in Fleet-street, and at the Harp in Tower-street, and another at the
+Roebuck in Whitechapel. About the same time several other Mug-houses
+were erected in the suburbs, for the reception and entertainment of
+the like loyal Societies: viz. one at the Ship, in Tavistock-street,
+Covent Garden, which is mostly frequented by royal officers of the
+army, another at the Black Horse, in Queen-street near Lincoln's Inn
+Fields, set up and carried on by gentlemen, servants to that noble
+patron of loyalty, to whom this vindication of it is inscribed [the
+Duke of Newcastle]; a third was set up at the Nag's Head, in
+James-street, Covent Garden; a fourth at the Fleece, in
+Burleigh-street, near Exeter Change; a fifth at the Hand and Tench,
+near the Seven Dials; several in Spittlefields, by the French
+refugees; one in Southwark Park; and another in the Artillery-ground."
+Another noted Mug-house was the Magpie, without Newgate, which house
+still exists as the Magpie and Stump, in the Old Bailey. At all these
+houses it was customary in the forenoon to exhibit the whole of the
+mugs belonging to the establishment, in a row in front of the house.
+
+The frequenters of these several Mug-houses formed themselves into
+"Mug-house Clubs," known severally by some distinctive name, and each
+club had its President to rule its meetings and keep order. The
+President was treated with great ceremony and respect: he was
+conducted to his chair every evening at about seven o'clock, by
+members carrying candles before and behind him, and accompanied with
+music. Having taken a seat, he appointed a Vice-president, and drank
+the health of the company assembled, a compliment which the company
+returned. The evening was then passed in drinking successively loyal
+and other healths, and in singing songs. Soon after ten they broke up,
+the President naming his successor for the next evening; and before he
+left the chair, a collection was made for the musicians.
+
+We shall now see how these Clubs took so active a part in the violent
+political struggles of the time. The Jacobites had laboured with much
+zeal to secure the alliance of the street mob, and they had used it
+with great effect, in connexion with Dr. Sacheverell, in over-turning
+Queen Anne's Whig Government, and paving the way for the return of the
+exiled family. Disappointment at the accession of George I. rendered
+the party of the Pretender more unscrupulous; the mob was excited to
+greater excesses, and the streets of the metropolis were occupied by
+an infuriated rabble, and presented a nightly scene of riot. It was
+under these circumstances that the Mug-house Clubs volunteered, in a
+very disorderly manner, to be champions of order; and with this
+purpose it became part of their evening's entertainment to march into
+the street, and fight the Jacobite mob. This practice commenced in the
+autumn of 1715, when the Club called the Loyal Society, which met at
+the Roebuck in Cheapside, distinguished itself by its hostility to
+Jacobitism. On one occasion this Club burned the Pretender in effigy.
+Their first conflict with the mob, recorded in the newspapers,
+occurred on the 31st of January, 1715, the birthday of the Prince of
+Wales, which was celebrated by illuminations and bonfires. There were
+a few Jacobite alehouses, chiefly on Holborn Hill, in Sacheverell's
+period; and on Ludgate-hill: the frequenters of the latter stirred up
+the mob to raise a riot there, put out the bonfire, and break the
+windows which were illuminated. The Loyal Society men, receiving
+intelligence of what was going on, hurried to the spot, and thrashed
+and defeated the rioters.
+
+On the 4th of November in the same year, the birthday of King William
+III., the Jacobite mob made a large bonfire in the Old Jewry, to burn
+an effigy of the King; but the Mug-house men came upon them again,
+gave them "due chastisement with oaken plants," extinguished their
+bonfire, and carried King William in triumph to the Roebuck. Next day
+was the commemoration of Gunpowder Treason, and the loyal mob had its
+pageant. A long procession was formed, having in front a figure of the
+infant Pretender, accompanied by two men bearing each a warming-pan,
+in allusion to the story about his birth; and followed by effigies in
+gross caricature of the Pope, the Pretender, the Duke of Ormond, Lord
+Bolingbroke, and the Earl of Marr, with halters round their necks; and
+all of them were to be burned in a large bonfire made in Cheapside.
+The procession, starting from the Roebuck, went through
+Newgate-street, and up Holborn-hill, where they compelled the bells of
+St. Andrew's church, of which Sacheverell was rector, to ring; thence
+through Lincoln's Inn Fields and Covent Garden to the gate of St.
+James's Palace; returning by way of Pall Mall and the Strand, and
+through St. Paul's Churchyard. They had met with no interruption on
+their way, but on their return to Cheapside, they found that, during
+their absence, that quarter had been invaded by the Jacobite mob, who
+had carried away all the fuel which had been collected for the
+bonfire.
+
+On November 17, in the same year, the Loyal Society met at the Roebuck
+to celebrate the anniversary of the Accession of Queen Elizabeth; and,
+while busy with their mugs, they received information that the
+Jacobites were assembled, in great force, in St. Martin's-le-Grand,
+and were preparing to burn the effigies of King William and King
+George, along with the Duke of Marlborough. They were so near, in
+fact, that their party-shouts of High Church, Ormond, and King James,
+must have been audible at the Roebuck, which stood opposite Bow
+Church. The Jacobites were starting on their procession, when they
+were overtaken in Newgate Street, by the Mug-house men from the
+Roebuck, and a desperate encounter took place, in which the Jacobites
+were defeated, and many of them were seriously injured. Meanwhile the
+Roebuck itself had been the scene of a much more serious tumult.
+During the absence of the great mass of the members of the Club,
+another body of Jacobites, much more numerous than those engaged in
+Newgate Street, suddenly assembled, attacked the Roebuck Mug-house,
+broke its windows, and those of the adjoining houses, and with
+terrible threats, attempted to force the door. One of the few members
+of the Loyal Society who remained at home, discharged a gun upon those
+of the assailants who were attacking the door, and killed one of their
+leaders. This and the approach of the Lord Mayor and city officers,
+caused the mob to disperse; but the Roebuck was exposed to attacks
+during several following nights, after which the mobs remained
+tolerably quiet during the winter.
+
+Early in 1716, however, these riots were renewed with greater
+violence, and preparations were made for an active campaign. The
+Mug-houses were re-fitted, and re-opened with ceremonious
+entertainments. New songs were composed to stir up the Clubs; and
+collections of these Mug-house songs were printed. The Jacobite mob
+was heard beating with its well-known call, marrow-bones and cleavers,
+and both sides were well equipped with staves of oak, their usual arms
+for the fray, though other weapons and missiles were in common use.
+One of the Mug-house songs thus describes the way in which these
+street fights were conducted:--
+
+     "Since the Tories could not fight,
+     And their master took his flight,
+         They labour to keep up their faction;
+     With a bough and a stick,
+     And a stone and a brick,
+         They equip their roaring crew for action.
+
+     "Thus in battle array,
+     At the close of the day,
+         After wisely debating their plot,
+     Upon windows and stall
+     They courageously fall,
+         And boast a great victory they've got.
+
+     "But, alas! silly boys!
+     For all the mighty noise
+         Of their 'High Church and Ormond for ever!'
+     A brave Whig, with one hand,
+     At George's command,
+         Can make their mightiest hero to quiver."
+
+On March 8, another great Whig anniversary, the day of the death of
+William III., commenced the more serious Mug-house riots of 1716. A
+large Jacobite mob assembled to their own watch-cry, and marched along
+Cheapside, to attack the Roebuck; but they were soon driven back by a
+small party of the Royal Society, who then marched in procession
+through Newgate Street, to the Magpie and Stump, and then by the Old
+Bailey to Ludgate Hill. When about to return, they found the Jacobite
+mob had collected in great force in their rear; and a fierce
+engagement took place in Newgate Street, when the Jacobites were again
+worsted. Then, on the evening of the 23rd of April, the anniversary of
+the birth of Queen Anne, there were great battles in Cheapside, and at
+the end of Giltspur Street; and in the immediate neighbourhood of the
+Roebuck and the Magpie. Other great tumults took place on the 29th of
+May, Restoration Day; and on the 10th of June, the Pretender's
+birthday. From this time the Roebuck is rarely mentioned.
+
+The Whigs, who met in the Mug-house, kept by Mr. Read, in Salisbury
+Court, Fleet Street, appear to have been peculiarly noisy in their
+cups, and thus rendered themselves the more obnoxious to the mob. On
+one occasion, July 20, their violent party-toasts, which they drank in
+the parlour with open windows, collected a large crowd of persons, who
+became at last so incensed by some tipsy Whigs inside, that they
+commenced a furious attack upon the house, and threatened to pull it
+down and make a bonfire of its materials in the middle of Fleet
+Street. The Whigs immediately closed their windows and barricaded the
+doors, having sent a messenger by a back door, to the Mug-house in
+Tavistock Street, Covent Garden, begging that the persons there
+assembled would come to the rescue. The call was immediately responded
+to; the Mug-house men proceeded in a body down the Strand and Fleet
+Street, armed with staves and bludgeons, and commenced an attack on
+the mob, who still threatened the demolition of the house in Salisbury
+Court. The inmates sallied out, armed with pokers and tongs, and
+whatever they could lay their hands upon, and being joined by their
+friends from Covent Garden, the mob was put to flight, and the
+Mug-house men remained masters of the field.
+
+The popular indignation was very great at this defeat; and for two
+days crowds collected in the neighbourhood, and vowed they would have
+revenge. But the knowledge that a squadron of horse was drawn up at
+Whitehall, ready to ride into the City on the first alarm, kept order.
+On the third day, however, the people found a leader in the person of
+one Vaughan, formerly a Bridewell boy, who instigated the mob to take
+revenge for their late defeat. They followed him with shouts of "High
+Church and Ormond! down with the Mug-house!" and Read, the landlord,
+dreading that they would either burn or pull down his house, prepared
+to defend himself. He threw up a window, and presented a loaded
+blunderbuss, and vowed he would discharge its contents in the body of
+the first man who advanced against his house. This threat exasperated
+the mob, who ran against the door with furious yells. Read was as good
+as his word,--he fired, and the unfortunate man Vaughan fell dead upon
+the spot. The people, now frantic, swore to hang up the landlord from
+his own sign-post. They forced the door, pulled down the sign, and
+entered the house, where Read would assuredly have been sacrificed to
+their fury, if they had found him. He, however, had with great risk
+escaped by a back-door. Disappointed at this, the mob broke the
+furniture to pieces, destroyed everything that lay in their way, and
+left only the bare walls of the house. They now threatened to burn the
+whole street, and were about to set fire to Read's house, when the
+Sheriffs, with a posse of constables, arrived. The Riot Act was read,
+but disregarded; and the Sheriffs sent to Whitehall for a detachment
+of the military. A squadron of horse soon arrived, and cleared the
+streets, taking five of the most active rioters into custody.
+
+Read, the landlord, was captured on the following day, and tried for
+the wilful murder of Vaughan; he was, however, acquitted of the
+capital charge, and found guilty of manslaughter only. The five
+rioters were also brought to trial, and met with a harder fate. They
+were all found guilty of riot and rebellion, and sentenced to death at
+Tyburn.
+
+This example damped the courage of the rioters, and alarmed all
+parties; so that we hear no more of the Mug-house riots, until a few
+months later, a pamphlet appeared with the title, _Down with the Mug;
+or Reasons for suppressing the Mug-houses_, by an author who only gave
+the initials Sir H---- M----, but who seems to have so much of what
+was thought to be a Jacobite spirit, that it provoked a reply,
+entitled the _Mug Vindicated_.
+
+The account of 1722 states that many an encounter they had, and many
+were the riots, till at last the Government was obliged by an Act of
+Parliament to put an end to this strife, which had this good effect,
+that upon pulling down of the Mug-house in Salisbury Court, for which
+some boys were hanged on this Act, the city has not been troubled with
+them since.
+
+There is some doubt as to the first use of the term "Mug-house." In a
+scarce _Collection of One Hundred and Eighty Loyal Songs_, all written
+since 1678, Fourth Edition, 1694, is a song in praise of the "Mug,"
+which shows that Mug-houses had that name previous to the Mug-house
+riots. It has also been stated that the beer-mugs were originally
+fashioned into a grotesque resemblance of Lord Shaftesbury's face, or
+"ugly mug," as it was called, and that this is the derivation of the
+word.
+
+
+
+
+THE KIT-KAT CLUB.
+
+
+This famous Club was a threefold celebrity--political, literary, and
+artistic. It was the great Society of Whig leaders, formed about the
+year 1700, _temp._ William III., consisting of thirty-nine noblemen
+and gentlemen zealously attached to the House of Hanover; among whom
+the Dukes of Somerset, Richmond, Grafton, Devonshire, and Marlborough,
+and (after the accession of George I.) the Duke of Newcastle; the
+Earls of Dorset, Sunderland, Manchester, Wharton, and Kingston; Lords
+Halifax and Somers; Sir Robert Walpole, Vanbrugh, Congreve, Granville,
+Addison, Garth, Maynwaring, Stepney, and Walsh. They are said to have
+first met at an obscure house in Shire-lane, by Temple Bar, at the
+house of a noted mutton-pieman, one Christopher Katt; from whom the
+Club, and the pies that formed a standing dish at the Club suppers,
+both took their name of Kit-Kat. In the _Spectator_, No. 9, however,
+they are said to have derived their title not from the maker of the
+pie, but from the pie itself, which was called a Kit-Kat, as we now
+say a Sandwich; thus, in a prologue to a comedy of 1700:
+
+     "A Kit-Kat is a supper for a lord;"
+
+but Dr. King, in his _Art of Cookery_, is for the pieman:
+
+     "Immortal made, as Kit-Kat by his pies."
+
+The origin and early history of the Kit-Kat Club is obscure. Elkanah
+Settle addressed, in 1699, a manuscript poem "To the most renowned the
+President and the rest of the Knights of the most noble Order of the
+Toast," in which verses is asserted the dignity of the Society; and
+Malone supposes the Order of the Toast to have been identical with the
+Kit-Kat Club: this was in 1699. The toasting-glasses, which we shall
+presently mention, may have something to do with this presumed
+identity.
+
+Ned Ward, in his _Secret History of Clubs_, at once connects the
+Kit-Kat Club with Jacob Tonson, "an amphibious mortal, chief merchant
+to the Muses." Yet this is evidently a caricature. The maker of the
+mutton-pies, Ward maintains to be a person named Christopher, who
+lived at the sign of the Cat and Fiddle, in Gray's Inn-lane, whence he
+removed to keep a pudding-pye shop, near the Fountain Tavern, in the
+Strand. Ward commends his mutton-pies, cheese-cakes, and custards, and
+the pieman's interest in the sons of Parnassus; and his inviting "a
+new set of Authors to a collation of oven trumpery at his friend's
+house, where they were nobly entertained with as curious a batch of
+pastry delicacies as ever were seen at the winding-up of a Lord
+Mayor's feast;" adding that "there was not a mathematical figure in
+all Euclid's Elements but what was presented to the table in baked
+wares, whose cavities were filled with fine eatable varieties fit for
+the gods or poets." Mr. Charles Knight, in the _Shilling Magazine_,
+No. 2, maintains that by the above is meant, that Jacob Tonson, the
+bookseller, was the pieman's "friend," and that to the customary
+"whet" to his authors he added the pastry entertainment. Ward adds,
+that this grew into a weekly meeting, provided his, the bookseller's
+friends would give him the refusal of their juvenile productions. This
+"generous proposal was very readily agreed to by the whole poetic
+class, and the cook's name being Christopher, for brevity called Kit,
+and his sign being the Cat and Fiddle, they very merrily derived a
+quaint denomination from puss and her master, and from thence called
+themselves of the Kit-Cat Club."
+
+A writer in the _Book of Days_, however, states, that Christopher Cat,
+the pastry-cook, of King-street, Westminster, was the keeper of the
+tavern, where the Club met; but Shire-lane was, upon more direct
+authority, the pieman's abode.
+
+We agree with the _National Review_, that "it is hard to believe, as
+we pick our way along the narrow and filthy pathway of Shire-lane,
+that in this blind alley [?], some hundred and fifty years ago, used
+to meet many of the finest gentlemen and choicest wits of the days of
+Queen Anne and the first George. Inside one of those frowsy and
+low-ceiled rooms, now tenanted by abandoned women or devoted to the
+sale of greengroceries and small coal,--Halifax has conversed and
+Somers unbent, Addison mellowed over a bottle, Congreve flashed his
+wit, Vanbrugh let loose his easy humour, Garth talked and rhymed."
+
+The Club was literary and gallant as well as political. The members
+subscribed 400 guineas for the encouragement of good comedies in 1709.
+The Club had its toasting-glasses, inscribed with a verse, or _toast_,
+to some reigning beauty; among whom were the four shining daughters of
+the Duke of Marlborough--Lady Godolphin, Lady Sunderland, Lady
+Bridgewater, and Lady Monthermer; Swift's friends, Mrs. Long and Mrs.
+Barton, the latter the lovely and witty niece of Sir Isaac Newton; the
+Duchess of Bolton, Mrs. Brudenell, and Lady Carlisle, Mrs. Di. Kirk,
+and Lady Wharton.
+
+Dr. Arbuthnot, in the following epigram, seems to derive the name of
+the Club from this custom of toasting ladies after dinner, rather than
+from the renowned maker of mutton-pies:--
+
+     "Whence deathless Kit-Kat took his name,
+       Few critics can unriddle:
+     Some say from pastrycook it came,
+       And some from Cat and Fiddle.
+     From no trim beaus its name it boasts,
+       Grey statesmen or green wits,
+     But from this pell-mell pack of toasts
+       Of old Cats and young Kits."
+
+Lord Halifax wrote for the toasting-glasses the following verses in
+1703:--
+
+_The Duchess of St. Albans._
+
+     The line of Vere, so long renown'd in arms,
+     Concludes with lustre in St. Albans' charms.
+     Her conquering eyes have made their race complete:
+     They rose in valour, and in beauty set.
+
+_The Duchess of Beaufort._
+
+     Offspring of a tuneful sire,
+     Blest with more than mortal fire;
+     Likeness of a Mother's face,
+     Blest with more than mortal grace:
+     You with double charms surprise,
+     With his wit, and with her eyes.
+
+_The Lady Mary Churchill._
+
+     Fairest and latest of the beauteous race,
+     Blest with your parent's wit, and her first blooming face;
+     Born with our liberties in William's reign,
+     Your eyes alone that liberty restrain.
+
+_The Lady Sunderland._
+
+     All Nature's charms in Sunderland appear,
+     Bright as her eyes, and as her reason clear;
+     Yet still their force to man not safely known,
+     Seems undiscover'd to herself alone.
+
+_The Mademoiselle Spanheim._
+
+     Admir'd in Germany, ador'd in France,
+     Your charms to brighten glory here advance:
+     The stubborn Britons own your beauty's claim,
+     And with their native toasts enrol your name.
+
+_To Mrs. Barton._
+
+     Beauty and wit strove, each in vain,
+     To vanquish Bacchus and his train;
+     But Barton with successful charms,
+     From both their quivers drew her arms.
+     The roving God his sway resigns,
+     And awfully submits his vines.
+
+In Spence's _Anecdotes_ (note) is the following additional account of
+the Club: "You have heard of the Kit-Kat Club," says Pope to Spence.
+"The master of the house where the club met was Christopher Katt;
+Tonson was secretary. The day Lord Mohun and the Earl of Berkeley were
+entered of it, Jacob said he saw they were just going to be ruined.
+When Lord Mohun broke down the gilded emblem on the top of his chair,
+Jacob complained to his friends, and said a man who would do that,
+would cut a man's throat. So that he had the good and the forms of the
+society much at heart. The paper was all in Lord Halifax's handwriting
+of a subscription of four hundred guineas for the encouragement of
+good comedies, and was dated 1709, soon after they broke up. Steele,
+Addison, Congreve, Garth, Vanbrugh, Manwaring, Stepney, Walpole, and
+Pulteney, were of it; so was Lord Dorset and the present Duke.
+Manwaring, whom we hear nothing of now, was the ruling man in all
+conversations; indeed, what he wrote had very little merit in it. Lord
+Stanhope and the Earl of Essex were also members. Jacob has his own,
+and all their pictures, by Sir Godfrey Kneller. Each member gave his,
+and he is going to build a room for them at Barn Elms."
+
+It is from the size at which these portraits were taken (a
+three-quarter length), 36 by 28 inches, that the word Kit-Kat came to
+be applied to pictures. Tonson had the room built at Barn Elms; but
+the apartment not being sufficiently large to receive half-length
+pictures, a shorter canvas was adopted. In 1817, the Club-room was
+standing, but the pictures had long been removed; soon after, the room
+was united to a barn, to form a riding-house.
+
+In summer the Club met at the Upper Flask, Hampstead Heath, then a gay
+resort, with its races, ruffles, and private marriages.
+
+The pictures passed to Richard Tonson, the descendant of the old
+bookseller, who resided at Water-Oakley, on the banks of the Thames:
+he added a room to his villa, and here the portraits were hung. On his
+death the pictures were bequeathed to Mr. Baker, of Bayfordbury, the
+representative of the Tonson family: all of them were included in the
+Art Treasures Exhibition at Manchester and some in the International
+Exhibition of 1862.
+
+The political significance of the Club was such that Walpole records
+that though the Club was generally mentioned as "a set of wits," they
+were in reality the patriots that saved Britain. According to Pope and
+Tonson, Garth, Vanbrugh, and Congreve were the three most
+honest-hearted, real good men of the poetical members of the Club.
+
+There were odd scenes and incidents occasionally at the club meetings.
+Sir Samuel Garth, physician to George I., was a witty member, and
+wrote some of the inscriptions for the toasting-glasses. Coming one
+night to the club, Garth declared he must soon be gone, having many
+patients to attend; but some good wine being produced, he forgot them.
+Sir Richard Steele was of the party, and reminding him of the visits
+he had to pay, Garth immediately pulled out his list, which numbered
+fifteen, and said, "It's no great matter whether I see them to-night,
+or not, for nine of them have such bad constitutions that all the
+physicians in the world can't save them; and the other six have such
+good constitutions that all the physicians in the world can't kill
+them."
+
+Dr. Hoadley, Bishop of Bangor, accompanied Steele and Addison to one
+of the Whig celebrations by the Club of King William's anniversary;
+when Steele had the double duty of celebrating the day and drinking
+his friend Addison up to conversation pitch, he being hardly warmed by
+that time. Steele was not fit for it. So, John Sly, the hatter of
+facetious memory, being in the house, took it into his head to come
+into the company on his knees, with a tankard of ale in his hand, to
+drink off to the _immortal memory_, and to return in the same manner.
+Steele, sitting next Bishop Hoadley, whispered him, "_Do laugh: it is
+humanity to laugh_." By-and-by, Steele being too much in the same
+condition as the hatter, was put into a chair, and sent home. Nothing
+would satisfy him but being carried to the Bishop of Bangor's, late as
+it was. However, the chairmen carried him home, and got him upstairs,
+when his great complaisance would wait on them downstairs, which he
+did, and then was got quietly to bed. Next morning Steele sent the
+indulgent bishop this couplet:
+
+     "Virtue with so much ease on Bangor sits,
+     All faults he pardons, though he none commits."
+
+Mr. Knight successfully defends Tonson from Ward's satire, and nobly
+stands forth for the bookseller who identified himself with Milton, by
+first making _Paradise Lost_ popular, and being the first bookseller
+who threw open Shakespeare to a reading public. "The statesmen of the
+Kit-Kat Club," he adds, "lived in social union with the Whig writers
+who were devoted to the charge of the poetry that opened their road to
+preferment; the band of orators and wits were naturally hateful to the
+Tory authors that Harley and Bolingbroke were nursing into the bitter
+satirists of the weekly sheets. Jacob Tonson naturally came in for a
+due share of invective. In a poem entitled '_Factions Displayed_,' he
+is ironically introduced as "the Touchstone of all modern wit;" and he
+is made to vilify the great ones of Barn Elms:
+
+     "'I am the founder of your loved Kit-Kat,
+     A club that gave direction to the State:
+     'Twas there we first instructed all our youth
+     To talk profane, and laugh at sacred truth:
+     We taught them how to boast, and rhyme, and bite,
+     To sleep away the day, and drink away the night.'"
+
+Tonson deserved better of posterity.
+
+
+
+
+THE TATLER'S CLUB
+
+IN SHIRE-LANE.
+
+
+Shire-lane, _alias_ Rogue-lane, (which falleth into Fleet-street by
+Temple Bar,) has lost its old name--it is now called Lower
+Serle's-place. If the morals of Shire-lane have mended thereby, we
+must not repine.
+
+Here lived Sir Charles Sedley; and here his son, the dramatic poet,
+was born, "neere the Globe." Here, too, lived Elias Ashmole, and here
+Antony à Wood dined with him: this was at the upper end of the lane.
+Here, too, was the _Trumpet_ tavern, where Isaac Bickerstaff met his
+Club. At this house he dated a great number of his papers; and hence
+he led down the lane, into Fleet-street, the deputation of "Twaddlers"
+from the country, to Dick's Coffee-house, which we never enter without
+remembering the glorious humour of Addison and Steele, in the
+_Tatler_, No. 86. Sir Harry Quickset, Sir Giles Wheelbarrow, and other
+persons of quality, having reached the Tatler's by appointment, and it
+being settled that they should "adjourn to some public-house, and
+enter upon business," the precedence was attended with much
+difficulty; when, upon a false alarm of "fire," all ran down as fast
+as they could, without order or ceremony, and drew up in the street.
+
+The _Tatler_ proceeds: "In this order we marched down Sheer-lane, at
+the upper end of which I lodge. When we came to Temple Bar, Sir Harry
+and Sir Giles got over, but a run of coaches kept the rest of us on
+this side of the street; however, we all at last landed, and drew up
+in very good order before Ben Tooke's shop, who favoured our rallying
+with great humanity; from whence we proceeded again, until we came to
+Dick's Coffee-house, where I designed to carry them. Here we were at
+our old difficulty, and took up the street upon the same ceremony. We
+proceeded through the entry, and were so necessarily kept in order by
+the situation, that we were now got into the coffee-house itself,
+where, as soon as we had arrived, we repeated our civilities to each
+other; after which we marched up to the high table, which has an
+ascent to it enclosed in the middle of the room. The whole house was
+alarmed at this entry, made up of persons of so much state and
+rusticity."
+
+The _Tatler's_ Club is immortalized in his No. 132. Its members are
+smokers and old story-tellers, rather easy than shining companions,
+promoting the thoughts tranquilly bedward, and not the less
+comfortable to Mr. Bickerstaff because he finds himself the leading
+wit among them. There is old Sir Jeffrey Notch, who has had
+misfortunes in the world, and calls every thriving man a pitiful
+upstart, by no means to the general dissatisfaction; there is Major
+Matchlock, who served in the last Civil Wars, and every night tells
+them of his having been knocked off his horse at the rising of the
+London apprentices, for which he is in great esteem; there is honest
+Dick Reptile, who says little himself, but who laughs at all the
+jokes; and there is the elderly bencher of the Temple, and, next to
+Mr. Bickerstaff, the wit of the company, who has by heart the couplets
+of _Hudibras_, which he regularly applies before leaving the Club of
+an evening; and who, if any modern wit or town frolic be mentioned,
+shakes his head at the dulness of the present age, and tells a story
+of Jack Ogle. As for Mr. Bickerstaff himself, he is esteemed among
+them because they see he is something respected by others; but though
+they concede to him a great deal of learning, they credit him with
+small knowledge of the world, "insomuch that the Major sometimes, in
+the height of his military pride, calls me philosopher; and Sir
+Jeffrey, no longer ago than last night, upon a dispute what day of the
+month it was then in Holland, pulled his pipe out of his mouth, and
+cried, 'What does the scholar say to that?'"
+
+Upon Addison's return to England, he found his friend Steele
+established among the wits; and they were both received with great
+honour at the Trumpet, as well as at Will's, and the St. James's.
+
+The Trumpet public-house lasted to our time; it was changed to the
+Duke of York sign, but has long disappeared: we remember an old
+drawing of the Trumpet, by Sam. Ireland, engraved in the _Monthly
+Magazine_.
+
+
+
+
+THE ROYAL SOCIETY CLUB.
+
+
+In Sir R. Kaye's Collection, in the British Museum, we find the
+following account of the institution of a Society, which at one time
+numbered among its members some of the most eminent men in London, in
+a communication to the Rev. Sir R. Kaye by Sir Joseph Ayloffe, an
+original member:--"Dr. Halley used to come on a Tuesday from
+Greenwich, the Royal Observatory, to Child's Coffeehouse, where
+literary people met for conversation: and he dined with his sister,
+but sometimes they stayed so long that he was too late for dinner, and
+they likewise, at their own home. They then agree to go to a house in
+Dean's-court, between an alehouse and a tavern, now a stationer's
+shop, where there was a great draft of porter, but not drank in the
+house. It was kept by one Reynell. It was agreed that one of the
+company should go to Knight's and buy fish in Newgate-street, having
+first informed himself how many meant to stay and dine. The ordinary
+and liquor usually came to half-a-crown, and the dinner only consisted
+of fish and pudding. Dr. Halley never eat anything but fish, for he
+had no teeth. The number seldom exceeded five or six. It began to take
+place about 1731; soon afterwards Reynell took the King's Arms, in St.
+Paul's Churchyard, and desired Dr. Halley to go with him there. He and
+others consented, and they began to have a little meat. On Dr.
+Halley's death, Martin Foulkes took the chair. They afterwards removed
+to the Mitre (Fleet-street), for the convenience of the situation with
+respect to the Royal Society, and as it was near Crane-court, and
+numbers wished to become members. It was necessary to give it a form.
+The number was fixed at forty members; one of whom was to be Treasurer
+and Secretary of the Royal Society."
+
+Out of these meetings is said to have grown the Royal Society Club,
+or, as it was styled during the first half century of its existence,
+the Club of Royal Philosophers. "It was established for the
+convenience of certain members who lived in various parts, that they
+might assemble and dine together on the days when the Society held its
+evening meetings; and from its almost free admission of members of the
+Council detained by business, its liberality to visitors, and its
+hospitable reception of scientific foreigners, it has been of obvious
+utility to the scientific body at large." (_Rise and Progress of the
+Club_, privately printed.)
+
+The foundation of the Club is stated to have been in the year 1743,
+and in the Minutes of this date are the following:--
+
+"_Rules and Orders to be observed by the Thursday's Club, called the
+Royal Philosophers._--A Dinner to be ordered every Thursday for six,
+at one shilling and sixpence a head for eating. As many more as come
+to pay one shilling and sixpence per head each. If fewer than six
+come, the deficiency to be paid out of the fund subscribed. Each
+Subscriber to pay down six shillings, viz. for four dinners, to make a
+fund. A pint of wine to be paid for by every one that comes, be the
+number what it will, and no more, unless more wine is brought in than
+that amounts to."
+
+In addition to Sir R. Kaye's testimony to the existence of a club of
+an earlier date than 1743, there are in the Minutes certain references
+to "antient Members of the Club;" and a tradition of the ill omen of
+thirteen persons dining at the table said to be on record in the Club
+papers: "that one of the Royal Philosophers entering the Mitre Tavern,
+and finding twelve others about to discuss the fare, retreated, and
+dined by himself in another apartment, in order to avert the
+prognostic." Still, no such statement is now to be found entered, and
+if ever it were recorded, it must have been anterior to 1743;
+curiously enough, thirteen is a very usual number at these dinners.
+
+The original Members were soon increased by various Fellows of the
+Society; and at first the club did not consist exclusively of Royals;
+but this arrangement, not having been found to work well, the
+membership was confined to the Fellows, and latterly to the number of
+forty. Every Member was allowed to introduce one friend; but the
+President of the Royal Society was not limited in this respect.
+
+We must now say a few words as to the several places at which the Club
+has dined. The _Society_ had their Anniversary Dinner at Pontack's
+celebrated French eating-house, in Abchurch-lane, City, until 1746.
+Evelyn notes: "30 Nov. 1694. Much importuned to take the office of
+President of the Royal Society, but I again declined it. Sir Robert
+Southwell was continued. We all dined at Pontac's, as usual." Here, in
+1699, Dr. Bentley wrote to Evelyn, asking him to meet Sir Christopher
+Wren, Sir Robert Southwell, and other friends, at dinner, to consider
+the propriety of purchasing Bishop Stillingfleet's library for the
+Royal Society.
+
+From Pontack's, which was found to be inconveniently situated for the
+majority of the Fellows, the Society removed to the Devil Tavern, near
+Temple Bar.
+
+The Minutes record that the _Club_ met at the Mitre Tavern, in
+Fleet-street, "over against Fetter-lane," from the date of their
+institution; this house being chosen from its being handy to
+Crane-court, where the Society then met. This, be it remembered, was
+not the Mitre Tavern now standing in Mitre-court, but "the Mitre
+Tavern, _in Fleet-street_," mentioned by Lilly, in his _Life_, as the
+place where he met old Will. Poole, the astrologer, then living in
+Ram-alley. _The Mitre, in Fleet-street_, Mr. J. H. Burn, in his
+excellent Account of the Beaufoy Tokens, states to have been
+originally established by a William Paget, of the Mitre in Cheapside,
+who removed westward after his house had been destroyed in the Great
+Fire of September, 1666. The house in Fleet-street was lastly
+Saunders's Auction-room, No. 39, and was demolished by Messrs. Hoare,
+to enlarge the site for their new banking-house, the western portion
+of which now occupies the tavern site. The now Mitre Tavern, in Mitre
+court, formerly Joe's, is but a recent assumption of name.[7]
+
+In 1780, the Club removed to the Crown and Anchor Tavern, in the
+Strand, where they continued to dine for sixty-eight years, until that
+tavern was converted, in 1848, into a Club-house. Then they removed to
+the Freemasons' Tavern, in Great Queen Street; but, in 1857, on the
+removal of the Royal Society to Burlington House, Piccadilly, it was
+considered advisable to keep the Club meetings at the Thatched House,
+in St. James's Street, where they continued until that tavern was
+taken down.
+
+During the early times, the docketings of the Club accounts show that
+the brotherhood retained the title of Royal Philosophers to the year
+1786, when it seems they were only designated the Royals; but they
+have now settled into the "Royal Society Club." The elections are
+always an exciting matter of interest, and the fate of candidates is
+occasionally severe, for there are various instances of rejections on
+two successive annual ballots, and some have been black-balled even on
+a third venture: some of the defeated might be esteemed for talent,
+yet were considered unclubbable.
+
+Some of the entries in the earliest minute-book are very curious, and
+show that the Philosophers did not restrict themselves to "the fish
+and pudding dinner." Here is the bill of fare for sixteen persons, a
+few years after the Club was established: "Turkey, boiled, and
+oysters; Calves' head, hashed; Chine of Mutton; Apple pye; 2 dishes of
+herrings; Tongue and udder; Leg of pork and pease; Sirloin of beef;
+Plum pudding; butter and cheese." Black puddings are stated to have
+figured for many years at every dinner of the Club.
+
+The presents made to the Club were very numerous, and called for
+special regulations. Thus, under the date of May 3, 1750, it is
+recorded: "Resolved, _nem. con._, That any nobleman or gentleman
+complimenting this company annually with venison, not less than a
+haunch, shall, during the continuance of such annuity, be deemed an
+Honorary Member, and admitted as often as he comes, without paying the
+fine, which those Members do who are elected by ballot." At another
+Meeting, in the same year, a resolution was passed, "That any
+gentleman complimenting this Society annually with a Turtle shall be
+considered as an Honorary Member;" and that the Treasurer do pay
+Keeper's fees and carriage for all venison sent to the Society, and
+charge it in his account. Thus, besides gratuities to cooks, there are
+numerous chronicled entries of the following tenour:--"Keeper's fees
+and carriage of a buck from the Hon. P. Yorke, 14_s._; Fees, etc., for
+Venison and Salmon, £1. 15_s._; Do., half a Buck from the Earl of
+Hardwick, £1. 5_s._; Fees and carriage for a Buck from H. Read, Esq.,
+£1.3_s._ 6_d._; Fees for Venison and Game from Mr. Banks, £1. 9_s._
+6_d._; ... August 15, 1751. The Society being this day entertained
+with halfe a Bucke by the Most Honorable the Marquis of Rockingham, it
+was agreed, _nem. con._, to drink his health in claret. Sept. 5th,
+1751.--The Company being entertained with a whole Bucke (halfe of
+which was dressed to-day) by Henry Read, Esq., his health was drunk in
+claret, as usual; and Mr. Cole (_the landlord_) was desired to dispose
+of the halfe, and give the Company Venisons instead of it next
+Thursday." The following week the largess is again gravely noticed:
+"The Company being this day regaled with the other halfe of Mr. Read's
+buck (which Mr. Cole had preserved sweet), his health was again drank
+in claret."
+
+Turtle has already been mentioned among the presents. In 1784, the
+circumnavigator Lord Anson honoured the Club by presenting the members
+with a magnificent Turtle, when the Club drank his Lordship's and
+other turtle donors' healths in claret. On one occasion, it is stated
+that the usual dining-room could not be occupied on account of a
+turtle being dressed which weighed 400 lb.; and another minute records
+that a turtle, intended to be presented to the Club, died on its way
+home from the West Indies.
+
+James Watt has left the following record of one of the Philosophers'
+turtle feasts, at which he was present:--"When I was in London in
+1785, I was received very kindly by Mr. Cavendish and Dr. Blagden, and
+my old friend Smeaton, who has recovered his health, and seems hearty.
+I dined at a turtle feast with them, and the select Club of the Royal
+Society; and never was turtle eaten with greater sobriety and
+temperance, or more good fellowship."
+
+The gift of good old English roast-beef also occurs among the
+presents, as in the subjoined minute, under the date of June 27, 1751,
+when Martin Folkes presided: "William Hanbury, Esq., having this day
+entertained the company with a chine of Beef which was 34 inches in
+length, and weighed upwards of 140 pounds, it was agreed, _nem. con._,
+that two such chines were equal to half a Bucke or a Turtle, and
+entitled the Donor to be an Honorary Member of this Society."
+
+Then we have another record of Mr. Hanbury's munificence, as well his
+conscientious regard for minuteness in these matters, as in this
+entry: "Mr. Hanbury sent this day another mighty chine of beef, and,
+having been a little deficient with regard to annual payments of
+chines of beef, added three brace of very large carp by way of
+interest." Shortly after, we find Lord Morton contributing "two pigs
+of the China breed."
+
+In addition to the venison, game, and other viands, there was no end
+of presents of fruits for dessert. In 1752, Mr. Cole (the landlord)
+presented the company with a ripe water-melon from Malaga. In 1753,
+there is an entry showing that some _tusks_, a rare and savoury fish,
+were sent by the Earl of Morton; and Egyptian Cos-lettuces were
+supplied by Philip Miller, who, in his Gardener's Dictionary,
+describes this as the best and most valuable lettuce known; next he
+presented "four Cantaloupe melons, equal--if not superior--in flavour
+to pine-apples." In July, 1763, it is chronicled that Lord Morton sent
+two pine-apples, cherries of two sorts, melons, gooseberries of two
+sorts, apricots, and currants of two sorts.
+
+However, this practice of making presents got to be unpopular with the
+Fellows at large, who conceived it to be undignified to receive such
+gifts; and, in 1779, it was "resolved that no person in future be
+admitted into the Club in consequence of any present he shall make to
+it." This singular custom had been in force for thirty years. The
+latest _formal_ thanks for "a very fine haunch of venison" were voted
+to Lord Darnley on the 17th of June, 1824.
+
+The Club Minutes show the progressive rise in the charges for dinner.
+From 1743 to 1756 the cost was 1_s._ 6_d._ a head. In the latter year
+it was resolved to give 3_s._ per head for dinner and wine, the
+commons for absentees to remain at 1_s._ 6_d._, as before. In 1775,
+the price was increased to 4_s._ a head, including wine, and 2_d._ to
+the waiter; in 1801, to 5_s._ a head, exclusive of wine, the increased
+duties upon which made it necessary for the members to contribute an
+annual sum for the expense of wine, over and above the charge of the
+tavern bills.
+
+In 1775, the wine was ordered to be laid in at a price not exceeding
+£45 a pipe, or 1_s._ 6_d._ a bottle; to have a particular seal upon
+the cork, and to be charged by the landlord at 2_s._ 6_d._ a bottle.
+The Club always dined on the Society's meeting-day. Wray, writing of a
+Club-meeting in 1776, says that, "after a capital dinner of venison,
+which was absolutely perfect, we went to another sumptuous
+entertainment, at the Society, where five electrical eels, all alive,
+from Surinam, were exhibited; most of the company received the
+electrical stroke; and then we were treated with the sight of a
+sucking alligator, very lively."
+
+It has been more than once remarked that a public dinner of a large
+party of philosophers and men of science and letters generally turns
+out to be rather a dull affair; perhaps, through the _embarras_ of
+talent at table. Not so, however, the private social Clubs, the
+offshoots of Public Societies, like the Royal Society Club, and others
+we could mention. The Royals do not appear to have been at all
+indifferent to these post-prandial wit-combats. "Here, my jokes I
+crack with high-born Peers," writes a Philosopher, alluding to the
+Club dinners; and Admiral Smyth, in his unpublished _Rise and
+Progress_, tells us, that to this day "it unites hilarity, and the
+_macrones verborum_ of smart repartee, with strictures on science,
+literature, the fine arts--and, indeed, every branch of human
+knowledge."
+
+The administration of the affairs of the Club was minutely attended
+to: when, in 1776, it was considered necessary to revise "the
+commons," a committee was appointed for the purpose, consisting of
+Messrs. Aubert, Cuthburt, Maskelyne, Russell, and Solander, who
+decided that "should the number of the company exceed the number
+provided for, the dinner should be made up with the beefstakes,
+mutton-chops, lamb-chops, veal-cutlets, or pork-stakes, instead of
+made dishes, or any dearer provisions." And "that twopence per head be
+allowed for the waiter" (_which seems to have been the regular
+gratuity for many years_). Then, the General Committee had to report
+that the landlord was to charge for gentlemen's servants, "one
+shilling each for dinner and a pot of porter;" and "that when toasted
+cheese was called for, he was to make a charge for it."
+
+In 1784, the celebrated geologist, Faujas de Saint-Fond (Barthélemy,)
+with four other distinguished foreigners, partook of the hospitality
+of the Club, of which, in 1797, M. Faujas published an account. "He
+mentions the short prayer or grace with which Dr. Maskelyne blessed
+the company and the food--the solid meats and unseasoned
+vegetables--the quantities of strong beer called porter, drank out of
+cylindrical pewter pots _d'un seul trait_--the cheese to provoke the
+thirst of drinkers--the hob-a-nobbing of healths--and the detestable
+coffee. On the whole, however, this honest Frenchman seems to have
+been delighted with the entertainment, or, as he styles it, 'the
+convivial and unassuming banquet,'" and M. Faujas had to pay 'seven
+livres four sols' for his commons. Among the lighter incidents is the
+record of M. Aubert having received a present from the King of Poland,
+begged to have an opportunity of drinking His Majesty's health, and
+permission to order a bottle of Hermitage, which being granted, the
+health was drank by the company present; and upon one of the
+Club-slips of 1798, after a dinner of twenty-two, is written, "Seven
+shillings found under the table."
+
+The dinner-charges appear to have gradually progressed from 1_s._
+6_d._ to 10_s._ per head. In 1858-9 the Club-dinners had been 25, and
+the number of dinners 309, so that the mean was equal to 12·36 for
+each meeting, the visitors amounting to 49; and it is further
+computed, that the average wine per head of late, waste included, is a
+considerable fraction less than a pint, imperial standard measure, in
+the year's consumption.
+
+Among the distinguished guests of the Club are many celebrities. Here
+the chivalrous Sir Sidney Smith described the atrocities of Djezza
+Pasha; and here that cheerful baronet--Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin--by
+relating the result of his going in a jolly-boat to attack a whale,
+and in narrating the advantages specified in his proposed patent for
+fattening fowls, kept "the table in a roar." At this board, also, our
+famous circumnavigators and oriental voyagers met with countenance and
+fellowship--as Cook, Furneaux, Clerke, King, _Bounty_ Bligh,
+Vancouver, _Guardian_ Riou, Flinders, Broughton, Lestock, Wilson,
+Huddart, Bass, Tuckey, Horsburgh, &c.; while the Polar explorers, from
+the Hon. Constantine Phipps in 1773, down to Sir Leopold M'Clintock,
+in 1860, were severally and individually welcomed as guests. But,
+besides our sterling sea-worthies, we find in ranging through the
+documents that some rather outlandish visitors were introduced through
+their means, as Chet Quang and Wanga Tong, _Chinese_; Ejutak and
+Tuklivina, _Esquimaux_; Thayen-danega, the _Mohawk_ chief; while Omai,
+of Ularetea, the celebrated and popular savage, of _Cook's Voyages_,
+was so frequently invited, that he is latterly entered on the Club
+papers simply as _Mr._ Omai.
+
+The redoubtable Sir John Hill dined at the Club in company with Lord
+Baltimore on the 30th of June, 1748. Hill was consecutively an
+apothecary, actor, playwright, novelist, botanist, journalist, and
+physician; and he published upon trees and flowers, Betty Canning,
+gems, naval history, religion, cookery, and what not. Having made an
+attempt to enter the Royal Society, and finding the door closed
+against him,--perhaps a pert vivacity at the very dinner in question
+sealed the rejection,--he revenged himself by publishing an impudent
+quarto volume, vindictively satirizing the Society.
+
+Ned Ward, in his humorous Account of the Clubs of London, published in
+1709, describes "the _Virtuoso's_ Club as first established by some of
+the principal members of the Royal Society, and held every Thursday,
+at a certain Tavern in Cornhill, where the Vintner that kept it has,
+according to his merit, made a fortunate step from his Bar to his
+Coach. The chief design of the aforementioned Club was to propagate
+new whims, advance mechanical exercises, and to promote useless as
+well as useful experiments." There is humour in this, as well as in
+his ridicule of the Barometer: "by this notable invention," he says,
+"our gentlemen and ladies of the middle quality are infallibly told
+when it's a right season to put on their best clothes, and when they
+ought not to venture an intrigue in the fields without their cloaks
+and umbrellas." His ridicule of turning salt water into fresh, finding
+a new star, assigning reasons for a spot in the moon, and a "wry step"
+in the sun's progress, were Ward's points, laughed at in his time, but
+afterwards established as facts. There have been greater mistakes made
+since Ward's time; but this does not cleanse him of filth and
+foulness.
+
+Ward's record is evidence of the existence of the Royal Society Club,
+in 1709, before the date of the Minutes. Dr. Hutton, too, records the
+designation of Halley's Club--undoubted testimony; about 1737, he,
+Halley, though seized with paralysis, once a week, within a very short
+time of his death, met his friends in town, on Thursdays, the day of
+the Royal Society's meeting, at "Dr. Halley's Club." Upon this
+evidence Admiral Smyth establishes the claim that the Royal Society
+Club was actually established by a zealous philosopher, "who was at
+once proudly eminent as an astronomer, a mathematician, a
+physiologist, a naturalist, a scholar, an antiquary, a poet, a
+meteorologist, a geographer, a navigator, a nautical surveyor, and a
+truly social member of the community--in a word, our founder was the
+illustrious Halley--the Admirable Crichton of science."
+
+A memorable dinner-party took place on August the 11th, 1859, when
+among the visitors was Mr. Thomas Maclear (now Sir Thomas), the
+Astronomer-Royal at the Cape of Good Hope, who had just arrived in
+England from the southern hemisphere, after an absence of a quarter of
+a century. "On this day, were present, so to speak, the
+representatives of the three great applications by which the present
+age is distinguished, namely, of _Railways_, Mr. Stephenson; of the
+_Electric Telegraph_, Mr. Wheatstone; and of the _Penny Post_, Mr.
+Rowland Hill--an assemblage never again to occur." (_Admiral Smyth's
+History of the Club._)
+
+Among the anecdotes which float about, it is related that the
+eccentric Hon. Henry Cavendish, "the Club-Croesus", attended the
+meetings with only money enough in his pocket to pay for his dinner,
+and that he may have declined taking tavern-soup, may have picked his
+teeth with a fork, may invariably have hung his hat on the same peg,
+and may have always stuck his cane in his right boot; but more
+apocryphal is the anecdote that one evening Cavendish observed a very
+pretty girl looking out from an upper window on the opposite side of
+the street, watching the philosophers at dinner. She attracted notice,
+and one by one they got up and mustered round the window to admire the
+fair one. Cavendish, who thought they were looking at the moon,
+bustled up to them in his odd way, and when he saw the real object of
+their study, turned away with intense disgust, and grunted out
+"Pshaw;" the amorous conduct of his brother Philosophers having
+horrified the woman-hating Cavendish.
+
+Another assertion is that he, Cavendish, left a thumping legacy to
+Lord Bessborough, in gratitude for his Lordship's piquant conversation
+at the Club; but no such reason can be found in the Will lodged at
+Doctors' Commons. The Testator named therein three of his Club-mates,
+namely, Alexander Dalrymple, to receive 5000_l._, Dr. Hunter 5000_l._,
+and Sir Charles Blagden (coadjutor in the Water question), 15,000_l._
+After certain other bequests, the will proceeds,--"The remainder of
+the funds (nearly 700,000_l._) to be divided, one-sixth to the Earl of
+Bessborough, while the cousin, Lord George Henry Cavendish, had
+two-sixths, instead of one;" "it is therefore," says Admiral Smyth,
+"patent that the money thus passed over from uncle to nephew, was a
+mere consequence of relationship, and not at all owing to any flowers
+or powers of conversation at the Royal Society Club."
+
+Admiral Smyth, to whose admirable _précis_ of the History of the Club
+we have to make acknowledgment, remarks that the hospitality of the
+Royal Society has been "of material utility to the well-working of the
+whole machine which wisdom called up, at a time when knowledge was
+quitting scholastic niceties for the truths of experimental
+philosophy. This is proved by the number of men of note--both in
+ability and station--who have there congregated previously to
+repairing to the evening meeting of the body at large; and many a
+qualified person who went thither a guest has returned a candidate.
+Besides inviting our own princes, dukes, marquises, earls, ministers
+of state, and nobles of all grades to the table, numerous foreign
+grandees, prelates, ambassadors, and persons of distinction--from the
+King of Poland and Baron Munchausen, down to the smart little abbé
+and a 'gentleman unknown'--are found upon the Club records. Not that
+the amenities of the fraternity were confined to these classes, or
+that, in the Clubbian sense, they form the most important order; for
+bishops, deans, archdeacons, and clergymen in general--astronomers--
+mathematicians--sailors--soldiers--engineers--medical practitioners--
+poets--artists--travellers--musicians--opticians--men of repute in
+every acquirement, were, and ever will be, welcome guests. In a word,
+the names and callings of the visitors offer a type of the philosophical
+_discordia concors_; and among those guests possessed of that knowledge
+without which genius is almost useless, we find in goodly array such
+choice names as Benjamin Franklin, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Gibbon,
+Costard, Bryant, Dalton, Watt, Bolton, Tennant, Wedgwood, _Abyssinian_
+Bruce, Attwood, Boswell, Brinkley, Rigaud, Brydone, Ivory, Jenner,
+John Hunter, Brunel, Lysons, Weston, Cramer, Kippis, Westmacott,
+Corbould, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Turner, De La Beche, _et hoc genus
+omne_."
+
+The President of the Royal Society is elected President of the Club.
+There were always more candidates for admission than vacancies, a
+circumstance which had some influence in leading to the formation of a
+new Club, in 1847, composed of eminent Fellows of the Society. The
+name of this new Association is "the Philosophical Club," and its
+object is "to promote, as much as possible, the scientific objects of
+the Royal Society, to facilitate intercourse between those Fellows who
+are actively engaged in cultivating the various branches of Natural
+Science, and who have contributed to its progress; to increase the
+attendance at the Evening Meetings, and to encourage the contribution
+and the discussion of papers." Nor are the dinners forgotten; the
+price of each not to exceed ten shillings.
+
+The statistical portion of the Annual Statement of 1860, shows that
+the number of dinners for the past year amounted to 25, at which the
+attendance was 312 persons, 62 of whom were visitors, the average
+being = 12·48 each time: and the Treasurer called attention to the
+fact that out of the Club funds in the last twelvemonth, they had paid
+not less than £9. 6_s._ for soda and seltzer water; £8. 2_s._ 6_d._
+for cards of invitation and postage; and £25 for visitors, that is,
+8_s._ 0¾_d._ per head.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[7] See _Walks and Talks about London_, p. 246. The Mitre in
+Fleet-street was also the house frequented by Dr. Johnson.
+
+
+
+
+THE COCOA-TREE CLUB.
+
+
+This noted Club was the Tory Chocolate-house of Queen Anne's reign;
+the Whig Coffee-house was the St. James's, lower down, in the same
+street, St. James's. The party distinction is thus defined:--"A Whig
+will no more go to the Cocoa-tree or Ozinda's, than a Tory will be
+seen at the coffee-house of St. James's."
+
+The Cocoa-tree Chocolate-house was converted into a Club, probably
+before 1746, when the house was the head-quarters of the Jacobite
+party in Parliament. It is thus referred to in the above year by
+Horace Walpole, in a letter to George Montagu:--"The Duke has given
+Brigadier Mordaunt the Pretender's coach, on condition he rode up to
+London in it. 'That I will, Sir,' said he; 'and drive till it stops of
+its own accord at the Cocoa-tree.'"
+
+Gibbon was a member of this Club, and has left this entry, in his
+journal of 1762:--"Nov. 24. I dined at the Cocoa Tree with ----, who,
+under a great appearance of oddity, conceals more real humour, good
+sense, and even knowledge, than half those who laugh at him. We went
+thence to the play (_The Spanish Friar_); and when it was over,
+retired to the Cocoa-tree. That respectable body, of which I have the
+honour of being a member, affords every evening a sight truly English.
+Twenty or thirty, perhaps, of the first men in the kingdom in point of
+fashion and fortune supping at little tables covered with a napkin, in
+the middle of a coffee-room, upon a bit of cold meat, or a sandwich,
+and drinking a glass of punch. At present we are full of King's
+counsellors and lords of the bedchamber; who, having jumped into the
+ministry, make a very singular medley of their old principles and
+language with their modern ones." At this time, bribery was in full
+swing: it is alleged that the lowest bribe for a vote upon the Peace
+of Fontainebleau, was a bank-note of £200; and that the Secretary of
+the Treasury afterwards acknowledged £25,000 to have been thus
+expended in a single morning. And in 1765, on the debate in the
+Commons on the Regency Bill, we read in the _Chatham Correspondence_:
+"The Cocoa-tree have thus capacitated Her Royal Highness (the Princess
+of Wales) to be Regent: it is well they have not given us a King, if
+they have not; for many think, Lord Bute is King."
+
+Although the Cocoa-tree, in its conversion from a Chocolate-house to a
+Club, may have bettered its reputation in some respects, high play, if
+not foul play, was known there twenty years later. Walpole, writing to
+Mann, Feb. 6, 1780, says: "Within this week there has been a cast at
+hazard at the Cocoa-tree, (in St. James's Street,) the difference of
+which amounted to one hundred and fourscore thousand pounds. Mr.
+O'Birne, an Irish gamester, had won one hundred thousand pounds of a
+young Mr. Harvey of Chigwell, just started into an estate by his elder
+brother's death. O'Birne said, "You can never pay me." "I can," said
+the youth: "my estate will sell for the debt." "No," said O.; "I will
+win ten thousand--you shall throw for the odd ninety." They did, and
+Harvey won."
+
+The Cocoa-tree was one of the Clubs to which Lord Byron belonged.
+
+
+
+
+ALMACK'S CLUB.
+
+
+Almack's, the original Brookes's, on the south side of the Whig
+Club-house, was established in Pall Mall, on the site of the British
+Institution, in 1764, by twenty-seven noblemen and gentlemen,
+including the Duke of Roxburghe, the Duke of Portland, the Earl of
+Strathmore, Mr. Crewe (afterwards Lord Crewe), and Mr. C. J. Fox.
+
+Mr. Cunningham was permitted to inspect the original Rules of the
+Club, which show its nature: here are a few.
+
+"21. No gaming in the eating-room, except tossing up for reckonings,
+on penalty of paying the whole bill of the members present.
+
+"22. Dinner shall be served up exactly at half-past four o'clock, and
+the bill shall be brought in at seven.
+
+"26. Almack shall sell no wines in bottles that the Club approves of,
+out of the house.
+
+"30. Any member of this Society that shall become a candidate for any
+other Club, (old White's excepted,) shall be ipso facto excluded, and
+his name struck out of the book.
+
+"40. That every person playing at the new guinea table do keep fifty
+guineas before him.
+
+"41. That every person playing at the twenty guinea table do not keep
+less than twenty guineas before him."
+
+That the play ran high may be inferred from a note against the name of
+Mr. Thynne, in the Club-books: "Mr. Thynne having won only 12,000
+guineas during the last two months, retired in disgust, March 21st,
+1772."
+
+Some of its members were Maccaronis, the "curled darlings" of the day:
+they were so called from their affectation of foreign tastes and
+fashions, and were celebrated for their long curls and eye-glasses.
+Much of the deep play was removed here. "The gaming at Almack's,"
+writes Walpole to Mann, February 2, 1770, "which has taken the _pas_
+of White's, is worthy the decline of our empire, or commonwealth,
+which you please. The young men of the age lose ten, fifteen, twenty
+thousand pounds in an evening there. Lord Stavordale, not
+one-and-twenty, lost £11,000 there last Tuesday, but recovered it by
+one great hand at hazard. He swore a great oath, 'Now, if I had been
+playing _deep_, I might have won millions.' His cousin, Charles Fox,
+shines equally there, and in the House of Commons. He was twenty-one
+yesterday se'nnight, and is already one of our best speakers.
+Yesterday he was made a Lord of the Admiralty." Gibbon, the historian,
+was also a member, and he dates several letters from here. On June 24,
+1776, he writes: "Town grows empty, and this house, where I have
+passed many agreeable hours, is the only place which still invites the
+flower of the English youth. The style of living, though somewhat
+expensive, is exceedingly pleasant; and, notwithstanding the rage of
+play, I have found more entertainment and rational society than in any
+other club to which I belong."
+
+The play was certainly high--only for rouleaus of £50 each, and
+generally there was £10,000 in specie on the table. The gamesters
+began by pulling off their embroidered clothes, and put on frieze
+greatcoats, or turned their coats inside outwards for luck. They put
+on pieces of leather (such as are worn by footmen when they clean the
+knives) to save their laced ruffles; and to guard their eyes from the
+light and to prevent tumbling their hair, wore high-crowned straw hats
+with broad brims, and adorned with flowers and ribbons; masks to
+conceal their emotions when they played at quinz. Each gamester had a
+small neat stand by him, to hold his tea; or a wooden bowl with an
+edge of ormolu, to hold the rouleaus.
+
+Almack's was subsequently Goosetree's. In the year 1780, Pitt was then
+an habitual frequenter, and here his personal adherents mustered
+strongly. The members, we are told in the _Life of Wilberforce_, were
+about twenty-five in number, and included Pratt (afterwards Lord
+Camden), Lords Euston, Chatham, Graham, Duncannon, Althorp, Apsley, G.
+Cavendish, and Lennox; Messrs. Eliot, Sir Andrew St. John, Bridgeman
+(afterwards Lord Bradford), Morris Robinson (afterwards Lord Rokeby),
+R. Smith (afterwards Lord Carrington), W. Grenville (afterwards Lord
+Grenville), Pepper Arden (afterwards Lord Alvanley), Mr. Edwards, Mr.
+Marsham, Mr. Pitt, Mr. Wilberforce, Mr. Bankes, Mr. Thomas Steele,
+General Smith, Mr. Windham.
+
+In the gambling at Goosetree's, Pitt played with characteristic and
+intense eagerness. When Wilberforce came up to London in 1780, after
+his return to Parliament, his great success coloured his entry into
+public life, and he was at once elected a member of the leading
+clubs--Miles's and Evans's, Brookes's and Boodle's, White's and
+Goosetree's. The latter was Wilberforce's usual resort, where his
+friendship with Pitt, whom he had slightly known at Cambridge, greatly
+increased: he once lost £100 at the faro-table, and on another night
+kept the bank, by which he won £600; but he soon became weaned from
+play.
+
+
+
+
+ALMACK'S ASSEMBLY-ROOMS.
+
+
+In the year following the opening of Almack's Club in Pall Mall,
+Almack had built for him by Robert Mylne, the suite of Assembly Rooms,
+in King-street, St. James's, which was named after him, "Almack's,"
+and was occasionally called "Willis's Rooms," after the next
+proprietor. Almack likewise kept the Thatched House Tavern, in St.
+James's-street.
+
+Almack's was opened Feb. 20, 1765, and was advertised to have been
+built with hot bricks and boiling water: the ceilings were dripping
+with wet; but the Duke of Cumberland, the Hero of Culloden, was there.
+Gilly Williams, a few days after the opening, in a letter to George
+Selwyn, writes: "There is now opened at Almack's, in three very
+elegant new-built rooms, a ten-guinea subscription, for which you have
+a ball and supper once a week, for twelve weeks. You may imagine by
+the sum the company is chosen; though, refined as it is, it will be
+scarce able to put out old Soho (Mrs. Cornelys) out of countenance.
+The men's tickets are not transferable, so, if the ladies do not like
+us, they have no opportunity of changing us, but must see the same
+persons for ever." ... "Our female Almack's flourishes beyond
+description. Almack's Scotch face, in a bag-wig, waiting at supper,
+would divert you, as would his lady, in a sack, making tea and
+curtseying to the duchesses."
+
+Five years later, in 1770, Walpole writes to Montagu: "There is a new
+Institution that begins to make, and if it proceeds, will make a
+considerable noise. It is a Club of _both_ sexes, to be erected at
+Almack's, on the model of that of the men of White's. Mrs. Fitzroy,
+Lady Pembroke, Mrs. Meynell, Lady Molyneux, Miss Pelham, and Miss
+Lloyd, are the foundresses. I am ashamed to say I am of so young and
+fashionable society; but as they are people I live with, I choose to
+be idle rather than morose. I can go to a young supper without
+forgetting how much sand is run out of the hour-glass."
+
+Mrs. Boscawen tells Mrs. Delany of this Club of lords and ladies who
+first met at a tavern, but subsequently, to satisfy Lady Pembroke's
+scruples, in a room at Almack's. "The ladies nominate and choose the
+gentlemen and _vice versâ_, so that no lady can exclude a lady, or
+gentleman a gentleman." Ladies Rochford, Harrington, and Holderness
+were black-balled, as was the Duchess of Bedford, who was subsequently
+admitted! Lord March and Brook Boothby were black-balled by the
+ladies, to their great astonishment. There was a dinner, then supper
+at eleven, and, says Mrs. Boscawen, "play will be deep and constant,
+probably." The frenzy for play was then at its height. "Nothing within
+my memory comes up to it!" exclaims Mrs. Delany, who attributes it to
+the prevailing "avarice and extravagance." Some men made profit out of
+it, like Mr. Thynne, "who has won this year so considerably that he
+has paid off all his debts, bought a house and furnished it, disposed
+of his horses, hounds, etc., and struck his name out of all expensive
+subscriptions. But what a _horrid reflection_ it must be to an honest
+mind to _build_ his fortune on the ruin of others!"
+
+Almack's large ball-room is about one hundred feet in length, by forty
+feet in width; it is chastely decorated with gilt columns and
+pilasters, classic medallions, mirrors, etc., and is lit with gas, in
+cut-glass lustres. The largest number of persons ever present in this
+room at one ball was 1700.
+
+The rooms are let for public meetings, dramatic readings, concerts,
+balls, and occasionally for dinners. Here Mrs. Billington, Mr. Braham,
+and Signor Naldi, gave concerts, from 1808 to 1810, in rivalry with
+Madame Catalani, at Hanover-square Rooms; and here Mr. Charles Kemble
+gave, in 1844, his Readings from Shakspeare.
+
+The Balls at Almack's are managed by a Committee of Ladies of high
+rank, and the only mode of admission is by vouchers or personal
+introduction.
+
+Almack's has declined of late years; "a clear proof that the palmy
+days of exclusiveness are gone by in England; and though it is
+obviously impossible to prevent any given number of persons from
+congregating and re-establishing an oligarchy, we are quite sure that
+the attempt would be ineffectual, and that the sense of their
+importance would extend little beyond the set."[8] In 1831 was
+published _Almack's_, a novel, in which the leaders of fashion were
+sketched with much freedom, and identified in _A Key to Almack's_,
+by Benjamin Disraeli.
+
+
+
+
+BROOKES'S CLUB.
+
+
+We have just narrated the establishment of this Club--how it was
+originally a gaming club, and was formed at first by Almack. It was
+subsequently taken by Brookes, a wine-merchant and money-lender,
+according to Selwyn; and who is described by Tickell, in a copy of
+verses addressed to Sheridan, when Charles James Fox was to give a
+supper at his own lodgings, then near the Club:--
+
+     "Derby shall send, if not his plate, his cooks,
+     And know, I've brought the best champagne from Brookes,
+     From liberal Brookes, whose speculative skill
+     Is hasty credit, and a distant bill;
+     Who, nursed in clubs, disdains a vulgar trade,
+     Exults to trust, and blushes to be paid."
+
+From Pall Mall Brookes's Club removed to No. 60, on the west side of
+St. James's-street, where a handsome house was built at Brookes's
+expense, from the designs of Henry Holland, the architect; it was
+opened in October, 1778. The concern did not prosper; for James Hare
+writes to George Selwyn, May 18, 1779, "we are all beggars at
+Brookes's, and he threatens to leave the house, as it yields him no
+profit." Mr. Cunningham tells us that Brookes retired from the Club
+soon after it was built, and died poor about the year 1782.
+
+Lord Crewe, one of the founders of the Club in Pall Mall, died in
+1829, after sixty-five years' membership of Brookes's. Among its
+celebrities were Burke and Sir Joshua Reynolds, Garrick and Hume,
+Horace Walpole, Gibbon, and Sheridan and Wilberforce. Lord March,
+afterwards Duke of Queensberry, was one of its notorieties--"the old
+Q., whom many now living can remember, with his fixed eye and
+cadaverous face, watching the flow of the human tide past his
+bow-window in Pall Mall."--_National Review_, 1857. [This is hardly
+correct as to locality, since the Club left Pall Mall in 1778, and a
+reminiscent must be more than 80 years of age.] Among Selwyn's
+correspondents are Gilly Williams, Hare, Fitzpatrick, the Townshends,
+Burgoyne, Storer, and Lord Carlisle. R. Tickell, in "Lines from the
+Hon. Charles Fox to the Hon. John Townshend cruising," thus describes
+the welcome that awaits Townshend, and the gay life of the Club:--
+
+     "Soon as to Brookes's thence thy footsteps bend,
+     What gratulations thy approach attend!
+     See Gibbon tap his box; auspicious sign,
+     That classic compliment and evil combine.
+     See Beauclerk's cheek a tinge of red surprise,
+     And friendship gives what cruel health denies.
+     Important Townshend! what can thee withstand?
+     The ling'ring black-ball lags in Boothby's hand.
+     E'en Draper checks the sentimental sigh;
+     And Smith, without an oath, suspends the die."
+
+Mr. Wilberforce has thus recorded his first appearance at Brookes's:
+"Hardly knowing any one, I joined, from mere shyness, in play at the
+faro-tables, where George Selwyn kept bank. A friend, who knew my
+inexperience, and regarded me as a victim decked out for sacrifice,
+called to me, 'What, Wilberforce, is that you?' Selwyn quite resented
+the interference, and, turning to him, said, in his most expressive
+tone, 'Oh, Sir, don't interrupt Mr. Wilberforce; he could not be
+better employed!'"
+
+The Prince of Wales, one day at Brookes's, expatiating on that
+beautiful but far-fetched idea of Dr. Darwin's, that the reason of the
+bosom of a beautiful woman being the object of such exquisite delight
+for a man to look upon, arises from the first pleasurable sensations
+of warmth, sustenance, and repose, which he derives therefrom in his
+infancy; Sheridan replied, "Truly hath it been said, that there is
+only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous. All children who are
+brought up by hand must derive their pleasurable sensations from a
+very different source; yet I believe no one ever heard of any such,
+when arrived at manhood, evincing any very rapturous or amatory
+emotions at the sight of a wooden spoon." This clever exposure of an
+ingenious absurdity shows the folly of taking for granted every
+opinion which may be broached under the sanction of a popular name.
+
+The conversation at Brookes's, one day, turning on Lord Henry Petty's
+projected tax upon iron, one member said, that as there was so much
+opposition to it, it would be better to raise the proposed sum upon
+coals. "Hold! my dear fellow," said Sheridan, "that would be out of
+the frying pan into the fire, with a vengeance."
+
+Mr. Whitbread, one evening at Brookes's, talked loudly and largely
+against the Ministers for laying what was called the _war tax_ upon
+malt: every one present concurred with him in opinion, but Sheridan
+could not resist the gratification of a hit at the _brewer_ himself.
+He wrote with his pencil upon the back of a letter the following
+lines, which he handed to Mr. Whitbread, across the table:--
+
+     "They've raised the price of table drink;
+     What is the reason, do you think?
+     The tax on _malt_'s the cause I hear--
+     But what has _malt_ to do with _beer_?"
+
+Looking through a Number of the _Quarterly Review_, one day, at
+Brookes's, soon after its first appearance, Sheridan said, in reply to
+a gentleman who observed that the editor, Mr. Gifford, had boasted of
+the power of conferring and _distributing literary reputation_; "Very
+likely; and in the present instance I think he has done it so
+profusely as to have left none for himself."
+
+Sir Philip Francis was the convivial companion of Fox, and during the
+short administration of that statesman was made a Knight of the Bath.
+One evening, Roger Wilbraham came up to a whist-table at Brookes's,
+where Sir Philip, who for the first time wore the ribbon of the Order,
+was engaged in a rubber, and thus accosted him. Laying hold of the
+ribbon and examining it for some time, he said: "So, this is the way
+they have rewarded you at last: they have given you a little bit of
+red ribbon for your services, Sir Philip, have they? A pretty bit of
+red ribbon to hang about your neck; and that satisfies you, does it?
+Now, I wonder what I shall have.--What do you think they will give me,
+Sir Philip?"
+
+The newly-made Knight, who had twenty-five guineas depending on the
+rubber, and who was not very well pleased at the interruption,
+suddenly turned round, and looking at him fiercely, exclaimed, "A
+halter, and be d--d to you!"
+
+George III. invariably evinced a strong aversion to Fox, the secret of
+which it is easy to understand. His son, the Prince of Wales, threw
+himself into the arms of Fox, and this in the most undisguised manner.
+Fox lodged in St. James's-street, and as soon as he rose, which was
+very late, had a levee of his followers, and of the members of the
+gaming club, at Brookes's, all his disciples. His bristly black
+person, and shagged breast quite open, and rarely purified by any
+ablutions, was wrapped in a foul linen night-gown, and his bushy hair
+dishevelled. In these cynic weeds, and with epicurean good-humour, did
+he dictate his politics, and in this school did the heir of the Crown
+attend his lessons, and imbibe them.
+
+Fox's love of play was desperate. A few evenings before he moved the
+repeal of the Marriage Act, in February, 1772, he had been at Brompton
+on two errands: one to consult Justice Fielding on the penal laws; the
+other to borrow ten thousand pounds, which he brought to town at the
+hazard of being robbed. Fox played admirably both at whist and piquet;
+with such skill, indeed, that by the general admission of Brookes's
+Club, he might have made four thousand pounds a year, as they
+calculated, at those games, if he could have confined himself to them.
+But his misfortune arose from playing games at chance, particularly at
+Faro. After eating and drinking plentifully, he sat down to the Faro
+table, and inevitably rose a loser. Once, indeed, and once only, he
+won about eight thousand pounds in the course of a single evening.
+Part of the money he paid away to his creditors, and the remainder he
+lost almost immediately. Before he attained his thirtieth year, he had
+completely dissipated everything that he could either command, or
+could procure by the most ruinous expedients. He had even undergone,
+at times, many of the severest privations annexed to the vicissitudes
+that mark a gamester's progress; frequently wanting money to defray
+the common daily wants of the most pressing nature. Topham Beauclerc,
+who lived much in Fox's society, affirmed, that no man could form an
+idea of the extremities to which he had been driven in order to raise
+money, after losing his last guinea at the Faro table. He was reduced
+for successive days to such distress, as to borrow money from the
+waiters of Brookes's. The very chairmen, whom he was unable to pay,
+used to dun him for their arrears. In 1781, he might be considered as
+an extinct volcano, for the pecuniary aliment that had fed the flame
+was long consumed. Yet he then occupied a house or lodgings in St.
+James's-street close to Brookes's, where he passed almost every hour
+which was not devoted to the House of Commons. Brookes's was then the
+rallying point or rendezvous of the Opposition; where, while faro,
+whist, and supper prolonged the night, the principal members of the
+Minority in both Houses met, in order to compare their information, or
+to concert and mature their parliamentary measures. Great sums were
+then borrowed of Jews at exorbitant premiums. Fox called his outward
+room, where the Jews waited till he rose, the _Jerusalem Chamber_. His
+brother Stephen was enormously fat; George Selwyn said he was in the
+right to deal with Shylocks, as he could give them pounds of flesh.
+
+When Fox lodged with his friend Fitzpatrick, at Mackie's, some one
+remarked that two such inmates would be the ruin of Mackie, the
+oilman; "No," said George Selwyn; "so far from ruining him, they will
+make poor Mackie's fortune; for he will have the credit of having the
+finest pickles in London."
+
+The ruling passion of Fox was partly owing to the lax training of his
+father, who, by his lavish allowances, fostered his propensity for
+play. According to Chesterfield, the first Lord Holland "had no fixed
+principles in religion or morality," and he censures him to his son
+for being "too unwary in ridiculing and exposing them." He gave full
+swing to Charles in his youth: "let nothing be done," said his
+Lordship, "to break his spirit; the world will do that for him."
+(_Selwyn._) At his death, in 1774, he left him £154,000 to pay his
+debts; it was all bespoke, and Fox soon became as deeply pledged as
+before.
+
+Walpole, in 1781, walking up St. James's-street, saw a cart and
+porters at Fox's door; with copper and an old chest of drawers,
+loading. His success at faro had awakened a host of creditors; but,
+unless his bank had swelled to the size of the Bank of England, it
+could not have yielded a sou apiece for each. Epsom, too, had been
+unpropitious; and one creditor had actually seized and carried off
+Fox's goods, which did not seem worth removing. Yet, shortly after
+this, whom should Walpole find sauntering by his own door but Fox, who
+came up and talked to him at the coach-window, on the Marriage Bill,
+with as much _sang froid_ as if he knew nothing of what had happened.
+
+It was at the sale of Fox's library in this year that Walpole made the
+following singular note:--"1781, June 20. Sold by auction, the
+library of Charles Fox, which had been taken in execution. Amongst the
+books was Mr. Gibbon's first volume of 'Roman History,' which
+appeared, by the title-page, to have been given by the author to Mr.
+Fox, who had written in it the following anecdote:--'The author at
+Brookes's said there was no salvation for the country till six heads
+of the principal persons in the administration were laid on the table;
+eleven days later, the same gentleman accepted the place of Lord of
+Trade under those very ministers, and has acted with them ever since!'
+Such was the avidity of bidders for the smallest production of so
+wonderful a genius, that by the addition of this little record, the
+book sold for three guineas."
+
+Lord Tankerville assured Mr. Rogers that Fox once played cards with
+Fitzpatrick at Brookes's from ten o'clock at night till near six
+o'clock the next afternoon, a waiter standing by to tell them "whose
+deal it was," they being too sleepy to know. Fox once won about eight
+thousand pounds; and one of his bond-creditors, who soon heard of his
+good luck, presented himself, and asked for payment. "Impossible,
+Sir," replied Fox; "I must first discharge my debts of honour." The
+bond-creditor remonstrated. "Well, Sir, give me your bond." It was
+delivered to Fox, who tore it in pieces, and threw them into the fire.
+"Now, Sir," said Fox, "my debt to you is a debt of honour;" and
+immediately paid him.
+
+Amidst the wildest excesses of youth, even while the perpetual victim
+of his passion for play, Fox eagerly cultivated at intervals his taste
+for letters, especially the Greek and Roman historians and poets; and
+he found resources in their works, under the most severe depressions
+occasioned by ill-success at the gaming-table. One morning, after Fox
+had passed the whole night in company with Topham Beauclerc at faro,
+the two friends were about to separate. Fox had lost throughout the
+night, and was in a frame of mind approaching desperation. Beauclerc's
+anxiety for the consequences which might ensue led him to be early at
+Fox's lodgings; and on arriving, he inquired, not without
+apprehension, whether he had risen. The servant replied that Mr. Fox
+was in the drawing-room, when Beauclerc walked upstairs, and
+cautiously opened the door, expecting to behold a frantic gamester
+stretched on the floor, bewailing his losses, or plunged in moody
+despair; but he was astonished to find him reading a Greek Herodotus.
+"What would you have me do?" said Fox, "I have lost my last shilling."
+Upon other occasions, after staking and losing all that he could raise
+at faro, instead of exclaiming against fortune, or manifesting the
+agitation natural under such circumstances, he would lay his head on
+the table, and retain his place, but, exhausted by mental and bodily
+fatigue, almost immediately fall into a profound sleep.
+
+One night, at Brookes's, Fox made some remark on Government powder, in
+allusion to something that had happened. Adams considered it a
+reflection, and sent Fox a challenge. Fox went out, and took his
+station, giving a full front. Fitzgerald said, "You must stand
+sideways." Fox said, "Why I am as thick one way as the other,"--"Fire,"
+was given: Adams fired, Fox did not, and when they said he must, he
+said, "I'll be d--d if I do. I have no quarrel." They then advanced to
+shake hands. Fox said, "Adams, you'd have killed me if it had not been
+Government powder." The ball hit him in the groin.
+
+Another celebrated character, who frequented Brookes's in the days of
+Selwyn, was Dunning, afterwards Lord Ashburton; and many keen
+encounters passed between them. Dunning was a short, thick man, with a
+turn-up nose, a constant shake of the head, and latterly a distressing
+hectic cough--but a wit of the first water. Though he died at the
+comparatively early age of fifty-two, he amassed a fortune of £150,000
+during twenty-five years' practice at the bar; and lived
+notwithstanding, so liberally, that his mother, an attorney's widow,
+some of the wags at Brookes's wickedly recorded, left him in dudgeon
+on the score of his extravagance, as humorously sketched at a dinner
+at the lawyer's country-house near Fulham, when the following
+_conversation_ was represented to have occurred:--
+
+"John," said the old lady to her son, after dinner, during which she
+had been astounded by the profusion of the plate and viands,--"John, I
+shall not stop another day to witness such shameful extravagance."
+
+"But, my dear mother," interrupted Dunning, "you ought to consider
+that I can afford it: my income, you know--"
+
+"No income," said the old lady impatiently, "can stand such shameful
+prodigality. The sum which your cook told me that very _turbot_ cost,
+ought to have supported any reasonable family for a week."
+
+"Pooh, pooh! my dear mother," replied the dutiful son, "you would not
+have me appear shabby. Besides, what is a turbot?"
+
+"Pooh, pooh! what is a turbot?" echoed the irritated dame: "don't
+_pooh_ me, John: I tell you such goings-on can come to no good, and
+you'll see the end of it before long. However, it sha'n't be said your
+mother encouraged such sinful waste, for I'll set off in the coach to
+Devonshire to-morrow morning."
+
+"And notwithstanding," said Sheridan, "all John's rhetorical efforts
+to detain her, the old lady kept her word."
+
+Sheridan's election as a member of Brookes's took place under
+conflicting circumstances. His success at Stafford met with fewer
+obstacles than he had to encounter in St. James's-street, where
+Selwyn's political aversions and personal jealousy were very
+formidable, as were those of the Earl of Bessborough, and they and
+other members of the Club had determined to exclude Sheridan.
+Conscious that every exertion would be made to ensure his success,
+they agreed not to absent themselves during the time allowed by the
+regulations of the Club for ballots; and as one black ball sufficed to
+extinguish the hopes of a candidate, they repeatedly prevented his
+election. In order to remove so serious an impediment, Sheridan had
+recourse to artifice. On the evening when it was resolved to put him
+up, he found his two inveterate enemies posted as usual. A chairman
+was then sent with a note, written in the name of her father-in-law,
+Lord Bessborough, acquainting him that a fire had broken out in his
+house in Cavendish Square, and entreating him immediately to return
+home. Unsuspicious of any trick, as his son and daughter-in-law lived
+under his roof, Lord Bessborough unhesitatingly quitted the room, and
+got into a sedan-chair. Selwyn, who resided not far from Brookes's in
+Cleveland-row, received, nearly at the same time, a verbal message to
+request his presence, in consequence of Miss Fagniani, (whom he had
+adopted as his daughter,) being suddenly seized with alarming
+indisposition. This summons he obeyed; and no sooner was the room
+cleared, than Sheridan being proposed a member, a ballot took place,
+when he was immediately chosen. Lord Bessborough and Selwyn returned
+without delay, on discovering the imposition that had been practised
+on their credulity, but they were too late to prevent its effects.
+
+Such is the story told by Selwyn, in his Memoirs; but the following
+account is more generally acredited. The Prince of Wales joined
+Brookes's Club, to have more frequent intercourse with Mr. Fox, one of
+its earliest members, and who, on his first acquaintance with
+Sheridan, became anxious for his admission to the Club. Sheridan was
+three times proposed, but as often had the black ball in the ballot,
+which disqualified him. At length, the hostile ball was traced to
+George Selwyn, who objected, because his (Sheridan's) father had been
+upon the stage. Sheridan was apprised of this, and desired that his
+name might be put up again, and that the further conduct of the matter
+might be left to himself. Accordingly, on the evening when he was to
+be balloted for, Sheridan arrived at Brookes's arm-in-arm with the
+Prince of Wales, just ten minutes before the balloting began. They
+were shown into the candidates' waiting-room, when one of the
+club-waiters was ordered to tell Mr. Selwyn that the Prince desired to
+speak with him immediately. Selwyn obeyed the summons, and Sheridan,
+to whom this version of the affair states, Sheridan had no personal
+dislike, entertained him for half-an-hour with some political story,
+which interested him very much, but had no foundation in truth. During
+Selwyn's absence, the balloting went on, and Sheridan was chosen; and
+the result was announced to himself and the Prince by the waiter,
+with the preconcerted signal of stroking his chin with his hand.
+Sheridan immediately rose from his seat, and apologizing for a few
+minutes' absence, told Selwyn that "the Prince would finish the
+narrative, the catastrophe of which he would find very remarkable."
+
+Sheridan now went upstairs, was introduced to the Club, and was soon
+in all his glory. The Prince, in the meantime, had not the least idea
+of being left to conclude a story, the thread of which (if it had a
+thread) he had entirely forgotten. Still, by means of Selwyn's
+occasional assistance, the Prince got on pretty well for a few
+minutes, when a question from the listener as to the flat
+contradiction of a part of His Royal Highness' story to that of
+Sheridan, completely posed the narrator, and he stuck fast. After much
+floundering, the Prince burst into a loud laugh, saying, "D--n the
+fellow, to leave me to finish the infernal story, of which I know as
+much as a child unborn! But, never mind, Selwyn; as Sheridan does not
+seem inclined to come back, let me go upstairs, and I dare say Fox or
+some of them will be able to tell you all about it." They adjourned to
+the club room, and Selwyn now detected the manoeuvre. Sheridan then
+rose, made a low bow, and apologized to Selwyn, through his dropping
+into such good company, adding, "They have just been making me a
+member without even _one black ball_, and here I am." "The devil they
+have!" exclaimed Selwyn.--"Facts speak for themselves," said Sheridan;
+"and I thank you for your friendly suffrage; and now, if you will sit
+down by us, I will finish my story."--"Your story! it is all a lie
+from beginning to end," exclaimed Selwyn, amidst loud laughter from
+all parts of the room.
+
+Among the members who indulged in high play was Alderman Combe, who
+is said to have made as much money in this way as he did by brewing.
+One evening, whilst he filled the office of Lord Mayor, he was busy at
+a full hazard-table at Brookes's, where the wit and the dice-box
+circulated together with great glee, and where Beau Brummell was one
+of the party. "Come, Mashtub," said Brummell, who was the _caster_,
+"what do you _set_?"--"Twenty-five guineas," answered the
+Alderman.--"Well, then," returned the Beau, "have at the mare's pony"
+(25 guineas). He continued to throw until he drove home the brewer's
+twelve ponies, running; and then, getting up, and making him a low
+bow, whilst pocketing the cash, he said, "Thank you, alderman; for the
+future, I shall never drink any porter but yours."--"I wish, Sir,"
+replied the brewer, "that every other blackguard in London would tell
+me the same."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[8] _Quarterly Review_, 1840.
+
+
+
+
+"FIGHTING FITZGERALD"
+
+AT BROOKES'S.
+
+
+This notorious person, George Robert Fitzgerald, though nearly related
+to one of the first families in Ireland (Leinster), was executed in
+1786, for a murder which he had coolly premeditated, and had
+perpetrated in a most cruel and cowardly manner.
+
+His duelling propensities had kept him out of all the first Clubs in
+London. He once applied to Admiral Keith Stewart to propose him as a
+candidate for Brookes's; when the Admiral, knowing that he must either
+fight or comply with his request, chose the latter. Accordingly, on
+the night when the ballot was to take place (which was only a mere
+form in this case, for even Keith Stewart had resolved to _black-ball_
+him), the duellist accompanied the Admiral to St. James's-street, and
+waited in the room below, while the ballot was taken. This was soon
+done; for, without hesitation, each member threw in a _black ball_;
+and when the scrutiny came, the company were not a little amazed to
+find not even _one_ white ball among the number. However, the
+rejection being carried _nem. con._, the question was, which of the
+members had the hardihood to announce the result to the expectant
+candidate. No one would undertake the office, for the announcement was
+thought sure to produce a challenge; and a duel with Fitzgerald had,
+in most cases, been fatal to his opponent. The general opinion was
+that the proposer, Admiral Stewart, should convey the intelligence.
+"No, gentlemen," said he, "I proposed the fellow because I knew you
+would not admit him; but, by Jove, I have no inclination to risk my
+life against that of a madman."
+
+"But, Admiral," replied the Duke of Devonshire,[9] "there being no
+_white ball_ in the box, he must know that _you_ have black-balled him
+as well as the rest, and he is sure to call you out at all events."
+
+This posed the Admiral, who, after some hesitation, proposed that the
+waiter should tell Fitzgerald that there was _one_ black ball, and
+that his name must be put up again if he wished it. All concurred in
+the propriety of this plan, and the waiter was dispatched on the
+mission. In the meantime, Fitzgerald had frequently rung the bell to
+inquire "the state of the poll," and had sent each waiter to
+ascertain, but neither durst return, when Mr. Brookes took the message
+from the waiter who was descending the staircase, and boldly entered
+the room, with a coffee equipage in his hand. "Did you call for
+coffee, Sir?" said Mr. Brookes, smartly. "D--n your coffee, Sir! and
+you too," answered Mr. Fitzgerald, in a voice which made the host's
+blood run cold. "I want to know, Sir, and that without one moment's
+delay, Sir, if I am _chose_ yet?"
+
+"Oh, Sir!" replied Mr. Brookes, attempting to smile away the
+appearance of fear, "I beg your pardon, Sir, but I was just coming to
+announce to you, Sir, with Admiral Stewart's compliments, Sir, that
+unfortunately there was one black ball in the box, Sir; and
+consequently, by the rules of the Club, Sir, no candidate can be
+admitted without a new election, Sir;--which cannot take place, by the
+standing regulations of the Club, Sir, until one month from this time,
+Sir."
+
+During this address, Fitzgerald's irascibility appeared to undergo
+considerable mollification; and at its close, he grasped Brookes's
+hand, saying, "My dear Brookes, _I'm chose_; but there must be a small
+matter of mistake in my election:" he then persuaded Brookes to go
+upstairs, and make his compliments to the gentlemen, and say, as it
+was only a mistake of _one_ black ball, they would be so good as to
+waive all ceremony on his account, and proceed to _re-elect_ their
+humble servant without any more delay at all." Many of the members
+were panic-struck, foreseeing a disagreeable finale to the farce which
+they had been playing. Mr. Brookes stood silent, waiting for the
+answer. At length, the Earl of March (afterwards Duke of Queensberry)
+said aloud, "Try the effect of _two_ balls: d--n his Irish impudence,
+if two balls don't take effect upon him, I don't know what will." This
+proposition was agreed to, and Brookes was ordered to communicate the
+same.
+
+On re-entering the waiting-room, Mr. Fitzgerald eagerly inquired,
+"Have they _elected_ me right, now, Mr. Brookes?" the reply was,
+"Sorry to inform you that the result of the second balloting is--that
+_two_ black balls were dropped, Sir."--"Then," exclaimed Fitzgerald,
+"there's now _two mistakes_ instead of one." He then persuaded Brookes
+again to proceed upstairs, and tell the honourable members to "try
+again, and make no more mistakes." General Fitzpatrick proposed that
+Brookes should reply, "His cause was all hopeless, for that he was
+_black-balled all over_, from head to foot, and it was hoped by all
+the members that Mr. Fitzgerald would not persist in thrusting himself
+into society where his company was declined." This message was of no
+avail: no sooner had Fitzgerald heard it than he exclaimed: "Oh, I
+perceive it is a _mistake altogether_, Mr. Brookes, and I must see to
+the rectifying of it myself, there's nothing like _daling_ with
+principals; so, I'll step up at once, and put this thing to rights,
+without any more unnecessary delay."
+
+In spite of Mr. Brookes's remonstrance, that his entrance into the
+Club-room was against all rule and etiquette, Fitzgerald flew
+upstairs, and entered the room without any further ceremony than a
+bow, saying to the members, who indignantly rose at the intrusion,
+"Your servant, gentlemen--I beg ye will be _sated_."
+
+Walking up to the fireplace, he thus addressed Admiral Stewart:--"So,
+my dear Admiral, Mr. Brookes informs me that I have been _elected_
+three times."
+
+"You have been balloted for, Mr. Fitzgerald, but I am sorry to say you
+have not been chosen," said Stewart.
+
+"Well, then," replied the duellist, "did _you_ black-ball me?"--"My
+good Sir," answered the Admiral, "how could you suppose such a
+thing?"--"Oh, I _supposed_ no such thing, my dear fellow; I only want
+to know who it was that dropped the black balls in by accident, as it
+were!"
+
+Fitzgerald now went up to each individual member, and put the same
+question _seriatim_, "Did you black-ball me, Sir?" until he made the
+round of the whole Club; and in each case he received a reply similar
+to that of the Admiral. When he had finished his inquisition, he thus
+addressed the whole body: "You see, Gentlemen, that as none of ye have
+black-balled me, _I must be chose_; and it is Mr. Brookes that has
+made the mistake. But I was convinced of it from the beginning, and I
+am only sorry that so much time has been lost as to prevent honourable
+gentlemen from enjoying each other's company sooner." He then desired
+the waiter to bring him a bottle of champagne, that he might drink
+long life to the Club, and wish them joy of their unanimous election
+of a "_rael_ gentleman by father and mother, and _who never missed his
+man_."
+
+The members now saw that there was nothing to be done but to send the
+intruder to Coventry, which they appeared to do by tacit agreement;
+for when Admiral Stewart departed, Mr. Fitzgerald found himself _cut_
+by all his "dear friends." The members now formed parties at the
+whist-table; and no one replied to Fitzgerald's observations nor
+returned even a nod to the toasts and healths which he drank in three
+bottles of champagne, which the terrified waiter placed before him, in
+succession. At length, he arose, made a low bow, and took leave,
+promising to "come earlier next night, and have a little more of it."
+It was then agreed that half-a-dozen stout constables should be in
+waiting the next evening to bear him off to the watch-house, if he
+attempted again to intrude. Of this measure, Fitzgerald seemed to be
+aware; for he never again showed himself at Brookes's; though he
+boasted everywhere that he had been unanimously chosen a member of the
+Club.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[9] This was the _bon-vivant_ Duke who had got ready for him every
+night, for supper, at Brookes's, a broiled blade-bone of mutton.
+
+
+
+
+ARTHUR'S CLUB.
+
+
+This Club, established more than a century since, at No. 69, St.
+James's-street, derives its name from Mr. Arthur, the master of
+White's Chocolate-house in the same street. Mr. Cunningham records:
+"Arthur died in June, 1761, in St. James's-place; and in the following
+October, Mr. Mackreth married Arthur's only child, and Arthur's
+Chocolate-house, as it was then called, became the property of this
+Mr. Mackreth."
+
+Walpole, writing in 1759, has this odd note: "I stared to-day at
+Piccadilly like a country squire; there are twenty new stone houses:
+at first I concluded that all the grooms that used to live there, had
+got estates and built palaces. One young gentleman, who was getting an
+estate, but was so indiscreet as to step out of his way to rob a
+comrade, is convicted, and to be transported; in short, one of the
+waiters at Arthur's. George Selwyn says, 'What a horrid idea he will
+give us of the people in Newgate?'"
+
+Mackreth prospered; for Walpole, writing to Mann, in 1774, speaking of
+the New Parliament, says: "Bob, formerly a waiter at White's, was set
+up by my nephew for two boroughs, and actually is returned for Castle
+Rising with Mr. Wedderburne;
+
+     "'Servus curru portatur eodem;'
+
+which I suppose will offend the Scottish Consul, as most of his
+countrymen resent an Irishman standing for Westminster, which the
+former reckon a borough of their own. For my part, waiter for waiter,
+I see little difference; they were all equally ready to cry, 'Coming,
+coming, Sir.'"
+
+Mackreth was afterwards knighted; and upon him appeared this smart and
+well-remembered epigram:
+
+     "When Mackreth served in Arthur's crew,
+     He said to Rumbold, 'Black my shoe;'
+       To which he answer'd, 'Ay, Bob.'
+     But when return'd from India's land,
+     And grown too proud to brook command,
+       He sternly answer'd, 'Nay, Bob.'"
+
+The Club-house was rebuilt in 1825, upon the site of the original
+Chocolate-house, Thomas Hopper, architect, at which time it possessed
+more than average design: the front is of stone, and is enriched with
+fluted Corinthian columns.
+
+
+
+
+WHITE'S CLUB.
+
+
+This celebrated Club was originally established as "White's
+Chocolate-house," in 1698, five doors from the bottom of the west side
+of St. James's-street, "ascending from St. James's Palace." (Hatton,
+1708.) A print of the time shows a small garden attached to the
+house: at the tables in the house or garden, more than one highwayman
+took his chocolate, or threw his main, before he quietly mounted his
+horse, and rode down Piccadilly towards Bagshot. (Doran's _Table
+Traits_.) It was destroyed by fire, April 28, 1733, when the house was
+kept by Mr. Arthur, who subsequently gave his name to the Club called
+Arthur's, still existing a few doors above the original White's. At
+the fire, young Arthur's wife leaped out of a second floor window,
+upon a feather-bed, without much hurt. A fine collection of paintings,
+belonging to Sir Andrew Fountaine, valued at 3000_l._, was entirely
+destroyed. The King and the Prince of Wales were present above an
+hour, and encouraged the firemen and people to work at the engines; a
+guard being ordered from St. James's, to keep off the populace. His
+Majesty ordered twenty guineas to be distributed among the firemen and
+others that worked at the engines, and five guineas to the guard; and
+the Prince ordered the firemen ten guineas. "The incident of the
+fire," says Mr. Cunningham, "was made use of by Hogarth, in Plate VI.
+of the Rake's Progress, representing a room at White's. The total
+abstraction of the gamblers is well expressed by their utter
+inattention to the alarm of the fire given by watchmen, who are
+bursting open the doors. Plate IV. of the same pictured moral
+represents a group of chimney-sweepers and shoe-blacks gambling on the
+ground over-against White's. To indicate the Club more fully, Hogarth
+has inserted the name Black's."
+
+Arthur, thus burnt out, removed to Gaunt's Coffee-house, next the St.
+James's Coffee-house, and which bore the name of "White's"--a myth.
+The _Tatler_, in his first Number, promises that "all accounts of
+gallantry, pleasure, and entertainment, shall be under the article of
+White's Chocolate-house." Addison, in his Prologue to Steele's _Tender
+Husband_, catches "the necessary spark" sometimes "taking snuff at
+White's."
+
+The Chocolate-house, open to any one, became a private Club-house: the
+earliest record is a book of rules and list of members of the old Club
+at White's, dated October 30th, 1736. The principal members were the
+Duke of Devonshire; the Earls of Cholmondeley, Chesterfield, and
+Rockingham; Sir John Cope, Major-General Churchill, Bubb Dodington,
+and Colley Cibber. Walpole tells us that the celebrated Earl of
+Chesterfield lived at White's, gaming and pronouncing witticisms among
+the boys of quality; "yet he says to his son, that a member of a
+gaming club should be a cheat, or he will soon be a beggar," an
+inconsistency which reminds one of old Fuller's saw: "A father that
+whipt his son for swearing, and swore himself whilst he whipt him, did
+more harm by his example than good by his correction."
+
+Swift, in his _Essay on Modern Education_, gives the Chocolate-house a
+sad name. "I have heard," he says, "that the late Earl of Oxford, in
+the time of his ministry, never passed by White's Chocolate-house (the
+common rendezvous of infamous sharpers and noble cullies) without
+bestowing a curse upon that famous Academy, as the bane of half the
+English nobility."
+
+The gambling character of the Club may also be gathered from Lord
+Lyttelton writing to Dr. Doddridge, in 1750. "The Dryads of Hagley are
+at present pretty secure, but I tremble to think that the rattling of
+a dice-box at White's may one day or other (if my son should be a
+member of that noble academy) shake down all our fine oaks. It is
+dreadful to see, not only there, but almost in every house in town,
+what devastations are made by that destructive fury, the spirit of
+play."
+
+Swift's character of the company is also borne out by Walpole, in a
+letter to Mann, December 16, 1748: "There is a man about town, Sir
+William Burdett, a man of very good family, but most infamous
+character. In short, to give you his character at once, there is a
+wager entered in the bet-book at White's (a MS. of which I may one day
+or other give you an account), that the first baronet that will be
+hanged is this Sir William Burdett."
+
+Again, Glover, the poet, in his _Autobiography_, tells us: "Mr. Pelham
+(the Prime Minister) was originally an officer in the army, and a
+professed gamester; of a narrow mind, low parts, etc.... By long
+experience and attendance he became experienced as a Parliament man;
+and even when Minister, divided his time to the last between his
+office and the club of gamesters at White's." And, Pope, in the
+_Dunciad_, has:
+
+     "Or chair'd at White's, amidst the doctors sit,
+     Teach oaths to gamesters, and to nobles wit."
+
+The Club removed, in 1755, to the east side of St. James's-street, No.
+38. The house had had previously a noble and stately tenant; for here
+resided the Countess of Northumberland, widow of Algernon, tenth Earl
+of Northumberland, who died 1688. "My friend Lady Suffolk, her niece
+by marriage," writes Walpole, "has talked to me of her having, on that
+alliance, visited her. She then lived in the house now White's, at the
+upper end of St. James's-street, and was the last who kept up the
+ceremonious state of the old peerage. When she went out to visit, a
+footman, bareheaded, walked on each side of her coach, and a second
+coach with her women attended her. I think, too, that Lady Suffolk
+told me that her granddaughter-in-law, the Duchess of Somerset, never
+sat down before her without leave to do so. I suppose the old Duke
+Charles [the proud Duke] had imbibed a good quantity of his stately
+pride in such a school." (_Letter to the Bishop of Dromore_, September
+18, 1792.) This high-minded dame had published a "Volume of Prayers."
+
+Among the Rules of the Club, every member was to pay one guinea a year
+towards having a good cook; the names of all candidates were to be
+deposited with Mr. Arthur or Bob [Mackreth]. In balloting, every
+member was to put in his ball, and such person or persons who refuse
+to comply with it, shall pay the supper reckoning of that night; and,
+in 1769, it was agreed that 'every member of this Club who is in the
+Billiard-Room at the time the Supper is declared upon table, shall pay
+his reckoning if he does not sup at the Young Club.'
+
+Of Colley Cibber's membership we find this odd account in Davies's
+_Life of Garrick_:--"Colley, we told, had the honour to be a member of
+the great Club at White's; and so I suppose might any other man who
+wore good clothes and paid his money when he lost it. But on what
+terms did Cibber live with this society? Why, he feasted most
+sumptuously, as I have heard his friend Victor say, with an air of
+triumphant exultation, with Mr. Arthur and his wife, and gave a trifle
+for his dinner. After he had dined, when the Club-room door was
+opened, and the Laureate was introduced, he was saluted with loud and
+joyous acclamation of 'O King Coll! Come in, King Coll!' and 'Welcome,
+welcome, King Colley!' And this kind of gratulation, Mr. Victor
+thought, was very gracious and very honourable."
+
+In the Rules quoted by Mr. Cunningham, from the Club-books, we find
+that in 1780, a dinner was ready every day during the sitting of
+Parliament, at a reckoning of 12_s._ per head; in 1797, at 10_s._
+6_d._ per head, malt liquors, biscuits, oranges, apples, and olives
+included; hot suppers provided at 8_s._ per head; and cold meat,
+oysters, etc., at 4_s._, malt liquor only included. And, "that Every
+Member who plays at Chess, Draughts, or Backgammon do pay One Shilling
+each time of playing by daylight, and half-a-crown each by
+candlelight."
+
+White's was from the beginning principally a gaming Club. The play was
+mostly at hazard and faro; no member was to hold a faro Bank. Whist
+was comparatively harmless. Professional gamblers, who lived by dice
+and cards, provided they were free from the imputation of cheating,
+procured admission to White's. It was a great supper-house, and there
+was play before and after supper, carried on to a late hour and heavy
+amounts. Lord Carlisle lost 10,000_l._ in one night, and was in debt
+to the house for the whole. He tells Selwyn of a set, in which at one
+point of the game, stood to win 50,000_l._ Sir John Bland, of Kippax
+Park, who shot himself in 1755, as we learn from Walpole, flirted away
+his whole fortune at hazard. "He t'other night exceeded what was lost
+by the late Duke of Bedford, having at one period of the night,
+(though he recovered the greater part of it,) lost two-and-thirty
+thousand pounds."
+
+Lord Mountford came to a tragic end through his gambling. He had lost
+money; feared to be reduced to distress; asked for a Government
+appointment, and determined to throw the die of life or death, on the
+answer he received from Court. The answer was unfavourable. He
+consulted several persons, indirectly at first, afterwards pretty
+directly--on the easiest mode of finishing life; invited a
+dinner-party for the day after; supped at White's, and played at whist
+till one o'clock of the New Year's morning. Lord Robert Bertie drank
+to him "a happy new year;" he clapped his hand strangely to his eyes.
+In the morning, he sent for a lawyer and three witnesses, executed his
+will; made them read it twice over, paragraph by paragraph; asked the
+lawyer if that will would stand good though a man were to shoot
+himself. Being assured it would, he said, "Pray stay, while I step
+into the next room,"--went into the next room, and shot himself.
+
+Walpole writes to Mann: "John Damier and his two brothers have
+contracted a debt, one can scarcely expect to be believed out of
+England,--of 70,000_l._... The young men of this age seem to make a
+law among themselves for declaring their fathers superannuated at
+fifty, and thus dispose of their estates as if already their own."
+"Can you believe that Lord Foley's two sons have borrowed money so
+extravagantly, that the interest they have contracted to pay, amounts
+to 18,000_l._ a year."
+
+Fox's love of play was frightful: his best friends are said to have
+been half-ruined in annuities, given by them as securities for him to
+the Jews. Five hundred thousand a year of such annuities, of Fox and
+his Society, were advertised to be sold, at one time: Walpole wondered
+what Fox would do when he had sold the estates of all his friends.
+Here are some instances of his desperate play. Walpole further notes
+that in the debate on the Thirty-nine Articles, February 6, 1772, Fox
+did not shine, "nor could it be wondered at. He had sat up playing at
+hazard at Almack's, from Tuesday evening the 4th, till five in the
+afternoon of Wednesday, 5th. An hour before he had recovered
+12,000_l._ that he had lost, and by dinner, which was at five o'clock,
+he had ended losing 11,000_l._ On the Thursday, he spoke in the above
+debate; went to dinner at past eleven at night; from thence to
+White's, where he drank till seven the next morning; thence to
+Almack's, where he won 6,000_l._; and between three and four in the
+afternoon he set out for Newmarket. His brother Stephen lost
+11,000_l._ two nights after, and Charles 10,000_l._ more on the 13th;
+so that, in three nights, the two brothers, the eldest not
+twenty-five, lost 32,000_l._"
+
+Walpole and a party of friends, (Dick Edgecumbe, George Selwyn, and
+Williams,) in 1756, composed a piece of heraldic satire--a
+coat-of-arms for the two gaming-clubs at White's,--which was "actually
+engraving from a very pretty painting of Edgecumbe, whom Mr. Chute, as
+Strawberry King at arms," appointed their chief herald-painter. The
+blazon is vert (for a card-table); three parolis proper on a chevron
+sable (for a hazard-table); two rouleaux in saltire between two dice
+proper, on a canton sable; a white ball (for election) argent. The
+supporters are an old and young knave of clubs; the crest, an arm out
+of an earl's coronet shaking a dice-box; and the motto, "Cogit amor
+nummi." Round the arms is a claret-bottle ticket by way of order. The
+painting above mentioned by Walpole of "the Old and Young Club at
+Arthur's" was bought at the sale of Strawberry Hill by Arthur's
+Club-house for twenty-two shillings.
+
+At White's, the least difference of opinion invariably ended in a bet,
+and a book for entering the particulars of all bets was always laid
+upon the table; one of these, with entries of a date as early as 1744,
+Mr. Cunningham tells us, had been preserved. A book for entering bets
+is still laid on the table.
+
+In these betting books are to be found bets on births, deaths, and
+marriages; the length of a life, or the duration of a ministry; a
+placeman's prospect of a coronet; on the shock of an earthquake; or
+the last scandal at Ranelagh, or Madame Cornelys's. A man dropped down
+at the door of White's; he was carried into the house. Was he dead or
+not? The odds were immediately given and taken for and against. It was
+proposed to bleed him. Those who had taken the odds the man was dead,
+protested that the use of a lancet would affect the fairness of the
+bet.
+
+Walpole gives some of these narratives as good stories "made on
+White's." A parson coming into the Club on the morning of the
+earthquake of 1750, and hearing bets laid whether the shock was caused
+by an earthquake or the blowing-up of powder-mills, went away in
+horror, protesting they were such an impious set, that he believed if
+the last trump were to sound, they would bet "puppet-show against
+Judgment." Gilly Williams writes to Selwyn, 1764, "Lord Digby is very
+soon to be married to Miss Fielding." Thousands might have been won in
+this house (White's), on his Lordship not knowing that such a being
+existed.
+
+Mr. Cunningham tells us that "the marriage of a young lady of rank
+would occasion a bet of a hundred guineas, that she would give birth
+to a live child before the Countess of ----, who had been married
+three or even more months before her. Heavy bets were pending, that
+Arthur, who was then a widower, would be married before a member of
+the Club of about the same age, and also a widower; and that Sarah,
+Duchess of Marlborough, would outlive the old Duchess of Cleveland."
+
+"One of the youth at White's," writes Walpole to Mann, July 10, 1744,
+"has committed a murder, and intends to repeat it. He betted £1500
+that a man could live twelve hours under water; hired a desperate
+fellow, sunk him in a ship, by way of experiment, and both ship and
+man have not appeared since. Another man and ship are to be tried for
+their lives, instead of Mr. Blake, the assassin."
+
+Walpole found at White's, a very remarkable entry in their very--very
+remarkable wager-book, which is still preserved. "Lord Mountford bets
+Sir John Bland twenty guineas that Nash outlives Cibber." "How odd,"
+says Walpole, "that these two old creatures, selected for their
+antiquities, should live to see both their wagerers put an end to
+their own lives! Cibber is within a few days of eighty-four, still
+hearty, and clear, and well. I told him I was glad to see him look so
+well. 'Faith,' said he, 'it is very well that I look at all.'" Lord
+Mountford would have been the winner: Cibber died in 1757; Nash in
+1761.
+
+Here is a nice piece of Selwyn's ready wit. He and Charles Townshend
+had a kind of wit combat together. Selwyn, it is said, prevailed; and
+Charles Townshend took the wit home in his carriage, and dropped him
+at White's. "Remember," said Selwyn, as they parted, "this is the
+first set-down you have given me to-day."
+
+"St. Leger," says Walpole, "was at the head of these luxurious
+heroes--he is the hero of all fashion. I never saw more dashing
+vivacity and absurdity with some flashes of parts. He had a cause the
+other day for ducking a sharper, and was going to swear; the judge
+said to him, 'I see, Sir, you are very ready to take an oath.' 'Yes,
+my Lord,' replied St. Leger, 'my father was a judge,'" St. Leger was a
+lively club member. "Rigby," writes the Duke of Bedford, July 2, 1751,
+"the town is grown extremely thin within this week, though White's
+continues numerous enough, with young people only, for Mr. St. Leger's
+vivacity, and the idea the old ones have of it, prevent the great
+chairs at the Old Club from being filled with their proper drowsy
+proprietors."
+
+In Hogarth's gambling scene at White's, we see the highwayman, with
+the pistols peeping out of his pocket, waiting by the fireside till
+the heaviest winner takes his departure, in order to "recoup" himself
+of his losings. And in the _Beaux' Stratagem_, Aimwell asks of Gibbet,
+"Ha'n't I seen your face at White's?"--"Ay, and at Will's too," is the
+highwayman's answer.
+
+M'Clean, the fashionable highwayman, had a lodging in St.
+James's-street, over-against White's; and he was as well known about
+St. James's as any gentleman who lived in that quarter, and who,
+perhaps, went upon the road too. When M'Clean was taken, in 1750,
+Walpole tells us that Lord Mountford, at the head of half White's,
+went the first day; his aunt was crying over him; as soon as they were
+withdrawn, she said to him, knowing they were of White's, "My dear,
+what did the Lords say to you? Have you ever been concerned with any
+of them? Was it not admirable? What a favourable idea people must have
+of White's!--and what if White's should not deserve a much better?"
+
+A waitership at a club sometimes led to fortune. Thomas Rumbold,
+originally a waiter at White's, got an appointment in India, and
+suddenly rose to be Sir Thomas, and Governor of Madras. On his return,
+with immense wealth, a bill of pains and penalties was brought into
+the House by Dundas, with the view of stripping Sir Robert of his
+ill-gotten gains. This bill was briskly pushed through the earlier
+stages; suddenly the proceedings were arrested by adjournment, and the
+measure fell to the ground. The rumour of the day attributed Rumbold's
+escape to the corrupt assistance of Rigby; who, in 1782, found
+himself, by Lord North's retirement, deprived of his place in the Pay
+Office, and called upon to refund a large amount of public moneys
+unaccounted for. In this strait, Rigby was believed to have had
+recourse to Rumbold. Their acquaintance had commenced in earlier days,
+when Rigby was one of the boldest "punters" at White's, and Rumbold
+bowed to him for half-crowns. Rumbold is said to have given Rigby a
+large sum of money, on condition of the former being released from the
+impending pains and penalties. The truth of this report has been
+vehemently denied; but the circumstances are suspicious. The bill was
+dropped: Dundas, its introducer, was Rigby's intimate associate.
+Rigby's nephew and heir soon after married Rumbold's daughter. Sir
+Thomas himself had married a daughter of Dr. Law, Bishop of Carlisle.
+The worthy Bishop stood godfather to one of Rumbold's children; the
+other godfather was the Nabob of Arcot, and the child was christened
+"Mahomet." So, at least, Walpole informs Mann.[10]
+
+Rigby was a man of pleasure at White's. Wilkes, in the _North
+Briton_, describes Rigby as "an excellent _bon-vivant_, amiable and
+engaging; having all the gibes and gambols, and flashes of merriment,
+which set the table in a roar." In a letter to Selwyn, Rigby writes:
+"I am just got home from a cock-match, where I have won forty pounds
+in ready money; and not having dined, am waiting till I hear the
+rattle of the coaches from the House of Commons, in order to dine at
+White's.... The next morning I heard there had been extreme deep play,
+and that Harry Furnese went drunk from White's at six o'clock, and
+with the ever memorable sum of 1000 guineas. He won the chief part of
+Doneraile and Bob Bertie."
+
+The Club has had freaks of epicurism. In 1751, seven young men of
+fashion, headed by St. Leger, gave a dinner at White's: one dish was a
+tart of choice cherries from a hot-house; only one glass was tasted
+out of each bottle of champagne. "The bill of fare is got into print,"
+writes Walpole, to Mann; "and with good people has produced the
+apprehension of another earthquake."
+
+From Mackreth the property passed in 1784, to John Martindale, and in
+1812, to Mr. Raggett, the father of the present proprietor. The
+original form of the house was designed by James Wyatt. From time to
+time, White's underwent various alterations and additions. In the
+autumn of 1850, certain improvements being thought necessary, it came
+to be considered that the front was of too plain a character, when
+contrasted with the many elegant buildings which had risen up around
+it. Mr. Lockyer was consulted by Mr. Raggett as to the possibility of
+improving the façade; and under his direction, four bas-reliefs,
+representing the four seasons, which occupy the place of four sashes,
+were designed by Mr. George Scharf, jun. The interior was redecorated
+by Mr. Morant. The Club, which is at this time limited to 500 members,
+was formerly composed of the high Tory party, but though Conservative
+principles may probably prevail, it has now ceased to be a political
+club, and may rather be termed "Aristocratic." Several of the present
+members have belonged to the Club upwards of half a century, and the
+ancestors of most of the noblemen and men of fashion of the present
+day who belong to the club were formerly members of it.
+
+The Club has given magnificent entertainments in our time. On June 20,
+1814, they gave a ball at Burlington House to the Emperor of Russia,
+the King of Prussia, and the allied sovereigns then in England; the
+cost was 9849_l._ 2_s._ 6_d._ Three weeks after this, the Club gave to
+the Duke of Wellington a dinner, which cost 2480_l._ 10_s._ 9_d._
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[10] National Review, No. 8.
+
+
+
+
+BOODLE'S CLUB.
+
+
+This Club, originally the "Savoir vivre," which with Brookes's and
+White's, forms a trio of nearly coeval date, and each of which takes
+the present name of its founder, is No. 28, St. James's-street. In its
+early records it was noted for its costly gaieties, and the _Heroic
+Epistle to Sir William Chambers_, 1773, commemorates its epicurism:
+
+     "For what is Nature? Ring her changes round,
+     Her three flat notes are water, plants, and ground;
+     Prolong the peal, yet, spite of all your clatter,
+     The tedious chime is still ground, plants, and water;
+     So, when some John his dull invention racks,
+     To rival Boodle's dinners or Almack's,
+     Three uncouth legs of mutton shock our eyes,
+     Three roasted geese, three buttered apple-pies."
+
+In the following year, when the Clubs vied with each other in giving
+the town the most expensive masquerades and ridottos, Gibbon speaks of
+one given by the members of Boodle's, that cost 2000 guineas. Gibbon
+was early of the Club; and, "it must be remembered, waddled as well as
+warbled here when he exhibited that extraordinary person which is said
+to have convulsed Lady Sheffield with laughter; and poured forth
+accents mellifluous like Plato's from that still more extraordinary
+mouth which has been described as 'a round hole' in the centre of his
+face."[11]
+
+Boodle's Club-house, designed by Holland, has long been eclipsed by
+the more pretentious architecture of the Club edifices of our time;
+but the interior arrangements are well planned. Boodle's is chiefly
+frequented by country gentlemen, whose status has been thus
+satirically insinuated by a contemporary: "Every Sir John belongs to
+Boodle's--as you may see, for, when a waiter comes into the room and
+says to some aged student of the _Morning Herald_, 'Sir John, your
+servant is come,' every head is mechanically thrown up in answer to
+the address.'"
+
+Among the Club pictures are portraits of C. J. Fox, and the Duke of
+Devonshire. Next door, at No. 29, resided Gillray, the caricaturist,
+who, in 1815, threw himself from an upstairs window into the street,
+and died in consequence.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[11] London Clubs, 1853, p. 51.
+
+
+
+
+THE BEEF-STEAK SOCIETY.
+
+
+In the _Spectator_, No. 9, March 10, 1710-11, we read: "The Beef-steak
+and October Clubs are neither of them averse to eating or drinking, if
+we may form a judgment of them from their respective titles." This
+passage refers to the Beef-steak Club, founded in the reign of Queen
+Anne; and, it is believed, the earliest Club with that name. Dr. King,
+in his _Art of Cookery_, humbly _inscribed to the Beef-steak Club_,
+1709, has these lines:
+
+     "He that of honour, wit, and mirth partakes,
+     May be a fit companion o'er Beef-steaks:
+     His name may be to future times enrolled
+     In Estcourt's book, whose gridiron's framed with gold."
+
+Estcourt, the actor, was made Providore of the Club; and for a mark of
+distinction wore their badge, which was a small gridiron of gold, hung
+about his neck with a green silk ribbon. Such is the account given by
+Chetwood, in his _History of the Stage_, 1749; to which he adds: "this
+Club was composed of the chief wits and great men of the nation." The
+gridiron, it will be seen hereafter, was assumed as its badge, by the
+"Society of Beef-steaks, established a few years later: they call
+themselves 'the Steaks,' and abhor the notion of being thought a
+Club." Though the _National Review_, heretical as it may appear,
+cannot consent to dissever the Society from the earlier Beef-steak
+Club; which, however, would imply that Rich and Lambert were not the
+founders of the Society, although so circumstantially shown to be.
+Still, the stubbornness of facts must prevail.
+
+Dick Estcourt was beloved by Steele, who thus introduces him in the
+_Spectator_, No. 358: "The best man that I know of for heightening
+the real gaiety of a company is Estcourt, whose jovial humour diffuses
+itself from the highest person at an entertainment to the meanest
+waiter. Merry tales, accompanied with apt gestures and lively
+representations of circumstances and persons, beguile the gravest mind
+into a consent to be as humorous as himself. Add to this, that when a
+man is in his good graces, he has a mimicry that does not debase the
+person he represents, but which, taken from the gravity of the
+character, adds to the agreeableness of it."
+
+Then, in the _Spectator_, No. 264, we find a letter from Sir Roger de
+Coverley, from Coverley, "To Mr. Estcourt, at his House in Covent
+Garden," addressing him as "Old Comical One," and acknowledging "the
+hogsheads of neat port came safe," and hoping next term to help fill
+Estcourt's Bumper "with our people of the Club." The Bumper was the
+tavern in Covent Garden, which Estcourt opened about a year before his
+death. In this quality Parnell speaks of him in the beginning of one
+of his poems:--
+
+     "Gay Bacchus liking Estcourt's wine
+       A noble meal bespoke us,
+     And for the guests that were to dine
+       Brought Comus, Love, and Jocus."
+
+The _Spectator_ delivers this merited eulogy of the player, just prior
+to his benefit at the theatre: "This pleasant fellow gives one some
+idea of the ancient Pantomime, who is said to have given the audience
+in dumb-show, an exact idea of any character or passion, or an
+intelligible relation of any public occurrence, with no other
+expression than that of his looks and gestures. If all who have been
+obliged to these talents in Estcourt will be at _Love for Love_
+to-morrow night, they will but pay him what they owe him, at so easy
+a rate as being present at a play which nobody would omit seeing, that
+had, or had not, ever seen it before."
+
+Then, in the _Spectator_, No. 468, August 27, 1712, with what touching
+pathos does Steele record the last exit of this choice spirit: "I am
+very sorry that I have at present a circumstance before me which is of
+very great importance to all who have a relish for gaiety, wit, mirth,
+or humour: I mean the death of poor Dick Estcourt. I have been obliged
+to him for so many hours of jollity, that it is but a small
+recompense, though all I can give him, to pass a moment or two in
+sadness for the loss of so agreeable a man.... Poor Estcourt! Let the
+vain and proud be at rest, thou wilt no more disturb their admiration
+of their dear selves; and thou art no longer to drudge in raising the
+mirth of stupids, who know nothing of thy merit, for thy maintenance."
+Having spoken of him "as a companion and a man qualified for
+conversation,"--his fortune exposing him to an obsequiousness towards
+the worst sort of company, but his excellent qualities rendering him
+capable of making the best figure in the most refined, and then having
+told of his maintaining "his good humour with a countenance or a
+language so delightful, without offence to any person or thing upon
+earth, still preserving the distance his circumstances obliged him
+to,"--Steele concludes with, "I say, I have seen him do all this in
+such a charming manner, that I am sure none of those I hint at will
+read this, without giving him some sorrow for their abundant mirth,
+and one gush of tears for so many bursts of laughter. I wish it were
+any honour to the pleasant creature's memory, that my eyes are too
+much suffused to let me go on----" We agree with Leigh Hunt that
+Steele's "overfineness of nature was never more beautifully evinced in
+any part of his writings than in this testimony to the merits of poor
+Dick Estcourt."
+
+Ned Ward, in his _Secret History of Clubs_, first edition, 1709,
+describes the Beef-steaks, which he coarsely contrasts with "the
+refined wits of the Kit-Cat." This new Society griliado'd beef eaters
+first settled their meeting at the sign of the Imperial Phiz, just
+opposite to a famous conventicle in the Old Jury, a publick-house that
+has been long eminent for the true British quintessence of malt and
+hops, and a broiled sliver off the juicy rump of a fat, well-fed
+bullock.... This noted boozing ken, above all others in the City, was
+chosen out by the Rump-steak admirers, as the fittest mansion to
+entertain the Society, and to gratify their appetites with that
+particular dainty they desired to be distinguished by. [The Club met
+at the place appointed, and chose for a Prolocutor, an Irish
+comedian.] No sooner had they confirmed their Hibernian mimic in his
+honourable post, but to distinguish him from the rest, they made him a
+Knight of St. Lawrence, and hung a silver (?) gridiron about his neck,
+as a badge of the dignity they had conferred upon him, that when he
+sung _Pretty Parrot_, he might thrum upon the bars of his new
+instrument, and mimic a haughty Spaniard serenading his Donna with
+guitar and madrigal. The Zany, as proud of his new fangle as a German
+mountebank of a prince's medal, when he was thus dignified and
+distinguished with his culinary symbol hanging before his breast, took
+the highest post of honour, as his place at the board, where, as soon
+as seated, there was not a bar in the silver kitchen-stuff that the
+Society had presented him with, but was presently handled with a
+theatrical pun, or an Irish witticism.... Orders were dispatched to
+the superintendent of the kitchen to provide several nice specimens of
+their Beef-steak cookery, some with the flavour of a shalot or onion;
+some broil'd, some fry'd, some stew'd, some toasted, and others
+roasted, that every judicious member of the new erected Club might
+appeal to his palate, and from thence determine whether the house they
+had chosen for their rendezvous truly deserved that public fame for
+their inimitable management of a bovinary sliver, which the world had
+given them.... When they had moderately supplied their beef stomachs,
+they were all highly satisfy'd with the choice they had made, and from
+that time resolved to repeat their meeting once a week in the same
+place." At the next meeting the constitution and bye-laws of the new
+little commonwealth were settled; and for the further encouragement of
+wit and pleasantry throughout the whole Society, there was provided a
+very voluminous paper book, "about as thick as a bale of Dutch linen,
+into which were to be entered every witty saying that should be spoke
+in the Society:" this nearly proved a failure; but Ward gives a taste
+of the performances by reciting some that had been stolen out of their
+Journal by a false Brother; here is one:--
+
+ON AN OX.
+
+     "Most noble creature of the horned race,
+     Who labours at the plough to earn thy grass,
+     And yielding to the yoke, shows man the way
+     To bear his servile chains, and to obey
+     More haughty tyrants, who usurp the sway.
+     Thy sturdy sinews till the farmer's grounds,
+     To thee the grazier owes his hoarded pounds:
+     'Tis by thy labour, we abound in malt,
+     Whose powerful juice the meaner slaves exalt;
+     And when grown fat, and fit to be devour'd,
+     The pole-ax frees thee from the teazing goard:
+     Thus cruel man, to recompense thy pains,
+     First works thee hard, and then beats out thy brains."
+
+Ward is very hard upon the Kit-Cat community, and tells us that the
+Beef-steaks, "like true Britons, to show their resentment in contempt
+of Kit-Cat pies, very justly gave the preference to a rump-steak, most
+wisely agreeing that the venerable word, beef, gave a more masculine
+grace, and sounded better in the title of a true English Club, than
+either Pies or Kit-Cat; and that a gridiron, which has the honour to
+be made the badge of a Saint's martyrdom, was a nobler symbol of their
+Christian integrity, than two or three stars or garters; who learnedly
+recollecting how great an affinity the word bull has to beef, they
+thought it very consistent with the constitution of their Society,
+instead of a Welsh to have a Hibernian secretary. Being thus fixed to
+the great honour of a little alehouse, next door to the Church, and
+opposite to the Meeting, they continued to meet for some time; till
+their fame spreading over all the town, and reaching the ears of the
+great boys and little boys, as they came in the evening from Merchant
+Taylors' School, they could not forbear hollowing as they passed the
+door; and being acquainted with their nights of meeting, they seldom
+failed, when the divan was sitting, of complimenting their ears with
+'Huzza! Beef-steak!'--that they might know from thence, how much they
+were reverenced for men of learning by the very school-boys."
+
+"But the modest Club," says Ward, "not affecting popularity, and
+choosing rather to be deaf to all public flatteries, thought it an act
+of prudence to adjourn from thence into a place of obscurity, where
+they might feast knuckle-deep in luscious gravy, and enjoy themselves
+free from the noisy addresses of the young scholastic rabble; so that
+now, whether they have healed the breach, and are again returned into
+the Kit-Cat community, from whence it is believed, upon some disgust,
+they at first separated, or whether, like the Calves' Head Club they
+remove from place to place, to prevent discovery, I sha'n't presume to
+determine; but at the present, like Oates's army of pilgrims, in the
+time of the plot, though they are much talk'd of they are difficult to
+be found." The "Secret history" concludes with an address to the Club,
+from which these are specimen lines:
+
+     "Such strenuous lines, so cheering, soft, and sweet,
+     That daily flow from your conjunctive wit,
+     Proclaim the power of Beef, that noble meat.
+     Your tuneful songs such deep impression make,
+     And of such awful, beauteous strength partake,
+     Each stanza seems an ox, each line a steak.
+     As if the rump in slices, broil'd or stew'd
+     In its own gravy, till divinely good,
+     Turned all to powerful wit, as soon as chew'd.
+
+            *       *       *       *       *
+
+     To grind thy gravy out their jaws employ,
+     O'er heaps of reeking steaks express their joy,
+     And sing of Beef as Homer did of Troy."
+
+We shall now more closely examine the origin and history of the
+Sublime Society of the Steaks, which has its pedigree, its ancestry,
+and its title-deeds. The gridiron of 1735 is the real gridiron on
+which its first steak was broiled. Henry Rich (Lun, the first
+Harlequin) was the founder, to whom Garrick thus alludes in a prologue
+to the Irish experiment of a speaking pantomime:
+
+     "When Lun appeared, with matchless art and whim,
+     He gave the power of speech to every limb.
+
+     Though masked and mute conveyed his true intent,
+     And told in frolic gestures what he meant;
+     But now the motley coat and sword of wood,
+     Require a tongue to make them understood."
+
+There is a letter extant, written by Nixon, the treasurer, probably to
+some artist, granting permission by the Beef-steak Society "to copy
+the original gridiron, and I have wrote on the other side of this
+sheet a note to Mr. White, at the Bedford, to introduce you to our
+room for the purpose making your drawing. The first spare moment I can
+take from my business shall be employed in making a short statement of
+the rise and establishment of the Beef-steak Society."
+
+Rich, in 1732, left the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre for Covent
+Garden, the success of the _Beggars' Opera_ having "made Gay rich and
+Rich gay." He was accustomed to arrange the comic business and
+construct the models of tricks for his pantomimes in his private room
+at Covent Garden. Here resorted men of rank and wit, for Rich's
+colloquial oddities were much relished. Thither came Mordaunt, Earl of
+Peterborough, the friend of Pope, and thus commemorated by Swift:
+
+     "Mordanto fills the trump of fame;
+     The Christian world his death proclaim;
+     And prints are crowded with his name.
+     In journeys he outrides the post;
+     Sits up till midnight with his host;
+     Talks politics, and gives the toast,
+     A skeleton in outward figure;
+     His meagre corpse, though full of vigour,
+     Would halt behind him, were it bigger,
+     So wonderful his expedition;
+     When you have not the least suspicion,
+     He's with you, like an apparition:
+     Shines in all climates like a star;
+     In senates bold, and fierce in war;
+     A land-commandant, and a tar."
+
+He was then advanced in years, and one afternoon stayed, talking with
+Rich about his tricks and transformations, and listening to his
+agreeable talk, until Rich's dinner-hour, two o'clock, had arrived. In
+all these colloquies with his visitors, whatever their rank, Rich
+never neglected his art. Upon one occasion, accident having detained
+the Earl's coach later than usual, he found Rich's chat so agreeable,
+that he was quite unconscious it was two o'clock in the afternoon;
+when he observed Rich spreading a cloth, then coaxing his fire into a
+clear cooking flame, and proceeding, with great gravity, to cook his
+own beef-steak on his own gridiron. The steak sent up a most inviting
+incense, and my Lord could not resist Rich's invitation to partake of
+it. A further supply was sent for; and a bottle or two of good wine
+from a neighbouring tavern prolonged their enjoyment to a late hour.
+But so delighted was the old Peer with the entertainment, that, on
+going away, he proposed renewing it at the same place and hour, on the
+Saturday following. He was punctual to his engagement, and brought
+with him three or four friends, "men of wit and pleasure about town,"
+as M. Bouges would call them; and so truly festive was the meeting
+that it was proposed a Saturday's club should be held there, whilst
+the town remained full. A sumptuary law, even at this early period of
+the Society, restricted the bill of fare to beef-steaks, and the
+beverage to port-wine and punch.
+
+However, the origin of the Society is related _with a difference_.
+Edwards, in his _Anecdotes of Painting_, relates that Lambert, many
+years principal scene-painter at Covent Garden Theatre, received, in
+his painting-room, persons of rank and talent; where, as he could not
+leave for dinner, he frequently was content with a steak, which he
+himself broiled upon the fire in his room. Sometimes the visitors
+partook of the hasty meal, and out of this practice grew the
+Beef-steak Society, and the assembling in the painting-room. The
+members were afterwards accommodated with a room in the playhouse; and
+when the Theatre was rebuilt, the place of meeting was changed to the
+Shakespeare Tavern, where was the portrait of Lambert, painted by
+Hudson, Sir Joshua Reynolds's master.
+
+In the _Connoisseur_, June 6th, 1754, we read of the Society,
+"composed of the most ingenious artists in the Kingdom," meeting
+"every Saturday in a noble room at the top of Covent Garden Theatre,"
+and never suffering "any diet except Beef-steaks to appear. These,
+indeed, are most glorious examples: but what, alas! are the weak
+endeavours of a few to oppose the daily inroads of fricassees and
+soup-maigres?"
+
+However, the apartments in the theatre appropriated to the Society
+varied. Thus, we read of a painting-room even with the stage over the
+kitchen, which was under part of the stage nearest Bow-street. At one
+period, the Society dined in a small room over the passage of the
+theatre. The steaks were dressed in the same room, and when they found
+it too hot, a curtain was drawn between the company and the fire.
+
+We shall now glance at the celebrities who came to the painting-room
+in the Lincoln's Inn Fields theatre, and the later locations of the
+Club, in Covent Garden. To the former came Hogarth and his
+father-in-law, Sir James Thornhill, stimulated by their love of the
+painter's art, and the equally potent charm of conviviality.
+
+Churchill was introduced to the Steaks by his friend Wilkes; but his
+irregularities were too much for the Society, which was by no means
+particular; his desertion of his wife brought a hornets' swarm about
+him, so that he soon resigned, to avoid the disgrace of expulsion.
+Churchill attributed this flinging of the first stone to Lord
+Sandwich; he never forgave the peccant Peer, but put him into the
+pillory of his fierce satire, which has outlived most of his other
+writings, and here it is:
+
+     "From his youth upwards to the present day,
+     When vices more than years have made him grey;
+     When riotous excess with wasteful hand
+     Shakes life's frail glass, and hastes each ebbing sand;
+     Unmindful from what stock he drew his birth,
+     Untainted with one deed of real worth--
+     Lothario, holding honour at no price,
+     Folly to folly, added vice to vice,
+     Wrought sin with greediness, and courted shame
+     With greater zeal than good men seek for fame."
+
+Churchill, in a letter to Wilkes, says, "Your friends at the
+Beef-steak inquired after you last Saturday with the greatest zeal,
+and it gave me no small pleasure that I was the person of whom the
+inquiry was made." Charles Price was allowed to be one of the most
+witty of the Society, and it is related that he and Churchill kept the
+table in a roar.
+
+Formerly, the members wore a blue coat, with red cape and cuffs;
+buttons with the initials B. S.; and behind the President's chair was
+placed the Society's halbert, which, with the gridiron, was found
+among the rubbish after the Covent Garden fire.
+
+Mr. Justice Welsh was frequently chairman at the Beef-steak dinner.
+Mrs. Nollekens, his daughter, acknowledges that she often dressed a
+hat for the purpose, with ribbons similar to those worn by the yeomen
+of the guard. The Justice was a loyal man, but discontinued his
+membership when Wilkes joined the Society; though the latter was _the_
+man at the Steaks.
+
+To the Steaks Wilkes sent a copy of his infamous _Essay on Women_,
+first printed for private circulation; for which Lord Sandwich--Jemmy
+Twitcher--himself, as we have seen, a member of the Society--moved in
+the House of the Lords that Wilkes should be taken into custody; a
+piece of treason as the act of one brother of the Steaks against
+another, fouler than even the trick of "dirty Kidgell," the parson,
+who, as a friend of the author, got a copy of the Essay from the
+printer, and then felt it his duty to denounce the publication; he had
+been encouraged to inform against Wilkes's Essay by the Earl of March,
+afterwards Duke of Queensberry. However, Jemmy Twitcher himself was
+expelled by the Steaks the same year he assailed Wilkes for the Essay;
+the grossness and blasphemy of the poem disgusted the Society; and
+Wilkes never dined there after 1763; yet, when he went to France, they
+hypocritically made him an honorary member.
+
+Garrick was an honoured member of the Steaks; though he did not affect
+Clubs. The Society possess a hat and sword which David wore, probably
+on the night when he stayed so long with the Steaks, and had to play
+Ranger, at Drury-lane. The pit grew restless, the gallery bawled
+"Manager, manager!" Garrick had been sent for to Covent Garden, where
+the Steaks then dined. Carriages blocked up Russell-street, and he had
+to thread his way between them; as he came panting into the theatre,
+"I think, David," said Ford, one of the anxious patentees,
+"considering the stake you and I have in this house, you might pay
+more attention to the business."--"True, my good friend," returned
+Garrick, "but I was thinking of my steak in the other house."
+
+Many a reconciliation of parted friends has taken place at this Club.
+Peake, in his _Memoirs of the Colman Family_, thus refers to a
+reconciliation between Garrick and Colman the elder, through the
+Sublime Society:--
+
+"Whether Mr. Clutterbuck or other friends interfered to reconcile the
+two dramatists, or whether the considerations of mutual interest may
+not in a great measure have aided in healing the breach between Colman
+and Garrick, is not precisely to be determined; but it would appear,
+from the subjoined short note from Garrick, that Colman must have made
+some overture to him.
+
+"'My dear Colman,--Becket has been with me, and tells me of your
+friendly intentions towards me. I should have been beforehand with
+you, had I not been ill with the beefsteaks and arrack punch last
+Saturday, and was obliged to leave the play-house.
+
+     "'He that parts us shall bring a brand from Heav'n,
+     And fire us hence.'
+
+  "'Ever yours, old and new friend,
+     "'D. GARRICK.'"
+
+The beef-steaks, arrack punch, and Saturday, all savour very strongly
+of a visit to the Sublime Society held at that period in Covent Garden
+Theatre, where many a clever fellow has had his diaphragm disordered,
+before that time and since. Whoever has had the pleasure to join
+their convivial board; to witness the never-failing good-humour which
+predominates there; to listen to the merry songs, and to the sparkling
+repartee; and to experience the hearty welcome and marked attention
+paid to visitors, could never have cause to lament, as Garrick has
+done, a trifling illness the following day. There must have been
+originally a wise and simple code of laws, which could have held
+together a convivial meeting for so lengthened a period.
+
+Garrick had no slight tincture of vanity, and was fond of accusing
+himself, in the Chesterfield phrase, of the cardinal virtues. Having
+remarked at the Steaks that he had so large a mass of manuscript plays
+submitted to him, that they were constantly liable to be mislaid, he
+observed that, unpleasant as it was to reject an author's piece, it
+was an affront to his feelings if it could not be instantly found; and
+that for this reason he made a point of ticketing and labelling the
+play that was to be returned, that it might be forthcoming at a
+moment. "A fig for your hypocrisy," exclaimed Murphy across the table;
+"you know, Davy, you mislaid my tragedy two months ago, and I make no
+doubt you have lost it."--"Yes," replied Garrick; "but you forgot, you
+ungrateful dog, that I offered you more than its value, for you might
+have had two manuscript farces in its stead." This is the right
+paternity of an anecdote often told of other parties.
+
+Jack Richards, a well-known presbyter of the Society, unless when the
+"fell serjeant," the gout, had arrested him, never absented himself
+from its board. He was recorder, and there is nothing in comedy equal
+to his passing sentence on those who had offended against the rules
+and observances of the Society. Having put on Garrick's hat, he
+proceeded to inflict a long, wordy harangue upon the culprit, who
+often endeavoured most unavailingly to stop him. Nor was it possible
+to see when he meant to stop. But the imperturbable gravity with which
+Jack performed his office, and the fruitless writhings of the luckless
+being on whom the shower of his rhetoric was discharged, constituted
+the amusement of the scene. There was no subject upon which Jack's
+exuberance of talk failed him; yet, in that stream of talk there was
+never mingled one drop of malignity, nor of unkind censure upon the
+erring or unhappy. He would as soon adulterate his glass of port-wine
+with water, as dash that honest though incessant prattle with one
+malevolent or ungenerous remark.
+
+William Linley, the brother of Mrs. Sheridan, charmed the Society with
+his pure, simple English song: in a melody of Arne's, or of Jackson's
+of Exeter, or a simple air of his father's, he excelled to
+admiration,--faithful to the characteristic chastity of the style of
+singing peculiar to the Linley family. Linley had not what is called a
+fine voice, and port-wine and late nights did not improve his organ;
+but you forgot the deficiencies of his power, in the spirit and taste
+of his manner. He wrote a novel in three volumes, which was so
+schooled by the Steaks that he wrote no more: when the agony of
+wounded authorship was over, he used to exclaim to his tormentors:--
+
+     "This is no flattery; these are the counsellors
+     That feelingly persuade me what I am."
+
+His merciless Zoilus brought a volume of the work in his pocket, and
+read a passage of it aloud. Yet, Linley never betrayed the irritable
+sulkiness of a roasted author, but took the pleasantries that played
+around him with imperturbable good-humour: he laughed heartily at his
+own platitudes, and thus the very martyr of the joke became its
+auxiliary. Linley is said to have furnished Moore, for his _Life of
+Sheridan_, with the common-place books in which his brother-in-law was
+wont to deposit his dramatic sketches, and to bottle up the jokes he
+had collected for future use; but many pleasantries of Sheridan were
+deeply engraved on his recollection because they had been practised
+upon himself, or upon his brother Hozy (as Sheridan called him), who
+was an unfailing butt, when he was disposed to amuse himself with a
+practical jest.
+
+Another excellent brother was Dick Wilson, whose volcanic complexion
+had for many years been assuming deeper and deeper tints of carnation
+over the port-wine of the Society. Dick was a wealthy solicitor, and
+many years Lord Eldon's "port-wine-loving secretary." His fortunes
+were very singular. He was first steward and solicitor, and afterwards
+residuary legatee, of Lord Chedworth. He is said to have owed the
+favour of this eccentric nobleman to the legal acumen he displayed at
+a Richmond water-party. A pleasant lawn, under a spreading beech-tree
+in one of Mr. Cambridge's meadows, was selected for the dinner; but on
+pulling to the shore, behold a board in the tree proclaiming, "All
+persons landing and dining here will be prosecuted according to law."
+Dick Wilson contended that the prohibition clearly applied only to the
+joint act of "landing and dining" at the particular spot. If the party
+landed a few yards lower down, and then dined under the tree, only one
+member of the condition would be broken; which would be no legal
+infringement, as the prohibition--being of two acts, linked by a
+copulative--was not severable. This astute argument carried the day.
+The party dined under Mr. Cambridge's beech-tree, and, it is presumed,
+were not "prosecuted according to law." At all events, Lord Chedworth,
+who was one of the diners, was so charmed with Dick's ready
+application of his law to practice, that he committed to him the
+management of his large and accumulating property.
+
+Dick stood the fire of the Steaks with good humour; but he was
+sometimes unmercifully roasted. He had just returned from Paris, when
+Arnold, with great dexterity, drew him into some Parisian details,
+with great glee; for Dick was entirely innocent of the French
+language. Thus, in enumerating the dishes at a French table, he
+thought the _boulevards_ delicious; when Cobbe called out, "Dick, it
+was well they did not serve you at the Palais Royal for sauce to your
+_boulevards_." The _riz de veau_ he called a _rendezvous_; and he
+could not bear partridges served up _in shoes_; and once, intending to
+ask for a pheasant, he desired the waiter to bring him a _paysanne_!
+Yet, Dick was shrewd: calling one day upon Cobbe at the India House,
+Dick was left to himself for a few minutes, when he was found by
+Cobbe, on his return, exploring a map of Asia suspended on the wall:
+he was measuring the scale of it with compasses, and then applying
+them to a large tiger, which the artist had introduced as one of the
+animals of the country. "By heavens, Cobbe," exclaimed Dick, "I should
+never have believed it! Surely, it must be a mistake. Observe
+now--here," pointing to the tiger, "here is a tiger that measures
+two-and-twenty leagues. By heavens, it is scarcely credible."
+
+Another of the noteworthy Steaks was "Old Walsh," commonly called
+"the Gentle Shepherd:" he began life as a servant of the celebrated
+Lord Chesterfield, and accompanied his natural son, Philip Stanhope,
+on the grand tour, as valet: after this he was made a Queen's
+messenger, and subsequently a Commissioner of Customs; he was a
+good-natured butt for the Society's jokes. Rowland Stephenson, the
+banker, was another Beef-Steaker, then respected for his clear head
+and warm heart, years before he became branded as a forger. At the
+same table was a capitalist of very high character--William Joseph
+Denison, who sat many years in Parliament for Surrey, and died a
+_millionnaire_: he was a man of cultivated tastes, and long enjoyed
+the circle of the Steaks.
+
+We have seen how the corner-stone of the sublime Society was laid. The
+gridiron upon which Rich had broiled his solitary steak, being
+insufficient in a short time for the supernumerary guests, the
+gridiron was enshrined as one of the tutelary and household emblems of
+the Club. Fortunately, it escaped the fire which consumed Covent
+Garden Theatre in 1808, when the valuable stock of wine of the Club
+shared the fate of the building; but _the gridiron was saved_. "In
+that fire, alas!" says the author of _The Clubs of London_, "perished
+the original archives of the Society. The lovers of wit and pleasantry
+have much to deplore in that loss, inasmuch as not only the names of
+many of the early members are irretrievably gone, but what is more to
+be regretted, some of their happiest effusions; for it was then
+customary to register in the weekly records anything of striking
+excellence that had been hit off in the course of the evening. This,
+however, is certain, that the Beaf-steaks, from its foundation to the
+present hour, has been--
+
+                   "'native to famous wits
+     Or hospitable.'
+
+That, as guests or members, persons distinguished for rank, and social
+and convivial powers, have, through successive generations, been
+seated at its festive board--Bubb Dodington, Aaron Hill; Hoadley,
+author of _The Suspicious Husband_, and Leonidas Glover, are only a
+few names snatched from its early list. Sir Peere Williams, a
+gentleman of high birth and fashion, who had already shone in
+Parliament, was of the Club. Then came the days of Lord Sandwich,
+Wilkes, Bonnell Thornton, Arthur Murphy, Churchill, and Tickell. This
+is generally quoted as the golden period of the Society." Then there
+were the Colmans and Garrick; and John Beard, the singer, was
+president of the Club in 1784.
+
+The number of the Steaks was increased from twenty-four to
+twenty-five, in 1785, to admit the Prince of Wales, an event of
+sufficient moment to find record in the _Annual Register_ of the year:
+"On Saturday, the 14th of May, the Prince of Wales was admitted a
+member of the Beaf-steak Club. His Royal Highness having signified his
+wish of belonging to that Society, and there not being a vacancy, it
+was proposed to make him an honorary member; but that being declined
+by His Royal Highness, it was agreed to increase the number from
+twenty-four to twenty-five, in consequence of which His Royal Highness
+was unanimously elected. The Beaf-steak Club has been instituted just
+fifty years, and consists of some of the most classical and sprightly
+wits in the Kingdom." It is curious to find the Society here termed a
+Club, contrary to its desire, for it stickled much for the
+distinction.
+
+Arthur Murphy, the dramatist, John Kemble, the Dukes of Clarence and
+of Sussex, were also of the Steaks: these princes were both attached
+to the theatre; the latter to one of its brightest ornaments, Dorothy
+Jordan.
+
+Charles, Duke of Norfolk, was another celebrity of the Steaks, and
+frequently met here the Prince of Wales. The Duke was a great
+gourmand, and, it is said, used to eat his dish of fish at a
+neighbouring tavern--the Piazza, or the Grand--and then join the
+Steaks. His _fidus Achates_ was Charles Morris, the laureate-lyrist of
+the Steaks. Their attachment was unswerving, notwithstanding it has
+been impeached. The poet kept better hours than his ducal friend: one
+evening, Morris having left the dinner-table early, a friend gave some
+significant hints as to the improvement of Morris's fortunes: the Duke
+grew generous over his wine, and promised; the performance came, and
+Morris lived to the age of ninety-three, to enjoy the realization.
+
+The Duke took the chair when the cloth was removed. It was a place of
+dignity, elevated some steps above the table, and decorated with the
+insignia of the Society, amongst which was suspended Garrick's
+_Ranger_ hat. As the clock struck five, a curtain drew up, discovering
+the kitchen, in which the cooks were seen at work, through a sort of
+grating, with this inscription from Macbeth:--
+
+     "If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well
+     It were done quickly."
+
+The steaks themselves were in the finest order, and in devouring them
+no one surpassed His Grace of Norfolk: two or three steaks, fragrant
+from the gridiron, vanished, and when his labours were thought to be
+over, he might be seen rubbing a clean plate with a shalot for the
+reception of another. A pause of ten minutes ensued, and His Grace
+rested upon his knife and fork: he was tarrying for a steak from the
+middle of the rump of beef, where lurks a fifth essence, the perfect
+ideal of tenderness and flavour. The Duke was an enormous eater. He
+would often eat between three and four pounds of beaf-steak; and after
+that take a Spanish onion and beet-root, chop them together with oil
+and vinegar, and eat them. After dinner, the Duke was ceremoniously
+ushered to the chair, and invested with an orange-coloured ribbon, to
+which a small silver gridiron[12] was appended. In the chair he
+comported himself with urbanity and good humour. Usually, the
+President was the target, at which all the jests and witticisms were
+fired, but moderately; for though a characteristic equality reigned at
+the Steaks, the influences of rank and station were felt there, and
+courtesy stole insensibly upon those who at other times were merciless
+assailants on the chair. The Duke's conversation abounded with
+anecdote, terseness of phrase, and evidence of extensive reading,
+which were rarely impaired by the sturdy port-wine of the Society.
+Charles Morris, the Bard of the Club, sang one or two of his own
+songs, the quintessence of convivial mirth and fancy; at nine o'clock
+the Duke quitted the chair, and was succeeded by Sir John Hippisley,
+who had a terrible time of it: a storm of "arrowy sleet and iron
+shower" whistled from all points in his ears: all rules of civilized
+warfare seemed suspended, and even the new members tried their first
+timid essays upon the Baronet, than whom no man was more prompt to
+attack others. He quitted the Society in consequence of an odd
+adventure which really happened to him, and which, being related with
+malicious fidelity by one of the Steaks, raised such a shout of
+laughter at the Baronet's expense that he could no longer bear it.
+Here is the story.
+
+Sir John was an intelligent man; Windham used to say of him that he
+was very near being a clever man. He was a sort of busy idler; and his
+ruling passion was that of visiting remarkable criminals in prison,
+and obtaining their histories from their own lips. A murder had been
+committed, by one Patch, upon a Mr. Bligh, at Deptford; the evidence
+was circumstantial, but the inference of his guilt was almost
+irresistible; still many well-disposed persons doubted the man's
+guilt, and amongst them was Sir John, who thought the anxiety could
+only be relieved by Patch's confession. For this end, Sir John
+importuned the poor wretch incessantly, but in vain. Patch persisted
+in asserting his innocence, till, wearied with Hippisley's
+applications, he assured the Baronet that he would reveal to him, on
+the scaffold, all that he knew of Mr. Bligh's death. Flattered with
+being made the depository of this mysterious communication, Sir John
+mounted the scaffold with Patch, and was seen for some minutes in
+close conference with him. It happened that a simple old woman from
+the country was in the crowd at the execution. Her eyes, intent upon
+the awful scene, were fixed, by an accidental misdirection, upon Sir
+John, whom she mistook for the person who was about to be executed;
+and not waiting till the criminal was actually turned off, she went
+away with the wrong impression; the peculiar face, and above all, the
+peculiar nose (a most miraculous organ), of Hippisley, being indelibly
+impressed upon her memory. Not many days after, the old lady met Sir
+John in Cheapside; the certainty that he was Patch, seized her so
+forcibly that she screamed out to the passing crowd, "It's Patch, it's
+Patch; I saw him hanged; Heaven deliver me!"--and then fainted. When
+this incident was first related at the Steaks, a mock inquest was set
+on foot, to decide whether Sir John was Patch or not, and unanimously
+decided in the affirmative.
+
+Cobb, Secretary of the East India Company, was another choice spirit
+at the Steaks: once, when he filled the vice-chair, he so worried the
+poor president, an Alderman, that he exclaimed, "Would to Heaven, I
+had another vice-president, so that I had a _gentleman_ opposite to
+me!"--"Why should you wish any such thing?" rejoined Cobb; "you cannot
+be more opposite to a gentleman than you are at present."
+
+After the fire at Covent Garden, the Sublime Society were
+re-established at the Bedford, where they met until Mr. Arnold had
+fitted up apartments for their reception in the English Opera House.
+The Steaks continued to meet here until the destruction of the Theatre
+by fire, in 1830; after which they returned to the Bedford; and, upon
+the re-building of the Lyceum Theatre, a dining-room was again
+provided for them. "The room they dine in," says Mr. Cunningham, "a
+little Escurial in itself, is most appropriately fitted up--the doors,
+wainscoting, and roof, of good old English oak, ornamented with
+gridirons as thick as Henry the Seventh's Chapel with the portcullis
+of the founder. Everything assumes the shape, or is distinguished by
+the representation, of their emblematic implement, the gridiron. The
+cook is seen at his office through the bars of a spacious gridiron,
+and the original gridiron of the Society, (the survivor of two
+terrific fires) holds a conspicuous position in the centre of the
+ceiling. Every member has the power of inviting a friend." The
+portraits of several worthies of the Sublime Society were painted: one
+brother "hangs in chain," as Arnold remarked in alluding to the civic
+chain in which he is represented; it was in allusion to the toga in
+which he is painted, that Brougham, being asked whether he thought it
+a likeness, remarked that it could not fail of being like him, "there
+was so much of the _fur_ (thief) about it."
+
+The author of the _Clubs of London_, who was a member of the Sublime
+Society, describes a right in favouring them, "a brotherhood, a
+sentiment of equality. How you would laugh to see the junior member
+emerging from the cellar, with half-a-dozen bottles in a basket! I
+have seen Brougham employed in this honourable diplomacy, and
+executing it with the correctness of a butler. The Duke of Leinster,
+in his turn, took the same duty.
+
+"With regard to Brougham, at first sight you would not set him down as
+having a natural and prompt alacrity for the style of humour that
+prevails amongst us. But Brougham is an excellent member, and is a
+remarkable instance of the peculiar influences of this peculiar
+Society on the human character. We took him just as the schools of
+philosophy, the bar, the senate, had made him. Literary, forensic, and
+parliamentary habits are most intractable materials, you will say, to
+make a member of the Steaks, yet no man has imbibed more of its
+spirit, and he enters its occasional gladiatorship with the greatest
+glee."
+
+Admirable were the offhand puns and passes, which, though of a legal
+character, were played off by Bolland, another member of the Society.
+Brougham was putting hypothetically the case of a man convicted of
+felony, and duly hanged according to law; but restored to life by
+medical appliances; and asked what would be the man's defence if again
+brought to trial. "Why," returned Bolland, "it would be for him to
+plead _a cord_ and satisfaction." ["Accord and satisfaction" is a
+common plea in legal practice.] The same evening were talked over Dean
+Swift's ingenious but grotesque puns upon the names of antiquity, such
+as Ajax, Archimedes, and others equally well known. Bolland remarked
+that when Swift was looking out for those humorous quibbles, it was
+singular that it should never have occurred to him that among the
+shades that accost Æneas in the sixth book of the Æneid, there was a
+Scotchman of the name of Hugh Forbes. Those who had read Virgil began
+to stare. "It is quite plain," said Bolland: "the ghost exclaims,
+'Olim Euphorbus eram.'"
+
+The following are the first twenty-four names of the Club, copied from
+their book:--[13]
+
+     George Lambert.
+     John Boson.
+     William Hogarth.
+     Henry Smart.
+     John Rich.
+     John Huggins.
+     Lacy Ryan.
+     Hugh Watson.
+     Ebenezer Forrest.
+     William Huggins.
+     Robert Scott.
+     Edmund Tuffnell.
+     Thomas Chapman.
+     Thomas Salway.
+     Dennis Delane.
+     Charles Neale.
+     John Thornhill.
+     Charles Latrobe.
+     Francis Niveton.
+     Alexander Gordon.
+     Sir William Saunderson.
+     William Tathall.
+     Richard Mitchell.
+     Gabriel Hunt.
+
+The following were subsequent members:--
+
+     Francis Hayman.
+     Mr. Beard.
+     Theo. Cibber.
+     Mr. Wilkes.
+     Mr. Saunders Welsh.
+     Thomas Hudson.
+     John Churchill.
+     Mr. Williamson.
+     Lord Sandwich.
+     Prince of Wales.
+     Mr. Havard.
+     Chas. Price.
+
+In 1805 the members were--
+
+     Sir J. Boyd.
+     Estcourt.
+     J. Travanion, jun.
+     Earl of Suffolk.
+     Crossdill.
+     J. Kemble, expelled for his mode of conduct.
+     Prince of Wales.
+     Charles Howard, Duke of Norfolk.
+     Mingay.
+     Johnson.
+     Scudamore.
+     Haworth.
+
+November 6th, 1814:--
+
+     Stephenson.
+     Cobb.
+     Richards.
+     Sir J. Scott, Bart.
+     Foley.
+     Arnold.
+     Braddyll.
+     Nettleshipp.
+     Middleton.
+     Denison.
+     Johnson.
+     Scudamore.
+     Nixon.
+     T. Scott.
+     Wilson.
+     Ellis.
+     Walsh.
+     Linley.
+     Duke of Norfolk.
+     Mayo.
+     Duke of Sussex.
+     Morrice.
+     Bolland.
+     Lord Grantley.
+     Peter Moore.
+     Dunn, Treasurer of Drury Lane Theatre.
+
+When the Club dined at the Shakspeare, in the room with the Lion's
+head over the mantelpiece, these popular actors were members:--
+
+     Lewis.
+     Irish Johnson.
+     Munden.
+     Fawcett.
+     Pope.
+     Holman.
+     Simmonds.
+
+Formerly, the table-cloths had gridirons in damask on them; their
+drinking-glasses bore gridirons; as did the plates also. Among the
+presents made to the Society are a punch-ladle, from Barrington
+Bradshaw; Sir John Boyd, six spoons; mustard pot, by John Trevanion,
+M.P.; two dozen water-plates and eight dishes, given by the Duke of
+Sussex; cruet-stand, given by W. Bolland; vinegar-glasses, by Thomas
+Scott. Lord Suffolk gave a silver cheese-toaster; toasted or stewed
+cheese being the wind-up of the dinner.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[12] At the sale of the curiosities belonging to Mr. Harley, the
+comedian, at Gower-street, in November, 1858, a silver gridiron, worn
+by a member of the Steaks, was sold for 1_l._ 3_s._
+
+[13] This and the subsequent lists have been printed by Mr. John
+Green.
+
+
+
+
+CAPTAIN MORRIS,
+
+THE BARD OF THE BEEF-STEAK SOCIETY.
+
+
+Hitherto we have mentioned but incidentally Charles Morris, the Nestor
+and the laureate of the Steaks; but he merits fuller record. "Alas!
+poor Yorick! we knew him well;" we remember his "political vest," to
+which he addressed a sweet lyric--"The Old Whig Poet to his Old Buff
+Waistcoat."[14] Nor can we forget his courteous manner and his
+gentlemanly pleasantry, and his unflagging cheerfulness, long after he
+had retired to enjoy the delights of rural life, despite the early
+prayer of his racy verse:--
+
+     "In town let me live then, in town let me die;
+     For in truth I can't relish the country, not I.
+     If one must have a villa in summer to dwell,
+     Oh! give me the sweet shady side of Pall Mall."
+
+
+This "sweet shady side" has almost disappeared; and of the palace
+whereat he was wont to shine, not a trace remains, save the name.
+Charles Morris was born of good family, in 1745, and appears to have
+inherited a taste for lyric composition; for his father composed the
+popular song of _Kitty Crowder_. For half a century, Morris moved in
+the first circles of rank and gaiety: he was the "Sun of the table,"
+at Carlton House, as well as at Norfolk House; and attaching himself
+politically as well as convivially to his table companions, he
+composed the celebrated ballads of "Billy's too young to drive us,"
+and "Billy Pitt and the Farmer," which were clever satires upon the
+ascendant politics of their day. His humorous ridicule of the Tories
+was, however, but ill repaid by the Whigs; at least, if we may trust
+the Ode to the Buff Waistcoat, written in 1815. His 'Songs Political
+and Convivial,' many of which were sung at the Steaks' board, became
+very popular. In 1830, we possessed a copy of the 24th edition, with a
+portrait of the author, half-masked; one of the ditties was described
+to have been "sung by the Prince of Wales to a certain lady," to the
+air of "There's a difference between a Beggar and a Queen;" some of
+the early songs were condemned for their pruriency, and were omitted
+in subsequent editions. His best Anacreontic is the song _Ad Poculum_,
+for which Morris received the Gold Cup from the Harmonic Society:
+
+     "Come, thou soul-reviving cup;
+         Try thy healing art;
+     Stir the fancy's visions up,
+         And warm my wasted heart.
+     Touch with freshening tints of bliss
+         Memory's fading dream.
+     Give me, while thy lip I kiss,
+         The heaven that's in thy stream.
+
+     As the witching fires of wine
+         Pierce through Time's past reign,
+     Gleams of joy that once were mine,
+         Glimpse back on life again.
+     And if boding terrors rise
+         O'er my melting mind,
+     Hope still starts to clear my eyes,
+         And drinks the tear behind.
+
+     Then life's wintry shades new drest,
+         Fair as summer seem;
+     Flowers I gather from my breast,
+         And sunshine from the stream.
+     As the cheering goblets pass,
+         Memory culls her store;
+     Scatters sweets around my glass,
+         And prompts my thirst for more.
+
+     Far from toils the great and grave
+         To proud ambition give,
+     My little world kind Nature gave,
+         And simply bade me live.
+     On me she fix'd an humble art,
+         To deck the Muse's groves,
+     And on the nerve that twines my heart
+         The touch of deathless love.
+
+     Then, rosy god, this night let me
+         Thy cheering magic share;
+     Again let hope-fed Fancy see
+         Life's picture bright and fair.
+     Oh! steal from care my heart away,
+         To sip thy healing spring;
+     And let me taste that bliss to-day
+         To-morrow may not bring."
+
+The friendship of the Duke of Norfolk and Charles Morris extended far
+beyond the Steaks meetings; and the author of the _Clubs of London_
+tells us by what means the Duke's regard took a more permanent form.
+It appears that John Kemble had sat very late at one of the night
+potations at Norfolk House. Charles Morris had just retired, and a
+very small party remained in the dining-room, when His Grace of
+Norfolk began to deplore, somewhat pathetically, the smallness of the
+stipend upon which poor Charles was obliged to support his family;
+observing, that it was a discredit to the age, that a man, who had so
+long gladdened the lives of so many titled and opulent associates,
+should be left to struggle with the difficulties of an inadequate
+income at a time of life when he had no reasonable hope of augmenting
+it. Kemble listened with great attention to the Duke's _jeremiade_;
+but after a slight pause, his feelings getting the better of his
+deference, he broke out thus, in a tone of peculiar emphasis:--"And
+does your Grace sincerely lament the destitute condition of your
+friend, with whom you have passed so many agreeable hours? Your Grace
+has described that condition most feelingly. But is it possible, that
+the greatest Peer of the realm, luxuriating amidst the prodigalities
+of fortune, should lament the distress which he does not relieve? the
+empty phrase of benevolence--the mere breath and vapour of generous
+sentiment, become no man; they certainly are unworthy of your Grace.
+Providence, my Lord Duke, has placed you in a station where the wish
+to do good and the doing it are the same thing. An annuity from your
+overflowing coffers, or a small nook of land, clipped from your
+unbounded domains, would scarcely be felt by your Grace; but you would
+be repaid, my Lord, with usury;--with tears of grateful joy; with
+prayers warm from a bosom which your bounty will have rendered happy."
+
+Such was the substance of Kemble's harangue. Jack Bannister used to
+relate the incident, by ingeniously putting the speech into blank
+verse, or rather the species of prose into which Kemble's phraseology
+naturally fell when he was highly animated. But, however expressed, it
+produced its effect. For though the Duke (the night was pretty far
+gone, and several bottles had been emptied) said nothing at the time,
+but stared with some astonishment at so unexpected a lecture; not a
+month elapsed before Charles Morris was invested with a beautiful
+retreat at Brockham, in Surrey, upon the bank of the river Mole, and
+at the foot of the noble range of which Box Hill forms the most
+picturesque point.
+
+The Duke went to his rest in 1815. Morris continued to be the laureate
+of the Steaks until the year 1831, when he thus bade adieu to the
+Society in his eighty-sixth year:--
+
+     "Adieu to the world! where I gratefully own,
+     Few men more delight or more comfort have known:
+     To an age far beyond mortal lot have I trod
+     The path of pure health, that best blessing of God;
+     And so mildly devout Nature temper'd my frame,
+     Holy patience still sooth'd when Adversity came;
+     Thus with mind ever cheerful, and tongue never tired,
+     I sung the gay strains these sweet blessings inspired;
+     And by blending light mirth with a moral-mix'd stave,
+     Won the smile of the gay and the nod of the grave.
+     But at length the dull languor of mortal decay
+     Throws a weight on its spirit too light for its clay;
+     And the fancy, subdued, as the body's opprest,
+     Resigns the faint flights that scarce wake in the breast.
+     A painful memento that man's not to play
+     A game of light folly through Life's sober day;
+     A just admonition, though view'd with regret,
+     Still blessedly offer'd, though thanklessly met.
+     Too long, I perhaps, like the many who stray,
+     Have upheld the gay themes of the Bacchanal's day;
+     But at length Time has brought, what it ever will bring,
+     A shade that excites more to sigh than to sing.
+     In this close of Life's chapter, ye high-favour'd few,
+     Take my Muse's last tribute--this painful adieu!
+     Take my wish, that your bright social circle on earth
+     For ever may flourish in concord and mirth;
+     For the long years of joy I have shared at your board,
+     Take the thanks of my heart--where they long have been stored;
+     And remember, when Time tolls my last passing knell,
+     The 'old bard' dropp'd a tear, and then bade ye--Farewell!"
+
+In 1835, however, Morris revisited the Society, who then presented him
+with a large silver bowl, appropriately inscribed, as a testimonial of
+their affectionate esteem; and the venerable bard thus addressed the
+brotherhood:--
+
+     "Well, I'm come, my dear friends, your kind wish to obey,
+     And drive, by light mirth, all Life's shadows away;
+     And turn the heart's sighs to the throbbings of joy,
+     And a grave aged man to a merry old boy.
+     'Tis a bold transformation, a daring design,
+     And not past the power of Friendship and Wine;
+     And I trust that e'en yet this warm mixture will raise
+     A brisk spark of light o'er the shade of my days."
+
+Shortly after this effusion, he thus alluded to the treasured gift of
+the Society:--
+
+     "When my spirits are low, for relief and delight,
+     I still place your splendid Memorial in sight;
+     And call to my Muse, when care strives to pursue,
+     'Bring the Steaks to my Memory and the Bowl to my view.'
+     When brought, at its sight all the _blue devils_ fly,
+     And a world of gay visions rise bright to my eye;
+     Cold Fear shuns the cup where warm Memory flows;
+     And Grief, shamed by Joy, hides his budget of Woes.
+     'Tis a pure holy fount, where for ever I find
+     A sure double charm for the Body and Mind;
+     For I feel while I'm cheer'd by the drop that I lift,
+     I'm Blest by the Motive that hallows the Gift."
+
+How nicely tempered is this chorus to our Bard's "Life's a Fable:"--
+
+     "Then roll along, my lyric song;
+       It seasons well the table,
+     And tells a truth to Age and Youth,
+       That Life's a fleeting fable.
+
+            *       *       *       *       *
+
+     Thus Mirth and Woe the brighter show
+       From rosy wine's reflection;
+     From first to last, this truth hath past--
+       'Twas made for Care's correction.
+     Now what those think who water drink,
+       Of these old rules of Horace,
+     I sha'n't now show; but this I know,
+       His rules do well for _Morris_.
+     Old Horace, when he dipp'd his pen,
+       'Twas wine he had resort to;
+     He chose for use Falernian juice,
+       As I choose old Oporto;
+     At every bout an ode came out,
+       Yet Bacchus kept him twinkling;
+     As well aware more fire was there,
+       Which wanted but the sprinkling."
+
+            *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+At Brockham, Morris "drank the pure pleasures of the rural life" long
+after many a gay light of his own time had flickered out, and become
+almost forgotten. At length, his course ebbed away, July 11, 1838, in
+his ninety-third year; his illness, which was only of four days, was
+internal inflammation. The attainment of so great an age, and the
+recollection of Morris's associations, show him to have presented a
+rare combination of mirth and prudence. He retained his _gaîté de
+coeur_ to the last; so that with equal truth he remonstrated:
+
+     "When Life charms my heart, must I kindly be told,
+     I'm too gay and too happy for one that's so old?"
+
+The venerable Bard's remains rest near the east end of his parish
+church of Betchworth, in the burial-ground: the grave is simply marked
+by a head and foot-stone, with an inscription of three or four lines:
+he who had sung the praises of so many choice spirits, has not here a
+stanza to his own memory: such is, to some extent, the natural
+_sequitur_ with men who outlive their companions. Morris was staid and
+grave in his general deportment. Moore, in his _Diary_, has this odd
+note: "Linley describes Colman at the Beefsteak Club quite drunk,
+making extraordinary noise while Captain Morris was singing, which
+disconcerted the latter (who, strange to say, is a very grave, steady
+person) considerably." Yet, Morris could unbend, with great simplicity
+and feeling. We have often met him, in his patriarchal "blue and buff"
+(blue coat and buff waistcoat), in his walks about the lovely country
+in which he resided. Coming, one day, into the bookseller's shop, at
+Dorking, there chanced to be deposited a pianoforte; when the old Bard
+having looked around him, to see there were no strangers present, sat
+down to the instrument, and played and sang with much spirit the air
+of "The girl I left behind me:" yet he was then past his eightieth
+year.
+
+Morris's ancient and rightful office at the Steaks was to _make the
+punch_, and it was amusing to see him at his laboratory at the
+sideboard, stocked with the various products that enter into the
+composition of that nectareous mixture: then smacking an elementary
+glass or two, and giving a significant nod, the fiat of its
+excellence; and what could exceed the ecstasy with which he filled the
+glasses that thronged around the bowl; joying over its mantling
+beauties, and distributing the fascinating draught
+
+     "That flames and dances in its crystal bound"?
+
+"Well has our laureate earned his wreath," (says the author of _The
+Clubs of London_, who was often a participator in these delights). "At
+that table his best songs have been sung; for that table his best
+songs were written. His allegiance has been undivided. Neither hail,
+nor shower, nor snowstorm have kept him away: no engagement, no
+invitation seduced him from it. I have seen him there, 'outwatching
+the bear,' in his seventy-eighth year; for as yet nature had given no
+signal of decay in frame or faculty; but you saw him in a green and
+vigorous old age, tripping mirthfully along the downhill of existence,
+without languor, or gout, or any of the privileges exacted by time for
+the mournful privilege of living. His face is still resplendent with
+cheerfulness. 'Die when you will, Charles,' said Curran to him, 'you
+will die in your youth.'"
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[14] See Century of Anecdote, vol. i. p. 321.
+
+
+
+
+BEEF-STEAK CLUBS.
+
+
+There are other Beef-steak Clubs to be chronicled. Pyne, in his _Wine
+and Walnuts_, says: "At the same time the social Club flourished in
+England, and about the year 1749, a Beef-steak Club was established at
+the Theatre Royal, Dublin, of which the celebrated Mrs. Margaret
+Woffington was president. It was begun by Mr. Sheridan, but on a very
+different plan to that in London, no theatrical performer, save one
+_female_, being admitted; and though called a Club, the manager alone
+bore all the expenses. The plan was, by making a list of about fifty
+or sixty persons, chiefly noblemen and members of Parliament, who were
+invited. Usually about half that number attended, and dined in the
+manager's apartment in the theatre. There was no female admitted but
+this _Peg Woffington_, so denominated by all her contemporaries, who
+was seated in a great chair at the head of the table, and elected
+president for the season.
+
+"'It will readily be believed,' says Mr. Victor, in his _History of
+the Theatres_, who was joint proprietor of the house, 'that a club
+where there were good accommodations, such a _lovely president_, full
+of wit and spirit, and _nothing to pay_, must soon grow remarkably
+fashionable.' It did so; but we find it subsequently caused the
+theatre to be pulled to pieces about the manager's head.
+
+"Mr. Victor says of Mrs. Margaret, 'she possessed captivating charms
+as a jovial, witty bottle companion, but few remaining as a mere
+female,' We have Dr. Johnson's testimony, however, who had often
+gossiped with Mrs. Margaret in the green-room at old Drury, more in
+the lady's favour.
+
+"This author (Victor) says, speaking of the Beef-steak Club, 'It was a
+club of ancient institution in every theatre; when the principal
+performers dined one day in the week together (generally Saturday),
+and authors and other geniuses were admitted members.'"
+
+The Club in Ivy-lane, of which Dr. Johnson was a member, was
+originally a Beef-steak Club.
+
+There was also a political Club, called "the Rump Steak, or Liberty
+Club," in existence in 1733-4. The members were in eager opposition to
+Sir Robert Walpole.
+
+At the Bell Tavern, Church-row, Houndsditch, was held the Beef-steak
+Club, instituted by Mr. Beard, Mr. Dunstall, Mr. Woodward, Stoppalear,
+Bencroft, Gifford, etc.--_See Memoirs of Charles Lee Lewis_, vol. ii.
+p. 196.
+
+
+
+
+CLUB AT TOM'S COFFEE-HOUSE.
+
+
+Covent-Garden has lost many of its houses "studded with anecdote and
+history;" and the mutations among what Mr. Thackeray affectionately
+called its "rich cluster of brown taverns" are sundry and manifest.
+Its coffee-houses proper have almost disappeared, even in name. Yet, in
+the last century, in one short street of Covent-Garden--Russell-street--
+flourished three of the most celebrated coffee-houses in the
+metropolis: Will's, Button's, and Tom's. The reader need not be
+reminded of Will's, with Dryden, the _Tatler_ and _Spectator_, and its
+wits' room on the first floor; or Button's, with its lion's head
+letter-box, and the young poets in the back room. Tom's, No. 17, on
+the north side of Russell-street, and of somewhat later date, was
+taken down in 1865. The premises remained with little alteration, long
+after they ceased to be a coffee-house. It was named after its
+original proprietor, Thomas West, who, Nov. 26, 1722, threw himself,
+in a delirium, from the second-floor window into the street, and died
+immediately (_Historical Register_ for 1722). The upper portion of the
+premises was the coffee-house, under which lived T. Lewis, the
+bookseller, the original publisher, in 1711, of Pope's _Essay on
+Criticism_. The usual frequenters upstairs may be judged of by the
+following passage in the _Journey through England_, first edit.,
+1714:--"After the play, the best company generally go to Tom's and
+Will's coffee-houses, near adjoining, where there is playing at piquet
+and the best conversation till midnight. Here you will see blue and
+green ribbons, with stars, sitting familiarly and talking with the
+same freedom as if they had left their quality and degrees of distance
+at home; and a stranger tastes with pleasure the universal liberty of
+speech of the English nation. And in all the coffee-houses you have
+not only the foreign prints, but several English ones, with the
+foreign occurrences, besides papers of morality and party disputes."
+Such were the Augustan delights of a memorable coffee-house of the
+reign of Queen Anne. Of this period is a recollection of Mr. Grignon,
+sen., having seen the "balcony of Tom's crowded with noblemen in their
+stars and garters, drinking their tea and coffee exposed to the
+people." We find an entry in Walpole's _Letters_, 1745:--"A
+gentleman, I don't know who, the other night at Tom's coffee-house,
+said, on Lord Baltimore refusing to come into the Admiralty because
+Lord Vere Beauclerk had the precedence, 'it put him in mind of
+Pinkethman's petition in the _Spectator_, where he complains that
+formerly he used to act second chair in "Diocletian," but now he was
+reduced to dance fifth flower-pot.'"
+
+In 1764 there appears to have been formed here, by a guinea
+subscription, a Club of nearly 700 members--the nobility, foreign
+ministers, gentry, and men of genius of the age; the large front room
+on the first floor being the card-room. The Club flourished, so that
+in 1768, "having considerably enlarged itself of late," Thomas Haines,
+the then proprietor, took in the front room of the next house westward
+as a coffee-room. The front room of No. 17 was then appropriated
+exclusively as a card-room for the subscription club, each member
+paying one guinea annually; the adjoining apartment being used as a
+conversation-room. The subscription-books are before us, and here we
+find in the long list the names of Sir Thomas Robinson, Bart., who was
+designated "Long Sir Thomas Robinson," to distinguish him from his
+namesake, Sir Thomas Robinson, created Lord Grantham in 1761. "Long
+Tom," as the former was familiarly called, was a Commissioner of
+Excise and Governor of Barbadoes. He was a sad bore, especially to the
+Duke of Newcastle, the minister, who resided in Lincoln's Inn Fields.
+However, he gave rise to some smart things. Lord Chesterfield being
+asked by the latter Baronet to write some verses upon him, immediately
+produced this epigram:--
+
+     "Unlike my subject now shall be my song,
+     It shall be witty, and it shan't be long."
+
+Long Sir Thomas distinguished himself in this odd manner. When our
+Sovereign had not dropped the folly of calling himself "King of
+France," and it was customary at the Coronation of an English
+Sovereign to have fictitious Dukes of Aquitaine and Normandy to
+represent the vassalage of France, Sir Thomas was selected to fill the
+second mock dignity at the coronation of George III., to which
+Churchill alludes in his _Ghost_; but he assigns a wrong dukedom to
+Sir Thomas:
+
+     "Could Satire not (though doubtful since
+     Whether he plumber is or prince)
+     Tell of a simple Knight's advance,
+     To be a doughty peer of France?
+     Tell how he did a dukedom gain,
+     And Robinson was Aquitain."
+
+Of the two Sir Thomas Robinsons, one was tall and thin, the other
+short and fat: "I can't imagine," said Lady Townshend, "why the one
+should be preferred to the other; I see but little difference between
+them: the one is as broad as the other is long."
+
+Next on the books is Samuel Foote, who, after the decline of Tom's,
+was mostly to be seen at the Bedford. Then comes Arthur Murphy, lately
+called to the Bar; David Garrick, who then lived in Southampton-street,
+(though he was not a clubbable man); John Beard, the fine tenor
+singer; John Webb; Sir Richard Glynne; Robert Gosling, the banker;
+Colonel Eyre, of Marylebone; Earl Percy; Sir John Fielding, the
+justice; Paul Methuen, of Corsham; Richard Clive; the great Lord
+Clive; the eccentric Duke of Montagu; Sir Fletcher Norton, the
+ill-mannered; Lord Edward Bentinck; Dr. Samuel Johnson; the
+celebrated Marquis of Granby; Sir F. B. Delaval, the friend of Foote;
+William Tooke, the solicitor; the Hon. Charles Howard, sen.; the Duke
+of Northumberland; Sir Francis Gosling; the Earl of Anglesey; Sir
+George Brydges Rodney (afterwards Lord Rodney); Peter Burrell; Walpole
+Eyre; Lewis Mendez; Dr. Swinney; Stephen Lushington; John Gunning;
+Henry Brougham, father of Lord Brougham; Dr. Macnamara; Sir John
+Trevelyan; Captain Donellan; Sir W. Wolseley; Walter Chetwynd;
+Viscount Gage, etc.;--Thomas Payne, Esq., of Leicester House; Dr.
+Schomberg, of Pall-Mall; George Colman, the dramatist, then living in
+Great Queen Street; Dr. Dodd, in Southampton-row; James Payne, the
+architect, Salisbury-street, which he rebuilt; William Bowyer, the
+printer, Bloomsbury-square; Count Bruhl, the Polish Minister; Dr.
+Goldsmith, Temple (1773), etc. Many a noted name in the list of 700 is
+very suggestive of the gay society of the period. Among the Club
+musters, Samuel Foote, Sir Thomas Robinson, and Dr. Dodd are very
+frequent: indeed, Sir Thomas seems to have been something like a
+proposer-general.
+
+Tom's appears to have been a general coffee-house; for in the parish
+books of St. Paul's, Covent Garden, is the entry:--
+
+                                 £.   s.   d.
+
+     46 Dishes of chocolate      1    3    0
+     34 Jelleys                  0   17    0
+     Biscuits                    0    2    3
+
+Mr. Haines, the landlord, was succeeded by his son. Thomas, whose
+daughter is living, at the age of eighty-four, and possesses a
+portrait, by Dance, of the elder Haines, who, from his polite address,
+was called among the Club "Lord Chesterfield." The above lady has
+also a portrait, in oil, of the younger Haines, by Grignon.
+
+The coffee-house business closed in 1814, about which time the
+premises were first occupied by Mr. William Till, the numismatist. The
+card-room remained in its original condition; "And, here," wrote Mr.
+Till, many years since, "the tables on which I exhibit my coins are
+those which were used by the exalted characters whose names are
+extracted from books of the Club, still in possession of the
+proprietress of the house." On the death of Mr. Till, Mr. Webster
+succeeded to the tenancy and collection of coins and medals, which he
+removed to No. 6, Henrietta-street, shortly before the old premises in
+Russell-street were taken down. He possesses, by marriage with the
+grand-daughter of the second Mr. Haines, the old Club books, as well
+as the curious memorial, the snuffbox of the Club-room. It is of large
+size, and fine tortoiseshell; upon the lid, in high relief, in silver,
+are the portraits of Charles I. and Queen Anne; the Boscobel oak, with
+Charles II. amid its branches; and at the foot of the tree, on a
+silver plate, is inscribed Thomas Haines. At Will's the small wits
+grew conceited if they dipped but into Mr. Dryden's snuffbox; and at
+Tom's the box may have enjoyed a similar shrine-like reputation. It is
+nearly all that remains of the old coffee-house in Covent Garden, save
+the recollection of the names of the interesting personages who once
+thronged its rooms in stars and garters, but who bore more
+intellectual distinctions to entitle them to remembrance.
+
+
+
+
+THE KING OF CLUBS.
+
+
+This ambitious title was given to a Club set on foot about the year
+1801. Its founder was Bobus Smith, the brother of the great Sydney
+Smith. The Club at first consisted of a small knot of lawyers, a few
+literary characters, and visitors generally introduced by those who
+took the chief part in the conversation, and seemingly selected for
+the faculty of being good listeners.
+
+The King of Clubs sat on Saturday of each month, at the Crown and
+Anchor Tavern, in the Strand, which, at that time, was a nest of
+boxes, each containing its Club, and affording excellent cheer, though
+latterly desecrated by indifferent dinners and very questionable wine.
+The Club was a grand talk, the prevalent topics being books and
+authors; politics quite excluded. Bobus Smith was a convivial member
+in every respect but that of wine; he was but a frigid worshipper of
+Bacchus, but he had great humour and a species of wit, that revelled
+amidst the strangest and most grotesque combinations. His manner was
+somewhat of the bow-wow kind; and when he pounced upon a disputatious
+and dull blockhead, he made sad work of him.
+
+Then there was Richard Sharp, a partner of Boddington's West India
+house, who subsequently sat in Parliament for Port Arlington, in
+Ireland. He was a thinker and a reasoner, and occasionally
+controversial, but overflowed with useful and agreeable knowledge, and
+an unfailing stream of delightful information. He was celebrated for
+his conversational talents, and hence called "Conversation Sharp;" and
+he often had for his guest Sir James Mackintosh, with whom he lived
+in habits of intimacy. Mr. Sharp published a volume of _Letters and
+Essays in Prose and Verse_, of which a third edition appeared in 1834.
+Sharp was confessedly the first of the King of Clubs. He indulged but
+rarely in pleasantry; but when anything of the kind escaped him, it
+was sure to tell. One evening, at the Club, there was a talk about
+Tweddel, then a student in the Temple, who had greatly distinguished
+himself at Cambridge, and was the Senior Wrangler and medallist of his
+year. Tweddel was not a little intoxicated with his University
+triumphs; which led Sharp to remark, "Poor fellow! he will soon find
+that his Cambridge medal will not pass as current coin in London."
+Other frequent attendants were Scarlett (afterwards Lord Abinger);
+Rogers, the poet; honest John Allen, brother of the bluest of the
+blues, Lady Mackintosh; M. Dumont, the French emigrant, who would
+sometimes recite his friend the Abbé de Lisle's verses, with
+interminable perseverance, in spite of yawns and other symptoms of
+dislike, which his own politeness (for he was a highly-bred man)
+forbade him to interpret into the absence of it in others.
+
+In this respect, however, he was outdone by Wishart, who was nothing
+but quotations, and whose prosing, when he did converse, was like the
+torpedo's touch to all pleasing and lively converse. Charles Butler,
+too, in his long life, had treasured up a considerable assortment of
+reminiscences, which, when once set going, came out like a torrent
+upon you; it was a sort of shower-bath, that inundated you the moment
+you pulled the string.
+
+Curran, the boast of the Irish bar, came to the King of Clubs, during
+a short visit to London; there he met Erskine, but the meeting was not
+congenial. Curran gave some odd sketches of a Serjeant Kelly, at the
+Irish bar, whose whimsical peculiarity was an inveterate habit of
+drawing conclusions directly at variance with his premises. He had
+acquired the name of Counsellor Therefore. Curran said he was a
+perfect human personification of a _non sequitur_. For instance,
+meeting Curran, on Sunday, near St. Patrick's, he said to him, "The
+Archbishop gave us an excellent discourse this morning. It was well
+written and well delivered; _therefore_, I shall make a point of being
+at the Four Courts to-morrow at ten." At another time, observing to a
+person whom he met in the street, "What a delightful morning this is
+for walking!" he finished his remark on the weather by saying,
+"Therefore I will go home as soon as I can, and stir out no more the
+whole day." His speeches in Court were interminable, and his
+_therefore_ kept him going on, though every one thought he had done.
+"This is so clear a point, gentlemen," he would tell the jury, "that I
+am convinced you felt it to be so the very moment I stated it. I
+should pay your understandings but a poor compliment to dwell on it
+for a minute; _therefore_, I will now proceed to explain it to you as
+minutely as possible."
+
+Curran seemed to have no very profound respect for the character and
+talents of Lord Norbury. Curran went down to Carlow on a special
+retainer; it was in a case of ejectment. A new Court-house had been
+recently erected, and it was found extremely inconvenient, from the
+echo, which reverberated the mingled voices of judge, counsel, crier,
+to such a degree, as to produce constant confusion, and great
+interruption of business. Lord Norbury had been, if possible, more
+noisy that morning than ever. Whilst he was arguing a point with the
+counsel, and talking very loudly, an ass brayed vehemently from the
+street, adjoining the Court-house, to the instant interruption of the
+Chief-Justice. "What noise is that?" exclaimed his Lordship. "Oh, my
+Lord," retorted Curran, "it is merely the echo of the Court."
+
+
+
+
+WATIER'S CLUB.
+
+
+This Club was the great Macao gambling-house of a very short period.
+Mr. Thomas Raikes, who understood all its mysteries, describes it as
+very genteel, adding that no one ever quarrelled there. "The Club did
+not endure for twelve years altogether; the pace was too quick to
+last: it died a natural death in 1819, from the paralysed state of its
+members; the house was then taken by a set of blacklegs, who
+instituted a common bank for gambling. To form an idea of the ruin
+produced by this short-lived establishment among men whom I have so
+intimately known, a cursory glance to the past suggests the following
+melancholy list, which only forms a part of its deplorable results....
+None of the dead reached the average age of man."
+
+Among the members was Bligh, a notorious madman, of whom Mr. Raikes
+relates:--"One evening at the Macao table, when the play was very
+deep, Brummell having lost a considerable stake, affected, in his
+farcical way, a very tragic air, and cried out, 'Waiter, bring me a
+flat candlestick and a pistol.' Upon which Bligh, who was sitting
+opposite to him, calmly produced two loaded pistols from his coat
+pocket, which he placed on the table, and said, 'Mr. Brummell, if you
+are really desirous to put a period to your existence, I am extremely
+happy to offer you the means without troubling the waiter.' The effect
+upon those present may easily be imagined, at finding themselves in
+the company of a known madman who had loaded weapons about him."
+
+
+
+
+MR. CANNING AT THE CLIFFORD-STREET CLUB.
+
+
+There was in the last century, a debating Club, which boasted for a
+short time, a brighter assemblage of talent than is usually found to
+flourish in societies of this description. Its meetings, which took
+place once a month, were held at the Clifford-street Coffee-house, at
+the corner of Bond-street. The debaters were chiefly Mackintosh,
+Richard Sharp, a Mr. Ollyett Woodhouse; Charles Moore, son of the
+celebrated traveller; and Lord Charles Townshend, fourth son of the
+facetious and eccentric Marquis. The great primitive principles of
+civil government were then much discussed. It was before the French
+Revolution had "brought death into the world and all its woe."
+
+At the Clifford-street Society, Canning generally took "the liberal
+side" of the above questions. His earliest prepossessions are well
+known to have inclined to this side; but he evidently considered the
+Society rather as a school of rhetorical exercise, where he might
+acquire the use of his weapons, than a forum, where the serious
+profession of opinions, and a consistent adherence to them, could be
+fairly expected of him. One evening, the question for debate was "the
+justice and expediency of resuming the ecclesiastical property of
+France." Before the debate began, Canning had taken some pains to
+ascertain on which side the majority of the members seemed inclined to
+speak; and finding that they were generally in favour of the
+resumption, he expressed his fears that the unanimity of sentiment
+would spoil the discussion; so, he volunteered to speak against it. He
+did so, and it was a speech of considerable power, chiefly in reply to
+the opener, who, in a set discourse of some length, had asserted the
+revocable conditions of the property of the church, which, being
+created, he said, by the state, remained ever after at its
+disposition. Canning denied the proposition that ecclesiastical
+property was the creature of the state. He contended that though it
+might be so in a new government, yet, speaking historically, the great
+as well as lesser ecclesiastical fiefs were coeval with the crown of
+France, frequently strong enough to maintain fierce and not unequal
+conflicts with it, and certainly not in their origin emanations from
+its bounty. The church, he said, came well dowered to the state, who
+was now suing for a divorce, in order to plunder her pin-money. He
+contended that the church property stood upon the same basis, and
+ought to be protected by the same sanctions, as private property. It
+was originally, he said, accumulated from the successive donations
+with which a pious benevolence ought to enrich the fountains, from
+which spiritual comfort ought to flow to the wretched, the poor, the
+forsaken. He drew an energetic sketch of Mirabeau, the proposer of the
+measure, by whose side, he remarked, the worst characters in history,
+the Cleons, the Catilines, the Cetheguses, of antiquity, would
+brighten into virtue. He said that the character of the lawgiver
+tainted the law. It was proffered to the National Assembly by hands
+hot and reeking from the cells of sensuality and vice; it came from a
+brain inflamed and distended into frenzy by habitual debauchery. These
+are, of course, but faint sketches of this very early specimen of
+Canning as a speaker. The humour and irony with which he delighted his
+auditors are indescribable. He displayed the same powers of pleasantry
+which, in maturer years, enlivened the dulness of debate, and softened
+the asperities of party. He was, indeed, less rapid, and more measured
+in his elevation; sometimes impeded in flow, probably, from too
+fastidious a selection of words; but it was impossible not to predict
+that at no very distant period he would rise into high distinction as
+a parliamentary speaker.
+
+Canning was then the most handsome man about town; and his fine
+countenance glowed, as he spoke, with every sentiment which he
+uttered. It was customary during the debates at the Clifford-street
+Senate, for pots of porter to be introduced by way of refreshment.
+Canning, in his eloquent tirade against Mirabeau, handled the peculiar
+style of the Count's oratory with great severity. The president had,
+during this part of Canning's speech, given a signal for a pot of
+porter, which had been brought in and placed before him. It served
+Canning for an illustration. "Sir," said he, "much has been said about
+the gigantic powers of Mirabeau; let us not be carried away by the
+false jargon of his philosophy, or imagine that deep political wisdom
+resides in tumid and decorated diction. To the steady eye of a
+sagacious criticism, the eloquence of Mirabeau will appear to be as
+empty and vapid as his patriotism. It is like the beverage that stands
+so invitingly before you,--foam and froth at the top, heavy and muddy
+within."
+
+
+
+
+ECCENTRIC CLUBS.
+
+
+In Ward's _Secret History_, we read of the Golden Fleece Club, a
+rattle-brained society, originally held at a house in Cornhill, so
+entitled. They were a merry company of tippling citizens and jocular
+change-brokers, who every night washed away their consciences with
+claret, that the mental alienations and fallacious assurances the one
+had used in their shops, and the deceitful wheedling and stock-jobbing
+honesty by which the other had outwitted their merchants, might be no
+impediment to their night's rest; but that they might sleep without
+repentance, and rise next day with a strong propensity to the same
+practices. Each member on his admission had a characteristic name
+assigned to him; as, Sir Timothy Addlepate, Sir Nimmy Sneer, Sir
+Talkative Do-little, Sir Skinny Fretwell, Sir Rumbus Rattle, Sir Boozy
+Prate-all, Sir Nicholas Ninny Sipall, Sir Gregory Growler, Sir
+Pay-little, etc. The Club flourished until the decease of the leading
+member; when the dull fraternity, for want of a merry leader, and
+neglecting to be shaved and blooded, fell into the dumps, gave up
+their nocturnal revels, forsook frenzied claret for sober water-gruel,
+and a cessation of bumpers was proclaimed, till those who were sick
+recovered their health, and others their senses; and then, the better
+to prevent their debasement being known, they adjourned their Society
+from the Fleece in Cornhill to the Three Tuns in Southwark, that they
+might be more retired from the bows and compliments of the London
+apprentices, who used to salute the noble knights by their titles, as
+they passed to and fro.
+
+Another of Ward's humorous Sketches is that of the Lying Club, at the
+Bell Tavern, in Westminster, with Sir Harry Blunt for its chairman.
+
+The Clubs were fruitful sources of satire to the _Spectator_. He is
+merry on the Mummers, the Twopenny, the Ugly, the Fighting, the
+Fringe-Glove, the Humdrum, the Doldrum, and the Lovers; on Clubs of
+Fat Men, Tall Men, and One-Eyed Men, and of Men who lived in the same
+Street.
+
+The pretentious character of the Clubs of Queen Anne's time, and the
+historical importance attached to their annals, are humorously
+satirized in the following sketch of the Everlasting Club, to which,
+in those days, if a man were an idle, worthless fellow, who neglected
+his family, and spent most of his time over a bottle, he was, in
+derision, said to belong.
+
+"The Everlasting Club consists of an hundred members, who divide the
+whole twenty-four hours among them in such a manner, that the Club
+sits day and night from one end of the year to another: no party
+presuming to rise till they are relieved by those who are in course to
+succeed them. By this means, a member of the Everlasting Club never
+wants company; for though he is not upon duty himself, he is sure to
+find some who are; so that if he be disposed to take a whet, a
+nooning, an evening's draught, or a bottle after midnight, he goes to
+the Club, and finds a knot of friends to his mind.
+
+"It is a maxim in this Club that the Steward never dies; for as they
+succeed one another by way of rotation, no man is to quit the great
+elbow-chair, which stands at the upper end of the table, till his
+successor is ready to fill it; insomuch that there has not been a
+_sede vacante_ in their memory.
+
+"This Club was instituted towards the end, or, as some of them say,
+about the middle of the Civil Wars, and continued with interruption
+till the time of the Great Fire, which burnt them out and dispersed
+them for several weeks. The Steward all that time maintained his post
+till he had like to have been blown up with a neighbouring house,
+which was demolished in order to stop the fire: and would not leave
+the chair at last, till he had emptied the bottles upon the table, and
+received repeated directions from the Club to withdraw himself. This
+Steward is frequently talked of in the Club, and looked upon by every
+member of it as a greater man than the famous captain mentioned in my
+Lord Clarendon, who was burnt in his ship, because he would not quit
+it without orders. It is said that towards the close of 1700, being
+the great year of jubilee, the Club had it under consideration whether
+they should break up or continue their session; but after many
+speeches and debates, it was at length agreed to sit out the other
+century. This resolution passed in a general club _nemine
+contradicente_.
+
+"It appears, by their books in general, that, since their first
+institution, they have smoked fifty tons of tobacco, drank thirty
+thousand butts of ale, one thousand hogsheads of red port, two hundred
+barrels of brandy, and _one_ kilderkin of small beer. There had been
+likewise a great consumption of cards. It is also said that they
+observe the law in Ben Jonson's Club, which orders the fire to be
+always kept in (_focus perennis esto_), as well for the convenience of
+lighting their pipes as to cure the dampness of the club-room. They
+have an old woman, in the nature of a vestal, whose business is to
+cherish and perpetuate the fire, which burns from generation to
+generation, and has seen the glass-house fires in and out above an
+hundred times.
+
+"The Everlasting Club treats all other clubs with an eye of contempt,
+and talks even of the Kit-Kat and October as a couple of upstarts.
+Their ordinary discourse, as much I have been able to learn of it,
+turns altogether upon such adventures as have passed in their own
+assembly; of members who have taken the glass in their turns for a
+week together, without stirring out of the Club; of others who have
+not missed their morning's draught for twenty years together;
+sometimes they speak in rapture of a run of ale in King Charles's
+reign; and sometimes reflect with astonishment upon games at whist,
+which have been miraculously recovered by members of the Society, when
+in all human probability the case was desperate.
+
+"They delight in several old catches, which they sing at all hours, to
+encourage one another to moisten their clay, and grow immortal by
+drinking, with many other edifying exhortations of the like nature.
+
+"There are four general Clubs held in a year, at which time they fill
+up vacancies, appoint waiters, confirm the old fire-maker or elect a
+new one, settle contributions for coals, pipes, tobacco, and other
+necessaries.
+
+"The senior member has outlived the whole Club twice over, and has
+been drunk with the grandfathers of some of the sitting members."
+
+_The Lawyer's Club_ is thus described in the _Spectator_, No.
+372:--"This Club consists only of attorneys, and at this meeting every
+one proposes to the board the cause he has then in hand, upon which
+each member gives his judgment, according to the experience he has
+met with. If it happens that any one puts a case of which they have
+had no precedent, it is noted down by their chief clerk, Will
+Goosequill (who registers all their proceedings), that one of them may
+go with it next day to a counsel. This is, indeed, commendable, and
+ought to be the principal end of their meeting; but had you been there
+to have heard them relate their methods of managing a cause, their
+manner of drawing out their bills, and, in short, their arguments upon
+the several ways of abusing their clients, with the applause that is
+given to him who has done it most artfully, you would before now have
+given your remarks.
+
+"They are so conscious that their discourses ought to be kept a
+secret, that they are very cautious of admitting any person who is not
+in the profession. When any who are not of the law are let in, the
+person who introduces him says, he is a very honest gentleman, and he
+is taken, as their cant is, to pay costs." The writer adds, "that he
+is admitted upon the recommendation of one of their principals, as a
+very honest, good-natured fellow, that will never be in a plot, and
+only desires to drink his bottle and smoke his pipe."
+
+_The Little Club_, we are told in the _Guardian_, No. 91, began by
+sending invitations to those not exceeding five feet in height, to
+repair to the assembly, but many sent excuses, or pretended a
+non-application. They proceeded to fit up a room for their
+accommodation, and in the first place had all the chairs, stools, and
+tables removed, which had served the more bulky portion of mankind for
+many years, previous to which they laboured under very great
+disadvantages. The President's whole person was sunk in the
+elbow-chair, and when his arms were spread over it, he appeared (to
+the great lessening of his dignity) like a child in a go-cart. It was
+also so wide in the seat, as to give a wag occasion of saying, that
+"notwithstanding the President sat in it, there was a _sede vacante_."
+"The table was so high, that one who came by chance to the door,
+seeing our chins just above the pewter dishes, took us for a circle of
+men that sat ready to be shaved, and set in half-a-dozen of barbers.
+Another time, one of the Club spoke contumeliously of the President,
+imagining he had been absent, when he was only eclipsed by a flask of
+Florence, which stood on the table, in a parallel line before his
+face. We therefore new-furnished the room, in all respects
+proportionably to us, and had the door made lower, so as to admit no
+man above five feet high, without brushing his foretop; which, whoever
+does, is utterly unqualified to sit amongst us."
+
+Mr. Daniel, in his _Merrie England in the Olden Time_, has collected a
+further list of Clubs existing in London in 1790. He enumerates the
+following:--The Odd Fellows' Club; the Humbugs (held at the Blue
+Posts, in Covent-Garden); the Samsonic Society; the Society of Bucks;
+the Purl Drinkers; the Society of Pilgrims (held at the Woolpack, in
+the Kingsland-road); the Thespian Club; the Great Bottle Club; the Je
+ne sçai quoi Club (held at the Star and Garter in Pall-Mall, and of
+which the Prince of Wales, and the Dukes of York, Clarence, Orleans,
+Norfolk, Bedford, etc., were members); the Sons of the Thames Society;
+the Blue Stocking Club; the No Pay No Liquor Club (held at the Queen
+and Artichoke, in the Hampstead-road, and of which the ceremony, on a
+new member's introduction, was, after his paying a fee on entrance of
+one shilling, that he should wear a hat, throughout the first
+evening, made in the shape of a quart pot, and drink to the health of
+his brother members in a gilt goblet of ale); the Social Villagers
+(held at the Bedford Arms, in Camden-town), etc. Of the Villagers of
+our time, Sheridan Knowles, the dramatist, was a jovial member.
+
+
+
+
+JACOBITE CLUB.
+
+
+In the year 1854 a Correspondent of _Notes and Queries_ communicated
+to that journal the following interesting reminiscences of a political
+Club, with characteristics of the reminiscent.
+
+"The adherents of the Stuarts are now nearly extinct; but I recollect
+a few years ago an old gentleman in London, who was then upwards of
+eighty years of age, and who was a staunch Jacobite. I have heard him
+say that, when he was a young man, his father belonged to a society in
+Aldersgate-street, called 'The Mourning Bush;' and this Bush was to be
+always in mourning until the Stuarts were restored." A member of this
+society having been met in mourning when one of the reigning family
+had died, was asked by one of the members how it so happened? His
+reply was, "that he was not mourning for the dead, but for the
+living." The old gentleman was father of the Mercers' Company, and his
+brother of the Stationers' Company: they were bachelors, and citizens
+of the old school, hospitable, liberal, and charitable. An instance
+occurred that the latter had a presentation to Christ's Hospital: he
+was applied to in behalf of a person who had a large family; but the
+father not being a freeman, he could not present it to the son. He
+immediately bought the freedom for the father, and gave the son the
+presentation. This is a rare act. The brothers have long gone to
+receive the reward of their goodness, and lie buried in the cemetery
+attached to Mercers' Hall, Cheapside.
+
+By the above statement, the Club appears to have taken the name of the
+Mourning Bush Tavern, in Aldersgate, of which we shall have more to
+say hereafter.
+
+
+
+
+THE WITTINAGEMOT OF THE CHAPTER COFFEE-HOUSE.
+
+
+The Chapter Coffee-house, at the corner of Chapterhouse Court, on the
+south side of Paternoster-row, was, in the last century, noted as the
+resort of men of letters, and was famous for its punch, pamphlets, and
+good supply of newspapers. It was closed as a coffee-house in 1854,
+and then altered to a tavern. Its celebrity, however, lay in the last
+century. In the _Connoisseur_, January 31, 1754, we read: "The Chapter
+Coffee-house is frequented by those encouragers of literature, and (as
+they are styled by an eminent critic) 'not the worst judges of merit,'
+the booksellers. The conversation here naturally turns upon the newest
+publications; but their criticisms are somewhat singular. When they
+say a _good_ book, they do not mean to praise the style or sentiment,
+but the quick and extensive sale of it. That book is best which sells
+most; and if the demand for Quarles should be greater than for Pope,
+he would have the highest place on the rubric-post."
+
+The house was much frequented by Chatterton, who writes to his mother:
+"I am quite familiar at the Chapter Coffee-house, and know all the
+geniuses there;" and to Mr. Mason: "Send me whatever you would have
+published, and direct for me, to be left at the Chapter Coffee-house,
+Paternoster-row." And, writing from "King's Bench for the present,"
+May 14th, 1770, Chatterton says: "A gentleman who knows me at the
+Chapter, as an author, would have introduced me as a companion to the
+young Duke of Northumberland, in his intended general tour. But, alas!
+I spake no tongue but my own."
+
+Forster relates an anecdote of Oliver Goldsmith being paymaster at the
+Chapter, for Churchill's friend, Lloyd, who, in his careless way,
+without a shilling to pay for the entertainment, had invited him to
+sup with some friends of Grub-street.
+
+The Club celebrity of the Chapter was, however, the Wittinagemot, as
+the box in the north-east corner of the coffee-room was designated.
+Among its frequenters was Alexander Stevens, editor of the _Annual
+Biography and Obituary_, who died in 1824, and who left among his
+papers, printed in the _Monthly Magazine_, as "Stephensiana," his
+recollections of the Chapter, which he frequented in 1797 to 1805,
+where, he tells us, he always met with intelligent company. We give
+his reminiscences almost in his own words.
+
+Early in the morning it was occupied by neighbours, who were
+designated the _Wet Paper Club_, as it was their practice to open the
+papers when brought in by the newsmen, and read them before they were
+dried by the waiter; a dry paper they viewed as a stale commodity. In
+the afternoon, another party enjoyed the _wet_ evening papers; and
+(says Stephens) it was these whom I met.
+
+Dr. Buchan, author of _Domestic Medicine_, generally held a seat in
+this box; and though he was a Tory, he heard the freest discussion
+with good humour, and commonly acted as a moderator. His fine
+physiognomy, and his white hairs, qualified him for this office. But
+the fixture in the box was a Mr. Hammond, a Coventry manufacturer,
+who, evening after evening, for nearly forty-five years, was always to
+be found in his place, and during the entire period was much
+distinguished for his severe and often able strictures on the events
+of the day. He had thus debated through the days of Wilkes, of the
+American war, and of the French war, and being on the side of liberty,
+was constantly in opposition. His mode of arguing was Socratic, and he
+generally applied to his adversary the _reductio ad absurdum_,
+creating bursts of laughter.
+
+The registrar or chronicler of the box was a Mr. Murray, an episcopal
+Scotch minister, who generally sat in one place from nine in the
+morning till nine at night; and was famous for having read, at least
+once through, every morning and evening paper published in London
+during the last thirty years. His memory being good, he was appealed
+to whenever any point of fact within the memory of man happened to be
+disputed. It was often remarked, however, that such incessant daily
+reading did not tend to clear his views.
+
+Among those from whom I constantly profited was Dr. Berdmore, the
+Master of the Charterhouse; Walker, the rhetorician; and Dr. Towers,
+the political and historical writer. Dr. B. abounded in anecdote;
+Walker, (the Dictionary-maker,) to the finest enunciation united the
+most intelligent head I ever met with; and Towers, over his half-pint
+of Lisbon, was sarcastic and lively, though never deep.
+
+Among our constant visitors was the celebrated Dr. George Fordyce,
+who, having much fashionable practice, brought news which had not
+generally transpired. He had not the appearance of a man of genius,
+nor did he debate, but he possessed sound information on all subjects.
+He came to the Chapter after taking his wine, and stayed about an
+hour, or while he sipped a glass of brandy-and-water; it was then his
+habit to take another glass at the London Coffee-house, and a third at
+the Oxford, before he returned to his house in Essex-street, Strand.
+
+Dr. Gower, the urbane and able physician of the Middlesex, was another
+pretty constant visitor. It was gratifying to hear such men as
+Fordyce, Gower, and Buchan in familiar chat. On subjects of medicine
+they seldom agreed, and when such were started, they generally laughed
+at one another's opinions. They seemed to consider Chapter punch, or
+brandy-and-water, as _aqua vitæ_; and, to the credit of the house,
+better punch could not be found in London. If any one complained of
+being indisposed, the elder Buchan exclaimed, "Now let me prescribe
+for you without a fee. Here, John or Isaac, bring a glass of punch for
+Mr. ----, unless he likes brandy-and-water better. Take that, Sir, and
+I'll warrant you you'll soon be well. You're a peg too low; you want
+stimulus, and if one glass won't do, call for a second."
+
+There was a growling man of the name of Dobson, who, when his asthma
+permitted, vented his spleen upon both sides; and a lover of absurd
+paradoxes, author of some works of merit, but so devoid of principle,
+that, deserted by his friends, he would have died for want, if Dr.
+Garthshore had not placed him as a patient in the empty Fever
+Institution.
+
+Robinson, the king of the booksellers, was frequently of the party, as
+well as his brother John, a man of some talent; and Joseph Johnson,
+the friend of Priestley, and Paine, and Cowper, and Fuseli, came from
+St. Paul's Churchyard.
+
+Phillips, then commencing his _Monthly Magazine_, was also on a keen
+look-out for recruits, and with his waistcoat pocket full of guineas,
+to slip his enlistment money into their hand. Phillips, in the winter
+of 1795-6, lodged and boarded at the Chapter, and not only knew the
+characters referred to by Mr. Stephens, but many others equally
+original, from the voracious glutton in politics, who waited for the
+wet papers in the morning twilight, to the comfortless bachelor, who
+sat till the fire was raked out at half-past twelve at night, all of
+whom took their successive stations, like figures in a magic lantern.
+
+Alexander Chalmers, the workman of the Robinsons, and through their
+introduction editor of many large books, also enlivened the box by
+many sallies of wit and humour. He always took much pains to be
+distinguished from his namesake George, who, he used to say, carried,
+"the leaden mace," and he was much provoked whenever he happened to be
+mistaken for his namesake.
+
+Cahusac, a teacher of the classics; M'Leod, a writer in the
+newspapers; the two Parrys, of the _Courier_, the organ of Jacobinism;
+and Captain Skinner, a man of elegant manners, who personated our
+nation in the procession of Anacharsis Clootz, at Paris, in 1793, were
+also in constant attendance.
+
+One Baker, once a Spitalfields manufacturer, a great talker, and not
+less remarkable as an eater, was constant; but, having shot himself at
+his lodgings in Kirby-street, it was discovered that, for some years,
+he had had no other meal per day besides the supper which he took at
+the Chapter, where there being a choice of viands at the fixed price
+of one shilling, this, with a pint of porter, constituted his daily
+subsistence, till, his last resources failing, he put an end to
+himself.
+
+Lowndes, the celebrated electrician, was another of our set, and a
+facetious man. Buchan the younger, a son of the Doctor, generally came
+with Lowndes; and though somewhat dogmatical, yet he added to the
+variety and good intelligence of our discussions, which, from the
+mixture of company, were as various as the contents of the newspapers.
+
+Dr. Busby, the musician, and an ingenious man, often obtained a
+hearing, and was earnest in disputing with the Tories. And Macfarlane,
+the author of the _History of George the Third_, was generally admired
+for the soundness of his views; but this worthy man was killed by the
+pole of a coach, during an election procession of Sir Francis Burdett,
+from Brentford. Mr. W. Cooke, author of _Conversation_, constantly
+exemplified his own rules in his gentlemanly manners and well-timed
+anecdotes.
+
+Kelly, an Irish school-master, and a man of polished manners, kept up
+warm debates by his equivocating politics, and was often roughly
+handled by Hammond and others, though he bore his defeats with
+constant good humour.
+
+There was a young man named Wilson, who acquired the distinction of
+Long-bow, from the number of extraordinary secrets of the _haut ton_,
+which he used to retail by the hour. He was an amusing person, who
+seemed likely to prove an acquisition to the Wittinagemot; but, having
+run up a score of thirty or forty pounds, he suddenly absented
+himself. Miss Brun, the keeper of the Chapter, begged me, if I met
+with Wilson, to tell him she would give him a receipt for the past,
+and further credit to any amount, if he would only return to the
+house; "for," said she, "if he never paid us, he was one of the best
+customers we ever had, contriving, by his stories and conversation, to
+keep a couple of boxes crowded the whole night, by which we made more
+punch and more brandy-and-water, than from any other single cause
+whatever."
+
+Jacob, afterwards an alderman and M.P., was a frequent visitor, and
+then as remarkable for his heretical, as he was subsequently for his
+orthodox, opinions in his speeches and writings.
+
+Waithman, the active and eloquent Common Councilman, often mixed with
+us, and was always clear-headed and agreeable. One James, who had made
+a large fortune by vending tea, contributed many good anecdotes of the
+age of Wilkes.
+
+Several stockbrokers visited us; and among others of that description
+was Mr. Blake, the banker, of Lombard-street, a remarkably intelligent
+old gentleman; and there was a Mr. Paterson, a North Briton, a
+long-headed speculator, who taught mathematics to Pitt.
+
+Some young men of talent came among us from time to time; as Lovett, a
+militia officer; Hennell, a coal merchant, and some others; and these
+seemed likely to keep up the party. But all things have an end: Dr.
+Buchan died; some young sparks affronted our Nestor, Hammond, on which
+he absented himself, after nearly fifty years' attendance; and the
+noisy box of the Wittinagemot was, for some years previously to 1820,
+remarkable for its silence and dulness. The two or three last times I
+was at the Chapter, I heard no voice above a whisper; and I almost
+shed a tear on thinking of men, habits, and times gone by for ever!
+
+We shall have more to say of the Chapter Coffee-house in Vol. II.
+
+
+
+
+THE ROXBURGHE CLUB DINNERS.
+
+
+The Roxburghe Club claims its foundation from the sale of the library
+of the late John, Duke of Roxburghe, in 1812, which extended to
+forty-one days following, with a supplementary catalogue beginning
+Monday, July 13, with the exception of Sundays. Some few days before
+the sale, the Rev. Thomas Frognall Dibdin, who claimed the title of
+founder of the Club, suggested the holding of a convivial meeting at
+the St. Alban's Tavern after the sale of June 17th, upon which day was
+to be sold the rarest lot, "Il Decamerone di Boccaccio," which
+produced £2260. The invitation ran thus:--"The honour of your company
+is requested, to dine with the Roxburghe _dinner_, on Wednesday, the
+17th instant." At the first dinner the number of members was limited
+to twenty-four, which at the second dinner was extended to thirty-one.
+The president of this club was Lord Spencer: among the other
+celebrated members were the Duke of Devonshire, the Marquis of
+Blandford, Lord Althorp, Lord Morpeth, Lord Gower, Sir Mark Sykes, Sir
+Egerton Brydges, Mr. (afterwards) Baron Bolland, Mr. Dent, the Rev. T.
+C. Heber, Rev. Rob. Holwell Carr, Sir Walter Scott, etc.; Dr. Dibdin,
+secretary.
+
+The avowed object of the Club was the reprinting of rare and ancient
+pieces of ancient literature; and, at one of the early meetings, "it
+was proposed and concluded for each member of the Club to reprint a
+scarce piece of ancient lore, to be given to the members, one copy
+being on vellum for the chairman, and only as many copies as members."
+
+It may, however, be questioned whether "the dinners" of the Club were
+not more important than the literature. They were given at the St.
+Alban's, at Grillion's, at the Clarendon, and the Albion, taverns; the
+_Amphytrions_ evincing as _recherché_ taste in the _carte_, as the
+Club did in their vellum reprints. Of these entertainments some
+curious details have been recorded by the late Mr. Joseph Haslewood,
+one of the members, in a MS. entitled, "Roxburghe Revels; or, an
+Account of the Annual Display, culinary and festivous, interspersed
+incidentally with Matters of Moment or Merriment." This MS. was, in
+1833, purchased by the Editor of the _Athenæum_, and a selection from
+its rarities was subsequently printed in that journal. Among the
+memoranda, we find it noted that, at the second dinner, a few tarried,
+with Mr. Heber in the chair, until, "on arriving at home, the click of
+time bespoke a quarter to four." Among the early members was the Rev.
+Mr. Dodd, one of the masters of Westminster School, who, until the
+year 1818 (when he died), enlivened the Club with Robin-Hood ditties
+and similar productions. The fourth dinner was given at Grillion's,
+when twenty members assembled, under the chairmanship of Sir Mark
+Masterman Sykes. The bill on this occasion amounted to £57, or £2.
+17_s._ per man; and the twenty "lions" managed to dispose of
+drinkables to the extent of about £33. The reckoning, by Grillion's
+French waiter, is amusing:--
+
+                         Dinner du 17 Juin 1815.
+
+     20 . . . . . . . .     200  0 | 2 Boutelle de Bourgogne
+     Desser . . . . . .      20  0 |         . . . . . .  1 12  0
+     Deu sorte de Glasse   1  4  0 | (Not legible)        0 14  0
+     Glasse pour 6  . .    0  4  0 | Soder . . . . . . .  0  2  0
+     5 Boutelle de Champagne       | Biere e Ail . . . .  0  6  0
+       . . . . . . . . .   4  0  0 | Por la Lettre . . .  0  2  0
+     7 Boutelle de harmetage       | Pour faire un prune  0  6  0
+       . . . . . . . . .   5  5  0 | Pour un fiacre  . .  0  2  0
+     1 Boutelle de Hok     0 15  0 |                     ________
+     4 Boutelle de Port    1  6  0 |                     55  6  0
+     4 Boutelle de Maderre 2  0  0 |        Waiters  . .  1 14  0
+     22 Boutelle de Bordeaux       |                     ________
+        . . . . . . . .   15  8  0 |                     57  0  0
+
+The anniversary of 1818 was celebrated at the Albion, in
+Aldersgate-street: Mr. Heber was in the chair, and the Rev. Mr. Carr
+_vice_, vice Dr. Dibdin. Although only fifteen sat down, they seem to
+have eaten and drunk for the whole Club: it was, as Wordsworth says,
+"forty feeding like one;" and the bill, at the conclusion of the
+night, amounted to £85. 9_s._ 6_d._ "Your cits," says Mr. Haslewood,
+"are the only men for a feast; and, therefore, behold us, like
+locusts, travelling to devour the good things of the land, eastward
+ho! At a little after seven, with our fancies much delighted, we
+fifteen sat down."
+
+The bill of fare was as follows:--
+
+                              FIRST COURSE.
+
+                                Turtle.[A]
+     Turtle Cutlets.                              Turtle Fin.
+                                Turbot.
+                                _________
+      Boiled Chickens.         |         |          Ham.
+     Sauté of Haddock.         |  Frame. |        Chartreuse.
+           Turtle.             |         |          Turtle.
+     Tendrons of Lamb.         |_________|    Fillets of Whitings.
+           Tongue.              John Dory.         R. Chickens.
+         Turtle Fin.                         Fricandeau of Turtle.
+                                Turtle.[15]
+
+                   +++ Cold Roast Beef on Side Tables.
+                                  ____
+
+                              SECOND COURSE.
+
+                            Venison (2 Haunches).
+                                  ____
+
+                              THIRD COURSE.
+
+                             Larded Poults.
+               Tart.                               Cheese Cakes.
+                            Artichoke bottoms.
+                                _________
+             Jelly.            |         |            Prawns.
+           R. Quails.          |         |          R. Leveret.
+         Salade Italienne.     |_________|        Crême Italienne.
+                                  Peas.
+         Cabinet Pudding.                             Tourt.
+                                R. Goose.
+
+The bill, as a specimen of the advantages of separate charges, as well
+as on other accounts, may be worth preserving:--
+
+ALBION HOUSE.
+
+June 17, 1818.
+
+     Bread and Beer            0   9  0
+     Dinners                   9   9  0
+     Cheas and Butter          0   9  0
+     Lemons                    0   3  0
+     Strong Beer               0   9  0
+     Madeira                   3   3  0
+     Champagne                 2  11  0
+     Saturne (sic in MS.)      1   4  0
+     Old Hock                  4  16  0
+     Burgundy                  0  18  0
+     Hermitage                 0  18  0
+     Silery Champagne          0  16  0
+     Sherry                    0   7  0
+     St. Percy                 2  11  0
+     Old Port                  2   9  0
+     Claret                   11   4  0
+     Turtle Punch              0  15  0
+     Waxlights                 2  10  0
+     Desert                    6   6  0
+     Pine-ice creams           1  16  0
+     Tea and Coffee            1   8  0
+     Liqueures                 0  14  0
+     2 Haunches of Venison    10  10  0
+     Sweet sauce and dressing  1   4  0
+     50 lbs. Turtle           12  10  0
+     Dressing do.              2   2  0
+     Ice for Wine              0   6  0
+     Rose Water                0   5  0
+     Soda Water                0  12  0
+     Lemons and Sugar for do.  0   3  0
+     Broken Glass              0   5  6
+     Servants' dinners         0   7  0
+     Waiters                   1   0  0
+                              ---------
+                              85   9  6
+
+"Consider, in the bird's-eye view of the banquet, (says Mr.
+Haslewood,) the trencher cuts, foh! nankeen displays; as intersticed
+with many a brilliant drop to friendly beck and clubbish hail, to
+moisten the viands, or cool the incipient cayenne. No unfamished
+liveryman would desire better dishes, or high-tasted courtier better
+wines. With men that meet to commune, that can converse, and each
+willing to give and receive information, more could not be wanting to
+promote well-tempered conviviality; a social compound of mirth, wit,
+and wisdom;--combining all that Anacreon was famed for, tempered with
+the reason of Demosthenes, and intersected with the archness of
+Scaliger. It is true we had not any Greek verses in praise of the
+grape; but we had as a tolerable substitute the ballad of the Bishop
+of Hereford and Robin Hood, sung by Mr. Dodd; and it was of his own
+composing. It is true we had not any long oration denouncing the
+absentees, the Cabinet council, or any other set of men, but there was
+not a man present that at one hour and seventeen minutes after the
+cloth was removed but could not have made a Demosthenic speech far
+superior to any record of antiquity. It is true no trait of wit is
+going to be here preserved, for the flashes were too general; and what
+is the critical sagacity of Scaliger, compared to our chairman?
+Ancients, believe it we were not dead drunk, and therefore lie quiet
+under the table for once, and let a few moderns be uppermost.
+
+"According to the long-established principles of 'Maysterre Cockerre,'
+each person had £5. 14_s._ to pay--a tremendous sum, and much may be
+said thereon."
+
+Earl Spencer presided at the dinner which followed the sale of the
+Valdarfer Boccaccio: twenty-one members sat down to table at
+Jaquière's (the Clarendon), and the bill was comparatively moderate,
+£55. 13_s._ Mr. Haslewood says, with characteristic sprightliness:
+"Twenty-one members met joyfully, dined comfortably, challenged
+eagerly, tippled prettily, divided regretfully, and paid the bill most
+cheerfully."
+
+The following is the list of "Tostes," given at the first Dinner, in
+1812:--
+
+     The Order of ye Tostes.
+
+       The Immortal Memory of John Duke of Roxburghe.
+     Christopher Valdarfer, Printer of the Decameron of 1471.
+       Gutemberg, Fust, and Schæffher, the Inventors of
+                   the Art of Printing.
+       William Caxton, the Father of the British Press.
+       Dame Juliana Barnes, and the St. Alban's Press.
+     Wynkyn de Worde and Richard Pynson, the Illustrious
+               Successors of William Caxton.
+               The Aldine Family, at Venice.
+               The Giunta Family at Florence.
+           The Society of the Bibliophiles at Paris.
+           The Prosperity of the Roxburghe Club.
+         The Cause of Bibliomania all over the World.
+
+To show that the pursuits of the Roxburghe Club have been estimated
+with a difference, we quote what may be termed "another side of the
+question":--
+
+"Among other follies of the age of paper, which took place in England
+at the end of the reign of George III., a set of book-fanciers, who
+had more money than wit, formed themselves into a club, and
+appropriately designated themselves the _Bibliomaniacs_. Dr. Dibdin
+was their organ; and among the club were several noblemen, who, in
+other respects, were esteemed men of sense. Their rage was, not to
+estimate books according to their intrinsic worth, but for their
+rarity. Hence, any volume of the vilest trash, which was scarce,
+merely because it never had any sale, fetched fifty or a hundred
+pounds; but if it were but one of two or three known copies, no limits
+could be set to the price. Books altered in the title-page, or in a
+leaf, or any trivial circumstance which varied a few copies, were
+bought by these _soi-disant_ maniacs, at one, two, or three hundred
+pounds, though the copies were not really worth more than threepence
+per pound. A trumpery edition of Boccaccio, said to be one of two
+known copies, was thus bought by a noble marquis for £1475, though in
+two or three years afterwards he resold it for £500. First editions of
+all authors, and editions by the first clumsy printers, were never
+sold for less than £50, £100, or £200.
+
+"To keep each other in countenance, these persons formed themselves
+into a club, and, after a Duke, one of their fraternity, called
+themselves the _Roxburghe Club_. To gratify them, _facsimile_ copies
+of clumsy editions of trumpery books were reprinted; and, in some
+cases, it became worth the while of more ingenious persons to play off
+forgeries upon them. This mania after awhile abated and, in future
+ages, it will be ranked with the tulip and the picture mania, during
+which, estates were given for single flowers and pictures."
+
+The Roxburghe Club still exists; and, with the Dilettanti Society, may
+justly be said to have suggested the Publishing Societies of the
+present day, at the head of which is the Camden. The late Duke of
+Devonshire was a munificent member of the Roxburghe.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[15] These Tureens were removed for two dishes of White Bait.
+
+
+
+
+THE SOCIETY OF PAST OVERSEERS, WESTMINSTER.
+
+
+There are several parochial Clubs in the metropolis; but that of the
+important parish of St. Margaret's, Westminster, with "Past Overseers"
+for its members, has signalized itself by the _accumulation_ and
+preservation of an unique heirloom, which is a very curious collection
+of memorials of the last century and a half, exhibiting various tastes
+and styles of art in their respective commemorations, in a sort of
+_chronology in silver_.
+
+Such is the St. Margaret's Overseer's Box, which originated as
+follows. It appears that a Mr. Monck purchased, at Horn Fair, held at
+Charlton, Kent, a small tobacco-box for the sum of fourpence, from
+which he often replenished his neighbour's pipe, at the meetings of
+his predecessors and companions in the office of Overseers of the
+Poor, to whom the Box was presented in 1713. In 1720, the Society of
+Past Overseers ornamented the lid with a silver rim, commemorating the
+donor. In 1726, a silver side case and bottom were added. In 1740, an
+embossed border was placed upon the lid, and the under part enriched
+with an emblem of Charity. In 1746, Hogarth engraved inside the lid a
+bust of the Duke of Cumberland, with allegorical figures, and scroll
+commemorating the Battle of Culloden. In 1765, an interwoven scroll
+was added to the lid, enclosing a plate with the arms of the City of
+Westminster, and inscribed: "This Box to be delivered to every
+succeeding set of Overseers, on penalty of five guineas."
+
+The original Horn box being thus ornamented, additional cases were
+provided by the Senior Overseers for the time being,--namely, silver
+plates engraved with emblematical and historical subjects and busts.
+Among the first are a View of the Fireworks in St. James's Park, to
+celebrate the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1749; Admiral Keppel's Action
+off Ushant, and his acquittal after a court-martial; the Battle of the
+Nile; the Repulse of Admiral Linois, 1804; the Battle of Trafalgar,
+1805; the Action between the San Fiorenzo and La Piémontaise, 1808;
+the Battle of Waterloo, 1815; the Bombardment of Algiers, 1816; View
+of the House of Lords at the Trial of Queen Caroline; the Coronation
+of George IV.; and his Visit to Scotland, 1822.
+
+There are also--Portraits of John Wilkes, Churchwarden in 1759;
+Nelson, Duncan, Howe, Vincent; Fox and Pitt, 1806; George IV. as
+Prince Regent, 1811; the Princess Charlotte, 1817; and Queen
+Charlotte, 1818. But the more interesting representations are those of
+local circumstances; as the Interior of Westminster Hall, with the
+Westminster Volunteers, attending Divine Service at the drum-head on
+the Fast Day, 1803; the Old Sessions House; a view of St. Margaret's,
+from the north-east; and the West Front Tower, and altar-piece. In
+1813, a large silver plate was added to the outer case, with a
+portrait of the Duke of Wellington, commemorating the centenary of the
+agglomeration of the Box.
+
+The top of the second case represents the Governors of the Poor, in
+their Board-room, and this inscription: "The original Box and cases to
+be given to every succeeding set of Overseers, on penalty of fifty
+guineas, 1783." On the outside of the first case is a clever engraving
+of a cripple.
+
+In 1785, Mr. Gilbert exhibited the Box to some friends after dinner:
+at night, thieves broke in, and carried off all the plate that had
+been in use; but the box had been removed beforehand to a bedchamber.
+
+In 1793, Mr. Read, a Past Overseer, detained the Box, because his
+accounts were not passed. An action was brought for its recovery,
+which was long delayed, owing to two members of the Society giving
+Read a release, which he successfully pleaded in bar to the action.
+This rendered it necessary to take proceedings in equity: accordingly,
+a Bill was filed in Chancery against all three, and Read was compelled
+to deposit the box with Master Leeds until the end of the suit. Three
+years of litigation ensued. Eventually the Chancellor directed the Box
+to be restored to the Overseers' Society, and Mr. Read paid in costs
+£300. The extra costs amounted to £76. 13_s._ 11_d._, owing to the
+illegal proceedings of Mr. Read. The sum of £91. 7_s._ was at once
+raised; and the surplus spent upon a third case, of octagon shape. The
+top records the triumph: Justice trampling upon a prostrate man, from
+whose face a mask falls upon a writhing serpent. A second plate, on
+the outside of the fly-lid, represents the Lord Chancellor
+Loughborough, pronouncing his decree for the restoration of the Box,
+March 5, 1796.
+
+On the fourth or outer case is the Anniversary Meeting of the Past
+Overseers' Society, with the Churchwardens giving the charge previous
+to delivering the Box to the succeeding Overseer, who is bound to
+produce it at certain parochial entertainments, with three pipes of
+tobacco at the least, under the penalty of six bottles of claret; and
+to return the whole, with some addition, safe and sound, under a
+penalty of 200 guineas.
+
+A tobacco-stopper of mother-of-pearl, with a silver chain, is enclosed
+within the Box, and completes this unique Memorial of the kindly
+feeling which perpetuates year by year the old ceremonies of this
+united parish; and renders this traditionary piece of plate of great
+price, far outweighing its intrinsic value.[16]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[16] Westminster. By the Rev. Mackenzie S. C. Walcott, M.A., Curate of
+St. Margaret's, 1849, pp. 105-107.
+
+
+
+
+THE ROBIN HOOD.
+
+
+In the reign of George the Second there met, at a house in
+Essex-street, in the Strand, the Robin Hood Society, a debating Club,
+at which, every Monday, questions were proposed, and any member might
+speak on them for seven minutes; after which the "baker," who presided
+with a hammer in his hand, summed up the arguments. Arthur Mainwaring
+and Dr. Hugh Chamberlain were among the earliest members of this
+Society. Horace Walpole notices the Robin Hood as one of the
+celebrities which Monsieur Beaumont _saw_ in 1761: "it is incredible,"
+says Walpole, "what pains he has taken to _see_:" he breakfasted at
+Strawberry Hill with Walpole, who was then "as much a curiosity to all
+foreigners as the tombs and lions."
+
+The Robin Hood became famous as the scene of Burke's earliest
+eloquence. To discipline themselves in public speaking at its meetings
+was then the custom among law-students, and others intended for public
+life; and it is said that at the Robin Hood, Burke had commonly to
+encounter an opponent whom nobody else could overcome, or at least
+silence: this person was the president. Oliver Goldsmith was
+introduced to the Club by Samuel Derrick, his acquaintance and
+countryman. Struck by the eloquence and imposing aspect of the
+president, who sat in a large gilt chair, Goldsmith thought Nature had
+meant him for a lord chancellor: "No, no," whispered Derrick, who knew
+him to be a wealthy baker from the City, "only for a master of the
+rolls." Goldsmith was little of an orator; but, till Derrick went away
+to succeed Beau Nash at Bath, seems to have continued his visits, and
+even spoke occasionally; for he figures in an account of the members
+published at about this time, as "a candid disputant, with a clear
+head and an honest heart, though coming but seldom to the Society."
+
+One of the members of this Robin Hood was Peter Annet, a man who,
+though ingenious and deserving in other respects, became unhappily
+notorious by a kind of fanatic crusade against the Bible, for which
+(published weekly papers against the Book of Genesis,) he stood twice
+in one year in the pillory, and then underwent imprisonment in the
+King's Bench. To Annet's room in that prison went Goldsmith, taking
+with him Newbery, the publisher, to conclude the purchase of a Child's
+Grammar from the prisoner, hoping so to relieve his distress; but on
+the prudent publisher suggesting that no name should appear on the
+title-page, and Goldsmith agreeing that circumstances made this
+advisable, Annet accused them both of cowardice, and rejected their
+assistance with contempt.[17]
+
+
+
+
+THE BLUE-STOCKING CLUB.
+
+
+The earliest mention of a Blue-Stocking, or _Bas-Bleu_, occurs in the
+Greek comedy, entitled the _Banquet of Plutarch_. The term, as applied
+to a lady of high literary taste, has been traced by Mills, in his
+_History of Chivalry_, to the Society de la Calza, formed at Venice,
+in 1400, "when, consistently with the singular custom of the Italians,
+of marking academies and other intellectual associations by some
+external sign of folly, the members, when they met in literary
+discussion, were distinguished by the colour of their stockings. The
+colours were sometimes fantastically blended; and at other times one
+colour, particularly _blue_, prevailed." The Society de la Calza
+lasted till 1590, when the foppery of Italian literature took some
+other symbol. The rejected title then crossed the Alps, and found a
+congenial soil in Parisian society, and particularly branded female
+pedantry. It then diverted from France to England, and for awhile
+marked the vanity of the small advances in literature in female
+coteries.
+
+But the _Blue-stocking_ of the last century is of home-growth; for
+Boswell, in his _Life of Johnson_, date 1781, records: "About this
+time it was much the fashion for several ladies to have evening
+assemblies, where the fair sex might participate in conversation with
+literary and ingenious men, animated by a desire to please. One of the
+most eminent members of these societies, when they first commenced,
+was Mr. Stillingfleet (grandson of the Bishop), whose dress was
+remarkably grave; and in particular it was observed that he wore blue
+stockings. Such was the excellence of his conversation, that his
+absence was felt so great a loss that it used to be said, 'We can do
+nothing without the _blue stockings_;'" and thus by degrees the title
+was established. Miss Hannah More has admirably described a
+_Blue-Stocking Club_, in her _Bas-Bleu_, a poem in which many of the
+persons who were most conspicuous there are mentioned. And Horace
+Walpole speaks of this production as "a charming poetic familiarity
+called 'the Blue-Stocking Club.'"
+
+The Club met at the house of Mrs. Montagu, at the north-west angle of
+Portman-square. Forbes, in his _Life of Beattie_, gives another
+account: "This Society consisted originally of Mrs. Montagu, Mrs.
+Vesey, Miss Boscawen, and Mrs. Carter, Lord Lyttelton, Mr. Pulteney,
+Horace Walpole, and Mr. Stillingfleet. To the latter gentleman, a man
+of great piety and worth, and author of some works in natural history,
+etc., this constellation of talents owed that whimsical appellation of
+'Bas-Bleu.' Mr. Stillingfleet being somewhat of an humourist in his
+habits and manners, and a little negligent in his dress, literally
+wore gray stockings; from which circumstance Admiral Boscawen used, by
+way of pleasantry, to call them 'The Blue-Stocking Society,' as if to
+intimate that when these brilliant friends met, it was not for the
+purpose of forming a dressed assembly. A foreigner of distinction
+hearing the expression, translated it literally 'Bas-Bleu,' by which
+these meetings came to be afterwards distinguished." Dr. Johnson
+sometimes joined this circle. The last of the Club was the lively Miss
+Monckton, afterwards Countess of Cork, "who used to have the finest
+_bit of blue_ at the house of her mother Lady Galway." Lady Cork died
+at upwards of ninety years of age, at her house in New Burlington-street,
+in 1840.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[17] Forster's _Life of Goldsmith_, p. 253.
+
+
+
+
+THE IVY-LANE CLUB.
+
+
+This was one of the creations of Dr. Johnson's _clubbable_ nature,
+which served as recreation for this laborious worker. He was now
+"tugging at the oar," in Gough-square, Fleet-street. Boswell describes
+him as "engaged in a steady, continued course of occupation." "But his
+enlarged and lively mind could not be satisfied without more diversity
+of employment, and the pleasure of animated relaxation. He therefore
+not only exerted his talents in occasional composition, very
+different from lexicography, but formed a Club in Ivy-lane,
+Paternoster-row, with a view to enjoy literary discussion, and amuse
+his evening hours. The members associated with him in this little
+Society were his beloved friend Dr. Richard Bathurst; Mr. Hawkesworth,
+afterwards well known by his writings; Mr. John Hawkins, an attorney;
+and a few others of different professions." The Club met every Tuesday
+evening at the King's Head, a beef-steak house in Ivy-lane. One of the
+members, Hawkins, then Sir John, has given a very lively picture of a
+celebration by this Club, at the Devil Tavern, in Fleet-street, which
+forms one of the pleasantest pages in the Author's Life of Johnson.
+Sir John tells us:
+
+"One evening, at the [Ivy-lane] Club, Dr. Johnson proposed to us
+celebrating the birth of Mrs. Lennox's first literary child, as he
+called her book, by a whole night spent in festivity. The place
+appointed was the Devil Tavern; and there, about the hour of eight,
+Mrs. Lennox, and her husband, and a lady of her acquaintance now
+living [1785], as also the Club and friends, to the number of near
+twenty, assembled. Our supper was elegant, and Johnson had directed
+that a magnificent hot apple-pye should make a part of it, and this he
+would have stuck with bay-leaves, because, forsooth, Mrs. Lennox was
+an authoress, and had written verses; and further, he had prepared for
+her a crown of laurel, with which, but not until he had invoked the
+Muses by some ceremonies of his own invention, he encircled her brows.
+The night passed, as must be imagined, in pleasant conversation and
+harmless mirth, intermingled, at different periods, with the
+refreshments of coffee and tea. About five, Johnson's face shone with
+meridian splendour, though his drink had been only lemonade; but the
+far greater part of us had deserted the colours of Bacchus, and were
+with difficulty rallied to partake of a second refreshment of coffee,
+which was scarcely ended when the day began to dawn. This phenomenon
+began to put us in mind of our reckoning; but the waiters were all so
+overcome with sleep, that it was two hours before we could get a bill,
+and it was not till near eight that the creaking of the street-door
+gave the signal for our departure."
+
+When Johnson, the year before his death, endeavoured to re-assemble as
+many of the Club as were left, he found, to his regret, he wrote to
+Hawkins, that Horseman, the landlord, was dead, and the house shut up.
+
+About this time, Johnson instituted a Club at the Queen's Arms, in St.
+Paul's Churchyard. "He told Mr. Hook," says Boswell, "that he wished
+to have _a City Club_, and asked him to collect one; but," said he,
+"don't let them be patriots." (Boswell's _Life_, 8th edit. vol. iv. p.
+93.) This was an allusion to the friends of his acquaintance Wilkes.
+Boswell accompanied him one day to the Club, and found the members
+"very sensible, well-behaved men."
+
+
+
+
+THE ESSEX HEAD CLUB.
+
+
+In the year before he died, at the Essex Head, now No. 40, in
+Essex-street, Strand, Dr. Johnson established a little evening Club,
+under circumstances peculiarly interesting, as described by Boswell.
+He tells us that "notwithstanding the complication of disorders under
+which Johnson now laboured, he did not resign himself to despondency
+and discontent, but with wisdom and spirit endeavoured to console and
+amuse his mind with as many innocent enjoyments as he could procure."
+Sir John Hawkins has mentioned the cordiality with which he insisted
+that such of the members of the old Club in Ivy-lane as survived,
+should meet again and dine together, which they did, twice at a
+tavern, and once at his house; and in order to ensure himself in the
+evening for three days in the week, Johnson instituted a Club at the
+Essex Head, in Essex-street, then kept by Samuel Greaves, an old
+servant of Mr. Thrale's: it was called "Sam's."
+
+On Dec. 4, 1783, Johnson wrote to Sir Joshua Reynolds, giving an
+account of this Club, of which Reynolds had desired to be one; "the
+company," Dr. J. says, "is numerous, and, as you will see by the list,
+miscellaneous. The terms are lax, and the expenses light. Mr. Barry
+was adopted by Dr. Brocklesby, who joined with me in forming the plan.
+We meet twice a week, and he who misses forfeits twopence." It did not
+suit Sir Joshua to be one of this Club; "but," says Boswell, "when I
+mention only Mr. Daines Barrington, Dr. Brocklesby, Mr. Murphy, Mr.
+John Nichols, Mr. Cooke, Mr. Joddrel, Mr. Paradise, Dr. Horsley, Mr.
+Windham, I shall sufficiently obviate the misrepresentation of it by
+Sir John Hawkins, as if it had been a low ale-house association, by
+which Johnson was degraded." The Doctor himself, like his namesake,
+Old Ben, composed the Rules of his Club. Boswell was, at this time, in
+Scotland, and during all the winter. Johnson, however, declared that
+he should be a member, and invented a word upon the occasion:
+"Boswell," said he, "is a very _clubbable_ man;" and he was
+subsequently chosen of the Club.
+
+Johnson headed the Rules with these lines:--
+
+     "To-day deep thoughts with me resolve to drench
+     In mirth, which after no repenting draws."--_Milton._
+
+Johnson's attention to the Club was unceasing, as appears by a letter
+to Alderman Clark, (afterwards Lord Mayor and Chamberlain,) who was
+elected into the Club: the postscript is: "You ought to be informed
+that the forfeits began with the year, and that every night of
+non-attendance incurs the mulct of three pence; that is, ninepence a
+week." Johnson himself was so anxious in his attendance, that going to
+meet the Club when he was not strong enough, he was seized with a
+spasmodic asthma, so violent, that he could scarcely return home, and
+he was confined to his house eight or nine weeks. He recovered by May
+15, when he was in fine spirits at the Club.
+
+Boswell writes of the Essex: "I believe there are few Societies where
+there is better conversation, or more decorum. Several of us resolved
+to continue it after our great founder was removed by death. Other
+members were added; and now, above eight years since that loss, we go
+on happily."
+
+
+
+
+THE LITERARY CLUB.
+
+
+Out of the casual, but frequent meetings of men of talent at the
+hospitable board of Sir Joshua Reynolds, in Leicester-square, rose
+that association of wits, authors, scholars, and statesmen, renowned
+as the Literary Club. Reynolds was the first to propose a regular
+association of the kind, and was eagerly seconded by Johnson, who
+suggested as a model the Club which he had formed some fourteen years
+previously, in Ivy-lane;[18] and which the deaths or dispersion of its
+members had now interrupted for nearly seven years. On this suggestion
+being adopted, the members, as in the earlier Club, were limited to
+nine, and Mr. Hawkins, as an original member of the Ivy-lane Club, was
+invited to join. Topham Beauclerk and Bennet Langton were asked and
+welcomed earnestly; and, of course, Mr. Edmund Burke. The notion of
+the Club delighted Burke; and he asked admission for his
+father-in-law, Dr. Nugent, an accomplished Roman Catholic physician,
+who lived with him. Beauclerk, in like manner, suggested his friend
+Chamier, then Under-Secretary-at-War. Oliver Goldsmith completed the
+number. But another member of the original Ivy-lane, Samuel Dyer,
+making unexpected appearance from abroad, in the following year, was
+joyfully admitted; and though it was resolved to make election
+difficult, and only for special reasons permit addition to their
+number, the limitation at first proposed was thus, of course, done
+away with. Twenty was the highest number reached in the course of ten
+years.
+
+The dates of the Club are thus summarily given by Mr. Hatchett, the
+treasurer:--It was founded in 1764, by Sir Joshua Reynolds and Dr.
+Samuel Johnson, and for some years met on Monday evenings, at seven.
+In 1772, the day of meeting was changed to Friday, and about that
+time, instead of supping, they agreed to dine together once in every
+fortnight during the sitting of Parliament. In 1773, the Club, which,
+soon after its foundation, consisted of twelve members, was enlarged
+to twenty; March 11, 1777, to twenty-six; November 27, 1778, to
+thirty; May 9, 1780, to thirty-five; and it was then resolved that it
+should never exceed forty. It met originally at the Turk's Head, in
+Gerard-street, and continued to meet there till 1783, when their
+landlord died, and the house was soon afterwards shut up. They then
+removed to Prince's, in Sackville-street; and on his house being, soon
+afterwards, shut up, they removed to Baxter's, which afterwards became
+Thomas's, in Dover-street. In January, 1792, they removed to
+Parsloe's, in St. James's-street; and on February 26, 1799, to the
+Thatched House, in the same street.
+
+"So originated and was formed," says Mr. Forster, "that famous Club,
+which had made itself a name in literary history long before it
+received, at Garrick's funeral, the name of the Literary Club, by
+which it is now known. Its meetings were noised abroad; the fame of
+its conversations received eager addition, from the difficulty of
+obtaining admission to it; and it came to be as generally understood
+that Literature had fixed her social head-quarters here, as that
+Politics reigned supreme at Wildman's, or the Cocoa-tree. With
+advantage, let me add, to the dignity and worldly consideration of men
+of letters themselves. 'I believe Mr. Fox will allow me to say,'
+remarked the Bishop of St. Asaph, when the Society was not more than
+fifteen years old, 'that the honour of being elected into the Turk's
+Head Club, is not inferior to that of being the representative of
+Westminster or Surrey.' The Bishop had just been elected; but into
+such lusty independence had the Club sprung up thus early, that
+Bishops, even Lord Chancellors, were known to have knocked for
+admission unsuccessfully; and on the night of St. Asaph's election,
+Lord Camden and the Bishop of Chester were black-balled."
+
+Of this Club, Hawkins was a most unpopular member: even his old
+friend, Johnson, admitted him to be out of place here. He had objected
+to Goldsmith, at the Club, "as a mere literary drudge, equal to the
+task of compiling and translating, but little capable of original, and
+still less of poetical composition." Hawkins's "existence was a kind
+of pompous, parsimonious, insignificant drawl, cleverly ridiculed by
+one of the wits in an absurd epitaph: 'Here lies Sir John Hawkins,
+without his shoes and stauckins.'" He was as mean as he was pompous
+and conceited. He forbore to partake of the suppers at the Club, and
+begged therefore to be excused from paying his share of the reckoning.
+"And was he excused?" asked Dr. Burney, of Johnson. "Oh yes, for no
+man is angry at another for being inferior to himself. We all scorned
+him, and admitted his plea. Yet I really believe him to be an honest
+man at bottom, though, to be sure, he is penurious and he is mean, and
+it must be owned that he has a tendency to savageness." He did not
+remain above two or three years in the Club, being in a manner elbowed
+out in consequence of his rudeness to Burke. Still, Burke's vehemence
+of will and sharp impetuosity of temper constantly exposed him to
+prejudice and dislike; and he may have painfully impressed others, as
+well as Hawkins, at the Club, with a sense of his predominance. This
+was the only theatre open to him. "Here only," says Mr. Forster,
+"could he as yet pour forth, to an audience worth exciting, the stores
+of argument and eloquence he was thirsting to employ upon a wider
+stage; the variety of knowledge, the fund of astonishing imagery, the
+ease of philosophic illustration, the overpowering copiousness of
+words, in which he has never had a rival." Miss Hawkins was convinced
+that her father was disgusted with the overpowering deportment of Mr.
+Burke, and his monopoly of the conversation, which made all the other
+members, excepting his antagonist, Johnson, merely listeners.
+Something of the same sort is said by that antagonist, though in a
+more generous way. "What I most envy Burke for," said Johnson, "is,
+that he is never what we call humdrum; never unwilling to begin to
+talk, nor in haste to leave off. Take up whatever topic you please, he
+is ready to meet you. I cannot say he is good at listening. So
+desirous is he to talk, that if one is speaking at this end of the
+table, he'll speak to somebody at the other end."
+
+The Club was an opportunity for both Johnson and Burke; and for the
+most part their wit-combats seem not only to have instructed the rest,
+but to have improved the temper of the combatants, and to have made
+them more generous to each other. "How very great Johnson has been
+to-night!" said Burke to Bennet Langton, as they left the Club
+together. Langton assented, but could have wished to hear more from
+another person. "Oh no!" replied Burke, "it is enough for me to have
+rung the bell to him."
+
+One evening he observed that a hogshead of claret, which had been sent
+as a present to the Club, was almost out; and proposed that Johnson
+should write for another, in such ambiguity of expression as might
+have a chance of procuring it also as a gift. One of the company said,
+"Dr. Johnson shall be our dictator."--"Were I," said Johnson, "your
+dictator, you should have no wine: it would be my business cavere ne
+quid detrimenti respublica caperet:--wine is dangerous; Rome was
+ruined by luxury." Burke replied: "If you allow no wine as dictator,
+you shall not have me for master of the horse."
+
+Goldsmith, it must be owned, joined the Club somewhat unwillingly,
+saying: "One must make some sacrifices to obtain good society; for
+here I am shut out of several places where I used to play the fool
+very agreeably." His simplicity of character and hurried expression
+often led him into absurdity, and he became in some degree the butt of
+the company. The Club, notwithstanding all its learned dignity in the
+eyes of the world, could occasionally unbend and play the fool as well
+as less important bodies. Some of its jocose conversations have at
+times leaked out; and the Society in which Goldsmith could venture to
+sing his song of "An Old Woman tossed in a Blanket" could not be so
+very staid in its gravity. Bennet Langton and Topham Beauclerk were,
+doubtless, induced to join the Club through their devotion to Johnson,
+and the intimacy of these two very young and aristocratic young men
+with the stern and somewhat melancholy moralist. Bennet Langton was of
+an ancient family, who held their ancestral estate of Langton in
+Lincolnshire, a great title to respect with Johnson. "Langton, Sir,"
+he would say, "has a grant of free warren from Henry the Second; and
+Cardinal Stephen Langton, in King John's reign, was of this family."
+
+Langton was of a mild, contemplative, enthusiastic nature. When but
+eighteen years of age, he was so delighted with reading Johnson's
+_Rambler_, that he came to London chiefly with a view to obtain an
+introduction to the author.
+
+Langton went to pursue his studies at Trinity College, Oxford, where
+Johnson saw much of him during a visit which he paid to the
+University. He found him in close intimacy with Topham Beauclerk, a
+youth two years older than himself, very gay and dissipated, and
+wondered what sympathies could draw two young men together of such
+opposite characters. On becoming acquainted with Beauclerk, he found
+that, rake though he was, he possessed an ardent love of literature,
+an acute understanding, polished wit, innate gentility, and high
+aristocratic breeding. He was, moreover, the only son of Lord Sidney
+Beauclerk, and grandson of the Duke of St. Albans, and was thought in
+some particulars to have a resemblance to Charles the Second. These
+were high recommendations with Johnson; and when the youth testified a
+profound respect for him, and an ardent admiration of his talents, the
+conquest was complete; so that in a "short time," says Boswell, "the
+moral, pious Johnson and the gay dissipated Beauclerk were
+companions."
+
+When these two young men entered the Club, Langton was about
+twenty-two, and Beauclerk about twenty-four years of age, and both
+were launched on London life. Langton, however, was still the mild,
+enthusiastic scholar, steeped to the lips in Greek, with fine
+conversational powers, and an invaluable talent for listening. He was
+upwards of six feet high, and very spare. "Oh that we could sketch
+him!" exclaims Miss Hawkins, in her Memoirs, "with his mild
+countenance, his elegant features, and his sweet smile, sitting with
+one leg twisted round the other, as if fearing to occupy more space
+than was equitable; his person inclining forward, as if wanting
+strength to support his weight; and his arms crossed over his bosom,
+or his hands locked together on his knee." Beauclerk, on such
+occasions, sportively compared him to a stork in Raphael's cartoons,
+standing on one leg. Beauclerk was more a "man upon town," a lounger
+in St. James's-street, an associate with George Selwyn, with Walpole,
+and other aristocratic wits, a man of fashion at court, a casual
+frequenter of the gaming-table; yet, with all this, he alternated in
+the easiest and happiest manner the scholar and the man of letters;
+lounged into the Club with the most perfect self-possession, bringing
+with him the careless grace and polished wit of high-bred society, but
+making himself cordially at home among his learned fellow-members.
+
+Johnson was exceedingly chary at first of the exclusiveness of the
+Club, and opposed to its being augmented in number. Not long after its
+institution, Sir Joshua Reynolds was speaking of it to Garrick. "I
+like it much," said little David, briskly, "I think I shall be of
+you." "When Sir Joshua mentioned this to Dr. Johnson," says Boswell,
+"he was much displeased with the actor's conceit. '_He'll be of us!_'
+growled he; 'how does he know we will _permit_ him? The first duke in
+England has no right to hold such language."
+
+When Sir John Hawkins spoke favourably of Garrick's pretensions,
+"Sir," replied Johnson, "he will disturb us by his buffoonery." In the
+same spirit he declared to Mr. Thrale, that if Garrick should apply
+for admission, he would black-ball him. "Who, Sir?" exclaimed Thrale,
+with surprise: "Mr. Garrick--your friend, your companion--black-ball
+him?" "Why, Sir," replied Johnson, "I love my little David
+dearly--better than all or any of his flatterers do; but surely one
+ought to sit in a society like ours,
+
+     "Unelbowed by a gamester, pimp, or player."
+
+The exclusion from the Club was a sore mortification to Garrick,
+though he bore it without complaining. He could not help continually
+asking questions about it--what was going on there?--whether he was
+ever the subject of conversation? By degrees the rigour of the Club
+relaxed; some of the members grew negligent. Beauclerk lost his right
+of membership by neglecting to attend. On his marriage, however, with
+Lady Diana Spencer, daughter of the Duke of Marlborough, and recently
+divorced from Viscount Bolingbroke, he had claimed and regained his
+seat in the Club. The number of the members had likewise been
+augmented. The proposition to increase it originated with Goldsmith.
+"It would give," he thought, "an agreeable variety to their meetings;
+for there can be nothing new amongst us," said he; "we have travelled
+over each other's minds." Johnson was piqued at the suggestion. "Sir,"
+said he, "you have not travelled over my mind, I promise you." Sir
+Joshua, less confident in the exhaustless fecundity of his mind, felt
+and acknowledged the force of Goldsmith's suggestion. Several new
+members, therefore, had been added; the first, to his great joy, was
+David Garrick. Goldsmith, who was now on cordial terms with him, had
+zealously promoted his election, and Johnson had given it his warm
+approbation. Another new member was Beauclerk's friend, Lord
+Charlemont; and a still more important one was Mr., afterwards Sir
+William Jones, the linguist. George Colman, the elder, was a lively
+Club-man. One evening at the Club he met Boswell; they talked of
+Johnson's _Journey to the Western Islands_, and of his coming away
+"willing to believe the second sight," which seemed to excite some
+ridicule. "I was then," says Boswell, "so impressed with the truth of
+many of the stories which I had been told, that I avowed my
+conviction, saying, "He is only _willing_ to believe--I _do_ believe;
+the evidence is enough for me, though not for his great mind. What
+will not fill a quart bottle will fill a pint bottle; I am filled with
+belief."--"Are you?" said Colman; "then cork it up.""
+
+Five years after the death of Garrick, Dr. Johnson dined with the Club
+_for the last time_. This is one of the most melancholy entries by
+Boswell. "On Tuesday, June 22 (1784), I dined with him (Johnson) at
+the Literary Club, the last time of his being in that respectable
+society. The other members present were the Bishop of St. Asaph, Lord
+Eliot, Lord Palmerston (father of the Premier), Dr. Fordyce, and Mr.
+Malone. He looked ill; but he had such a manly fortitude, that he did
+not trouble the company with melancholy complaints. They all showed
+evident marks of kind concern about him, with which he was much
+pleased, and he exerted himself to be as entertaining as his
+indisposition allowed him."
+
+From the time of Garrick's death the Club was known as "The Literary
+Club," since which it has certainly lost its claim to this epithet. It
+was originally a club of authors _by profession_; it now numbers very
+few except titled members (the majority having some claims to literary
+distinction), which was very far from the intention of its founders.
+To this the author of the paper in the _National Review_ demurs.
+Writing in 1857, he says: "Perhaps it now numbers on its list more
+titled members and fewer authors by profession, than its founders
+would have considered desirable. This opinion, however, is quite open
+to challenge. Such men as the Marquis of Lansdowne, the late Lord
+Ellesmere, Lords Brougham, Carlisle, Aberdeen, and Glenelg, hold their
+place in 'the Literary Club' quite as much by virtue of their
+contributions to literature, or their enlightened support of it, as by
+their right of rank." [How many of these noble members have since paid
+the debt of nature!]
+
+"At all events," says Mr. Taylor, "the Club still acknowledges
+literature as its foundation, and love of literature as the tie which
+binds together its members, whatever their rank and callings. Few
+Clubs can show such a distinguished brotherhood of members as 'the
+Literary.' Of authors proper, from 1764 to this date (1857), may be
+enumerated, besides its original members, Johnson and Goldsmith, Dyer
+and Percy, Gibbon and Sir William Jones, Colman, the two Wartons,
+Farmer, Steevens, Burney, and Malone, Frere and George Ellis, Hallam,
+Milman, Mountstuart Elphinstone, and Lord Stanhope.
+
+"Among men equally conspicuous in letters and the Senate, what names
+outshine those of Burke and Sheridan, Canning, Brougham, and Macaulay?
+Of statesmen and orators proper, the Club claims Fox, Windham, Thomas
+Grenville, Lord Liverpool; Lords Lansdowne, Aberdeen, and Clarendon.
+Natural science is represented by Sir Joseph Banks, in the last
+century; by Professor Owen in this. Social science can have no nobler
+representative than Adam Smith; albeit, Boswell did think the Club had
+lost caste by electing him. Mr. N. W. Senior is the political
+economist of the present Club. Whewell must stand alone as the
+embodiment of omniscience, which before him was unrepresented.
+Scholars and soldiers may be equally proud of Rennel, Leake, and Mure.
+Besides the clergymen already enumerated as authors, the Church has
+contributed a creditable list of bishops and inferior dignitaries:
+Shipley of St. Asaph, Barnard of Killaloe, Marley of Pomfret,
+Hinchcliffe of Peterborough, Douglas of Salisbury, Blomfield of
+London, Wilberforce of Oxford, Dean Vincent of Westminster, Archdeacon
+Burney; and Dr. Hawtrey, late master and present provost of Eton.
+
+"Sir Joshua Reynolds and Sir Charles Eastlake are its two chief
+pillars of art, slightly unequal. With them we may associate Sir
+William Chambers and Charles Wilkins. The presence of Drs. Nugent,
+Blagden, Fordyce, Warren, Vaughan, and Sir Henry Halford, is a proof
+that in the Club medicine has from the first kept up its kinship with
+literature.
+
+"The profession of the law has given the Society Lord Ashburton, Lord
+Stowell, and Sir William Grant, Charles Austin, and Pemberton Leigh.
+Lord Overstone may stand as the symbol of money; unless Sir George
+Cornewall Lewis is to be admitted to that honour by virtue of his
+Chancellorship of the Exchequer. Sir George would, probably, prefer
+his claims to Club membership as a scholar and political writer, to
+any that can be picked out of a Budget.
+
+"Take it all in all, the Literary Club has never degenerated from the
+high standard of intellectual gifts and personal qualities, which made
+those unpretending suppers at the Turk's Head an honour eagerly
+contended for by the wisest, wittiest, and noblest of the eighteenth
+century."
+
+Malone, in 1810, gave the total number of those who had been members
+of the Club from its foundation, at seventy-six, of whom fifty-five
+had been authors. Since 1810, however, literature has far less
+preponderance.
+
+The designation of the Society has been again changed to "the Johnson
+Club." Upon the taking down of the Thatched House Tavern, the Club
+removed to the Clarendon Hotel, in Bond-street, where was celebrated
+its centenary, in September, 1864. There were present, upon this
+memorable occasion,--in the chair, the Dean of St. Paul's; his
+Excellency M. Van de Weyer, Earls Clarendon and Stanhope; the Bishops
+of London and Oxford; Lords Brougham, Stanley, Cranworth, Kingsdown,
+and Harry Vane; the Right Hon. Sir Edmund Head, Spencer Walpole, and
+Robert Lowe; Sir Henry Holland, Sir C. Eastlake, Sir Roderick
+Murchison, Vice-Chancellor Sir W. Page Wood, the Master of Trinity,
+Professor Owen, Mr. G. Grote, Mr. C. Austen, Mr. H. Reeve, and Mr. G.
+Richmond. Among the few members prevented from attending were the Duke
+of Argyll (in Scotland), the Earl of Carlisle (in Ireland), Earl
+Russell, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Overstone (at Oxford),
+Lord Glenelg (abroad), and Mr. W. Stirling (from indisposition). Mr.
+N. W. Senior, who was the political economist of the Club, died in
+June, preceding, in his sixty-fourth year.
+
+Hallam and Macaulay were among the constant attendants at its dinners,
+which take place twice a month during the Parliamentary season. The
+custody of the books and archives of the Club rests with the
+secretary, Dr. Milman, the venerable Dean of St. Paul's, who takes
+great pride and pleasure in showing to literary friends the valuable
+collection of autographs which these books contain. Among the
+memorials is the portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds, with spectacles on,
+similar to the picture in the Royal Collection: this portrait was
+painted and presented by Sir Joshua, as the founder of the Club.
+
+Lord Macaulay has grouped, with his accustomed felicity of language,
+this celebrated congress of men of letters.
+
+"To discuss questions of taste, of learning, of casuistry, in language
+so exact and so forcible that it might have been printed without the
+alteration of a word," was to Johnson no exertion, but a pleasure. He
+loved, as he said, to fold his legs and have his talk out. He was
+ready to bestow the overflowings of his full mind on anybody who would
+start a subject, on a fellow-passenger in a stage-coach, or on the
+person who sat at the same table with him in an eating-house. But his
+conversation was nowhere so brilliant and striking as when he was
+surrounded by a few friends, whose abilities and knowledge enabled
+them, as he once expressed it, to send him back every ball that he
+threw. Some of these, in 1764, formed themselves into a Club, which
+gradually became a formidable power in the commonwealth of letters.
+The verdicts pronounced by this conclave on new books were speedily
+known over all London, and were sufficient to sell off a whole edition
+in a day, or to condemn the sheets to the service of the trunk-maker
+and the pastrycook. Nor shall we think this strange when we consider
+what great and various talents and acquirements met in the little
+fraternity. Goldsmith was the representative of poetry and light
+literature, Reynolds of the Arts, Burke of political eloquence and
+political philosophy. There, too, were Gibbon, the greatest historian,
+and Jones, the greatest linguist of the age. Garrick brought to the
+meetings his inexhaustible pleasantry, his incomparable mimicry, and
+his consummate knowledge of stage effect. Among the most constant
+attendants were two high-born and high-bred gentlemen, closely bound
+together by friendship, but of widely different characters and
+habits,--Bennet Langton, distinguished by his skill in Greek
+literature, by the orthodoxy of his opinions, and by the sanctity of
+his life; and Topham Beauclerk, renowned for his amours, his knowledge
+of the gay world, his fastidious taste, and his sarcastic wit. To
+predominate over such a society was not easy. Yet even over such a
+society Johnson predominated. Burke might indeed have disputed the
+supremacy to which others were under the necessity of submitting. But
+Burke, though not generally a very patient listener, was content to
+take the second part when Johnson was present; and the Club itself,
+consisting of so many eminent men, is to this day popularly designated
+as "Johnson's Club."
+
+To the same master-hand we owe this cabinet picture. "The [Literary
+Club] room is before us, and the table on which stand the omelet for
+Nugent, and the lemons for Johnson. There are assembled those heads
+which live for ever on the canvas of Reynolds. There are the
+spectacles of Burke, and the tall thin form of Langton; the courtly
+sneer of Beauclerk, the beaming smile of Garrick, Gibbon tapping his
+snuff-box, and Sir Joshua with his trumpet in his ear. In the
+foreground is that strange figure which is as familiar to us as the
+figures of those among whom we have been brought up--the gigantic
+body, the huge massy face, seamed with the scars of disease; the brown
+coat, the black worsted stockings, the grey wig with the scorched
+foretop; the dirty hands, the nails bitten and pared to the quick. We
+see the eyes and the nose moving with convulsive twitches; we see the
+heavy form rolling; we hear it puffing; and then comes the 'Why, Sir?'
+and the 'What then, Sir?' and the 'No, Sir!' and the 'You don't see
+your way through the question, Sir!'"
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[18] The house in Ivy-lane, which bore the name of Johnson, and where
+the Literary Club is said to have been held, was burnt down a few
+years since: it had long been a chop-house.
+
+
+
+
+GOLDSMITH'S CLUBS.
+
+
+However Goldsmith might court the learned circle of the Literary Club,
+he was ill at ease there; and he had social resorts in which he
+indemnified himself for this restraint by indulging his humour without
+control. One of these was a Shilling Whist Club, which met at the
+Devil Tavern. The company delighted in practical jokes, of which
+Goldsmith was often the butt. One night, he came to the Club in a
+hackney-coach, when he gave the driver a guinea instead of a shilling.
+He set this down as a dead loss; but, on the next club-night, he was
+told that a person at the street-door wanted to speak to him; he went
+out, and to his surprise and delight, the coachman had brought him
+back the guinea! To reward such honesty, he collected a small sum from
+the Club, and largely increased it from his own purse, and with this
+reward sent away the coachman. He was still loud in his praise, when
+one of the Club asked to see the returned guinea. To Goldsmith's
+confusion it proved to be a counterfeit: the laughter which succeeded,
+showed him that the whole was a hoax, and the pretended coachman as
+much a counterfeit as the guinea. He was so disconcerted that he soon
+beat a retreat for the evening.
+
+Another of these small Clubs met on Wednesday evenings, at the Globe
+Tavern, in Fleet-street; where songs, jokes, dramatic imitations,
+burlesque parodies, and broad sallies of humour, were the
+entertainments. Here a huge ton of a man, named Gordon, used to
+delight Goldsmith with singing the jovial song of "Nottingham Ale,"
+and looking like a butt of it. Here too, a wealthy pig-butcher
+aspired to be on the most sociable terms with Oliver; and here was Tom
+King, the comedian, recently risen to eminence by his performance of
+Lord Ogleby, in the new comedy of _The Clandestine Marriage_. A member
+of note was also one Hugh Kelly, who was a kind of competitor of
+Goldsmith, but a low one; for Johnson used to speak of him as a man
+who had written more than he had read. Another noted frequenter of the
+Globe and Devil taverns was one Glover, who, having failed in the
+medical profession, took to the stage; but having succeeded in
+restoring to life a malefactor who had just been executed, he
+abandoned the stage, and resumed his wig and cane; and came to London
+to dabble in physic and literature. He used to amuse the company at
+the Club by his story-telling and mimicry, giving capital imitations
+of Garrick, Foote, Colman, Sterne, and others. It was through
+Goldsmith that Glover was admitted to the Wednesday Club; he was,
+however, greatly shocked by the free-and-easy tone in which Goldsmith
+was addressed by the pig-butcher; "Come, Noll," he would say as he
+pledged him, "here's my service to you, old boy."
+
+The evening's amusement at the Wednesday Club was not, however,
+limited; it had the variety of epigram, and here was first heard the
+celebrated epitaph, (Goldsmith had been reading Pope and Swift's
+Miscellanies,) on Edward Purdon:--
+
+     "Here lies poor Ned Purdon, from misery freed,
+         Who long was a bookseller's hack;
+     He had led such a damnable life in this world,
+         I don't think he'll wish to come back."
+
+It was in April of the present year that Purdon closed his luckless
+life by suddenly dropping down dead in Smithfield; and as it was
+chiefly Goldsmith's pittance that had saved him thus long from
+starvation, it was well that the same friend should give him his
+solitary chance of escape from oblivion. "Doctor Goldsmith made this
+epitaph," says William Ballantyne, "in his way from his chambers in
+the Temple to the Wednesday evening Club at the Globe. _I think he
+will never come back_, I believe he said; I was sitting by him, and he
+repeated it more than once. _I think he will never come back!_ Ah! and
+not altogether as a jest, it may be, the second and the third time.
+There was something in Purdon's fate, from their first meeting in
+college to that incident in Smithfield, which had no very violent
+contrast to his own; and remembering what Glover had said of his
+frequent sudden descents from mirth to melancholy, some such faithful
+change of temper would here have been natural enough. 'His
+disappointments at these times,' Glover tells us, 'made him peevish
+and sullen, and he has often left his party of convivial friends
+abruptly in the evening, in order to go home and brood over his
+misfortunes.' But a better medicine for his grief than brooding over
+it, was a sudden start into the country to forget it; and it was
+probably with a feeling of this kind he had in the summer revisited
+Islington; he laboured during the autumn in a room of Canonbury Tower;
+and often, in the evening, presided at the Crown tavern, in Islington
+Lower Road, where Goldsmith and his fellow-lodgers had formed a kind
+of temporary club. At the close of the year he returned to the Temple,
+and was again pretty constant in his attendance at Gerard-street."[19]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[19] See Forster's _Life of Goldsmith_, pp. 422-424.
+
+
+
+
+THE DILETTANTI SOCIETY.
+
+
+The origin of this Society, which has now existed some 130 years, is
+due to certain gentlemen, who had travelled much in Italy, and were
+desirous of encouraging at home a taste for those objects which had
+contributed so much to their intellectual gratification abroad.
+Accordingly, in the year 1734, they formed themselves into a Society,
+under the name of Dilettanti, (literally, lovers of the Fine Arts,)
+and agreed upon certain Regulations to keep up the spirit of their
+scheme, which combined friendly and social intercourse with a serious
+and ardent desire to promote the Arts. In 1751, Mr. James Stuart,
+"Athenian Stuart," and Mr. Nicholas Revett, were elected members. The
+Society liberally assisted them in their excellent work, _The
+Antiquities of Athens_. In fact it was, in great measure, owing to
+this Society that after the death of the above two eminent architects,
+the work was not entirely relinquished; and a large number of the
+plates were engraved from drawings in the possession of the
+Dilettanti. Walpole, speaking in 1743, of the Society, in connexion
+with an opera subscription, says, "The nominal qualification [to be a
+member] is having been in Italy, and the real one, being drunk; the
+two chiefs are Lord Middlesex and Sir Francis Dashwood, who were
+seldom sober the whole time they were in Italy." We need scarcely add,
+that the qualifications for election are no longer what Walpole
+described them to have been.
+
+In 1764, the Society being possessed of a considerable sum above what
+their services required, various schemes were proposed for applying
+part of this money; and it was at length resolved "that a person or
+persons properly qualified, should be sent, with sufficient
+appointments, to certain parts of the East, to collect information
+relative to the former state of those countries, and particularly to
+procure exact descriptions of the ruins of such monuments of antiquity
+as are yet to be seen in those parts."
+
+Three persons were elected for this undertaking, Mr. Chandler, of
+Magdalen College, Oxford, editor of the _Marmora Oxoniensia_, was
+appointed to execute the classical part of the plan. Architecture was
+assigned to Mr. Revett; and the choice of a proper person for taking
+views and copying the bas-reliefs, fell upon Mr. Pars, a young painter
+of promise. Each person was strictly enjoined to keep a regular
+journal, and hold a constant correspondence with the Society.
+
+The party embarked on June 9, 1764, in the _Anglicana_, bound for
+Constantinople, and were just at the Dardanelles on the 25th of
+August. Having visited the Sigæan Promontory, the ruins of Troas, with
+the islands of Tenedos and Scio, they arrived at the Smyrna on the
+11th of September. From that city, as their head-quarters, they made
+several excursions. On the 20th of August, 1765, they sailed from
+Smyrna, and arrived at Athens on the 30th of the same month, having
+touched at Sunium and Ægina on their way. They staid at Athens till
+June 11, 1766, visiting Marathon, Eleusis, Salamis, Megara, and other
+places in the neighbourhood. Leaving Athens, they proceeded by the
+little island of Calauria to Trezene, Epidaurus, Argos, and Corinth.
+From this they visited Delphi, Patræ, Elis, and Zante, whence they
+sailed on the 31st of August, and arrived in England on the 2nd of
+November following, bringing with them an immense number of drawings,
+etc., the result of which was the publication, at the expense of the
+Society, of two magnificent volumes of _Ionian Antiquities_. The
+results of the expedition were also the two popular works, Chandler's
+Travels in Asia Minor, 1775; and his _Travels in Greece_, in the
+following year; also, the volume of Greek Inscriptions, 1774,
+containing the Sigæan inscription, the marble of which has been since
+brought to England by Lord Elgin; and the celebrated documents
+containing the reconstruction of the Temple of Minerva Polias, which
+Professor Wilkins illustrated in his _Prolusiones Architectonicæ_,
+1837.
+
+Walpole, in 1791, has this odd passage upon the _Ionian Antiquities_:
+"They who are industrious and correct, and wish to forget nothing,
+should go to Greece, where there is nothing left to be seen, but that
+ugly pigeon-house, the Temple of the Winds, that fly-cage,
+Demosthenes's Lantern, and one or two fragments of a portico, or a
+piece of a column crushed into a mud wall; and with such a morsel, and
+many quotations, a true classic antiquary can compose a whole folio,
+and call it _Ionian Antiquities_."
+
+But, it may be asked, how came the Society to associate so freely
+pleasure with graver pursuits? To this it may be replied, that when
+the Dilettanti first met they avowed friendly and social intercourse
+the first object they had in view, although they soon showed that they
+would combine with it a serious plan for the promotion of the Arts in
+this country. For these persons were not scholars, nor even men of
+letters; they were some of the wealthiest noblemen and most
+fashionable men of the day, who would naturally sup with the Regent as
+he went through Paris, and find themselves quite at home in the
+Carnival of Venice. These, too, were times of what would now be
+considered very licentious merriment and very unscrupulous fun,--times
+when men of independent means and high rank addicted themselves to
+pleasure, and gave vent to their full animal spirits with a frankness
+that would now be deemed not only vulgar but indecorous, while they
+evinced an earnestness about objects now thought frivolous which it is
+very easy to represent as absurd. In assuming, however, the name of
+"Dilettanti" they evidently attached to it no light and superficial
+notion. The use of that word as one of disparagement or ridicule is
+quite recent. The same may be said of "Virtù," which, in the artistic
+sense, does not seem to be strictly academical, but that of "Virtuoso"
+is so, undoubtedly, and it means the "capable" man,--the man who has a
+right to judge on matters requiring a particular faculty: Dryden says:
+"Virtuoso the Italians call a man 'who loves the noble arts, and is a
+critic in them,' or, as old Glanville says,' 'who dwells in a higher
+region than other mortals.'
+
+"Thus, when the Dilettanti mention 'the cause of virtue' as a high
+object which they will never abandon, they express their belief that
+the union into which they had entered had a more important purpose
+than any personal satisfaction could give it, and that they did engage
+themselves thereby in some degree to promote the advantage of their
+country and of mankind.
+
+"Of all the merry meetings these gay gentlemen had together, small
+records remain. We, looking back out of a graver time, can only judge
+from the uninterrupted course of their festive gatherings, from the
+names of the statesmen, the wits, the scholars, the artists, the
+amateurs, that fill the catalogue, from the strange mixture of
+dignities and accessions to wealth for which, by the rules of the
+Society, fines were paid,--and above all, by the pictures which they
+possess,--how much of the pleasantry and the hearty enjoyment must
+have been mixed up with the more solid pursuits of the Members. Cast
+your eye over the list of those who met together at the table of the
+Dilettanti any time between 1770 and 1790."[20] Here occur the names
+of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Earl Fitzwilliam, Charles James Fox, Hon.
+Stephen Fox (Lord Holland), Hon. Mr. Fitzpatrick, Charles Howard (Duke
+of Norfolk), Lord Robert Spencer, George Selwyn, Colonel Fitzgerald,
+Hon. H. Conway, Joseph Banks, Duke of Dorset, Sir William Hamilton,
+David Garrick, George Colman, Joseph Windham, R. Payne Knight, Sir
+George Beaumont, Towneley, and others of less posthumous fame, but
+probably of not less agreeable companionship.
+
+The funds must have largely benefited by the payment of fines, some of
+which were very strange. Those paid "on increase of income, by
+inheritance, legacy, marriage, or preferment," are very odd; as, five
+guineas by Lord Grosvenor, on his marriage with Miss Leveson Gower;
+eleven guineas by the Duke of Bedford, on being appointed First Lord
+of the Admiralty; ten guineas compounded for by Bubb Dodington, as
+Treasurer of the Navy; two guineas by the Duke of Kingston for a
+Colonelcy of Horse (then valued at 400_l._ per annum); twenty-one
+pounds by Lord Sandwich on going out as Ambassador to the Congress at
+Aix-la-Chapelle; and twopence three-farthings by the same nobleman, on
+becoming Recorder of Huntingdon; thirteen shillings and fourpence by
+the Duke of Bedford, on getting the Garter; and sixteen shillings and
+eightpence (Scotch) by the Duke of Buccleuch, on getting the Thistle;
+twenty-one pounds by the Earl of Holdernesse, as Secretary of State;
+and nine pounds, nineteen shillings and sixpence, by Charles James
+Fox, as a Lord of the Admiralty.
+
+In 1814, another expedition was undertaken by the Society, when Sir
+William Gell, with Messrs. Gandy and Bedford, professional architects,
+proceeded to the Levant. Smyrna was again appointed the head-quarters
+of the mission, and fifty pounds per month was assigned to Gell, and
+two hundred pounds per annum to each of the architects. An additional
+outlay was required; and by this means the classical and antique
+literature of England was enriched with the fullest and most accurate
+descriptions of important remains of ancient art hitherto given to the
+world.
+
+The contributions of the Society to the æsthetic studies of the time
+also deserve notice. The excellent design to publish _Select Specimens
+of Antient Sculpture preserved in the several Collections of Great
+Britain_ was carried into effect by Messrs. Payne Knight and Mr.
+Towneley, 2 vols. folio, 1809-1835. Then followed Mr. Penrose's
+_Investigations into the Principles of Athenian Architecture_, printed
+in 1851.
+
+About the year 1820, those admirable monuments of Grecian art, called
+the Bronzes of Siris, were discovered on the banks of that river, and
+were brought to this country by the Chevalier Brondsted. The
+Dilettanti Society immediately organized a subscription of 800_l._,
+and the Trustees of the British Museum completed the purchase by the
+additional sum of 200_l._
+
+It was mainly through the influence and patronage of the Dilettanti
+Society that the Royal Academy obtained a Charter. In 1774, the
+interest of 4000_l._ three per cents. was appropriated by the former
+for the purpose of sending two students, recommended by the Royal
+Academy, to study in Italy or Greece for three years.
+
+In 1835 appeared a Second Volume on Ancient Sculpture. The Society at
+this time included, among a list of sixty-four names of the noble and
+learned, those of Sir William Gell, Mr. Towneley, Richard Westmacott,
+Henry Hallam, the Duke of Bedford, Sir M. A. Shee, P.R.A., Henry T.
+Hope; and Lord Prudhoe, afterwards Duke of Northumberland.
+
+That a Society possessing so much wealth and social importance as the
+Dilettanti should not have built for themselves a mansion is
+surprising. In 1747 they obtained a plot of ground in Cavendish
+Square, for this purpose; but in 1760, they disposed of the property.
+Between 1761 and 1764 the project of an edifice in Piccadilly, on the
+model of the Temple of Pola, was agitated by the Committee; two sites
+were proposed, one between Devonshire and Bath Houses, the other on
+the west side of Cambridge House. This scheme was also abandoned.
+
+Meanwhile the Society were accustomed to meet at the Thatched House
+Tavern, the large room of which was hung with portraits of the
+Dilettanti. Sir Joshua Reynolds, who was a member, painted for the
+Society three capital pictures:--1. A group in the manner of Paul
+Veronese, containing the portraits of the Duke of Leeds, Lord Dundas,
+Constantine Lord Mulgrave, Lord Seaforth, the Hon. Charles Greville,
+Charles Crowle, Esq., and Sir Joseph Banks. 2. A group in the manner
+of the same master, containing portraits of Sir William Hamilton, Sir
+Watkin W. Wynne, Richard Thomson, Esq., Sir John Taylor, Payne Galway,
+Esq., John Smythe, Esq., and Spencer S. Stanhope, Esq. 3. Head of Sir
+Joshua, dressed in a loose robe, and in his own hair. The earlier
+portraits are by Hudson, Reynolds's master.
+
+Some of these portraits are in the costume familiar to us through
+Hogarth; others are in Turkish or Roman dresses. There is a mixture of
+the convivial in all these pictures: many are using wine-glasses of no
+small size: Lord Sandwich, for instance, in a Turkish costume, casts a
+most unorthodox glance upon a brimming goblet in his left hand, while
+his right holds a flask of great capacity. Sir Bouchier Wray is seated
+in the cabin of a ship, mixing punch, and eagerly embracing the bowl,
+of which a lurch of the sea would seem about to deprive him: the
+inscription is _Dulce est desipere in loco_. Here is a curious old
+portrait of the Earl of Holdernesse, in a red cap, as a gondolier,
+with the Rialto and Venice in the background; there is Charles
+Sackville, Duke of Dorset, as a Roman senator, dated 1738; Lord
+Galloway, in the dress of a cardinal; and a very singular likeness of
+one of the earliest of the Dilettanti, Lord Le Despencer, as a monk at
+his devotions: his Lordship is clasping a brimming goblet for his
+rosary, and his eyes are not very piously fixed on a statue of the
+Venus de' Medici. It must be conceded that some of these pictures
+remind one of the Medmenham orgies, with which some of the Dilettanti
+were not unfamiliar. The ceiling of the large room was painted to
+represent sky, and crossed by gold cords interlacing each other, and
+from their knots were hung three large glass chandeliers.
+
+The Thatched House has disappeared, but the pictures have been well
+cared for. The Dilettanti have removed to another tavern, and dine
+together on the first Sunday in every month, from February to July.
+The late Lord Aberdeen, the Marquises of Northampton and Lansdowne,
+and Colonel Leake, and Mr. Broderip, were members; as was also the
+late Lord Northwick, whose large collection of pictures at
+Thirlestane, Cheltenham, was dispersed by sale in 1859.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[20] Edinburgh Review, No. 214, p. 500.
+
+
+
+
+THE ROYAL NAVAL CLUB.
+
+
+About the year 1674, according to a document in the possession of Mr.
+Fitch of Norwich, a Naval Club was started "for the improvement of a
+mutuall Society, and an encrease of Love and Kindness amongst them;"
+and that consummate seaman, Admiral Sir John Kempthorne, was declared
+Steward of the institution. This was the precursor of the Royal Naval
+Club of 1765, which, whether considered for its amenities or its
+extensive charities, may be justly cited as a model establishment.
+(_Admiral Smyth's Rise and Progress of the Royal Society Club_, p. 9.)
+The members of this Club annually distribute a considerable sum among
+the distressed widows and orphans of those who have spent their days
+in the naval service of their country. The Club was accustomed to dine
+together at the Thatched House Tavern, on the anniversary of the
+Battle of the Nile.
+
+"Founded on the model of the old tavern or convivial Clubs, but
+confined exclusively to members of the Naval Service, the Royal Naval
+Club numbered among its members men from the days of Boscawen, Rodney,
+and 'the first of June' downwards. It was a favourite retreat for
+William IV. when Duke of Clarence; and his comrade, Sir Philip Durham,
+the survivor of Nelson, and almost the last of the 'old school,'
+frequented it. Sir Philip, however, was by no means one of the
+Trunnion class. Coarseness and profane language, on the contrary, he
+especially avoided; but in 'spinning a yarn' there has been none like
+him since the days of Smollett. The loss of the Royal George, from
+which he was one of the few, if, indeed, not only officer, who
+escaped, was a favourite theme; and the Admiral, not content with
+having made his escape, was wont to maintain that he swam ashore with
+his midshipman's dirk in his teeth. Yet Sir Philip would allow no one
+to trench on his manor. One day, when a celebrated naval captain, with
+the view of quizzing him, was relating the loss of a merchantman on
+the coast of South America, laden with Spitalfields products, and
+asserting that silk was so plentiful, and the cargo so scattered, that
+the porpoises were for some hours enmeshed in its folds: 'Ay, ay,'
+replied Sir Philip, 'I believe you; for I was once cruising on that
+coast myself, in search of a privateer, and having lost our
+fore-topsail one morning in a gale of wind, we next day found it tied
+round a whale's neck by way of a cravat.' Sir Philip was considered to
+have the best of it, and the novelist was mute."[21]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[21] London Clubs, 1853.
+
+
+
+
+THE WYNDHAM CLUB.
+
+
+This Club, which partakes of the character of Arthur's and Boodle's,
+was founded by Lord Nugent, its object being, as stated in Rule 1, "to
+secure a convenient and agreeable place of meeting for a society of
+gentlemen, all connected with each other by a common bond of literary
+or personal acquaintance."
+
+The Club, No. 11, St. James's-square, is named from the mansion having
+been the residence of William Wyndham, who has been described, and the
+description has been generally adopted as appropriate, as a model of
+the true English gentleman; and the fitness of the Club designation is
+equally characteristic. He was an accomplished scholar and
+mathematician. Dr. Johnson, writing of a visit which Wyndham paid him,
+says: "Such conversation I shall not have again till I come back to
+the regions of literature, and there Wyndham is 'inter stellas luna
+minores.'"
+
+In the mansion also lived the accomplished John, Duke of Roxburghe;
+and here the Roxburghe Library was sold in 1812, the sale extending to
+forty-one days. Lord Chief Justice Ellenborough lived here in 1814;
+and subsequently, the Earl of Blessington, who possessed a fine
+collection of pictures.
+
+
+
+
+THE TRAVELLERS' CLUB.
+
+
+This famous Club was originated shortly after the Peace of 1814, by
+the Marquis of Londonderry (then Lord Castlereagh), with a view to a
+resort for gentlemen who had resided or travelled abroad, as well as
+with a view to the accommodation of foreigners, who, when properly
+recommended, receive an invitation for the period of their stay. One
+of the Rules directs "That no person be considered eligible to the
+Travellers' Club who shall not have travelled out of the British
+Islands to a distance of at least 500 miles from London in a direct
+line." Another Rule directs "That no dice and no game of hazard be
+allowed in the rooms of the Club, nor any higher stake than guinea
+points, and that no cards be introduced before dinner."
+
+Prince Talleyrand, during his residence in London, generally joined
+the muster of whist-players at the Travellers'; probably, here was the
+scene of this felicitous rejoinder. The Prince was enjoying his
+rubber, when the conversation turned on the recent union of an elderly
+lady of respectable rank. "How ever could Madame de S---- make such a
+match?--a person of her birth to marry a _valet-de-chambre_!" "Ah,"
+replied Talleyrand, "it was late in the game: at nine we don't reckon
+honours."
+
+The present Travellers' Club-house, which adjoins the Athenæum in
+Pall-Mall, was designed by Barry, R.A., and built in 1832. It is one
+of the architect's most admired works. Yet, we have seen it thus
+treated, with more smartness than judgment, by a critic who is
+annoyed at its disadvantageous comparison with its more gigantic
+neighbours:--
+
+"The Travellers' is worse, and looks very like a sandwich at the
+Swindon station--a small stumpy piece of beef between two huge pieces
+of bread, _i.e._ the Athenæum and the Reform Clubs, which look as if
+they were urging their migratory neighbour to resume the
+peregrinations for which its members are remarkable. Yet people have
+their names down ten years at the Travellers' previous to their coming
+up for ballot. An election reasonably extended would supply funds for
+a more advantageous and extended position."
+
+The architecture is the nobler Italian, resembling a Roman palace: the
+plan is a quadrangle, with an open area in the middle, so that all the
+rooms are well lighted. The Pall-Mall front has a bold and rich
+cornice, and the windows are decorated with Corinthian pilasters: the
+garden front varies in the windows, but the Italian taste is preserved
+throughout, with the most careful finish: the roof is Italian tiles.
+To be more minute, the consent of all competent judges has assigned a
+very high rank to this building as a piece of architectural design;
+for if, in point of mere _quantity_, it fall greatly short of many
+contemporary structures, it surpasses nearly every one of them in
+_quality_, and in the artist-like treatment. In fact, it makes an
+epoch in our metropolitan architecture; for before, we had hardly a
+specimen of that nobler Italian style, which, instead of the flutter
+and flippery, and the littleness of manner, which pervade most of the
+productions of the Palladian school, is characterized by breath and
+that refined simplicity arising from unity of idea and execution, and
+from every part being consistently worked up, yet kept subservient to
+one predominating effect. Unfortunately, the south front, which is by
+far the more striking and graceful composition, is comparatively
+little seen, being that facing Carlton Gardens, and not to be
+approached so as to be studied as it deserves; but when examined, it
+certainly must be allowed to merit all the admiration it has obtained.
+Though perfect, quiet, and sober in effect, and unostentatious in
+character, this building of Barry's is remarkable for the careful
+finish bestowed on every part of it. It is this quality, together with
+the taste displayed in the design generally, that renders it an
+architectural bijou. Almost any one must be sensible of this, if he
+will but be at the pains to compare it with the United Service Club,
+eastward of which, as far as mere quantity goes, there is much more.
+
+Another critic remarks: "The Travellers' fairly makes an epoch in the
+architectural history of Club-houses, as being almost the first, if
+not the very first, attempt, to introduce into this country that
+species of rich _astylar_ composition which has obtained the name of
+the Italian palazzo mode, by way of contradistinction from
+Palladianism and its orders. This production of Barry's has given a
+fresh impulse to architectural design, and one in a more artistic
+direction; and the style adopted by the architect has been applied to
+various other buildings in the provinces as well as in the metropolis;
+and its influence has manifested itself in the taste of our recent
+street architecture."
+
+The Travellers' narrowly escaped destruction on October 24, 1850, when
+a fire did great damage to the billiard-rooms, which were, by the way,
+an afterthought, and addition to the original building, but by no
+means an improvement upon the first design, for they greatly impaired
+the beauty of the garden-front.
+
+
+
+
+THE UNITED SERVICE CLUB.
+
+
+One of the oldest of the modern Clubs, was instituted the year after
+the Peace of 1815, when a few officers of influence in both branches
+of the Service had built for them, by Sir R. Smirke, a Club-house at
+the corner of Charles-street and Regent-street,--a frigid design,
+somewhat relieved by sculpture on the entrance-front, of Britannia
+distributing laurels to her brave sons by land and sea. Thence the
+Club removed to a more spacious house, in Waterloo-place, facing the
+Athenæum; the Club-house in Charles-street being entered on by the
+Junior United Service Club; but Smirke's cold design has been
+displaced by an edifice of much more ornate exterior and luxurious
+internal appliances.
+
+The United Service Club (Senior) was designed by Nash, and has a
+well-planned interior, exhibiting the architect's well-known
+excellence in this branch of his profession. The principal front
+facing Pall Mall has a Roman-Doric portico; and above it a Corinthian
+portico, with pediment. One of the patriarchal members of the Club was
+Lord Lynedoch, the hero of the Peninsular War, who lived under five
+sovereigns: he died in his 93rd year, leaving behind him a name to be
+held in honoured remembrance, while loyalty is considered to be a real
+virtue, or military renown a passport to fame. It is a curious fact
+that the Duke of Wellington fought his last battle at an earlier
+period of life than that in which Lord Lynedoch "fleshed his maiden
+sword;" and though we were accustomed to regard the Duke himself as
+preserving his vigour to a surprisingly advanced age, Lord Lynedoch
+was at his death old enough to have been the father of his Grace. The
+United Service was the favourite Club of the Duke, who might often be
+seen dining here on a joint; and on one occasion, when he was charged
+1_s._ 3_d._ instead of 1_s._ for it, he bestirred himself till the
+threepence was struck off. The motive was obvious: he took the trouble
+of objecting, so that he might sanction the principle.
+
+Among the Club pictures is Jones's large painting of the Battle of
+Waterloo; and the portrait of the Duke of Wellington, painted for the
+Club by W. Robinson. Here also are Stanfield's fine picture of the
+Battle of Trafalgar; and a copy, by Lane, painted in 1851, of a
+contemporary portrait of Sir Francis Drake, our "Elizabethan
+Sea-King." The Club-house has of late years been considerably
+enlarged.
+
+
+
+
+THE ALFRED CLUB.
+
+
+In the comparatively quiet Albemarle-street was instituted, in 1808,
+the Alfred Club, which has, _ab initio_, been remarkable for the
+number of travellers and men of letters, who form a considerable
+proportion of its members. Science is handsomely housed at the Royal
+Institution, on the east side of the street; and literature nobly
+represented by the large publishing-house of Mr. Murray, on the west;
+both circumstances tributary to the _otium_ enjoyed in a Club. Yet,
+strangely enough, its position has been a frequent source of banter to
+the Alfred. First it was known by its cockney appellation of
+_Half-read_. Lord Byron was a member, and he tells us that "it was
+pleasant, a little too sober and literary, and bored with Sotheby and
+Francis D'Ivernois; but one met Rich, and Ward, and Valentia, and many
+other pleasant or known people; and it was, in the whole, a decent
+resource in a rainy day, in a dearth of parties, or Parliament, or in
+an empty season."
+
+Lord Dudley, writing to the Bishop of Llandaff, says: "I am glad you
+mean to come into the Alfred this time. We are the most abused, and
+most envied, and most canvassed, Society that I know of, and we
+deserve neither the one nor the other distinction. The Club is not so
+good a resource as many respectable persons would believe, nor are we
+by any means such quizzes or such bores as the wags pretend. A duller
+place than the Alfred there does not exist. I should not choose to be
+quoted for saying so, but the bores prevail there to the exclusion of
+every other interest. You hear nothing but idle reports and twaddling
+opinions. They read the _Morning Post_ and the _British Critic_. It is
+the asylum of doting Tories and drivelling quidnuncs. But they are
+civil and quiet. You belong to a much better Club already. The
+eagerness to get into it is prodigious."
+
+Then, we have the _Quarterly Review_, with confirmation strong of the
+two Lords:--"The Alfred received its _coup-de-grâce_ from a well-known
+story, (rather an indication than a cause of its decline,) to the
+effect that Mr. Canning, whilst in the zenith of his fame, dropped in
+accidentally at a house dinner of twelve or fourteen, stayed out the
+evening, and made himself remarkably agreeable, without any one of the
+party suspecting who he was."
+
+The dignified clergy, who, with the higher class of lawyers, have long
+ago emigrated to the Athenæum and University Clubs, formerly mustered
+in such great force at the Alfred, that Lord Alvanley, on being asked
+in the bow-window at White's, whether he was still a member, somewhat
+irreverently replied: "Not exactly: I stood it as long as I could, but
+when the seventeenth bishop was proposed I gave in. I really could not
+enter the place without being put in mind of my catechism."
+"Sober-minded people," says the _Quarterly Review_, "may be apt to
+think this formed the best possible reason for his lordship's
+remaining where he was. It is hardly necessary to say that the
+presence of the bishops and judges is universally regarded as an
+unerring test of the high character of a Club."
+
+
+
+
+THE ORIENTAL CLUB.
+
+
+Several years ago, the high dignitaries of the Church and Law kept the
+Alfred to themselves; but this would not do: then they admitted a
+large number of very respectable good young men, who were
+unexceptionable, but not very amusing. This, again, would not do. So,
+now the Alfred joined, 1855, the Oriental, in Hanover-square. And
+curiously enough, the latter Club has been quizzed equally with the
+Alfred. In the merry days of the _New Monthly Magazine_ of some thirty
+years since, we read:--"The Oriental--or, as the hackney-coachmen
+call it, the Horizontal Club--in Hanover-square, outdoes even Arthur's
+for quietude. Placed at the corner of a _cul-de-sac_--at least as far
+as carriages are concerned, and in a part of the Square to which
+nobody not proceeding to one of four houses which occupy that
+particular side ever thinks of going, its little windows, looking upon
+nothing, give the idea of mingled dulness and inconvenience. From the
+outside it looks like a prison;--enter it, it looks like an hospital,
+in which a smell of curry-powder pervades the 'wards,'--wards filled
+with venerable patients, dressed in nankeen shorts, yellow stockings,
+and gaiters, and faces to match. _There_ may still be seen pigtails in
+all their pristine perfection. It is the region of calico shirts,
+returned writers, and guinea-pigs grown into bores. Such is the
+_nabobery_, into which Harley-street, Wimpole-street, and
+Glocester-place, daily empty their precious stores of bilious
+humanity." Time has blunted the point of this satiric picture, the
+individualities of which had passed away, even before the amalgamation
+of the Oriental with the Alfred.
+
+The Oriental Club was established in 1824, by Sir John Malcolm, the
+traveller and brave soldier. The members were noblemen and gentlemen
+associated with the administration of our Eastern empire, or who have
+travelled or resided in Asia, at St. Helena, in Egypt, at the Cape of
+Good Hope, the Mauritius, or at Constantinople.
+
+The Oriental was erected in 1827-8, by B. and P. Wyatt, and has the
+usual Club characteristic of only one tier of windows above the
+ground-floor; the interior has since been redecorated and embellished
+by Collman.
+
+
+
+
+THE ATHENÆUM CLUB.
+
+
+The Athenæum presents a good illustration of the present Club system,
+of which it was one of the earliest instances. By reference to the
+accounts of the Clubs existing about the commencement of the present
+century, it will be seen how greatly they differed, both in
+constitution and purpose, from the modern large subscription-houses,
+called Clubs; and which are to be compared with their predecessors
+only in so far as every member must be balloted for, or be chosen by
+the consent of the rest. Prior to 1824, there was only one institution
+in the metropolis particularly devoted to the association of Authors,
+Literary Men, Members of Parliament, and promoters generally of the
+Fine Arts. All other establishments were more or less exclusive,
+comprising gentlemen who screened themselves in the windows of
+White's, or Members for Counties who darkened the doors of Brookes's;
+or they were dedicated to the Guards, or "men of wit and pleasure
+about town." It is true that the Royal Society had its convivial
+meetings, as we have already narrated; and small Clubs of members of
+other learned Societies, were held; but with these exceptions, there
+were no Clubs where individuals known for their scientific or literary
+attainments, artists of eminence in any class of the Fine Arts, and
+noblemen and gentlemen distinguished as patrons of science,
+literature, and the arts, could unite in friendly and encouraging
+intercourse; and professional men were compelled either to meet at
+taverns, or to be confined exclusively to the Society of their
+particular professions.
+
+To remedy this, on the 17th of February, 1824, a preliminary
+meeting,--comprising Sir Humphry Davy, the Right Hon. John Wilson
+Croker, Sir Francis Chantrey, Richard Heber, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Dr.
+Thomas Young, Lord Dover, Davie Gilbert, the Earl of Aberdeen, Sir
+Henry Halford, Sir Walter Scott, Joseph Jekyll, Thomas Moore, and
+Charles Hatchett,--was held in the apartments of the Royal Society, at
+Somerset House; at this meeting Professor Faraday assisted as
+secretary, and it was agreed to institute a Club to be called "The
+Society," subsequently altered to "The Athenæum." "The Society" first
+met in the Clarence Club-house; but, in 1830, the present mansion,
+designed by Decimus Burton, was opened to the members.
+
+The Athenæum Club-house is built upon a portion of the court-yard of
+Carlton House. The architecture is Grecian, with a frieze exactly
+copied from the Panathenaic procession in the frieze of the
+Parthenon,--the flower and beauty of Athenian youth, gracefully seated
+on the most exquisitely sculptured horses, which Flaxman regarded as
+the most precious example of Grecian power in the sculpture of
+animals. Over the Roman Doric entrance-portico is a colossal figure of
+Minerva, by Baily, R.A.; and the interior has some fine casts of
+_chefs-d'oeuvre_ of sculpture. Here the architecture is grand,
+massive, and severe. The noble Hall, 35 feet broad by 57 feet long, is
+divided by scagliola columns and pilasters, the capitals copied from
+the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates. This is the Exchange, or Lounge,
+where the members meet. The floor is the Marmorato Veneziano mosaic.
+Over each of the two fire-places, in a niche, is a statue--the Diana
+Robing and the Venus Victrix, selected by Sir Thomas Lawrence--a very
+fine contrivance for sculptural display. The Library is the best Club
+Library in London: it comprises the most rare and valuable works, and
+a very considerable sum is annually expended upon the collection,
+under the guidance of members most eminent in literature and science.
+Above the mantelpiece is a portrait of George IV., painted by
+Lawrence, upon which he was engaged but a few hours previous to his
+decease; the last bit of colour this celebrated artist ever put upon
+canvas being that of the hilt and sword-knot of the girdle; thus it
+remains unfinished. The bookcases of the drawing-rooms are crowned
+with busts of British worthies. Among the Club gossip it is told that
+a member who held the Library faith of the promise of the Fathers, and
+was anxious to consult their good works, one day asked, in a somewhat
+familiar tone of acquaintance with these respectable theologians, "Is
+Justin Martyr here?"--"I do not know," was the reply; "I will refer to
+the list, but I do not think that gentleman is one of our members."
+
+Mr. Walker, in his very pleasant work, _The Original_, was one of the
+first to show how by the then new system of Clubs the facilities of
+living were wonderfully increased, whilst the expense was greatly
+diminished. For a few pounds a year, advantages are to be enjoyed
+which no fortunes, except the most ample, can procure. The only Club
+(he continues) I belong to is the Athenæum, which consists of twelve
+hundred members, amongst whom are to be reckoned a large proportion of
+the most eminent persons in the land, in every line,--civil, military,
+and ecclesiastical,--peers spiritual and temporal (ninety-five
+noblemen and twelve bishops), commoners, men of the learned
+professions, those connected with science, the arts, and commerce, in
+all its principal branches, as well as the distinguished who do not
+belong to any particular class. Many of these are to be met with every
+day, living with the same freedom as in their own houses, for 25
+guineas entrance, and 6 guineas a year. Every member has the command
+of an excellent library, with maps; of newspapers, English and
+foreign; the principal periodicals; writing materials, and attendance.
+The building is a sort of palace, and is kept with the same exactness
+and comfort as a private dwelling. Every member is master, without any
+of the trouble of a master: he can come when he pleases, and stay away
+when he pleases, without anything going wrong; he has the command of
+regular servants, without having to pay or manage them; he can have
+whatever meal or refreshment he wants, at all hours, and served up as
+in his own house. He orders just what he pleases, having no interest
+to think of but his own. In short, it is impossible to suppose a
+greater degree of liberty in living.
+
+"Clubs, as far as my observation goes, are favourable to economy of
+time. There is a fixed place to go to, everything is served with
+comparative expedition, and it is not customary in general to remain
+long at table. They are favourable to temperance. It seems that when
+people can freely please themselves, and when they have an opportunity
+of living simply, excess is seldom committed. From an account I have
+of the expenses at the Athenæum in the year 1832, it appears that
+17,323 dinners cost, on an average, 2_s._ 9¾_d._ each, and that the
+average quantity of wine for each person was a small fraction more
+than half-a-pint.
+
+"The expense of building the Club-house was 35,000_l._, and 5,000_l._
+for furnishing; the plate, linen, and glass cost 2,500_l._; library,
+4,000_l._, and the stock of wine in cellar is usually worth about
+4000_l._: yearly revenue about 9000_l._"
+
+The economical management of the Club has not, however, been effected
+without a few sallies of humour. In 1834, we read: "The mixture of
+Whigs, Radicals, _savants_, foreigners, dandies, authors, soldiers,
+sailors, lawyers, artists, doctors, and Members of both Houses of
+Parliament, together with an exceedingly good average supply of
+bishops, render the _mélange_ very agreeable, despite of some two or
+three bores, who 'continually do dine;' and who, not satisfied with
+getting a 6_s._ dinner for 3_s._ 6_d._, 'continually do complain.'"
+
+Mr. Rogers, the poet, was one of the earliest members of the Athenæum,
+and innumerable are the good things, though often barbed with
+bitterness, which are recorded of him.
+
+Some years ago, judges, bishops, and peers used to congregate at the
+Athenæum; but a club of twelve hundred members cannot be select.
+"Warned by the necessity of keeping up their number and their funds,
+they foolishly set abroad a report that the finest thing in the world
+was to belong to the Athenæum; and that an opportunity offered for
+hobnobbing with archbishops, and hearing Theodore Hook's jokes.
+Consequently all the little crawlers and parasites, and
+gentility-hunters, from all corners of London, set out upon the creep;
+and they crept in at the windows and they crept down the area steps,
+and they crept in unseen at the doors, and they crept in under
+bishops' sleeves, and they crept in in peers' pockets, and they were
+blown in by the winds of chance. The consequence has been, that
+ninety-nine hundredths of this Club are people who rather seek to
+obtain a sort of standing by belonging to the Athenæum, than to give
+it lustre by the talent of its members. Nine-tenths of the
+intellectual writers of the age would be certainly black-balled by the
+dunces. Notwithstanding all this, and partly on account of this, the
+Athenæum is a capital Club: the library is certainly the best Club
+library in London, and is a great advantage to a man who writes."[22]
+
+Theodore Hook was one of the most clubbable men of his time. After a
+late breakfast, he would force and strain himself at large arrears of
+literary toil, and then drive rapidly from Fulham to town, and pay a
+visit "first to one Club, where, the centre of an admiring circle, his
+intellectual faculties were again upon the stretch, and again aroused
+and sustained by artificial means: the same thing repeated at a
+second--the same drain and the same supply--ballot or general meeting
+at a third, the chair taken by Mr. Hook, who addresses the members,
+produces the accounts, audits and passes them--gives a succinct
+statement of the prospects and finances of the Society--parries an
+awkward question--extinguishes a grumbler--confounds an
+opponent--proposes a vote of thanks to himself, seconds, carries
+it,--and returns thanks, with a vivacious rapidity that entirely
+confounds the unorganized schemes of the minority--then a chop in the
+committee-room, and just one tumbler of brandy-and-water, or _two_,
+and we fear the catalogue would not always close there."
+
+At the Athenæum, Hook was a great card; and in a note to the sketch of
+him in the _Quarterly Review_, it is stated that the number of dinners
+at this Club fell off by upwards of three hundred per annum after Hook
+disappeared from his favourite corner, near the door of the
+coffee-room. That is to say, there must have been some dozens of
+gentlemen who chose to dine there once or twice every week of the
+season, merely for the chance of Hook's being there, and permitting
+them to draw their chairs to his little table in the course of the
+evening. Of the extent to which he suffered from this sort of
+invasion, there are several bitter oblique complaints in his novels.
+The _corner_ alluded to will, we suppose, long retain the name which
+it derived from him--_Temperance Corner_. Many grave and dignified
+personages being frequent guests, it would hardly have been seemly to
+be calling for repeated supplies of a certain description; but the
+waiters well understood what the oracle of the corner meant by
+"Another glass of toast and water," or, "A little more lemonade."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[22] New Quarterly Review.
+
+
+
+
+THE UNIVERSITY CLUB.
+
+
+In Suffolk-street, Pall Mall East, was instituted in 1824, and the
+Club-house, designed by Deering and Wilkins, architects, was opened
+in 1826. It is of the Grecian Doric and Ionic orders; and the staircase
+walls have casts from the Parthenon frieze. The Club consists chiefly
+of Members of Parliament who have received University education;
+several of the judges, and a large number of beneficed clergymen. This
+Club has the reputation of possessing the best stocked wine-cellar in
+London, which is of no small importance to Members, clerical or lay.
+
+
+
+
+ECONOMY OF CLUBS.
+
+
+Thirty years ago, Mr. Walker took some pains to disabuse the public
+mind of a false notion that female society was much affected by the
+multiplication of Clubs. He remarks that in those hours of the
+evening, which are peculiarly dedicated to society, he could scarcely
+count twenty members in the suite of rooms upstairs at the Athenæum
+Club. If female society be neglected, he contended that it was not
+owing to the institution of Clubs, but more probably to the long
+sittings of the House of Commons, and to the want of easy access to
+family circles. At the Athenæum he never heard it even hinted, that
+married men frequented it to the prejudice of their domestic habits,
+or that bachelors were kept from general society. Indeed, Mr. Walker
+maintains, that Clubs are a preparation and not a substitute for
+domestic life. Compared with the previous system of living, they
+induce habits of economy, temperance, refinement, regularity, and good
+order. Still, a Club only offers an imitation of the comforts of home,
+but only an imitation, and one which will never supersede the reality.
+
+However, the question became a subject for pleasant satire. Mrs. Gore,
+in one of her clever novels, has these shrewd remarks:--"London Clubs,
+after all, are not bad things for family men. They act as conductors
+to the storms usually hovering in the air. The man forced to remain at
+home and vent his crossness on his wife and children, is a much worse
+animal to bear with, than the man who grumbles his way to Pall Mall,
+and not daring to swear at the Club-servants, or knock about the
+club-furniture, becomes socialized into decency. Nothing like the
+subordination exercised in a community of equals for reducing a fiery
+temper."
+
+Mr. Hood, in his _Comic Annual_ for 1838, took up the topic in his
+rich vein of comic humour, and here is the amusing result:--
+
+     "CLUBS,
+
+     "TURNED UP BY A FEMALE HAND.
+
+     "Of all the modern schemes of Man
+       That time has brought to bear,
+     A plague upon the wicked plan
+       That parts the wedded pair!
+     My female friends they all agree
+       They hardly know their hubs;
+     And heart and voice unite with me,
+       'We hate the name of Clubs!'
+
+     "One selfish course the Wretches keep;
+       They come at morning chimes;
+     To snatch a few short hours of sleep--
+       Rise--breakfast--read the Times--
+     Then take their hats, and post away,
+       Like Clerks or City scrubs,
+     And no one sees them all the day,--
+       They live, eat, drink, at Clubs!
+
+     "With Rundell, Dr. K., or Glasse,
+       And such Domestic books,
+     They once put up, but now, alas!
+       It's hey! for foreign cooks.
+     'When _will_ you dine at home, my dove?'
+       I say to Mr. Stubbs.
+     'When Cook can make an omelette, love--
+       An omelette like the Clubs!'
+
+     "Time was, their hearts were only placed
+       On snug domestic schemes,
+     The book for two--united taste,--
+       And such connubial dreams,--
+     Friends, dropping in at close of day,
+       To singles, doubles, rubs,--
+     A little music,--then the tray,--
+       And not a word of Clubs!
+
+     "But former comforts they condemn;
+       French kickshaws they discuss,
+     And take their wine, the wine takes them,
+       And then they favour us;--
+     From some offence they can't digest,
+       As cross as bears with cubs,
+     Or sleepy, dull, and queer, at best--
+       That's how they come from Clubs!
+
+     "It's very fine to say, 'Subscribe
+       To Andrews'--can't you read?
+     When Wives, the poor neglected tribe,
+       Complain how they proceed!
+     They'd better recommend at once
+       Philosophy and tubs,--
+     A woman need not be a dunce,
+       To feel the wrong of Clubs.
+
+     "A set of savage Goths and Picts
+       Would seek us now and then,--
+     They're pretty pattern-Benedicts
+       To guide our single men!
+     Indeed, my daughters both declare
+       'Their Beaux shall not be subs
+     To White's, or Black's, or anywhere,--
+       They've seen enough of Clubs!'
+
+     "They say, without the marriage ties,
+       They can devote their hours
+     To catechize, or botanize--
+       Shells, Sunday Schools, and flow'rs--
+     Or teach a Pretty Poll new words,
+       Tend Covent Garden shrubs,
+     Nurse dogs and chirp to little birds--
+       As Wives do since the Clubs.
+
+     "Alas! for those departed days
+       Of social wedded life,
+     When married folks had married ways,
+       And liv'd like Man and Wife!
+     Oh! Wedlock then was pick'd by none--
+       As safe a lock as Chubb's!
+     But couples, that should be as one,
+       Are now the Two of Clubs!
+
+     "Of all the modern schemes of Man
+       That time has brought to bear,
+     A plague upon the wicked plan,
+       That parts the wedded pair!
+     My wedded friends they all allow
+       They meet with slights and snubs,
+     And say, 'They have no husbands now,--
+       They're married to the Clubs!'"
+
+The satire soon reached the stage. About five-and-twenty years since
+there was produced at the old wooden Olympic Theatre, Mr. Mark Lemon's
+farce, _The Ladies' Club_, which proved one of the most striking
+pieces of the time. "Though in 1840 Clubs, in the modern sense of the
+word, had been for some years established, they were not quite
+recognized as social necessities, and the complaints of married ladies
+and of dowagers with marriageable daughters, to the effect that these
+institutions caused husbands to desert the domestic hearth and
+encouraged bachelors to remain single, expressed something of a
+general feeling. Public opinion was ostentatiously on the side of the
+ladies and against the Clubs, and to this opinion Mr. Mark Lemon
+responded when he wrote his most successful farce."[23]
+
+Here are a few experiences of Club-life. "There are many British
+lions in the coffee-room who have dined off a joint and beer, and have
+drunk a pint of port-wine afterwards, and whose bill is but 4_s._
+3_d._ One great luxury in a modern Club is that there is no temptation
+to ostentatious expense. At an hotel there is an inclination in some
+natures to be 'a good customer.' At a Club the best men are generally
+the most frugal--they are afraid of being thought like that little
+snob, Calicot, who is always surrounded by fine dishes and expensive
+wines (even when alone), and is always in loud talk with the butler,
+and in correspondence with the committee about the cook. Calicot is a
+rich man, with a large bottle-nose, and people black-ball his friends.
+
+"For a home, a man must have a large Club, where the members are
+recruited from a large class, where the funds are in a good state,
+where a large number every day breakfast and dine, and where a goodly
+number think it necessary to be on the books and pay their
+subscriptions, although they do not use the Club. Above all, your home
+Club should be a large Club, because, even if a Club be ever so
+select, the highest birth and most unexceptionable fashion do not
+prevent a man from being a _bore_. Every Club must have its bores; but
+in a large Club _you can get out of their way_."[24]
+
+"It is a vulgar error to regard a Club as the rich man's public-house:
+it bears no analogy to a public-house: it is as much the private
+property of its members as any ordinary dwelling-house is the property
+of the man who built it.
+
+"Our Clubs are thoroughly characteristic of us. We are a _proud_
+people,--it is of no use denying it,--and have a horror of
+indiscriminate association; hence the exclusiveness of our Clubs.
+
+"We are an _economical_ people, and love to obtain the greatest
+possible amount of luxury at the least possible expense: hence, at our
+Clubs we dine at prime cost, and drink the finest wines at a price
+which we should have to pay for slow poison at a third-rate inn.
+
+"We are a _domestic_ people, and hence our Clubs afford us all the
+comforts of home, when we are away from home, or when we have none.
+Finally, we are a _quarrelsome_ people, and the Clubs are eminently
+adapted for the indulgence of that amiable taste. A book is kept
+constantly open to receive the outpourings of our ill-humour against
+all persons and things. The smokers quarrel with the non-smokers: the
+billiard-players wage war against those who don't play; and, in fact,
+an internecine war is constantly going on upon every conceivable
+trifle; and when we retire exhausted from the fray, sofas and _chaises
+longues_ are everywhere at hand, whereon to repose _in extenso_. The
+London Clubs are certainly the abodes of earthly bliss, yet the ladies
+won't think so."[25]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[23] _Times_ journal.
+
+[24] New Quarterly Review.
+
+
+
+
+THE UNION CLUB.
+
+
+This noble Club-house, at the south-west angle of Trafalgar-square,
+was erected in 1824, from designs by Sir Robert Smirke, R.A. It is
+much less ornate than the Club-houses of later date; but its
+apartments are spacious and handsome, and it faces one of the finest
+open spaces in the metropolis. As its name implies, it consists of
+politicians, and professional and mercantile men, without reference
+to party opinions; and, it has been added, is "a resort of wealthy
+citizens, who just fetch Charing Cross to inhale the fresh air as it
+is drawn from the Park through the funnel, by Berkeley House, out of
+Spring Gardens, into their bay-window."
+
+James Smith, one of the authors of the _Rejected Addresses_, was a
+member of the Union, which he describes as chiefly composed of
+merchants, lawyers, members of Parliament, and of "gentlemen at
+large." He thus sketches a day's life here. "At three o'clock I walk
+to the Union Club, read the journals, hear Lord John Russell deified
+or diablerized, do the same with Sir Robert Peel or the Duke of
+Wellington, and then join a knot of conversationists by the fire till
+six o'clock. We then and there discuss the Three per Cent. Consols
+(some of us preferring Dutch Two-and-a-half per Cents.), and speculate
+upon the probable rise, shape, and cost of the New Exchange. If Lady
+Harrington happen to drive past our window in her landau, we compare
+her equipage to the Algerine Ambassador's; and when politics happen to
+be discussed, rally Whigs, Radicals, and Conservatives alternately,
+but never seriously, such subjects having a tendency to create
+acrimony. At six, the room begins to be deserted; wherefore I adjourn
+to the dining-room, and gravely looking over the bill of fare, exclaim
+to the waiter, 'Haunch of mutton and apple-tart!' These viands
+dispatched, with the accompanying liquids and water, I mount upward to
+the library, take a book and my seat in the arm-chair, and read till
+nine. Then call for a cup of coffee and a biscuit, resuming my book
+till eleven; afterwards return home to bed." The smoking-room is a
+very fine apartment.
+
+One of the grumbling members of the Union was Sir James Aylott, a
+two-bottle man; one day, observing Mr. James Smith furnished with
+half-a-pint of sherry, Sir James eyed his cruet with contempt, and
+exclaimed: "So, I see you have got one of those d--d life-preservers."
+
+The Club has ever been famed for its _cuisine_, upon the strength of
+which, we are told that next-door to the Club-house, in
+Cockspur-street, was established the Union Hotel, which speedily
+became renowned for its turtle; it was opened in 1823, and was one of
+the best appointed hotels of its day; and Lord Panmure, a _gourmet_ of
+the highest order, is said to have taken up his quarters in this
+hotel, for several successive seasons, for the sake of the soup.[26]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[25] The Builder.
+
+[26] London Clubs, 1853, p. 75.
+
+
+
+
+THE GARRICK CLUB.
+
+
+Mr. Thackeray was a hearty lover of London, and has left us many
+evidences of his sincerity. He greatly favoured Covent Garden, of
+which he has painted this clever picture, sketched from "the Garden,"
+where are annually paid for fruits and vegetables some three millions
+sterling:--
+
+"The two great national theatres on one side, a churchyard full of
+mouldy but undying celebrities on the other; a fringe of houses
+studded in every part with anecdote and history; an arcade, often more
+gloomy and deserted than a cathedral aisle; a rich cluster of brown
+old taverns--one of them filled with the counterfeit presentment of
+many actors long since silent, who scowl or smile once more from the
+canvas upon the grandsons of their dead admirers; a something in the
+air which breathes of old books, old pictures, old painters, and old
+authors; a place beyond all other places one would choose in which to
+hear the chimes at midnight; a crystal palace--the representative of
+the present--which peeps in timidly from a corner upon many things of
+the past; a withered bank, that has been sucked dry by a felonious
+clerk; a squat building, with a hundred columns and chapel-looking
+fronts, which always stands knee-deep in baskets, flowers, and
+scattered vegetables; a common centre into which Nature showers her
+choicest gifts, and where the kindly fruits of the earth often nearly
+choke the narrow thoroughfares; a population that never seems to
+sleep, and that does all in its power to prevent others sleeping; a
+place where the very latest suppers and the earliest breakfasts jostle
+each other on the footways--such is Covent-Garden Market, with some of
+its surrounding features."
+
+About a century and a quarter ago, the parish of St. Paul was,
+according to John Thomas Smith, the only fashionable part of the town,
+and the residence of a great number of persons of rank and title, and
+artists of the first eminence; and also from the concourse of wits,
+literary characters, and other men of genius, who frequented the
+numerous coffee-houses, wine and cider cellars, jelly-shops, etc.,
+within its boundaries, the list of whom particularly includes the
+eminent names of Butler, Addison, Sir Richard Steele, Otway, Dryden,
+Pope, Warburton, Cibber, Fielding, Churchill, Bolingbroke, and Dr.
+Samuel Johnson; Rich, Woodward, Booth, Wilkes, Garrick, and Macklin;
+Kitty Clive, Peg Woffington, Mrs. Pritchard, the Duchess of Bolton,
+Lady Derby, Lady Thurlow, and the Duchess of St. Alban's; Sir Peter
+Lely, Sir Godfrey Kneller, and Sir James Thornhill; Vandevelde,
+Zincke, Lambert, Hogarth, Hayman, Wilson, Dance, Meyer, etc. The name
+of Samuel Foote should be added.
+
+Although the high fashion of the old place has long since ebbed away,
+its theatrical celebrity remains; and the locality is storied with the
+dramatic associations of two centuries. The Sublime Society of Steaks
+have met upon this hallowed ground through a century; and some thirty
+years ago there was established in the street leading from the
+north-west angle of Covent-Garden Market, a Club, bearing the name of
+our greatest actor. Such was the Garrick Club, instituted in 1831, at
+No. 35, King-street, "for the purpose of bringing together the
+'patrons' of the drama and its professors, and also for offering
+literary men a rendezvous; and the managers of the Club have kept
+those general objects steadily in view. Nearly all the leading actors
+are members, and there are few of the active literary men of the day
+who are not upon the list. The large majority of the association is
+composed of the representatives of all the best classes of society.
+The number of the members is limited, and the character of the Club is
+social, and therefore the electing committee is compelled to exercise
+very vigilant care, for it is clear that it would be better that ten
+unobjectionable men should be excluded than that one terrible bore
+should be admitted. The prosperity of the Club, and the eagerness to
+obtain admission to it, are the best proofs of its healthy management;
+and few of the cases of grievance alleged against the direction will
+bear looking into."
+
+The house in King-street was, previous to its occupation by the
+Garrick men, a family hotel: it was rendered tolerably commodious, but
+in course of time it was found insufficient for the increased number
+of members; and in 1864, the Club removed to a new house built for
+them a little more westward than the old one. But of the old place,
+inconvenient as it was, will long be preserved the interest of
+association. The house has since been taken down; but its memories are
+embalmed in a gracefully written paper, by Mr. Shirley Brooks, which
+appeared in the _Illustrated London News_, immediately before the
+removal of the Club to their new quarters; and is as follows:--
+
+"From James Smith (of _Rejected Addresses_) to Thackeray, there is a
+long series of names of distinguished men who have made the Garrick
+their favourite haunt, and whose memories are connected with those
+rooms. The visitor who has had the good fortune to be taken through
+them, that he might examine the unequalled collection of theatrical
+portraits, will also retain a pleasant remembrance of the place. He
+will recollect that he went up one side of a double flight of stone
+steps from the street and entered a rather gloomy hall, in which was a
+fine bust of Shakspeare, by Roubiliac, and some busts of celebrated
+actors; and he may have noticed in the hall a tablet recording the
+obligation of the Club to Mr. Durrant, who bequeathed to it the
+pictures collected by the late Charles Mathews. Conducted to the left,
+the visitor found himself in the strangers' dining-room, which
+occupied the whole of the ground-floor. This apartment, where,
+perhaps, more pleasant dinners had been given than in any room in
+London, was closely hung with pictures. The newest was Mr. O'Neil's
+admirable likeness of Mr. Keeley, and it hung over the fireplace in
+the front room, near Sir Edwin Landseer's portrait of Charles Young.
+There were many very interesting pictures in this room, among them a
+Peg Woffington; Lee (the author of the Bedlam Tragedy, in nineteen
+acts); Mrs. Pritchard, and Mr. Garrick, an admirable illustration of
+
+     'Pritchard's genteel, and Garrick six feet high;'
+
+a most gentlemanly one of Pope the actor, Garrick again as Macbeth in
+the court-dress, two charming little paintings of Miss Poole when a
+child-performer, the late Frederick Yates, Mrs. Davison (of rare
+beauty), Miss Lydia Kelly, and a rich store besides. The stranger
+would probably be next conducted through a long passage until he
+reached the smoking-room, which was not a cheerful apartment by
+daylight, and empty; but which at night, and full, was thought the
+most cheerful apartment in town. It was adorned with gifts from
+artists who are members of the Club. Mr. Stanfield had given a
+splendid seapiece, with a wash of waves that set one coveting an
+excursion; and Mr. David Roberts had given a large and noble painting
+of Baalbec, one of his finest works. These great pictures occupied two
+sides of the room, and the other walls were similarly ornamented. Mrs.
+Stirling's bright face looked down upon the smokers, and there was a
+statuette of one who loved the room--the author of _Vanity Fair_.
+
+"The visitor was then brought back to the hall, and taken upstairs to
+the drawing-room floor. On the wall as he passed he would observe a
+vast picture of Mr. Charles Kemble (long a member) as Macbeth, and a
+Miss O'Neil as Juliet. He entered the coffee-room, as it was called,
+which was the front room, looking into King-street, and behind which
+was the morning-room, for newspapers and writing, and in which was the
+small but excellent library, rich in dramatic works. The coffee-room
+was devoted to the members' dinners; and the late Mr. Thackeray dined
+for the last time away from home at a table in a niche in which hung
+the scene from _The Clandestine Marriage_, where Lord Ogleby is
+preparing to join the ladies. Over the fireplace was another scene
+from the same play; and on the mantelpiece were Garrick's
+candlesticks, Kean's ring, and some other relics of interest. The
+paintings in this room were very valuable. There was Foote, by
+Reynolds; a Sheridan; John Kemble; Charles Kemble as Charles II.
+(under which picture he often sat in advanced life, when he in no
+degree resembled the audacious, stalwart king in the painting); Mrs.
+Charles Kemble, in male attire; Mrs. Fitzwilliam; Charles Mathews,
+_père_; a fine, roystering Woodward, reminding one of the rattling
+times of stage chivalry and 'victorious burgundy;' and in the
+morning-room was a delightful Kitty Clive, another Garrick, and, near
+the ceiling, a row of strong faces of by-gone days--Cooke the
+strongest.
+
+"On the second floor were numerous small and very characteristic
+portraits; and in a press full of large folios was one of the
+completest and most valuable of collections of theatrical prints. In
+the card-room, behind this, were also some very quaint and curious
+likenesses, one of Mrs. Liston, as Dollalolla. There was a sweet face
+of 'the Prince's' Perdita, which excuses his infatuation and
+aggravates his treachery. When the visitor had seen these things and
+a few busts, among them one of the late Justice Talfourd (an old
+member), he was informed that he had seen the collection and he could
+go away, unless he were lucky enough to have an invitation to dine in
+the strangers' room.
+
+"The new Club-house is a little more westward than the old one, but
+not much, the Garrick having resolved to cling to the classic region
+around Covent-Garden. It is in Garrick-street from the west end of
+King-street to Cranbourn-street. It has a frontage of ninety-six feet
+to the street; but the rear was very difficult, from its shape, to
+manage, and Mr. Marrable, the architect, has dealt very cleverly with
+the quaint form over which he had to lay out his chambers. The house
+is Italian, and is imposing, from having been judiciously and not
+over-enriched. In the hall is a very beautiful Italian screen. The
+noble staircase is of carved oak; at the top, a landing-place, from
+which is entered the morning-room, the card-room, and the library. All
+the apartments demanded by the habits of the day--some of them were
+not thought necessary in the days of Garrick--are, of course provided.
+The kitchens and all their arrangements are sumptuous, and the latest
+culinary improvements are introduced. The system of sunlights appears
+to be very complete, and devices for a perfect ventilation have not
+been forgotten."
+
+The pictures have been judiciously hung in the new rooms: they
+include--Elliston as Octavian, by Singleton; Macklin (aged 93), by
+Opie; Mrs. Pritchard, by Hayman; Peg Woffington, by R. Wilson; Nell
+Gwynne, by Sir Peter Lely; Mrs. Abington; Samuel Foote, by Sir Joshua
+Reynolds; Colley Cibber as Lord Foppington; Mrs. Bracegirdle; Kitty
+Clive; Mrs. Robinson, after Reynolds; Garrick as Macbeth, and Mrs.
+Pritchard, Lady Macbeth, by Zoffany; Garrick as Richard III., by
+Morland, sen.; Young Roscius, by Opie; Quin, by Hogarth; Rich and his
+family, by Hogarth; Charles Mathews, four characters, by Harlowe; Nat
+Lee, painted in Bedlam; Anthony Leigh as the Spanish Friar, by
+Kneller; John Liston, by Clint; Munden, by Opie; John Johnston, by
+Shee; Lacy in three characters, by Wright; Scene from Charles II., by
+Clint; Mrs. Siddons as Lady Macbeth, by Harlowe; J. P. Kemble as Cato,
+by Lawrence; Macready as Henry IV., by Jackson; Edwin, by
+Gainsborough; the twelve of the School of Garrick; Kean, Young,
+Elliston, and Mrs. Inchbald, by Harlowe; Garrick as Richard III., by
+Loutherbourg; Rich as Harlequin; Moody and Parsons in _The Committee_,
+by Vandergucht; King as Touchstone, by Zoffany; Thomas Dogget;
+Henderson, by Gainsborough; Elder Colman, by Reynolds; Mrs. Oldfield,
+by Kneller; Mrs. Billington; Nancy Dawson; Screen Scene from _The
+School for Scandal_, as originally cast; Scene from _Venice Preserved_
+(Garrick and Mrs. Cibber), by Zoffany; Scene from _Macbeth_
+(Henderson); Scene from _Love, Law, and Physic_ (Mathews, Liston,
+Blanchard, and Emery), by Clint; Scene from _The Clandestine Marriage_
+(King and Mr. and Mrs. Baddeley), by Zoffany; Weston as Billy Button,
+by Zoffany.
+
+The following have been presented to the Club:--Busts of Mrs. Siddons
+and J. P. Kemble, by Mrs. Siddons; of Garrick, Captain Marryat, Dr.
+Kitchiner, and Malibran; Garrick, by Roubiliac; Griffin and Johnson in
+_The Alchemist_, by Von Bleeck; Miniatures of Mrs. Robinson and Peg
+Woffington; Sketch of Kean by Lambert; Garrick Mulberry-tree
+Snuff-box; Joseph Harris as Cardinal Wolsey, from the Strawberry Hill
+Collection; Proof Print of the Trial of Queen Katherine, by Harlowe.
+
+The Garrick men will, for the sake of justice, excuse the mention of a
+short-coming: at the first dinner of the Club, from the list of toasts
+was omitted "Shakspeare," who, it must be allowed, contributed to
+Garrick's fame. David did not so forget the Bard, as is attested in
+his statue by Roubiliac, which, after adorning the Garrick grounds at
+Hampton, was bequeathed by the grateful actor to the British Museum.
+
+The Club were entertained at a sumptuous dinner by their brother
+member, Lord Mayor Moon, in the Egyptian Hall of the Mansion House, in
+1855.
+
+The Gin-punch made with iced soda-water, is a notable potation at the
+Garrick; and the rightful patentee of the invention was Mr. Stephen
+Price, an American gentleman, well known on the turf, and as the
+lessee of Drury-lane Theatre. His title has been much disputed--
+
+     "Grammatici certant et adhuc sub judice lis est;"
+
+and many, misled by Mr. Theodore Hook's frequent and liberal
+application of the discovery, were in the habit of ascribing it to
+him. But, Mr. Thomas Hill, the celebrated "trecentenarian" of a
+popular song, who was present at Mr. Hook's first introduction to the
+beverage, has set the matter at rest by a brief narration of the
+circumstances. One hot afternoon, in July, 1835, the inimitable author
+of _Sayings and Doings_ (what a book might be made of his own!)
+strolled into the Garrick in that equivocal state of thirstiness which
+it requires something more than common to quench. On describing the
+sensation, he was recommended to make a trial of the punch, and a jug
+was compounded immediately under the personal inspection of Mr. Price.
+A second followed--a third, with the accompaniment of some chops--a
+fourth--a fifth--a sixth--at the expiration of which Mr. Hook went
+away to keep a dinner engagement at Lord Canterbury's. He always ate
+little, and on this occasion he ate less, and Mr. Horace Twiss
+inquired in a fitting tone of anxiety if he was ill. "Not exactly,"
+was the reply; "but my stomach won't bear trifling with, and I was
+tempted to take a biscuit and a glass of sherry about three."
+
+The receipt for the gin punch is as follows:--pour half a pint of gin
+on the outer peel of a lemon, then a little lemon-juice, a glass of
+maraschino, about a pint and a quarter of water, and two bottles of
+iced soda-water; and the result will be three pints of the punch in
+question.
+
+Another choice spirit of the Garrick was the aforesaid Hill, "Tom
+Hill," as he was called by all who loved and knew him. He "happened to
+know everything that was going forward in all circles--mercantile,
+political, fashionable, literary, or theatrical; in addition to all
+matters connected with military and naval affairs, agriculture,
+finance, art, and science--everything came alike to him." He was born
+in 1760, and was many years a drysalter at Queenhithe, but about 1810
+he lost a large sum of money by a speculation in indigo; after which
+he retired upon the remains of his property, to chambers in the
+Adelphi. While at Queenhithe, he found leisure to make a fine
+collection of old books, chiefly old poetry, which were valued at six
+thousand pounds. He greatly assisted two friendless poets, Bloomfield
+and Kirke White; he also established _The Monthly Mirror_, which
+brought him much into connection with dramatic poets, actors, and
+managers, when he collected theatrical curiosities and relics. Hill
+was the Hull of Hook's clever novel, _Gilbert Gurney_, and the reputed
+original of Paul Pry, though the latter is doubtful. The standard joke
+about him was his age. He died in 1841, in his eighty-first year,
+though Hook and all his friends always affected to consider him as
+quite a Methuselah. James Smith once said that it was impossible to
+discover his age, for the parish-register had been burnt in the fire
+of London; but Hook capped this:--'_Pooh, pooh!_--(Tom's habitual
+exclamation)--he's one of the Little Hills that are spoken of as
+skipping in the Psalms.' As a mere octogenarian he was wonderful
+enough. No human being would, from his appearance, gait, or habits,
+have guessed him to be sixty. Till within three months of his death,
+Hill rose at five usually, and brought the materials of his breakfast
+home with him to the Adelphi from a walk to Billingsgate; and at
+dinner he would eat and drink like an adjutant of five-and-twenty. One
+secret was, that a 'banyan-day' uniformly followed a festivity. He
+then nursed himself most carefully on tea and dry toast, tasted
+neither meat nor wine, and went to bed by eight o'clock. But perhaps
+the grand secret was, the easy, imperturbable serenity of his temper.
+He had been kind and generous in the day of his wealth; and though his
+evening was comparatively poor, his cheerful heart kept its even beat.
+
+Hill was a patient collector throughout his long life. His old English
+poetry, which Southey considered the rarest assemblage in existence,
+was dispersed in 1810; and, after Hill's death, his literary rarities
+and memorials occupied Evans, of Pall Mall, a clear week to sell by
+auction: the autograph letters were very interesting, and among the
+memorials were Garrick's Shakspeare Cup and a vase carved from the
+Bard's mulberry-tree; and a block of wood from Pope's willow, at
+Twickenham.
+
+Albert Smith was also of the Garrick, and usually dined here before
+commencing his evening entertainment at the Egyptian Hall, in
+Piccadilly.
+
+Smith was very clubbable, and with benevolent aims: he was a leader of
+the Fielding Club, in Maiden-lane, Covent Garden, which gave several
+amateur theatrical representations, towards the establishment of "a
+Fund for the immediate relief of emergencies in the Literary or
+Theatrical world;" having already devoted a considerable sum to
+charitable purposes. This plan of relieving the woes of others through
+our own pleasures is a touch of nature which yields twofold
+gratification.
+
+
+
+
+THE REFORM CLUB.
+
+
+This political Club was established by Liberal Members of the two
+Houses of Parliament, to aid the carrying of the Reform Bill,
+1830-1832. It was temporarily located in Great George-street, and
+Gwydyr House, Whitehall, until towards the close of 1837, when designs
+for a new Club-house were submitted by the architects, Blore, Basevi,
+Cockerell, Sydney Smirke, and Barry. The design of the latter was
+preferred, and the site selected in Pall Mall, extending from the spot
+formerly occupied by the temporary National Gallery (late the
+residence of Sir Walter Stirling), on one side of the temporary Reform
+Club-house, over the vacant plot of ground on the other side. The
+instructions were to produce a Club-house which should surpass all
+others in size and magnificence; one which should combine all the
+attractions of other Clubs, such as baths, billiard-rooms,
+smoking-rooms, with the ordinary accommodations; besides the
+additional novelty of private chambers, or dormitories. The frontage
+towards Pall Mall is about 135 feet, or nearly equal to the frontage
+of the Athenæum (76 feet) and the Travellers' (74 feet). The style of
+the Reform is pure Italian, the architect having taken some points
+from the celebrated Farnese Palace at Rome, designed by Michael Angelo
+Buonarroti, in 1545, and built by Antonio Sangallo. However, the
+resemblance between the two edifices has been greatly over-stated, it
+consisting only in both of them being astylar, with columnar-decorated
+fenestration. The exterior is greatly admired; though it is objected,
+and with reason, that the windows are too small. The Club-house
+contains six floors and 134 apartments: the basement and mezzanine
+below the street pavement, and the chambers in the roof are not seen.
+
+The points most admired are extreme simplicity and unity of design,
+combined with very unusual richness. The breadth of the piers between
+the windows contributes not a little to that repose which is so
+essential to simplicity, and hardly less so to stateliness. The
+string-courses are particularly beautiful, while the cornicione (68
+feet from the pavement) gives extraordinary majesty and grandeur to
+the whole. The roof is covered with Italian tiles; the edifice is
+faced throughout with Portland stone, and is a very fine specimen of
+masonry. In building it a strong scaffolding was constructed, and on
+the top was laid a railway, upon which was worked a traversing crane,
+movable along the building either longitudinally or transversely; by
+which means the stones were raised from the ground, and placed on the
+wall with very little labour to the mason, who had only to adjust the
+bed and lay the block.[27]
+
+In the centre of the interior is a grand hall, 56 by 50, (the entire
+height of the building,) resembling an Italian _cortile_, surrounded
+by colonnades, below Ionic, and above Corinthian; the latter is a
+picture-gallery, where, inserted in the scagliola walls, are
+whole-length portraits of eminent political Reformers; while the upper
+colonnade has rich floral mouldings, and frescoes of Music, Poetry,
+Painting, and sculpture, by Parris. The floor of the hall is
+tessellated; and the entire roof is strong diapered flint-glass,
+executed by Pellatt, at the cost of 600_l._ The staircase, like that
+of an Italian palace, leads to the upper gallery of the hall, opening
+into the principal drawing-room, which is over the coffee-room in the
+garden-front, both being the entire length of the building; adjoining
+are a library, card-room, etc., over the library and dining-rooms.
+Above are a billiard-room and lodging-rooms for members of the Club;
+there being a separate entrance to the latter by a lodge adjoining the
+Travellers' Club-house.
+
+The basement comprises two-storied wine-cellars beneath the hall;
+besides the kitchen department, planned by Alexis Soyer, originally
+_chef-de-cuisine_ of the Club: it contains novel employments of steam
+and gas, and mechanical applications of practical ingenuity; the
+inspection of which was long one of the privileged sights of London.
+The _cuisine_, under M. Soyer, enjoyed European fame. Soyer first came
+to England on a visit to his brother, who was then cook to the Duke of
+Cambridge; and at Cambridge House, Alexis cooked his first dinner in
+England, for the then Prince George. Soyer afterwards entered the
+service of various noblemen, amongst others of Lord Ailsa, Lord
+Panmure, etc. He then entered into the service of the Reform Club, and
+the breakfast given by that Club on the occasion of the Queen's
+Coronation obtained him high commendation. His ingenuity gave a sort
+of celebrity to the great political banquets given at the Reform. In
+his O'Connell dinner, the _soufflés à la Clontarf_, were considered by
+gastronomes to be a rich bit of satire. The banquet to Ibrahim Pacha,
+July 3, 1846, was another of Soyer's great successes, when Merlans à
+l'Égyptienne, la Crême d'Égypte and à l'Ibrahim Pacha, mingled with Le
+Gâteau Britannique à l'Amiral (Napier). Another famous banquet was
+that given to Sir C. Napier, March 3, 1854, as Commander of the Baltic
+Fleet; and the banquet given July 20, 1850, to Viscount Palmerston,
+who was a popular leader of the Reform, was, gastronomically as well
+as politically, a brilliant triumph. It was upon this memorable
+occasion that Mr. Bernal Osborne characterized the Palmerston policy
+in this quotation:--
+
+     "Warmed by the instincts of a knightly heart,
+       That roused at once if insult touched the realm,
+     He spurned each State-craft, each deceiving art,
+       And met his foes no vizor to his helm.
+     This proved his worth, hereafter be our boast--
+       Who hated Britons, hated him the most."
+
+Lord Palmerston was too true an Englishman to be insensible to "the
+pleasures of the table," as attested by the hospitalities of
+Cambridge House, during his administration. One of his Lordship's
+political opponents, writing in 1836, says: "Lord Palmerston is
+redeemed from the last extremity of political degradation by his
+cook." A distinguished member of the diplomatic body was once
+overheard remarking to an Austrian nobleman, upon the Minister's
+shortcomings in some respects, adding, "mais on dîne fort bien chez
+lui."
+
+It is always interesting to read a foreigner's opinion of English
+society. The following observations, by the Viscountess de Malleville,
+appeared originally in the _Courrier de l'Europe_, and preceded an
+account of the Reform. Commencing with Clubs, the writer remarks:
+
+"It cannot be denied that these assemblages, wealthy and widely
+extended in their ramifications, selfish in principle, but perfectly
+adapted to the habits of the nation, offer valuable advantages to
+those who have the good fortune to be enrolled in them.... The social
+state and manners of the country gave the first idea of them. The
+spirit of association which is so inherent in the British character,
+did the rest. It is only within the precincts of these splendid
+edifices, where all the requirements of opulent life, all the comforts
+and luxuries of princely habitations are combined, that we can
+adequately appreciate the advantages and the complicated results
+produced by such a system of association. For an annual subscription,
+comparatively of small amount, every member of a Club is admitted into
+a circle, which is enlivened and renewed from time to time by the
+accession of strangers of distinction. A well-selected and extensive
+library, newspapers and pamphlets from all parts of the world, assist
+him to pass the hours of leisure and digestion. According as his
+tastes incline, a man may amuse himself in the saloons devoted to
+play, to reading, or to conversation. In a word, the happy man, who
+only goes to get his dinner, may drink the best wines out of the
+finest cut-glass, and may eat the daintiest and best-cooked viands off
+the most costly plate, at such moderate prices as no Parisian
+restaurateur could afford. The advantages of a Club do not end here:
+it becomes for each of its members a second domestic hearth, where the
+cares of business and household annoyances cannot assail him. As a
+retreat especially sacred against the visitations of idle
+acquaintances and tiresome creditors--a sanctuary in which each member
+feels himself in the society of those who act and sympathize with
+him--the Club will ever remain a resort, tranquil, elegant, and
+exclusive; interdicted to the humble and to the insignificant."
+
+The writer then proceeds to illustrate the sumptuous character of our
+new Club-houses by reference to the Reform. "Unlike in most English
+buildings, the staircase is wide and commodious, and calls to mind
+that of the Louvre. The quadrangular apartment which terminates it, is
+surrounded by spacious galleries; the rich mosaic pavement, in which
+the brilliancy of the colour is only surpassed by the variety of the
+design--the cut-glass ceiling, supported by four rows of marble
+pillars--all these things call to remembrance the most magnificent
+apartments of Versailles in the days of the great king and his
+splendours. This is the vestibule, which is the grand feature of the
+mansion." The kitchen is then described--"spacious as a ball-room,
+kept in the finest order, and white as a young bride. All-powerful
+steam, the noise of which salutes your ear as you enter, here performs
+a variety of offices: it diffuses a uniform heat to large rows of
+dishes, warms the metal plates upon which are disposed the dishes that
+have been called for, and that are in waiting to be sent above: it
+turns the spits, draws the water, carries up the coal, and moves the
+plate like an intelligent and indefatigable servant. Stay awhile
+before this octagonal apparatus, which occupies the centre of the
+place. Around you the water boils and the stew-pans bubble, and a
+little further on is a moveable furnace, before which pieces of meat
+are converted into savoury _rôtis_; here are sauces and gravies,
+stews, broths, soups, etc. In the distance are Dutch ovens, marble
+mortars, lighted stoves, iced plates of metal for fish; and various
+compartments for vegetables, fruits, roots, and spices. After this
+inadequate, though prodigious nomenclature, the reader may perhaps
+picture to himself a state of general confusion, a disordered
+assemblage, resembling that of a heap of oyster-shells. If so, he is
+mistaken; for, in fact, you see very little, or scarcely anything of
+all the objects above described. The order of their arrangement is so
+perfect, their distribution as a whole, and in their relative bearings
+to one another, all are so intelligently considered, that you require
+the aid of a guide to direct you in exploring them, and a good deal of
+time to classify in your mind all your discoveries.
+
+"Let all strangers who come to London for business, or pleasure, or
+curiosity, or for whatever cause, not fail to visit the Reform Club.
+In an age of utilitarianism, and of the search for the comfortable,
+like ours, there is more to be learned here than in the ruins of the
+Coliseum, of the Parthenon, or of Memphis."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[27] Civil Engineer and Architects' Journal, 1841.
+
+
+
+
+THE CARLTON CLUB.
+
+
+The Carlton is purely a political Club, and was founded by the great
+Duke of Wellington, and a few of his most intimate political friends.
+It held its first meeting in Charles-street, St. James's, in the year
+1831. In the following year it removed to larger premises, Lord
+Kensington's, in Carlton Gardens. In 1836, an entirely new house was
+built for the Club, in Pall-Mall, by Sir Robert Smirke, R.A.: it was
+of small extent, and plain and inexpensive. As the Club grew in
+numbers and importance, the building became inadequate to its wants.
+In 1846, a very large addition was made to it by Mr. Sydney Smirke;
+and in 1854, the whole of the original edifice was taken down, and
+rebuilt by Mr. Smirke, upon a sumptuous scale; and it will be the
+largest, though not the most costly Club-house, in the metropolis. It
+is a copy of Sansovino's Library of St. Mark, at Venice: the
+entablature of the Ionic, or upper order, is considerably more
+ponderous than that of the Doric below, which is an unorthodox defect.
+The façade is highly enriched, and exhibits a novelty in the shafts of
+all the columns being of red Peterhead granite, highly polished,
+which, in contrast with the dead stone, is objectionable: "cloth of
+frieze and cloth of gold" do not wear well together. In the garden
+front the pilasters, which take the place of columns in the entrance
+front and flank, are of the same material as the latter, namely,
+Peterhead granite, polished. Many predictions were at first ventured
+upon as to the perishable nature of the lustre of the polished
+granite shafts; but these predictions have been falsified by time;
+nine years' exposure having produced no effect whatever on the
+polished surface. Probably the polish itself is the protection of the
+granite, by preventing moisture from hanging on the surface.
+
+The Carlton contains Conservatives of every hue, from the good
+old-fashioned Tory to the liberal progressist of the latest
+movements,--men of high position in fortune and politics.
+
+Some thirty years ago, a _Quarterly_ reviewer wrote: "The improvement
+and multiplication of Clubs is the grand feature of metropolitan
+progress. There are between twenty and thirty of these admirable
+establishments, at which a man of moderate habits can dine more
+comfortably for three or four shillings (including half a pint of
+wine), than he could have dined for four or five times that amount at
+the coffee-houses and hotels, which were the habitual resort of the
+bachelor class in the corresponding rank of life during the first
+quarter of the century. At some of the Clubs--the Travellers', the
+Coventry, and the Carlton, for example--the most finished luxury may
+be enjoyed at a very moderate cost. The best judges are agreed that it
+is utterly impossible to dine better than at the Carlton, when the
+cook has fair notice, and is not hurried, or confused by a multitude
+of orders. But great allowances must be made when a simultaneous rush
+occurs from both Houses of Parliament; and the caprices of individual
+members of such institutions are sometimes extremely trying to the
+temper and reputation of a _chef_."
+
+
+
+
+THE CONSERVATIVE CLUB.
+
+
+This handsome Club-house, which occupies a portion of the site of the
+old Thatched House Tavern, 74, St. James's-street, was designed by
+Sydney Smirke and George Basevi, 1845. The upper portion is
+Corinthian, with columns and pilasters, and a frieze sculptured with
+the imperial crown and oak-wreaths; the lower order is Roman-Doric;
+and the wings are slightly advanced, with an enriched entrance-porch
+north, and a bay-window south. The interior was superbly decorated in
+colour by Sang: the coved hall, with a gallery round it, and the domed
+vestibule above it, is a fine specimen of German encaustic
+embellishment, in the arches, soffites, spandrels, and ceilings; and
+the hall-floor is tessellated, around a noble star of marqueterie. The
+evening room, on the first floor, has an enriched coved ceiling, and a
+beautiful frieze of the rose, shamrock, and thistle, supported by
+scagliola Corinthian columns: the morning room, beneath, is of the
+same dimensions, with Ionic pillars. The library, in the upper story
+north, has columns and pilasters with bronzed capitals. Beneath is the
+coffee-room. The kitchen is far more spacious than that of the Reform
+Club. In the right wing is a large bay-window, which was introduced as
+an essential to the morning room, affording the lounger a view of Pall
+Mall and St. James's-street, and the Palace gateway; this introduction
+reminding us, by the way, of Theodore Hook's oddly comparing the
+bay-window of a coffee-house nearly on the same spot, to an obese old
+gentleman in a white waistcoat. Hook lived for some time in
+Cleveland-row: he used to describe the _real London_ as the space
+between Pall Mall on the south, Piccadilly north, St. James's west,
+and the Opera-house east.
+
+This is the second Club of the Conservative party, and many of its
+chiefs are honorary members, but rarely enter it: Sir Robert Peel is
+said never to have entered this Club-house except to view the
+interior. Other leaders have, however, availed themselves of the Club
+influences to recruit their ranks from its working strength. This has
+been political ground for a century and a half; for here, at the
+Thatched House Tavern, Swift met his political Clubs, and dined with
+Tory magnates; but with fewer appliances than in the present day; in
+Swift's time "the wine being always brought by him that is
+president."[28]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[28] The Palace clock has connected with it an odd anecdote, which we
+received from Mr. Vulliamy, of Pall Mall, who, with his family, as
+predecessors, had been the royal clockmakers since 1743. When the
+Palace Gate-house was repaired, in 1831, the clock was removed, and
+not put up again. The inhabitants of the neighbourhood, missing the
+clock, memorialized William IV. for the replacement of the
+time-keeper, when the King inquired why it was not restored; the reply
+was that the roof was reported unsafe to carry the weight, which His
+Majesty having ascertained, he shrewdly demanded how, if the roof were
+not strong enough to carry the clock, it was safe for the number of
+persons occasionally seen upon it to witness processions, and the
+company on drawing-room days? There was no questioning the
+calculation; the clock was forthwith replaced, and a minute-hand was
+added, with new dials. (_Curiosities of London_, p. 571.)
+
+
+
+
+THE OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE CLUB.
+
+
+The Oxford and Cambridge Club-house, 71, Pall Mall, for members of the
+two Universities, was designed by Sir Robert Smirke, R.A., and his
+brother, Mr. Sydney Smirke, 1835-8. The Pall Mall façade is 80 feet in
+width by 75 in height, and the rear lies over against the court of
+Marlborough House. The ornamental detail is very rich: as the
+entrance-portico, with Corinthian columns; the balcony, with its
+panels of metal foliage; and the ground-story frieze, and arms of
+Oxford and Cambridge Universities over the portico columns. The upper
+part of the building has a delicate Corinthian entablature and
+balustrade; and above the principal windows are bas-reliefs in panels,
+executed in cement by Nicholl, from designs by Sir R. Smirke, as
+follows:--Centre panel: Minerva and Apollo presiding on Mount
+Parnassus; and the River Helicon, surrounded by the Muses. Extreme
+panels: Homer singing to a warrior, a female, and a youth; Virgil
+singing his Georgics to a group of peasants. Other four panels: Milton
+reciting to his daughter; Shakspeare attended by Tragedy and Comedy;
+Newton explaining his system; Bacon, his philosophy. Beneath the
+ground-floor is a basement of offices, and an entresol or mezzanine of
+chambers. The principal apartments are tastefully decorated; the
+drawing-room is panelled with _papier mâché_; and the libraries are
+filled with book-cases of beautifully-marked Russian birchwood. From
+the back library is a view of Marlborough House and its gardens.
+
+
+
+
+THE GUARDS' CLUB.
+
+
+Was formerly housed in St. James's-street, next Crockford's, north;
+but, in 1850, they removed to Pall Mall, No. 70. The new Club-house
+was designed for them by Henry Harrison, and remarkable for its
+compactness and convenience, although its size and external appearance
+indicate no more than a private house. The architect has adopted some
+portion of a design of Sansovino's in the lower part or basement.
+
+
+
+
+THE ARMY AND NAVY CLUB.
+
+
+The Army and Navy Club-house, Pall Mall, corner of George-street,
+designed by Parnell and Smith, was opened February 1851. The exterior
+is a combination from Sansovino's Palazzo Cornaro, and Library of St.
+Mark at Venice; but varying in the upper part, which has Corinthian
+columns, with windows resembling arcades filling up the intercolumns;
+and over their arched headings are groups of naval and military
+symbols, weapons, and defensive armour--very picturesque. The frieze
+has also effective groups symbolic of the Army and Navy; the cornice,
+likewise very bold, is crowned by a massive balustrade. The basement,
+from the Cornaro, is rusticated; the entrance being in the centre of
+the east or George-street front, by three open arches, similar in
+character to those in the Strand front of Somerset House. The whole is
+extremely rich in ornamental detail. The hall is fine; the coffee-room
+is panelled with scagliola, and has a ceiling enriched with flowers,
+and pierced for ventilation by heated flues above; adjoining is a room
+lighted by a glazed plafond; next is the house dining-room, decorated
+in the Munich style; and more superb is the morning-room, with its
+arched windows, and mirrors forming arcades and vistas innumerable. A
+magnificent stone staircase leads to the library and reading rooms;
+and in the third story are billiard and card rooms; and a
+smoking-room, with a lofty dome elaborately decorated in traceried
+Moresque. The apartments are adorned with an equestrian portrait of
+Queen Victoria, painted by Grant, R.A.; a piece of Gobelin tapestry
+(Sacrifice to Diana), presented to the Club in 1849 by Prince Louis
+Napoleon; marble busts of William IV. and the Dukes of Kent and
+Cambridge; and several life-size portraits of naval and military
+heroes. The Club-house is provided with twenty lines of Whishaw's
+Telekouphona, or Speaking Telegraph, which communicate from the
+Secretary's room to the various apartments. The cost of this superb
+edifice, exclusive of fittings, was 35,000_l._; the plot of ground on
+which it stands cost the Club 52,000_l._
+
+The Club system has added several noble specimens of ornate
+architecture to the metropolis; to the south side of Pall Mall these
+fine edifices have given a truly patrician air. But, it is remarkable
+that while both parties political have contributed magnificent
+edifices towards the metropolis and their opinions; while the
+Conservatives can show with pride two splendid piles and the Liberals
+at least one handsome one; while the Army and Navy have recently a
+third palace--the most successful of the three they can boast; while
+the Universities, the sciences, even our Indian empire, come forward,
+the fashionable clubs, the aristocratic clubs do nothing for the
+general aspect of London, and have made no move in a direction where
+they ought to have been first. Can anything be more paltry than that
+bay-window from which the members of White's contemplate the cabstand
+and the Wellington Tavern? and yet a little management might make that
+house worthy of its unparalleled situation; and if it were extended to
+Piccadilly, it would be the finest thing of its kind in Europe.
+
+
+
+
+THE JUNIOR UNITED SERVICE CLUB.
+
+
+At the corner of Charles-street and Regent-street, was erected in
+1855-57, Nelson and James, architects, and has a most embellished
+exterior, enriched with characteristic sculpture by John Thomas. The
+design is described in the _Builder_ as in the Italian style of
+architecture, the bay-window in Regent-street forming a prominent
+feature in the composition, above which is a sculptured group
+allegorical of the Army and Navy. The whole of the sculpture and
+ornamental details throughout the building are characteristic of the
+profession of the members of the Club. The exterior of the building is
+surmounted by a richly-sculptured cornice, with modillion and dentils,
+and beneath it an elaborate frieze, having medallions with trophies
+and other suitable emblems, separated from each other by the rose,
+shamrock, and thistle. The external walls of the building are of Bath
+stone, and the balustrade round the area is of Portland stone; and
+upon the angle-pieces of this are bronze lamps, supported by figures.
+The staircase is lighted from the top by a handsome lantern, filled
+with painted glass, with an elaborate coved and ornamented ceiling
+around. On the landing of the half space are two pairs of caryatidal
+figures, and single figures against the walls, supporting three
+semicircular arches, and the whole is reflected by looking-glasses on
+the landing. On the upper landing of the staircase, is the celebrated
+picture, by Allan, of the Battle of Waterloo. Upon the first floor
+fronting Regent-street, and over the morning-room, and of the same
+dimensions, is the evening-room, which is also used as a
+picture-gallery, 24 feet high, with a bay-window fronting
+Regent-street. In the gallery are portraits of military and naval
+commanders; Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, and the Emperor
+Napoleon; and an allegorical group in silver, presented to the Club by
+his Imperial Majesty.
+
+
+
+
+CROCKFORD'S CLUB.
+
+
+This noted gaming Club-house, No. 50, on the west side of St.
+James's-street, over against White's, was built for Mr. Crockford, in
+1827; B. and P. Wyatt, architects.
+
+Crockford started in life as a fishmonger, at the old bulk-shop
+next-door to Temple Bar Without, which he quitted for play in St.
+James's. "For several years deep play went on at all the
+Clubs--fluctuating both as to locality and amount--till by degrees it
+began to flag. It was at a low ebb when Mr. Crockford laid the
+foundation of the most colossal fortune that was ever made by play. He
+began by taking Watier's old Club-house, in partnership with a man
+named Taylor. They set up a hazard-bank, and won a great deal of
+money, but quarrelled and separated at the end of the first year.
+Taylor continued where he was, had a bad year, and failed. Crockford
+removed to St. James's-street, had a good year, and immediately set
+about building the magnificent Club-house which bears his name. It
+rose like a creation of Aladdin's lamp; and the genii themselves could
+hardly have surpassed the beauty of the internal decorations, or
+furnished a more accomplished _maître d'hôtel_ than Ude. To make the
+company as select as possible, the establishment was regularly
+organized as a Club, and the election of members vested in a
+committee. 'Crockford's' became the rage, and the votaries of fashion,
+whether they liked play or not, hastened to enrol themselves. The Duke
+of Wellington was an original member, though (unlike Blücher, who
+repeatedly lost everything he had at play) the great Captain was never
+known to play deep at any game but war or politics. Card-tables were
+regularly placed, and whist was played occasionally; but the aim, end,
+and final cause of the whole was the hazard-bank, at which the
+proprietor took his nightly stand, prepared for all comers. _Le
+Wellington des Joueurs_ lost 23,000_l._ at a sitting, beginning at
+twelve at night, and ending at seven the following evening. He and
+three other noblemen could not have lost less, sooner or later, than
+100,000_l._ apiece. Others lost in proportion (or out of proportion)
+to their means; but we leave it to less occupied moralists, and
+better calculators, to say how many ruined families went to make Mr.
+Crockford a _millionnaire_--for a _millionnaire_ he was in the English
+sense of the term, after making the largest possible allowance for bad
+debts. A vast sum, perhaps half a million, was sometimes due to him;
+but as he won, all his debtors were able to raise, and easy credit was
+the most fatal of his lures. He retired in 1840, much as an Indian
+chief retires from a hunting country when there is not game enough
+left for his tribe, and the Club is now tottering to its fall."[29]
+
+The Club-house consists of two wings and a centre, with four
+Corinthian pilasters, and entablature, and a balustrade throughout;
+the ground-floor has Venetian windows, and the upper story, large
+French windows. The entrance-hall had a screen of Roman-Ionic
+scagliola columns with gilt capitals, and a cupola of gilding and
+stained glass. The library has Sienna columns and antæ of the Ionic
+order, from the Temple of Minerva Polias; the staircase is panelled
+with scagliola, and enriched with Corinthian columns. The grand
+drawing-room is in the style of Louis Quatorze: azure ground, with
+elaborate cove; ceiling enrichments bronze gilt; door-way paintings _à
+la Watteau_; and panelling, masks, terminals, heavily gilt. Upon the
+opening of the Club-house, it was described in the exaggerated style,
+as "the New Pandemonium"; the drawing-rooms, or real Hell, consisting
+of four chambers; the first an ante-room, opening to a saloon
+embellished to a degree which baffles description; thence to a small,
+curiously-formed cabinet, or boudoir, which opens to the supper room.
+All these rooms are panelled in the most gorgeous manner, spaces
+being left to be filled up with mirrors, silk or gold enrichments; the
+ceilings being as superb as the walls. A billiard-room on the upper
+floor completes the number of apartments professedly dedicated to the
+use of the members. Whenever any secret manoeuvre is to be carried
+on, there are smaller and more retired places, both under this roof
+and the next, whose walls will tell no tales.
+
+The _cuisine_ at Crockford's was of the highest class, and the members
+were occasionally very _exigeant_, and trying to the patience of M.
+Ude. At one period of his presidency, a ground of complaint, formally
+addressed to the Committee, was that there was an admixture of onion
+in the _soubise_. Colonel Damer, happening to enter Crockford's one
+evening to dine early, found Ude walking up and down in a towering
+passion, and naturally inquired what was the matter. "No matter,
+Monsieur le Colonel! Did you see that man who has just gone out? Well,
+he ordered a red mullet for his dinner. I made him a delicious little
+sauce with my own hands. The price of the mullet marked on the _carte_
+was 2_s._; I asked 6_d._ for the sauce. He refuses to pay the 6_d._
+That _imbécille_ apparently believes that the red mullets come out of
+the sea with my sauce in their pockets!" The _imbécille_ might have
+retorted that they do come out of the sea with their appropriate sauce
+in their pockets; but this forms no excuse for damaging the consummate
+genius of a Ude.
+
+The appetites of some Club members appear to entitle them to be called
+_gourmands_ rather than _gourmets_. Of such a member of Crockford's
+the following traits are related in the _Quarterly Review_, No.
+110:--"The Lord-lieutenant of one of the western counties eats a covey
+of partridges for breakfast every day during the season; and there is
+a popular M.P. at present [1836] about town who would eat a covey of
+partridges, as the Scotchman ate a dozen of becaficos, for a whet, and
+feel himself astonished if his appetite was not accelerated by the
+circumstance. Most people must have seen or heard of a caricature
+representing a gentleman at dinner upon a round of beef, with the
+landlord looking on. 'Capital beef, landlord!' says the gentleman; 'a
+man may cut and come again here.' 'You may cut, Sir,' responds
+Boniface; 'but I'm blow'd if you shall come again.' The person
+represented is the M.P. in question; and the sketch is founded upon
+fact. He had occasion to stay late in the City, and walked into the
+celebrated Old Bailey beef-shop on his return, where, according to the
+landlord's computation, he demolished about seven pounds and a half of
+solid meat, with a proportionate allowance of greens. His exploits at
+Crockford's have been such, that the founder of that singular
+institution has more than once had serious thoughts of giving him a
+guinea to sup elsewhere; and has only been prevented by the fear of
+meeting with a rebuff similar to that mentioned in _Roderick Random_
+as received by the master of an ordinary, who, on proposing to buy off
+an ugly customer, was informed by him that he had already been bought
+off by all the other ordinaries in town, and was consequently under
+the absolute necessity of continuing to patronize the establishment."
+
+Theodore Hook was a frequent visitor at Crockford's, where play did
+not begin till late. Mr. Barham describes him, after going the round
+of the Clubs, proposing, with some gay companion, to finish with half
+an hour at Crockford's: "The half-hour is quadrupled, and the
+excitement of the preceding evening was nothing to that which now
+ensued." He had a receipt of his own to prevent being exposed to the
+night air. "I was very ill," he once said, "some months ago, and my
+doctor gave me particular orders not to expose myself to it; so I come
+up [from Fulham] every day to Crockford's, or some other place to
+dinner, and I make it a rule on no account to go home again till about
+four or five o'clock in the morning."
+
+After Crockford's death, the Club-house was sold by his executors for
+2,900_l._; held on lease, of which thirty-two years were unexpired,
+subject to a yearly rent of 1,400_l._ It is said that the decorations
+alone cost 94,000_l._ The interior was re-decorated in 1849, and
+opened for the Military, Naval, and County Service Club, but was
+closed again in 1851. It has been, for several years, a
+dining-house--"the Wellington."
+
+Crockford's old bulk-shop, west of Temple-bar, was taken down in 1846.
+It is engraved in Archer's _Vestiges of London_, part i. A view in
+1795, in the Crowle Pennant, presents one tall gable to the street;
+but the pitch of the roof had been diminished by adding two imperfect
+side gables. The heavy pents originally traversed over each of the
+three courses of windows; it was a mere timber frame filled up with
+lath and plaster, the beams being of deal with short oak joints: it
+presented a capital example of the old London bulk-shop (sixteenth
+century), with a heavy canopy projecting over the pathway, and turned
+up at the rim to carry off the rain endwise. This shop had long been
+held by a succession of fishmongers; and Crockford would not permit
+the house-front to be altered in his lifetime. He was known in gaming
+circles by the sobriquet of "the Fishmonger."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[29] Edinburgh Review.
+
+
+
+
+"KING ALLEN," "THE GOLDEN BALL," AND SCROPE DAVIES.
+
+
+In the old days when gaming was in fashion, at Watier's Club, princes
+and nobles lost or gained fortunes between themselves. It was the same
+at Brookes's, one member of which, Lord Robert Spencer, was wise
+enough to apply what he had won to the purchase of the estate of
+Woolbidding, Suffolk. Then came Crockford's hell, the proprietor of
+which, a man who had begun life with a fish-basket, won the whole of
+the ready money of the then existing generation of aristocratic
+simpletons. Among the men who most suffered by play was Viscount
+Allen, or 'King Allen,' as he was called. This effeminate dandy had
+fought like a young lion in Spain; for the dandies, foolish as they
+looked, never wanted pluck. The 'King' then lounged about town, grew
+fat, lost his all, and withdrew to Dublin, where, in Merrion-square,
+he slept behind a large brass plate with 'Viscount Allen' upon it,
+which was as good to him as board wages, for it brought endless
+invitations from people eager to feed a viscount at any hour of the
+day or night, although King Allen had more ready ability in uttering
+disagreeable than witty things.
+
+Very rarely indeed did any of the ruined gamesters ever get on their
+legs again. The Golden Ball, however, was an exception. Ball Hughes
+fell from the very top of the gay pagoda into the mud, but even there,
+as life was nothing to him without the old excitement, he played pitch
+and toss for halfpence, and he won and lost small ventures at
+battledore and shuttlecock, which innocent exercise he turned into a
+gambling speculation. After he withdrew, in very reduced
+circumstances, to France, his once mad purchase of Oatlands suddenly
+assumed a profitable aspect. The estate was touched by a railway and
+admired by building speculators, and between the two the Ball, in its
+last days, had a very cheerful and glittering aspect indeed.
+
+Far less lucky than Hughes was Scrope Davies, whose name was once so
+familiar to every man and boy about town. There was good stuff about
+this dandy. He one night won the whole fortune of an aspiring fast lad
+who had come of age the week before, and who was so prostrated by his
+loss that kindly-hearted Scrope gave back the fortune the other had
+lost, on his giving his word of honour never to play again. Davies
+stuck to the green baize till his own fortune had gone among a score
+of less compassionate gentlemen. His distressed condition was made
+known to the young fellow to whom he had formerly acted with so much
+generosity, and that grateful heir refused to lend him even a guinea.
+Scrope was not of the gentlemen-ruffians of the day who were addicted
+to cruelly assaulting men weaker than themselves. He was well-bred and
+a scholar; and he bore his reverses with a rare philosophy. His home
+was on a bench in the Tuileries, where he received old acquaintances
+who visited him in exile; but he admitted only very tried friends to
+the little room where he read and slept. He was famed for his
+readiness in quoting the classical poets, and for his admiration of
+Moore, in whose favour those quotations were frequently made. They
+were often most happy. For example, he translated 'Ubi _plura_ nitent
+non ego _paucis_ offendar maculis,' by '_Moore shines so brightly that
+I cannot find fault with Little's vagaries_!' He also rendered 'Ne
+_plus_ ultra,' '_Nothing is better than Moore!_'[30]
+
+
+
+
+THE FOUR-IN-HAND CLUB.
+
+
+Gentleman-coaching has scarcely been known in England seventy years.
+The Anglo-Erichthonius, the Hon. Charles Finch, brother to the Earl of
+Aylesford, used to drive his own coach-and-four, disguised in a livery
+great-coat. Soon after his _début_, however, the celebrated "Tommy
+Onslow," Sir John Lacy, and others, mounted the box in their own
+characters. Sir John was esteemed a renowned judge of coach-horses and
+carriages, and a coachman of the old school; but everything connected
+with the coach-box has undergone such a change, that the Nestors of
+the art are no longer to be quoted. Among the celebrities may be
+mentioned the "B. C. D.," or Benson Driving Club, which held its
+rendezvous at the "Black Dog," Bedfont, as one of the numerous driving
+associations, whose processions used, some five-and-thirty years ago,
+to be among the most imposing, as well as peculiar, spectacles in and
+about the metropolis.
+
+On the stage, the gentlemen drivers, of whom the members of the
+Four-in-Hand Club were the exclusive _élite_, were illustrated rather
+than caricatured in _Goldfinch_, in Holcroft's comedy _The Road to
+Ruin_. Some of them who had not "drags" of their own, "tipped" a
+weekly allowance to stage coachmen, to allow them to "finger the
+ribbons," and "tool the team." Of course, they frequently "spilt" the
+passengers. The closeness with which the professional coachmen were
+imitated by the "bucks," is shown in the case of wealthy young Ackers,
+who had one of his front teeth taken out, in order that he might
+acquire the true coachman-like way of "spitting." There were men of
+brains, nevertheless, in the Four-in-Hand, who knew how to ridicule
+such fellow-members as Lord Onslow, whom they thus immortalized in an
+epigram of that day:--
+
+     "What can Tommy Onslow do?
+     He can drive a coach and two!
+     Can Tommy Onslow do no more?
+     He can drive a coach and four."
+
+It is a curious fact, that the fashion of amateur charioteering was
+first set by the ladies. Dr. Young has strikingly sketched, in his
+satires, the Delia who was as good a coachman as the man she paid for
+being so:--
+
+     "Graceful as John, she moderates the reins,
+     And whistles sweet her diuretic strains."
+
+The Four-in-Hand combined gastronomy with equestrianism and
+charioteering. They always drove out of town to dinner, and the ghost
+of Scrope Davies will pardon our suggesting that the club of drivers
+and diners might well have taken for their motto, "Quadrigis, petimus
+bene vivere!"[31]
+
+There is another version of the epigram on Tom Onslow:--
+
+     "Say, what can Tommy Onslow do?
+     Can drive a curricle and two.
+     Can Tommy Onslow do no more?
+     Yes,--drive a curricle and four."
+
+This is the version current, we are told, among Onslow's relations in
+the neighbourhood of Guildford.
+
+Lord Onslow's celebrity as _a whip_ long preceded the existence of the
+Four-in-Hand Club (the palmy days of which belong to the times of
+George the Fourth), and it was not a _coach_, but a _phaeton_, that he
+drove. A correspondent of the _Athenæum_ writes: "I knew him
+personally, in my own boyhood, in Surrey, in the first years of the
+present century; and I remember then hearing the epigram now referred
+to, not as new, but as well known, in the following form:--
+
+     'What can little T. O. do?
+     Drive a phaeton and two.
+     Can little T. O. do no more?
+     Yes,--drive a phaeton and four.'
+
+"Tommy Onslow was a little man, full of life and oddities, one of
+which was a fondness for driving into odd places; and I remember the
+surprise of a pic-nic party, which he joined in a secluded spot,
+driving up in his 'phaeton and four' through ways that were hardly
+supposed passable by anything beyond a flock of sheep. An earlier
+exploit of his had a less agreeable termination. He was once driving
+through Thames-street, when the hook of a crane, dangling down in
+front of one of the warehouses, caught the hood of the phaeton,
+tilting him out, and the fall broke his collar-bone."
+
+The vehicles of the Club which were formerly used are described as of
+a hybrid class, quite as elegant as private carriages and lighter than
+even the mails. They were horsed with the finest animals that money
+could secure. In general, the whole four in each carriage were
+admirably matched; grey and chestnut were the favourite colours, but
+occasionally very black horses, or such as were freely flecked with
+white, were preferred. The master generally drove the team, often a
+nobleman of high rank, who commonly copied the dress of a mail
+coachman. The company usually rode outside, but two footmen in rich
+liveries were indispensable on the back seat, nor was it at all
+uncommon to see some splendidly attired female on the box. A rule of
+the Club was that all members should turn out three times a week; and
+the start was made at mid-day, from the neighbourhood of Piccadilly,
+through which they passed to the Windsor-road,--the attendants of each
+carriage playing on their silver bugles. From twelve to twenty of
+these handsome vehicles often left London together.
+
+There remain a few handsome drags, superbly horsed. In a note to
+Nimrod's life-like sketch, "The Road,"[32] it is stated that "only ten
+years back, there were from thirty-four to forty four-in-hand
+equipages to be seen constantly about town."
+
+Nimrod has some anecdotical illustrations of the taste for the _whip_,
+which has undoubtedly declined; and at one time, perhaps, it occupied
+more attention among the higher classes of society than we ever wish
+to see it do again. Yet, taken in moderation, we can perceive no
+reason to condemn this branch of sport more than others. "If so great
+a personage as Sophocles could think it fitting to display his science
+in public, in the trifling game of ball, why may not an English
+gentleman exercise his skill on a coach-box? If the Athenians, the
+most polished nation of all antiquity, deemed it _an honour_ to be
+considered skilful charioteers, why should Englishmen consider it a
+disgrace? To be serious, our amateur or _gentlemen-coachmen_ have
+done much good: the road would never have been what it now is, but for
+the encouragement they gave, by their notice and support, to all
+persons connected with it. Would the Holyhead road have been what it
+is, had there been no such persons as the Hon. Thomas Kenyon, Sir
+Henry Parnell, and Mr. Maddox? Would the Oxford coachmen have set so
+good an example as they have done to their brethren of 'the bench,'
+had there been no such men on their road as Sir Henry Peyton, Lord
+Clonmel, the late Sir Thomas Mostyn; that Nestor of coachmen, Mr.
+Annesley; and the late Mr. Harrison of Shelswell? Would not the
+unhappy coachmen of five-and-twenty years back have gone on, wearing
+out their breeches with the bumping of the old coach-box, and their
+stomachs with brandy, had not Mr. Warde of Squerries, after many a
+weary endeavour, persuaded the proprietors to place their boxes upon
+springs--the plan for accomplishing which was suggested by Mr.
+Roberts, nephew to then proprietor of the White Horse, Fetter Lane,
+London, but now of the Royal Hotel, Calais? What would the Devonshire
+road have been, but for the late Sir Charles Bamfylde, Sir John
+Rogers, Colonel Prouse, Sir Lawrence Palk, and others? Have the advice
+and the practice of such experienced men as Mr. Charles Buxton, Mr.
+Henry Villebois, Mr. Okeover, Sir Bellingham Graham, Mr. John Walker,
+Lord Sefton, Sir Felix Agar,[33] Mr. Ackers, Mr. Maxse, Hon. Fitzroy
+Stanhope, Colonel Spicer, Colonel Sibthorpe, _cum multis aliis_, been
+thrown away upon persons who have looked up to them as protectors?
+Certainly not: neither would the improvement in carriages--stage-coaches
+more especially--have arrived at its present height, but for the
+attention and suggestions of such persons as we have been speaking
+of."
+
+A commemoration of long service in the coaching department may be
+related here. In the autumn of 1835, a handsome compliment was paid to
+Mr. Charles Holmes, the driver and part proprietor of the Blenheim
+coach (from Woodstock to London) to celebrate the completion of his
+twentieth year on that well-appointed coach, a period that had elapsed
+without a single accident to his coach, his passengers, or himself;
+and during which time, with the exception of a very short absence from
+indisposition, he had driven his sixty-five miles every day, making
+somewhere about twenty-three thousand miles a year. The numerous
+patrons of the coach entered into a subscription to present him with a
+piece of plate; and accordingly a cup, bearing the shape of an antique
+vase, the cover surmounted by a beautifully modelled horse, with a
+coach and four horses on one side, and a suitable inscription on the
+other, was presented to Mr. Holmes by that staunch patron of the road,
+Sir Henry Peyton, Bart., in August, at a dinner at the Thatched House
+Tavern, St. James's-street, to which between forty and fifty gentlemen
+sat down. The list of subscribers amounted to upwards of two hundred
+and fifty, including among others the Duke of Wellington.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[30] Athenæum review of Captain Gronow's Anecdotes.
+
+[31] Athenæum, No. 1739.
+
+[32] Written, it must be recollected, some thirty years since.
+Reprinted in Murray's 'Reading for the Rail.'
+
+[33] Perhaps one of the finest specimens of good coachmanship was
+performed by Sir Felix Agar. He made a bet, which he won, that he
+would drive his own four-horses-in-hand, up Grosvenor-place, down the
+passage into Tattersall's Yard, around the pillar which stands in the
+centre of it, and back again into Grosvenor-place, _without either of
+his horses going at a slower pace than a trot_.
+
+
+
+
+WHIST CLUBS.
+
+
+To Hoyle has been ascribed the invention of the game of Whist. This is
+certainly a mistake, though there can be no doubt that it was indebted
+to him for being first specially treated of and introduced to the
+public in a scientific manner. He also wrote on piquet, quadrille, and
+backgammon, but little is known of him more than he was born in 1672,
+and died in Cavendish-square on 29th August, 1769, at the advanced age
+of ninety-seven. He was a barrister by profession, and Registrar of
+the Prerogative in Ireland, a post worth £600 a year. His treatise on
+Whist, for which he received from the publisher the sum of £1000, ran
+through five editions in one year, besides being extensively pirated.
+
+     "Whist, Ombre, and Quadrille, at Court were used,
+     And Bassett's power the City dames amused,
+     Imperial Whist was yet but slight esteemed,
+     And pastime fit for none but rustics deemed.
+     How slow at first is still the growth of fame!
+     And what obstructions wait each rising name!
+     Our stupid fathers thus neglected, long,
+     The glorious boast of Milton's epic song;
+     But Milton's muse at last a critic found,
+     Who spread his praise o'er all the world around;
+     And Hoyle at length, for Whist performed the same,
+     And proved its right to universal fame."
+
+Whist first began to be popular in England about 1730, when it was
+very closely studied by a party of gentlemen, who formed a sort of
+Club, at the Crown Coffee-house in Bedford-row. Hoyle is said to have
+given instructions in the game, for which his charge was a guinea a
+lesson.
+
+The Laws of Whist have been variously given.[34] More than half a
+century has elapsed since the supremacy of "long whist" was assailed
+by a reformed, or rather revolutionized form of the game. The
+champions of the ancient rules and methods did not at once submit to
+the innovation. The conservatives were not without some good arguments
+on their side; but "short whist" had attractions that proved
+irresistible, and it has long since fully established itself as the
+only game to be understood when whist is named. But hence, in the
+course of time, has arisen an inconvenience. The old school of players
+had, in the works of Hoyle and Cavendish, manuals and text-books of
+which the rules, cases, and decisions were generally accepted. For
+short whist no such "volume paramount" has hitherto existed. Hoyle
+could not be safely trusted by a learner, so much contained in that
+venerable having become obsolete. Thus, doubtful cases arising out of
+the short game had to be referred to the best living players for
+decision. But there was some confusion in the "whist world," and the
+necessity of a code of the modern laws and rules of this "almost
+perfect" game had become apparent, when a combined effort was made by
+a committee of some of the most skilful to supply the deficiency.
+
+The movement was commenced by Mr. J. Loraine Baldwin, who obtained the
+assistance of a Committee, including members of several of the best
+London Clubs well known as whist players. They were deputed to draw up
+a code of rules for the game, which, if approved, was to be adopted by
+the Arlington Club. They performed their task with the most decided
+success. The rules they laid down as governing the best modern
+practice have been accepted, not only by the Arlington, but the Army
+and Navy, Arthur's, Boodle's, Brookes's, Carlton, Conservative,
+Garrick, Guards, Junior Carlton, Portland, Oxford and Cambridge,
+Reform, St. James's, White's, etc. To the great section of the whist
+world that do not frequent Clubs, it may be satisfactory to know the
+names of the gentlemen composing the Committee of Codification, whose
+rules are to become law. They are Admiral Rous, chairman; Mr. G.
+Bentinck, M.P.; Mr. J. Bushe; Mr. J. Clay, M.P.; Mr. C. Greville; Mr.
+R. Knightley, M.P.; Mr. H. B. Mayne; Mr. G. Payne; and Colonel Pipon.
+The _Laws of Short Whist_[35] were in 1865 published in a small
+volume; and to this strictly legal portion of the book is appended _A
+Treatise on the Game_, by Mr. J. Clay, M.P. for Hull. It may be read
+with advantage by the commencing student of whist and the advanced
+player, and with pleasure even by those who are totally ignorant of
+it, and have no wish to learn it. There are several incidental
+illustrations and anecdotes, that will interest those not gifted with
+the faculties good whist requires. Mr. Clay is reported to be one of
+the best, if not the very best, of modern players. The Dedication is
+as follows: "To the Members of the Portland Club, admitted among whom,
+as a boy, I have passed many of the pleasantest days of my life, I
+have learned what little I know of Whist, and have formed many of my
+oldest friendships, this Treatise on Short Whist is dedicated with
+feelings of respect and regard, by their old playfellow, J. C."
+
+Leaving his instructions, like the rules of the committee, to a more
+severe test than criticism, we extract from his first chapter a
+description of the incident to which short whist owes its origin. It
+will probably be quite new to thousands who are familiar with the
+game.
+
+"Some eighty years back, Lord Peterborough, having one night lost a
+large sum of money, the friends with whom he was playing proposed to
+make the game five points instead of ten, in order to give the loser a
+chance, at a quicker game, of recovering his loss. The new game was
+found to be so lively, and money changed hands with such increased
+rapidity, that these gentlemen and their friends, all of them leading
+members of the Clubs of the day, continued to play it. It became
+general in the Clubs, thence was introduced to private houses,
+travelled into the country, went to Paris, and has long since so
+entirely superseded the whist of Hoyle's day, that of short whist
+alone I propose to treat. I shall thus spare the reader, the learning
+much in the old works that it is not necessary for him to know, and
+not a little which, if learned, should be at once forgotten."
+
+Graham's, in St. James's-street, the greatest of Card Clubs, was
+dissolved about five-and-twenty years back.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[34] Abridged from the _Times_ journal.
+
+[35] _The Laws of Short Whist_, edited by J. L. Baldwin, and a
+Treatise on the Game, by J. C. Harrison, 59, Pall Mall.
+
+
+
+
+PRINCE'S CLUB RACQUET COURTS.
+
+
+In the early history of the metropolis we find the Londoners warmly
+attached to outdoor sports and pastimes; although time and the spread
+of the great city have long obliterated the sites upon which these
+popular amusements were enjoyed. Smithfield, we know, was the
+town-green for centuries before it became the focus of its fanatic
+fires; Maypoles stood in various parts of the City and suburbs, as
+kept in remembrance by name to this day; football was played in the
+main artery of the town--Fleet-street and the Strand, for instance;
+_paille malle_ was played in St. James's Park, and the street which is
+named after the game; and tennis and other games at ball were enjoyed
+on open grounds long before they were played in covered courts; while
+the bowling-greens in the environs were neither few nor far between,
+almost to our time.
+
+Tennis, we need scarcely state here, was originally played with the
+hand, at first naked, then covered with a thick glove, to which
+succeeded the bat or racquet, whence the present name of the game. A
+few of our kings have been tennis-players. In the sixteenth century
+tennis courts were common in England, being attached to country
+mansions. Later, playing-courts were opened in the metropolis: for
+example, to the houses of entertainment which formerly stood at the
+opposite angles of Windmill-street and the Haymarket were attached
+tennis-courts, which lasted to our time: one of these courts exists in
+James-street, Haymarket, to this day. To stroll out from the heated
+and crowded streets of the town to the village was a fashion of the
+last century, as we read in the well-remembered line--
+
+     "Some dukes at Marybone bowl time away."
+
+Taking into account the vast growth of the metropolis, we are not
+surprised at so luxurious a means of healthful enjoyment as a racquet
+court presents being added to the establishments or institutions of
+this very clubbable age. Hitherto Clubs had been mostly appropriated
+to the purposes of refection; but why should not the social refinement
+be extended to the enjoyment of so health-giving sport and manly a
+pastime as racquet? The experiment was made, and with perfect success,
+immediately upon the confines of one of the most recent settlements of
+fashion--Belgravia. It is private property, and bears the name of
+"Prince's Club Racquet Courts."
+
+The Club, established in 1854, is built upon the Pavilion estate, in
+the rear of the north side of Sloane-street, the principal entrance
+being from Hans-place. The grounds are of considerable extent, and
+were originally laid out by Capability Brown. They were almost
+environed with lofty timber-trees; and the genius of landscape
+gardening, fostered by wealth, rendered this glade in the Brompton
+groves of old a sort of rural elysium.
+
+The Pavilion estate was once the property of Holland, the well-known
+architect, who planned Sloane-street and Hans-place, as a building
+speculation; and, in the grounds nearly between them, built himself
+what was then considered a handsome villa, the front of which was
+originally designed by Holland as a model for the Prince of Wales's
+Pavilion at Brighton; hence the name, the Pavilion estate. In the
+grounds, among the remains of Brown's ornamental work, was an
+icehouse, amidst the imitative ruins of a priory. Here, also, were the
+Ionic columns (isolated) which were formerly in the screen of Carlton
+House.
+
+The Club buildings comprise seven closed courts; a tennis court;
+gallery and refreshment rooms; baths, and a Turkish bath.
+
+Prince's Club is a subscription establishment; and its government is
+vested in a committee. Gentlemen desirous of becoming members of the
+Club must be proposed and seconded by two of its members. Two of the
+rules enact--that members have the privilege of introducing two
+friends, but that such visitors, if they play, be charged double the
+rate charged to members; and that no hazard, dice, or game of chance
+be allowed in this Club. Their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales
+and the Duke of Cambridge are members.
+
+
+
+
+AN ANGLING CLUB.
+
+
+Professor Owen is accustomed to relate the following very amusing
+incident, which occurred in a Club of some of the working scientific
+men of London, who, with a few others, after their winter's work of
+lecturing is over, occasionally sally forth to have a day's fishing.
+"We have," says Professor Owen, "for that purpose taken a small river
+in the neighbourhood of the metropolis, and near its banks there
+stands a little public-house, where we dine soberly and sparingly, on
+such food as old Izaak Walton loved. We have a rule that he who
+catches the biggest fish of the day shall be our president for the
+evening. In the course of one day, a member, not a scientific man, but
+a high political man, caught a trout that weighed 3½ lb.; but earlier
+in the day he had pulled out a barbel of half a pound weight. So while
+we were on the way to our inn, what did this political gentleman do
+but, with the butt-end of his rod, ram the barbel down the trout's
+throat, in which state he handed his fish to be weighed. Thus he
+scored four pounds, which being the greatest weight he took the
+chair.
+
+"As we were going away from home, a man of science,--it was the
+President of the Royal Society,--said to the man of politics, 'If you
+don't want that fine fish of yours, I should like to have it, for I
+have some friends to dine with me to-morrow.' My Lord took it home,
+and I heard no more until we met on the next week. Then, while we were
+preparing our tackle, the President of the Royal Society said to our
+high political friend, 'There were some very extraordinary
+circumstances, do you know, about that fish you gave me. I had no idea
+that the trout was so voracious; but that one had swallowed a
+barbel.'--'I am astonished to hear your Lordship say so,' rejoined an
+eminent naturalist; 'trout may be voracious enough to swallow
+minnows--but a barbel, my Lord! There must be some mistake.'--'Not at
+all,' replied his lordship, 'for the fact got to my family that the
+cook, in cutting open the throat, had found a barbel inside; and as my
+family knew I was fond of natural history, I was called into the
+kitchen. There I saw the trout had swallowed a barbel, full half a
+pound weight.'--'Out of the question, my Lord,' said the naturalist;
+'it's altogether quite unscientific and unphilosophical.'--'I don't
+know what may be philosophical in the matter--I only know I am telling
+you a matter of fact,' said his Lordship; and the dispute having
+lasted awhile, explanations were given, and the practical joke was
+heartily enjoyed. And" (continued Professor Owen) "you will see that
+both were right and both were wrong. My Lord was right in his
+fact--the barbel was inside the trout; but he was quite wrong in his
+hypothesis founded upon that fact, that the trout had therefore
+swallowed the barbel,--the last was only matter of opinion."
+
+
+
+
+THE RED LIONS.
+
+
+In 1839, when the British Association met in Birmingham, several of
+its younger members happened, accidentally, to dine at the Red Lion,
+in Church-street. The dinner was pleasant, the guests well suited to
+each other, and the meeting altogether proved so agreeable, that it
+was resolved to continue it from year to year, wherever the
+Association might happen to meet. By degrees the "Red Lions"--the name
+was assumed from the accident of the first meeting-place--became a
+very exclusive Club; and under the presidency of Professor Edward
+Forbes, it acquired a celebrity which, in its way, almost rivalled
+that of the Association itself. Forbes first drew around him the small
+circle of jovial philosophers at the Red Lion. The names of Lankester,
+Thomson, Bell, Mitchell, and Strickland are down in the old
+muster-roll. Many were added afterwards, as the Club was kept up in
+London, in meetings at Anderton's, in Fleet-street. The old cards of
+invitation were very droll: they were stamped with the figure of a red
+lion erect, with a pot of beer in one paw, and a long clay pipe in the
+other, and the invitation commenced with "The carnivora will feed" at
+such an hour. Forbes, who, as _pater omnipotens_, always took the
+chair at the first chance meeting round the plain table of the inn,
+gave a capital stock of humour to this feeding of the naturalists by
+taking up his coat-tail and roaring whenever a good thing was said or
+a good song sung; and, of course, all the other Red Lions did the
+same. When roaring and tail-wagging became so characteristic an
+institution among the members, Mr. Mitchell, then secretary of the
+Zoological Society, presented a fine lion's skin to the Club; and ever
+after the President sat with this skin spread over his chair, the paws
+at the elbows, and the tail handy to be wagged. Alas! this tail no
+longer wags at Birmingham, and after vibrating with languid emotion in
+London, has now ceased to show any signs of life. The old Red Lion has
+lost heart, and has slumbered since the death of Forbes.
+
+At the Meeting of the British Association at Birmingham, in 1865, an
+endeavour was made to revive the Red Lion dinner on something like its
+former scale; the idea being probably suggested by the circumstance of
+the Club having been originated in Birmingham. Lord Houghton, who is,
+we believe, "an old Red," presided; but the idiosyncrasy of the real
+Red Lion, and his intense love of plain roast and boiled, were missed:
+some sixty guests sat down, _not_ at the Red Lion, but at a hotel
+banquet. Not one of the celebrants on this occasion had passed through
+his novitiate as a Red Lion cub: he was not asked whether he could
+roar or sing a song, or had ever said a good thing, one of which
+qualifications was a _sine quâ non_ in the old Club. There were,
+however, some good songs: Professor Rankine sang "The Mathematician in
+Love," a song of his own. Then, there are some choice spirits among
+these philosophers. After the banquet a section adjourned to the B.
+Club, members of which are chiefly chemical in their serious moments.
+Indeed, all through the meeting there was a succession of jovial
+parties in the identical room at the Red Lion.[36]
+
+
+
+
+THE COVENTRY, ERECTHEUM, AND PARTHENON CLUBS.
+
+
+The Coventry, or Ambassadors' Club was instituted about twelve years
+since, at No. 106, Piccadilly, facing the Green Park. The handsome
+stone-fronted mansion occupies the site of the old Greyhound inn, and
+was bought by the Earl of Coventry of Sir Hugh Hunlock, in 1764, for
+£10,000, subject to the ground-rent of £75 per annum. The Club enjoyed
+but a brief existence: it was closed in March, 1854.
+
+The Erectheum Club, St. James's-square, corner of York-street, was
+established by Sir John Dean Paul, Bart., and became celebrated for
+its good dinners. The Club-house was formerly the town depôt of
+Wedgwood's famous "ware;" and occupies the site of the mansion built
+for the Earl of Romney, the handsome Sydney of De Grammont's Memoirs.
+
+The Parthenon Club-house (late Mr. Edwards's), east side of
+Regent-street, nearly facing St. Philip's Chapel, was designed by
+Nash: the first floor is elegant Corinthian. The south division was
+built by Mr. Nash for his own residence; it has a long gallery,
+decorated from a _loggia_ of the Vatican at Rome: it is now the
+_Gallery of Illustration_.
+
+"The Coventry Club was a Club of most exclusive exquisites, and was
+rich in diplomacy; but it blew up in admired confusion. Even so did
+Lord Cardigan's Club, founded upon the site of Crockford's. The
+Clarence, the Albion, and a dozen other small Clubs have all
+dissolved, some of them with great loss to the members, and the
+Erectheum and Parthenon thought it prudent to join their forces to
+keep the wolf from the door."--_New Quarterly Review._
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[36] Abridged from the _Daily News_.
+
+
+
+
+ANTIQUARIAN CLUBS,--THE NOVIOMAGIANS.
+
+
+We have already seen how the more convivially disposed members of
+Learned Societies have, from time to time, formed themselves into
+Clubs. The Royals have done so, _ab initio_. The Antiquaries appear to
+have given up their Club and their Anniversary Dinner; but certain of
+the Fellows, resolving not to remain _impransi_, many years since,
+formed a Club, styled "Noviomagians," from the identification of the
+Roman station of Noviomagus being just then discovered, or rather
+
+     "Rife and celebrated in the mouths
+     Of wisest men."
+
+One of the Club-founders was Mr. A. J. Kempe; and Mr. Crofton Croker
+was president more than twenty years. Lord Londesborough and Mr.
+Corner, the Southwark antiquary, were also Noviomagians; and in the
+present Club-list are Sir William Betham, Mr. Fairholt, Mr. Godwin,
+Mr. S. C. Hall, Mr. Lemon, etc. The Club dine together once a month
+during the season at the old tavern next the burial-place of Joe
+Miller in Portugal Street. Here the Fellows meet for the promotion of
+good fellowship and antiquarian pursuits. "Joking minutes are kept, in
+which would be found many known names, either as visitors or
+associates,--Theodore Hook, Sir Henry Ellis, Britton, Dickens,
+Thackeray, John Bruce, Jerdan, Planché, Bell, Maclise, etc." The Club
+and its visitors may have caught inspiration here; for in their
+sallies _movere jocum_, they have imitated the wits at Strawberry
+Hill, and found Arms for the Club, with a butter-boat rampant for the
+crest, which is very significant.
+
+In 1855, Lord Mayor Moon, F.S.A., entertained at the Mansion House the
+Noviomagians, and the office-bearers of the Society of Antiquaries to
+meet them. After dinner, some short papers were read, including one by
+Mr. Lemon, of the State Paper Office, presenting some curious
+illustrations of the state of society in London in the reign of James
+I., showing the "Migration of Citizens Westward." (See _Romance of
+London_, vol. iii. pp. 315-320.)
+
+
+
+
+THE ECCENTRICS.
+
+
+Late in the last century there met at a tavern kept by one Fulham, in
+Chandos Street, Covent Garden, a convivial Club called "The
+Eccentrics," which was an offshoot of "The Brilliants." They next
+removed to Tom Rees's, in May's-buildings, St. Martin's-lane, and
+here they were flourishing at all hours, some five-and-twenty years
+since. Amongst the members were many celebrities of the literary and
+political world; they were always treated with indulgence by the
+authorities. An inaugural ceremony was performed upon the making of a
+member, which terminated with a jubilation from the President. The
+books of the Club up to the time of its removal from May's-buildings
+are stated to have passed into the possession of Mr. Lloyd, the
+hatter, of the Strand, who, by the way, was eccentric in his business,
+and published a small work descriptive of the various fashions of hats
+worn in his time, illustrated with characteristic engravings.
+
+From its commencement the Eccentrics are said to have numbered upwards
+of 40,000 members, many of them holding high social position: among
+others, Fox, Sheridan, Lord Melbourne, and Lord Brougham. On the same
+memorable night that Sheridan and Lord Petersham were admitted, Hook
+was also enrolled; and through this Club membership, Theodore is
+believed to have obtained some of his high connexions. In a novel,
+published in numbers, some five-and-twenty years since, the author, F.
+W. N. Bayley, sketched with graphic vigour the meetings of the
+Eccentrics at the old tavern in May's-buildings.
+
+
+
+
+DOUGLAS JERROLD'S CLUBS.
+
+
+One of the chapters in "_The Life and Remains of Douglas Jerrold_," by
+his son, Blanchard Jerrold, discourses most pleasantly of the several
+Clubs to which Mr. Jerrold became attached. He was of a clubbable
+nature, and delighted in wit-combats and brilliant repartees, the
+flash of which was perfectly electric.
+
+In this very agreeable _précis_, we find that towards the end of the
+year 1824, some young men at a humble tavern, the Wrekin, in the
+genial neighbourhood of Covent Garden, with Shakspeare as their common
+idol; and "it was a regulation of this Club that some paper, or poem,
+or conceit, bearing upon Shakspeare, should be contributed by each
+member." Hither came Douglas Jerrold, and he was soon joined by Laman
+Blanchard. Upon Jerrold's suggestion, the Club was called the
+Mulberries, and their contributions were entitled Mulberry Leaves. In
+the Club were William Godwin; Kenny Meadows, the future illustrator of
+Shakspeare; W. Elton, the Shakspearean actor; and Edward Chatfield,
+the artist. Mr. Jerrold wrote, in the _Illuminated Magazine_, a
+touching memoir of the Society--"that knot of wise and jocund men,
+then unknown, but gaily struggling."
+
+The Mulberry Club lived many years, and gathered a valuable crop of
+leaves--contributions from its members. They fell into Mr. Elton's
+hands, and are now in the possession of his family. They were to have
+been published, but no one would undertake to see them through the
+press--an office which, in most cases, is a very un-thankful one. The
+Club did not, however, die easily: it was changed and grafted. "In
+times nearer the present, when it was called the Shakspeare Club,
+Charles Dickens, Mr. Justice Talfourd, Daniel Maclise, Mr. Macready,
+Mr. Frank Stone, etc. belonged to it. Respectability killed it." But
+some delightful results of these Mulberry Club meetings are embalmed
+in Mr. Jerrold's _Cakes and Ale_, and their life reminds one of the
+dancing motes in the latter. Then we hear of other clubs--the Gratis
+and the Rationals, of which Jerrold was a member.
+
+"But," says the gentle Memoir, "with clubs of more recent date, with
+the Hooks and Eyes, and lastly, with Our Club, Douglas Jerrold's name
+is most intimately associated. It may be justly said that he was the
+life and soul of these three gatherings of men. His arrival was a
+happy moment for members already present. His company was sought with
+wondrous eagerness whenever a dinner or social evening was
+contemplated; for, as a club associate said of him, 'he sparkled
+whenever you touched him, like the sea at night.' A writer in the
+_Quarterly Review_ well said of him: 'In the bright sallies of
+conversational wit he has no surviving equal.'
+
+"He was thus greatly acceptable in all social literary Clubs. In the
+Museum Club, for instance, (an attempt made in 1847 to establish a
+properly modest and _real_ literary Club,) he was unquestionably _the_
+member; for he was the most clubbable of men." When members dropped
+in, sharp shots were possibly exchanged: here are a few that were
+actually fired within the precincts of the Museum Club--fired
+carelessly, and forgotten:
+
+Jerrold defined dogmatism as "puppyism come to maturity;" and a
+flaming uxorious epitaph put up by a famous cook, on his wife's tomb,
+as "mock turtle." A prosy old gentleman, meeting him as he was passing
+at his usual quick pace along Regent Street, poised himself into an
+attitude, and began: "Well, Jerrold, my dear boy, what is going
+on?"--"I am," said the wit, instantly shooting off.
+
+At a dinner of artists, a barrister present, having his health drunk
+in connexion with the law, began an embarrassed answer by saying he
+did not see how the law could be considered one of the arts, when
+Jerrold jerked in the word _black_, and threw the company into
+convulsions.
+
+A bore remarking how charmed he was with a certain opera, and that
+there was one particular song which always carried him quite
+away--"Would that I could sing it!" ejaculated the wit.
+
+A dinner is discussed. Douglas Jerrold listens quietly, possibly tired
+of dinners, and declining pressing invitations to be present. In a few
+minutes he will chime in, "If an earthquake were to engulf England
+to-morrow, the English would manage to meet and dine somewhere among
+the rubbish, just to celebrate the event."
+
+A friend is anxious to awaken Mr. Jerrold's sympathies in behalf of a
+mutual acquaintance who is in want of a round sum of money. But this
+mutual friend has already sent his hat about among his literary
+brethren on more than one occasion. Mr. ----'s hat is becoming an
+institution, and friends were grieved at the indelicacy of the
+proceeding. On the above occasion, the bearer of the hat was received
+with evident dissatisfaction. "Well," said Douglas Jerrold, "how much
+does ---- want this time?"--"Why, just a four and two noughts will, I
+think, put him straight," the bearer of the hat replied.
+_Jerrold_--"Well, put me down for one of the noughts."
+
+"The Chain of Events," playing at the Lyceum Theatre, though
+unsuccessful, is mentioned. "Humph!" said Douglas Jerrold, "I'm afraid
+the manager will find it a door-chain strong enough to keep everybody
+out of the house,"--and so it proved.
+
+Douglas Jerrold is seriously disappointed with a certain book written
+by one of his friends, and has expressed his disappointment.
+_Friend_--"I have heard that you said ---- was the worst book I ever
+wrote." _Jerrold_--"No, I didn't; I said it was the worst book anybody
+ever wrote."
+
+A supper of sheep's-heads is proposed, and presently served. One
+gentleman present is particularly enthusiastic on the excellence of
+the dish, and, as he throws down his knife and fork, exclaims, "Well,
+sheep's-heads for ever, say I!" _Jerrold_--"There's egotism!"
+
+During a stormy discussion, a gentleman rises to settle the matter in
+dispute. Waving his hands majestically over the excited disputants, he
+begins: "Gentlemen, all I want is common sense."--"Exactly," says
+Douglas Jerrold, "that is precisely what you _do_ want."
+
+But the Museum Club was broken up by troubled spirits. Then succeeded
+the Hooks and Eyes; then the Club, a social weekly gathering, which
+Jerrold attended only three weeks before his death. Hence some of his
+best sayings went forth.
+
+Jerrold ordered a bottle of old port; "not _elder_ port," he said.
+
+Walking to his Club with a friend from the theatre, some intoxicated
+young gentleman reeled up to the dramatist and said, "Can you tell me
+the way to the Judge and Jury?"--"Keep on as you are, young
+gentleman," was the reply; "you're sure to overtake them."
+
+Asking about the talent of a young painter, his companion declared
+that the youth was mediocre. "Oh!" was the reply, "the very worst
+ochre an artist can set to work with."
+
+"The laughing hours, when these poor gatherings," says Mr. Blanchard
+Jerrold, "fell from the well-loaded branch, are remembered still in
+the rooms of Our Club; and the hearty laugh still echoes there, and
+will, it is my pride to believe, always live in the memory of that
+genial and refined circle."
+
+The Whittington Club originated in 1846, with Douglas Jerrold, who
+became its first President. It was established at the Crown and Anchor
+Tavern in the Strand; where, in the ball-room, hung a picture of
+Whittington listening to Bow-bells, painted by Newenham, and presented
+to the Club by the President. All the Club premises were destroyed by
+fire in 1854; the picture was not saved, but fortunately it had been
+cleverly engraved. The premises have been rebuilt, and the Club still
+flourishes.
+
+
+
+
+CHESS CLUBS.
+
+
+The Clubs in various parts of the Metropolis and the suburbs, where
+Chess, and Chess only, forms the staple recreation of the members, are
+numerous. We must, however, confine ourselves to the historical data
+of the early Clubs, which record the introduction of the noble game in
+the Metropolis.
+
+In 1747, the principal if not the only Chess-Club in the Metropolis
+met at Slaughter's Coffee-house, St. Martin's-lane. The leading
+players of this Club were--Sir Abraham Janssen, Philip Stamma (from
+Aleppo), Lord Godolphin, Lord Sunderland, and Lord Elibank;
+Cunningham, the historian; Dr. Black and Dr. Cowper; and it was
+through their invitation that the celebrated Philidor was induced to
+visit England.
+
+Another Club was shortly afterwards founded at the Salopian
+Coffee-house, Charing Cross: and a few years later, a third, which met
+next door to the Thatched House Tavern, in St. James's-street. It was
+here that Philidor exhibited his wonderful faculty for playing
+blindfold; some instances of which we find in the newspapers of the
+period:--
+
+"Yesterday, at the Chess-Club in St. James's-street, Monsieur Philidor
+performed one of those wonderful exhibitions for which he is so much
+celebrated. He played _three different games at once_ without seeing
+either of the tables. His opponents were Count Bruhl and Mr. Bowdler
+(the two best players in London), and Mr. Maseres. He defeated Count
+Bruhl in one hour and twenty minutes, and Mr. Maseres in two hours;
+Mr. Bowdler reduced his games to a drawn battle in one hour and
+three-quarters. To those who understand Chess, this exertion of M.
+Philidor's abilities must appear one of the greatest of which the
+human memory is susceptible. He goes through it with astonishing
+accuracy, and often corrects mistakes in those who have the board
+before them."
+
+In 1795, the veteran, then nearly seventy years of age, played three
+blindfold matches in public. The last of these, which came off shortly
+before his death, we find announced in the daily newspapers thus:--
+
+     "CHESS-CLUB, 1795. PARSLOE'S, ST. JAMES'S STREET.
+
+"By particular desire, Mons. Philidor, positively for the last time,
+will play on Saturday, the 20th of June, at two o'clock precisely,
+three games at once against three good players; two of them without
+seeing either of the boards, and the third looking over the table. He
+most respectfully invites all the members of the Chess-Club to honour
+him with their presence. Ladies and gentlemen not belonging to the
+Club may be provided with tickets at the above-mentioned house, to see
+the match, at five shillings each."
+
+Upon the death of Philidor, the Chess-Clubs at the West-end seem to
+have declined; and in 1807, the stronghold and rallying-point for the
+lovers of the game was "The London Chess-Club," which was established
+in the City, and for many years held its meetings at Tom's
+Coffee-house, in Cornhill. To this Club we are indebted for many of
+the finest chess-players of the age.
+
+About the year 1833, a Club was founded by a few amateurs in
+Bedford-street, Covent Garden. This establishment, which obtained
+remarkable celebrity as the arena of the famous contests between La
+Bourdonnais and M'Donnell, was dissolved in 1840; but shortly
+afterwards, through the exertions of Mr. Staunton, was reformed under
+the name of the "St. George's Club," in Cavendish-square.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX.
+
+
+
+
+ALMACK'S.
+
+(Page 86.)
+
+
+Captain Gronow, writing in 1814, says: "At the present time, one can
+hardly conceive the importance which was attached to getting admission
+to Almack's, the seventh heaven of the fashionable world." Of the
+three hundred officers of the Foot Guards, not more than half-a-dozen
+were honoured with vouchers of admission to this exclusive temple of
+the _beau monde_; the gates of which were guarded by lady patronesses,
+whose smiles or frowns consigned men and women to happiness or
+despair. These lady patronesses were the Ladies Castlereagh, Jersey,
+Cowper, and Sefton; Mrs. Drummond Burrell, now Lady Willoughby; the
+Princess Esterhazy, and the Countess Lieven.
+
+"The most popular amongst these _grandes dames_ were unquestionably
+Lady Cowper, now Lady Palmerston. Lady Jersey's bearing, on the
+contrary, was that of a theatrical tragedy queen: and whilst
+attempting the sublime, she frequently made herself simply ridiculous,
+being inconceivably rude, and in her manner often ill-bred. Lady
+Sefton was kind and amiable; Madame de Lieven haughty and exclusive;
+Princess Esterhazy was a _bon enfant_; Lady Castlereagh and Miss
+Burrell, _de très grandes dames_.
+
+"Many diplomatic arts, much finesse, and a host of intrigues, were set
+in motion to get an invitation to Almack's. Very often persons, whose
+rank and fortunes entitled them to the _entrée_ anywhere, were
+excluded by the cliqueism of the lady patronesses; for the female
+government of Almack's was a pure despotism, and subject to all the
+caprices of despotic rule: it is needless to add that, like every
+other despotism, it was not innocent of abuses. The fair ladies who
+ruled supreme over this little dancing and gossiping world, issued a
+solemn proclamation, that no gentleman should appear at the assemblies
+without being dressed in knee-breeches, white cravat, and _chapeau
+bras_. On one occasion, the Duke of Wellington was about to ascend the
+staircase of the ball-room, dressed in black trousers, when the
+vigilant Mr. Willis, the guardian of the establishment, stepped
+forward and said, 'Your Grace cannot be admitted in trousers;'
+whereupon the Duke, who had a great respect for orders and
+regulations, quietly walked away.
+
+"In 1814, the dances at Almack's were Scotch reels, and the old
+English country-dance; the orchestra, being from Edinburgh, was
+conducted by the then celebrated Neil Gow. In 1815, Lady Jersey
+introduced from Paris the favourite quadrille. The persons who formed
+the very first quadrille that was ever danced at Almack's were Lady
+Jersey, Lady Harriett Butler, Lady Susan Ryder, and Miss Montgomery;
+the men being the Count St. Aldegonde, Mr. Montgomery, Mr. Montague,
+and Charles Standish. The mazy waltz was also brought to us about
+this time; but there were comparatively few who at first ventured to
+whirl round the salons of Almack's; in course of time Lord Palmerston
+might, however, have been seen describing an infinite number of
+circles with Madame de Lieven. Baron de Neumann was frequently seen
+perpetually turning with the Princess Esterhazy; and in course of
+time, the waltzing mania, having turned the heads of society
+generally, descended to their feet, and the waltz was practised in the
+morning in certain noble mansions in London with unparalleled
+assiduity."--_Abridged from the Reminiscences of Captain Gronow,
+1862._
+
+
+
+
+CLUBS AT THE THATCHED HOUSE.
+
+
+Mr. Willis took this tavern from Mr. Freere, about 1755; and, as a
+relative of Mr. Almack, afterwards succeeded to the celebrated
+assembly-rooms which bore his name. "If the old saw, that 'practice
+makes perfect,'" writes Admiral Smyth, "be correct, the _cuisinerie_ of
+the Thatched House ought to surpass that of all others; for besides
+accidental parties and visitors, the Messrs Willis ably entertain the
+following Societies and Clubs: [this was written in 1860.]
+
+     Actuaries, Institute of.
+     Catch Club.
+     Club, Johnson's.
+     Cornish Club.
+     Dilettanti Society.
+     Farmers' Club.
+     Geographical Club.
+     Geological Club.
+     Linnæan Club.
+     Literary Society.
+     Navy Club.
+     Philosophical Club.
+     Physicians, College of, Club.
+     Political Economy Club.
+     Royal Academy Club.
+     Royal Astronomical Club.
+     Royal Institution Club.
+     Royal London Yacht Club.
+     Royal Naval Club, (1765).
+     Royal Society Club.
+     St. Albans Medical Club.
+     St. Bartholomew's Contemporaries.
+     Star Club.
+     Statistical Club.
+     Sussex Club.
+     Union Society, St. James's.
+
+And they moreover accommodate the following Masonic Lodges:--
+
+     Friendship.
+     Prince of Wales's.
+     Middlesex.
+     Chapter of Friendship.
+     Chapter of Prince of Wales's.
+     Mount Mosiah Chapter.
+     Castle Lodge of Harmony.
+     The Knights Templars.
+     Britannic Lodge.
+
+
+
+
+THE KIT-KAT CLUB.
+
+(Page 62.)
+
+
+Charles Dartiquenane, better known by the abbreviated name of
+Dartineuf, was the intimate friend and associate of Swift, Steele, and
+Addison, and a member of the Kit-Kat Club. He was not only famous as
+an epicure, but as a punster. He is said to have been a contributor to
+the _Tatler_, though his papers cannot now be ascertained. Pope, in
+his _Epistles_, has:
+
+     "Each mortal has his pleasure, none deny--
+     Scarsdale his bottle, Darty his Ham Pie.
+         .       .       .      .      .
+     Hard task to suit the palate of such guests,
+     When Oldfield loves what Dartineuf detests."
+
+Lord Lyttelton has a Dialogue in the Shades between Dartineuf and
+Apicius, on good eating, in which ham pie is stated to have been the
+favourite dainty of the former. Darty died in 1737, and is stated to
+have left the receipt for his favourite pie with an old lady, who
+transferred it to Dr. Kitchiner. (See his _Housekeeper's Oracle_,
+1829, p. 249.)
+
+
+
+
+WATIER'S CLUB.
+
+(Page 168.)
+
+
+Captain Gronow also relates the following account of the origin of
+this noted but short-lived Club:--
+
+Upon one occasion, some gentlemen of both White's and Brookes's had
+the honour to dine with the Prince Regent, and during the
+conversation, the Prince inquired what sort of dinners they got at
+their Clubs; upon which Sir Thomas Stepney, one of the guests,
+observed "that their dinners were always the same, the eternal joints
+or beef-steaks, the boiled fowl with oyster sauce, and an apple-tart;
+this is what we have at our Clubs, and very monotonous fare it is."
+The Prince, without further remark, rang the bell for his cook Watier,
+and in the presence of those who dined at the Royal table, asked him
+whether he would take a house, and organize a dinner-club. Watier
+assented, and named Madison, the Prince's page, manager; and Labourie,
+the cook, from the Royal kitchen. The Club flourished only a few
+years, owing to the night-play that was carried on there. The Duke of
+York patronized it, and was a member. The dinners were exquisite: the
+best Parisian cooks could not beat Labourie. The favourite game played
+there was Macao. Upon one occasion, Jack Bouverie, brother of Lord
+Heytesbury, was losing large sums, and became very irritable. Raikes,
+with bad taste, laughed at Bouverie, and attempted to amuse the
+company with some of his stale jokes; upon which Bouverie threw his
+play-bowl, with the few counters it contained, at Raikes's head;
+unfortunately, it struck him, and made the City dandy angry, but no
+serious results followed this open insult.
+
+
+
+
+CLUBS OF 1814.
+
+
+Captain Gronow, in his very entertaining _Anecdotes and
+Reminiscences_, gives these details of the Clubs of the above
+period:--
+
+"The members of the Clubs in London, many years since, were persons,
+almost without exception, belonging exclusively to the aristocratic
+world. 'My tradesmen,' as King Allen used to call the bankers and the
+merchants, had not then invaded White's, Boodle's, Brookes's; or
+Watier's, in Bolton-street, Piccadilly; which, with the Guards,
+Arthur's, and Graham's, were the only Clubs at the West End of the
+town. White's was decidedly the most difficult of entry; its list of
+members comprised nearly all the noble names of Great Britain.
+
+"The politics of White's Club were then decidedly Tory. It was here
+that play was carried on to such an extent that made many ravages in
+large fortunes, the traces of which have not disappeared at the
+present day. General Scott, the father-in-law of George Canning and
+the Duke of Portland, was known to have won at White's 200,000_l._;
+thanks to his notorious sobriety and knowledge of the game of whist.
+The General possessed a great advantage over his companions by
+avoiding those indulgences at the table which used to muddle other
+men's brains. He confined himself to dining off something like a
+boiled chicken, with toast-and-water: by such a regimen he came to the
+whist-table with a clear head; and, possessing, as he did, a
+remarkable memory, with great coolness and judgment, he was able
+honestly to win the enormous sum of 200,000_l._
+
+"At Brookes's, for nearly half a century, the play was of a more
+gambling character than at White's.... On one occasion Lord Robert
+Spencer contrived to lose the last shilling of his considerable
+fortune given him by his brother, the Duke of Marlborough. General
+Fitzpatrick being much in the same condition, they agreed to raise a
+sum of money, in order that they might keep a faro-bank. The members
+of the Club made no objection, and ere long they carried out their
+design. As is generally the case, the bank was a winner, and Lord
+Robert bagged, as his share of the proceeds, 100,000_l._ He retired,
+strange to say, from the foetid atmosphere of play, with the money
+in his pocket, and never again gambled. George Harley Drummond, of the
+famous banking-house, Charing Cross, only played once in his whole
+life at White's Club at whist, on which occasion he lost 20,000_l._ to
+Brummell. This even caused him to retire from the banking-house, of
+which he was a partner."
+
+Arthur's and Graham's were less aristocratic than those Clubs I have
+mentioned. It was at the latter place, in 1832, that a most painful
+circumstance took place. A nobleman of the highest position and
+influence in society, was detected in cheating at cards, and after a
+trial, which did not terminate in his favour, he died of a broken
+heart.
+
+
+
+
+GAMING-HOUSES KEPT BY LADIES.
+
+
+The following curious piece of evidence, probably an extract from the
+Journals of the House of Lords, although there is no reference to the
+subject in the published "Parliamentary Debates," was found not long
+since by the Editor of the _Athenæum_ amongst a mass of contemporary
+MSS.:--
+
+"Die Lunæ, 29° Aprilis, 1745.--Gaming.--A Bill for preventing the
+excessive and deceitful use of it having been brought from the
+Commons, and proceeded on so far as to be agreed to in a Committee of
+the whole House with amendments,--information was given to the House
+that Mr. Burdus, Chairman of the Quarter Session for the city and
+liberty of Westminster, Sir Thomas de Veil, and Mr. Lane, Chairman of
+the Quarter Sessions for the county of Middlesex, were at the door;
+they were called in, and at the Bar severally gave an account that
+claims of privilege of Peerage were made and insisted on by the Ladies
+Mordington and Cassillis, in order to intimidate the peace officers
+from doing their duty in suppressing the public gaming-houses kept by
+the said ladies. And the said Burdus thereupon delivered in an
+instrument in writing under the hand of the said Lady Mordington,
+containing the claim she made of privilege for her officers and
+servants employed by her in her said gaming-house.--And then they were
+directed to withdraw.--And the said instrument was read as
+follows:--'I, Dame Mary, Baroness of Mordington, do hold a house in
+the Great Piazza, Covent Garden, for and as an Assembly, where all
+persons of credit are at liberty to frequent and play at such
+diversions as are used at other Assemblys. And I have hired Joseph
+Dewberry, William Horsely, Ham Cropper, and George Sanders as my
+servants or managers (under me) thereof. I have given them orders to
+direct the management of the other inferior servants, (namely) John
+Bright, Richard Davids, John Hill, John Vandenvoren, as
+box-keepers,--Gilbert Richardson, housekeeper, John Chaplain,
+regulator, William Stanley and Henry Huggins, servants that wait on
+the company as the said Assembly, William Penny and Joseph Penny as
+porters thereof--And all the above-mentioned persons I claim as my
+domestick servants, and demand all those privileges that belong to me
+as a peeress of Great Britain appertaining to my said Assembly.--M.
+MORDINGTON.--Dated 8th Jan. 1744.'--Resolved and declared that no
+person is entitled to privilege of Peerage against any prosecution or
+proceeding for keeping any public or common gaming-house, or any
+house, room, or place for playing at any game or games prohibited by
+any law now in force."
+
+
+END OF VOL. I.
+
+PRINTED BY J. E. TAYLOR, LITTLE QUEEN STREET, HOLBORN.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Club Life of London, Vol. I (of 2), by John Timbs
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41146 ***