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diff --git a/41146-8.txt b/41146-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index af49b1d..0000000 --- a/41146-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,10505 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's Club Life of London, Vol. I (of 2), by John Timbs - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Club Life of London, Vol. I (of 2) - With Anecdotes of the Clubs, Coffee-Houses and Taverns of - the Metropolis During the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries - -Author: John Timbs - -Release Date: October 23, 2012 [EBook #41146] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CLUB LIFE OF LONDON, VOL. I (OF 2) *** - - - - -Produced by Melissa McDaniel and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - - -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. 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