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diff --git a/41146-0.txt b/41146-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6578864 --- /dev/null +++ b/41146-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10114 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41146 *** + +Transcriber's Note: + + Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have + been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. + + Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. + + On page 47, "Mrs. Read's" should possibly be "Mr. Read's". + Martin Folkes is also spelled Martin Foulkes. + On page 100, "Sheridan had no personal dislike" should possibly be + "Selwyn had no personal dislike". + On page 177, "set in half-a-dozen barbers" should possibly be + "sent in half-a-dozen barbers". + On page 287, "Woolbidding" should possibly be "Woolbeding". + + + + +CLUB LIFE OF LONDON. + + [Illustration: CAPTAIN CHARLES MORRIS. + _Engraved by W. Greatbatch from the Original Picture in the + Possession of the Family._] + + + + + CLUB LIFE OF LONDON + + WITH + + ANECDOTES OF THE CLUBS, COFFEE-HOUSES + AND TAVERNS OF THE METROPOLIS + DURING THE 17TH, 18TH, AND 19TH CENTURIES. + + BY + JOHN TIMBS, F.S.A. + + [Illustration: See Beef-steak Society, p. 143.] + + IN TWO VOLUMES.--VOL. I. + + LONDON: + RICHARD BENTLEY, PUBLISHER IN ORDINARY TO HER MAJESTY. + 1866. + + + + + PRINTED BY + JOHN EDWARD TAYLOR, LITTLE QUEEN STREET, + LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +Pictures of the Social Life of the Metropolis during the last two +centuries are by no means rare. We possess them in Diaries, Memoirs, +and Correspondence, in almost countless volumes, that sparkle with +humour and gaiety, alternating with more serious phases,--political or +otherwise,--according to the colour and complexion, and body of the +time. Of such pictures the most attractive are Clubs. + +Few attempts have, however, been made to _focus_ the Club-life of +periods, or to assemble with reasonable limits, the histories of the +leading Associations of clubbable Men,--of Statesmen and Politicians, +Wits and Poets, Authors, Artists, and Actors, and "men of wit and +pleasure," which the town has presented since the days of the +Restoration; or in more direct succession, from the reign of Queen +Anne, and the days of the _Tatler_ and _Spectator_, and other +Essayists in their wake. + +The present Work aims to record this Club-life in a series of sketches +of the leading Societies, in which, without assuming the gravity of +history or biography, sufficient attention is paid to both to give the +several narratives the value of trustworthiness. From the multitude of +Clubs it has been found expedient to make a selection, in which the +Author has been guided by the popular interest attached to their +several histories. The same principle has been adopted in bringing the +Work up to our own time, in which the customary reticence in such +cases has been maintained. + +Of interest akin to that of the Clubs have been considered scenes of +the Coffee-house and Tavern Life of the period, which partake of a +greater breadth of humour, and are, therefore, proportionally +attractive, for these sections of the Work. The antiquarianism is +sparse, or briefly descriptive; the main object being personal +characteristics, the life and manners, the sayings and doings, of +classes among whom conviviality is often mixed up with better +qualities, and the finest humanities are blended with the +gladiatorship and playfulness of wit and humour. + +With a rich store of materials at his command, the Author, or +Compiler, has sought, by selection and condensation, to avoid the +long-windedness of story-telling; for the anecdote should be, like the +viand,--"'twere well if it were done quickly." Although the staple of +the book is compiled, the experience and information which the Author +has gathered by long familiarity with the Metropolis have enabled him +to annotate and illustrate in his own progress, notwithstanding the +"lion's share" of the labour is duly awarded to others. + +Thus, there are grouped in the present volume sketches of One Hundred +Clubs, ranging from the Mermaid, in Bread-street, to the Garrick, in +Covent Garden. Considering the mixed objects of these Clubs, though +all belonging to the convivial or jovial system, strict classification +was scarcely attainable: hence chronological sequence has been +adopted, with the advantage of presenting more connected views of +social life than could have been gained by the former arrangement. + +The Second Volume is devoted to the Coffee-house and Tavern Life, and +presents a diversity of sketches, anecdotes, and reminiscences, whose +name is Legion. + +To the whole is appended a copious Index, by which the reader may +readily refer to the leading subjects, and multitudinous contents of +the Work. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + Page + + ORIGIN OF CLUBS 1 + + MERMAID CLUB 8 + + APOLLO CLUB 10 + + EARLY POLITICAL CLUBS 15 + + OCTOBER CLUB 17 + + SATURDAY AND BROTHERS CLUBS 19 + + SCRIBLERUS CLUB 23 + + CALVES' HEAD CLUB 25 + + KING'S HEAD CLUB 35 + + STREET CLUBS 38 + + THE MOHOCKS 39 + + BLASPHEMOUS CLUBS 44 + + MUG-HOUSE CLUBS 45 + + KIT-KAT CLUB 55 + + TATLER'S CLUB IN SHIRE-LANE 63 + + ROYAL SOCIETY CLUB 65 + + COCOA-TREE CLUB 81 + + ALMACK'S CLUB 83 + + ALMACK'S ASSEMBLY-ROOMS 86 + + BROOKES'S CLUB 89 + + "FIGHTING FITZGERALD" AT BROOKES'S 102 + + ARTHUR'S CLUB 107 + + WHITE'S CLUB 108 + + BOODLE'S CLUB 121 + + THE BEEF-STEAK SOCIETY 123 + + CAPTAIN MORRIS 149 + + BEEF-STEAK CLUBS 158 + + CLUB AT TOM'S COFFEE-HOUSE 159 + + THE KING OF CLUBS 165 + + WATIER'S CLUB 168 + + CANNING AT THE CLIFFORD-STREET CLUB 169 + + ECCENTRIC CLUBS 172 + + JACOBITE CLUB 178 + + THE WITTINAGEMOT OF THE CHAPTER COFFEE-HOUSE 179 + + THE ROXBURGHE CLUB DINNERS 186 + + SOCIETY OF PAST OVERSEERS, WESTMINSTER 193 + + THE ROBIN HOOD 196 + + BLUE-STOCKING CLUB 198 + + IVY-LANE CLUB 200 + + ESSEX HEAD CLUB 202 + + THE LITERARY CLUB 204 + + GOLDSMITH'S CLUBS 219 + + THE DILETTANTI SOCIETY 222 + + ROYAL NAVAL CLUB 230 + + WYNDHAM CLUB 232 + + TRAVELLERS' CLUB 233 + + UNITED SERVICE CLUB 236 + + ALFRED CLUB 237 + + ORIENTAL CLUB 239 + + ATHENÆUM CLUB 241 + + UNIVERSITY CLUB 247 + + ECONOMY OF CLUBS 248 + + UNION CLUB 253 + + GARRICK CLUB 255 + + REFORM CLUB 266 + + CARLTON CLUB 273 + + CONSERVATIVE CLUB 275 + + OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE CLUB 277 + + GUARDS' CLUB 278 + + ARMY AND NAVY CLUB 278 + + JUNIOR UNITED SERVICE CLUB 280 + + CROCKFORD'S CLUB 281 + + "KING ALLEN," "THE GOLDEN BALL," AND SCROPE DAVIES 287 + + THE FOUR-IN-HAND CLUB 289 + + WHIST CLUBS 295 + + PRINCE'S CLUB RACQUET COURTS 298 + + AN ANGLING CLUB 301 + + THE RED LIONS 303 + + COVENTRY, ERECTHEUM, AND PARTHENON CLUBS 305 + + ANTIQUARIAN CLUBS,--THE NOVIOMAGIANS 306 + + THE ECCENTRICS 307 + + DOUGLAS JERROLD'S CLUBS 308 + + CHESS CLUBS 313 + + + APPENDIX. + + ALMACK'S 316 + + CLUBS AT THE THATCHED HOUSE 318 + + KIT-KAT CLUB 319 + + WATIER'S CLUB 320 + + CLUBS OF 1814 321 + + GAMING-HOUSES KEPT BY LADIES 323 + + + + +CLUB LIFE OF LONDON. + + + + +ORIGIN OF CLUBS. + + +The Club, in the general acceptation of the term, may be regarded as +one of the earliest offshoots of Man's habitually gregarious and +social inclination; and as an instance of that remarkable influence +which, in an early stage of society, the powers of Nature exercise +over the fortunes of mankind. It may not be traceable to the time + + "When Adam dolve, and Eve span;" + +but, it is natural to imagine that concurrent with the force of +numbers must have increased the tendency of men to associate for some +common object. This may have been the enjoyment of the staple of life; +for, our elegant Essayist, writing with ages of experience at his +beck, has truly said, "all celebrated Clubs were founded upon eating +and drinking, which are points where most men agree, and in which the +learned and the illiterate, the dull and the airy, the philosopher and +the buffoon, can all of them bear a part." + +For special proof of the antiquity of the practice it may suffice to +refer to the polished Athenians, who had, besides their general +_symposia_, friendly meetings, where every one sent his own portion of +the feast, bore a proportionate part of the expense, or gave a pledge +at a fixed price. A regard for clubbism existed even in Lycurgan +Sparta: the public tables consisted generally of fifteen persons each, +and all vacancies were filled up by ballot, in which unanimous consent +was indispensable for election; and the other laws, as described by +Plutarch, differ but slightly from those of modern Clubs. Justus +Lipsius mentions a bonâ fide Roman Club, the members of which were +bound by certain organized rules and regulations. Cicero records (_De +Senectute_) the pleasure he took in frequenting the meetings of those +social parties of his time, termed confraternities, where, according +to a good old custom, a president was appointed; and he adds that the +principal satisfaction he received from such entertainments, arose +much less from the pleasures of the palate than from the opportunity +thereby afforded him of enjoying excellent company and conversation.[1] + +The cognomen Club claims descent from the Anglo-Saxon; for Skinner +derives it from _clifian, cleofian_ (our cleave), from the division of +the reckoning among the guests around the table. The word signifies +uniting to divide, like _clave_, including the correlative meanings to +_adhere_ and to separate. "In conclusion, _Club_ is evidently, as far +as form is concerned, derived from _cleave_" (to split), but in +_signification_ it would seem to be more closely allied to _cleave_ +(to adhere). It is not surprising that two verbs, identical in form +(in Eng.) and connected in signification, should sometimes +coalesce.[2] + +To the Friday-street or more properly Bread-street Club, said to have +been originated by Sir Walter Raleigh, was long assigned the priority +of date in England; but we have an instance of two centuries earlier. +In the reign of Henry IV., there was a Club called "La Court de bone +Compagnie," of which the worthy old poet Occleve was a member, and +probably Chaucer. In the works of the former are two ballads, written +about 1413; one, a congratulation from the brethren to Henry Somer, on +his appointment of the Sub-Treasurer of the Exchequer, and who +received Chaucer's pension for him. In the other ballad, Occleve, +after dwelling on some of their rules and observances, gives Somer +notice that he is expected to be in the chair at their next meeting, +and that the "styward" has warned him that he is + + "for the dyner arraye + Ageyn Thirsday next, and nat is delaye." + +That there were certain conditions to be observed by this Society, +appears from the latter epistle, which commences with an answer to a +letter of remonstrance the "Court" has received from Henry Somer, +against some undue extravagance, and a breach of their rules.[3] This +Society of four centuries and a half since was evidently a jovial +company. + +Still, we do not yet find the term "Club." Mr. Carlyle, in his +_History of Frederick the Great_, assumes that the vow of the Chivalry +Orders--_Gelübde_--in vogue about A.D. 1190, "passed to us in a +singularly dwindled condition: Club we now call it." To this it is +objected that the mere resemblance in sound of _Gelübde_ and _Club_ is +inconclusive, for the Orders of Templars, Hospitallers, and Prussian +Knights, were never called clubs in England; and the origin of the +noun need not be sought for beyond its verb to _club_, when persons +joined in paying the cost of the mutual entertainment. Moreover, +_Klubb_ in German means the social _club_; and that word is borrowed +from the English, the native word being _Zeche_, which, from its root +and compound, conveys the idea generally of joint expenditure, and +specially in drinking.[4] + +About the end of the sixteenth or the beginning of the seventeenth +century, there was established the famous Club at the Mermaid Tavern, +in Bread-street, of which Shakspeare, Beaumont, Fletcher, Raleigh, +Selden, Donne, &c., were members. Ben Jonson had a Club, of which he +appears to have been the founder, that met at the Devil Tavern, +between Middle-Temple gate and Temple Bar. + +Not until shortly after this date do we find the word Club. Aubrey +says: "We now use the word _clubbe_ for a sodality in a taverne." In +1659, Aubrey became a member of the Rota, a political Club, which met +at the Turk's Head, in New Palace Yard: "here we had," says Aubrey, +"(very formally) a _balloting box_, and balloted how things should be +carried, by way of Tentamens. The room was every evening as full as +it could be crammed."[5] Of this Rota political Club we shall +presently say more. It is worthy of notice that politics were thus +early introduced into English Club-life. Dryden, some twenty years +after the above date, asks: "What right has any man to meet in +factious Clubs to vilify the Government?" + +Three years after the Great Fire, in 1669, there was established in +the City, the Civil Club, which exists to this day. All the members +are citizens, and are proud of their Society, on account of its +antiquity, and of its being the only Club which attaches to its staff +the reputed office of a chaplain. The members appear to have first +_clubbed_ together for the sake of mutual aid and support; but the +name of the founder of the Club, and the circumstances of its origin, +have unfortunately been lost with its early records. The time at which +it was established was one of severe trials, when the Great Plague and +the Great Fire had broken up much society, and many old associations; +the object and recommendation being, as one of the rules express it, +"that members should give preference to each other in their respective +callings;" and that "but one person of the same trade or profession +should be a member of the Club." This is the rule of the old +middle-class clubs called "One of a Trade." + +The Civil Club met for many years at the Old Ship Tavern, in +Water-lane, upon which being taken down, the Club removed to the New +Corn Exchange Tavern, in Mark Lane. The records, which are extant, +show among former members Parliament men, baronets, and aldermen; the +chaplain is the incumbent of St. Olave-by-the-Tower, Hart-street. Two +high carved chairs, bearing date 1669, are used by the stewards. + +At the time of the Revolution, the Treason Club, as it was commonly +called, met at the Rose tavern, in Covent Garden, to consult with Lord +Colchester, Mr. Thomas Wharton, Colonel Talmash, Colonel Godfrey, and +many others of their party; and it was there resolved that the +regiment under Lieutenant-Colonel Langstone's command should desert +entire, as they did, on Sunday, Nov. 1688.[6] + +In Friday-street, Cheapside, was held the Wednesday Club, at which, in +1695, certain conferences took place under the direction of William +Paterson, which ultimately led to the establishment of the Bank of +England. Such is the general belief; but Mr. Saxe Bannister, in his +_Life of Paterson_, p. 93, observes: "It has been a matter of much +doubt whether the Bank of England was originally proposed from a Club +or Society in the City of London. The _Dialogue Conferences of the +Wednesday Club_, in _Friday-street_, have been quoted as if first +published in 1695. No such publication has been met with of a date +before 1706;" and Mr. Bannister states his reasons for supposing it +was not preceded by any other book. Still, Paterson wrote the papers +entitled the _Wednesday Club Conferences_. + +Club is defined by Dr. Johnson to be "an assembly of good fellows, +meeting under certain conditions;" but by Todd, "an association of +persons subjected to particular rules." It is plain that the latter +definition is at least not that of a Club, as distinguished from any +other kind of association; although it may be more comprehensive than +is necessary, to take in all the gatherings that in modern times have +assumed the name of Clubs. Johnson's, however, is the more exact +account of the true old English Club. + +The golden period of the Clubs was, however, in the time of the +_Spectator_, in whose rich humour their memories are embalmed. "Man," +writes Addison, in No. 9, "is said to be a sociable animal; and as an +instance of it we may observe, that we take all occasions and +pretences of forming ourselves into those little nocturnal assemblies, +which are commonly known by the name of Clubs. When a set of men find +themselves agree in any particular, though never so trivial, they +establish themselves into a kind of fraternity, and meet once or twice +a week, upon the account of such a fantastic resemblance." + +Pall Mall was noted for its tavern Clubs more than two centuries +since. "The first time that Pepys mentions Pell Mell," writes +Cunningham, "is under the 26th of July, 1660, where he says 'We went +to Wood's (our old house for clubbing), 'and there we spent till ten +at night.' This is not only one of the earliest references to Pall +Mall as an inhabited locality, but one of the earliest uses of the +word 'clubbing,' in its modern signification of a Club, and +additionally interesting, seeing that the street still maintains what +Johnson would have called its 'clubbable' character." + +In _Spence's Anecdotes_ (_Supplemental_,) we read: "There was a Club +held at the King's Head, in Pall Mall, that arrogantly called itself +'The World.' Lord Stanhope, then (now Lord Chesterfield), Lord +Herbert, &c., were members. Epigrams were proposed to be written on +the glasses, by each member after dinner; once, when Dr. Young was +invited thither, the Doctor would have declined writing, because he +had no diamond: Lord Stanhope lent him his, and he wrote +immediately-- + + "'Accept a miracle, instead of wit; + See two dull lines with Stanhope's pencil writ.'" + +The first modern Club mansion in Pall Mall was No. 86, opened as a +subscription house, called the Albion Hotel. It was originally built +for Edward Duke of York, brother of George III., and is now the office +of Ordnance, (correspondence.) + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Sketch of the Rise and Progress of the Royal Society Club. 1860. +(Not published.) + +[2] _Notes and Queries_, 3rd S. i. p. 295, in which is noted:--"A good +illustration of the connexion between the ideas of _division_ and +_union_ is afforded by the two equivalent words _partner_ and +_associé_, the former pointing especially to the _division_ of +profits, the latter to the community of interests." + +[3] _Notes and Queries_, No. 234, p. 383. Communicated by Mr. Edward +Foss, F.S.A. + +[4] _Notes and Queries_, 2nd S., vol. xii. p. 386. Communicated by Mr. +Buckton. + +[5] Memoir of Aubrey, by John Britton, qto., p. 36. + +[6] Macpherson's History of England, vol. iii.--Original papers. + + + + +THE MERMAID CLUB. + + +This famous Club was held at the Mermaid Tavern, which was long said +to have stood in Friday-street, Cheapside; but Ben Jonson has, in his +own verse, settled it in _Bread-street_: + + "At Bread-street's Mermaid having dined and merry, + Proposed to go to Holborn in a wherry." + + _Ben Jonson_, ed. _Gifford_, viii. 242. + +Mr. Hunter also, in his Notes on Shakspeare, tells us that "Mr. +Johnson, at the Mermaid, in Bread-street, vintner, occurs as creditor +for 17_s._ in a schedule annexed to the will of Albain Butler, of +Clifford's Inn, gentleman, in 1603." Mr. Burn, in the _Beaufoy +Catalogue_, also explains: "the Mermaid in Bread-street, the Mermaid +in Friday-street, and the Mermaid in Cheap, were all one and the same. +The tavern, situated behind, had a way to it from these thoroughfares, +but was nearer to Bread-street than Friday-street." In a note, Mr. +Burn adds: "The site of the Mermaid is clearly defined from the +circumstance of W. R., a haberdasher of small wares, 'twixt +Wood-street and Milk-street,' adopting the same sign 'over against the +Mermaid Tavern in Cheapside.'" The Tavern was destroyed in the Great +Fire. + +Here Sir Walter Raleigh is traditionally said to have instituted "The +Mermaid Club." Gifford has thus described the Club, adopting the +tradition and the Friday-street location: "About this time [1603] +Jonson probably began to acquire that turn for conviviality for which +he was afterwards noted. Sir Walter Raleigh, previously to his +unfortunate engagement with the wretched Cobham and others, had +instituted a meeting of _beaux esprits_ at the Mermaid, a celebrated +tavern in Friday-street. Of this Club, which combined more talent and +genius than ever met together before or since, our author was a +member; and here for many years he regularly repaired, with +Shakspeare, Beaumont, Fletcher, Selden, Cotton, Carew, Martin, Donne, +and many others, whose names, even at this distant period, call up a +mingled feeling of reverence and respect." But this is doubted. A +writer in the _Athenæum_, Sept. 16, 1865, states: "The origin of the +common tale of Raleigh founding the Mermaid Club, of which Shakspeare +is said to have been a member, has not been traced. Is it older than +Gifford?" Again: "Gifford's apparent invention of the Mermaid Club. +Prove to us that Raleigh founded the Mermaid Club, that the wits +attended it under his presidency, and you will have made a real +contribution to our knowledge of Shakspeare's time, even if you fail +to show that our Poet was a member of that Club." The tradition, it is +thought, must be added to the long list of Shakspearian doubts. + +Nevertheless, Fuller has described the wit-combats between Shakspeare +and Ben Jonson, "which he beheld," meaning with his mind's eye, for he +was only eight years of age when Shakspeare died; "a circumstance," +says Mr. Charles Knight, "which appears to have been forgotten by some +who have written of these matters." But we have a noble record left of +the wit-combats in the celebrated epistle of Beaumont to Jonson:-- + + "Methinks the little wit I had is lost + Since I saw you; for wit is like a rest + Held up at tennis, which men do the best + With the best gamesters: what things have we seen + Done at the Mermaid! heard words that have been + So nimble, and so full of subtile flame, + As if that every one from whence they came + Had meant to put his whole wit in a jest, + And had resolv'd to live a fool the rest + Of his dull life; then when there hath been thrown + Wit able enough to justify the town + For three days past, wit that might warrant be + For the whole city to talk foolishly + 'Till that were cancell'd: and when that was gone + We left an air behind us, which alone + Was able to make the two next companies + Right witty; though but downright fools, mere wise." + + + + +THE APOLLO CLUB. + + +The noted tavern, with the sign of St. Dunstan pulling the Devil by +the nose, stood between Temple Bar and the Middle Temple gate. It was +a house of great resort in the reign of James I., and then kept by +Simon Wadloe. + +In Ben Jonson's _Staple of News_, played in 1625, Pennyboy Canter +advises, to + + "Dine in Apollo, with Pecunia + At brave Duke Wadloe's." + +Pennyboy junior replies-- + + "Content, i' th' faith; + Our meal shall be brought thither; Simon the King + Will bid us welcome." + +At what period Ben Jonson began to frequent this tavern is not +certain; but we have his record that he wrote _The Devil is an Asse_, +played in 1616, when he and his boys (adopted sons) "drank bad wine at +the Devil." The principal room was called "the Oracle of Apollo," a +large room evidently built apart from the tavern; and from Prior's and +Charles Montagu's _Hind and Panther Transversed_, it is shown to have +been an upper apartment, or on the first story:-- + + "Hence to the Devil-- + Thus to the place where Jonson sat, we climb, + Leaning on the same rail that guided him." + +Above the door was the bust of Apollo; and the following verses, "the +Welcome," were inscribed in gold letters upon a black board, and +"placed over the door at the entrance into the Apollo: + + "Welcome all, who lead or follow, + To the _Oracle of Apollo_-- + Here he speaks out of his pottle, + Or the tripos, his Tower bottle; + All his answers are divine, + Truth itself doth flow in wine. + Hang up all the poor hop-drinkers, + Cries old Sim the king of skinkers; + He that half of life abuses, + That sits watering with the Muses. + Those dull girls no good can mean us; + Wine it is the milk of Venus, + And the Poet's horse accounted: + Ply it, and you all are mounted. + 'Tis the true Phoebeian liquor, + Cheers the brain, makes wit the quicker, + Pays all debts, cures all diseases, + And at once three senses pleases. + Welcome all, who lead or follow, + To the _Oracle of Apollo_." + +Beneath these verses was the name of the author, thus inscribed--"O +Rare Ben Jonson," a posthumous tribute from his grave in Westminster +Abbey. The bust appears modelled from the Apollo Belvedere, by some +skillful person of the olden day, but has been several times painted. +"The Welcome," originally inscribed in gold letters, on a thick +black-painted board, has since been wholly repainted and gilded; but +the old thickly-lettered inscription of Ben's day may be seen as an +embossment upon the modern painted background. These poetic memorials +are both preserved in the banking-house of the Messrs. Child. + +"The Welcome," says Mr. Burn, "it may be inferred, was placed in the +interior of the room; so also, above the fireplace, were the Rules of +the Club, said by early writers to have been inscribed in marble, but +were in truth gilded letters upon a black-painted board, similar to +the verses of the Welcome. These Rules are justly admired for the +conciseness and elegance of the Latinity." They have been felicitously +translated by Alexander Broome, one of the wits who frequented the +Devil, and who was one of Ben Jonson's twelve adopted poetical sons. +Latin inscriptions were also placed in other directions, to adorn the +house. Over the clock in the kitchen, in 1731, there remained "_Si +nocturna tibi noceat potatio vini, hoc in mane bibes iterum, et fuerit +medicina_." Aubrey reports his uncle Danvers to have said that "Ben +Jonson, to be near the Devil tavern, in King James's time, lived +without Temple-barre, at a combemaker's shop, about the Elephant and +Castle;" and James, Lord Scudamore has, in his _Homer à la Mode_, a +travesty, said-- + + "Apollo had a flamen, + Who in's temple did say Amen." + +This personage certainly Ben Jonson represented in the great room of +the Devil tavern. Hither came all who desired to be "sealed of the +tribe of Ben." "The _Leges Conviviales_," says Leigh Hunt, "which +Jonson wrote for his Club, and which are to be found in his works, are +composed in his usual style of elaborate and compiled learning, not +without a taste of that dictatorial self-sufficiency, which, +notwithstanding all that has been said by his advocates, and the good +qualities he undoubtedly possessed, forms an indelible part of his +character. 'Insipida poemata,' says he, 'nulla _recitantur_' (Let +nobody repeat to us insipid poetry); as if all that he should read of +his own must infallibly be otherwise. The Club at the Devil does not +appear to have resembled the higher one at the Mermaid, where +Shakspeare and Beaumont used to meet him. He most probably had it all +to himself." + +In the Rules of the Apollo Club, women of character were not excluded +from attending the meetings--_Probæ feminæ non repudiantur_. Marmion, +one of Jonson's contemporary dramatists, describes him in his +presidential chair, as "the boon Delphic god:"-- + + "_Careless._ I am full + Of Oracles. I am come from Apollo. + + _Emilia._ From Apollo! + + _Careless._ From the heaven + Of my delight, where the boon Delphic god + Drinks sack, and keeps his bacchanalia, + And has his incense and his altars smoaking, + And speaks in sparkling prophecies; thence I come, + My brains perfumed with the rich Indian vapour, + And heightened with conceits. From tempting beauties, + From dainty music and poetic strains, + From bowls of nectar and ambrosial dishes, + From witty varlets, fine companions, + And from a mighty continent of pleasure, + Sails thy brave Careless." + +Randolph was by Ben Jonson, adopted for his son, and that upon the +following occasion. "Mr. Randolph having been at London so long as +that he might truly have had a parley with his _Empty Purse_, was +resolved to see Ben Jonson, with his associates, which, as he heard, +at a set time kept a Club together at the Devil Tavern, neere Temple +Bar: accordingly, at the time appointed, he went thither, but being +unknown to them, and wanting money, which to an ingenious spirit is +the most daunting thing in the world, he peeped in the room where they +were, which being espied by Ben Jonson, and seeing him in a scholar's +threadbare habit, 'John Bo-peep,' says he, 'come in,' which +accordingly he did; when immediately they began to rhyme upon the +meanness of his clothes, asking him if he could not make a verse? and +without to call for a quart of sack: there being four of them, he +immediately thus replied, + + "I, John Bo-peep, to you four sheep,-- + With each one his good fleece; + If that you are willing to give me five shilling, + 'Tis fifteen-pence a-piece." + +"By Jesus!" quoth Ben Jonson (his usual oath), "I believe this is my +son Randolph;" which being made known to them, he was kindly +entertained into their company, and Ben Jonson ever after called him +son. He wrote _The Muses' Looking-glass_, _Cambridge Duns_, _Parley +with his Empty Purse_, and other poems. + +We shall have more to say of the Devil Tavern, which has other +celebrities besides Jonson. + + + + +EARLY POLITICAL CLUBS. + + +Our Clubs, or social gatherings, which date from the Restoration, were +exclusively political. The first we hear of was the noted Rota, or +Coffee Club, as Pepys calls it, which was founded in 1659, as a kind +of debating society for the dissemination of republican opinions, +which Harrington had painted in their fairest colours in his _Oceana_. +It met in New Palace Yard, "where they take water at one Miles's, the +next house to the staires, where was made purposely a large ovall +table, with a passage in the middle for Miles to deliver his coffee." +Here Harrington gave nightly lectures on the advantage of a +commonwealth and of the ballot. The Club derived its name from a plan, +which it was its design to promote, for changing a certain number of +Members of Parliament annually by _rotation_. Sir William Petty was +one of its members. Round the table, "in a room every evening as full +as it could be crammed," says Aubrey, sat Milton and Marvell, Cyriac +Skinner, Harrington, Nevill, and their friends, discussing abstract +political questions. Aubrey calls them "disciples and virtuosi." The +place had its dissensions and brawls: "one time Mr. Stafford and his +friends came in drunk from the tavern, and affronted the Junto; the +soldiers offered to kick them down stayres, but Mr. Harrington's +moderation and persuasion hindered it." + +To the Rota, in January, 1660, came Pepys, and "heard very good +discourse in answer to Mr. Harrington's answer, who said that the +state of the Roman government was not a settled government; and so it +was no wonder the balance of prosperity was in one hand, and the +command in another, it being therefore always in a posture of war: but +it was carried by ballot that it was a steady government; though, it +is true, by the voices it had been carried before that, that it was an +unsteady government. So to-morrow it is to be proved by the opponents +that the balance lay in one hand and the government in another." The +Club was broken up after the Restoration; but its members had become +marked men. Harrington's _Oceana_ is an imaginary account of the +construction of a commonwealth in a country, of which Oceana is the +imaginary name. "Rota-men" occurs by way of comparison in _Hudibras_, +part ii. canto 3: + + "But Sidrophel, as full of tricks + As Rota-men of politics." + +Besides the Rota, there was the old Royalist Club, "The Sealed Knot," +which, the year before the Restoration, had organized a general +insurrection in favour of the King. Unluckily, they had a spy amongst +them--Sir Richard Willis,--who had long fingered Cromwell's money, as +one of his private "intelligencers;" the leaders, on his information, +were arrested, and committed to prison. + + + + +THE OCTOBER CLUB. + + +The writer of an excellent paper in the _National Review_, No. VIII., +well observes that "Politics under Anne had grown a smaller and less +dangerous game than in the preceding century. The original political +Clubs of the Commonwealth, the Protectorate, and the Restoration, +plotted revolutions of government. The Parliamentary Clubs, after the +Revolution of 1688, manoeuvred for changes of administration. The +high-flying Tory country gentleman and country member drank the health +of the King--sometimes over the water-decanter, and flustered himself +with bumpers in honour of Dr. Sacheverell and the Church of England, +with true-blue spirits of his own kidney, at the October Club," which, +like the Beef Steak Club, was named after the cheer for which it was +famed,--_October ale_; or rather, on account of the quantities of the +ale which the members drank. The hundred and fifty squires, Tories to +the backbone, who, under the above name, met at the Bell Tavern, in +King Street, Westminster, were of opinion that the party to which they +belonged were too backward in punishing and turning out the Whigs; and +they gave infinite trouble to the Tory administration which came into +office under the leadership of Harley, St. John, and Harcourt, in +1710. The Administration were for proceeding moderately with their +rivals, and for generally replacing opponents with partisans. The +October Club were for immediately impeaching every member of the Whig +party, and for turning out, without a day's grace, every placeman who +did not wear their colours, and shout their cries. + +Swift was great at the October Club, and he was employed to talk over +those who were amenable to reason, and to appease a discontent which +was hastily ripening into mutiny. There are allusions to such +negotiations in more than one passage of the _Journal to Stella_, in +1711. In a letter, February 10, 1710-11, he says: "We are plagued here +with an October Club; that is, a set of above a hundred Parliament men +of the country, who drink October beer at home, and meet every evening +at a tavern near the Parliament, to consult affairs, and drive things +on to extremes against the Whigs, to call the old ministry to account, +and get off five or six heads." Swift's _Advice humbly offered to the +Members of the October Club_, had the desired effect of softening +some, and convincing others, until the whole body of malcontents was +first divided and finally dissolved. The treatise is a masterpiece of +Swift's political skill, judiciously palliating those ministerial +errors which could not be denied, and artfully intimating those +excuses, which, resting upon the disposition of Queen Anne herself, +could not, in policy or decency, be openly pleaded. + +The red-hot "tantivies," for whose loyalty the October Club was not +thorough-going enough, seceded from the original body, and formed "the +March Club," more Jacobite and rampant in its hatred of the Whigs, +than the Society from which it branched. + +King Street would, at this time, be a strange location for a +Parliamentary Club, like the October; narrow and obscure as is the +street, we must remember that a century ago, it was the only +thoroughfare to the Palace at Westminster and the Houses of +Parliament. When the October was broken up, the portrait of Queen +Anne, by Dahl, which ornamented the club-room, was bought of the Club, +after the Queen's death, by the Corporation of Salisbury, and may +still be seen in their Council-chamber. (Cunningham's _Handbook_, 2nd +edit., p. 364.) + + + + +THE SATURDAY, AND BROTHERS CLUBS. + + +Few men appear to have so well studied the social and political +objects of Club-life as Dean Swift. One of his resorts was the old +Saturday Club. He tells Stella (to whom he specially reported most of +his club arrangements), in 1711, there were "Lord Keeper, Lord Rivers, +Mr. Secretary, Mr. Harley, and I." Of the same Club he writes, in +1713: "I dined with Lord Treasurer, and shall again to-morrow, which +is his day, when all the ministers dine with him. He calls it +whipping-day. It is always on Saturday; and we do, indeed, rally him +about his faults on that day. I was of the original Club, when only +poor Lord Rivers, Lord Keeper, and Lord Bolingbroke came; but now +Ormond, Anglesey, Lord Stewart, Dartmouth, and other rabble intrude, +and I scold at it; but now they pretend as good a title as I; and, +indeed, many Saturdays I am not there. The company being too many, I +don't love it." + +In the same year Swift framed the rules of the Brothers Club, which +met every Thursday. "The end of our Club," he says, "is to advance +conversation and friendship, and to reward learning without interest +or recommendation. We take in none but men of wit, or men of interest; +and if we go on as we began, no other Club in this town will be worth +talking of." + +The Journal about this time is very full of _Brothers_ Arran and +Dupplin, Masham and Ormond, Bathurst and Harcourt, Orrery and Jack +Hill, and other Tory magnates of the Club, or Society as Swift +preferred to call it. We find him entertaining his "Brothers" at the +Thatched House Tavern, in St. James's Street, at the cost of seven +good guineas. He must have been an influential member; he writes: "We +are now, in all, nine lords and ten commoners. The Duke of Beaufort +had the confidence to propose his brother-in-law, the Earl of Danby, +to be a member; but I opposed it so warmly, that it was waived. Danby +is not above twenty, and we will have no more boys; and we want but +two to make up our number. I staid till eight, and then we all went +away soberly. The Duke of Ormond's treat last week cost £20, though it +was only four dishes and four without a dessert; and I bespoke it in +order to be cheap. Yet I could not prevail to change the house. Lord +Treasurer is in a rage with us for being so extravagant; and the wine +was not reckoned neither, for that is always brought in by him that is +president." + +Not long after this, Swift writes: "Our Society does not meet now as +usual; for which I am blamed; but till Treasurer will agree to give us +money and employments to bestow, I am averse to it, and he gives us +nothing but promises. We now resolve to meet but once a fortnight, and +have a committee every other week of six or seven, to consult about +doing _some good_. I proposed another message to Lord Treasurer by +three principal members, to give a hundred guineas to a certain +person, and they are to urge it as well as they can." + +One day, President Arbuthnot gives the Society a dinner, dressed in +the Queen's kitchen: "we eat it in Ozinda's Coffee-house just by St. +James's. We were never merrier or better company, and did not part +till after eleven." In May, we hear how "fifteen of our Society dined +together under a canopy in an arbour at Parson's Green last Thursday. +I never saw anything so fine and romantic." + +Latterly, the Club removed to the Star and Garter, in Pall Mall, owing +to the dearness of the Thatched House; after this, the expense was +wofully complained of. At these meetings, we may suppose, the +literature of politics formed the staple of the conversation. The last +epigram, the last pamphlet, the last _Examiner_, would be discussed +with keen relish; and Swift mentions one occasion on which an +impromptu subscription was got up for a poet, who had lampooned +Marlborough; on which occasion all the company subscribed two guineas +each, except Swift himself, Arbuthnot, and Friend, who only gave one. +Bolingbroke, who was an active member, and Swift, were on a footing of +great familiarity. St. John used to give capital dinners and plenty of +champagne and burgundy to his literary coadjutor, who never ceased to +wonder at the ease with which our Secretary got through his labours, +and who worked for him in turn with the sincerest devotion, though +always asserting his equality in the sturdiest manner. + +Many pleasant glimpses of convivial meetings are afforded in the +_Journal to Stella_, when there was "much drinking, little thinking," +and the business which they had met to consider was deferred to a more +convenient season. Whether (observes a contemporary) the power of +conversation has declined or not, we certainly fear that the power of +drinking has; and the imagination dwells with melancholy fondness on +that state of society in which great men were not forbidden to be good +fellows, which we fancy, whether rightly or wrongly, must have been so +superior to ours, in which wit and eloquence succumb to statistics, +and claret has given place to coffee. + +The _Journal to Stella_ reveals Swift's sympathy for poor starving +authors, and how he carried out the objects of the Society, in this +respect. Thus, he goes to see "a poor poet, one Mr. Diaper, in a nasty +garret, very sick," described in the Journal as "the author of the +_Sea Eclogues_, poems of Mermen, resembling pastorals and shepherds; +and they are very pretty, and the thought is new." Then Swift tells us +he thinks to recommend Diaper to the Society; he adds, "I must do +something for him, and get him out of the way. I hate to have any new +wits rise; but when they do rise, I would encourage them; but they +tread on our heels, and thrust us off the stage." Only a few days +before, Swift had given Diaper twenty guineas from Lord Bolingbroke. + +Then we get at the business of "the Brothers," when we learn that the +printer attended the dinners; and the Journal tells us: "There was +printed a Grub-street speech of Lord Nottingham, and he was such an +owl to complain of it in the House of Lords, who have taken up the +printer for it. I heard at Court that Walpole, (a great Whig member,) +said that I and my whimsical Club writ it at one of our meetings, and +that I should pay for it. He will find he lies; and I shall let him +know by a third hand my thoughts of him." ... "To-day I published _The +Fable of Midas_, a poem printed on a loose half-sheet of paper. I know +not how it will take; but it passed wonderfully at our Society +to-night." At one dinner, the printer's news is that the Chancellor of +the Exchequer had sent Mr. Adisworth, the author of the _Examiner_, +twenty guineas. + +There were gay sparks among "the Brothers," as Colonel or "Duke" +Disney, "a fellow of abundance of humour, an old battered rake, but +very honest; not an old man, but an old rake. It was he that said of +Jenny Kingdown, the maid of honour, who is a little old, 'that since +she could not get a husband, the Queen should give her a brevet to act +as a married woman.'"--_Journal to Stella._ + + + + +THE SCRIBLERUS CLUB. + + +"The Brothers," as we have already seen, was a political Club, which, +having, in great measure served its purpose, was broken up. Next year, +1714, Swift was again in London, and in place of "the Brothers," +formed the celebrated "Scriblerus Club," an association rather of a +literary than a political character. Oxford and St. John, Swift, +Arbuthnot, Pope, and Gay, were members. Satire upon the abuse of human +learning was their leading object. The name originated as follows. +Oxford used playfully to call Swift _Martin_, and from this sprung +Martinus Scriblerus. _Swift_, as is well known, is the name of one +species of swallow, (the largest and most powerful flier of the +tribe,) and Martin is the name of another species, the wall-swallow, +which constructs its nest in buildings. + +Part of the labours of the Society has been preserved in _P. P._, +_Clerk of the Parish_, the most memorable satire upon Burnet's +_History of his Own Time_, and part has been rendered immortal by the +_Travels of Lemuel Gulliver_; but, says Sir Walter Scott, in his _Life +of Swift_, "the violence of political faction, like a storm that +spares the laurel no more than the cedar, dispersed this little band +of literary brethren, and prevented the accomplishment of a task for +which talents so various, so extended, and so brilliant, can never +again be united." + +Oxford and Bolingbroke, themselves accomplished scholars, patrons and +friends both of the persons and to genius thus associated, led the +way, by their mutual animosity, to the dissolution of the +confraternity. Their discord had now risen to the highest pitch. Swift +tried the force of humorous expostulation in his fable of the Fagot, +where the ministers are called upon to contribute their various badges +of office, to make the bundle strong and secure. But all was in vain; +and, at length, tired with this scene of murmuring and discontent, +quarrel, misunderstanding, and hatred, the Dean, who was almost the +only common friend who laboured to compose these differences, made a +final effort at reconciliation; but his scheme came to nothing, and +Swift retreated from the scene of discord, without taking part with +either of his contending friends, and went to the house of the +Reverend Mr. Gery, at Upper Letcombe, Berkshire, where he resided for +some weeks, in the strictest seclusion. This secession of Swift, from +the political world excited the greatest surprise: the public +wondered,--the party writers exulted in a thousand ineffectual libels +against the retreating champion of the high church,--and his friends +conjured him in numerous letters to return and reassume the task of a +peacemaker; this he positively declined. + + + + +THE CALVES' HEAD CLUB. + + +The Calves' Head Club, in "ridicule of the memory of Charles I.," has +a strange history. It is first noticed in a tract reprinted in the +_Harleian Miscellany_. It is entitled "_The Secret History of the +Calves' Head Club; or the Republican unmasked_. _Wherein is fully +shown the Religion of the Calves' Head Heroes, in their Anniversary +Thanksgiving Songs on the 30th of January, by them called Anthems, for +the years 1693, 1694, 1695, 1696, 1697. Now published to demonstrate +the restless implacable Spirit of a certain party still amongst us, +who are never to be satisfied until the present Establishment in +Church and State is subverted._ The Second Edition. London, 1703." The +Author of this _Secret History_, supposed to be Ned Ward, attributed +the origin of the Club to Milton, and some other friends of the +Commonwealth, in opposition to Bishop Nixon, Dr. Sanderson, and +others, who met privately every 30th of January, and compiled a +private form of service for the day, not very different from that long +used. "After the Restoration," says the writer, "the eyes of the +government being upon the whole party, they were obliged to meet with +a great deal of precaution; but in the reign of King William they met +almost in a public manner, apprehending no danger." The writer further +tells us, he was informed that it was kept in no fixed house, but that +they moved as they thought convenient. The place where they met when +his informant was with them was in a blind alley near Moorfields, +where an axe hung up in the club-room, and was reverenced as a +principal symbol in this diabolical sacrament. Their bill of fare was +a large dish of calves' heads, dressed several ways, by which they +represented the king and his friends who had suffered in his cause; a +large pike, with a small one in his mouth, as an emblem of tyranny; a +large cod's head, by which they intended to represent the person of +the king singly; a boar's head with an apple in its mouth, to +represent the king by this as bestial, as by their other hieroglyphics +they had done foolish and tyrannical. After the repast was over, one +of their elders presented an _Icon Basilike_, which was with great +solemnity burnt upon the table, whilst the other anthems were singing. +After this, another produced Milton's _Defensio Populi Anglicani_, +upon which all laid their hands, and made a protestation in form of an +oath for ever to stand by and maintain the same. The company only +consisted of Independents and Anabaptists; and the famous Jeremy +White, formerly chaplain to Oliver Cromwell, who no doubt came to +sanctify with his pious exhortations the ribaldry of the day, said +grace. After the table-cloth was removed, the anniversary anthem, as +they impiously called it, was sung, and a calf's skull filled with +wine, or other liquor; and then a brimmer went about to the pious +memory of those worthy patriots who had killed the tyrant and relieved +their country from his arbitrary sway: and, lastly, a collection was +made for the mercenary scribbler, to which every man contributed +according to his zeal for the cause and ability of his purse. + +The tract passed, with many augmentations as valueless as the original +trash, through no less than nine editions, the last dated 1716. +Indeed, it would appear to be a literary fraud, to keep alive the +calumny. All the evidence produced concerning the meetings is from +hearsay: the writer of the _Secret History_ had never himself been +present at the Club; and his friend from whom he professes to have +received his information, though a Whig, had no personal knowledge of +the Club. The slanderous rumour about Milton having to do with the +institution of the Club may be passed over as unworthy of notice, this +untrustworthy tract being the only authority for it. Lowndes says, +"this miserable tract has been attributed to the author of +_Hudibras_;" but it is altogether unworthy of him. + +Observances, insulting to the memory of Charles I., were not +altogether unknown. Hearne tells us that on the 30th of January, +1706-7, some young men in All Souls College, Oxford, dined together at +twelve o'clock, and amused themselves with cutting off the heads of a +number of woodcocks, "in contempt of the memory of the blessed +martyr." They tried to get calves'-heads, but the cook refused to +dress them. + +Some thirty years after, there occurred a scene which seemed to give +colour to the truth of the _Secret History_. On January 30, 1735, +"Some young noblemen and gentlemen met at a tavern in Suffolk-street, +called themselves the Calves' Head Club, dressed up a calf's head in +a napkin, and after some hurras threw it into a bonfire, and dipped +napkins in their red wine and waved them out of the window. The mob +had strong beer given them, and for a time hallooed as well as the +best, but taking disgust at some healths proposed, grew so outrageous +that they broke all the windows, and forced themselves into the house; +but the guards being sent for, prevented further mischief. The _Weekly +Chronicle_ of February 1, 1735, states that the damage was estimated +at 'some hundred pounds,' and that the guards were posted all night in +the street, for the security of the neighbourhood." + +In L'Abbé Le Blanc's Letters we find this account of the +affair:--"Some young men of quality chose to abandon themselves to the +debauchery of drinking healths on the 30th of January, a day appointed +by the Church of England for a general fast, to expiate the murder of +Charles I., whom they honour as a martyr. As soon as they were heated +with wine, they began to sing. This gave great offence to the people, +who stopped before the tavern, and gave them abusive language. One of +these rash young men put his head out of the window and drank to the +memory of the army which dethroned this King, and to the rebels which +cut off his head upon a scaffold. The stones immediately flew from all +parts, the furious populace broke the windows of the house, and would +have set fire to it; and these silly young men had a great deal of +difficulty to save themselves." + +Miss Banks tells us that "Lord Middlesex, Lord Boyne, and Mr. +Seawallis Shirley, were certainly present; probably, Lord John +Sackville, Mr. Ponsonby, afterwards Lord Besborough, was not there. +Lord Boyne's finger was broken by a stone which came in at the window. +Lord Harcourt was supposed to be present." Horace Walpole adds: "The +mob destroyed part of the house; Sir William (called Hellfire) +Stanhope was one of the members." + +This riotous occurrence was the occasion of some verses in _The +Grub-street Journal_, from which the following lines may be quoted as +throwing additional light on the scene:-- + + "Strange times! when noble peers, secure from riot, + Can't keep Noll's annual festival in quiet, + Through sashes broke, dirt, stones, and brands thrown at 'em, + Which, if not scand- was _brand-alum magnatum_. + Forced to run down to vaults for safer quarters, + And in coal-holes their ribbons hide and garters. + They thought their feast in dismal fray thus ending, + Themselves to shades of death and hell descending; + This might have been, had stout Clare Market mobsters, + With cleavers arm'd, outmarch'd St. James's lobsters; + Numskulls they'd split, to furnish other revels, + And make a Calves'-head Feast for worms and devils." + +The manner in which Noll's (Oliver Cromwell's) "annual festival" is +here alluded to, seems to show that the bonfire, with the calf's-head +and other accompaniments, had been exhibited in previous years. In +confirmation of this fact, there exists a print entitled _The True +Effigies of the Members of the Calves'-Head Club, held on the 30th of +January, 1734, in Suffolk Street, in the County of Middlesex_; being +the year before the riotous occurrence above related. This print shows +a bonfire in the centre of the foreground, with the mob; in the +background, a house with three windows, the central window exhibiting +two men, one of whom is about to throw the calf's-head into the +bonfire below. The window on the right shows three persons drinking +healths; that on the left, two other persons, one of whom wears a +mask, and has an axe in his hand. + +There are two other prints, one engraved by the father of Vandergucht, +from a drawing by Hogarth. + +After the tablecloth was removed (says the author), an anniversary +anthem was sung, and a calf's-skull filled with wine or other liquor, +and out of which the company drank to the pious memory of those worthy +patriots who had killed the tyrant; and lastly, a collection was made +for the writer of the anthem, to which every man contributed according +to his zeal or his means. The concluding lines of the anthem for the +year 1697 are as follow:-- + + "Advance the emblem of the action, + Fill the calf's skull full of wine; + Drinking ne'er was counted faction, + Men and gods adore the vine. + To the heroes gone before us, + Let's renew the flowing bowl; + While the lustre of their glories + Shines like stars from pole to pole." + +The laureate of the Club and of this doggrel was Benjamin Bridgwater, +who, alluding to the observance of the 30th of January by zealous +Royalists, wrote:-- + + "They and we, this day observing, + Differ only in one thing; + They are canting, whining, starving; + We, rejoicing, drink, and sing." + +Among Swift's poems will be remembered "Roland's Invitation to Dismal +to dine with the Calf's-Head Club":-- + + "While an alluding hymn some artist sings, + We toast 'Confusion to the race of kings.'" + +Wilson, in his Life of De Foe, doubts the truthfulness of Ward's +narrative, but adds: "In the frighted mind of a high-flying churchman, +which was continually haunted by such scenes, the caricature would +easily pass for a likeness." "It is probable," adds the honest +biographer of De Foe, "that the persons thus collected together to +commemorate the triumph of their principles, although in a manner +dictated by bad taste, and outrageous to humanity, would have confined +themselves to the ordinary methods of eating and drinking, if it had +not been for the ridiculous farce so generally acted by the Royalists +upon the same day. The trash that issued from the pulpit in this +reign, upon the 30th of January, was such as to excite the worst +passions in the hearers. Nothing can exceed the grosness of language +employed upon these occasions. Forgetful even of common decorum, the +speakers ransacked the vocabulary of the vulgar for terms of +vituperation, and hurled their anathemas with wrath and fury against +the objects of their hatred. The terms rebel and fanatic were so often +upon their lips, that they became the reproach of honest men, who +preferred the scandal to the slavery they attempted to establish. +Those who could profane the pulpit with so much rancour in the support +of senseless theories, and deal it out to the people for religion, had +little reason to complain of a few absurd men who mixed politics and +calves' heads at a tavern; and still less, to brand a whole religious +community with their actions." + +The strange story was believed till our own time, when it was fully +disproved by two letters written a few days after the riotous +occurrence, by Mr. A. Smyth, to Mr. Spence, and printed in the +Appendix to his _Anecdotes_, 2nd edit. 1858: in one it is stated, +"The affair has been grossly misrepresented all over the town, and in +most of the public papers: there was no calf's-head exposed at the +window, and afterwards thrown into the fire, no napkins dipt in claret +to represent blood, nor nothing that could give any colour to any such +reports. The meeting (at least with regard to our friends) was +entirely accidental," etc. The second letter alike contradicts the +whole story; and both attribute much of the disturbance to the +unpopularity of the Administration; their health being unluckily +proposed, raised a few faint claps but a general hiss, and then the +disturbance began. A letter from Lord Middlesex to Spence, gives a +still fuller account of the affair. By the style of the letter one may +judge what sort of heads the members had, and what was reckoned the +polite way of speaking to a waiter in those days:-- + + "Whitehall, Feb. ye 9th, 1735. + +"Dear _Spanco_,--I don't in the least doubt but long before this time +the noise of the riot on the 30th of January has reached you at +Oxford; and though there has been as many lies and false reports +raised upon the occasion in this good city as any reasonable man could +expect, yet I fancy even those may be improved or increased before +they come to you. Now, that you may be able to defend your friends (as +I don't in the least doubt you have an inclination to do), I'll send +you the matter of fact literally and truly as it happened, upon my +honour. Eight of us happened to meet together the 30th of January, it +might have been the 10th of June, or any other day in the year, but +the mixture of the company has convinced most reasonable people by +this time that it was not a designed or premeditated affair. We met, +then, as I told you before, by chance upon this day, and after dinner, +having drunk very plentifully, especially some of the company, some of +us going to the window unluckily saw a little nasty fire made by some +boys in the street, of straw I think it was, and immediately cried +out, 'D--n it, why should not we have a fire as well as anybody else?' +Up comes the drawer, 'D--n you, you rascal, get us a bonfire.' Upon +which the imprudent puppy runs down, and without making any difficulty +(which he might have done by a thousand excuses, and which if he had, +in all probability, some of us would have come more to our senses), +sends for the faggots, and in an instant behold a large fire blazing +before the door. Upon which some of us, wiser, or rather soberer than +the rest, bethinking themselves then, for the first time, what day it +was, and fearing the consequences a bonfire on that day might have, +proposed drinking loyal and popular healths to the mob (out of the +window), which by this time was very great, in order to convince them +we did not intend it as a ridicule upon that day. The healths that +were drank out of the window were these, and these only: The King, +Queen, and Royal Family, the Protestant Succession, Liberty and +Property, the present Administration. Upon which the first stone was +flung, and then began our siege: which, for the time it lasted, was at +least as furious as that of Philipsbourg; it was more than an hour +before we got any assistance; the more sober part of us, doing this, +had a fine time of it, fighting to prevent fighting; in danger of +being knocked on the head by the stones that came in at the windows; +in danger of being run through by our mad friends, who, sword in hand, +swore they would go out, though they first made their way through us. +At length the justice, attended by a strong body of guards, came and +dispersed the populace. The person who first stirred up the mob is +known; he first gave them money, and then harangued them in a most +violent manner; I don't know if he did not fling the first stone +himself. He is an Irishman and a priest, and belonging to Imberti, the +Venetian Envoy. This is the whole story from which so many calves' +heads, bloody napkins, and the Lord knows what, has been made; it has +been the talk of the town and the country, and small beer and bread +and cheese to my friends the garretteers in Grub-street, for these few +days past. I, as well as your friends, hope to see you soon in town. +After so much prose, I can't help ending with a few verses:-- + + "O had I lived in merry Charles's days, + When dull the wise were called, and wit had praise; + When deepest politics could never pass + For aught, but surer tokens of an ass; + When not the frolicks of one drunken night + Could touch your honour, make your fame less bright; + Tho' mob-form'd scandal rag'd, and Papal spight." + + "MIDDLESEX." + +To sum up, the whole affair was a hoax, kept alive by the pretended +"Secret History." An accidental riot, following a debauch on one 30th +of January, has been distributed between two successive years, owing +to a misapprehension of the mode of reckoning time prevalent in the +early part of the last century; and there is no more reason for +believing in the existence of a Calves' Head Club in 1734-5 than there +is for believing it exists in 1864. + + + + +THE KING'S HEAD CLUB. + + +Another Club of this period was the "Club of Kings," or "the King +Club," all the members of which were called "King." Charles himself +was an honorary member. + +A more important Club was "the King's Head Club," instituted for +affording the Court and Government support, and to influence +Protestant zeal: it was designed by the unscrupulous Shaftesbury: the +members were a sort of Decembrists of their day; but they failed in +their aim, and ultimately expired under the ridicule of being +designated "Hogs in armour." "The gentlemen of that worthy Society," +says Roger North, in his _Examen_, "held their evening sessions +continually at the King's Head Tavern, over against the Inner Temple +Gate. But upon the occasion of the signal of a _green ribbon_, agreed +to be worn in their hats in the days of _street engagements_, like the +coats-of-arms of valiant knights of old, whereby all warriors of the +Society might be distinguished, and not mistake friends for enemies, +they were called also the _Green Ribbon Club_. Their seat was in a +sort of _Carfour_ at Chancery-lane end, a centre of business and +company most proper for such anglers of fools. The house was double +balconied in the front, as may be yet seen, for the clubsters to issue +forth in fresco with hats and no peruques; pipes in their mouths, +merry faces, and diluted throats, for vocal encouragement of the +_canaglia_ below, at bonfires, on usual and unusual occasions. They +admitted all strangers that were confidingly introduced; for it was a +main end of their Institution to make proselytes, especially of the +raw estated youth, newly come to town. This copious Society were to +the faction in and about London a sort of executive power, and, by +correspondence, all over England. The resolves of the more retired +councils of the ministry of the Faction were brought in here, and +orally insinuated to the company, whether it were lyes, defamations, +commendations, projects, etc., and so, like water diffused, spread all +over the town; whereby that which was digested at the Club over night, +was, like nourishment, at every assembly, male and female, the next +day:--and thus the younglings tasted of political administration, and +took themselves for notable counsellors." + +North regarded the Green Ribbon Club as the focus of disaffection and +sedition, but his mere opinions are not to be depended on. Walpole +calls him "the voluminous squabbler in behalf of the most +unjustifiable excesses of Charles the Second's Administration." +Nevertheless, his relation of facts is very curious, and there is no +reason to discredit his account of those popular "routs," to use his +own phrase, to which he was an eyewitness. + +The conversation and ordinary discourse of the Club, he informs us, +"was chiefly upon the subject of _Braveur_, in defending the cause of +Liberty and Property; what every true Protestant and Englishman ought +to venture to do, rather than be overpowered with Popery and Slavery." +They were provided with silk armour for defence, "against the time +that Protestants were to be massacred," and, in order "to be +assailants upon fair occasion," they had recommended to them, "a +certain pocket weapon which, for its design and efficacy, had the +honour to be called a _Protestant Flail_. The handles resembled a +farrier's blood-stick, and the fall was joined to the end by a strong +nervous ligature, that, in its swing, fell just short of the hand, and +was made of _Lignum Vitæ_, or rather, as the Poets termed it, +_Mortis_." This engine was "for street and crowd-work, and lurking +perdue in a coat-pocket, might readily sally out to execution; and so, +by clearing a great Hall or Piazza, or so, carry an Election by choice +of Polling, called _knocking down_!" The _armour_ of the _hogs_ is +further described as "silken back, breast, and potts, that were +pretended to be pistol-proof, in which any man dressed up was as safe +as in a house, for it was impossible any one would go to strike him +for laughing, so ridiculous was the figure, as they say, of _hogs in +armour_." + +In describing the Pope-burning procession of the 17th of November, +1680, Roger North says, that "the Rabble first changed their title, +and were called _the Mob_ in the assemblies of this Club. It was their +Beast of Burthen, and called first, _mobile vulgus_, but fell +naturally into the contraction of one syllable, and ever since is +become proper English." + +We shall not describe these Processions: the grand object was the +burning of figures, prepared for the occasion, and brought by the Mob +in procession, from the further end of London with "staffiers and +link-boys, sounding," and "coming up near to the Club-Quality in the +balconies, against which was provided a huge bonfire;" "and then, +after numerous platoons and volleys of squibs discharged, these +_Bamboches_ were, with redoubled noise, committed to the flames." +These outrageous celebrations were suppressed in 1683. + + + + +STREET CLUBS. + + +During the first quarter of the last century, there were formed in the +metropolis "Street Clubs," of the inhabitants of the same street; so +that a man had but to stir a few houses from his own door to enjoy his +Club and the society of his neighbours. There was another inducement: +the streets were then so unsafe, that "the nearer home a man's club +lay, the better for his clothes and his purse. Even riders in coaches +were not safe from mounted footpads, and from the danger of upsets in +the huge ruts and pits which intersected the streets. The passenger +who could not afford a coach had to pick his way, after dark, along +the dimly-lighted, ill-paved thoroughfares, seamed by filthy open +kennels, besprinkled from projecting spouts, bordered by gaping +cellars, guarded by feeble old watchmen, and beset with daring +street-robbers. But there were worse terrors of the night than the +chances of a splashing or a sprain,--risks beyond those of an +interrogatory by the watch, or of a 'stand and deliver' from a +footpad." These were the lawless rake-hells who, banded into clubs, +spread terror and dismay through the streets. Sir John Fielding, in +his cautionary book, published in 1776, described the dangerous +attacks of intemperate rakes in hot blood, who, occasionally and by +way of bravado, scour the streets, to show their manhood, not their +humanity; put the watch to flight; and now and then murdered some +harmless, inoffensive person. Thus, although there are in London no +ruffians and bravos, as in some parts of Spain and Italy, who will +kill for hire, yet there is no resisting anywhere the wild sallies of +youth, and the extravagances that flow from debauchery and wine. One +of our poets has given a necessary caution, especially to strangers, +in the following lines:-- + + "Prepare for death, if here at night you roam, + And sign your will before you sup from home; + Some fiery fop with new commission vain, + Who sleeps on brambles 'till he kills his man; + Some frolic drunkard, reeling from a feast, + Provokes a broil, and stabs you in a jest. + Yet, ev'n these heroes, mischievously gay, + Lords of the street, and terrors of the way; + Flush'd as they are with folly, youth, and wine, + Their prudent insults to the poor confine; + Afar they mark the flambeau's bright approach, + And shun the shining train and gilded coach." + + + + +THE MOHOCKS. + + +This nocturnal fraternity met in the days of Queen Anne: but it had +been for many previous years the favourite amusement of dissolute +young men to form themselves into Clubs and Associations for +committing all sorts of excesses in the public streets, and alike +attacking orderly pedestrians, and even defenceless women. These Clubs +took various slang designations. At the Restoration they were "Mums" +and "Tityre-tus." They were succeeded by the "Hectors" and "Scourers," +when, says Shadwell, "a man could not go from the Rose Tavern to the +Piazza once, but he must venture his life twice." Then came the +"Nickers," whose delight it was to smash windows with showers of +halfpence; next were the "Hawkabites;" and lastly, the "Mohocks." +These last are described in the _Spectator_, No. 324, as a set of men +who have borrowed their name from a sort of cannibals, in India, who +subsist by plundering and devouring all the nations about them. The +president is styled "Emperor of the Mohocks;" and his arms are a +Turkish crescent, which his imperial majesty bears at present in a +very extraordinary manner engraven upon his forehead; in imitation of +which the Members prided themselves in tattooing; or slashing people's +faces with, as Gay wrote, "new invented wounds." Their avowed design +was mischief, and upon this foundation all their rules and orders were +framed. They took care to drink themselves to a pitch beyond reason or +humanity, and then made a general sally, and attack all who were in +the streets. Some were knocked down, others stabbed, and others cut +and carbonadoed. To put the watch to a total rout, and mortify some of +those inoffensive militia, was reckoned a _coup d'éclat_. They had +special barbarities, which they executed upon their prisoners. +"Tipping the lion" was squeezing the nose flat to the face, and boring +out the eyes with their fingers. "Dancing-masters" were those who +taught their scholars to cut capers by running swords through their +legs. The "Tumblers" set women on their heads. The "Sweaters" worked +in parties of half-a-dozen, surrounding their victims with the points +of their swords. The Sweater upon whom the patient turned his back, +pricked him in "that part whereon school-boys are punished;" and, as +he veered round from the smart, each Sweater repeated this pinking +operation; "after this jig had gone two or three times round, and the +patient was thought to have sweat sufficiently, he was very +handsomely rubbed down by some attendants, who carried with them +instruments for that purpose, when they discharged him." An adventure +of this kind is narrated in No. 332 of the _Spectator_: it is there +termed a bagnio, for the orthography of which the writer consults the +sign-posts of the bagnio in Newgate-street and that in Chancery-lane. + +Another savage diversion of the Mohocks was their thrusting women into +barrels, and rolling them down Snow or Ludgate Hill, as thus sung by +Gay, in his _Trivia_:-- + + "Now is the time that rakes their revels keep; + Kindlers of riot, enemies of sleep. + His scattered pence the flying Nicker flings, + And with the copper shower the casement rings. + Who has not heard the Scourer's midnight fame? + Who has not trembled at the Mohock's name? + Was there a watchman took his hourly rounds + Safe from their blows, or new-invented wounds? + I pass their desperate deeds and mischiefs, done + Where from Snow-hill black steepy torrents run; + How matrons, hooped within the hogshead's womb, + Were tumbled furious thence; the rolling tomb + O'er the stones thunders, bounds from side to side: + So Regulus, to save his country, died." + +Swift was inclined to doubt these savageries, yet went in some +apprehension of them. He writes, just at the date of the above +_Spectator_: "Here is the devil and all to do with these Mohocks. +Grub-street papers about them fly like lightning, and a list printed +of near eighty put into several prisons, and all a lie, and I begin to +think there is no truth, or very little, in the whole story. He that +abused Davenant was a drunken gentleman; none of that gang. My man +tells me that one of the lodgers heard in a coffee-house, publicly, +that one design of the Mohocks was upon me, if they could catch me; +and though I believe nothing of it, I forbear walking late; and they +have put me to the charge of some shillings already."--_Journal to +Stella_, 1712. + +Swift mentions, among the outrages of the Mohocks, that two of them +caught a maid of old Lady Winchilsea's at the door of her house in the +Park with a candle, and had just lighted out somebody. They cut all +her face, and beat her without any provocation. + +At length, the villanies of the Mohocks were attempted to be put down +by a Royal proclamation, issued on the 18th of March, 1712: this, +however, had very little effect, for we soon find Swift exclaiming: +"They go on still, and cut people's faces every night! but they +sha'n't cut mine; I like it better as it is." + +Within a week after the Proclamation, it was proposed that Sir Roger +de Coverley should go to the play, where he had not been for twenty +years. The _Spectator_, No. 335, says: "My friend asked me if there +would not be some danger in coming home late, in case the Mohocks +should be abroad. 'I assure you,' says he, 'I thought I had fallen +into their hands last night; for I observed two or three lusty black +men that followed me half-way up Fleet-street, and mended their pace +behind me, in proportion as I put on to get away from them." However, +Sir Roger threw them out, at the end of Norfolk Street, where he +doubled the corner, and got shelter in his lodgings before they could +imagine what was become of him. It was finally arranged that Captain +Sentry should make one of the party for the play, and that Sir Roger's +coach should be got ready, the fore wheels being newly mended. "The +Captain," says the _Spectator_, "who did not fail to meet me at the +appointed hour, bid Sir Roger fear nothing, for that he had put on the +same sword which he made use of at the battle of Steenkirk. Sir +Roger's servants, and among the rest, my old friend the butler, had, I +found, provided themselves with good oaken plants, to attend their +master upon this occasion. When he placed him in his coach, with +myself at his left hand, the Captain before him, and his butler at the +head of his footmen in the rear, we convoyed him in safety to the +playhouse." The play was Ambrose Phillips's new tragedy of _The +Distressed Mother_: at its close, Sir Roger went out fully satisfied +with his entertainment; and, says _the Spectator_, "we guarded him to +his lodging in the same manner that we guarded him to the playhouse." + +The subject is resumed with much humour, by Budgell, in the +_Spectator_, No. 347, where the doubts as to the actual existence of +Mohocks are examined. "They will have it," says the _Spectator_, "that +the Mohocks are like those spectres and apparitions which frighten +several towns and villages in Her Majesty's dominions, though they +were never seen by any of the inhabitants. Others are apt to think +that these Mohocks are a kind of bull-beggars, first invented by +prudent married men and masters of families, in order to deter their +wives and daughters from taking the air at unseasonable hours; and +that when they tell them 'the Mohocks will catch them,' it is a +caution of the same nature with that of our forefathers, when they bid +their children have a care of Raw-head and Bloody-bones." Then we +have, from a Correspondent of the _Spectator_, "the manifesto of Taw +Waw Eben Zan Kaladar, Emperor of the Mohocks," vindicating his +imperial dignity from the false aspersions cast on it, signifying the +imperial abhorrence and detestation of such tumultuous and irregular +proceedings; and notifying that all wounds, hurts, damage, or +detriment, received in limb or limbs, _otherwise than shall be +hereafter specified_, shall be committed to the care of the Emperor's +surgeon, and cured at his own expense, in some one or other of those +hospitals which he is erecting for that purpose. + +Among other things it is decreed "that they never tip the lion upon +man, woman, or child, till the clock at St. Dunstan's shall have +struck one;" "that the sweat be never given till between the hours of +one and two;" "that the sweaters do establish their hummums in such +close places, alleys, nooks and corners, that the patient or patients +may not be in danger of catching cold;" "that the tumblers, to whose +care we chiefly commit the female sex, confine themselves to +Drury-lane and the purlieus of the Temple," etc. "Given from our Court +at the Devil Tavern," etc. + +The Mohocks held together until nearly the end of the reign of George +the First. + + + + +BLASPHEMOUS CLUBS. + + +The successors of the Mohocks added blasphemy to riot. Smollett +attributes the profaneness and profligacy of the period to the +demoralization produced by the South Sea Bubble; and Clubs were formed +specially for the indulgence of debauchery and profaneness. Prominent +among these was "the Hell-fire Club," of which the Duke of Wharton was +a leading spirit:-- + + "Wharton, the scorn and wonder of our days, + Whose ruling passion was the lust of praise. + Born with whate'er could win it from the wise, + Women and fools must like him, or he dies. + Though wondering senates hung on all he spoke, + The club must hail him master of the joke."--_Pope._ + +So high did the tide of profaneness run at this time, that a Bill was +brought into the House of Lords for its suppression. It was in a +debate on this Bill that the Earl of Peterborough declared, that +though he was for a Parliamentary King, he was against a Parliamentary +religion; and that the Duke of Wharton pulled an old family Bible out +of his pocket, in order to controvert certain arguments delivered from +the episcopal bench. + + + + +MUG-HOUSE CLUBS. + + +Among the political Clubs of the metropolis in the early part of the +eighteenth century, one of the most popular was the Mug-house Club, +which met in a great Hall in Long Acre every Wednesday and Saturday, +during the winter. The house received its name from the simple +circumstance, that each member drank his ale (the only liquor used) +out of a separate mug. The Club is described as a mixture of +gentlemen, lawyers, and statesmen, who met seldom under a hundred. In +_A Journey through England_, 1722, we read of this Club: + +"But the most diverting and amusing of all is the Mug-house Club in +Long Acre. + +"They have a grave old Gentleman, in his own gray Hairs, now within a +few months of Ninety years old, who is their President, and sits in +an arm'd chair some steps higher than the rest of the company to keep +the whole Room in order. A Harp plays all the time at the lower end of +the Room; and every now and then one or other of the Company rises and +entertains the rest with a song, and (by the by) some are good +Masters. Here is nothing drunk but Ale, and every Gentleman hath his +separate Mug, which he chalks on the Table where he sits as it is +brought in; and every one retires when he pleases, as from a +Coffee-house. + +"The Room is always so diverted with Songs, and drinking from one +Table to another to one another's Healths, that there is no room for +Politicks, or anything that can sow'r conversation. + +"One must be there by seven to get Room, and after ten the Company are +for the most part gone. + +"This is a Winter's Amusement, that is agreeable enough to a Stranger +for once or twice, and he is well diverted with the different Humours, +when the Mugs overflow." + +Although in the early days of this Club there was no room for +politics, or anything that could sour conversation, the Mug-house +subsequently became a rallying-place for the most virulent political +antagonism, arising out of the change of dynasty, a weighty matter to +debate over mugs of ale. The death of Anne brought on the Hanover +succession. The Tories had then so much the better of the other party, +that they gained the mob on all public occasions to their side. It +then became necessary for King George's friends to do something to +counteract this tendency. Accordingly, they established Mug-houses, +like that of Long Acre, throughout the metropolis, for well-affected +tradesmen to meet and keep up the spirit of loyalty to the Protestant +succession. First, they had one in St. John's-lane, chiefly under the +patronage of Mr. Blenman, member of the Middle Temple, who took for +his motto, "Pro rege et lege." Then arose the Roebuck Mug-house, in +Cheapside, the haunt of a fraternity of young men, who had been +organized for political action before the end of the late reign. + +According to a pamphlet on the subject, dated in 1717, "the next +Mug-houses opened in the City were at Mrs. Read's, in Salisbury-court, +in Fleet-street, and at the Harp in Tower-street, and another at the +Roebuck in Whitechapel. About the same time several other Mug-houses +were erected in the suburbs, for the reception and entertainment of +the like loyal Societies: viz. one at the Ship, in Tavistock-street, +Covent Garden, which is mostly frequented by royal officers of the +army, another at the Black Horse, in Queen-street near Lincoln's Inn +Fields, set up and carried on by gentlemen, servants to that noble +patron of loyalty, to whom this vindication of it is inscribed [the +Duke of Newcastle]; a third was set up at the Nag's Head, in +James-street, Covent Garden; a fourth at the Fleece, in +Burleigh-street, near Exeter Change; a fifth at the Hand and Tench, +near the Seven Dials; several in Spittlefields, by the French +refugees; one in Southwark Park; and another in the Artillery-ground." +Another noted Mug-house was the Magpie, without Newgate, which house +still exists as the Magpie and Stump, in the Old Bailey. At all these +houses it was customary in the forenoon to exhibit the whole of the +mugs belonging to the establishment, in a row in front of the house. + +The frequenters of these several Mug-houses formed themselves into +"Mug-house Clubs," known severally by some distinctive name, and each +club had its President to rule its meetings and keep order. The +President was treated with great ceremony and respect: he was +conducted to his chair every evening at about seven o'clock, by +members carrying candles before and behind him, and accompanied with +music. Having taken a seat, he appointed a Vice-president, and drank +the health of the company assembled, a compliment which the company +returned. The evening was then passed in drinking successively loyal +and other healths, and in singing songs. Soon after ten they broke up, +the President naming his successor for the next evening; and before he +left the chair, a collection was made for the musicians. + +We shall now see how these Clubs took so active a part in the violent +political struggles of the time. The Jacobites had laboured with much +zeal to secure the alliance of the street mob, and they had used it +with great effect, in connexion with Dr. Sacheverell, in over-turning +Queen Anne's Whig Government, and paving the way for the return of the +exiled family. Disappointment at the accession of George I. rendered +the party of the Pretender more unscrupulous; the mob was excited to +greater excesses, and the streets of the metropolis were occupied by +an infuriated rabble, and presented a nightly scene of riot. It was +under these circumstances that the Mug-house Clubs volunteered, in a +very disorderly manner, to be champions of order; and with this +purpose it became part of their evening's entertainment to march into +the street, and fight the Jacobite mob. This practice commenced in the +autumn of 1715, when the Club called the Loyal Society, which met at +the Roebuck in Cheapside, distinguished itself by its hostility to +Jacobitism. On one occasion this Club burned the Pretender in effigy. +Their first conflict with the mob, recorded in the newspapers, +occurred on the 31st of January, 1715, the birthday of the Prince of +Wales, which was celebrated by illuminations and bonfires. There were +a few Jacobite alehouses, chiefly on Holborn Hill, in Sacheverell's +period; and on Ludgate-hill: the frequenters of the latter stirred up +the mob to raise a riot there, put out the bonfire, and break the +windows which were illuminated. The Loyal Society men, receiving +intelligence of what was going on, hurried to the spot, and thrashed +and defeated the rioters. + +On the 4th of November in the same year, the birthday of King William +III., the Jacobite mob made a large bonfire in the Old Jewry, to burn +an effigy of the King; but the Mug-house men came upon them again, +gave them "due chastisement with oaken plants," extinguished their +bonfire, and carried King William in triumph to the Roebuck. Next day +was the commemoration of Gunpowder Treason, and the loyal mob had its +pageant. A long procession was formed, having in front a figure of the +infant Pretender, accompanied by two men bearing each a warming-pan, +in allusion to the story about his birth; and followed by effigies in +gross caricature of the Pope, the Pretender, the Duke of Ormond, Lord +Bolingbroke, and the Earl of Marr, with halters round their necks; and +all of them were to be burned in a large bonfire made in Cheapside. +The procession, starting from the Roebuck, went through +Newgate-street, and up Holborn-hill, where they compelled the bells of +St. Andrew's church, of which Sacheverell was rector, to ring; thence +through Lincoln's Inn Fields and Covent Garden to the gate of St. +James's Palace; returning by way of Pall Mall and the Strand, and +through St. Paul's Churchyard. They had met with no interruption on +their way, but on their return to Cheapside, they found that, during +their absence, that quarter had been invaded by the Jacobite mob, who +had carried away all the fuel which had been collected for the +bonfire. + +On November 17, in the same year, the Loyal Society met at the Roebuck +to celebrate the anniversary of the Accession of Queen Elizabeth; and, +while busy with their mugs, they received information that the +Jacobites were assembled, in great force, in St. Martin's-le-Grand, +and were preparing to burn the effigies of King William and King +George, along with the Duke of Marlborough. They were so near, in +fact, that their party-shouts of High Church, Ormond, and King James, +must have been audible at the Roebuck, which stood opposite Bow +Church. The Jacobites were starting on their procession, when they +were overtaken in Newgate Street, by the Mug-house men from the +Roebuck, and a desperate encounter took place, in which the Jacobites +were defeated, and many of them were seriously injured. Meanwhile the +Roebuck itself had been the scene of a much more serious tumult. +During the absence of the great mass of the members of the Club, +another body of Jacobites, much more numerous than those engaged in +Newgate Street, suddenly assembled, attacked the Roebuck Mug-house, +broke its windows, and those of the adjoining houses, and with +terrible threats, attempted to force the door. One of the few members +of the Loyal Society who remained at home, discharged a gun upon those +of the assailants who were attacking the door, and killed one of their +leaders. This and the approach of the Lord Mayor and city officers, +caused the mob to disperse; but the Roebuck was exposed to attacks +during several following nights, after which the mobs remained +tolerably quiet during the winter. + +Early in 1716, however, these riots were renewed with greater +violence, and preparations were made for an active campaign. The +Mug-houses were re-fitted, and re-opened with ceremonious +entertainments. New songs were composed to stir up the Clubs; and +collections of these Mug-house songs were printed. The Jacobite mob +was heard beating with its well-known call, marrow-bones and cleavers, +and both sides were well equipped with staves of oak, their usual arms +for the fray, though other weapons and missiles were in common use. +One of the Mug-house songs thus describes the way in which these +street fights were conducted:-- + + "Since the Tories could not fight, + And their master took his flight, + They labour to keep up their faction; + With a bough and a stick, + And a stone and a brick, + They equip their roaring crew for action. + + "Thus in battle array, + At the close of the day, + After wisely debating their plot, + Upon windows and stall + They courageously fall, + And boast a great victory they've got. + + "But, alas! silly boys! + For all the mighty noise + Of their 'High Church and Ormond for ever!' + A brave Whig, with one hand, + At George's command, + Can make their mightiest hero to quiver." + +On March 8, another great Whig anniversary, the day of the death of +William III., commenced the more serious Mug-house riots of 1716. A +large Jacobite mob assembled to their own watch-cry, and marched along +Cheapside, to attack the Roebuck; but they were soon driven back by a +small party of the Royal Society, who then marched in procession +through Newgate Street, to the Magpie and Stump, and then by the Old +Bailey to Ludgate Hill. When about to return, they found the Jacobite +mob had collected in great force in their rear; and a fierce +engagement took place in Newgate Street, when the Jacobites were again +worsted. Then, on the evening of the 23rd of April, the anniversary of +the birth of Queen Anne, there were great battles in Cheapside, and at +the end of Giltspur Street; and in the immediate neighbourhood of the +Roebuck and the Magpie. Other great tumults took place on the 29th of +May, Restoration Day; and on the 10th of June, the Pretender's +birthday. From this time the Roebuck is rarely mentioned. + +The Whigs, who met in the Mug-house, kept by Mr. Read, in Salisbury +Court, Fleet Street, appear to have been peculiarly noisy in their +cups, and thus rendered themselves the more obnoxious to the mob. On +one occasion, July 20, their violent party-toasts, which they drank in +the parlour with open windows, collected a large crowd of persons, who +became at last so incensed by some tipsy Whigs inside, that they +commenced a furious attack upon the house, and threatened to pull it +down and make a bonfire of its materials in the middle of Fleet +Street. The Whigs immediately closed their windows and barricaded the +doors, having sent a messenger by a back door, to the Mug-house in +Tavistock Street, Covent Garden, begging that the persons there +assembled would come to the rescue. The call was immediately responded +to; the Mug-house men proceeded in a body down the Strand and Fleet +Street, armed with staves and bludgeons, and commenced an attack on +the mob, who still threatened the demolition of the house in Salisbury +Court. The inmates sallied out, armed with pokers and tongs, and +whatever they could lay their hands upon, and being joined by their +friends from Covent Garden, the mob was put to flight, and the +Mug-house men remained masters of the field. + +The popular indignation was very great at this defeat; and for two +days crowds collected in the neighbourhood, and vowed they would have +revenge. But the knowledge that a squadron of horse was drawn up at +Whitehall, ready to ride into the City on the first alarm, kept order. +On the third day, however, the people found a leader in the person of +one Vaughan, formerly a Bridewell boy, who instigated the mob to take +revenge for their late defeat. They followed him with shouts of "High +Church and Ormond! down with the Mug-house!" and Read, the landlord, +dreading that they would either burn or pull down his house, prepared +to defend himself. He threw up a window, and presented a loaded +blunderbuss, and vowed he would discharge its contents in the body of +the first man who advanced against his house. This threat exasperated +the mob, who ran against the door with furious yells. Read was as good +as his word,--he fired, and the unfortunate man Vaughan fell dead upon +the spot. The people, now frantic, swore to hang up the landlord from +his own sign-post. They forced the door, pulled down the sign, and +entered the house, where Read would assuredly have been sacrificed to +their fury, if they had found him. He, however, had with great risk +escaped by a back-door. Disappointed at this, the mob broke the +furniture to pieces, destroyed everything that lay in their way, and +left only the bare walls of the house. They now threatened to burn the +whole street, and were about to set fire to Read's house, when the +Sheriffs, with a posse of constables, arrived. The Riot Act was read, +but disregarded; and the Sheriffs sent to Whitehall for a detachment +of the military. A squadron of horse soon arrived, and cleared the +streets, taking five of the most active rioters into custody. + +Read, the landlord, was captured on the following day, and tried for +the wilful murder of Vaughan; he was, however, acquitted of the +capital charge, and found guilty of manslaughter only. The five +rioters were also brought to trial, and met with a harder fate. They +were all found guilty of riot and rebellion, and sentenced to death at +Tyburn. + +This example damped the courage of the rioters, and alarmed all +parties; so that we hear no more of the Mug-house riots, until a few +months later, a pamphlet appeared with the title, _Down with the Mug; +or Reasons for suppressing the Mug-houses_, by an author who only gave +the initials Sir H---- M----, but who seems to have so much of what +was thought to be a Jacobite spirit, that it provoked a reply, +entitled the _Mug Vindicated_. + +The account of 1722 states that many an encounter they had, and many +were the riots, till at last the Government was obliged by an Act of +Parliament to put an end to this strife, which had this good effect, +that upon pulling down of the Mug-house in Salisbury Court, for which +some boys were hanged on this Act, the city has not been troubled with +them since. + +There is some doubt as to the first use of the term "Mug-house." In a +scarce _Collection of One Hundred and Eighty Loyal Songs_, all written +since 1678, Fourth Edition, 1694, is a song in praise of the "Mug," +which shows that Mug-houses had that name previous to the Mug-house +riots. It has also been stated that the beer-mugs were originally +fashioned into a grotesque resemblance of Lord Shaftesbury's face, or +"ugly mug," as it was called, and that this is the derivation of the +word. + + + + +THE KIT-KAT CLUB. + + +This famous Club was a threefold celebrity--political, literary, and +artistic. It was the great Society of Whig leaders, formed about the +year 1700, _temp._ William III., consisting of thirty-nine noblemen +and gentlemen zealously attached to the House of Hanover; among whom +the Dukes of Somerset, Richmond, Grafton, Devonshire, and Marlborough, +and (after the accession of George I.) the Duke of Newcastle; the +Earls of Dorset, Sunderland, Manchester, Wharton, and Kingston; Lords +Halifax and Somers; Sir Robert Walpole, Vanbrugh, Congreve, Granville, +Addison, Garth, Maynwaring, Stepney, and Walsh. They are said to have +first met at an obscure house in Shire-lane, by Temple Bar, at the +house of a noted mutton-pieman, one Christopher Katt; from whom the +Club, and the pies that formed a standing dish at the Club suppers, +both took their name of Kit-Kat. In the _Spectator_, No. 9, however, +they are said to have derived their title not from the maker of the +pie, but from the pie itself, which was called a Kit-Kat, as we now +say a Sandwich; thus, in a prologue to a comedy of 1700: + + "A Kit-Kat is a supper for a lord;" + +but Dr. King, in his _Art of Cookery_, is for the pieman: + + "Immortal made, as Kit-Kat by his pies." + +The origin and early history of the Kit-Kat Club is obscure. Elkanah +Settle addressed, in 1699, a manuscript poem "To the most renowned the +President and the rest of the Knights of the most noble Order of the +Toast," in which verses is asserted the dignity of the Society; and +Malone supposes the Order of the Toast to have been identical with the +Kit-Kat Club: this was in 1699. The toasting-glasses, which we shall +presently mention, may have something to do with this presumed +identity. + +Ned Ward, in his _Secret History of Clubs_, at once connects the +Kit-Kat Club with Jacob Tonson, "an amphibious mortal, chief merchant +to the Muses." Yet this is evidently a caricature. The maker of the +mutton-pies, Ward maintains to be a person named Christopher, who +lived at the sign of the Cat and Fiddle, in Gray's Inn-lane, whence he +removed to keep a pudding-pye shop, near the Fountain Tavern, in the +Strand. Ward commends his mutton-pies, cheese-cakes, and custards, and +the pieman's interest in the sons of Parnassus; and his inviting "a +new set of Authors to a collation of oven trumpery at his friend's +house, where they were nobly entertained with as curious a batch of +pastry delicacies as ever were seen at the winding-up of a Lord +Mayor's feast;" adding that "there was not a mathematical figure in +all Euclid's Elements but what was presented to the table in baked +wares, whose cavities were filled with fine eatable varieties fit for +the gods or poets." Mr. Charles Knight, in the _Shilling Magazine_, +No. 2, maintains that by the above is meant, that Jacob Tonson, the +bookseller, was the pieman's "friend," and that to the customary +"whet" to his authors he added the pastry entertainment. Ward adds, +that this grew into a weekly meeting, provided his, the bookseller's +friends would give him the refusal of their juvenile productions. This +"generous proposal was very readily agreed to by the whole poetic +class, and the cook's name being Christopher, for brevity called Kit, +and his sign being the Cat and Fiddle, they very merrily derived a +quaint denomination from puss and her master, and from thence called +themselves of the Kit-Cat Club." + +A writer in the _Book of Days_, however, states, that Christopher Cat, +the pastry-cook, of King-street, Westminster, was the keeper of the +tavern, where the Club met; but Shire-lane was, upon more direct +authority, the pieman's abode. + +We agree with the _National Review_, that "it is hard to believe, as +we pick our way along the narrow and filthy pathway of Shire-lane, +that in this blind alley [?], some hundred and fifty years ago, used +to meet many of the finest gentlemen and choicest wits of the days of +Queen Anne and the first George. Inside one of those frowsy and +low-ceiled rooms, now tenanted by abandoned women or devoted to the +sale of greengroceries and small coal,--Halifax has conversed and +Somers unbent, Addison mellowed over a bottle, Congreve flashed his +wit, Vanbrugh let loose his easy humour, Garth talked and rhymed." + +The Club was literary and gallant as well as political. The members +subscribed 400 guineas for the encouragement of good comedies in 1709. +The Club had its toasting-glasses, inscribed with a verse, or _toast_, +to some reigning beauty; among whom were the four shining daughters of +the Duke of Marlborough--Lady Godolphin, Lady Sunderland, Lady +Bridgewater, and Lady Monthermer; Swift's friends, Mrs. Long and Mrs. +Barton, the latter the lovely and witty niece of Sir Isaac Newton; the +Duchess of Bolton, Mrs. Brudenell, and Lady Carlisle, Mrs. Di. Kirk, +and Lady Wharton. + +Dr. Arbuthnot, in the following epigram, seems to derive the name of +the Club from this custom of toasting ladies after dinner, rather than +from the renowned maker of mutton-pies:-- + + "Whence deathless Kit-Kat took his name, + Few critics can unriddle: + Some say from pastrycook it came, + And some from Cat and Fiddle. + From no trim beaus its name it boasts, + Grey statesmen or green wits, + But from this pell-mell pack of toasts + Of old Cats and young Kits." + +Lord Halifax wrote for the toasting-glasses the following verses in +1703:-- + +_The Duchess of St. Albans._ + + The line of Vere, so long renown'd in arms, + Concludes with lustre in St. Albans' charms. + Her conquering eyes have made their race complete: + They rose in valour, and in beauty set. + +_The Duchess of Beaufort._ + + Offspring of a tuneful sire, + Blest with more than mortal fire; + Likeness of a Mother's face, + Blest with more than mortal grace: + You with double charms surprise, + With his wit, and with her eyes. + +_The Lady Mary Churchill._ + + Fairest and latest of the beauteous race, + Blest with your parent's wit, and her first blooming face; + Born with our liberties in William's reign, + Your eyes alone that liberty restrain. + +_The Lady Sunderland._ + + All Nature's charms in Sunderland appear, + Bright as her eyes, and as her reason clear; + Yet still their force to man not safely known, + Seems undiscover'd to herself alone. + +_The Mademoiselle Spanheim._ + + Admir'd in Germany, ador'd in France, + Your charms to brighten glory here advance: + The stubborn Britons own your beauty's claim, + And with their native toasts enrol your name. + +_To Mrs. Barton._ + + Beauty and wit strove, each in vain, + To vanquish Bacchus and his train; + But Barton with successful charms, + From both their quivers drew her arms. + The roving God his sway resigns, + And awfully submits his vines. + +In Spence's _Anecdotes_ (note) is the following additional account of +the Club: "You have heard of the Kit-Kat Club," says Pope to Spence. +"The master of the house where the club met was Christopher Katt; +Tonson was secretary. The day Lord Mohun and the Earl of Berkeley were +entered of it, Jacob said he saw they were just going to be ruined. +When Lord Mohun broke down the gilded emblem on the top of his chair, +Jacob complained to his friends, and said a man who would do that, +would cut a man's throat. So that he had the good and the forms of the +society much at heart. The paper was all in Lord Halifax's handwriting +of a subscription of four hundred guineas for the encouragement of +good comedies, and was dated 1709, soon after they broke up. Steele, +Addison, Congreve, Garth, Vanbrugh, Manwaring, Stepney, Walpole, and +Pulteney, were of it; so was Lord Dorset and the present Duke. +Manwaring, whom we hear nothing of now, was the ruling man in all +conversations; indeed, what he wrote had very little merit in it. Lord +Stanhope and the Earl of Essex were also members. Jacob has his own, +and all their pictures, by Sir Godfrey Kneller. Each member gave his, +and he is going to build a room for them at Barn Elms." + +It is from the size at which these portraits were taken (a +three-quarter length), 36 by 28 inches, that the word Kit-Kat came to +be applied to pictures. Tonson had the room built at Barn Elms; but +the apartment not being sufficiently large to receive half-length +pictures, a shorter canvas was adopted. In 1817, the Club-room was +standing, but the pictures had long been removed; soon after, the room +was united to a barn, to form a riding-house. + +In summer the Club met at the Upper Flask, Hampstead Heath, then a gay +resort, with its races, ruffles, and private marriages. + +The pictures passed to Richard Tonson, the descendant of the old +bookseller, who resided at Water-Oakley, on the banks of the Thames: +he added a room to his villa, and here the portraits were hung. On his +death the pictures were bequeathed to Mr. Baker, of Bayfordbury, the +representative of the Tonson family: all of them were included in the +Art Treasures Exhibition at Manchester and some in the International +Exhibition of 1862. + +The political significance of the Club was such that Walpole records +that though the Club was generally mentioned as "a set of wits," they +were in reality the patriots that saved Britain. According to Pope and +Tonson, Garth, Vanbrugh, and Congreve were the three most +honest-hearted, real good men of the poetical members of the Club. + +There were odd scenes and incidents occasionally at the club meetings. +Sir Samuel Garth, physician to George I., was a witty member, and +wrote some of the inscriptions for the toasting-glasses. Coming one +night to the club, Garth declared he must soon be gone, having many +patients to attend; but some good wine being produced, he forgot them. +Sir Richard Steele was of the party, and reminding him of the visits +he had to pay, Garth immediately pulled out his list, which numbered +fifteen, and said, "It's no great matter whether I see them to-night, +or not, for nine of them have such bad constitutions that all the +physicians in the world can't save them; and the other six have such +good constitutions that all the physicians in the world can't kill +them." + +Dr. Hoadley, Bishop of Bangor, accompanied Steele and Addison to one +of the Whig celebrations by the Club of King William's anniversary; +when Steele had the double duty of celebrating the day and drinking +his friend Addison up to conversation pitch, he being hardly warmed by +that time. Steele was not fit for it. So, John Sly, the hatter of +facetious memory, being in the house, took it into his head to come +into the company on his knees, with a tankard of ale in his hand, to +drink off to the _immortal memory_, and to return in the same manner. +Steele, sitting next Bishop Hoadley, whispered him, "_Do laugh: it is +humanity to laugh_." By-and-by, Steele being too much in the same +condition as the hatter, was put into a chair, and sent home. Nothing +would satisfy him but being carried to the Bishop of Bangor's, late as +it was. However, the chairmen carried him home, and got him upstairs, +when his great complaisance would wait on them downstairs, which he +did, and then was got quietly to bed. Next morning Steele sent the +indulgent bishop this couplet: + + "Virtue with so much ease on Bangor sits, + All faults he pardons, though he none commits." + +Mr. Knight successfully defends Tonson from Ward's satire, and nobly +stands forth for the bookseller who identified himself with Milton, by +first making _Paradise Lost_ popular, and being the first bookseller +who threw open Shakespeare to a reading public. "The statesmen of the +Kit-Kat Club," he adds, "lived in social union with the Whig writers +who were devoted to the charge of the poetry that opened their road to +preferment; the band of orators and wits were naturally hateful to the +Tory authors that Harley and Bolingbroke were nursing into the bitter +satirists of the weekly sheets. Jacob Tonson naturally came in for a +due share of invective. In a poem entitled '_Factions Displayed_,' he +is ironically introduced as "the Touchstone of all modern wit;" and he +is made to vilify the great ones of Barn Elms: + + "'I am the founder of your loved Kit-Kat, + A club that gave direction to the State: + 'Twas there we first instructed all our youth + To talk profane, and laugh at sacred truth: + We taught them how to boast, and rhyme, and bite, + To sleep away the day, and drink away the night.'" + +Tonson deserved better of posterity. + + + + +THE TATLER'S CLUB + +IN SHIRE-LANE. + + +Shire-lane, _alias_ Rogue-lane, (which falleth into Fleet-street by +Temple Bar,) has lost its old name--it is now called Lower +Serle's-place. If the morals of Shire-lane have mended thereby, we +must not repine. + +Here lived Sir Charles Sedley; and here his son, the dramatic poet, +was born, "neere the Globe." Here, too, lived Elias Ashmole, and here +Antony à Wood dined with him: this was at the upper end of the lane. +Here, too, was the _Trumpet_ tavern, where Isaac Bickerstaff met his +Club. At this house he dated a great number of his papers; and hence +he led down the lane, into Fleet-street, the deputation of "Twaddlers" +from the country, to Dick's Coffee-house, which we never enter without +remembering the glorious humour of Addison and Steele, in the +_Tatler_, No. 86. Sir Harry Quickset, Sir Giles Wheelbarrow, and other +persons of quality, having reached the Tatler's by appointment, and it +being settled that they should "adjourn to some public-house, and +enter upon business," the precedence was attended with much +difficulty; when, upon a false alarm of "fire," all ran down as fast +as they could, without order or ceremony, and drew up in the street. + +The _Tatler_ proceeds: "In this order we marched down Sheer-lane, at +the upper end of which I lodge. When we came to Temple Bar, Sir Harry +and Sir Giles got over, but a run of coaches kept the rest of us on +this side of the street; however, we all at last landed, and drew up +in very good order before Ben Tooke's shop, who favoured our rallying +with great humanity; from whence we proceeded again, until we came to +Dick's Coffee-house, where I designed to carry them. Here we were at +our old difficulty, and took up the street upon the same ceremony. We +proceeded through the entry, and were so necessarily kept in order by +the situation, that we were now got into the coffee-house itself, +where, as soon as we had arrived, we repeated our civilities to each +other; after which we marched up to the high table, which has an +ascent to it enclosed in the middle of the room. The whole house was +alarmed at this entry, made up of persons of so much state and +rusticity." + +The _Tatler's_ Club is immortalized in his No. 132. Its members are +smokers and old story-tellers, rather easy than shining companions, +promoting the thoughts tranquilly bedward, and not the less +comfortable to Mr. Bickerstaff because he finds himself the leading +wit among them. There is old Sir Jeffrey Notch, who has had +misfortunes in the world, and calls every thriving man a pitiful +upstart, by no means to the general dissatisfaction; there is Major +Matchlock, who served in the last Civil Wars, and every night tells +them of his having been knocked off his horse at the rising of the +London apprentices, for which he is in great esteem; there is honest +Dick Reptile, who says little himself, but who laughs at all the +jokes; and there is the elderly bencher of the Temple, and, next to +Mr. Bickerstaff, the wit of the company, who has by heart the couplets +of _Hudibras_, which he regularly applies before leaving the Club of +an evening; and who, if any modern wit or town frolic be mentioned, +shakes his head at the dulness of the present age, and tells a story +of Jack Ogle. As for Mr. Bickerstaff himself, he is esteemed among +them because they see he is something respected by others; but though +they concede to him a great deal of learning, they credit him with +small knowledge of the world, "insomuch that the Major sometimes, in +the height of his military pride, calls me philosopher; and Sir +Jeffrey, no longer ago than last night, upon a dispute what day of the +month it was then in Holland, pulled his pipe out of his mouth, and +cried, 'What does the scholar say to that?'" + +Upon Addison's return to England, he found his friend Steele +established among the wits; and they were both received with great +honour at the Trumpet, as well as at Will's, and the St. James's. + +The Trumpet public-house lasted to our time; it was changed to the +Duke of York sign, but has long disappeared: we remember an old +drawing of the Trumpet, by Sam. Ireland, engraved in the _Monthly +Magazine_. + + + + +THE ROYAL SOCIETY CLUB. + + +In Sir R. Kaye's Collection, in the British Museum, we find the +following account of the institution of a Society, which at one time +numbered among its members some of the most eminent men in London, in +a communication to the Rev. Sir R. Kaye by Sir Joseph Ayloffe, an +original member:--"Dr. Halley used to come on a Tuesday from +Greenwich, the Royal Observatory, to Child's Coffeehouse, where +literary people met for conversation: and he dined with his sister, +but sometimes they stayed so long that he was too late for dinner, and +they likewise, at their own home. They then agree to go to a house in +Dean's-court, between an alehouse and a tavern, now a stationer's +shop, where there was a great draft of porter, but not drank in the +house. It was kept by one Reynell. It was agreed that one of the +company should go to Knight's and buy fish in Newgate-street, having +first informed himself how many meant to stay and dine. The ordinary +and liquor usually came to half-a-crown, and the dinner only consisted +of fish and pudding. Dr. Halley never eat anything but fish, for he +had no teeth. The number seldom exceeded five or six. It began to take +place about 1731; soon afterwards Reynell took the King's Arms, in St. +Paul's Churchyard, and desired Dr. Halley to go with him there. He and +others consented, and they began to have a little meat. On Dr. +Halley's death, Martin Foulkes took the chair. They afterwards removed +to the Mitre (Fleet-street), for the convenience of the situation with +respect to the Royal Society, and as it was near Crane-court, and +numbers wished to become members. It was necessary to give it a form. +The number was fixed at forty members; one of whom was to be Treasurer +and Secretary of the Royal Society." + +Out of these meetings is said to have grown the Royal Society Club, +or, as it was styled during the first half century of its existence, +the Club of Royal Philosophers. "It was established for the +convenience of certain members who lived in various parts, that they +might assemble and dine together on the days when the Society held its +evening meetings; and from its almost free admission of members of the +Council detained by business, its liberality to visitors, and its +hospitable reception of scientific foreigners, it has been of obvious +utility to the scientific body at large." (_Rise and Progress of the +Club_, privately printed.) + +The foundation of the Club is stated to have been in the year 1743, +and in the Minutes of this date are the following:-- + +"_Rules and Orders to be observed by the Thursday's Club, called the +Royal Philosophers._--A Dinner to be ordered every Thursday for six, +at one shilling and sixpence a head for eating. As many more as come +to pay one shilling and sixpence per head each. If fewer than six +come, the deficiency to be paid out of the fund subscribed. Each +Subscriber to pay down six shillings, viz. for four dinners, to make a +fund. A pint of wine to be paid for by every one that comes, be the +number what it will, and no more, unless more wine is brought in than +that amounts to." + +In addition to Sir R. Kaye's testimony to the existence of a club of +an earlier date than 1743, there are in the Minutes certain references +to "antient Members of the Club;" and a tradition of the ill omen of +thirteen persons dining at the table said to be on record in the Club +papers: "that one of the Royal Philosophers entering the Mitre Tavern, +and finding twelve others about to discuss the fare, retreated, and +dined by himself in another apartment, in order to avert the +prognostic." Still, no such statement is now to be found entered, and +if ever it were recorded, it must have been anterior to 1743; +curiously enough, thirteen is a very usual number at these dinners. + +The original Members were soon increased by various Fellows of the +Society; and at first the club did not consist exclusively of Royals; +but this arrangement, not having been found to work well, the +membership was confined to the Fellows, and latterly to the number of +forty. Every Member was allowed to introduce one friend; but the +President of the Royal Society was not limited in this respect. + +We must now say a few words as to the several places at which the Club +has dined. The _Society_ had their Anniversary Dinner at Pontack's +celebrated French eating-house, in Abchurch-lane, City, until 1746. +Evelyn notes: "30 Nov. 1694. Much importuned to take the office of +President of the Royal Society, but I again declined it. Sir Robert +Southwell was continued. We all dined at Pontac's, as usual." Here, in +1699, Dr. Bentley wrote to Evelyn, asking him to meet Sir Christopher +Wren, Sir Robert Southwell, and other friends, at dinner, to consider +the propriety of purchasing Bishop Stillingfleet's library for the +Royal Society. + +From Pontack's, which was found to be inconveniently situated for the +majority of the Fellows, the Society removed to the Devil Tavern, near +Temple Bar. + +The Minutes record that the _Club_ met at the Mitre Tavern, in +Fleet-street, "over against Fetter-lane," from the date of their +institution; this house being chosen from its being handy to +Crane-court, where the Society then met. This, be it remembered, was +not the Mitre Tavern now standing in Mitre-court, but "the Mitre +Tavern, _in Fleet-street_," mentioned by Lilly, in his _Life_, as the +place where he met old Will. Poole, the astrologer, then living in +Ram-alley. _The Mitre, in Fleet-street_, Mr. J. H. Burn, in his +excellent Account of the Beaufoy Tokens, states to have been +originally established by a William Paget, of the Mitre in Cheapside, +who removed westward after his house had been destroyed in the Great +Fire of September, 1666. The house in Fleet-street was lastly +Saunders's Auction-room, No. 39, and was demolished by Messrs. Hoare, +to enlarge the site for their new banking-house, the western portion +of which now occupies the tavern site. The now Mitre Tavern, in Mitre +court, formerly Joe's, is but a recent assumption of name.[7] + +In 1780, the Club removed to the Crown and Anchor Tavern, in the +Strand, where they continued to dine for sixty-eight years, until that +tavern was converted, in 1848, into a Club-house. Then they removed to +the Freemasons' Tavern, in Great Queen Street; but, in 1857, on the +removal of the Royal Society to Burlington House, Piccadilly, it was +considered advisable to keep the Club meetings at the Thatched House, +in St. James's Street, where they continued until that tavern was +taken down. + +During the early times, the docketings of the Club accounts show that +the brotherhood retained the title of Royal Philosophers to the year +1786, when it seems they were only designated the Royals; but they +have now settled into the "Royal Society Club." The elections are +always an exciting matter of interest, and the fate of candidates is +occasionally severe, for there are various instances of rejections on +two successive annual ballots, and some have been black-balled even on +a third venture: some of the defeated might be esteemed for talent, +yet were considered unclubbable. + +Some of the entries in the earliest minute-book are very curious, and +show that the Philosophers did not restrict themselves to "the fish +and pudding dinner." Here is the bill of fare for sixteen persons, a +few years after the Club was established: "Turkey, boiled, and +oysters; Calves' head, hashed; Chine of Mutton; Apple pye; 2 dishes of +herrings; Tongue and udder; Leg of pork and pease; Sirloin of beef; +Plum pudding; butter and cheese." Black puddings are stated to have +figured for many years at every dinner of the Club. + +The presents made to the Club were very numerous, and called for +special regulations. Thus, under the date of May 3, 1750, it is +recorded: "Resolved, _nem. con._, That any nobleman or gentleman +complimenting this company annually with venison, not less than a +haunch, shall, during the continuance of such annuity, be deemed an +Honorary Member, and admitted as often as he comes, without paying the +fine, which those Members do who are elected by ballot." At another +Meeting, in the same year, a resolution was passed, "That any +gentleman complimenting this Society annually with a Turtle shall be +considered as an Honorary Member;" and that the Treasurer do pay +Keeper's fees and carriage for all venison sent to the Society, and +charge it in his account. Thus, besides gratuities to cooks, there are +numerous chronicled entries of the following tenour:--"Keeper's fees +and carriage of a buck from the Hon. P. Yorke, 14_s._; Fees, etc., for +Venison and Salmon, £1. 15_s._; Do., half a Buck from the Earl of +Hardwick, £1. 5_s._; Fees and carriage for a Buck from H. Read, Esq., +£1.3_s._ 6_d._; Fees for Venison and Game from Mr. Banks, £1. 9_s._ +6_d._; ... August 15, 1751. The Society being this day entertained +with halfe a Bucke by the Most Honorable the Marquis of Rockingham, it +was agreed, _nem. con._, to drink his health in claret. Sept. 5th, +1751.--The Company being entertained with a whole Bucke (halfe of +which was dressed to-day) by Henry Read, Esq., his health was drunk in +claret, as usual; and Mr. Cole (_the landlord_) was desired to dispose +of the halfe, and give the Company Venisons instead of it next +Thursday." The following week the largess is again gravely noticed: +"The Company being this day regaled with the other halfe of Mr. Read's +buck (which Mr. Cole had preserved sweet), his health was again drank +in claret." + +Turtle has already been mentioned among the presents. In 1784, the +circumnavigator Lord Anson honoured the Club by presenting the members +with a magnificent Turtle, when the Club drank his Lordship's and +other turtle donors' healths in claret. On one occasion, it is stated +that the usual dining-room could not be occupied on account of a +turtle being dressed which weighed 400 lb.; and another minute records +that a turtle, intended to be presented to the Club, died on its way +home from the West Indies. + +James Watt has left the following record of one of the Philosophers' +turtle feasts, at which he was present:--"When I was in London in +1785, I was received very kindly by Mr. Cavendish and Dr. Blagden, and +my old friend Smeaton, who has recovered his health, and seems hearty. +I dined at a turtle feast with them, and the select Club of the Royal +Society; and never was turtle eaten with greater sobriety and +temperance, or more good fellowship." + +The gift of good old English roast-beef also occurs among the +presents, as in the subjoined minute, under the date of June 27, 1751, +when Martin Folkes presided: "William Hanbury, Esq., having this day +entertained the company with a chine of Beef which was 34 inches in +length, and weighed upwards of 140 pounds, it was agreed, _nem. con._, +that two such chines were equal to half a Bucke or a Turtle, and +entitled the Donor to be an Honorary Member of this Society." + +Then we have another record of Mr. Hanbury's munificence, as well his +conscientious regard for minuteness in these matters, as in this +entry: "Mr. Hanbury sent this day another mighty chine of beef, and, +having been a little deficient with regard to annual payments of +chines of beef, added three brace of very large carp by way of +interest." Shortly after, we find Lord Morton contributing "two pigs +of the China breed." + +In addition to the venison, game, and other viands, there was no end +of presents of fruits for dessert. In 1752, Mr. Cole (the landlord) +presented the company with a ripe water-melon from Malaga. In 1753, +there is an entry showing that some _tusks_, a rare and savoury fish, +were sent by the Earl of Morton; and Egyptian Cos-lettuces were +supplied by Philip Miller, who, in his Gardener's Dictionary, +describes this as the best and most valuable lettuce known; next he +presented "four Cantaloupe melons, equal--if not superior--in flavour +to pine-apples." In July, 1763, it is chronicled that Lord Morton sent +two pine-apples, cherries of two sorts, melons, gooseberries of two +sorts, apricots, and currants of two sorts. + +However, this practice of making presents got to be unpopular with the +Fellows at large, who conceived it to be undignified to receive such +gifts; and, in 1779, it was "resolved that no person in future be +admitted into the Club in consequence of any present he shall make to +it." This singular custom had been in force for thirty years. The +latest _formal_ thanks for "a very fine haunch of venison" were voted +to Lord Darnley on the 17th of June, 1824. + +The Club Minutes show the progressive rise in the charges for dinner. +From 1743 to 1756 the cost was 1_s._ 6_d._ a head. In the latter year +it was resolved to give 3_s._ per head for dinner and wine, the +commons for absentees to remain at 1_s._ 6_d._, as before. In 1775, +the price was increased to 4_s._ a head, including wine, and 2_d._ to +the waiter; in 1801, to 5_s._ a head, exclusive of wine, the increased +duties upon which made it necessary for the members to contribute an +annual sum for the expense of wine, over and above the charge of the +tavern bills. + +In 1775, the wine was ordered to be laid in at a price not exceeding +£45 a pipe, or 1_s._ 6_d._ a bottle; to have a particular seal upon +the cork, and to be charged by the landlord at 2_s._ 6_d._ a bottle. +The Club always dined on the Society's meeting-day. Wray, writing of a +Club-meeting in 1776, says that, "after a capital dinner of venison, +which was absolutely perfect, we went to another sumptuous +entertainment, at the Society, where five electrical eels, all alive, +from Surinam, were exhibited; most of the company received the +electrical stroke; and then we were treated with the sight of a +sucking alligator, very lively." + +It has been more than once remarked that a public dinner of a large +party of philosophers and men of science and letters generally turns +out to be rather a dull affair; perhaps, through the _embarras_ of +talent at table. Not so, however, the private social Clubs, the +offshoots of Public Societies, like the Royal Society Club, and others +we could mention. The Royals do not appear to have been at all +indifferent to these post-prandial wit-combats. "Here, my jokes I +crack with high-born Peers," writes a Philosopher, alluding to the +Club dinners; and Admiral Smyth, in his unpublished _Rise and +Progress_, tells us, that to this day "it unites hilarity, and the +_macrones verborum_ of smart repartee, with strictures on science, +literature, the fine arts--and, indeed, every branch of human +knowledge." + +The administration of the affairs of the Club was minutely attended +to: when, in 1776, it was considered necessary to revise "the +commons," a committee was appointed for the purpose, consisting of +Messrs. Aubert, Cuthburt, Maskelyne, Russell, and Solander, who +decided that "should the number of the company exceed the number +provided for, the dinner should be made up with the beefstakes, +mutton-chops, lamb-chops, veal-cutlets, or pork-stakes, instead of +made dishes, or any dearer provisions." And "that twopence per head be +allowed for the waiter" (_which seems to have been the regular +gratuity for many years_). Then, the General Committee had to report +that the landlord was to charge for gentlemen's servants, "one +shilling each for dinner and a pot of porter;" and "that when toasted +cheese was called for, he was to make a charge for it." + +In 1784, the celebrated geologist, Faujas de Saint-Fond (Barthélemy,) +with four other distinguished foreigners, partook of the hospitality +of the Club, of which, in 1797, M. Faujas published an account. "He +mentions the short prayer or grace with which Dr. Maskelyne blessed +the company and the food--the solid meats and unseasoned +vegetables--the quantities of strong beer called porter, drank out of +cylindrical pewter pots _d'un seul trait_--the cheese to provoke the +thirst of drinkers--the hob-a-nobbing of healths--and the detestable +coffee. On the whole, however, this honest Frenchman seems to have +been delighted with the entertainment, or, as he styles it, 'the +convivial and unassuming banquet,'" and M. Faujas had to pay 'seven +livres four sols' for his commons. Among the lighter incidents is the +record of M. Aubert having received a present from the King of Poland, +begged to have an opportunity of drinking His Majesty's health, and +permission to order a bottle of Hermitage, which being granted, the +health was drank by the company present; and upon one of the +Club-slips of 1798, after a dinner of twenty-two, is written, "Seven +shillings found under the table." + +The dinner-charges appear to have gradually progressed from 1_s._ +6_d._ to 10_s._ per head. In 1858-9 the Club-dinners had been 25, and +the number of dinners 309, so that the mean was equal to 12·36 for +each meeting, the visitors amounting to 49; and it is further +computed, that the average wine per head of late, waste included, is a +considerable fraction less than a pint, imperial standard measure, in +the year's consumption. + +Among the distinguished guests of the Club are many celebrities. Here +the chivalrous Sir Sidney Smith described the atrocities of Djezza +Pasha; and here that cheerful baronet--Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin--by +relating the result of his going in a jolly-boat to attack a whale, +and in narrating the advantages specified in his proposed patent for +fattening fowls, kept "the table in a roar." At this board, also, our +famous circumnavigators and oriental voyagers met with countenance and +fellowship--as Cook, Furneaux, Clerke, King, _Bounty_ Bligh, +Vancouver, _Guardian_ Riou, Flinders, Broughton, Lestock, Wilson, +Huddart, Bass, Tuckey, Horsburgh, &c.; while the Polar explorers, from +the Hon. Constantine Phipps in 1773, down to Sir Leopold M'Clintock, +in 1860, were severally and individually welcomed as guests. But, +besides our sterling sea-worthies, we find in ranging through the +documents that some rather outlandish visitors were introduced through +their means, as Chet Quang and Wanga Tong, _Chinese_; Ejutak and +Tuklivina, _Esquimaux_; Thayen-danega, the _Mohawk_ chief; while Omai, +of Ularetea, the celebrated and popular savage, of _Cook's Voyages_, +was so frequently invited, that he is latterly entered on the Club +papers simply as _Mr._ Omai. + +The redoubtable Sir John Hill dined at the Club in company with Lord +Baltimore on the 30th of June, 1748. Hill was consecutively an +apothecary, actor, playwright, novelist, botanist, journalist, and +physician; and he published upon trees and flowers, Betty Canning, +gems, naval history, religion, cookery, and what not. Having made an +attempt to enter the Royal Society, and finding the door closed +against him,--perhaps a pert vivacity at the very dinner in question +sealed the rejection,--he revenged himself by publishing an impudent +quarto volume, vindictively satirizing the Society. + +Ned Ward, in his humorous Account of the Clubs of London, published in +1709, describes "the _Virtuoso's_ Club as first established by some of +the principal members of the Royal Society, and held every Thursday, +at a certain Tavern in Cornhill, where the Vintner that kept it has, +according to his merit, made a fortunate step from his Bar to his +Coach. The chief design of the aforementioned Club was to propagate +new whims, advance mechanical exercises, and to promote useless as +well as useful experiments." There is humour in this, as well as in +his ridicule of the Barometer: "by this notable invention," he says, +"our gentlemen and ladies of the middle quality are infallibly told +when it's a right season to put on their best clothes, and when they +ought not to venture an intrigue in the fields without their cloaks +and umbrellas." His ridicule of turning salt water into fresh, finding +a new star, assigning reasons for a spot in the moon, and a "wry step" +in the sun's progress, were Ward's points, laughed at in his time, but +afterwards established as facts. There have been greater mistakes made +since Ward's time; but this does not cleanse him of filth and +foulness. + +Ward's record is evidence of the existence of the Royal Society Club, +in 1709, before the date of the Minutes. Dr. Hutton, too, records the +designation of Halley's Club--undoubted testimony; about 1737, he, +Halley, though seized with paralysis, once a week, within a very short +time of his death, met his friends in town, on Thursdays, the day of +the Royal Society's meeting, at "Dr. Halley's Club." Upon this +evidence Admiral Smyth establishes the claim that the Royal Society +Club was actually established by a zealous philosopher, "who was at +once proudly eminent as an astronomer, a mathematician, a +physiologist, a naturalist, a scholar, an antiquary, a poet, a +meteorologist, a geographer, a navigator, a nautical surveyor, and a +truly social member of the community--in a word, our founder was the +illustrious Halley--the Admirable Crichton of science." + +A memorable dinner-party took place on August the 11th, 1859, when +among the visitors was Mr. Thomas Maclear (now Sir Thomas), the +Astronomer-Royal at the Cape of Good Hope, who had just arrived in +England from the southern hemisphere, after an absence of a quarter of +a century. "On this day, were present, so to speak, the +representatives of the three great applications by which the present +age is distinguished, namely, of _Railways_, Mr. Stephenson; of the +_Electric Telegraph_, Mr. Wheatstone; and of the _Penny Post_, Mr. +Rowland Hill--an assemblage never again to occur." (_Admiral Smyth's +History of the Club._) + +Among the anecdotes which float about, it is related that the +eccentric Hon. Henry Cavendish, "the Club-Croesus", attended the +meetings with only money enough in his pocket to pay for his dinner, +and that he may have declined taking tavern-soup, may have picked his +teeth with a fork, may invariably have hung his hat on the same peg, +and may have always stuck his cane in his right boot; but more +apocryphal is the anecdote that one evening Cavendish observed a very +pretty girl looking out from an upper window on the opposite side of +the street, watching the philosophers at dinner. She attracted notice, +and one by one they got up and mustered round the window to admire the +fair one. Cavendish, who thought they were looking at the moon, +bustled up to them in his odd way, and when he saw the real object of +their study, turned away with intense disgust, and grunted out +"Pshaw;" the amorous conduct of his brother Philosophers having +horrified the woman-hating Cavendish. + +Another assertion is that he, Cavendish, left a thumping legacy to +Lord Bessborough, in gratitude for his Lordship's piquant conversation +at the Club; but no such reason can be found in the Will lodged at +Doctors' Commons. The Testator named therein three of his Club-mates, +namely, Alexander Dalrymple, to receive 5000_l._, Dr. Hunter 5000_l._, +and Sir Charles Blagden (coadjutor in the Water question), 15,000_l._ +After certain other bequests, the will proceeds,--"The remainder of +the funds (nearly 700,000_l._) to be divided, one-sixth to the Earl of +Bessborough, while the cousin, Lord George Henry Cavendish, had +two-sixths, instead of one;" "it is therefore," says Admiral Smyth, +"patent that the money thus passed over from uncle to nephew, was a +mere consequence of relationship, and not at all owing to any flowers +or powers of conversation at the Royal Society Club." + +Admiral Smyth, to whose admirable _précis_ of the History of the Club +we have to make acknowledgment, remarks that the hospitality of the +Royal Society has been "of material utility to the well-working of the +whole machine which wisdom called up, at a time when knowledge was +quitting scholastic niceties for the truths of experimental +philosophy. This is proved by the number of men of note--both in +ability and station--who have there congregated previously to +repairing to the evening meeting of the body at large; and many a +qualified person who went thither a guest has returned a candidate. +Besides inviting our own princes, dukes, marquises, earls, ministers +of state, and nobles of all grades to the table, numerous foreign +grandees, prelates, ambassadors, and persons of distinction--from the +King of Poland and Baron Munchausen, down to the smart little abbé +and a 'gentleman unknown'--are found upon the Club records. Not that +the amenities of the fraternity were confined to these classes, or +that, in the Clubbian sense, they form the most important order; for +bishops, deans, archdeacons, and clergymen in general--astronomers-- +mathematicians--sailors--soldiers--engineers--medical practitioners-- +poets--artists--travellers--musicians--opticians--men of repute in +every acquirement, were, and ever will be, welcome guests. In a word, +the names and callings of the visitors offer a type of the philosophical +_discordia concors_; and among those guests possessed of that knowledge +without which genius is almost useless, we find in goodly array such +choice names as Benjamin Franklin, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Gibbon, +Costard, Bryant, Dalton, Watt, Bolton, Tennant, Wedgwood, _Abyssinian_ +Bruce, Attwood, Boswell, Brinkley, Rigaud, Brydone, Ivory, Jenner, +John Hunter, Brunel, Lysons, Weston, Cramer, Kippis, Westmacott, +Corbould, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Turner, De La Beche, _et hoc genus +omne_." + +The President of the Royal Society is elected President of the Club. +There were always more candidates for admission than vacancies, a +circumstance which had some influence in leading to the formation of a +new Club, in 1847, composed of eminent Fellows of the Society. The +name of this new Association is "the Philosophical Club," and its +object is "to promote, as much as possible, the scientific objects of +the Royal Society, to facilitate intercourse between those Fellows who +are actively engaged in cultivating the various branches of Natural +Science, and who have contributed to its progress; to increase the +attendance at the Evening Meetings, and to encourage the contribution +and the discussion of papers." Nor are the dinners forgotten; the +price of each not to exceed ten shillings. + +The statistical portion of the Annual Statement of 1860, shows that +the number of dinners for the past year amounted to 25, at which the +attendance was 312 persons, 62 of whom were visitors, the average +being = 12·48 each time: and the Treasurer called attention to the +fact that out of the Club funds in the last twelvemonth, they had paid +not less than £9. 6_s._ for soda and seltzer water; £8. 2_s._ 6_d._ +for cards of invitation and postage; and £25 for visitors, that is, +8_s._ 0¾_d._ per head. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[7] See _Walks and Talks about London_, p. 246. The Mitre in +Fleet-street was also the house frequented by Dr. Johnson. + + + + +THE COCOA-TREE CLUB. + + +This noted Club was the Tory Chocolate-house of Queen Anne's reign; +the Whig Coffee-house was the St. James's, lower down, in the same +street, St. James's. The party distinction is thus defined:--"A Whig +will no more go to the Cocoa-tree or Ozinda's, than a Tory will be +seen at the coffee-house of St. James's." + +The Cocoa-tree Chocolate-house was converted into a Club, probably +before 1746, when the house was the head-quarters of the Jacobite +party in Parliament. It is thus referred to in the above year by +Horace Walpole, in a letter to George Montagu:--"The Duke has given +Brigadier Mordaunt the Pretender's coach, on condition he rode up to +London in it. 'That I will, Sir,' said he; 'and drive till it stops of +its own accord at the Cocoa-tree.'" + +Gibbon was a member of this Club, and has left this entry, in his +journal of 1762:--"Nov. 24. I dined at the Cocoa Tree with ----, who, +under a great appearance of oddity, conceals more real humour, good +sense, and even knowledge, than half those who laugh at him. We went +thence to the play (_The Spanish Friar_); and when it was over, +retired to the Cocoa-tree. That respectable body, of which I have the +honour of being a member, affords every evening a sight truly English. +Twenty or thirty, perhaps, of the first men in the kingdom in point of +fashion and fortune supping at little tables covered with a napkin, in +the middle of a coffee-room, upon a bit of cold meat, or a sandwich, +and drinking a glass of punch. At present we are full of King's +counsellors and lords of the bedchamber; who, having jumped into the +ministry, make a very singular medley of their old principles and +language with their modern ones." At this time, bribery was in full +swing: it is alleged that the lowest bribe for a vote upon the Peace +of Fontainebleau, was a bank-note of £200; and that the Secretary of +the Treasury afterwards acknowledged £25,000 to have been thus +expended in a single morning. And in 1765, on the debate in the +Commons on the Regency Bill, we read in the _Chatham Correspondence_: +"The Cocoa-tree have thus capacitated Her Royal Highness (the Princess +of Wales) to be Regent: it is well they have not given us a King, if +they have not; for many think, Lord Bute is King." + +Although the Cocoa-tree, in its conversion from a Chocolate-house to a +Club, may have bettered its reputation in some respects, high play, if +not foul play, was known there twenty years later. Walpole, writing to +Mann, Feb. 6, 1780, says: "Within this week there has been a cast at +hazard at the Cocoa-tree, (in St. James's Street,) the difference of +which amounted to one hundred and fourscore thousand pounds. Mr. +O'Birne, an Irish gamester, had won one hundred thousand pounds of a +young Mr. Harvey of Chigwell, just started into an estate by his elder +brother's death. O'Birne said, "You can never pay me." "I can," said +the youth: "my estate will sell for the debt." "No," said O.; "I will +win ten thousand--you shall throw for the odd ninety." They did, and +Harvey won." + +The Cocoa-tree was one of the Clubs to which Lord Byron belonged. + + + + +ALMACK'S CLUB. + + +Almack's, the original Brookes's, on the south side of the Whig +Club-house, was established in Pall Mall, on the site of the British +Institution, in 1764, by twenty-seven noblemen and gentlemen, +including the Duke of Roxburghe, the Duke of Portland, the Earl of +Strathmore, Mr. Crewe (afterwards Lord Crewe), and Mr. C. J. Fox. + +Mr. Cunningham was permitted to inspect the original Rules of the +Club, which show its nature: here are a few. + +"21. No gaming in the eating-room, except tossing up for reckonings, +on penalty of paying the whole bill of the members present. + +"22. Dinner shall be served up exactly at half-past four o'clock, and +the bill shall be brought in at seven. + +"26. Almack shall sell no wines in bottles that the Club approves of, +out of the house. + +"30. Any member of this Society that shall become a candidate for any +other Club, (old White's excepted,) shall be ipso facto excluded, and +his name struck out of the book. + +"40. That every person playing at the new guinea table do keep fifty +guineas before him. + +"41. That every person playing at the twenty guinea table do not keep +less than twenty guineas before him." + +That the play ran high may be inferred from a note against the name of +Mr. Thynne, in the Club-books: "Mr. Thynne having won only 12,000 +guineas during the last two months, retired in disgust, March 21st, +1772." + +Some of its members were Maccaronis, the "curled darlings" of the day: +they were so called from their affectation of foreign tastes and +fashions, and were celebrated for their long curls and eye-glasses. +Much of the deep play was removed here. "The gaming at Almack's," +writes Walpole to Mann, February 2, 1770, "which has taken the _pas_ +of White's, is worthy the decline of our empire, or commonwealth, +which you please. The young men of the age lose ten, fifteen, twenty +thousand pounds in an evening there. Lord Stavordale, not +one-and-twenty, lost £11,000 there last Tuesday, but recovered it by +one great hand at hazard. He swore a great oath, 'Now, if I had been +playing _deep_, I might have won millions.' His cousin, Charles Fox, +shines equally there, and in the House of Commons. He was twenty-one +yesterday se'nnight, and is already one of our best speakers. +Yesterday he was made a Lord of the Admiralty." Gibbon, the historian, +was also a member, and he dates several letters from here. On June 24, +1776, he writes: "Town grows empty, and this house, where I have +passed many agreeable hours, is the only place which still invites the +flower of the English youth. The style of living, though somewhat +expensive, is exceedingly pleasant; and, notwithstanding the rage of +play, I have found more entertainment and rational society than in any +other club to which I belong." + +The play was certainly high--only for rouleaus of £50 each, and +generally there was £10,000 in specie on the table. The gamesters +began by pulling off their embroidered clothes, and put on frieze +greatcoats, or turned their coats inside outwards for luck. They put +on pieces of leather (such as are worn by footmen when they clean the +knives) to save their laced ruffles; and to guard their eyes from the +light and to prevent tumbling their hair, wore high-crowned straw hats +with broad brims, and adorned with flowers and ribbons; masks to +conceal their emotions when they played at quinz. Each gamester had a +small neat stand by him, to hold his tea; or a wooden bowl with an +edge of ormolu, to hold the rouleaus. + +Almack's was subsequently Goosetree's. In the year 1780, Pitt was then +an habitual frequenter, and here his personal adherents mustered +strongly. The members, we are told in the _Life of Wilberforce_, were +about twenty-five in number, and included Pratt (afterwards Lord +Camden), Lords Euston, Chatham, Graham, Duncannon, Althorp, Apsley, G. +Cavendish, and Lennox; Messrs. Eliot, Sir Andrew St. John, Bridgeman +(afterwards Lord Bradford), Morris Robinson (afterwards Lord Rokeby), +R. Smith (afterwards Lord Carrington), W. Grenville (afterwards Lord +Grenville), Pepper Arden (afterwards Lord Alvanley), Mr. Edwards, Mr. +Marsham, Mr. Pitt, Mr. Wilberforce, Mr. Bankes, Mr. Thomas Steele, +General Smith, Mr. Windham. + +In the gambling at Goosetree's, Pitt played with characteristic and +intense eagerness. When Wilberforce came up to London in 1780, after +his return to Parliament, his great success coloured his entry into +public life, and he was at once elected a member of the leading +clubs--Miles's and Evans's, Brookes's and Boodle's, White's and +Goosetree's. The latter was Wilberforce's usual resort, where his +friendship with Pitt, whom he had slightly known at Cambridge, greatly +increased: he once lost £100 at the faro-table, and on another night +kept the bank, by which he won £600; but he soon became weaned from +play. + + + + +ALMACK'S ASSEMBLY-ROOMS. + + +In the year following the opening of Almack's Club in Pall Mall, +Almack had built for him by Robert Mylne, the suite of Assembly Rooms, +in King-street, St. James's, which was named after him, "Almack's," +and was occasionally called "Willis's Rooms," after the next +proprietor. Almack likewise kept the Thatched House Tavern, in St. +James's-street. + +Almack's was opened Feb. 20, 1765, and was advertised to have been +built with hot bricks and boiling water: the ceilings were dripping +with wet; but the Duke of Cumberland, the Hero of Culloden, was there. +Gilly Williams, a few days after the opening, in a letter to George +Selwyn, writes: "There is now opened at Almack's, in three very +elegant new-built rooms, a ten-guinea subscription, for which you have +a ball and supper once a week, for twelve weeks. You may imagine by +the sum the company is chosen; though, refined as it is, it will be +scarce able to put out old Soho (Mrs. Cornelys) out of countenance. +The men's tickets are not transferable, so, if the ladies do not like +us, they have no opportunity of changing us, but must see the same +persons for ever." ... "Our female Almack's flourishes beyond +description. Almack's Scotch face, in a bag-wig, waiting at supper, +would divert you, as would his lady, in a sack, making tea and +curtseying to the duchesses." + +Five years later, in 1770, Walpole writes to Montagu: "There is a new +Institution that begins to make, and if it proceeds, will make a +considerable noise. It is a Club of _both_ sexes, to be erected at +Almack's, on the model of that of the men of White's. Mrs. Fitzroy, +Lady Pembroke, Mrs. Meynell, Lady Molyneux, Miss Pelham, and Miss +Lloyd, are the foundresses. I am ashamed to say I am of so young and +fashionable society; but as they are people I live with, I choose to +be idle rather than morose. I can go to a young supper without +forgetting how much sand is run out of the hour-glass." + +Mrs. Boscawen tells Mrs. Delany of this Club of lords and ladies who +first met at a tavern, but subsequently, to satisfy Lady Pembroke's +scruples, in a room at Almack's. "The ladies nominate and choose the +gentlemen and _vice versâ_, so that no lady can exclude a lady, or +gentleman a gentleman." Ladies Rochford, Harrington, and Holderness +were black-balled, as was the Duchess of Bedford, who was subsequently +admitted! Lord March and Brook Boothby were black-balled by the +ladies, to their great astonishment. There was a dinner, then supper +at eleven, and, says Mrs. Boscawen, "play will be deep and constant, +probably." The frenzy for play was then at its height. "Nothing within +my memory comes up to it!" exclaims Mrs. Delany, who attributes it to +the prevailing "avarice and extravagance." Some men made profit out of +it, like Mr. Thynne, "who has won this year so considerably that he +has paid off all his debts, bought a house and furnished it, disposed +of his horses, hounds, etc., and struck his name out of all expensive +subscriptions. But what a _horrid reflection_ it must be to an honest +mind to _build_ his fortune on the ruin of others!" + +Almack's large ball-room is about one hundred feet in length, by forty +feet in width; it is chastely decorated with gilt columns and +pilasters, classic medallions, mirrors, etc., and is lit with gas, in +cut-glass lustres. The largest number of persons ever present in this +room at one ball was 1700. + +The rooms are let for public meetings, dramatic readings, concerts, +balls, and occasionally for dinners. Here Mrs. Billington, Mr. Braham, +and Signor Naldi, gave concerts, from 1808 to 1810, in rivalry with +Madame Catalani, at Hanover-square Rooms; and here Mr. Charles Kemble +gave, in 1844, his Readings from Shakspeare. + +The Balls at Almack's are managed by a Committee of Ladies of high +rank, and the only mode of admission is by vouchers or personal +introduction. + +Almack's has declined of late years; "a clear proof that the palmy +days of exclusiveness are gone by in England; and though it is +obviously impossible to prevent any given number of persons from +congregating and re-establishing an oligarchy, we are quite sure that +the attempt would be ineffectual, and that the sense of their +importance would extend little beyond the set."[8] In 1831 was +published _Almack's_, a novel, in which the leaders of fashion were +sketched with much freedom, and identified in _A Key to Almack's_, +by Benjamin Disraeli. + + + + +BROOKES'S CLUB. + + +We have just narrated the establishment of this Club--how it was +originally a gaming club, and was formed at first by Almack. It was +subsequently taken by Brookes, a wine-merchant and money-lender, +according to Selwyn; and who is described by Tickell, in a copy of +verses addressed to Sheridan, when Charles James Fox was to give a +supper at his own lodgings, then near the Club:-- + + "Derby shall send, if not his plate, his cooks, + And know, I've brought the best champagne from Brookes, + From liberal Brookes, whose speculative skill + Is hasty credit, and a distant bill; + Who, nursed in clubs, disdains a vulgar trade, + Exults to trust, and blushes to be paid." + +From Pall Mall Brookes's Club removed to No. 60, on the west side of +St. James's-street, where a handsome house was built at Brookes's +expense, from the designs of Henry Holland, the architect; it was +opened in October, 1778. The concern did not prosper; for James Hare +writes to George Selwyn, May 18, 1779, "we are all beggars at +Brookes's, and he threatens to leave the house, as it yields him no +profit." Mr. Cunningham tells us that Brookes retired from the Club +soon after it was built, and died poor about the year 1782. + +Lord Crewe, one of the founders of the Club in Pall Mall, died in +1829, after sixty-five years' membership of Brookes's. Among its +celebrities were Burke and Sir Joshua Reynolds, Garrick and Hume, +Horace Walpole, Gibbon, and Sheridan and Wilberforce. Lord March, +afterwards Duke of Queensberry, was one of its notorieties--"the old +Q., whom many now living can remember, with his fixed eye and +cadaverous face, watching the flow of the human tide past his +bow-window in Pall Mall."--_National Review_, 1857. [This is hardly +correct as to locality, since the Club left Pall Mall in 1778, and a +reminiscent must be more than 80 years of age.] Among Selwyn's +correspondents are Gilly Williams, Hare, Fitzpatrick, the Townshends, +Burgoyne, Storer, and Lord Carlisle. R. Tickell, in "Lines from the +Hon. Charles Fox to the Hon. John Townshend cruising," thus describes +the welcome that awaits Townshend, and the gay life of the Club:-- + + "Soon as to Brookes's thence thy footsteps bend, + What gratulations thy approach attend! + See Gibbon tap his box; auspicious sign, + That classic compliment and evil combine. + See Beauclerk's cheek a tinge of red surprise, + And friendship gives what cruel health denies. + Important Townshend! what can thee withstand? + The ling'ring black-ball lags in Boothby's hand. + E'en Draper checks the sentimental sigh; + And Smith, without an oath, suspends the die." + +Mr. Wilberforce has thus recorded his first appearance at Brookes's: +"Hardly knowing any one, I joined, from mere shyness, in play at the +faro-tables, where George Selwyn kept bank. A friend, who knew my +inexperience, and regarded me as a victim decked out for sacrifice, +called to me, 'What, Wilberforce, is that you?' Selwyn quite resented +the interference, and, turning to him, said, in his most expressive +tone, 'Oh, Sir, don't interrupt Mr. Wilberforce; he could not be +better employed!'" + +The Prince of Wales, one day at Brookes's, expatiating on that +beautiful but far-fetched idea of Dr. Darwin's, that the reason of the +bosom of a beautiful woman being the object of such exquisite delight +for a man to look upon, arises from the first pleasurable sensations +of warmth, sustenance, and repose, which he derives therefrom in his +infancy; Sheridan replied, "Truly hath it been said, that there is +only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous. All children who are +brought up by hand must derive their pleasurable sensations from a +very different source; yet I believe no one ever heard of any such, +when arrived at manhood, evincing any very rapturous or amatory +emotions at the sight of a wooden spoon." This clever exposure of an +ingenious absurdity shows the folly of taking for granted every +opinion which may be broached under the sanction of a popular name. + +The conversation at Brookes's, one day, turning on Lord Henry Petty's +projected tax upon iron, one member said, that as there was so much +opposition to it, it would be better to raise the proposed sum upon +coals. "Hold! my dear fellow," said Sheridan, "that would be out of +the frying pan into the fire, with a vengeance." + +Mr. Whitbread, one evening at Brookes's, talked loudly and largely +against the Ministers for laying what was called the _war tax_ upon +malt: every one present concurred with him in opinion, but Sheridan +could not resist the gratification of a hit at the _brewer_ himself. +He wrote with his pencil upon the back of a letter the following +lines, which he handed to Mr. Whitbread, across the table:-- + + "They've raised the price of table drink; + What is the reason, do you think? + The tax on _malt_'s the cause I hear-- + But what has _malt_ to do with _beer_?" + +Looking through a Number of the _Quarterly Review_, one day, at +Brookes's, soon after its first appearance, Sheridan said, in reply to +a gentleman who observed that the editor, Mr. Gifford, had boasted of +the power of conferring and _distributing literary reputation_; "Very +likely; and in the present instance I think he has done it so +profusely as to have left none for himself." + +Sir Philip Francis was the convivial companion of Fox, and during the +short administration of that statesman was made a Knight of the Bath. +One evening, Roger Wilbraham came up to a whist-table at Brookes's, +where Sir Philip, who for the first time wore the ribbon of the Order, +was engaged in a rubber, and thus accosted him. Laying hold of the +ribbon and examining it for some time, he said: "So, this is the way +they have rewarded you at last: they have given you a little bit of +red ribbon for your services, Sir Philip, have they? A pretty bit of +red ribbon to hang about your neck; and that satisfies you, does it? +Now, I wonder what I shall have.--What do you think they will give me, +Sir Philip?" + +The newly-made Knight, who had twenty-five guineas depending on the +rubber, and who was not very well pleased at the interruption, +suddenly turned round, and looking at him fiercely, exclaimed, "A +halter, and be d--d to you!" + +George III. invariably evinced a strong aversion to Fox, the secret of +which it is easy to understand. His son, the Prince of Wales, threw +himself into the arms of Fox, and this in the most undisguised manner. +Fox lodged in St. James's-street, and as soon as he rose, which was +very late, had a levee of his followers, and of the members of the +gaming club, at Brookes's, all his disciples. His bristly black +person, and shagged breast quite open, and rarely purified by any +ablutions, was wrapped in a foul linen night-gown, and his bushy hair +dishevelled. In these cynic weeds, and with epicurean good-humour, did +he dictate his politics, and in this school did the heir of the Crown +attend his lessons, and imbibe them. + +Fox's love of play was desperate. A few evenings before he moved the +repeal of the Marriage Act, in February, 1772, he had been at Brompton +on two errands: one to consult Justice Fielding on the penal laws; the +other to borrow ten thousand pounds, which he brought to town at the +hazard of being robbed. Fox played admirably both at whist and piquet; +with such skill, indeed, that by the general admission of Brookes's +Club, he might have made four thousand pounds a year, as they +calculated, at those games, if he could have confined himself to them. +But his misfortune arose from playing games at chance, particularly at +Faro. After eating and drinking plentifully, he sat down to the Faro +table, and inevitably rose a loser. Once, indeed, and once only, he +won about eight thousand pounds in the course of a single evening. +Part of the money he paid away to his creditors, and the remainder he +lost almost immediately. Before he attained his thirtieth year, he had +completely dissipated everything that he could either command, or +could procure by the most ruinous expedients. He had even undergone, +at times, many of the severest privations annexed to the vicissitudes +that mark a gamester's progress; frequently wanting money to defray +the common daily wants of the most pressing nature. Topham Beauclerc, +who lived much in Fox's society, affirmed, that no man could form an +idea of the extremities to which he had been driven in order to raise +money, after losing his last guinea at the Faro table. He was reduced +for successive days to such distress, as to borrow money from the +waiters of Brookes's. The very chairmen, whom he was unable to pay, +used to dun him for their arrears. In 1781, he might be considered as +an extinct volcano, for the pecuniary aliment that had fed the flame +was long consumed. Yet he then occupied a house or lodgings in St. +James's-street close to Brookes's, where he passed almost every hour +which was not devoted to the House of Commons. Brookes's was then the +rallying point or rendezvous of the Opposition; where, while faro, +whist, and supper prolonged the night, the principal members of the +Minority in both Houses met, in order to compare their information, or +to concert and mature their parliamentary measures. Great sums were +then borrowed of Jews at exorbitant premiums. Fox called his outward +room, where the Jews waited till he rose, the _Jerusalem Chamber_. His +brother Stephen was enormously fat; George Selwyn said he was in the +right to deal with Shylocks, as he could give them pounds of flesh. + +When Fox lodged with his friend Fitzpatrick, at Mackie's, some one +remarked that two such inmates would be the ruin of Mackie, the +oilman; "No," said George Selwyn; "so far from ruining him, they will +make poor Mackie's fortune; for he will have the credit of having the +finest pickles in London." + +The ruling passion of Fox was partly owing to the lax training of his +father, who, by his lavish allowances, fostered his propensity for +play. According to Chesterfield, the first Lord Holland "had no fixed +principles in religion or morality," and he censures him to his son +for being "too unwary in ridiculing and exposing them." He gave full +swing to Charles in his youth: "let nothing be done," said his +Lordship, "to break his spirit; the world will do that for him." +(_Selwyn._) At his death, in 1774, he left him £154,000 to pay his +debts; it was all bespoke, and Fox soon became as deeply pledged as +before. + +Walpole, in 1781, walking up St. James's-street, saw a cart and +porters at Fox's door; with copper and an old chest of drawers, +loading. His success at faro had awakened a host of creditors; but, +unless his bank had swelled to the size of the Bank of England, it +could not have yielded a sou apiece for each. Epsom, too, had been +unpropitious; and one creditor had actually seized and carried off +Fox's goods, which did not seem worth removing. Yet, shortly after +this, whom should Walpole find sauntering by his own door but Fox, who +came up and talked to him at the coach-window, on the Marriage Bill, +with as much _sang froid_ as if he knew nothing of what had happened. + +It was at the sale of Fox's library in this year that Walpole made the +following singular note:--"1781, June 20. Sold by auction, the +library of Charles Fox, which had been taken in execution. Amongst the +books was Mr. Gibbon's first volume of 'Roman History,' which +appeared, by the title-page, to have been given by the author to Mr. +Fox, who had written in it the following anecdote:--'The author at +Brookes's said there was no salvation for the country till six heads +of the principal persons in the administration were laid on the table; +eleven days later, the same gentleman accepted the place of Lord of +Trade under those very ministers, and has acted with them ever since!' +Such was the avidity of bidders for the smallest production of so +wonderful a genius, that by the addition of this little record, the +book sold for three guineas." + +Lord Tankerville assured Mr. Rogers that Fox once played cards with +Fitzpatrick at Brookes's from ten o'clock at night till near six +o'clock the next afternoon, a waiter standing by to tell them "whose +deal it was," they being too sleepy to know. Fox once won about eight +thousand pounds; and one of his bond-creditors, who soon heard of his +good luck, presented himself, and asked for payment. "Impossible, +Sir," replied Fox; "I must first discharge my debts of honour." The +bond-creditor remonstrated. "Well, Sir, give me your bond." It was +delivered to Fox, who tore it in pieces, and threw them into the fire. +"Now, Sir," said Fox, "my debt to you is a debt of honour;" and +immediately paid him. + +Amidst the wildest excesses of youth, even while the perpetual victim +of his passion for play, Fox eagerly cultivated at intervals his taste +for letters, especially the Greek and Roman historians and poets; and +he found resources in their works, under the most severe depressions +occasioned by ill-success at the gaming-table. One morning, after Fox +had passed the whole night in company with Topham Beauclerc at faro, +the two friends were about to separate. Fox had lost throughout the +night, and was in a frame of mind approaching desperation. Beauclerc's +anxiety for the consequences which might ensue led him to be early at +Fox's lodgings; and on arriving, he inquired, not without +apprehension, whether he had risen. The servant replied that Mr. Fox +was in the drawing-room, when Beauclerc walked upstairs, and +cautiously opened the door, expecting to behold a frantic gamester +stretched on the floor, bewailing his losses, or plunged in moody +despair; but he was astonished to find him reading a Greek Herodotus. +"What would you have me do?" said Fox, "I have lost my last shilling." +Upon other occasions, after staking and losing all that he could raise +at faro, instead of exclaiming against fortune, or manifesting the +agitation natural under such circumstances, he would lay his head on +the table, and retain his place, but, exhausted by mental and bodily +fatigue, almost immediately fall into a profound sleep. + +One night, at Brookes's, Fox made some remark on Government powder, in +allusion to something that had happened. Adams considered it a +reflection, and sent Fox a challenge. Fox went out, and took his +station, giving a full front. Fitzgerald said, "You must stand +sideways." Fox said, "Why I am as thick one way as the other,"--"Fire," +was given: Adams fired, Fox did not, and when they said he must, he +said, "I'll be d--d if I do. I have no quarrel." They then advanced to +shake hands. Fox said, "Adams, you'd have killed me if it had not been +Government powder." The ball hit him in the groin. + +Another celebrated character, who frequented Brookes's in the days of +Selwyn, was Dunning, afterwards Lord Ashburton; and many keen +encounters passed between them. Dunning was a short, thick man, with a +turn-up nose, a constant shake of the head, and latterly a distressing +hectic cough--but a wit of the first water. Though he died at the +comparatively early age of fifty-two, he amassed a fortune of £150,000 +during twenty-five years' practice at the bar; and lived +notwithstanding, so liberally, that his mother, an attorney's widow, +some of the wags at Brookes's wickedly recorded, left him in dudgeon +on the score of his extravagance, as humorously sketched at a dinner +at the lawyer's country-house near Fulham, when the following +_conversation_ was represented to have occurred:-- + +"John," said the old lady to her son, after dinner, during which she +had been astounded by the profusion of the plate and viands,--"John, I +shall not stop another day to witness such shameful extravagance." + +"But, my dear mother," interrupted Dunning, "you ought to consider +that I can afford it: my income, you know--" + +"No income," said the old lady impatiently, "can stand such shameful +prodigality. The sum which your cook told me that very _turbot_ cost, +ought to have supported any reasonable family for a week." + +"Pooh, pooh! my dear mother," replied the dutiful son, "you would not +have me appear shabby. Besides, what is a turbot?" + +"Pooh, pooh! what is a turbot?" echoed the irritated dame: "don't +_pooh_ me, John: I tell you such goings-on can come to no good, and +you'll see the end of it before long. However, it sha'n't be said your +mother encouraged such sinful waste, for I'll set off in the coach to +Devonshire to-morrow morning." + +"And notwithstanding," said Sheridan, "all John's rhetorical efforts +to detain her, the old lady kept her word." + +Sheridan's election as a member of Brookes's took place under +conflicting circumstances. His success at Stafford met with fewer +obstacles than he had to encounter in St. James's-street, where +Selwyn's political aversions and personal jealousy were very +formidable, as were those of the Earl of Bessborough, and they and +other members of the Club had determined to exclude Sheridan. +Conscious that every exertion would be made to ensure his success, +they agreed not to absent themselves during the time allowed by the +regulations of the Club for ballots; and as one black ball sufficed to +extinguish the hopes of a candidate, they repeatedly prevented his +election. In order to remove so serious an impediment, Sheridan had +recourse to artifice. On the evening when it was resolved to put him +up, he found his two inveterate enemies posted as usual. A chairman +was then sent with a note, written in the name of her father-in-law, +Lord Bessborough, acquainting him that a fire had broken out in his +house in Cavendish Square, and entreating him immediately to return +home. Unsuspicious of any trick, as his son and daughter-in-law lived +under his roof, Lord Bessborough unhesitatingly quitted the room, and +got into a sedan-chair. Selwyn, who resided not far from Brookes's in +Cleveland-row, received, nearly at the same time, a verbal message to +request his presence, in consequence of Miss Fagniani, (whom he had +adopted as his daughter,) being suddenly seized with alarming +indisposition. This summons he obeyed; and no sooner was the room +cleared, than Sheridan being proposed a member, a ballot took place, +when he was immediately chosen. Lord Bessborough and Selwyn returned +without delay, on discovering the imposition that had been practised +on their credulity, but they were too late to prevent its effects. + +Such is the story told by Selwyn, in his Memoirs; but the following +account is more generally acredited. The Prince of Wales joined +Brookes's Club, to have more frequent intercourse with Mr. Fox, one of +its earliest members, and who, on his first acquaintance with +Sheridan, became anxious for his admission to the Club. Sheridan was +three times proposed, but as often had the black ball in the ballot, +which disqualified him. At length, the hostile ball was traced to +George Selwyn, who objected, because his (Sheridan's) father had been +upon the stage. Sheridan was apprised of this, and desired that his +name might be put up again, and that the further conduct of the matter +might be left to himself. Accordingly, on the evening when he was to +be balloted for, Sheridan arrived at Brookes's arm-in-arm with the +Prince of Wales, just ten minutes before the balloting began. They +were shown into the candidates' waiting-room, when one of the +club-waiters was ordered to tell Mr. Selwyn that the Prince desired to +speak with him immediately. Selwyn obeyed the summons, and Sheridan, +to whom this version of the affair states, Sheridan had no personal +dislike, entertained him for half-an-hour with some political story, +which interested him very much, but had no foundation in truth. During +Selwyn's absence, the balloting went on, and Sheridan was chosen; and +the result was announced to himself and the Prince by the waiter, +with the preconcerted signal of stroking his chin with his hand. +Sheridan immediately rose from his seat, and apologizing for a few +minutes' absence, told Selwyn that "the Prince would finish the +narrative, the catastrophe of which he would find very remarkable." + +Sheridan now went upstairs, was introduced to the Club, and was soon +in all his glory. The Prince, in the meantime, had not the least idea +of being left to conclude a story, the thread of which (if it had a +thread) he had entirely forgotten. Still, by means of Selwyn's +occasional assistance, the Prince got on pretty well for a few +minutes, when a question from the listener as to the flat +contradiction of a part of His Royal Highness' story to that of +Sheridan, completely posed the narrator, and he stuck fast. After much +floundering, the Prince burst into a loud laugh, saying, "D--n the +fellow, to leave me to finish the infernal story, of which I know as +much as a child unborn! But, never mind, Selwyn; as Sheridan does not +seem inclined to come back, let me go upstairs, and I dare say Fox or +some of them will be able to tell you all about it." They adjourned to +the club room, and Selwyn now detected the manoeuvre. Sheridan then +rose, made a low bow, and apologized to Selwyn, through his dropping +into such good company, adding, "They have just been making me a +member without even _one black ball_, and here I am." "The devil they +have!" exclaimed Selwyn.--"Facts speak for themselves," said Sheridan; +"and I thank you for your friendly suffrage; and now, if you will sit +down by us, I will finish my story."--"Your story! it is all a lie +from beginning to end," exclaimed Selwyn, amidst loud laughter from +all parts of the room. + +Among the members who indulged in high play was Alderman Combe, who +is said to have made as much money in this way as he did by brewing. +One evening, whilst he filled the office of Lord Mayor, he was busy at +a full hazard-table at Brookes's, where the wit and the dice-box +circulated together with great glee, and where Beau Brummell was one +of the party. "Come, Mashtub," said Brummell, who was the _caster_, +"what do you _set_?"--"Twenty-five guineas," answered the +Alderman.--"Well, then," returned the Beau, "have at the mare's pony" +(25 guineas). He continued to throw until he drove home the brewer's +twelve ponies, running; and then, getting up, and making him a low +bow, whilst pocketing the cash, he said, "Thank you, alderman; for the +future, I shall never drink any porter but yours."--"I wish, Sir," +replied the brewer, "that every other blackguard in London would tell +me the same." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[8] _Quarterly Review_, 1840. + + + + +"FIGHTING FITZGERALD" + +AT BROOKES'S. + + +This notorious person, George Robert Fitzgerald, though nearly related +to one of the first families in Ireland (Leinster), was executed in +1786, for a murder which he had coolly premeditated, and had +perpetrated in a most cruel and cowardly manner. + +His duelling propensities had kept him out of all the first Clubs in +London. He once applied to Admiral Keith Stewart to propose him as a +candidate for Brookes's; when the Admiral, knowing that he must either +fight or comply with his request, chose the latter. Accordingly, on +the night when the ballot was to take place (which was only a mere +form in this case, for even Keith Stewart had resolved to _black-ball_ +him), the duellist accompanied the Admiral to St. James's-street, and +waited in the room below, while the ballot was taken. This was soon +done; for, without hesitation, each member threw in a _black ball_; +and when the scrutiny came, the company were not a little amazed to +find not even _one_ white ball among the number. However, the +rejection being carried _nem. con._, the question was, which of the +members had the hardihood to announce the result to the expectant +candidate. No one would undertake the office, for the announcement was +thought sure to produce a challenge; and a duel with Fitzgerald had, +in most cases, been fatal to his opponent. The general opinion was +that the proposer, Admiral Stewart, should convey the intelligence. +"No, gentlemen," said he, "I proposed the fellow because I knew you +would not admit him; but, by Jove, I have no inclination to risk my +life against that of a madman." + +"But, Admiral," replied the Duke of Devonshire,[9] "there being no +_white ball_ in the box, he must know that _you_ have black-balled him +as well as the rest, and he is sure to call you out at all events." + +This posed the Admiral, who, after some hesitation, proposed that the +waiter should tell Fitzgerald that there was _one_ black ball, and +that his name must be put up again if he wished it. All concurred in +the propriety of this plan, and the waiter was dispatched on the +mission. In the meantime, Fitzgerald had frequently rung the bell to +inquire "the state of the poll," and had sent each waiter to +ascertain, but neither durst return, when Mr. Brookes took the message +from the waiter who was descending the staircase, and boldly entered +the room, with a coffee equipage in his hand. "Did you call for +coffee, Sir?" said Mr. Brookes, smartly. "D--n your coffee, Sir! and +you too," answered Mr. Fitzgerald, in a voice which made the host's +blood run cold. "I want to know, Sir, and that without one moment's +delay, Sir, if I am _chose_ yet?" + +"Oh, Sir!" replied Mr. Brookes, attempting to smile away the +appearance of fear, "I beg your pardon, Sir, but I was just coming to +announce to you, Sir, with Admiral Stewart's compliments, Sir, that +unfortunately there was one black ball in the box, Sir; and +consequently, by the rules of the Club, Sir, no candidate can be +admitted without a new election, Sir;--which cannot take place, by the +standing regulations of the Club, Sir, until one month from this time, +Sir." + +During this address, Fitzgerald's irascibility appeared to undergo +considerable mollification; and at its close, he grasped Brookes's +hand, saying, "My dear Brookes, _I'm chose_; but there must be a small +matter of mistake in my election:" he then persuaded Brookes to go +upstairs, and make his compliments to the gentlemen, and say, as it +was only a mistake of _one_ black ball, they would be so good as to +waive all ceremony on his account, and proceed to _re-elect_ their +humble servant without any more delay at all." Many of the members +were panic-struck, foreseeing a disagreeable finale to the farce which +they had been playing. Mr. Brookes stood silent, waiting for the +answer. At length, the Earl of March (afterwards Duke of Queensberry) +said aloud, "Try the effect of _two_ balls: d--n his Irish impudence, +if two balls don't take effect upon him, I don't know what will." This +proposition was agreed to, and Brookes was ordered to communicate the +same. + +On re-entering the waiting-room, Mr. Fitzgerald eagerly inquired, +"Have they _elected_ me right, now, Mr. Brookes?" the reply was, +"Sorry to inform you that the result of the second balloting is--that +_two_ black balls were dropped, Sir."--"Then," exclaimed Fitzgerald, +"there's now _two mistakes_ instead of one." He then persuaded Brookes +again to proceed upstairs, and tell the honourable members to "try +again, and make no more mistakes." General Fitzpatrick proposed that +Brookes should reply, "His cause was all hopeless, for that he was +_black-balled all over_, from head to foot, and it was hoped by all +the members that Mr. Fitzgerald would not persist in thrusting himself +into society where his company was declined." This message was of no +avail: no sooner had Fitzgerald heard it than he exclaimed: "Oh, I +perceive it is a _mistake altogether_, Mr. Brookes, and I must see to +the rectifying of it myself, there's nothing like _daling_ with +principals; so, I'll step up at once, and put this thing to rights, +without any more unnecessary delay." + +In spite of Mr. Brookes's remonstrance, that his entrance into the +Club-room was against all rule and etiquette, Fitzgerald flew +upstairs, and entered the room without any further ceremony than a +bow, saying to the members, who indignantly rose at the intrusion, +"Your servant, gentlemen--I beg ye will be _sated_." + +Walking up to the fireplace, he thus addressed Admiral Stewart:--"So, +my dear Admiral, Mr. Brookes informs me that I have been _elected_ +three times." + +"You have been balloted for, Mr. Fitzgerald, but I am sorry to say you +have not been chosen," said Stewart. + +"Well, then," replied the duellist, "did _you_ black-ball me?"--"My +good Sir," answered the Admiral, "how could you suppose such a +thing?"--"Oh, I _supposed_ no such thing, my dear fellow; I only want +to know who it was that dropped the black balls in by accident, as it +were!" + +Fitzgerald now went up to each individual member, and put the same +question _seriatim_, "Did you black-ball me, Sir?" until he made the +round of the whole Club; and in each case he received a reply similar +to that of the Admiral. When he had finished his inquisition, he thus +addressed the whole body: "You see, Gentlemen, that as none of ye have +black-balled me, _I must be chose_; and it is Mr. Brookes that has +made the mistake. But I was convinced of it from the beginning, and I +am only sorry that so much time has been lost as to prevent honourable +gentlemen from enjoying each other's company sooner." He then desired +the waiter to bring him a bottle of champagne, that he might drink +long life to the Club, and wish them joy of their unanimous election +of a "_rael_ gentleman by father and mother, and _who never missed his +man_." + +The members now saw that there was nothing to be done but to send the +intruder to Coventry, which they appeared to do by tacit agreement; +for when Admiral Stewart departed, Mr. Fitzgerald found himself _cut_ +by all his "dear friends." The members now formed parties at the +whist-table; and no one replied to Fitzgerald's observations nor +returned even a nod to the toasts and healths which he drank in three +bottles of champagne, which the terrified waiter placed before him, in +succession. At length, he arose, made a low bow, and took leave, +promising to "come earlier next night, and have a little more of it." +It was then agreed that half-a-dozen stout constables should be in +waiting the next evening to bear him off to the watch-house, if he +attempted again to intrude. Of this measure, Fitzgerald seemed to be +aware; for he never again showed himself at Brookes's; though he +boasted everywhere that he had been unanimously chosen a member of the +Club. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[9] This was the _bon-vivant_ Duke who had got ready for him every +night, for supper, at Brookes's, a broiled blade-bone of mutton. + + + + +ARTHUR'S CLUB. + + +This Club, established more than a century since, at No. 69, St. +James's-street, derives its name from Mr. Arthur, the master of +White's Chocolate-house in the same street. Mr. Cunningham records: +"Arthur died in June, 1761, in St. James's-place; and in the following +October, Mr. Mackreth married Arthur's only child, and Arthur's +Chocolate-house, as it was then called, became the property of this +Mr. Mackreth." + +Walpole, writing in 1759, has this odd note: "I stared to-day at +Piccadilly like a country squire; there are twenty new stone houses: +at first I concluded that all the grooms that used to live there, had +got estates and built palaces. One young gentleman, who was getting an +estate, but was so indiscreet as to step out of his way to rob a +comrade, is convicted, and to be transported; in short, one of the +waiters at Arthur's. George Selwyn says, 'What a horrid idea he will +give us of the people in Newgate?'" + +Mackreth prospered; for Walpole, writing to Mann, in 1774, speaking of +the New Parliament, says: "Bob, formerly a waiter at White's, was set +up by my nephew for two boroughs, and actually is returned for Castle +Rising with Mr. Wedderburne; + + "'Servus curru portatur eodem;' + +which I suppose will offend the Scottish Consul, as most of his +countrymen resent an Irishman standing for Westminster, which the +former reckon a borough of their own. For my part, waiter for waiter, +I see little difference; they were all equally ready to cry, 'Coming, +coming, Sir.'" + +Mackreth was afterwards knighted; and upon him appeared this smart and +well-remembered epigram: + + "When Mackreth served in Arthur's crew, + He said to Rumbold, 'Black my shoe;' + To which he answer'd, 'Ay, Bob.' + But when return'd from India's land, + And grown too proud to brook command, + He sternly answer'd, 'Nay, Bob.'" + +The Club-house was rebuilt in 1825, upon the site of the original +Chocolate-house, Thomas Hopper, architect, at which time it possessed +more than average design: the front is of stone, and is enriched with +fluted Corinthian columns. + + + + +WHITE'S CLUB. + + +This celebrated Club was originally established as "White's +Chocolate-house," in 1698, five doors from the bottom of the west side +of St. James's-street, "ascending from St. James's Palace." (Hatton, +1708.) A print of the time shows a small garden attached to the +house: at the tables in the house or garden, more than one highwayman +took his chocolate, or threw his main, before he quietly mounted his +horse, and rode down Piccadilly towards Bagshot. (Doran's _Table +Traits_.) It was destroyed by fire, April 28, 1733, when the house was +kept by Mr. Arthur, who subsequently gave his name to the Club called +Arthur's, still existing a few doors above the original White's. At +the fire, young Arthur's wife leaped out of a second floor window, +upon a feather-bed, without much hurt. A fine collection of paintings, +belonging to Sir Andrew Fountaine, valued at 3000_l._, was entirely +destroyed. The King and the Prince of Wales were present above an +hour, and encouraged the firemen and people to work at the engines; a +guard being ordered from St. James's, to keep off the populace. His +Majesty ordered twenty guineas to be distributed among the firemen and +others that worked at the engines, and five guineas to the guard; and +the Prince ordered the firemen ten guineas. "The incident of the +fire," says Mr. Cunningham, "was made use of by Hogarth, in Plate VI. +of the Rake's Progress, representing a room at White's. The total +abstraction of the gamblers is well expressed by their utter +inattention to the alarm of the fire given by watchmen, who are +bursting open the doors. Plate IV. of the same pictured moral +represents a group of chimney-sweepers and shoe-blacks gambling on the +ground over-against White's. To indicate the Club more fully, Hogarth +has inserted the name Black's." + +Arthur, thus burnt out, removed to Gaunt's Coffee-house, next the St. +James's Coffee-house, and which bore the name of "White's"--a myth. +The _Tatler_, in his first Number, promises that "all accounts of +gallantry, pleasure, and entertainment, shall be under the article of +White's Chocolate-house." Addison, in his Prologue to Steele's _Tender +Husband_, catches "the necessary spark" sometimes "taking snuff at +White's." + +The Chocolate-house, open to any one, became a private Club-house: the +earliest record is a book of rules and list of members of the old Club +at White's, dated October 30th, 1736. The principal members were the +Duke of Devonshire; the Earls of Cholmondeley, Chesterfield, and +Rockingham; Sir John Cope, Major-General Churchill, Bubb Dodington, +and Colley Cibber. Walpole tells us that the celebrated Earl of +Chesterfield lived at White's, gaming and pronouncing witticisms among +the boys of quality; "yet he says to his son, that a member of a +gaming club should be a cheat, or he will soon be a beggar," an +inconsistency which reminds one of old Fuller's saw: "A father that +whipt his son for swearing, and swore himself whilst he whipt him, did +more harm by his example than good by his correction." + +Swift, in his _Essay on Modern Education_, gives the Chocolate-house a +sad name. "I have heard," he says, "that the late Earl of Oxford, in +the time of his ministry, never passed by White's Chocolate-house (the +common rendezvous of infamous sharpers and noble cullies) without +bestowing a curse upon that famous Academy, as the bane of half the +English nobility." + +The gambling character of the Club may also be gathered from Lord +Lyttelton writing to Dr. Doddridge, in 1750. "The Dryads of Hagley are +at present pretty secure, but I tremble to think that the rattling of +a dice-box at White's may one day or other (if my son should be a +member of that noble academy) shake down all our fine oaks. It is +dreadful to see, not only there, but almost in every house in town, +what devastations are made by that destructive fury, the spirit of +play." + +Swift's character of the company is also borne out by Walpole, in a +letter to Mann, December 16, 1748: "There is a man about town, Sir +William Burdett, a man of very good family, but most infamous +character. In short, to give you his character at once, there is a +wager entered in the bet-book at White's (a MS. of which I may one day +or other give you an account), that the first baronet that will be +hanged is this Sir William Burdett." + +Again, Glover, the poet, in his _Autobiography_, tells us: "Mr. Pelham +(the Prime Minister) was originally an officer in the army, and a +professed gamester; of a narrow mind, low parts, etc.... By long +experience and attendance he became experienced as a Parliament man; +and even when Minister, divided his time to the last between his +office and the club of gamesters at White's." And, Pope, in the +_Dunciad_, has: + + "Or chair'd at White's, amidst the doctors sit, + Teach oaths to gamesters, and to nobles wit." + +The Club removed, in 1755, to the east side of St. James's-street, No. +38. The house had had previously a noble and stately tenant; for here +resided the Countess of Northumberland, widow of Algernon, tenth Earl +of Northumberland, who died 1688. "My friend Lady Suffolk, her niece +by marriage," writes Walpole, "has talked to me of her having, on that +alliance, visited her. She then lived in the house now White's, at the +upper end of St. James's-street, and was the last who kept up the +ceremonious state of the old peerage. When she went out to visit, a +footman, bareheaded, walked on each side of her coach, and a second +coach with her women attended her. I think, too, that Lady Suffolk +told me that her granddaughter-in-law, the Duchess of Somerset, never +sat down before her without leave to do so. I suppose the old Duke +Charles [the proud Duke] had imbibed a good quantity of his stately +pride in such a school." (_Letter to the Bishop of Dromore_, September +18, 1792.) This high-minded dame had published a "Volume of Prayers." + +Among the Rules of the Club, every member was to pay one guinea a year +towards having a good cook; the names of all candidates were to be +deposited with Mr. Arthur or Bob [Mackreth]. In balloting, every +member was to put in his ball, and such person or persons who refuse +to comply with it, shall pay the supper reckoning of that night; and, +in 1769, it was agreed that 'every member of this Club who is in the +Billiard-Room at the time the Supper is declared upon table, shall pay +his reckoning if he does not sup at the Young Club.' + +Of Colley Cibber's membership we find this odd account in Davies's +_Life of Garrick_:--"Colley, we told, had the honour to be a member of +the great Club at White's; and so I suppose might any other man who +wore good clothes and paid his money when he lost it. But on what +terms did Cibber live with this society? Why, he feasted most +sumptuously, as I have heard his friend Victor say, with an air of +triumphant exultation, with Mr. Arthur and his wife, and gave a trifle +for his dinner. After he had dined, when the Club-room door was +opened, and the Laureate was introduced, he was saluted with loud and +joyous acclamation of 'O King Coll! Come in, King Coll!' and 'Welcome, +welcome, King Colley!' And this kind of gratulation, Mr. Victor +thought, was very gracious and very honourable." + +In the Rules quoted by Mr. Cunningham, from the Club-books, we find +that in 1780, a dinner was ready every day during the sitting of +Parliament, at a reckoning of 12_s._ per head; in 1797, at 10_s._ +6_d._ per head, malt liquors, biscuits, oranges, apples, and olives +included; hot suppers provided at 8_s._ per head; and cold meat, +oysters, etc., at 4_s._, malt liquor only included. And, "that Every +Member who plays at Chess, Draughts, or Backgammon do pay One Shilling +each time of playing by daylight, and half-a-crown each by +candlelight." + +White's was from the beginning principally a gaming Club. The play was +mostly at hazard and faro; no member was to hold a faro Bank. Whist +was comparatively harmless. Professional gamblers, who lived by dice +and cards, provided they were free from the imputation of cheating, +procured admission to White's. It was a great supper-house, and there +was play before and after supper, carried on to a late hour and heavy +amounts. Lord Carlisle lost 10,000_l._ in one night, and was in debt +to the house for the whole. He tells Selwyn of a set, in which at one +point of the game, stood to win 50,000_l._ Sir John Bland, of Kippax +Park, who shot himself in 1755, as we learn from Walpole, flirted away +his whole fortune at hazard. "He t'other night exceeded what was lost +by the late Duke of Bedford, having at one period of the night, +(though he recovered the greater part of it,) lost two-and-thirty +thousand pounds." + +Lord Mountford came to a tragic end through his gambling. He had lost +money; feared to be reduced to distress; asked for a Government +appointment, and determined to throw the die of life or death, on the +answer he received from Court. The answer was unfavourable. He +consulted several persons, indirectly at first, afterwards pretty +directly--on the easiest mode of finishing life; invited a +dinner-party for the day after; supped at White's, and played at whist +till one o'clock of the New Year's morning. Lord Robert Bertie drank +to him "a happy new year;" he clapped his hand strangely to his eyes. +In the morning, he sent for a lawyer and three witnesses, executed his +will; made them read it twice over, paragraph by paragraph; asked the +lawyer if that will would stand good though a man were to shoot +himself. Being assured it would, he said, "Pray stay, while I step +into the next room,"--went into the next room, and shot himself. + +Walpole writes to Mann: "John Damier and his two brothers have +contracted a debt, one can scarcely expect to be believed out of +England,--of 70,000_l._... The young men of this age seem to make a +law among themselves for declaring their fathers superannuated at +fifty, and thus dispose of their estates as if already their own." +"Can you believe that Lord Foley's two sons have borrowed money so +extravagantly, that the interest they have contracted to pay, amounts +to 18,000_l._ a year." + +Fox's love of play was frightful: his best friends are said to have +been half-ruined in annuities, given by them as securities for him to +the Jews. Five hundred thousand a year of such annuities, of Fox and +his Society, were advertised to be sold, at one time: Walpole wondered +what Fox would do when he had sold the estates of all his friends. +Here are some instances of his desperate play. Walpole further notes +that in the debate on the Thirty-nine Articles, February 6, 1772, Fox +did not shine, "nor could it be wondered at. He had sat up playing at +hazard at Almack's, from Tuesday evening the 4th, till five in the +afternoon of Wednesday, 5th. An hour before he had recovered +12,000_l._ that he had lost, and by dinner, which was at five o'clock, +he had ended losing 11,000_l._ On the Thursday, he spoke in the above +debate; went to dinner at past eleven at night; from thence to +White's, where he drank till seven the next morning; thence to +Almack's, where he won 6,000_l._; and between three and four in the +afternoon he set out for Newmarket. His brother Stephen lost +11,000_l._ two nights after, and Charles 10,000_l._ more on the 13th; +so that, in three nights, the two brothers, the eldest not +twenty-five, lost 32,000_l._" + +Walpole and a party of friends, (Dick Edgecumbe, George Selwyn, and +Williams,) in 1756, composed a piece of heraldic satire--a +coat-of-arms for the two gaming-clubs at White's,--which was "actually +engraving from a very pretty painting of Edgecumbe, whom Mr. Chute, as +Strawberry King at arms," appointed their chief herald-painter. The +blazon is vert (for a card-table); three parolis proper on a chevron +sable (for a hazard-table); two rouleaux in saltire between two dice +proper, on a canton sable; a white ball (for election) argent. The +supporters are an old and young knave of clubs; the crest, an arm out +of an earl's coronet shaking a dice-box; and the motto, "Cogit amor +nummi." Round the arms is a claret-bottle ticket by way of order. The +painting above mentioned by Walpole of "the Old and Young Club at +Arthur's" was bought at the sale of Strawberry Hill by Arthur's +Club-house for twenty-two shillings. + +At White's, the least difference of opinion invariably ended in a bet, +and a book for entering the particulars of all bets was always laid +upon the table; one of these, with entries of a date as early as 1744, +Mr. Cunningham tells us, had been preserved. A book for entering bets +is still laid on the table. + +In these betting books are to be found bets on births, deaths, and +marriages; the length of a life, or the duration of a ministry; a +placeman's prospect of a coronet; on the shock of an earthquake; or +the last scandal at Ranelagh, or Madame Cornelys's. A man dropped down +at the door of White's; he was carried into the house. Was he dead or +not? The odds were immediately given and taken for and against. It was +proposed to bleed him. Those who had taken the odds the man was dead, +protested that the use of a lancet would affect the fairness of the +bet. + +Walpole gives some of these narratives as good stories "made on +White's." A parson coming into the Club on the morning of the +earthquake of 1750, and hearing bets laid whether the shock was caused +by an earthquake or the blowing-up of powder-mills, went away in +horror, protesting they were such an impious set, that he believed if +the last trump were to sound, they would bet "puppet-show against +Judgment." Gilly Williams writes to Selwyn, 1764, "Lord Digby is very +soon to be married to Miss Fielding." Thousands might have been won in +this house (White's), on his Lordship not knowing that such a being +existed. + +Mr. Cunningham tells us that "the marriage of a young lady of rank +would occasion a bet of a hundred guineas, that she would give birth +to a live child before the Countess of ----, who had been married +three or even more months before her. Heavy bets were pending, that +Arthur, who was then a widower, would be married before a member of +the Club of about the same age, and also a widower; and that Sarah, +Duchess of Marlborough, would outlive the old Duchess of Cleveland." + +"One of the youth at White's," writes Walpole to Mann, July 10, 1744, +"has committed a murder, and intends to repeat it. He betted £1500 +that a man could live twelve hours under water; hired a desperate +fellow, sunk him in a ship, by way of experiment, and both ship and +man have not appeared since. Another man and ship are to be tried for +their lives, instead of Mr. Blake, the assassin." + +Walpole found at White's, a very remarkable entry in their very--very +remarkable wager-book, which is still preserved. "Lord Mountford bets +Sir John Bland twenty guineas that Nash outlives Cibber." "How odd," +says Walpole, "that these two old creatures, selected for their +antiquities, should live to see both their wagerers put an end to +their own lives! Cibber is within a few days of eighty-four, still +hearty, and clear, and well. I told him I was glad to see him look so +well. 'Faith,' said he, 'it is very well that I look at all.'" Lord +Mountford would have been the winner: Cibber died in 1757; Nash in +1761. + +Here is a nice piece of Selwyn's ready wit. He and Charles Townshend +had a kind of wit combat together. Selwyn, it is said, prevailed; and +Charles Townshend took the wit home in his carriage, and dropped him +at White's. "Remember," said Selwyn, as they parted, "this is the +first set-down you have given me to-day." + +"St. Leger," says Walpole, "was at the head of these luxurious +heroes--he is the hero of all fashion. I never saw more dashing +vivacity and absurdity with some flashes of parts. He had a cause the +other day for ducking a sharper, and was going to swear; the judge +said to him, 'I see, Sir, you are very ready to take an oath.' 'Yes, +my Lord,' replied St. Leger, 'my father was a judge,'" St. Leger was a +lively club member. "Rigby," writes the Duke of Bedford, July 2, 1751, +"the town is grown extremely thin within this week, though White's +continues numerous enough, with young people only, for Mr. St. Leger's +vivacity, and the idea the old ones have of it, prevent the great +chairs at the Old Club from being filled with their proper drowsy +proprietors." + +In Hogarth's gambling scene at White's, we see the highwayman, with +the pistols peeping out of his pocket, waiting by the fireside till +the heaviest winner takes his departure, in order to "recoup" himself +of his losings. And in the _Beaux' Stratagem_, Aimwell asks of Gibbet, +"Ha'n't I seen your face at White's?"--"Ay, and at Will's too," is the +highwayman's answer. + +M'Clean, the fashionable highwayman, had a lodging in St. +James's-street, over-against White's; and he was as well known about +St. James's as any gentleman who lived in that quarter, and who, +perhaps, went upon the road too. When M'Clean was taken, in 1750, +Walpole tells us that Lord Mountford, at the head of half White's, +went the first day; his aunt was crying over him; as soon as they were +withdrawn, she said to him, knowing they were of White's, "My dear, +what did the Lords say to you? Have you ever been concerned with any +of them? Was it not admirable? What a favourable idea people must have +of White's!--and what if White's should not deserve a much better?" + +A waitership at a club sometimes led to fortune. Thomas Rumbold, +originally a waiter at White's, got an appointment in India, and +suddenly rose to be Sir Thomas, and Governor of Madras. On his return, +with immense wealth, a bill of pains and penalties was brought into +the House by Dundas, with the view of stripping Sir Robert of his +ill-gotten gains. This bill was briskly pushed through the earlier +stages; suddenly the proceedings were arrested by adjournment, and the +measure fell to the ground. The rumour of the day attributed Rumbold's +escape to the corrupt assistance of Rigby; who, in 1782, found +himself, by Lord North's retirement, deprived of his place in the Pay +Office, and called upon to refund a large amount of public moneys +unaccounted for. In this strait, Rigby was believed to have had +recourse to Rumbold. Their acquaintance had commenced in earlier days, +when Rigby was one of the boldest "punters" at White's, and Rumbold +bowed to him for half-crowns. Rumbold is said to have given Rigby a +large sum of money, on condition of the former being released from the +impending pains and penalties. The truth of this report has been +vehemently denied; but the circumstances are suspicious. The bill was +dropped: Dundas, its introducer, was Rigby's intimate associate. +Rigby's nephew and heir soon after married Rumbold's daughter. Sir +Thomas himself had married a daughter of Dr. Law, Bishop of Carlisle. +The worthy Bishop stood godfather to one of Rumbold's children; the +other godfather was the Nabob of Arcot, and the child was christened +"Mahomet." So, at least, Walpole informs Mann.[10] + +Rigby was a man of pleasure at White's. Wilkes, in the _North +Briton_, describes Rigby as "an excellent _bon-vivant_, amiable and +engaging; having all the gibes and gambols, and flashes of merriment, +which set the table in a roar." In a letter to Selwyn, Rigby writes: +"I am just got home from a cock-match, where I have won forty pounds +in ready money; and not having dined, am waiting till I hear the +rattle of the coaches from the House of Commons, in order to dine at +White's.... The next morning I heard there had been extreme deep play, +and that Harry Furnese went drunk from White's at six o'clock, and +with the ever memorable sum of 1000 guineas. He won the chief part of +Doneraile and Bob Bertie." + +The Club has had freaks of epicurism. In 1751, seven young men of +fashion, headed by St. Leger, gave a dinner at White's: one dish was a +tart of choice cherries from a hot-house; only one glass was tasted +out of each bottle of champagne. "The bill of fare is got into print," +writes Walpole, to Mann; "and with good people has produced the +apprehension of another earthquake." + +From Mackreth the property passed in 1784, to John Martindale, and in +1812, to Mr. Raggett, the father of the present proprietor. The +original form of the house was designed by James Wyatt. From time to +time, White's underwent various alterations and additions. In the +autumn of 1850, certain improvements being thought necessary, it came +to be considered that the front was of too plain a character, when +contrasted with the many elegant buildings which had risen up around +it. Mr. Lockyer was consulted by Mr. Raggett as to the possibility of +improving the façade; and under his direction, four bas-reliefs, +representing the four seasons, which occupy the place of four sashes, +were designed by Mr. George Scharf, jun. The interior was redecorated +by Mr. Morant. The Club, which is at this time limited to 500 members, +was formerly composed of the high Tory party, but though Conservative +principles may probably prevail, it has now ceased to be a political +club, and may rather be termed "Aristocratic." Several of the present +members have belonged to the Club upwards of half a century, and the +ancestors of most of the noblemen and men of fashion of the present +day who belong to the club were formerly members of it. + +The Club has given magnificent entertainments in our time. On June 20, +1814, they gave a ball at Burlington House to the Emperor of Russia, +the King of Prussia, and the allied sovereigns then in England; the +cost was 9849_l._ 2_s._ 6_d._ Three weeks after this, the Club gave to +the Duke of Wellington a dinner, which cost 2480_l._ 10_s._ 9_d._ + +FOOTNOTES: + +[10] National Review, No. 8. + + + + +BOODLE'S CLUB. + + +This Club, originally the "Savoir vivre," which with Brookes's and +White's, forms a trio of nearly coeval date, and each of which takes +the present name of its founder, is No. 28, St. James's-street. In its +early records it was noted for its costly gaieties, and the _Heroic +Epistle to Sir William Chambers_, 1773, commemorates its epicurism: + + "For what is Nature? Ring her changes round, + Her three flat notes are water, plants, and ground; + Prolong the peal, yet, spite of all your clatter, + The tedious chime is still ground, plants, and water; + So, when some John his dull invention racks, + To rival Boodle's dinners or Almack's, + Three uncouth legs of mutton shock our eyes, + Three roasted geese, three buttered apple-pies." + +In the following year, when the Clubs vied with each other in giving +the town the most expensive masquerades and ridottos, Gibbon speaks of +one given by the members of Boodle's, that cost 2000 guineas. Gibbon +was early of the Club; and, "it must be remembered, waddled as well as +warbled here when he exhibited that extraordinary person which is said +to have convulsed Lady Sheffield with laughter; and poured forth +accents mellifluous like Plato's from that still more extraordinary +mouth which has been described as 'a round hole' in the centre of his +face."[11] + +Boodle's Club-house, designed by Holland, has long been eclipsed by +the more pretentious architecture of the Club edifices of our time; +but the interior arrangements are well planned. Boodle's is chiefly +frequented by country gentlemen, whose status has been thus +satirically insinuated by a contemporary: "Every Sir John belongs to +Boodle's--as you may see, for, when a waiter comes into the room and +says to some aged student of the _Morning Herald_, 'Sir John, your +servant is come,' every head is mechanically thrown up in answer to +the address.'" + +Among the Club pictures are portraits of C. J. Fox, and the Duke of +Devonshire. Next door, at No. 29, resided Gillray, the caricaturist, +who, in 1815, threw himself from an upstairs window into the street, +and died in consequence. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[11] London Clubs, 1853, p. 51. + + + + +THE BEEF-STEAK SOCIETY. + + +In the _Spectator_, No. 9, March 10, 1710-11, we read: "The Beef-steak +and October Clubs are neither of them averse to eating or drinking, if +we may form a judgment of them from their respective titles." This +passage refers to the Beef-steak Club, founded in the reign of Queen +Anne; and, it is believed, the earliest Club with that name. Dr. King, +in his _Art of Cookery_, humbly _inscribed to the Beef-steak Club_, +1709, has these lines: + + "He that of honour, wit, and mirth partakes, + May be a fit companion o'er Beef-steaks: + His name may be to future times enrolled + In Estcourt's book, whose gridiron's framed with gold." + +Estcourt, the actor, was made Providore of the Club; and for a mark of +distinction wore their badge, which was a small gridiron of gold, hung +about his neck with a green silk ribbon. Such is the account given by +Chetwood, in his _History of the Stage_, 1749; to which he adds: "this +Club was composed of the chief wits and great men of the nation." The +gridiron, it will be seen hereafter, was assumed as its badge, by the +"Society of Beef-steaks, established a few years later: they call +themselves 'the Steaks,' and abhor the notion of being thought a +Club." Though the _National Review_, heretical as it may appear, +cannot consent to dissever the Society from the earlier Beef-steak +Club; which, however, would imply that Rich and Lambert were not the +founders of the Society, although so circumstantially shown to be. +Still, the stubbornness of facts must prevail. + +Dick Estcourt was beloved by Steele, who thus introduces him in the +_Spectator_, No. 358: "The best man that I know of for heightening +the real gaiety of a company is Estcourt, whose jovial humour diffuses +itself from the highest person at an entertainment to the meanest +waiter. Merry tales, accompanied with apt gestures and lively +representations of circumstances and persons, beguile the gravest mind +into a consent to be as humorous as himself. Add to this, that when a +man is in his good graces, he has a mimicry that does not debase the +person he represents, but which, taken from the gravity of the +character, adds to the agreeableness of it." + +Then, in the _Spectator_, No. 264, we find a letter from Sir Roger de +Coverley, from Coverley, "To Mr. Estcourt, at his House in Covent +Garden," addressing him as "Old Comical One," and acknowledging "the +hogsheads of neat port came safe," and hoping next term to help fill +Estcourt's Bumper "with our people of the Club." The Bumper was the +tavern in Covent Garden, which Estcourt opened about a year before his +death. In this quality Parnell speaks of him in the beginning of one +of his poems:-- + + "Gay Bacchus liking Estcourt's wine + A noble meal bespoke us, + And for the guests that were to dine + Brought Comus, Love, and Jocus." + +The _Spectator_ delivers this merited eulogy of the player, just prior +to his benefit at the theatre: "This pleasant fellow gives one some +idea of the ancient Pantomime, who is said to have given the audience +in dumb-show, an exact idea of any character or passion, or an +intelligible relation of any public occurrence, with no other +expression than that of his looks and gestures. If all who have been +obliged to these talents in Estcourt will be at _Love for Love_ +to-morrow night, they will but pay him what they owe him, at so easy +a rate as being present at a play which nobody would omit seeing, that +had, or had not, ever seen it before." + +Then, in the _Spectator_, No. 468, August 27, 1712, with what touching +pathos does Steele record the last exit of this choice spirit: "I am +very sorry that I have at present a circumstance before me which is of +very great importance to all who have a relish for gaiety, wit, mirth, +or humour: I mean the death of poor Dick Estcourt. I have been obliged +to him for so many hours of jollity, that it is but a small +recompense, though all I can give him, to pass a moment or two in +sadness for the loss of so agreeable a man.... Poor Estcourt! Let the +vain and proud be at rest, thou wilt no more disturb their admiration +of their dear selves; and thou art no longer to drudge in raising the +mirth of stupids, who know nothing of thy merit, for thy maintenance." +Having spoken of him "as a companion and a man qualified for +conversation,"--his fortune exposing him to an obsequiousness towards +the worst sort of company, but his excellent qualities rendering him +capable of making the best figure in the most refined, and then having +told of his maintaining "his good humour with a countenance or a +language so delightful, without offence to any person or thing upon +earth, still preserving the distance his circumstances obliged him +to,"--Steele concludes with, "I say, I have seen him do all this in +such a charming manner, that I am sure none of those I hint at will +read this, without giving him some sorrow for their abundant mirth, +and one gush of tears for so many bursts of laughter. I wish it were +any honour to the pleasant creature's memory, that my eyes are too +much suffused to let me go on----" We agree with Leigh Hunt that +Steele's "overfineness of nature was never more beautifully evinced in +any part of his writings than in this testimony to the merits of poor +Dick Estcourt." + +Ned Ward, in his _Secret History of Clubs_, first edition, 1709, +describes the Beef-steaks, which he coarsely contrasts with "the +refined wits of the Kit-Cat." This new Society griliado'd beef eaters +first settled their meeting at the sign of the Imperial Phiz, just +opposite to a famous conventicle in the Old Jury, a publick-house that +has been long eminent for the true British quintessence of malt and +hops, and a broiled sliver off the juicy rump of a fat, well-fed +bullock.... This noted boozing ken, above all others in the City, was +chosen out by the Rump-steak admirers, as the fittest mansion to +entertain the Society, and to gratify their appetites with that +particular dainty they desired to be distinguished by. [The Club met +at the place appointed, and chose for a Prolocutor, an Irish +comedian.] No sooner had they confirmed their Hibernian mimic in his +honourable post, but to distinguish him from the rest, they made him a +Knight of St. Lawrence, and hung a silver (?) gridiron about his neck, +as a badge of the dignity they had conferred upon him, that when he +sung _Pretty Parrot_, he might thrum upon the bars of his new +instrument, and mimic a haughty Spaniard serenading his Donna with +guitar and madrigal. The Zany, as proud of his new fangle as a German +mountebank of a prince's medal, when he was thus dignified and +distinguished with his culinary symbol hanging before his breast, took +the highest post of honour, as his place at the board, where, as soon +as seated, there was not a bar in the silver kitchen-stuff that the +Society had presented him with, but was presently handled with a +theatrical pun, or an Irish witticism.... Orders were dispatched to +the superintendent of the kitchen to provide several nice specimens of +their Beef-steak cookery, some with the flavour of a shalot or onion; +some broil'd, some fry'd, some stew'd, some toasted, and others +roasted, that every judicious member of the new erected Club might +appeal to his palate, and from thence determine whether the house they +had chosen for their rendezvous truly deserved that public fame for +their inimitable management of a bovinary sliver, which the world had +given them.... When they had moderately supplied their beef stomachs, +they were all highly satisfy'd with the choice they had made, and from +that time resolved to repeat their meeting once a week in the same +place." At the next meeting the constitution and bye-laws of the new +little commonwealth were settled; and for the further encouragement of +wit and pleasantry throughout the whole Society, there was provided a +very voluminous paper book, "about as thick as a bale of Dutch linen, +into which were to be entered every witty saying that should be spoke +in the Society:" this nearly proved a failure; but Ward gives a taste +of the performances by reciting some that had been stolen out of their +Journal by a false Brother; here is one:-- + +ON AN OX. + + "Most noble creature of the horned race, + Who labours at the plough to earn thy grass, + And yielding to the yoke, shows man the way + To bear his servile chains, and to obey + More haughty tyrants, who usurp the sway. + Thy sturdy sinews till the farmer's grounds, + To thee the grazier owes his hoarded pounds: + 'Tis by thy labour, we abound in malt, + Whose powerful juice the meaner slaves exalt; + And when grown fat, and fit to be devour'd, + The pole-ax frees thee from the teazing goard: + Thus cruel man, to recompense thy pains, + First works thee hard, and then beats out thy brains." + +Ward is very hard upon the Kit-Cat community, and tells us that the +Beef-steaks, "like true Britons, to show their resentment in contempt +of Kit-Cat pies, very justly gave the preference to a rump-steak, most +wisely agreeing that the venerable word, beef, gave a more masculine +grace, and sounded better in the title of a true English Club, than +either Pies or Kit-Cat; and that a gridiron, which has the honour to +be made the badge of a Saint's martyrdom, was a nobler symbol of their +Christian integrity, than two or three stars or garters; who learnedly +recollecting how great an affinity the word bull has to beef, they +thought it very consistent with the constitution of their Society, +instead of a Welsh to have a Hibernian secretary. Being thus fixed to +the great honour of a little alehouse, next door to the Church, and +opposite to the Meeting, they continued to meet for some time; till +their fame spreading over all the town, and reaching the ears of the +great boys and little boys, as they came in the evening from Merchant +Taylors' School, they could not forbear hollowing as they passed the +door; and being acquainted with their nights of meeting, they seldom +failed, when the divan was sitting, of complimenting their ears with +'Huzza! Beef-steak!'--that they might know from thence, how much they +were reverenced for men of learning by the very school-boys." + +"But the modest Club," says Ward, "not affecting popularity, and +choosing rather to be deaf to all public flatteries, thought it an act +of prudence to adjourn from thence into a place of obscurity, where +they might feast knuckle-deep in luscious gravy, and enjoy themselves +free from the noisy addresses of the young scholastic rabble; so that +now, whether they have healed the breach, and are again returned into +the Kit-Cat community, from whence it is believed, upon some disgust, +they at first separated, or whether, like the Calves' Head Club they +remove from place to place, to prevent discovery, I sha'n't presume to +determine; but at the present, like Oates's army of pilgrims, in the +time of the plot, though they are much talk'd of they are difficult to +be found." The "Secret history" concludes with an address to the Club, +from which these are specimen lines: + + "Such strenuous lines, so cheering, soft, and sweet, + That daily flow from your conjunctive wit, + Proclaim the power of Beef, that noble meat. + Your tuneful songs such deep impression make, + And of such awful, beauteous strength partake, + Each stanza seems an ox, each line a steak. + As if the rump in slices, broil'd or stew'd + In its own gravy, till divinely good, + Turned all to powerful wit, as soon as chew'd. + + * * * * * + + To grind thy gravy out their jaws employ, + O'er heaps of reeking steaks express their joy, + And sing of Beef as Homer did of Troy." + +We shall now more closely examine the origin and history of the +Sublime Society of the Steaks, which has its pedigree, its ancestry, +and its title-deeds. The gridiron of 1735 is the real gridiron on +which its first steak was broiled. Henry Rich (Lun, the first +Harlequin) was the founder, to whom Garrick thus alludes in a prologue +to the Irish experiment of a speaking pantomime: + + "When Lun appeared, with matchless art and whim, + He gave the power of speech to every limb. + + Though masked and mute conveyed his true intent, + And told in frolic gestures what he meant; + But now the motley coat and sword of wood, + Require a tongue to make them understood." + +There is a letter extant, written by Nixon, the treasurer, probably to +some artist, granting permission by the Beef-steak Society "to copy +the original gridiron, and I have wrote on the other side of this +sheet a note to Mr. White, at the Bedford, to introduce you to our +room for the purpose making your drawing. The first spare moment I can +take from my business shall be employed in making a short statement of +the rise and establishment of the Beef-steak Society." + +Rich, in 1732, left the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre for Covent +Garden, the success of the _Beggars' Opera_ having "made Gay rich and +Rich gay." He was accustomed to arrange the comic business and +construct the models of tricks for his pantomimes in his private room +at Covent Garden. Here resorted men of rank and wit, for Rich's +colloquial oddities were much relished. Thither came Mordaunt, Earl of +Peterborough, the friend of Pope, and thus commemorated by Swift: + + "Mordanto fills the trump of fame; + The Christian world his death proclaim; + And prints are crowded with his name. + In journeys he outrides the post; + Sits up till midnight with his host; + Talks politics, and gives the toast, + A skeleton in outward figure; + His meagre corpse, though full of vigour, + Would halt behind him, were it bigger, + So wonderful his expedition; + When you have not the least suspicion, + He's with you, like an apparition: + Shines in all climates like a star; + In senates bold, and fierce in war; + A land-commandant, and a tar." + +He was then advanced in years, and one afternoon stayed, talking with +Rich about his tricks and transformations, and listening to his +agreeable talk, until Rich's dinner-hour, two o'clock, had arrived. In +all these colloquies with his visitors, whatever their rank, Rich +never neglected his art. Upon one occasion, accident having detained +the Earl's coach later than usual, he found Rich's chat so agreeable, +that he was quite unconscious it was two o'clock in the afternoon; +when he observed Rich spreading a cloth, then coaxing his fire into a +clear cooking flame, and proceeding, with great gravity, to cook his +own beef-steak on his own gridiron. The steak sent up a most inviting +incense, and my Lord could not resist Rich's invitation to partake of +it. A further supply was sent for; and a bottle or two of good wine +from a neighbouring tavern prolonged their enjoyment to a late hour. +But so delighted was the old Peer with the entertainment, that, on +going away, he proposed renewing it at the same place and hour, on the +Saturday following. He was punctual to his engagement, and brought +with him three or four friends, "men of wit and pleasure about town," +as M. Bouges would call them; and so truly festive was the meeting +that it was proposed a Saturday's club should be held there, whilst +the town remained full. A sumptuary law, even at this early period of +the Society, restricted the bill of fare to beef-steaks, and the +beverage to port-wine and punch. + +However, the origin of the Society is related _with a difference_. +Edwards, in his _Anecdotes of Painting_, relates that Lambert, many +years principal scene-painter at Covent Garden Theatre, received, in +his painting-room, persons of rank and talent; where, as he could not +leave for dinner, he frequently was content with a steak, which he +himself broiled upon the fire in his room. Sometimes the visitors +partook of the hasty meal, and out of this practice grew the +Beef-steak Society, and the assembling in the painting-room. The +members were afterwards accommodated with a room in the playhouse; and +when the Theatre was rebuilt, the place of meeting was changed to the +Shakespeare Tavern, where was the portrait of Lambert, painted by +Hudson, Sir Joshua Reynolds's master. + +In the _Connoisseur_, June 6th, 1754, we read of the Society, +"composed of the most ingenious artists in the Kingdom," meeting +"every Saturday in a noble room at the top of Covent Garden Theatre," +and never suffering "any diet except Beef-steaks to appear. These, +indeed, are most glorious examples: but what, alas! are the weak +endeavours of a few to oppose the daily inroads of fricassees and +soup-maigres?" + +However, the apartments in the theatre appropriated to the Society +varied. Thus, we read of a painting-room even with the stage over the +kitchen, which was under part of the stage nearest Bow-street. At one +period, the Society dined in a small room over the passage of the +theatre. The steaks were dressed in the same room, and when they found +it too hot, a curtain was drawn between the company and the fire. + +We shall now glance at the celebrities who came to the painting-room +in the Lincoln's Inn Fields theatre, and the later locations of the +Club, in Covent Garden. To the former came Hogarth and his +father-in-law, Sir James Thornhill, stimulated by their love of the +painter's art, and the equally potent charm of conviviality. + +Churchill was introduced to the Steaks by his friend Wilkes; but his +irregularities were too much for the Society, which was by no means +particular; his desertion of his wife brought a hornets' swarm about +him, so that he soon resigned, to avoid the disgrace of expulsion. +Churchill attributed this flinging of the first stone to Lord +Sandwich; he never forgave the peccant Peer, but put him into the +pillory of his fierce satire, which has outlived most of his other +writings, and here it is: + + "From his youth upwards to the present day, + When vices more than years have made him grey; + When riotous excess with wasteful hand + Shakes life's frail glass, and hastes each ebbing sand; + Unmindful from what stock he drew his birth, + Untainted with one deed of real worth-- + Lothario, holding honour at no price, + Folly to folly, added vice to vice, + Wrought sin with greediness, and courted shame + With greater zeal than good men seek for fame." + +Churchill, in a letter to Wilkes, says, "Your friends at the +Beef-steak inquired after you last Saturday with the greatest zeal, +and it gave me no small pleasure that I was the person of whom the +inquiry was made." Charles Price was allowed to be one of the most +witty of the Society, and it is related that he and Churchill kept the +table in a roar. + +Formerly, the members wore a blue coat, with red cape and cuffs; +buttons with the initials B. S.; and behind the President's chair was +placed the Society's halbert, which, with the gridiron, was found +among the rubbish after the Covent Garden fire. + +Mr. Justice Welsh was frequently chairman at the Beef-steak dinner. +Mrs. Nollekens, his daughter, acknowledges that she often dressed a +hat for the purpose, with ribbons similar to those worn by the yeomen +of the guard. The Justice was a loyal man, but discontinued his +membership when Wilkes joined the Society; though the latter was _the_ +man at the Steaks. + +To the Steaks Wilkes sent a copy of his infamous _Essay on Women_, +first printed for private circulation; for which Lord Sandwich--Jemmy +Twitcher--himself, as we have seen, a member of the Society--moved in +the House of the Lords that Wilkes should be taken into custody; a +piece of treason as the act of one brother of the Steaks against +another, fouler than even the trick of "dirty Kidgell," the parson, +who, as a friend of the author, got a copy of the Essay from the +printer, and then felt it his duty to denounce the publication; he had +been encouraged to inform against Wilkes's Essay by the Earl of March, +afterwards Duke of Queensberry. However, Jemmy Twitcher himself was +expelled by the Steaks the same year he assailed Wilkes for the Essay; +the grossness and blasphemy of the poem disgusted the Society; and +Wilkes never dined there after 1763; yet, when he went to France, they +hypocritically made him an honorary member. + +Garrick was an honoured member of the Steaks; though he did not affect +Clubs. The Society possess a hat and sword which David wore, probably +on the night when he stayed so long with the Steaks, and had to play +Ranger, at Drury-lane. The pit grew restless, the gallery bawled +"Manager, manager!" Garrick had been sent for to Covent Garden, where +the Steaks then dined. Carriages blocked up Russell-street, and he had +to thread his way between them; as he came panting into the theatre, +"I think, David," said Ford, one of the anxious patentees, +"considering the stake you and I have in this house, you might pay +more attention to the business."--"True, my good friend," returned +Garrick, "but I was thinking of my steak in the other house." + +Many a reconciliation of parted friends has taken place at this Club. +Peake, in his _Memoirs of the Colman Family_, thus refers to a +reconciliation between Garrick and Colman the elder, through the +Sublime Society:-- + +"Whether Mr. Clutterbuck or other friends interfered to reconcile the +two dramatists, or whether the considerations of mutual interest may +not in a great measure have aided in healing the breach between Colman +and Garrick, is not precisely to be determined; but it would appear, +from the subjoined short note from Garrick, that Colman must have made +some overture to him. + +"'My dear Colman,--Becket has been with me, and tells me of your +friendly intentions towards me. I should have been beforehand with +you, had I not been ill with the beefsteaks and arrack punch last +Saturday, and was obliged to leave the play-house. + + "'He that parts us shall bring a brand from Heav'n, + And fire us hence.' + + "'Ever yours, old and new friend, + "'D. GARRICK.'" + +The beef-steaks, arrack punch, and Saturday, all savour very strongly +of a visit to the Sublime Society held at that period in Covent Garden +Theatre, where many a clever fellow has had his diaphragm disordered, +before that time and since. Whoever has had the pleasure to join +their convivial board; to witness the never-failing good-humour which +predominates there; to listen to the merry songs, and to the sparkling +repartee; and to experience the hearty welcome and marked attention +paid to visitors, could never have cause to lament, as Garrick has +done, a trifling illness the following day. There must have been +originally a wise and simple code of laws, which could have held +together a convivial meeting for so lengthened a period. + +Garrick had no slight tincture of vanity, and was fond of accusing +himself, in the Chesterfield phrase, of the cardinal virtues. Having +remarked at the Steaks that he had so large a mass of manuscript plays +submitted to him, that they were constantly liable to be mislaid, he +observed that, unpleasant as it was to reject an author's piece, it +was an affront to his feelings if it could not be instantly found; and +that for this reason he made a point of ticketing and labelling the +play that was to be returned, that it might be forthcoming at a +moment. "A fig for your hypocrisy," exclaimed Murphy across the table; +"you know, Davy, you mislaid my tragedy two months ago, and I make no +doubt you have lost it."--"Yes," replied Garrick; "but you forgot, you +ungrateful dog, that I offered you more than its value, for you might +have had two manuscript farces in its stead." This is the right +paternity of an anecdote often told of other parties. + +Jack Richards, a well-known presbyter of the Society, unless when the +"fell serjeant," the gout, had arrested him, never absented himself +from its board. He was recorder, and there is nothing in comedy equal +to his passing sentence on those who had offended against the rules +and observances of the Society. Having put on Garrick's hat, he +proceeded to inflict a long, wordy harangue upon the culprit, who +often endeavoured most unavailingly to stop him. Nor was it possible +to see when he meant to stop. But the imperturbable gravity with which +Jack performed his office, and the fruitless writhings of the luckless +being on whom the shower of his rhetoric was discharged, constituted +the amusement of the scene. There was no subject upon which Jack's +exuberance of talk failed him; yet, in that stream of talk there was +never mingled one drop of malignity, nor of unkind censure upon the +erring or unhappy. He would as soon adulterate his glass of port-wine +with water, as dash that honest though incessant prattle with one +malevolent or ungenerous remark. + +William Linley, the brother of Mrs. Sheridan, charmed the Society with +his pure, simple English song: in a melody of Arne's, or of Jackson's +of Exeter, or a simple air of his father's, he excelled to +admiration,--faithful to the characteristic chastity of the style of +singing peculiar to the Linley family. Linley had not what is called a +fine voice, and port-wine and late nights did not improve his organ; +but you forgot the deficiencies of his power, in the spirit and taste +of his manner. He wrote a novel in three volumes, which was so +schooled by the Steaks that he wrote no more: when the agony of +wounded authorship was over, he used to exclaim to his tormentors:-- + + "This is no flattery; these are the counsellors + That feelingly persuade me what I am." + +His merciless Zoilus brought a volume of the work in his pocket, and +read a passage of it aloud. Yet, Linley never betrayed the irritable +sulkiness of a roasted author, but took the pleasantries that played +around him with imperturbable good-humour: he laughed heartily at his +own platitudes, and thus the very martyr of the joke became its +auxiliary. Linley is said to have furnished Moore, for his _Life of +Sheridan_, with the common-place books in which his brother-in-law was +wont to deposit his dramatic sketches, and to bottle up the jokes he +had collected for future use; but many pleasantries of Sheridan were +deeply engraved on his recollection because they had been practised +upon himself, or upon his brother Hozy (as Sheridan called him), who +was an unfailing butt, when he was disposed to amuse himself with a +practical jest. + +Another excellent brother was Dick Wilson, whose volcanic complexion +had for many years been assuming deeper and deeper tints of carnation +over the port-wine of the Society. Dick was a wealthy solicitor, and +many years Lord Eldon's "port-wine-loving secretary." His fortunes +were very singular. He was first steward and solicitor, and afterwards +residuary legatee, of Lord Chedworth. He is said to have owed the +favour of this eccentric nobleman to the legal acumen he displayed at +a Richmond water-party. A pleasant lawn, under a spreading beech-tree +in one of Mr. Cambridge's meadows, was selected for the dinner; but on +pulling to the shore, behold a board in the tree proclaiming, "All +persons landing and dining here will be prosecuted according to law." +Dick Wilson contended that the prohibition clearly applied only to the +joint act of "landing and dining" at the particular spot. If the party +landed a few yards lower down, and then dined under the tree, only one +member of the condition would be broken; which would be no legal +infringement, as the prohibition--being of two acts, linked by a +copulative--was not severable. This astute argument carried the day. +The party dined under Mr. Cambridge's beech-tree, and, it is presumed, +were not "prosecuted according to law." At all events, Lord Chedworth, +who was one of the diners, was so charmed with Dick's ready +application of his law to practice, that he committed to him the +management of his large and accumulating property. + +Dick stood the fire of the Steaks with good humour; but he was +sometimes unmercifully roasted. He had just returned from Paris, when +Arnold, with great dexterity, drew him into some Parisian details, +with great glee; for Dick was entirely innocent of the French +language. Thus, in enumerating the dishes at a French table, he +thought the _boulevards_ delicious; when Cobbe called out, "Dick, it +was well they did not serve you at the Palais Royal for sauce to your +_boulevards_." The _riz de veau_ he called a _rendezvous_; and he +could not bear partridges served up _in shoes_; and once, intending to +ask for a pheasant, he desired the waiter to bring him a _paysanne_! +Yet, Dick was shrewd: calling one day upon Cobbe at the India House, +Dick was left to himself for a few minutes, when he was found by +Cobbe, on his return, exploring a map of Asia suspended on the wall: +he was measuring the scale of it with compasses, and then applying +them to a large tiger, which the artist had introduced as one of the +animals of the country. "By heavens, Cobbe," exclaimed Dick, "I should +never have believed it! Surely, it must be a mistake. Observe +now--here," pointing to the tiger, "here is a tiger that measures +two-and-twenty leagues. By heavens, it is scarcely credible." + +Another of the noteworthy Steaks was "Old Walsh," commonly called +"the Gentle Shepherd:" he began life as a servant of the celebrated +Lord Chesterfield, and accompanied his natural son, Philip Stanhope, +on the grand tour, as valet: after this he was made a Queen's +messenger, and subsequently a Commissioner of Customs; he was a +good-natured butt for the Society's jokes. Rowland Stephenson, the +banker, was another Beef-Steaker, then respected for his clear head +and warm heart, years before he became branded as a forger. At the +same table was a capitalist of very high character--William Joseph +Denison, who sat many years in Parliament for Surrey, and died a +_millionnaire_: he was a man of cultivated tastes, and long enjoyed +the circle of the Steaks. + +We have seen how the corner-stone of the sublime Society was laid. The +gridiron upon which Rich had broiled his solitary steak, being +insufficient in a short time for the supernumerary guests, the +gridiron was enshrined as one of the tutelary and household emblems of +the Club. Fortunately, it escaped the fire which consumed Covent +Garden Theatre in 1808, when the valuable stock of wine of the Club +shared the fate of the building; but _the gridiron was saved_. "In +that fire, alas!" says the author of _The Clubs of London_, "perished +the original archives of the Society. The lovers of wit and pleasantry +have much to deplore in that loss, inasmuch as not only the names of +many of the early members are irretrievably gone, but what is more to +be regretted, some of their happiest effusions; for it was then +customary to register in the weekly records anything of striking +excellence that had been hit off in the course of the evening. This, +however, is certain, that the Beaf-steaks, from its foundation to the +present hour, has been-- + + "'native to famous wits + Or hospitable.' + +That, as guests or members, persons distinguished for rank, and social +and convivial powers, have, through successive generations, been +seated at its festive board--Bubb Dodington, Aaron Hill; Hoadley, +author of _The Suspicious Husband_, and Leonidas Glover, are only a +few names snatched from its early list. Sir Peere Williams, a +gentleman of high birth and fashion, who had already shone in +Parliament, was of the Club. Then came the days of Lord Sandwich, +Wilkes, Bonnell Thornton, Arthur Murphy, Churchill, and Tickell. This +is generally quoted as the golden period of the Society." Then there +were the Colmans and Garrick; and John Beard, the singer, was +president of the Club in 1784. + +The number of the Steaks was increased from twenty-four to +twenty-five, in 1785, to admit the Prince of Wales, an event of +sufficient moment to find record in the _Annual Register_ of the year: +"On Saturday, the 14th of May, the Prince of Wales was admitted a +member of the Beaf-steak Club. His Royal Highness having signified his +wish of belonging to that Society, and there not being a vacancy, it +was proposed to make him an honorary member; but that being declined +by His Royal Highness, it was agreed to increase the number from +twenty-four to twenty-five, in consequence of which His Royal Highness +was unanimously elected. The Beaf-steak Club has been instituted just +fifty years, and consists of some of the most classical and sprightly +wits in the Kingdom." It is curious to find the Society here termed a +Club, contrary to its desire, for it stickled much for the +distinction. + +Arthur Murphy, the dramatist, John Kemble, the Dukes of Clarence and +of Sussex, were also of the Steaks: these princes were both attached +to the theatre; the latter to one of its brightest ornaments, Dorothy +Jordan. + +Charles, Duke of Norfolk, was another celebrity of the Steaks, and +frequently met here the Prince of Wales. The Duke was a great +gourmand, and, it is said, used to eat his dish of fish at a +neighbouring tavern--the Piazza, or the Grand--and then join the +Steaks. His _fidus Achates_ was Charles Morris, the laureate-lyrist of +the Steaks. Their attachment was unswerving, notwithstanding it has +been impeached. The poet kept better hours than his ducal friend: one +evening, Morris having left the dinner-table early, a friend gave some +significant hints as to the improvement of Morris's fortunes: the Duke +grew generous over his wine, and promised; the performance came, and +Morris lived to the age of ninety-three, to enjoy the realization. + +The Duke took the chair when the cloth was removed. It was a place of +dignity, elevated some steps above the table, and decorated with the +insignia of the Society, amongst which was suspended Garrick's +_Ranger_ hat. As the clock struck five, a curtain drew up, discovering +the kitchen, in which the cooks were seen at work, through a sort of +grating, with this inscription from Macbeth:-- + + "If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well + It were done quickly." + +The steaks themselves were in the finest order, and in devouring them +no one surpassed His Grace of Norfolk: two or three steaks, fragrant +from the gridiron, vanished, and when his labours were thought to be +over, he might be seen rubbing a clean plate with a shalot for the +reception of another. A pause of ten minutes ensued, and His Grace +rested upon his knife and fork: he was tarrying for a steak from the +middle of the rump of beef, where lurks a fifth essence, the perfect +ideal of tenderness and flavour. The Duke was an enormous eater. He +would often eat between three and four pounds of beaf-steak; and after +that take a Spanish onion and beet-root, chop them together with oil +and vinegar, and eat them. After dinner, the Duke was ceremoniously +ushered to the chair, and invested with an orange-coloured ribbon, to +which a small silver gridiron[12] was appended. In the chair he +comported himself with urbanity and good humour. Usually, the +President was the target, at which all the jests and witticisms were +fired, but moderately; for though a characteristic equality reigned at +the Steaks, the influences of rank and station were felt there, and +courtesy stole insensibly upon those who at other times were merciless +assailants on the chair. The Duke's conversation abounded with +anecdote, terseness of phrase, and evidence of extensive reading, +which were rarely impaired by the sturdy port-wine of the Society. +Charles Morris, the Bard of the Club, sang one or two of his own +songs, the quintessence of convivial mirth and fancy; at nine o'clock +the Duke quitted the chair, and was succeeded by Sir John Hippisley, +who had a terrible time of it: a storm of "arrowy sleet and iron +shower" whistled from all points in his ears: all rules of civilized +warfare seemed suspended, and even the new members tried their first +timid essays upon the Baronet, than whom no man was more prompt to +attack others. He quitted the Society in consequence of an odd +adventure which really happened to him, and which, being related with +malicious fidelity by one of the Steaks, raised such a shout of +laughter at the Baronet's expense that he could no longer bear it. +Here is the story. + +Sir John was an intelligent man; Windham used to say of him that he +was very near being a clever man. He was a sort of busy idler; and his +ruling passion was that of visiting remarkable criminals in prison, +and obtaining their histories from their own lips. A murder had been +committed, by one Patch, upon a Mr. Bligh, at Deptford; the evidence +was circumstantial, but the inference of his guilt was almost +irresistible; still many well-disposed persons doubted the man's +guilt, and amongst them was Sir John, who thought the anxiety could +only be relieved by Patch's confession. For this end, Sir John +importuned the poor wretch incessantly, but in vain. Patch persisted +in asserting his innocence, till, wearied with Hippisley's +applications, he assured the Baronet that he would reveal to him, on +the scaffold, all that he knew of Mr. Bligh's death. Flattered with +being made the depository of this mysterious communication, Sir John +mounted the scaffold with Patch, and was seen for some minutes in +close conference with him. It happened that a simple old woman from +the country was in the crowd at the execution. Her eyes, intent upon +the awful scene, were fixed, by an accidental misdirection, upon Sir +John, whom she mistook for the person who was about to be executed; +and not waiting till the criminal was actually turned off, she went +away with the wrong impression; the peculiar face, and above all, the +peculiar nose (a most miraculous organ), of Hippisley, being indelibly +impressed upon her memory. Not many days after, the old lady met Sir +John in Cheapside; the certainty that he was Patch, seized her so +forcibly that she screamed out to the passing crowd, "It's Patch, it's +Patch; I saw him hanged; Heaven deliver me!"--and then fainted. When +this incident was first related at the Steaks, a mock inquest was set +on foot, to decide whether Sir John was Patch or not, and unanimously +decided in the affirmative. + +Cobb, Secretary of the East India Company, was another choice spirit +at the Steaks: once, when he filled the vice-chair, he so worried the +poor president, an Alderman, that he exclaimed, "Would to Heaven, I +had another vice-president, so that I had a _gentleman_ opposite to +me!"--"Why should you wish any such thing?" rejoined Cobb; "you cannot +be more opposite to a gentleman than you are at present." + +After the fire at Covent Garden, the Sublime Society were +re-established at the Bedford, where they met until Mr. Arnold had +fitted up apartments for their reception in the English Opera House. +The Steaks continued to meet here until the destruction of the Theatre +by fire, in 1830; after which they returned to the Bedford; and, upon +the re-building of the Lyceum Theatre, a dining-room was again +provided for them. "The room they dine in," says Mr. Cunningham, "a +little Escurial in itself, is most appropriately fitted up--the doors, +wainscoting, and roof, of good old English oak, ornamented with +gridirons as thick as Henry the Seventh's Chapel with the portcullis +of the founder. Everything assumes the shape, or is distinguished by +the representation, of their emblematic implement, the gridiron. The +cook is seen at his office through the bars of a spacious gridiron, +and the original gridiron of the Society, (the survivor of two +terrific fires) holds a conspicuous position in the centre of the +ceiling. Every member has the power of inviting a friend." The +portraits of several worthies of the Sublime Society were painted: one +brother "hangs in chain," as Arnold remarked in alluding to the civic +chain in which he is represented; it was in allusion to the toga in +which he is painted, that Brougham, being asked whether he thought it +a likeness, remarked that it could not fail of being like him, "there +was so much of the _fur_ (thief) about it." + +The author of the _Clubs of London_, who was a member of the Sublime +Society, describes a right in favouring them, "a brotherhood, a +sentiment of equality. How you would laugh to see the junior member +emerging from the cellar, with half-a-dozen bottles in a basket! I +have seen Brougham employed in this honourable diplomacy, and +executing it with the correctness of a butler. The Duke of Leinster, +in his turn, took the same duty. + +"With regard to Brougham, at first sight you would not set him down as +having a natural and prompt alacrity for the style of humour that +prevails amongst us. But Brougham is an excellent member, and is a +remarkable instance of the peculiar influences of this peculiar +Society on the human character. We took him just as the schools of +philosophy, the bar, the senate, had made him. Literary, forensic, and +parliamentary habits are most intractable materials, you will say, to +make a member of the Steaks, yet no man has imbibed more of its +spirit, and he enters its occasional gladiatorship with the greatest +glee." + +Admirable were the offhand puns and passes, which, though of a legal +character, were played off by Bolland, another member of the Society. +Brougham was putting hypothetically the case of a man convicted of +felony, and duly hanged according to law; but restored to life by +medical appliances; and asked what would be the man's defence if again +brought to trial. "Why," returned Bolland, "it would be for him to +plead _a cord_ and satisfaction." ["Accord and satisfaction" is a +common plea in legal practice.] The same evening were talked over Dean +Swift's ingenious but grotesque puns upon the names of antiquity, such +as Ajax, Archimedes, and others equally well known. Bolland remarked +that when Swift was looking out for those humorous quibbles, it was +singular that it should never have occurred to him that among the +shades that accost Æneas in the sixth book of the Æneid, there was a +Scotchman of the name of Hugh Forbes. Those who had read Virgil began +to stare. "It is quite plain," said Bolland: "the ghost exclaims, +'Olim Euphorbus eram.'" + +The following are the first twenty-four names of the Club, copied from +their book:--[13] + + George Lambert. + John Boson. + William Hogarth. + Henry Smart. + John Rich. + John Huggins. + Lacy Ryan. + Hugh Watson. + Ebenezer Forrest. + William Huggins. + Robert Scott. + Edmund Tuffnell. + Thomas Chapman. + Thomas Salway. + Dennis Delane. + Charles Neale. + John Thornhill. + Charles Latrobe. + Francis Niveton. + Alexander Gordon. + Sir William Saunderson. + William Tathall. + Richard Mitchell. + Gabriel Hunt. + +The following were subsequent members:-- + + Francis Hayman. + Mr. Beard. + Theo. Cibber. + Mr. Wilkes. + Mr. Saunders Welsh. + Thomas Hudson. + John Churchill. + Mr. Williamson. + Lord Sandwich. + Prince of Wales. + Mr. Havard. + Chas. Price. + +In 1805 the members were-- + + Sir J. Boyd. + Estcourt. + J. Travanion, jun. + Earl of Suffolk. + Crossdill. + J. Kemble, expelled for his mode of conduct. + Prince of Wales. + Charles Howard, Duke of Norfolk. + Mingay. + Johnson. + Scudamore. + Haworth. + +November 6th, 1814:-- + + Stephenson. + Cobb. + Richards. + Sir J. Scott, Bart. + Foley. + Arnold. + Braddyll. + Nettleshipp. + Middleton. + Denison. + Johnson. + Scudamore. + Nixon. + T. Scott. + Wilson. + Ellis. + Walsh. + Linley. + Duke of Norfolk. + Mayo. + Duke of Sussex. + Morrice. + Bolland. + Lord Grantley. + Peter Moore. + Dunn, Treasurer of Drury Lane Theatre. + +When the Club dined at the Shakspeare, in the room with the Lion's +head over the mantelpiece, these popular actors were members:-- + + Lewis. + Irish Johnson. + Munden. + Fawcett. + Pope. + Holman. + Simmonds. + +Formerly, the table-cloths had gridirons in damask on them; their +drinking-glasses bore gridirons; as did the plates also. Among the +presents made to the Society are a punch-ladle, from Barrington +Bradshaw; Sir John Boyd, six spoons; mustard pot, by John Trevanion, +M.P.; two dozen water-plates and eight dishes, given by the Duke of +Sussex; cruet-stand, given by W. Bolland; vinegar-glasses, by Thomas +Scott. Lord Suffolk gave a silver cheese-toaster; toasted or stewed +cheese being the wind-up of the dinner. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[12] At the sale of the curiosities belonging to Mr. Harley, the +comedian, at Gower-street, in November, 1858, a silver gridiron, worn +by a member of the Steaks, was sold for 1_l._ 3_s._ + +[13] This and the subsequent lists have been printed by Mr. John +Green. + + + + +CAPTAIN MORRIS, + +THE BARD OF THE BEEF-STEAK SOCIETY. + + +Hitherto we have mentioned but incidentally Charles Morris, the Nestor +and the laureate of the Steaks; but he merits fuller record. "Alas! +poor Yorick! we knew him well;" we remember his "political vest," to +which he addressed a sweet lyric--"The Old Whig Poet to his Old Buff +Waistcoat."[14] Nor can we forget his courteous manner and his +gentlemanly pleasantry, and his unflagging cheerfulness, long after he +had retired to enjoy the delights of rural life, despite the early +prayer of his racy verse:-- + + "In town let me live then, in town let me die; + For in truth I can't relish the country, not I. + If one must have a villa in summer to dwell, + Oh! give me the sweet shady side of Pall Mall." + + +This "sweet shady side" has almost disappeared; and of the palace +whereat he was wont to shine, not a trace remains, save the name. +Charles Morris was born of good family, in 1745, and appears to have +inherited a taste for lyric composition; for his father composed the +popular song of _Kitty Crowder_. For half a century, Morris moved in +the first circles of rank and gaiety: he was the "Sun of the table," +at Carlton House, as well as at Norfolk House; and attaching himself +politically as well as convivially to his table companions, he +composed the celebrated ballads of "Billy's too young to drive us," +and "Billy Pitt and the Farmer," which were clever satires upon the +ascendant politics of their day. His humorous ridicule of the Tories +was, however, but ill repaid by the Whigs; at least, if we may trust +the Ode to the Buff Waistcoat, written in 1815. His 'Songs Political +and Convivial,' many of which were sung at the Steaks' board, became +very popular. In 1830, we possessed a copy of the 24th edition, with a +portrait of the author, half-masked; one of the ditties was described +to have been "sung by the Prince of Wales to a certain lady," to the +air of "There's a difference between a Beggar and a Queen;" some of +the early songs were condemned for their pruriency, and were omitted +in subsequent editions. His best Anacreontic is the song _Ad Poculum_, +for which Morris received the Gold Cup from the Harmonic Society: + + "Come, thou soul-reviving cup; + Try thy healing art; + Stir the fancy's visions up, + And warm my wasted heart. + Touch with freshening tints of bliss + Memory's fading dream. + Give me, while thy lip I kiss, + The heaven that's in thy stream. + + As the witching fires of wine + Pierce through Time's past reign, + Gleams of joy that once were mine, + Glimpse back on life again. + And if boding terrors rise + O'er my melting mind, + Hope still starts to clear my eyes, + And drinks the tear behind. + + Then life's wintry shades new drest, + Fair as summer seem; + Flowers I gather from my breast, + And sunshine from the stream. + As the cheering goblets pass, + Memory culls her store; + Scatters sweets around my glass, + And prompts my thirst for more. + + Far from toils the great and grave + To proud ambition give, + My little world kind Nature gave, + And simply bade me live. + On me she fix'd an humble art, + To deck the Muse's groves, + And on the nerve that twines my heart + The touch of deathless love. + + Then, rosy god, this night let me + Thy cheering magic share; + Again let hope-fed Fancy see + Life's picture bright and fair. + Oh! steal from care my heart away, + To sip thy healing spring; + And let me taste that bliss to-day + To-morrow may not bring." + +The friendship of the Duke of Norfolk and Charles Morris extended far +beyond the Steaks meetings; and the author of the _Clubs of London_ +tells us by what means the Duke's regard took a more permanent form. +It appears that John Kemble had sat very late at one of the night +potations at Norfolk House. Charles Morris had just retired, and a +very small party remained in the dining-room, when His Grace of +Norfolk began to deplore, somewhat pathetically, the smallness of the +stipend upon which poor Charles was obliged to support his family; +observing, that it was a discredit to the age, that a man, who had so +long gladdened the lives of so many titled and opulent associates, +should be left to struggle with the difficulties of an inadequate +income at a time of life when he had no reasonable hope of augmenting +it. Kemble listened with great attention to the Duke's _jeremiade_; +but after a slight pause, his feelings getting the better of his +deference, he broke out thus, in a tone of peculiar emphasis:--"And +does your Grace sincerely lament the destitute condition of your +friend, with whom you have passed so many agreeable hours? Your Grace +has described that condition most feelingly. But is it possible, that +the greatest Peer of the realm, luxuriating amidst the prodigalities +of fortune, should lament the distress which he does not relieve? the +empty phrase of benevolence--the mere breath and vapour of generous +sentiment, become no man; they certainly are unworthy of your Grace. +Providence, my Lord Duke, has placed you in a station where the wish +to do good and the doing it are the same thing. An annuity from your +overflowing coffers, or a small nook of land, clipped from your +unbounded domains, would scarcely be felt by your Grace; but you would +be repaid, my Lord, with usury;--with tears of grateful joy; with +prayers warm from a bosom which your bounty will have rendered happy." + +Such was the substance of Kemble's harangue. Jack Bannister used to +relate the incident, by ingeniously putting the speech into blank +verse, or rather the species of prose into which Kemble's phraseology +naturally fell when he was highly animated. But, however expressed, it +produced its effect. For though the Duke (the night was pretty far +gone, and several bottles had been emptied) said nothing at the time, +but stared with some astonishment at so unexpected a lecture; not a +month elapsed before Charles Morris was invested with a beautiful +retreat at Brockham, in Surrey, upon the bank of the river Mole, and +at the foot of the noble range of which Box Hill forms the most +picturesque point. + +The Duke went to his rest in 1815. Morris continued to be the laureate +of the Steaks until the year 1831, when he thus bade adieu to the +Society in his eighty-sixth year:-- + + "Adieu to the world! where I gratefully own, + Few men more delight or more comfort have known: + To an age far beyond mortal lot have I trod + The path of pure health, that best blessing of God; + And so mildly devout Nature temper'd my frame, + Holy patience still sooth'd when Adversity came; + Thus with mind ever cheerful, and tongue never tired, + I sung the gay strains these sweet blessings inspired; + And by blending light mirth with a moral-mix'd stave, + Won the smile of the gay and the nod of the grave. + But at length the dull languor of mortal decay + Throws a weight on its spirit too light for its clay; + And the fancy, subdued, as the body's opprest, + Resigns the faint flights that scarce wake in the breast. + A painful memento that man's not to play + A game of light folly through Life's sober day; + A just admonition, though view'd with regret, + Still blessedly offer'd, though thanklessly met. + Too long, I perhaps, like the many who stray, + Have upheld the gay themes of the Bacchanal's day; + But at length Time has brought, what it ever will bring, + A shade that excites more to sigh than to sing. + In this close of Life's chapter, ye high-favour'd few, + Take my Muse's last tribute--this painful adieu! + Take my wish, that your bright social circle on earth + For ever may flourish in concord and mirth; + For the long years of joy I have shared at your board, + Take the thanks of my heart--where they long have been stored; + And remember, when Time tolls my last passing knell, + The 'old bard' dropp'd a tear, and then bade ye--Farewell!" + +In 1835, however, Morris revisited the Society, who then presented him +with a large silver bowl, appropriately inscribed, as a testimonial of +their affectionate esteem; and the venerable bard thus addressed the +brotherhood:-- + + "Well, I'm come, my dear friends, your kind wish to obey, + And drive, by light mirth, all Life's shadows away; + And turn the heart's sighs to the throbbings of joy, + And a grave aged man to a merry old boy. + 'Tis a bold transformation, a daring design, + And not past the power of Friendship and Wine; + And I trust that e'en yet this warm mixture will raise + A brisk spark of light o'er the shade of my days." + +Shortly after this effusion, he thus alluded to the treasured gift of +the Society:-- + + "When my spirits are low, for relief and delight, + I still place your splendid Memorial in sight; + And call to my Muse, when care strives to pursue, + 'Bring the Steaks to my Memory and the Bowl to my view.' + When brought, at its sight all the _blue devils_ fly, + And a world of gay visions rise bright to my eye; + Cold Fear shuns the cup where warm Memory flows; + And Grief, shamed by Joy, hides his budget of Woes. + 'Tis a pure holy fount, where for ever I find + A sure double charm for the Body and Mind; + For I feel while I'm cheer'd by the drop that I lift, + I'm Blest by the Motive that hallows the Gift." + +How nicely tempered is this chorus to our Bard's "Life's a Fable:"-- + + "Then roll along, my lyric song; + It seasons well the table, + And tells a truth to Age and Youth, + That Life's a fleeting fable. + + * * * * * + + Thus Mirth and Woe the brighter show + From rosy wine's reflection; + From first to last, this truth hath past-- + 'Twas made for Care's correction. + Now what those think who water drink, + Of these old rules of Horace, + I sha'n't now show; but this I know, + His rules do well for _Morris_. + Old Horace, when he dipp'd his pen, + 'Twas wine he had resort to; + He chose for use Falernian juice, + As I choose old Oporto; + At every bout an ode came out, + Yet Bacchus kept him twinkling; + As well aware more fire was there, + Which wanted but the sprinkling." + + * * * * * + + +At Brockham, Morris "drank the pure pleasures of the rural life" long +after many a gay light of his own time had flickered out, and become +almost forgotten. At length, his course ebbed away, July 11, 1838, in +his ninety-third year; his illness, which was only of four days, was +internal inflammation. The attainment of so great an age, and the +recollection of Morris's associations, show him to have presented a +rare combination of mirth and prudence. He retained his _gaîté de +coeur_ to the last; so that with equal truth he remonstrated: + + "When Life charms my heart, must I kindly be told, + I'm too gay and too happy for one that's so old?" + +The venerable Bard's remains rest near the east end of his parish +church of Betchworth, in the burial-ground: the grave is simply marked +by a head and foot-stone, with an inscription of three or four lines: +he who had sung the praises of so many choice spirits, has not here a +stanza to his own memory: such is, to some extent, the natural +_sequitur_ with men who outlive their companions. Morris was staid and +grave in his general deportment. Moore, in his _Diary_, has this odd +note: "Linley describes Colman at the Beefsteak Club quite drunk, +making extraordinary noise while Captain Morris was singing, which +disconcerted the latter (who, strange to say, is a very grave, steady +person) considerably." Yet, Morris could unbend, with great simplicity +and feeling. We have often met him, in his patriarchal "blue and buff" +(blue coat and buff waistcoat), in his walks about the lovely country +in which he resided. Coming, one day, into the bookseller's shop, at +Dorking, there chanced to be deposited a pianoforte; when the old Bard +having looked around him, to see there were no strangers present, sat +down to the instrument, and played and sang with much spirit the air +of "The girl I left behind me:" yet he was then past his eightieth +year. + +Morris's ancient and rightful office at the Steaks was to _make the +punch_, and it was amusing to see him at his laboratory at the +sideboard, stocked with the various products that enter into the +composition of that nectareous mixture: then smacking an elementary +glass or two, and giving a significant nod, the fiat of its +excellence; and what could exceed the ecstasy with which he filled the +glasses that thronged around the bowl; joying over its mantling +beauties, and distributing the fascinating draught + + "That flames and dances in its crystal bound"? + +"Well has our laureate earned his wreath," (says the author of _The +Clubs of London_, who was often a participator in these delights). "At +that table his best songs have been sung; for that table his best +songs were written. His allegiance has been undivided. Neither hail, +nor shower, nor snowstorm have kept him away: no engagement, no +invitation seduced him from it. I have seen him there, 'outwatching +the bear,' in his seventy-eighth year; for as yet nature had given no +signal of decay in frame or faculty; but you saw him in a green and +vigorous old age, tripping mirthfully along the downhill of existence, +without languor, or gout, or any of the privileges exacted by time for +the mournful privilege of living. His face is still resplendent with +cheerfulness. 'Die when you will, Charles,' said Curran to him, 'you +will die in your youth.'" + +FOOTNOTES: + +[14] See Century of Anecdote, vol. i. p. 321. + + + + +BEEF-STEAK CLUBS. + + +There are other Beef-steak Clubs to be chronicled. Pyne, in his _Wine +and Walnuts_, says: "At the same time the social Club flourished in +England, and about the year 1749, a Beef-steak Club was established at +the Theatre Royal, Dublin, of which the celebrated Mrs. Margaret +Woffington was president. It was begun by Mr. Sheridan, but on a very +different plan to that in London, no theatrical performer, save one +_female_, being admitted; and though called a Club, the manager alone +bore all the expenses. The plan was, by making a list of about fifty +or sixty persons, chiefly noblemen and members of Parliament, who were +invited. Usually about half that number attended, and dined in the +manager's apartment in the theatre. There was no female admitted but +this _Peg Woffington_, so denominated by all her contemporaries, who +was seated in a great chair at the head of the table, and elected +president for the season. + +"'It will readily be believed,' says Mr. Victor, in his _History of +the Theatres_, who was joint proprietor of the house, 'that a club +where there were good accommodations, such a _lovely president_, full +of wit and spirit, and _nothing to pay_, must soon grow remarkably +fashionable.' It did so; but we find it subsequently caused the +theatre to be pulled to pieces about the manager's head. + +"Mr. Victor says of Mrs. Margaret, 'she possessed captivating charms +as a jovial, witty bottle companion, but few remaining as a mere +female,' We have Dr. Johnson's testimony, however, who had often +gossiped with Mrs. Margaret in the green-room at old Drury, more in +the lady's favour. + +"This author (Victor) says, speaking of the Beef-steak Club, 'It was a +club of ancient institution in every theatre; when the principal +performers dined one day in the week together (generally Saturday), +and authors and other geniuses were admitted members.'" + +The Club in Ivy-lane, of which Dr. Johnson was a member, was +originally a Beef-steak Club. + +There was also a political Club, called "the Rump Steak, or Liberty +Club," in existence in 1733-4. The members were in eager opposition to +Sir Robert Walpole. + +At the Bell Tavern, Church-row, Houndsditch, was held the Beef-steak +Club, instituted by Mr. Beard, Mr. Dunstall, Mr. Woodward, Stoppalear, +Bencroft, Gifford, etc.--_See Memoirs of Charles Lee Lewis_, vol. ii. +p. 196. + + + + +CLUB AT TOM'S COFFEE-HOUSE. + + +Covent-Garden has lost many of its houses "studded with anecdote and +history;" and the mutations among what Mr. Thackeray affectionately +called its "rich cluster of brown taverns" are sundry and manifest. +Its coffee-houses proper have almost disappeared, even in name. Yet, in +the last century, in one short street of Covent-Garden--Russell-street-- +flourished three of the most celebrated coffee-houses in the +metropolis: Will's, Button's, and Tom's. The reader need not be +reminded of Will's, with Dryden, the _Tatler_ and _Spectator_, and its +wits' room on the first floor; or Button's, with its lion's head +letter-box, and the young poets in the back room. Tom's, No. 17, on +the north side of Russell-street, and of somewhat later date, was +taken down in 1865. The premises remained with little alteration, long +after they ceased to be a coffee-house. It was named after its +original proprietor, Thomas West, who, Nov. 26, 1722, threw himself, +in a delirium, from the second-floor window into the street, and died +immediately (_Historical Register_ for 1722). The upper portion of the +premises was the coffee-house, under which lived T. Lewis, the +bookseller, the original publisher, in 1711, of Pope's _Essay on +Criticism_. The usual frequenters upstairs may be judged of by the +following passage in the _Journey through England_, first edit., +1714:--"After the play, the best company generally go to Tom's and +Will's coffee-houses, near adjoining, where there is playing at piquet +and the best conversation till midnight. Here you will see blue and +green ribbons, with stars, sitting familiarly and talking with the +same freedom as if they had left their quality and degrees of distance +at home; and a stranger tastes with pleasure the universal liberty of +speech of the English nation. And in all the coffee-houses you have +not only the foreign prints, but several English ones, with the +foreign occurrences, besides papers of morality and party disputes." +Such were the Augustan delights of a memorable coffee-house of the +reign of Queen Anne. Of this period is a recollection of Mr. Grignon, +sen., having seen the "balcony of Tom's crowded with noblemen in their +stars and garters, drinking their tea and coffee exposed to the +people." We find an entry in Walpole's _Letters_, 1745:--"A +gentleman, I don't know who, the other night at Tom's coffee-house, +said, on Lord Baltimore refusing to come into the Admiralty because +Lord Vere Beauclerk had the precedence, 'it put him in mind of +Pinkethman's petition in the _Spectator_, where he complains that +formerly he used to act second chair in "Diocletian," but now he was +reduced to dance fifth flower-pot.'" + +In 1764 there appears to have been formed here, by a guinea +subscription, a Club of nearly 700 members--the nobility, foreign +ministers, gentry, and men of genius of the age; the large front room +on the first floor being the card-room. The Club flourished, so that +in 1768, "having considerably enlarged itself of late," Thomas Haines, +the then proprietor, took in the front room of the next house westward +as a coffee-room. The front room of No. 17 was then appropriated +exclusively as a card-room for the subscription club, each member +paying one guinea annually; the adjoining apartment being used as a +conversation-room. The subscription-books are before us, and here we +find in the long list the names of Sir Thomas Robinson, Bart., who was +designated "Long Sir Thomas Robinson," to distinguish him from his +namesake, Sir Thomas Robinson, created Lord Grantham in 1761. "Long +Tom," as the former was familiarly called, was a Commissioner of +Excise and Governor of Barbadoes. He was a sad bore, especially to the +Duke of Newcastle, the minister, who resided in Lincoln's Inn Fields. +However, he gave rise to some smart things. Lord Chesterfield being +asked by the latter Baronet to write some verses upon him, immediately +produced this epigram:-- + + "Unlike my subject now shall be my song, + It shall be witty, and it shan't be long." + +Long Sir Thomas distinguished himself in this odd manner. When our +Sovereign had not dropped the folly of calling himself "King of +France," and it was customary at the Coronation of an English +Sovereign to have fictitious Dukes of Aquitaine and Normandy to +represent the vassalage of France, Sir Thomas was selected to fill the +second mock dignity at the coronation of George III., to which +Churchill alludes in his _Ghost_; but he assigns a wrong dukedom to +Sir Thomas: + + "Could Satire not (though doubtful since + Whether he plumber is or prince) + Tell of a simple Knight's advance, + To be a doughty peer of France? + Tell how he did a dukedom gain, + And Robinson was Aquitain." + +Of the two Sir Thomas Robinsons, one was tall and thin, the other +short and fat: "I can't imagine," said Lady Townshend, "why the one +should be preferred to the other; I see but little difference between +them: the one is as broad as the other is long." + +Next on the books is Samuel Foote, who, after the decline of Tom's, +was mostly to be seen at the Bedford. Then comes Arthur Murphy, lately +called to the Bar; David Garrick, who then lived in Southampton-street, +(though he was not a clubbable man); John Beard, the fine tenor +singer; John Webb; Sir Richard Glynne; Robert Gosling, the banker; +Colonel Eyre, of Marylebone; Earl Percy; Sir John Fielding, the +justice; Paul Methuen, of Corsham; Richard Clive; the great Lord +Clive; the eccentric Duke of Montagu; Sir Fletcher Norton, the +ill-mannered; Lord Edward Bentinck; Dr. Samuel Johnson; the +celebrated Marquis of Granby; Sir F. B. Delaval, the friend of Foote; +William Tooke, the solicitor; the Hon. Charles Howard, sen.; the Duke +of Northumberland; Sir Francis Gosling; the Earl of Anglesey; Sir +George Brydges Rodney (afterwards Lord Rodney); Peter Burrell; Walpole +Eyre; Lewis Mendez; Dr. Swinney; Stephen Lushington; John Gunning; +Henry Brougham, father of Lord Brougham; Dr. Macnamara; Sir John +Trevelyan; Captain Donellan; Sir W. Wolseley; Walter Chetwynd; +Viscount Gage, etc.;--Thomas Payne, Esq., of Leicester House; Dr. +Schomberg, of Pall-Mall; George Colman, the dramatist, then living in +Great Queen Street; Dr. Dodd, in Southampton-row; James Payne, the +architect, Salisbury-street, which he rebuilt; William Bowyer, the +printer, Bloomsbury-square; Count Bruhl, the Polish Minister; Dr. +Goldsmith, Temple (1773), etc. Many a noted name in the list of 700 is +very suggestive of the gay society of the period. Among the Club +musters, Samuel Foote, Sir Thomas Robinson, and Dr. Dodd are very +frequent: indeed, Sir Thomas seems to have been something like a +proposer-general. + +Tom's appears to have been a general coffee-house; for in the parish +books of St. Paul's, Covent Garden, is the entry:-- + + £. s. d. + + 46 Dishes of chocolate 1 3 0 + 34 Jelleys 0 17 0 + Biscuits 0 2 3 + +Mr. Haines, the landlord, was succeeded by his son. Thomas, whose +daughter is living, at the age of eighty-four, and possesses a +portrait, by Dance, of the elder Haines, who, from his polite address, +was called among the Club "Lord Chesterfield." The above lady has +also a portrait, in oil, of the younger Haines, by Grignon. + +The coffee-house business closed in 1814, about which time the +premises were first occupied by Mr. William Till, the numismatist. The +card-room remained in its original condition; "And, here," wrote Mr. +Till, many years since, "the tables on which I exhibit my coins are +those which were used by the exalted characters whose names are +extracted from books of the Club, still in possession of the +proprietress of the house." On the death of Mr. Till, Mr. Webster +succeeded to the tenancy and collection of coins and medals, which he +removed to No. 6, Henrietta-street, shortly before the old premises in +Russell-street were taken down. He possesses, by marriage with the +grand-daughter of the second Mr. Haines, the old Club books, as well +as the curious memorial, the snuffbox of the Club-room. It is of large +size, and fine tortoiseshell; upon the lid, in high relief, in silver, +are the portraits of Charles I. and Queen Anne; the Boscobel oak, with +Charles II. amid its branches; and at the foot of the tree, on a +silver plate, is inscribed Thomas Haines. At Will's the small wits +grew conceited if they dipped but into Mr. Dryden's snuffbox; and at +Tom's the box may have enjoyed a similar shrine-like reputation. It is +nearly all that remains of the old coffee-house in Covent Garden, save +the recollection of the names of the interesting personages who once +thronged its rooms in stars and garters, but who bore more +intellectual distinctions to entitle them to remembrance. + + + + +THE KING OF CLUBS. + + +This ambitious title was given to a Club set on foot about the year +1801. Its founder was Bobus Smith, the brother of the great Sydney +Smith. The Club at first consisted of a small knot of lawyers, a few +literary characters, and visitors generally introduced by those who +took the chief part in the conversation, and seemingly selected for +the faculty of being good listeners. + +The King of Clubs sat on Saturday of each month, at the Crown and +Anchor Tavern, in the Strand, which, at that time, was a nest of +boxes, each containing its Club, and affording excellent cheer, though +latterly desecrated by indifferent dinners and very questionable wine. +The Club was a grand talk, the prevalent topics being books and +authors; politics quite excluded. Bobus Smith was a convivial member +in every respect but that of wine; he was but a frigid worshipper of +Bacchus, but he had great humour and a species of wit, that revelled +amidst the strangest and most grotesque combinations. His manner was +somewhat of the bow-wow kind; and when he pounced upon a disputatious +and dull blockhead, he made sad work of him. + +Then there was Richard Sharp, a partner of Boddington's West India +house, who subsequently sat in Parliament for Port Arlington, in +Ireland. He was a thinker and a reasoner, and occasionally +controversial, but overflowed with useful and agreeable knowledge, and +an unfailing stream of delightful information. He was celebrated for +his conversational talents, and hence called "Conversation Sharp;" and +he often had for his guest Sir James Mackintosh, with whom he lived +in habits of intimacy. Mr. Sharp published a volume of _Letters and +Essays in Prose and Verse_, of which a third edition appeared in 1834. +Sharp was confessedly the first of the King of Clubs. He indulged but +rarely in pleasantry; but when anything of the kind escaped him, it +was sure to tell. One evening, at the Club, there was a talk about +Tweddel, then a student in the Temple, who had greatly distinguished +himself at Cambridge, and was the Senior Wrangler and medallist of his +year. Tweddel was not a little intoxicated with his University +triumphs; which led Sharp to remark, "Poor fellow! he will soon find +that his Cambridge medal will not pass as current coin in London." +Other frequent attendants were Scarlett (afterwards Lord Abinger); +Rogers, the poet; honest John Allen, brother of the bluest of the +blues, Lady Mackintosh; M. Dumont, the French emigrant, who would +sometimes recite his friend the Abbé de Lisle's verses, with +interminable perseverance, in spite of yawns and other symptoms of +dislike, which his own politeness (for he was a highly-bred man) +forbade him to interpret into the absence of it in others. + +In this respect, however, he was outdone by Wishart, who was nothing +but quotations, and whose prosing, when he did converse, was like the +torpedo's touch to all pleasing and lively converse. Charles Butler, +too, in his long life, had treasured up a considerable assortment of +reminiscences, which, when once set going, came out like a torrent +upon you; it was a sort of shower-bath, that inundated you the moment +you pulled the string. + +Curran, the boast of the Irish bar, came to the King of Clubs, during +a short visit to London; there he met Erskine, but the meeting was not +congenial. Curran gave some odd sketches of a Serjeant Kelly, at the +Irish bar, whose whimsical peculiarity was an inveterate habit of +drawing conclusions directly at variance with his premises. He had +acquired the name of Counsellor Therefore. Curran said he was a +perfect human personification of a _non sequitur_. For instance, +meeting Curran, on Sunday, near St. Patrick's, he said to him, "The +Archbishop gave us an excellent discourse this morning. It was well +written and well delivered; _therefore_, I shall make a point of being +at the Four Courts to-morrow at ten." At another time, observing to a +person whom he met in the street, "What a delightful morning this is +for walking!" he finished his remark on the weather by saying, +"Therefore I will go home as soon as I can, and stir out no more the +whole day." His speeches in Court were interminable, and his +_therefore_ kept him going on, though every one thought he had done. +"This is so clear a point, gentlemen," he would tell the jury, "that I +am convinced you felt it to be so the very moment I stated it. I +should pay your understandings but a poor compliment to dwell on it +for a minute; _therefore_, I will now proceed to explain it to you as +minutely as possible." + +Curran seemed to have no very profound respect for the character and +talents of Lord Norbury. Curran went down to Carlow on a special +retainer; it was in a case of ejectment. A new Court-house had been +recently erected, and it was found extremely inconvenient, from the +echo, which reverberated the mingled voices of judge, counsel, crier, +to such a degree, as to produce constant confusion, and great +interruption of business. Lord Norbury had been, if possible, more +noisy that morning than ever. Whilst he was arguing a point with the +counsel, and talking very loudly, an ass brayed vehemently from the +street, adjoining the Court-house, to the instant interruption of the +Chief-Justice. "What noise is that?" exclaimed his Lordship. "Oh, my +Lord," retorted Curran, "it is merely the echo of the Court." + + + + +WATIER'S CLUB. + + +This Club was the great Macao gambling-house of a very short period. +Mr. Thomas Raikes, who understood all its mysteries, describes it as +very genteel, adding that no one ever quarrelled there. "The Club did +not endure for twelve years altogether; the pace was too quick to +last: it died a natural death in 1819, from the paralysed state of its +members; the house was then taken by a set of blacklegs, who +instituted a common bank for gambling. To form an idea of the ruin +produced by this short-lived establishment among men whom I have so +intimately known, a cursory glance to the past suggests the following +melancholy list, which only forms a part of its deplorable results.... +None of the dead reached the average age of man." + +Among the members was Bligh, a notorious madman, of whom Mr. Raikes +relates:--"One evening at the Macao table, when the play was very +deep, Brummell having lost a considerable stake, affected, in his +farcical way, a very tragic air, and cried out, 'Waiter, bring me a +flat candlestick and a pistol.' Upon which Bligh, who was sitting +opposite to him, calmly produced two loaded pistols from his coat +pocket, which he placed on the table, and said, 'Mr. Brummell, if you +are really desirous to put a period to your existence, I am extremely +happy to offer you the means without troubling the waiter.' The effect +upon those present may easily be imagined, at finding themselves in +the company of a known madman who had loaded weapons about him." + + + + +MR. CANNING AT THE CLIFFORD-STREET CLUB. + + +There was in the last century, a debating Club, which boasted for a +short time, a brighter assemblage of talent than is usually found to +flourish in societies of this description. Its meetings, which took +place once a month, were held at the Clifford-street Coffee-house, at +the corner of Bond-street. The debaters were chiefly Mackintosh, +Richard Sharp, a Mr. Ollyett Woodhouse; Charles Moore, son of the +celebrated traveller; and Lord Charles Townshend, fourth son of the +facetious and eccentric Marquis. The great primitive principles of +civil government were then much discussed. It was before the French +Revolution had "brought death into the world and all its woe." + +At the Clifford-street Society, Canning generally took "the liberal +side" of the above questions. His earliest prepossessions are well +known to have inclined to this side; but he evidently considered the +Society rather as a school of rhetorical exercise, where he might +acquire the use of his weapons, than a forum, where the serious +profession of opinions, and a consistent adherence to them, could be +fairly expected of him. One evening, the question for debate was "the +justice and expediency of resuming the ecclesiastical property of +France." Before the debate began, Canning had taken some pains to +ascertain on which side the majority of the members seemed inclined to +speak; and finding that they were generally in favour of the +resumption, he expressed his fears that the unanimity of sentiment +would spoil the discussion; so, he volunteered to speak against it. He +did so, and it was a speech of considerable power, chiefly in reply to +the opener, who, in a set discourse of some length, had asserted the +revocable conditions of the property of the church, which, being +created, he said, by the state, remained ever after at its +disposition. Canning denied the proposition that ecclesiastical +property was the creature of the state. He contended that though it +might be so in a new government, yet, speaking historically, the great +as well as lesser ecclesiastical fiefs were coeval with the crown of +France, frequently strong enough to maintain fierce and not unequal +conflicts with it, and certainly not in their origin emanations from +its bounty. The church, he said, came well dowered to the state, who +was now suing for a divorce, in order to plunder her pin-money. He +contended that the church property stood upon the same basis, and +ought to be protected by the same sanctions, as private property. It +was originally, he said, accumulated from the successive donations +with which a pious benevolence ought to enrich the fountains, from +which spiritual comfort ought to flow to the wretched, the poor, the +forsaken. He drew an energetic sketch of Mirabeau, the proposer of the +measure, by whose side, he remarked, the worst characters in history, +the Cleons, the Catilines, the Cetheguses, of antiquity, would +brighten into virtue. He said that the character of the lawgiver +tainted the law. It was proffered to the National Assembly by hands +hot and reeking from the cells of sensuality and vice; it came from a +brain inflamed and distended into frenzy by habitual debauchery. These +are, of course, but faint sketches of this very early specimen of +Canning as a speaker. The humour and irony with which he delighted his +auditors are indescribable. He displayed the same powers of pleasantry +which, in maturer years, enlivened the dulness of debate, and softened +the asperities of party. He was, indeed, less rapid, and more measured +in his elevation; sometimes impeded in flow, probably, from too +fastidious a selection of words; but it was impossible not to predict +that at no very distant period he would rise into high distinction as +a parliamentary speaker. + +Canning was then the most handsome man about town; and his fine +countenance glowed, as he spoke, with every sentiment which he +uttered. It was customary during the debates at the Clifford-street +Senate, for pots of porter to be introduced by way of refreshment. +Canning, in his eloquent tirade against Mirabeau, handled the peculiar +style of the Count's oratory with great severity. The president had, +during this part of Canning's speech, given a signal for a pot of +porter, which had been brought in and placed before him. It served +Canning for an illustration. "Sir," said he, "much has been said about +the gigantic powers of Mirabeau; let us not be carried away by the +false jargon of his philosophy, or imagine that deep political wisdom +resides in tumid and decorated diction. To the steady eye of a +sagacious criticism, the eloquence of Mirabeau will appear to be as +empty and vapid as his patriotism. It is like the beverage that stands +so invitingly before you,--foam and froth at the top, heavy and muddy +within." + + + + +ECCENTRIC CLUBS. + + +In Ward's _Secret History_, we read of the Golden Fleece Club, a +rattle-brained society, originally held at a house in Cornhill, so +entitled. They were a merry company of tippling citizens and jocular +change-brokers, who every night washed away their consciences with +claret, that the mental alienations and fallacious assurances the one +had used in their shops, and the deceitful wheedling and stock-jobbing +honesty by which the other had outwitted their merchants, might be no +impediment to their night's rest; but that they might sleep without +repentance, and rise next day with a strong propensity to the same +practices. Each member on his admission had a characteristic name +assigned to him; as, Sir Timothy Addlepate, Sir Nimmy Sneer, Sir +Talkative Do-little, Sir Skinny Fretwell, Sir Rumbus Rattle, Sir Boozy +Prate-all, Sir Nicholas Ninny Sipall, Sir Gregory Growler, Sir +Pay-little, etc. The Club flourished until the decease of the leading +member; when the dull fraternity, for want of a merry leader, and +neglecting to be shaved and blooded, fell into the dumps, gave up +their nocturnal revels, forsook frenzied claret for sober water-gruel, +and a cessation of bumpers was proclaimed, till those who were sick +recovered their health, and others their senses; and then, the better +to prevent their debasement being known, they adjourned their Society +from the Fleece in Cornhill to the Three Tuns in Southwark, that they +might be more retired from the bows and compliments of the London +apprentices, who used to salute the noble knights by their titles, as +they passed to and fro. + +Another of Ward's humorous Sketches is that of the Lying Club, at the +Bell Tavern, in Westminster, with Sir Harry Blunt for its chairman. + +The Clubs were fruitful sources of satire to the _Spectator_. He is +merry on the Mummers, the Twopenny, the Ugly, the Fighting, the +Fringe-Glove, the Humdrum, the Doldrum, and the Lovers; on Clubs of +Fat Men, Tall Men, and One-Eyed Men, and of Men who lived in the same +Street. + +The pretentious character of the Clubs of Queen Anne's time, and the +historical importance attached to their annals, are humorously +satirized in the following sketch of the Everlasting Club, to which, +in those days, if a man were an idle, worthless fellow, who neglected +his family, and spent most of his time over a bottle, he was, in +derision, said to belong. + +"The Everlasting Club consists of an hundred members, who divide the +whole twenty-four hours among them in such a manner, that the Club +sits day and night from one end of the year to another: no party +presuming to rise till they are relieved by those who are in course to +succeed them. By this means, a member of the Everlasting Club never +wants company; for though he is not upon duty himself, he is sure to +find some who are; so that if he be disposed to take a whet, a +nooning, an evening's draught, or a bottle after midnight, he goes to +the Club, and finds a knot of friends to his mind. + +"It is a maxim in this Club that the Steward never dies; for as they +succeed one another by way of rotation, no man is to quit the great +elbow-chair, which stands at the upper end of the table, till his +successor is ready to fill it; insomuch that there has not been a +_sede vacante_ in their memory. + +"This Club was instituted towards the end, or, as some of them say, +about the middle of the Civil Wars, and continued with interruption +till the time of the Great Fire, which burnt them out and dispersed +them for several weeks. The Steward all that time maintained his post +till he had like to have been blown up with a neighbouring house, +which was demolished in order to stop the fire: and would not leave +the chair at last, till he had emptied the bottles upon the table, and +received repeated directions from the Club to withdraw himself. This +Steward is frequently talked of in the Club, and looked upon by every +member of it as a greater man than the famous captain mentioned in my +Lord Clarendon, who was burnt in his ship, because he would not quit +it without orders. It is said that towards the close of 1700, being +the great year of jubilee, the Club had it under consideration whether +they should break up or continue their session; but after many +speeches and debates, it was at length agreed to sit out the other +century. This resolution passed in a general club _nemine +contradicente_. + +"It appears, by their books in general, that, since their first +institution, they have smoked fifty tons of tobacco, drank thirty +thousand butts of ale, one thousand hogsheads of red port, two hundred +barrels of brandy, and _one_ kilderkin of small beer. There had been +likewise a great consumption of cards. It is also said that they +observe the law in Ben Jonson's Club, which orders the fire to be +always kept in (_focus perennis esto_), as well for the convenience of +lighting their pipes as to cure the dampness of the club-room. They +have an old woman, in the nature of a vestal, whose business is to +cherish and perpetuate the fire, which burns from generation to +generation, and has seen the glass-house fires in and out above an +hundred times. + +"The Everlasting Club treats all other clubs with an eye of contempt, +and talks even of the Kit-Kat and October as a couple of upstarts. +Their ordinary discourse, as much I have been able to learn of it, +turns altogether upon such adventures as have passed in their own +assembly; of members who have taken the glass in their turns for a +week together, without stirring out of the Club; of others who have +not missed their morning's draught for twenty years together; +sometimes they speak in rapture of a run of ale in King Charles's +reign; and sometimes reflect with astonishment upon games at whist, +which have been miraculously recovered by members of the Society, when +in all human probability the case was desperate. + +"They delight in several old catches, which they sing at all hours, to +encourage one another to moisten their clay, and grow immortal by +drinking, with many other edifying exhortations of the like nature. + +"There are four general Clubs held in a year, at which time they fill +up vacancies, appoint waiters, confirm the old fire-maker or elect a +new one, settle contributions for coals, pipes, tobacco, and other +necessaries. + +"The senior member has outlived the whole Club twice over, and has +been drunk with the grandfathers of some of the sitting members." + +_The Lawyer's Club_ is thus described in the _Spectator_, No. +372:--"This Club consists only of attorneys, and at this meeting every +one proposes to the board the cause he has then in hand, upon which +each member gives his judgment, according to the experience he has +met with. If it happens that any one puts a case of which they have +had no precedent, it is noted down by their chief clerk, Will +Goosequill (who registers all their proceedings), that one of them may +go with it next day to a counsel. This is, indeed, commendable, and +ought to be the principal end of their meeting; but had you been there +to have heard them relate their methods of managing a cause, their +manner of drawing out their bills, and, in short, their arguments upon +the several ways of abusing their clients, with the applause that is +given to him who has done it most artfully, you would before now have +given your remarks. + +"They are so conscious that their discourses ought to be kept a +secret, that they are very cautious of admitting any person who is not +in the profession. When any who are not of the law are let in, the +person who introduces him says, he is a very honest gentleman, and he +is taken, as their cant is, to pay costs." The writer adds, "that he +is admitted upon the recommendation of one of their principals, as a +very honest, good-natured fellow, that will never be in a plot, and +only desires to drink his bottle and smoke his pipe." + +_The Little Club_, we are told in the _Guardian_, No. 91, began by +sending invitations to those not exceeding five feet in height, to +repair to the assembly, but many sent excuses, or pretended a +non-application. They proceeded to fit up a room for their +accommodation, and in the first place had all the chairs, stools, and +tables removed, which had served the more bulky portion of mankind for +many years, previous to which they laboured under very great +disadvantages. The President's whole person was sunk in the +elbow-chair, and when his arms were spread over it, he appeared (to +the great lessening of his dignity) like a child in a go-cart. It was +also so wide in the seat, as to give a wag occasion of saying, that +"notwithstanding the President sat in it, there was a _sede vacante_." +"The table was so high, that one who came by chance to the door, +seeing our chins just above the pewter dishes, took us for a circle of +men that sat ready to be shaved, and set in half-a-dozen of barbers. +Another time, one of the Club spoke contumeliously of the President, +imagining he had been absent, when he was only eclipsed by a flask of +Florence, which stood on the table, in a parallel line before his +face. We therefore new-furnished the room, in all respects +proportionably to us, and had the door made lower, so as to admit no +man above five feet high, without brushing his foretop; which, whoever +does, is utterly unqualified to sit amongst us." + +Mr. Daniel, in his _Merrie England in the Olden Time_, has collected a +further list of Clubs existing in London in 1790. He enumerates the +following:--The Odd Fellows' Club; the Humbugs (held at the Blue +Posts, in Covent-Garden); the Samsonic Society; the Society of Bucks; +the Purl Drinkers; the Society of Pilgrims (held at the Woolpack, in +the Kingsland-road); the Thespian Club; the Great Bottle Club; the Je +ne sçai quoi Club (held at the Star and Garter in Pall-Mall, and of +which the Prince of Wales, and the Dukes of York, Clarence, Orleans, +Norfolk, Bedford, etc., were members); the Sons of the Thames Society; +the Blue Stocking Club; the No Pay No Liquor Club (held at the Queen +and Artichoke, in the Hampstead-road, and of which the ceremony, on a +new member's introduction, was, after his paying a fee on entrance of +one shilling, that he should wear a hat, throughout the first +evening, made in the shape of a quart pot, and drink to the health of +his brother members in a gilt goblet of ale); the Social Villagers +(held at the Bedford Arms, in Camden-town), etc. Of the Villagers of +our time, Sheridan Knowles, the dramatist, was a jovial member. + + + + +JACOBITE CLUB. + + +In the year 1854 a Correspondent of _Notes and Queries_ communicated +to that journal the following interesting reminiscences of a political +Club, with characteristics of the reminiscent. + +"The adherents of the Stuarts are now nearly extinct; but I recollect +a few years ago an old gentleman in London, who was then upwards of +eighty years of age, and who was a staunch Jacobite. I have heard him +say that, when he was a young man, his father belonged to a society in +Aldersgate-street, called 'The Mourning Bush;' and this Bush was to be +always in mourning until the Stuarts were restored." A member of this +society having been met in mourning when one of the reigning family +had died, was asked by one of the members how it so happened? His +reply was, "that he was not mourning for the dead, but for the +living." The old gentleman was father of the Mercers' Company, and his +brother of the Stationers' Company: they were bachelors, and citizens +of the old school, hospitable, liberal, and charitable. An instance +occurred that the latter had a presentation to Christ's Hospital: he +was applied to in behalf of a person who had a large family; but the +father not being a freeman, he could not present it to the son. He +immediately bought the freedom for the father, and gave the son the +presentation. This is a rare act. The brothers have long gone to +receive the reward of their goodness, and lie buried in the cemetery +attached to Mercers' Hall, Cheapside. + +By the above statement, the Club appears to have taken the name of the +Mourning Bush Tavern, in Aldersgate, of which we shall have more to +say hereafter. + + + + +THE WITTINAGEMOT OF THE CHAPTER COFFEE-HOUSE. + + +The Chapter Coffee-house, at the corner of Chapterhouse Court, on the +south side of Paternoster-row, was, in the last century, noted as the +resort of men of letters, and was famous for its punch, pamphlets, and +good supply of newspapers. It was closed as a coffee-house in 1854, +and then altered to a tavern. Its celebrity, however, lay in the last +century. In the _Connoisseur_, January 31, 1754, we read: "The Chapter +Coffee-house is frequented by those encouragers of literature, and (as +they are styled by an eminent critic) 'not the worst judges of merit,' +the booksellers. The conversation here naturally turns upon the newest +publications; but their criticisms are somewhat singular. When they +say a _good_ book, they do not mean to praise the style or sentiment, +but the quick and extensive sale of it. That book is best which sells +most; and if the demand for Quarles should be greater than for Pope, +he would have the highest place on the rubric-post." + +The house was much frequented by Chatterton, who writes to his mother: +"I am quite familiar at the Chapter Coffee-house, and know all the +geniuses there;" and to Mr. Mason: "Send me whatever you would have +published, and direct for me, to be left at the Chapter Coffee-house, +Paternoster-row." And, writing from "King's Bench for the present," +May 14th, 1770, Chatterton says: "A gentleman who knows me at the +Chapter, as an author, would have introduced me as a companion to the +young Duke of Northumberland, in his intended general tour. But, alas! +I spake no tongue but my own." + +Forster relates an anecdote of Oliver Goldsmith being paymaster at the +Chapter, for Churchill's friend, Lloyd, who, in his careless way, +without a shilling to pay for the entertainment, had invited him to +sup with some friends of Grub-street. + +The Club celebrity of the Chapter was, however, the Wittinagemot, as +the box in the north-east corner of the coffee-room was designated. +Among its frequenters was Alexander Stevens, editor of the _Annual +Biography and Obituary_, who died in 1824, and who left among his +papers, printed in the _Monthly Magazine_, as "Stephensiana," his +recollections of the Chapter, which he frequented in 1797 to 1805, +where, he tells us, he always met with intelligent company. We give +his reminiscences almost in his own words. + +Early in the morning it was occupied by neighbours, who were +designated the _Wet Paper Club_, as it was their practice to open the +papers when brought in by the newsmen, and read them before they were +dried by the waiter; a dry paper they viewed as a stale commodity. In +the afternoon, another party enjoyed the _wet_ evening papers; and +(says Stephens) it was these whom I met. + +Dr. Buchan, author of _Domestic Medicine_, generally held a seat in +this box; and though he was a Tory, he heard the freest discussion +with good humour, and commonly acted as a moderator. His fine +physiognomy, and his white hairs, qualified him for this office. But +the fixture in the box was a Mr. Hammond, a Coventry manufacturer, +who, evening after evening, for nearly forty-five years, was always to +be found in his place, and during the entire period was much +distinguished for his severe and often able strictures on the events +of the day. He had thus debated through the days of Wilkes, of the +American war, and of the French war, and being on the side of liberty, +was constantly in opposition. His mode of arguing was Socratic, and he +generally applied to his adversary the _reductio ad absurdum_, +creating bursts of laughter. + +The registrar or chronicler of the box was a Mr. Murray, an episcopal +Scotch minister, who generally sat in one place from nine in the +morning till nine at night; and was famous for having read, at least +once through, every morning and evening paper published in London +during the last thirty years. His memory being good, he was appealed +to whenever any point of fact within the memory of man happened to be +disputed. It was often remarked, however, that such incessant daily +reading did not tend to clear his views. + +Among those from whom I constantly profited was Dr. Berdmore, the +Master of the Charterhouse; Walker, the rhetorician; and Dr. Towers, +the political and historical writer. Dr. B. abounded in anecdote; +Walker, (the Dictionary-maker,) to the finest enunciation united the +most intelligent head I ever met with; and Towers, over his half-pint +of Lisbon, was sarcastic and lively, though never deep. + +Among our constant visitors was the celebrated Dr. George Fordyce, +who, having much fashionable practice, brought news which had not +generally transpired. He had not the appearance of a man of genius, +nor did he debate, but he possessed sound information on all subjects. +He came to the Chapter after taking his wine, and stayed about an +hour, or while he sipped a glass of brandy-and-water; it was then his +habit to take another glass at the London Coffee-house, and a third at +the Oxford, before he returned to his house in Essex-street, Strand. + +Dr. Gower, the urbane and able physician of the Middlesex, was another +pretty constant visitor. It was gratifying to hear such men as +Fordyce, Gower, and Buchan in familiar chat. On subjects of medicine +they seldom agreed, and when such were started, they generally laughed +at one another's opinions. They seemed to consider Chapter punch, or +brandy-and-water, as _aqua vitæ_; and, to the credit of the house, +better punch could not be found in London. If any one complained of +being indisposed, the elder Buchan exclaimed, "Now let me prescribe +for you without a fee. Here, John or Isaac, bring a glass of punch for +Mr. ----, unless he likes brandy-and-water better. Take that, Sir, and +I'll warrant you you'll soon be well. You're a peg too low; you want +stimulus, and if one glass won't do, call for a second." + +There was a growling man of the name of Dobson, who, when his asthma +permitted, vented his spleen upon both sides; and a lover of absurd +paradoxes, author of some works of merit, but so devoid of principle, +that, deserted by his friends, he would have died for want, if Dr. +Garthshore had not placed him as a patient in the empty Fever +Institution. + +Robinson, the king of the booksellers, was frequently of the party, as +well as his brother John, a man of some talent; and Joseph Johnson, +the friend of Priestley, and Paine, and Cowper, and Fuseli, came from +St. Paul's Churchyard. + +Phillips, then commencing his _Monthly Magazine_, was also on a keen +look-out for recruits, and with his waistcoat pocket full of guineas, +to slip his enlistment money into their hand. Phillips, in the winter +of 1795-6, lodged and boarded at the Chapter, and not only knew the +characters referred to by Mr. Stephens, but many others equally +original, from the voracious glutton in politics, who waited for the +wet papers in the morning twilight, to the comfortless bachelor, who +sat till the fire was raked out at half-past twelve at night, all of +whom took their successive stations, like figures in a magic lantern. + +Alexander Chalmers, the workman of the Robinsons, and through their +introduction editor of many large books, also enlivened the box by +many sallies of wit and humour. He always took much pains to be +distinguished from his namesake George, who, he used to say, carried, +"the leaden mace," and he was much provoked whenever he happened to be +mistaken for his namesake. + +Cahusac, a teacher of the classics; M'Leod, a writer in the +newspapers; the two Parrys, of the _Courier_, the organ of Jacobinism; +and Captain Skinner, a man of elegant manners, who personated our +nation in the procession of Anacharsis Clootz, at Paris, in 1793, were +also in constant attendance. + +One Baker, once a Spitalfields manufacturer, a great talker, and not +less remarkable as an eater, was constant; but, having shot himself at +his lodgings in Kirby-street, it was discovered that, for some years, +he had had no other meal per day besides the supper which he took at +the Chapter, where there being a choice of viands at the fixed price +of one shilling, this, with a pint of porter, constituted his daily +subsistence, till, his last resources failing, he put an end to +himself. + +Lowndes, the celebrated electrician, was another of our set, and a +facetious man. Buchan the younger, a son of the Doctor, generally came +with Lowndes; and though somewhat dogmatical, yet he added to the +variety and good intelligence of our discussions, which, from the +mixture of company, were as various as the contents of the newspapers. + +Dr. Busby, the musician, and an ingenious man, often obtained a +hearing, and was earnest in disputing with the Tories. And Macfarlane, +the author of the _History of George the Third_, was generally admired +for the soundness of his views; but this worthy man was killed by the +pole of a coach, during an election procession of Sir Francis Burdett, +from Brentford. Mr. W. Cooke, author of _Conversation_, constantly +exemplified his own rules in his gentlemanly manners and well-timed +anecdotes. + +Kelly, an Irish school-master, and a man of polished manners, kept up +warm debates by his equivocating politics, and was often roughly +handled by Hammond and others, though he bore his defeats with +constant good humour. + +There was a young man named Wilson, who acquired the distinction of +Long-bow, from the number of extraordinary secrets of the _haut ton_, +which he used to retail by the hour. He was an amusing person, who +seemed likely to prove an acquisition to the Wittinagemot; but, having +run up a score of thirty or forty pounds, he suddenly absented +himself. Miss Brun, the keeper of the Chapter, begged me, if I met +with Wilson, to tell him she would give him a receipt for the past, +and further credit to any amount, if he would only return to the +house; "for," said she, "if he never paid us, he was one of the best +customers we ever had, contriving, by his stories and conversation, to +keep a couple of boxes crowded the whole night, by which we made more +punch and more brandy-and-water, than from any other single cause +whatever." + +Jacob, afterwards an alderman and M.P., was a frequent visitor, and +then as remarkable for his heretical, as he was subsequently for his +orthodox, opinions in his speeches and writings. + +Waithman, the active and eloquent Common Councilman, often mixed with +us, and was always clear-headed and agreeable. One James, who had made +a large fortune by vending tea, contributed many good anecdotes of the +age of Wilkes. + +Several stockbrokers visited us; and among others of that description +was Mr. Blake, the banker, of Lombard-street, a remarkably intelligent +old gentleman; and there was a Mr. Paterson, a North Briton, a +long-headed speculator, who taught mathematics to Pitt. + +Some young men of talent came among us from time to time; as Lovett, a +militia officer; Hennell, a coal merchant, and some others; and these +seemed likely to keep up the party. But all things have an end: Dr. +Buchan died; some young sparks affronted our Nestor, Hammond, on which +he absented himself, after nearly fifty years' attendance; and the +noisy box of the Wittinagemot was, for some years previously to 1820, +remarkable for its silence and dulness. The two or three last times I +was at the Chapter, I heard no voice above a whisper; and I almost +shed a tear on thinking of men, habits, and times gone by for ever! + +We shall have more to say of the Chapter Coffee-house in Vol. II. + + + + +THE ROXBURGHE CLUB DINNERS. + + +The Roxburghe Club claims its foundation from the sale of the library +of the late John, Duke of Roxburghe, in 1812, which extended to +forty-one days following, with a supplementary catalogue beginning +Monday, July 13, with the exception of Sundays. Some few days before +the sale, the Rev. Thomas Frognall Dibdin, who claimed the title of +founder of the Club, suggested the holding of a convivial meeting at +the St. Alban's Tavern after the sale of June 17th, upon which day was +to be sold the rarest lot, "Il Decamerone di Boccaccio," which +produced £2260. The invitation ran thus:--"The honour of your company +is requested, to dine with the Roxburghe _dinner_, on Wednesday, the +17th instant." At the first dinner the number of members was limited +to twenty-four, which at the second dinner was extended to thirty-one. +The president of this club was Lord Spencer: among the other +celebrated members were the Duke of Devonshire, the Marquis of +Blandford, Lord Althorp, Lord Morpeth, Lord Gower, Sir Mark Sykes, Sir +Egerton Brydges, Mr. (afterwards) Baron Bolland, Mr. Dent, the Rev. T. +C. Heber, Rev. Rob. Holwell Carr, Sir Walter Scott, etc.; Dr. Dibdin, +secretary. + +The avowed object of the Club was the reprinting of rare and ancient +pieces of ancient literature; and, at one of the early meetings, "it +was proposed and concluded for each member of the Club to reprint a +scarce piece of ancient lore, to be given to the members, one copy +being on vellum for the chairman, and only as many copies as members." + +It may, however, be questioned whether "the dinners" of the Club were +not more important than the literature. They were given at the St. +Alban's, at Grillion's, at the Clarendon, and the Albion, taverns; the +_Amphytrions_ evincing as _recherché_ taste in the _carte_, as the +Club did in their vellum reprints. Of these entertainments some +curious details have been recorded by the late Mr. Joseph Haslewood, +one of the members, in a MS. entitled, "Roxburghe Revels; or, an +Account of the Annual Display, culinary and festivous, interspersed +incidentally with Matters of Moment or Merriment." This MS. was, in +1833, purchased by the Editor of the _Athenæum_, and a selection from +its rarities was subsequently printed in that journal. Among the +memoranda, we find it noted that, at the second dinner, a few tarried, +with Mr. Heber in the chair, until, "on arriving at home, the click of +time bespoke a quarter to four." Among the early members was the Rev. +Mr. Dodd, one of the masters of Westminster School, who, until the +year 1818 (when he died), enlivened the Club with Robin-Hood ditties +and similar productions. The fourth dinner was given at Grillion's, +when twenty members assembled, under the chairmanship of Sir Mark +Masterman Sykes. The bill on this occasion amounted to £57, or £2. +17_s._ per man; and the twenty "lions" managed to dispose of +drinkables to the extent of about £33. The reckoning, by Grillion's +French waiter, is amusing:-- + + Dinner du 17 Juin 1815. + + 20 . . . . . . . . 200 0 | 2 Boutelle de Bourgogne + Desser . . . . . . 20 0 | . . . . . . 1 12 0 + Deu sorte de Glasse 1 4 0 | (Not legible) 0 14 0 + Glasse pour 6 . . 0 4 0 | Soder . . . . . . . 0 2 0 + 5 Boutelle de Champagne | Biere e Ail . . . . 0 6 0 + . . . . . . . . . 4 0 0 | Por la Lettre . . . 0 2 0 + 7 Boutelle de harmetage | Pour faire un prune 0 6 0 + . . . . . . . . . 5 5 0 | Pour un fiacre . . 0 2 0 + 1 Boutelle de Hok 0 15 0 | ________ + 4 Boutelle de Port 1 6 0 | 55 6 0 + 4 Boutelle de Maderre 2 0 0 | Waiters . . 1 14 0 + 22 Boutelle de Bordeaux | ________ + . . . . . . . . 15 8 0 | 57 0 0 + +The anniversary of 1818 was celebrated at the Albion, in +Aldersgate-street: Mr. Heber was in the chair, and the Rev. Mr. Carr +_vice_, vice Dr. Dibdin. Although only fifteen sat down, they seem to +have eaten and drunk for the whole Club: it was, as Wordsworth says, +"forty feeding like one;" and the bill, at the conclusion of the +night, amounted to £85. 9_s._ 6_d._ "Your cits," says Mr. Haslewood, +"are the only men for a feast; and, therefore, behold us, like +locusts, travelling to devour the good things of the land, eastward +ho! At a little after seven, with our fancies much delighted, we +fifteen sat down." + +The bill of fare was as follows:-- + + FIRST COURSE. + + Turtle.[A] + Turtle Cutlets. Turtle Fin. + Turbot. + _________ + Boiled Chickens. | | Ham. + Sauté of Haddock. | Frame. | Chartreuse. + Turtle. | | Turtle. + Tendrons of Lamb. |_________| Fillets of Whitings. + Tongue. John Dory. R. Chickens. + Turtle Fin. Fricandeau of Turtle. + Turtle.[15] + + +++ Cold Roast Beef on Side Tables. + ____ + + SECOND COURSE. + + Venison (2 Haunches). + ____ + + THIRD COURSE. + + Larded Poults. + Tart. Cheese Cakes. + Artichoke bottoms. + _________ + Jelly. | | Prawns. + R. Quails. | | R. Leveret. + Salade Italienne. |_________| Crême Italienne. + Peas. + Cabinet Pudding. Tourt. + R. Goose. + +The bill, as a specimen of the advantages of separate charges, as well +as on other accounts, may be worth preserving:-- + +ALBION HOUSE. + +June 17, 1818. + + Bread and Beer 0 9 0 + Dinners 9 9 0 + Cheas and Butter 0 9 0 + Lemons 0 3 0 + Strong Beer 0 9 0 + Madeira 3 3 0 + Champagne 2 11 0 + Saturne (sic in MS.) 1 4 0 + Old Hock 4 16 0 + Burgundy 0 18 0 + Hermitage 0 18 0 + Silery Champagne 0 16 0 + Sherry 0 7 0 + St. Percy 2 11 0 + Old Port 2 9 0 + Claret 11 4 0 + Turtle Punch 0 15 0 + Waxlights 2 10 0 + Desert 6 6 0 + Pine-ice creams 1 16 0 + Tea and Coffee 1 8 0 + Liqueures 0 14 0 + 2 Haunches of Venison 10 10 0 + Sweet sauce and dressing 1 4 0 + 50 lbs. Turtle 12 10 0 + Dressing do. 2 2 0 + Ice for Wine 0 6 0 + Rose Water 0 5 0 + Soda Water 0 12 0 + Lemons and Sugar for do. 0 3 0 + Broken Glass 0 5 6 + Servants' dinners 0 7 0 + Waiters 1 0 0 + --------- + 85 9 6 + +"Consider, in the bird's-eye view of the banquet, (says Mr. +Haslewood,) the trencher cuts, foh! nankeen displays; as intersticed +with many a brilliant drop to friendly beck and clubbish hail, to +moisten the viands, or cool the incipient cayenne. No unfamished +liveryman would desire better dishes, or high-tasted courtier better +wines. With men that meet to commune, that can converse, and each +willing to give and receive information, more could not be wanting to +promote well-tempered conviviality; a social compound of mirth, wit, +and wisdom;--combining all that Anacreon was famed for, tempered with +the reason of Demosthenes, and intersected with the archness of +Scaliger. It is true we had not any Greek verses in praise of the +grape; but we had as a tolerable substitute the ballad of the Bishop +of Hereford and Robin Hood, sung by Mr. Dodd; and it was of his own +composing. It is true we had not any long oration denouncing the +absentees, the Cabinet council, or any other set of men, but there was +not a man present that at one hour and seventeen minutes after the +cloth was removed but could not have made a Demosthenic speech far +superior to any record of antiquity. It is true no trait of wit is +going to be here preserved, for the flashes were too general; and what +is the critical sagacity of Scaliger, compared to our chairman? +Ancients, believe it we were not dead drunk, and therefore lie quiet +under the table for once, and let a few moderns be uppermost. + +"According to the long-established principles of 'Maysterre Cockerre,' +each person had £5. 14_s._ to pay--a tremendous sum, and much may be +said thereon." + +Earl Spencer presided at the dinner which followed the sale of the +Valdarfer Boccaccio: twenty-one members sat down to table at +Jaquière's (the Clarendon), and the bill was comparatively moderate, +£55. 13_s._ Mr. Haslewood says, with characteristic sprightliness: +"Twenty-one members met joyfully, dined comfortably, challenged +eagerly, tippled prettily, divided regretfully, and paid the bill most +cheerfully." + +The following is the list of "Tostes," given at the first Dinner, in +1812:-- + + The Order of ye Tostes. + + The Immortal Memory of John Duke of Roxburghe. + Christopher Valdarfer, Printer of the Decameron of 1471. + Gutemberg, Fust, and Schæffher, the Inventors of + the Art of Printing. + William Caxton, the Father of the British Press. + Dame Juliana Barnes, and the St. Alban's Press. + Wynkyn de Worde and Richard Pynson, the Illustrious + Successors of William Caxton. + The Aldine Family, at Venice. + The Giunta Family at Florence. + The Society of the Bibliophiles at Paris. + The Prosperity of the Roxburghe Club. + The Cause of Bibliomania all over the World. + +To show that the pursuits of the Roxburghe Club have been estimated +with a difference, we quote what may be termed "another side of the +question":-- + +"Among other follies of the age of paper, which took place in England +at the end of the reign of George III., a set of book-fanciers, who +had more money than wit, formed themselves into a club, and +appropriately designated themselves the _Bibliomaniacs_. Dr. Dibdin +was their organ; and among the club were several noblemen, who, in +other respects, were esteemed men of sense. Their rage was, not to +estimate books according to their intrinsic worth, but for their +rarity. Hence, any volume of the vilest trash, which was scarce, +merely because it never had any sale, fetched fifty or a hundred +pounds; but if it were but one of two or three known copies, no limits +could be set to the price. Books altered in the title-page, or in a +leaf, or any trivial circumstance which varied a few copies, were +bought by these _soi-disant_ maniacs, at one, two, or three hundred +pounds, though the copies were not really worth more than threepence +per pound. A trumpery edition of Boccaccio, said to be one of two +known copies, was thus bought by a noble marquis for £1475, though in +two or three years afterwards he resold it for £500. First editions of +all authors, and editions by the first clumsy printers, were never +sold for less than £50, £100, or £200. + +"To keep each other in countenance, these persons formed themselves +into a club, and, after a Duke, one of their fraternity, called +themselves the _Roxburghe Club_. To gratify them, _facsimile_ copies +of clumsy editions of trumpery books were reprinted; and, in some +cases, it became worth the while of more ingenious persons to play off +forgeries upon them. This mania after awhile abated and, in future +ages, it will be ranked with the tulip and the picture mania, during +which, estates were given for single flowers and pictures." + +The Roxburghe Club still exists; and, with the Dilettanti Society, may +justly be said to have suggested the Publishing Societies of the +present day, at the head of which is the Camden. The late Duke of +Devonshire was a munificent member of the Roxburghe. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[15] These Tureens were removed for two dishes of White Bait. + + + + +THE SOCIETY OF PAST OVERSEERS, WESTMINSTER. + + +There are several parochial Clubs in the metropolis; but that of the +important parish of St. Margaret's, Westminster, with "Past Overseers" +for its members, has signalized itself by the _accumulation_ and +preservation of an unique heirloom, which is a very curious collection +of memorials of the last century and a half, exhibiting various tastes +and styles of art in their respective commemorations, in a sort of +_chronology in silver_. + +Such is the St. Margaret's Overseer's Box, which originated as +follows. It appears that a Mr. Monck purchased, at Horn Fair, held at +Charlton, Kent, a small tobacco-box for the sum of fourpence, from +which he often replenished his neighbour's pipe, at the meetings of +his predecessors and companions in the office of Overseers of the +Poor, to whom the Box was presented in 1713. In 1720, the Society of +Past Overseers ornamented the lid with a silver rim, commemorating the +donor. In 1726, a silver side case and bottom were added. In 1740, an +embossed border was placed upon the lid, and the under part enriched +with an emblem of Charity. In 1746, Hogarth engraved inside the lid a +bust of the Duke of Cumberland, with allegorical figures, and scroll +commemorating the Battle of Culloden. In 1765, an interwoven scroll +was added to the lid, enclosing a plate with the arms of the City of +Westminster, and inscribed: "This Box to be delivered to every +succeeding set of Overseers, on penalty of five guineas." + +The original Horn box being thus ornamented, additional cases were +provided by the Senior Overseers for the time being,--namely, silver +plates engraved with emblematical and historical subjects and busts. +Among the first are a View of the Fireworks in St. James's Park, to +celebrate the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1749; Admiral Keppel's Action +off Ushant, and his acquittal after a court-martial; the Battle of the +Nile; the Repulse of Admiral Linois, 1804; the Battle of Trafalgar, +1805; the Action between the San Fiorenzo and La Piémontaise, 1808; +the Battle of Waterloo, 1815; the Bombardment of Algiers, 1816; View +of the House of Lords at the Trial of Queen Caroline; the Coronation +of George IV.; and his Visit to Scotland, 1822. + +There are also--Portraits of John Wilkes, Churchwarden in 1759; +Nelson, Duncan, Howe, Vincent; Fox and Pitt, 1806; George IV. as +Prince Regent, 1811; the Princess Charlotte, 1817; and Queen +Charlotte, 1818. But the more interesting representations are those of +local circumstances; as the Interior of Westminster Hall, with the +Westminster Volunteers, attending Divine Service at the drum-head on +the Fast Day, 1803; the Old Sessions House; a view of St. Margaret's, +from the north-east; and the West Front Tower, and altar-piece. In +1813, a large silver plate was added to the outer case, with a +portrait of the Duke of Wellington, commemorating the centenary of the +agglomeration of the Box. + +The top of the second case represents the Governors of the Poor, in +their Board-room, and this inscription: "The original Box and cases to +be given to every succeeding set of Overseers, on penalty of fifty +guineas, 1783." On the outside of the first case is a clever engraving +of a cripple. + +In 1785, Mr. Gilbert exhibited the Box to some friends after dinner: +at night, thieves broke in, and carried off all the plate that had +been in use; but the box had been removed beforehand to a bedchamber. + +In 1793, Mr. Read, a Past Overseer, detained the Box, because his +accounts were not passed. An action was brought for its recovery, +which was long delayed, owing to two members of the Society giving +Read a release, which he successfully pleaded in bar to the action. +This rendered it necessary to take proceedings in equity: accordingly, +a Bill was filed in Chancery against all three, and Read was compelled +to deposit the box with Master Leeds until the end of the suit. Three +years of litigation ensued. Eventually the Chancellor directed the Box +to be restored to the Overseers' Society, and Mr. Read paid in costs +£300. The extra costs amounted to £76. 13_s._ 11_d._, owing to the +illegal proceedings of Mr. Read. The sum of £91. 7_s._ was at once +raised; and the surplus spent upon a third case, of octagon shape. The +top records the triumph: Justice trampling upon a prostrate man, from +whose face a mask falls upon a writhing serpent. A second plate, on +the outside of the fly-lid, represents the Lord Chancellor +Loughborough, pronouncing his decree for the restoration of the Box, +March 5, 1796. + +On the fourth or outer case is the Anniversary Meeting of the Past +Overseers' Society, with the Churchwardens giving the charge previous +to delivering the Box to the succeeding Overseer, who is bound to +produce it at certain parochial entertainments, with three pipes of +tobacco at the least, under the penalty of six bottles of claret; and +to return the whole, with some addition, safe and sound, under a +penalty of 200 guineas. + +A tobacco-stopper of mother-of-pearl, with a silver chain, is enclosed +within the Box, and completes this unique Memorial of the kindly +feeling which perpetuates year by year the old ceremonies of this +united parish; and renders this traditionary piece of plate of great +price, far outweighing its intrinsic value.[16] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[16] Westminster. By the Rev. Mackenzie S. C. Walcott, M.A., Curate of +St. Margaret's, 1849, pp. 105-107. + + + + +THE ROBIN HOOD. + + +In the reign of George the Second there met, at a house in +Essex-street, in the Strand, the Robin Hood Society, a debating Club, +at which, every Monday, questions were proposed, and any member might +speak on them for seven minutes; after which the "baker," who presided +with a hammer in his hand, summed up the arguments. Arthur Mainwaring +and Dr. Hugh Chamberlain were among the earliest members of this +Society. Horace Walpole notices the Robin Hood as one of the +celebrities which Monsieur Beaumont _saw_ in 1761: "it is incredible," +says Walpole, "what pains he has taken to _see_:" he breakfasted at +Strawberry Hill with Walpole, who was then "as much a curiosity to all +foreigners as the tombs and lions." + +The Robin Hood became famous as the scene of Burke's earliest +eloquence. To discipline themselves in public speaking at its meetings +was then the custom among law-students, and others intended for public +life; and it is said that at the Robin Hood, Burke had commonly to +encounter an opponent whom nobody else could overcome, or at least +silence: this person was the president. Oliver Goldsmith was +introduced to the Club by Samuel Derrick, his acquaintance and +countryman. Struck by the eloquence and imposing aspect of the +president, who sat in a large gilt chair, Goldsmith thought Nature had +meant him for a lord chancellor: "No, no," whispered Derrick, who knew +him to be a wealthy baker from the City, "only for a master of the +rolls." Goldsmith was little of an orator; but, till Derrick went away +to succeed Beau Nash at Bath, seems to have continued his visits, and +even spoke occasionally; for he figures in an account of the members +published at about this time, as "a candid disputant, with a clear +head and an honest heart, though coming but seldom to the Society." + +One of the members of this Robin Hood was Peter Annet, a man who, +though ingenious and deserving in other respects, became unhappily +notorious by a kind of fanatic crusade against the Bible, for which +(published weekly papers against the Book of Genesis,) he stood twice +in one year in the pillory, and then underwent imprisonment in the +King's Bench. To Annet's room in that prison went Goldsmith, taking +with him Newbery, the publisher, to conclude the purchase of a Child's +Grammar from the prisoner, hoping so to relieve his distress; but on +the prudent publisher suggesting that no name should appear on the +title-page, and Goldsmith agreeing that circumstances made this +advisable, Annet accused them both of cowardice, and rejected their +assistance with contempt.[17] + + + + +THE BLUE-STOCKING CLUB. + + +The earliest mention of a Blue-Stocking, or _Bas-Bleu_, occurs in the +Greek comedy, entitled the _Banquet of Plutarch_. The term, as applied +to a lady of high literary taste, has been traced by Mills, in his +_History of Chivalry_, to the Society de la Calza, formed at Venice, +in 1400, "when, consistently with the singular custom of the Italians, +of marking academies and other intellectual associations by some +external sign of folly, the members, when they met in literary +discussion, were distinguished by the colour of their stockings. The +colours were sometimes fantastically blended; and at other times one +colour, particularly _blue_, prevailed." The Society de la Calza +lasted till 1590, when the foppery of Italian literature took some +other symbol. The rejected title then crossed the Alps, and found a +congenial soil in Parisian society, and particularly branded female +pedantry. It then diverted from France to England, and for awhile +marked the vanity of the small advances in literature in female +coteries. + +But the _Blue-stocking_ of the last century is of home-growth; for +Boswell, in his _Life of Johnson_, date 1781, records: "About this +time it was much the fashion for several ladies to have evening +assemblies, where the fair sex might participate in conversation with +literary and ingenious men, animated by a desire to please. One of the +most eminent members of these societies, when they first commenced, +was Mr. Stillingfleet (grandson of the Bishop), whose dress was +remarkably grave; and in particular it was observed that he wore blue +stockings. Such was the excellence of his conversation, that his +absence was felt so great a loss that it used to be said, 'We can do +nothing without the _blue stockings_;'" and thus by degrees the title +was established. Miss Hannah More has admirably described a +_Blue-Stocking Club_, in her _Bas-Bleu_, a poem in which many of the +persons who were most conspicuous there are mentioned. And Horace +Walpole speaks of this production as "a charming poetic familiarity +called 'the Blue-Stocking Club.'" + +The Club met at the house of Mrs. Montagu, at the north-west angle of +Portman-square. Forbes, in his _Life of Beattie_, gives another +account: "This Society consisted originally of Mrs. Montagu, Mrs. +Vesey, Miss Boscawen, and Mrs. Carter, Lord Lyttelton, Mr. Pulteney, +Horace Walpole, and Mr. Stillingfleet. To the latter gentleman, a man +of great piety and worth, and author of some works in natural history, +etc., this constellation of talents owed that whimsical appellation of +'Bas-Bleu.' Mr. Stillingfleet being somewhat of an humourist in his +habits and manners, and a little negligent in his dress, literally +wore gray stockings; from which circumstance Admiral Boscawen used, by +way of pleasantry, to call them 'The Blue-Stocking Society,' as if to +intimate that when these brilliant friends met, it was not for the +purpose of forming a dressed assembly. A foreigner of distinction +hearing the expression, translated it literally 'Bas-Bleu,' by which +these meetings came to be afterwards distinguished." Dr. Johnson +sometimes joined this circle. The last of the Club was the lively Miss +Monckton, afterwards Countess of Cork, "who used to have the finest +_bit of blue_ at the house of her mother Lady Galway." Lady Cork died +at upwards of ninety years of age, at her house in New Burlington-street, +in 1840. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[17] Forster's _Life of Goldsmith_, p. 253. + + + + +THE IVY-LANE CLUB. + + +This was one of the creations of Dr. Johnson's _clubbable_ nature, +which served as recreation for this laborious worker. He was now +"tugging at the oar," in Gough-square, Fleet-street. Boswell describes +him as "engaged in a steady, continued course of occupation." "But his +enlarged and lively mind could not be satisfied without more diversity +of employment, and the pleasure of animated relaxation. He therefore +not only exerted his talents in occasional composition, very +different from lexicography, but formed a Club in Ivy-lane, +Paternoster-row, with a view to enjoy literary discussion, and amuse +his evening hours. The members associated with him in this little +Society were his beloved friend Dr. Richard Bathurst; Mr. Hawkesworth, +afterwards well known by his writings; Mr. John Hawkins, an attorney; +and a few others of different professions." The Club met every Tuesday +evening at the King's Head, a beef-steak house in Ivy-lane. One of the +members, Hawkins, then Sir John, has given a very lively picture of a +celebration by this Club, at the Devil Tavern, in Fleet-street, which +forms one of the pleasantest pages in the Author's Life of Johnson. +Sir John tells us: + +"One evening, at the [Ivy-lane] Club, Dr. Johnson proposed to us +celebrating the birth of Mrs. Lennox's first literary child, as he +called her book, by a whole night spent in festivity. The place +appointed was the Devil Tavern; and there, about the hour of eight, +Mrs. Lennox, and her husband, and a lady of her acquaintance now +living [1785], as also the Club and friends, to the number of near +twenty, assembled. Our supper was elegant, and Johnson had directed +that a magnificent hot apple-pye should make a part of it, and this he +would have stuck with bay-leaves, because, forsooth, Mrs. Lennox was +an authoress, and had written verses; and further, he had prepared for +her a crown of laurel, with which, but not until he had invoked the +Muses by some ceremonies of his own invention, he encircled her brows. +The night passed, as must be imagined, in pleasant conversation and +harmless mirth, intermingled, at different periods, with the +refreshments of coffee and tea. About five, Johnson's face shone with +meridian splendour, though his drink had been only lemonade; but the +far greater part of us had deserted the colours of Bacchus, and were +with difficulty rallied to partake of a second refreshment of coffee, +which was scarcely ended when the day began to dawn. This phenomenon +began to put us in mind of our reckoning; but the waiters were all so +overcome with sleep, that it was two hours before we could get a bill, +and it was not till near eight that the creaking of the street-door +gave the signal for our departure." + +When Johnson, the year before his death, endeavoured to re-assemble as +many of the Club as were left, he found, to his regret, he wrote to +Hawkins, that Horseman, the landlord, was dead, and the house shut up. + +About this time, Johnson instituted a Club at the Queen's Arms, in St. +Paul's Churchyard. "He told Mr. Hook," says Boswell, "that he wished +to have _a City Club_, and asked him to collect one; but," said he, +"don't let them be patriots." (Boswell's _Life_, 8th edit. vol. iv. p. +93.) This was an allusion to the friends of his acquaintance Wilkes. +Boswell accompanied him one day to the Club, and found the members +"very sensible, well-behaved men." + + + + +THE ESSEX HEAD CLUB. + + +In the year before he died, at the Essex Head, now No. 40, in +Essex-street, Strand, Dr. Johnson established a little evening Club, +under circumstances peculiarly interesting, as described by Boswell. +He tells us that "notwithstanding the complication of disorders under +which Johnson now laboured, he did not resign himself to despondency +and discontent, but with wisdom and spirit endeavoured to console and +amuse his mind with as many innocent enjoyments as he could procure." +Sir John Hawkins has mentioned the cordiality with which he insisted +that such of the members of the old Club in Ivy-lane as survived, +should meet again and dine together, which they did, twice at a +tavern, and once at his house; and in order to ensure himself in the +evening for three days in the week, Johnson instituted a Club at the +Essex Head, in Essex-street, then kept by Samuel Greaves, an old +servant of Mr. Thrale's: it was called "Sam's." + +On Dec. 4, 1783, Johnson wrote to Sir Joshua Reynolds, giving an +account of this Club, of which Reynolds had desired to be one; "the +company," Dr. J. says, "is numerous, and, as you will see by the list, +miscellaneous. The terms are lax, and the expenses light. Mr. Barry +was adopted by Dr. Brocklesby, who joined with me in forming the plan. +We meet twice a week, and he who misses forfeits twopence." It did not +suit Sir Joshua to be one of this Club; "but," says Boswell, "when I +mention only Mr. Daines Barrington, Dr. Brocklesby, Mr. Murphy, Mr. +John Nichols, Mr. Cooke, Mr. Joddrel, Mr. Paradise, Dr. Horsley, Mr. +Windham, I shall sufficiently obviate the misrepresentation of it by +Sir John Hawkins, as if it had been a low ale-house association, by +which Johnson was degraded." The Doctor himself, like his namesake, +Old Ben, composed the Rules of his Club. Boswell was, at this time, in +Scotland, and during all the winter. Johnson, however, declared that +he should be a member, and invented a word upon the occasion: +"Boswell," said he, "is a very _clubbable_ man;" and he was +subsequently chosen of the Club. + +Johnson headed the Rules with these lines:-- + + "To-day deep thoughts with me resolve to drench + In mirth, which after no repenting draws."--_Milton._ + +Johnson's attention to the Club was unceasing, as appears by a letter +to Alderman Clark, (afterwards Lord Mayor and Chamberlain,) who was +elected into the Club: the postscript is: "You ought to be informed +that the forfeits began with the year, and that every night of +non-attendance incurs the mulct of three pence; that is, ninepence a +week." Johnson himself was so anxious in his attendance, that going to +meet the Club when he was not strong enough, he was seized with a +spasmodic asthma, so violent, that he could scarcely return home, and +he was confined to his house eight or nine weeks. He recovered by May +15, when he was in fine spirits at the Club. + +Boswell writes of the Essex: "I believe there are few Societies where +there is better conversation, or more decorum. Several of us resolved +to continue it after our great founder was removed by death. Other +members were added; and now, above eight years since that loss, we go +on happily." + + + + +THE LITERARY CLUB. + + +Out of the casual, but frequent meetings of men of talent at the +hospitable board of Sir Joshua Reynolds, in Leicester-square, rose +that association of wits, authors, scholars, and statesmen, renowned +as the Literary Club. Reynolds was the first to propose a regular +association of the kind, and was eagerly seconded by Johnson, who +suggested as a model the Club which he had formed some fourteen years +previously, in Ivy-lane;[18] and which the deaths or dispersion of its +members had now interrupted for nearly seven years. On this suggestion +being adopted, the members, as in the earlier Club, were limited to +nine, and Mr. Hawkins, as an original member of the Ivy-lane Club, was +invited to join. Topham Beauclerk and Bennet Langton were asked and +welcomed earnestly; and, of course, Mr. Edmund Burke. The notion of +the Club delighted Burke; and he asked admission for his +father-in-law, Dr. Nugent, an accomplished Roman Catholic physician, +who lived with him. Beauclerk, in like manner, suggested his friend +Chamier, then Under-Secretary-at-War. Oliver Goldsmith completed the +number. But another member of the original Ivy-lane, Samuel Dyer, +making unexpected appearance from abroad, in the following year, was +joyfully admitted; and though it was resolved to make election +difficult, and only for special reasons permit addition to their +number, the limitation at first proposed was thus, of course, done +away with. Twenty was the highest number reached in the course of ten +years. + +The dates of the Club are thus summarily given by Mr. Hatchett, the +treasurer:--It was founded in 1764, by Sir Joshua Reynolds and Dr. +Samuel Johnson, and for some years met on Monday evenings, at seven. +In 1772, the day of meeting was changed to Friday, and about that +time, instead of supping, they agreed to dine together once in every +fortnight during the sitting of Parliament. In 1773, the Club, which, +soon after its foundation, consisted of twelve members, was enlarged +to twenty; March 11, 1777, to twenty-six; November 27, 1778, to +thirty; May 9, 1780, to thirty-five; and it was then resolved that it +should never exceed forty. It met originally at the Turk's Head, in +Gerard-street, and continued to meet there till 1783, when their +landlord died, and the house was soon afterwards shut up. They then +removed to Prince's, in Sackville-street; and on his house being, soon +afterwards, shut up, they removed to Baxter's, which afterwards became +Thomas's, in Dover-street. In January, 1792, they removed to +Parsloe's, in St. James's-street; and on February 26, 1799, to the +Thatched House, in the same street. + +"So originated and was formed," says Mr. Forster, "that famous Club, +which had made itself a name in literary history long before it +received, at Garrick's funeral, the name of the Literary Club, by +which it is now known. Its meetings were noised abroad; the fame of +its conversations received eager addition, from the difficulty of +obtaining admission to it; and it came to be as generally understood +that Literature had fixed her social head-quarters here, as that +Politics reigned supreme at Wildman's, or the Cocoa-tree. With +advantage, let me add, to the dignity and worldly consideration of men +of letters themselves. 'I believe Mr. Fox will allow me to say,' +remarked the Bishop of St. Asaph, when the Society was not more than +fifteen years old, 'that the honour of being elected into the Turk's +Head Club, is not inferior to that of being the representative of +Westminster or Surrey.' The Bishop had just been elected; but into +such lusty independence had the Club sprung up thus early, that +Bishops, even Lord Chancellors, were known to have knocked for +admission unsuccessfully; and on the night of St. Asaph's election, +Lord Camden and the Bishop of Chester were black-balled." + +Of this Club, Hawkins was a most unpopular member: even his old +friend, Johnson, admitted him to be out of place here. He had objected +to Goldsmith, at the Club, "as a mere literary drudge, equal to the +task of compiling and translating, but little capable of original, and +still less of poetical composition." Hawkins's "existence was a kind +of pompous, parsimonious, insignificant drawl, cleverly ridiculed by +one of the wits in an absurd epitaph: 'Here lies Sir John Hawkins, +without his shoes and stauckins.'" He was as mean as he was pompous +and conceited. He forbore to partake of the suppers at the Club, and +begged therefore to be excused from paying his share of the reckoning. +"And was he excused?" asked Dr. Burney, of Johnson. "Oh yes, for no +man is angry at another for being inferior to himself. We all scorned +him, and admitted his plea. Yet I really believe him to be an honest +man at bottom, though, to be sure, he is penurious and he is mean, and +it must be owned that he has a tendency to savageness." He did not +remain above two or three years in the Club, being in a manner elbowed +out in consequence of his rudeness to Burke. Still, Burke's vehemence +of will and sharp impetuosity of temper constantly exposed him to +prejudice and dislike; and he may have painfully impressed others, as +well as Hawkins, at the Club, with a sense of his predominance. This +was the only theatre open to him. "Here only," says Mr. Forster, +"could he as yet pour forth, to an audience worth exciting, the stores +of argument and eloquence he was thirsting to employ upon a wider +stage; the variety of knowledge, the fund of astonishing imagery, the +ease of philosophic illustration, the overpowering copiousness of +words, in which he has never had a rival." Miss Hawkins was convinced +that her father was disgusted with the overpowering deportment of Mr. +Burke, and his monopoly of the conversation, which made all the other +members, excepting his antagonist, Johnson, merely listeners. +Something of the same sort is said by that antagonist, though in a +more generous way. "What I most envy Burke for," said Johnson, "is, +that he is never what we call humdrum; never unwilling to begin to +talk, nor in haste to leave off. Take up whatever topic you please, he +is ready to meet you. I cannot say he is good at listening. So +desirous is he to talk, that if one is speaking at this end of the +table, he'll speak to somebody at the other end." + +The Club was an opportunity for both Johnson and Burke; and for the +most part their wit-combats seem not only to have instructed the rest, +but to have improved the temper of the combatants, and to have made +them more generous to each other. "How very great Johnson has been +to-night!" said Burke to Bennet Langton, as they left the Club +together. Langton assented, but could have wished to hear more from +another person. "Oh no!" replied Burke, "it is enough for me to have +rung the bell to him." + +One evening he observed that a hogshead of claret, which had been sent +as a present to the Club, was almost out; and proposed that Johnson +should write for another, in such ambiguity of expression as might +have a chance of procuring it also as a gift. One of the company said, +"Dr. Johnson shall be our dictator."--"Were I," said Johnson, "your +dictator, you should have no wine: it would be my business cavere ne +quid detrimenti respublica caperet:--wine is dangerous; Rome was +ruined by luxury." Burke replied: "If you allow no wine as dictator, +you shall not have me for master of the horse." + +Goldsmith, it must be owned, joined the Club somewhat unwillingly, +saying: "One must make some sacrifices to obtain good society; for +here I am shut out of several places where I used to play the fool +very agreeably." His simplicity of character and hurried expression +often led him into absurdity, and he became in some degree the butt of +the company. The Club, notwithstanding all its learned dignity in the +eyes of the world, could occasionally unbend and play the fool as well +as less important bodies. Some of its jocose conversations have at +times leaked out; and the Society in which Goldsmith could venture to +sing his song of "An Old Woman tossed in a Blanket" could not be so +very staid in its gravity. Bennet Langton and Topham Beauclerk were, +doubtless, induced to join the Club through their devotion to Johnson, +and the intimacy of these two very young and aristocratic young men +with the stern and somewhat melancholy moralist. Bennet Langton was of +an ancient family, who held their ancestral estate of Langton in +Lincolnshire, a great title to respect with Johnson. "Langton, Sir," +he would say, "has a grant of free warren from Henry the Second; and +Cardinal Stephen Langton, in King John's reign, was of this family." + +Langton was of a mild, contemplative, enthusiastic nature. When but +eighteen years of age, he was so delighted with reading Johnson's +_Rambler_, that he came to London chiefly with a view to obtain an +introduction to the author. + +Langton went to pursue his studies at Trinity College, Oxford, where +Johnson saw much of him during a visit which he paid to the +University. He found him in close intimacy with Topham Beauclerk, a +youth two years older than himself, very gay and dissipated, and +wondered what sympathies could draw two young men together of such +opposite characters. On becoming acquainted with Beauclerk, he found +that, rake though he was, he possessed an ardent love of literature, +an acute understanding, polished wit, innate gentility, and high +aristocratic breeding. He was, moreover, the only son of Lord Sidney +Beauclerk, and grandson of the Duke of St. Albans, and was thought in +some particulars to have a resemblance to Charles the Second. These +were high recommendations with Johnson; and when the youth testified a +profound respect for him, and an ardent admiration of his talents, the +conquest was complete; so that in a "short time," says Boswell, "the +moral, pious Johnson and the gay dissipated Beauclerk were +companions." + +When these two young men entered the Club, Langton was about +twenty-two, and Beauclerk about twenty-four years of age, and both +were launched on London life. Langton, however, was still the mild, +enthusiastic scholar, steeped to the lips in Greek, with fine +conversational powers, and an invaluable talent for listening. He was +upwards of six feet high, and very spare. "Oh that we could sketch +him!" exclaims Miss Hawkins, in her Memoirs, "with his mild +countenance, his elegant features, and his sweet smile, sitting with +one leg twisted round the other, as if fearing to occupy more space +than was equitable; his person inclining forward, as if wanting +strength to support his weight; and his arms crossed over his bosom, +or his hands locked together on his knee." Beauclerk, on such +occasions, sportively compared him to a stork in Raphael's cartoons, +standing on one leg. Beauclerk was more a "man upon town," a lounger +in St. James's-street, an associate with George Selwyn, with Walpole, +and other aristocratic wits, a man of fashion at court, a casual +frequenter of the gaming-table; yet, with all this, he alternated in +the easiest and happiest manner the scholar and the man of letters; +lounged into the Club with the most perfect self-possession, bringing +with him the careless grace and polished wit of high-bred society, but +making himself cordially at home among his learned fellow-members. + +Johnson was exceedingly chary at first of the exclusiveness of the +Club, and opposed to its being augmented in number. Not long after its +institution, Sir Joshua Reynolds was speaking of it to Garrick. "I +like it much," said little David, briskly, "I think I shall be of +you." "When Sir Joshua mentioned this to Dr. Johnson," says Boswell, +"he was much displeased with the actor's conceit. '_He'll be of us!_' +growled he; 'how does he know we will _permit_ him? The first duke in +England has no right to hold such language." + +When Sir John Hawkins spoke favourably of Garrick's pretensions, +"Sir," replied Johnson, "he will disturb us by his buffoonery." In the +same spirit he declared to Mr. Thrale, that if Garrick should apply +for admission, he would black-ball him. "Who, Sir?" exclaimed Thrale, +with surprise: "Mr. Garrick--your friend, your companion--black-ball +him?" "Why, Sir," replied Johnson, "I love my little David +dearly--better than all or any of his flatterers do; but surely one +ought to sit in a society like ours, + + "Unelbowed by a gamester, pimp, or player." + +The exclusion from the Club was a sore mortification to Garrick, +though he bore it without complaining. He could not help continually +asking questions about it--what was going on there?--whether he was +ever the subject of conversation? By degrees the rigour of the Club +relaxed; some of the members grew negligent. Beauclerk lost his right +of membership by neglecting to attend. On his marriage, however, with +Lady Diana Spencer, daughter of the Duke of Marlborough, and recently +divorced from Viscount Bolingbroke, he had claimed and regained his +seat in the Club. The number of the members had likewise been +augmented. The proposition to increase it originated with Goldsmith. +"It would give," he thought, "an agreeable variety to their meetings; +for there can be nothing new amongst us," said he; "we have travelled +over each other's minds." Johnson was piqued at the suggestion. "Sir," +said he, "you have not travelled over my mind, I promise you." Sir +Joshua, less confident in the exhaustless fecundity of his mind, felt +and acknowledged the force of Goldsmith's suggestion. Several new +members, therefore, had been added; the first, to his great joy, was +David Garrick. Goldsmith, who was now on cordial terms with him, had +zealously promoted his election, and Johnson had given it his warm +approbation. Another new member was Beauclerk's friend, Lord +Charlemont; and a still more important one was Mr., afterwards Sir +William Jones, the linguist. George Colman, the elder, was a lively +Club-man. One evening at the Club he met Boswell; they talked of +Johnson's _Journey to the Western Islands_, and of his coming away +"willing to believe the second sight," which seemed to excite some +ridicule. "I was then," says Boswell, "so impressed with the truth of +many of the stories which I had been told, that I avowed my +conviction, saying, "He is only _willing_ to believe--I _do_ believe; +the evidence is enough for me, though not for his great mind. What +will not fill a quart bottle will fill a pint bottle; I am filled with +belief."--"Are you?" said Colman; "then cork it up."" + +Five years after the death of Garrick, Dr. Johnson dined with the Club +_for the last time_. This is one of the most melancholy entries by +Boswell. "On Tuesday, June 22 (1784), I dined with him (Johnson) at +the Literary Club, the last time of his being in that respectable +society. The other members present were the Bishop of St. Asaph, Lord +Eliot, Lord Palmerston (father of the Premier), Dr. Fordyce, and Mr. +Malone. He looked ill; but he had such a manly fortitude, that he did +not trouble the company with melancholy complaints. They all showed +evident marks of kind concern about him, with which he was much +pleased, and he exerted himself to be as entertaining as his +indisposition allowed him." + +From the time of Garrick's death the Club was known as "The Literary +Club," since which it has certainly lost its claim to this epithet. It +was originally a club of authors _by profession_; it now numbers very +few except titled members (the majority having some claims to literary +distinction), which was very far from the intention of its founders. +To this the author of the paper in the _National Review_ demurs. +Writing in 1857, he says: "Perhaps it now numbers on its list more +titled members and fewer authors by profession, than its founders +would have considered desirable. This opinion, however, is quite open +to challenge. Such men as the Marquis of Lansdowne, the late Lord +Ellesmere, Lords Brougham, Carlisle, Aberdeen, and Glenelg, hold their +place in 'the Literary Club' quite as much by virtue of their +contributions to literature, or their enlightened support of it, as by +their right of rank." [How many of these noble members have since paid +the debt of nature!] + +"At all events," says Mr. Taylor, "the Club still acknowledges +literature as its foundation, and love of literature as the tie which +binds together its members, whatever their rank and callings. Few +Clubs can show such a distinguished brotherhood of members as 'the +Literary.' Of authors proper, from 1764 to this date (1857), may be +enumerated, besides its original members, Johnson and Goldsmith, Dyer +and Percy, Gibbon and Sir William Jones, Colman, the two Wartons, +Farmer, Steevens, Burney, and Malone, Frere and George Ellis, Hallam, +Milman, Mountstuart Elphinstone, and Lord Stanhope. + +"Among men equally conspicuous in letters and the Senate, what names +outshine those of Burke and Sheridan, Canning, Brougham, and Macaulay? +Of statesmen and orators proper, the Club claims Fox, Windham, Thomas +Grenville, Lord Liverpool; Lords Lansdowne, Aberdeen, and Clarendon. +Natural science is represented by Sir Joseph Banks, in the last +century; by Professor Owen in this. Social science can have no nobler +representative than Adam Smith; albeit, Boswell did think the Club had +lost caste by electing him. Mr. N. W. Senior is the political +economist of the present Club. Whewell must stand alone as the +embodiment of omniscience, which before him was unrepresented. +Scholars and soldiers may be equally proud of Rennel, Leake, and Mure. +Besides the clergymen already enumerated as authors, the Church has +contributed a creditable list of bishops and inferior dignitaries: +Shipley of St. Asaph, Barnard of Killaloe, Marley of Pomfret, +Hinchcliffe of Peterborough, Douglas of Salisbury, Blomfield of +London, Wilberforce of Oxford, Dean Vincent of Westminster, Archdeacon +Burney; and Dr. Hawtrey, late master and present provost of Eton. + +"Sir Joshua Reynolds and Sir Charles Eastlake are its two chief +pillars of art, slightly unequal. With them we may associate Sir +William Chambers and Charles Wilkins. The presence of Drs. Nugent, +Blagden, Fordyce, Warren, Vaughan, and Sir Henry Halford, is a proof +that in the Club medicine has from the first kept up its kinship with +literature. + +"The profession of the law has given the Society Lord Ashburton, Lord +Stowell, and Sir William Grant, Charles Austin, and Pemberton Leigh. +Lord Overstone may stand as the symbol of money; unless Sir George +Cornewall Lewis is to be admitted to that honour by virtue of his +Chancellorship of the Exchequer. Sir George would, probably, prefer +his claims to Club membership as a scholar and political writer, to +any that can be picked out of a Budget. + +"Take it all in all, the Literary Club has never degenerated from the +high standard of intellectual gifts and personal qualities, which made +those unpretending suppers at the Turk's Head an honour eagerly +contended for by the wisest, wittiest, and noblest of the eighteenth +century." + +Malone, in 1810, gave the total number of those who had been members +of the Club from its foundation, at seventy-six, of whom fifty-five +had been authors. Since 1810, however, literature has far less +preponderance. + +The designation of the Society has been again changed to "the Johnson +Club." Upon the taking down of the Thatched House Tavern, the Club +removed to the Clarendon Hotel, in Bond-street, where was celebrated +its centenary, in September, 1864. There were present, upon this +memorable occasion,--in the chair, the Dean of St. Paul's; his +Excellency M. Van de Weyer, Earls Clarendon and Stanhope; the Bishops +of London and Oxford; Lords Brougham, Stanley, Cranworth, Kingsdown, +and Harry Vane; the Right Hon. Sir Edmund Head, Spencer Walpole, and +Robert Lowe; Sir Henry Holland, Sir C. Eastlake, Sir Roderick +Murchison, Vice-Chancellor Sir W. Page Wood, the Master of Trinity, +Professor Owen, Mr. G. Grote, Mr. C. Austen, Mr. H. Reeve, and Mr. G. +Richmond. Among the few members prevented from attending were the Duke +of Argyll (in Scotland), the Earl of Carlisle (in Ireland), Earl +Russell, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Overstone (at Oxford), +Lord Glenelg (abroad), and Mr. W. Stirling (from indisposition). Mr. +N. W. Senior, who was the political economist of the Club, died in +June, preceding, in his sixty-fourth year. + +Hallam and Macaulay were among the constant attendants at its dinners, +which take place twice a month during the Parliamentary season. The +custody of the books and archives of the Club rests with the +secretary, Dr. Milman, the venerable Dean of St. Paul's, who takes +great pride and pleasure in showing to literary friends the valuable +collection of autographs which these books contain. Among the +memorials is the portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds, with spectacles on, +similar to the picture in the Royal Collection: this portrait was +painted and presented by Sir Joshua, as the founder of the Club. + +Lord Macaulay has grouped, with his accustomed felicity of language, +this celebrated congress of men of letters. + +"To discuss questions of taste, of learning, of casuistry, in language +so exact and so forcible that it might have been printed without the +alteration of a word," was to Johnson no exertion, but a pleasure. He +loved, as he said, to fold his legs and have his talk out. He was +ready to bestow the overflowings of his full mind on anybody who would +start a subject, on a fellow-passenger in a stage-coach, or on the +person who sat at the same table with him in an eating-house. But his +conversation was nowhere so brilliant and striking as when he was +surrounded by a few friends, whose abilities and knowledge enabled +them, as he once expressed it, to send him back every ball that he +threw. Some of these, in 1764, formed themselves into a Club, which +gradually became a formidable power in the commonwealth of letters. +The verdicts pronounced by this conclave on new books were speedily +known over all London, and were sufficient to sell off a whole edition +in a day, or to condemn the sheets to the service of the trunk-maker +and the pastrycook. Nor shall we think this strange when we consider +what great and various talents and acquirements met in the little +fraternity. Goldsmith was the representative of poetry and light +literature, Reynolds of the Arts, Burke of political eloquence and +political philosophy. There, too, were Gibbon, the greatest historian, +and Jones, the greatest linguist of the age. Garrick brought to the +meetings his inexhaustible pleasantry, his incomparable mimicry, and +his consummate knowledge of stage effect. Among the most constant +attendants were two high-born and high-bred gentlemen, closely bound +together by friendship, but of widely different characters and +habits,--Bennet Langton, distinguished by his skill in Greek +literature, by the orthodoxy of his opinions, and by the sanctity of +his life; and Topham Beauclerk, renowned for his amours, his knowledge +of the gay world, his fastidious taste, and his sarcastic wit. To +predominate over such a society was not easy. Yet even over such a +society Johnson predominated. Burke might indeed have disputed the +supremacy to which others were under the necessity of submitting. But +Burke, though not generally a very patient listener, was content to +take the second part when Johnson was present; and the Club itself, +consisting of so many eminent men, is to this day popularly designated +as "Johnson's Club." + +To the same master-hand we owe this cabinet picture. "The [Literary +Club] room is before us, and the table on which stand the omelet for +Nugent, and the lemons for Johnson. There are assembled those heads +which live for ever on the canvas of Reynolds. There are the +spectacles of Burke, and the tall thin form of Langton; the courtly +sneer of Beauclerk, the beaming smile of Garrick, Gibbon tapping his +snuff-box, and Sir Joshua with his trumpet in his ear. In the +foreground is that strange figure which is as familiar to us as the +figures of those among whom we have been brought up--the gigantic +body, the huge massy face, seamed with the scars of disease; the brown +coat, the black worsted stockings, the grey wig with the scorched +foretop; the dirty hands, the nails bitten and pared to the quick. We +see the eyes and the nose moving with convulsive twitches; we see the +heavy form rolling; we hear it puffing; and then comes the 'Why, Sir?' +and the 'What then, Sir?' and the 'No, Sir!' and the 'You don't see +your way through the question, Sir!'" + +FOOTNOTES: + +[18] The house in Ivy-lane, which bore the name of Johnson, and where +the Literary Club is said to have been held, was burnt down a few +years since: it had long been a chop-house. + + + + +GOLDSMITH'S CLUBS. + + +However Goldsmith might court the learned circle of the Literary Club, +he was ill at ease there; and he had social resorts in which he +indemnified himself for this restraint by indulging his humour without +control. One of these was a Shilling Whist Club, which met at the +Devil Tavern. The company delighted in practical jokes, of which +Goldsmith was often the butt. One night, he came to the Club in a +hackney-coach, when he gave the driver a guinea instead of a shilling. +He set this down as a dead loss; but, on the next club-night, he was +told that a person at the street-door wanted to speak to him; he went +out, and to his surprise and delight, the coachman had brought him +back the guinea! To reward such honesty, he collected a small sum from +the Club, and largely increased it from his own purse, and with this +reward sent away the coachman. He was still loud in his praise, when +one of the Club asked to see the returned guinea. To Goldsmith's +confusion it proved to be a counterfeit: the laughter which succeeded, +showed him that the whole was a hoax, and the pretended coachman as +much a counterfeit as the guinea. He was so disconcerted that he soon +beat a retreat for the evening. + +Another of these small Clubs met on Wednesday evenings, at the Globe +Tavern, in Fleet-street; where songs, jokes, dramatic imitations, +burlesque parodies, and broad sallies of humour, were the +entertainments. Here a huge ton of a man, named Gordon, used to +delight Goldsmith with singing the jovial song of "Nottingham Ale," +and looking like a butt of it. Here too, a wealthy pig-butcher +aspired to be on the most sociable terms with Oliver; and here was Tom +King, the comedian, recently risen to eminence by his performance of +Lord Ogleby, in the new comedy of _The Clandestine Marriage_. A member +of note was also one Hugh Kelly, who was a kind of competitor of +Goldsmith, but a low one; for Johnson used to speak of him as a man +who had written more than he had read. Another noted frequenter of the +Globe and Devil taverns was one Glover, who, having failed in the +medical profession, took to the stage; but having succeeded in +restoring to life a malefactor who had just been executed, he +abandoned the stage, and resumed his wig and cane; and came to London +to dabble in physic and literature. He used to amuse the company at +the Club by his story-telling and mimicry, giving capital imitations +of Garrick, Foote, Colman, Sterne, and others. It was through +Goldsmith that Glover was admitted to the Wednesday Club; he was, +however, greatly shocked by the free-and-easy tone in which Goldsmith +was addressed by the pig-butcher; "Come, Noll," he would say as he +pledged him, "here's my service to you, old boy." + +The evening's amusement at the Wednesday Club was not, however, +limited; it had the variety of epigram, and here was first heard the +celebrated epitaph, (Goldsmith had been reading Pope and Swift's +Miscellanies,) on Edward Purdon:-- + + "Here lies poor Ned Purdon, from misery freed, + Who long was a bookseller's hack; + He had led such a damnable life in this world, + I don't think he'll wish to come back." + +It was in April of the present year that Purdon closed his luckless +life by suddenly dropping down dead in Smithfield; and as it was +chiefly Goldsmith's pittance that had saved him thus long from +starvation, it was well that the same friend should give him his +solitary chance of escape from oblivion. "Doctor Goldsmith made this +epitaph," says William Ballantyne, "in his way from his chambers in +the Temple to the Wednesday evening Club at the Globe. _I think he +will never come back_, I believe he said; I was sitting by him, and he +repeated it more than once. _I think he will never come back!_ Ah! and +not altogether as a jest, it may be, the second and the third time. +There was something in Purdon's fate, from their first meeting in +college to that incident in Smithfield, which had no very violent +contrast to his own; and remembering what Glover had said of his +frequent sudden descents from mirth to melancholy, some such faithful +change of temper would here have been natural enough. 'His +disappointments at these times,' Glover tells us, 'made him peevish +and sullen, and he has often left his party of convivial friends +abruptly in the evening, in order to go home and brood over his +misfortunes.' But a better medicine for his grief than brooding over +it, was a sudden start into the country to forget it; and it was +probably with a feeling of this kind he had in the summer revisited +Islington; he laboured during the autumn in a room of Canonbury Tower; +and often, in the evening, presided at the Crown tavern, in Islington +Lower Road, where Goldsmith and his fellow-lodgers had formed a kind +of temporary club. At the close of the year he returned to the Temple, +and was again pretty constant in his attendance at Gerard-street."[19] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[19] See Forster's _Life of Goldsmith_, pp. 422-424. + + + + +THE DILETTANTI SOCIETY. + + +The origin of this Society, which has now existed some 130 years, is +due to certain gentlemen, who had travelled much in Italy, and were +desirous of encouraging at home a taste for those objects which had +contributed so much to their intellectual gratification abroad. +Accordingly, in the year 1734, they formed themselves into a Society, +under the name of Dilettanti, (literally, lovers of the Fine Arts,) +and agreed upon certain Regulations to keep up the spirit of their +scheme, which combined friendly and social intercourse with a serious +and ardent desire to promote the Arts. In 1751, Mr. James Stuart, +"Athenian Stuart," and Mr. Nicholas Revett, were elected members. The +Society liberally assisted them in their excellent work, _The +Antiquities of Athens_. In fact it was, in great measure, owing to +this Society that after the death of the above two eminent architects, +the work was not entirely relinquished; and a large number of the +plates were engraved from drawings in the possession of the +Dilettanti. Walpole, speaking in 1743, of the Society, in connexion +with an opera subscription, says, "The nominal qualification [to be a +member] is having been in Italy, and the real one, being drunk; the +two chiefs are Lord Middlesex and Sir Francis Dashwood, who were +seldom sober the whole time they were in Italy." We need scarcely add, +that the qualifications for election are no longer what Walpole +described them to have been. + +In 1764, the Society being possessed of a considerable sum above what +their services required, various schemes were proposed for applying +part of this money; and it was at length resolved "that a person or +persons properly qualified, should be sent, with sufficient +appointments, to certain parts of the East, to collect information +relative to the former state of those countries, and particularly to +procure exact descriptions of the ruins of such monuments of antiquity +as are yet to be seen in those parts." + +Three persons were elected for this undertaking, Mr. Chandler, of +Magdalen College, Oxford, editor of the _Marmora Oxoniensia_, was +appointed to execute the classical part of the plan. Architecture was +assigned to Mr. Revett; and the choice of a proper person for taking +views and copying the bas-reliefs, fell upon Mr. Pars, a young painter +of promise. Each person was strictly enjoined to keep a regular +journal, and hold a constant correspondence with the Society. + +The party embarked on June 9, 1764, in the _Anglicana_, bound for +Constantinople, and were just at the Dardanelles on the 25th of +August. Having visited the Sigæan Promontory, the ruins of Troas, with +the islands of Tenedos and Scio, they arrived at the Smyrna on the +11th of September. From that city, as their head-quarters, they made +several excursions. On the 20th of August, 1765, they sailed from +Smyrna, and arrived at Athens on the 30th of the same month, having +touched at Sunium and Ægina on their way. They staid at Athens till +June 11, 1766, visiting Marathon, Eleusis, Salamis, Megara, and other +places in the neighbourhood. Leaving Athens, they proceeded by the +little island of Calauria to Trezene, Epidaurus, Argos, and Corinth. +From this they visited Delphi, Patræ, Elis, and Zante, whence they +sailed on the 31st of August, and arrived in England on the 2nd of +November following, bringing with them an immense number of drawings, +etc., the result of which was the publication, at the expense of the +Society, of two magnificent volumes of _Ionian Antiquities_. The +results of the expedition were also the two popular works, Chandler's +Travels in Asia Minor, 1775; and his _Travels in Greece_, in the +following year; also, the volume of Greek Inscriptions, 1774, +containing the Sigæan inscription, the marble of which has been since +brought to England by Lord Elgin; and the celebrated documents +containing the reconstruction of the Temple of Minerva Polias, which +Professor Wilkins illustrated in his _Prolusiones Architectonicæ_, +1837. + +Walpole, in 1791, has this odd passage upon the _Ionian Antiquities_: +"They who are industrious and correct, and wish to forget nothing, +should go to Greece, where there is nothing left to be seen, but that +ugly pigeon-house, the Temple of the Winds, that fly-cage, +Demosthenes's Lantern, and one or two fragments of a portico, or a +piece of a column crushed into a mud wall; and with such a morsel, and +many quotations, a true classic antiquary can compose a whole folio, +and call it _Ionian Antiquities_." + +But, it may be asked, how came the Society to associate so freely +pleasure with graver pursuits? To this it may be replied, that when +the Dilettanti first met they avowed friendly and social intercourse +the first object they had in view, although they soon showed that they +would combine with it a serious plan for the promotion of the Arts in +this country. For these persons were not scholars, nor even men of +letters; they were some of the wealthiest noblemen and most +fashionable men of the day, who would naturally sup with the Regent as +he went through Paris, and find themselves quite at home in the +Carnival of Venice. These, too, were times of what would now be +considered very licentious merriment and very unscrupulous fun,--times +when men of independent means and high rank addicted themselves to +pleasure, and gave vent to their full animal spirits with a frankness +that would now be deemed not only vulgar but indecorous, while they +evinced an earnestness about objects now thought frivolous which it is +very easy to represent as absurd. In assuming, however, the name of +"Dilettanti" they evidently attached to it no light and superficial +notion. The use of that word as one of disparagement or ridicule is +quite recent. The same may be said of "Virtù," which, in the artistic +sense, does not seem to be strictly academical, but that of "Virtuoso" +is so, undoubtedly, and it means the "capable" man,--the man who has a +right to judge on matters requiring a particular faculty: Dryden says: +"Virtuoso the Italians call a man 'who loves the noble arts, and is a +critic in them,' or, as old Glanville says,' 'who dwells in a higher +region than other mortals.' + +"Thus, when the Dilettanti mention 'the cause of virtue' as a high +object which they will never abandon, they express their belief that +the union into which they had entered had a more important purpose +than any personal satisfaction could give it, and that they did engage +themselves thereby in some degree to promote the advantage of their +country and of mankind. + +"Of all the merry meetings these gay gentlemen had together, small +records remain. We, looking back out of a graver time, can only judge +from the uninterrupted course of their festive gatherings, from the +names of the statesmen, the wits, the scholars, the artists, the +amateurs, that fill the catalogue, from the strange mixture of +dignities and accessions to wealth for which, by the rules of the +Society, fines were paid,--and above all, by the pictures which they +possess,--how much of the pleasantry and the hearty enjoyment must +have been mixed up with the more solid pursuits of the Members. Cast +your eye over the list of those who met together at the table of the +Dilettanti any time between 1770 and 1790."[20] Here occur the names +of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Earl Fitzwilliam, Charles James Fox, Hon. +Stephen Fox (Lord Holland), Hon. Mr. Fitzpatrick, Charles Howard (Duke +of Norfolk), Lord Robert Spencer, George Selwyn, Colonel Fitzgerald, +Hon. H. Conway, Joseph Banks, Duke of Dorset, Sir William Hamilton, +David Garrick, George Colman, Joseph Windham, R. Payne Knight, Sir +George Beaumont, Towneley, and others of less posthumous fame, but +probably of not less agreeable companionship. + +The funds must have largely benefited by the payment of fines, some of +which were very strange. Those paid "on increase of income, by +inheritance, legacy, marriage, or preferment," are very odd; as, five +guineas by Lord Grosvenor, on his marriage with Miss Leveson Gower; +eleven guineas by the Duke of Bedford, on being appointed First Lord +of the Admiralty; ten guineas compounded for by Bubb Dodington, as +Treasurer of the Navy; two guineas by the Duke of Kingston for a +Colonelcy of Horse (then valued at 400_l._ per annum); twenty-one +pounds by Lord Sandwich on going out as Ambassador to the Congress at +Aix-la-Chapelle; and twopence three-farthings by the same nobleman, on +becoming Recorder of Huntingdon; thirteen shillings and fourpence by +the Duke of Bedford, on getting the Garter; and sixteen shillings and +eightpence (Scotch) by the Duke of Buccleuch, on getting the Thistle; +twenty-one pounds by the Earl of Holdernesse, as Secretary of State; +and nine pounds, nineteen shillings and sixpence, by Charles James +Fox, as a Lord of the Admiralty. + +In 1814, another expedition was undertaken by the Society, when Sir +William Gell, with Messrs. Gandy and Bedford, professional architects, +proceeded to the Levant. Smyrna was again appointed the head-quarters +of the mission, and fifty pounds per month was assigned to Gell, and +two hundred pounds per annum to each of the architects. An additional +outlay was required; and by this means the classical and antique +literature of England was enriched with the fullest and most accurate +descriptions of important remains of ancient art hitherto given to the +world. + +The contributions of the Society to the æsthetic studies of the time +also deserve notice. The excellent design to publish _Select Specimens +of Antient Sculpture preserved in the several Collections of Great +Britain_ was carried into effect by Messrs. Payne Knight and Mr. +Towneley, 2 vols. folio, 1809-1835. Then followed Mr. Penrose's +_Investigations into the Principles of Athenian Architecture_, printed +in 1851. + +About the year 1820, those admirable monuments of Grecian art, called +the Bronzes of Siris, were discovered on the banks of that river, and +were brought to this country by the Chevalier Brondsted. The +Dilettanti Society immediately organized a subscription of 800_l._, +and the Trustees of the British Museum completed the purchase by the +additional sum of 200_l._ + +It was mainly through the influence and patronage of the Dilettanti +Society that the Royal Academy obtained a Charter. In 1774, the +interest of 4000_l._ three per cents. was appropriated by the former +for the purpose of sending two students, recommended by the Royal +Academy, to study in Italy or Greece for three years. + +In 1835 appeared a Second Volume on Ancient Sculpture. The Society at +this time included, among a list of sixty-four names of the noble and +learned, those of Sir William Gell, Mr. Towneley, Richard Westmacott, +Henry Hallam, the Duke of Bedford, Sir M. A. Shee, P.R.A., Henry T. +Hope; and Lord Prudhoe, afterwards Duke of Northumberland. + +That a Society possessing so much wealth and social importance as the +Dilettanti should not have built for themselves a mansion is +surprising. In 1747 they obtained a plot of ground in Cavendish +Square, for this purpose; but in 1760, they disposed of the property. +Between 1761 and 1764 the project of an edifice in Piccadilly, on the +model of the Temple of Pola, was agitated by the Committee; two sites +were proposed, one between Devonshire and Bath Houses, the other on +the west side of Cambridge House. This scheme was also abandoned. + +Meanwhile the Society were accustomed to meet at the Thatched House +Tavern, the large room of which was hung with portraits of the +Dilettanti. Sir Joshua Reynolds, who was a member, painted for the +Society three capital pictures:--1. A group in the manner of Paul +Veronese, containing the portraits of the Duke of Leeds, Lord Dundas, +Constantine Lord Mulgrave, Lord Seaforth, the Hon. Charles Greville, +Charles Crowle, Esq., and Sir Joseph Banks. 2. A group in the manner +of the same master, containing portraits of Sir William Hamilton, Sir +Watkin W. Wynne, Richard Thomson, Esq., Sir John Taylor, Payne Galway, +Esq., John Smythe, Esq., and Spencer S. Stanhope, Esq. 3. Head of Sir +Joshua, dressed in a loose robe, and in his own hair. The earlier +portraits are by Hudson, Reynolds's master. + +Some of these portraits are in the costume familiar to us through +Hogarth; others are in Turkish or Roman dresses. There is a mixture of +the convivial in all these pictures: many are using wine-glasses of no +small size: Lord Sandwich, for instance, in a Turkish costume, casts a +most unorthodox glance upon a brimming goblet in his left hand, while +his right holds a flask of great capacity. Sir Bouchier Wray is seated +in the cabin of a ship, mixing punch, and eagerly embracing the bowl, +of which a lurch of the sea would seem about to deprive him: the +inscription is _Dulce est desipere in loco_. Here is a curious old +portrait of the Earl of Holdernesse, in a red cap, as a gondolier, +with the Rialto and Venice in the background; there is Charles +Sackville, Duke of Dorset, as a Roman senator, dated 1738; Lord +Galloway, in the dress of a cardinal; and a very singular likeness of +one of the earliest of the Dilettanti, Lord Le Despencer, as a monk at +his devotions: his Lordship is clasping a brimming goblet for his +rosary, and his eyes are not very piously fixed on a statue of the +Venus de' Medici. It must be conceded that some of these pictures +remind one of the Medmenham orgies, with which some of the Dilettanti +were not unfamiliar. The ceiling of the large room was painted to +represent sky, and crossed by gold cords interlacing each other, and +from their knots were hung three large glass chandeliers. + +The Thatched House has disappeared, but the pictures have been well +cared for. The Dilettanti have removed to another tavern, and dine +together on the first Sunday in every month, from February to July. +The late Lord Aberdeen, the Marquises of Northampton and Lansdowne, +and Colonel Leake, and Mr. Broderip, were members; as was also the +late Lord Northwick, whose large collection of pictures at +Thirlestane, Cheltenham, was dispersed by sale in 1859. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[20] Edinburgh Review, No. 214, p. 500. + + + + +THE ROYAL NAVAL CLUB. + + +About the year 1674, according to a document in the possession of Mr. +Fitch of Norwich, a Naval Club was started "for the improvement of a +mutuall Society, and an encrease of Love and Kindness amongst them;" +and that consummate seaman, Admiral Sir John Kempthorne, was declared +Steward of the institution. This was the precursor of the Royal Naval +Club of 1765, which, whether considered for its amenities or its +extensive charities, may be justly cited as a model establishment. +(_Admiral Smyth's Rise and Progress of the Royal Society Club_, p. 9.) +The members of this Club annually distribute a considerable sum among +the distressed widows and orphans of those who have spent their days +in the naval service of their country. The Club was accustomed to dine +together at the Thatched House Tavern, on the anniversary of the +Battle of the Nile. + +"Founded on the model of the old tavern or convivial Clubs, but +confined exclusively to members of the Naval Service, the Royal Naval +Club numbered among its members men from the days of Boscawen, Rodney, +and 'the first of June' downwards. It was a favourite retreat for +William IV. when Duke of Clarence; and his comrade, Sir Philip Durham, +the survivor of Nelson, and almost the last of the 'old school,' +frequented it. Sir Philip, however, was by no means one of the +Trunnion class. Coarseness and profane language, on the contrary, he +especially avoided; but in 'spinning a yarn' there has been none like +him since the days of Smollett. The loss of the Royal George, from +which he was one of the few, if, indeed, not only officer, who +escaped, was a favourite theme; and the Admiral, not content with +having made his escape, was wont to maintain that he swam ashore with +his midshipman's dirk in his teeth. Yet Sir Philip would allow no one +to trench on his manor. One day, when a celebrated naval captain, with +the view of quizzing him, was relating the loss of a merchantman on +the coast of South America, laden with Spitalfields products, and +asserting that silk was so plentiful, and the cargo so scattered, that +the porpoises were for some hours enmeshed in its folds: 'Ay, ay,' +replied Sir Philip, 'I believe you; for I was once cruising on that +coast myself, in search of a privateer, and having lost our +fore-topsail one morning in a gale of wind, we next day found it tied +round a whale's neck by way of a cravat.' Sir Philip was considered to +have the best of it, and the novelist was mute."[21] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[21] London Clubs, 1853. + + + + +THE WYNDHAM CLUB. + + +This Club, which partakes of the character of Arthur's and Boodle's, +was founded by Lord Nugent, its object being, as stated in Rule 1, "to +secure a convenient and agreeable place of meeting for a society of +gentlemen, all connected with each other by a common bond of literary +or personal acquaintance." + +The Club, No. 11, St. James's-square, is named from the mansion having +been the residence of William Wyndham, who has been described, and the +description has been generally adopted as appropriate, as a model of +the true English gentleman; and the fitness of the Club designation is +equally characteristic. He was an accomplished scholar and +mathematician. Dr. Johnson, writing of a visit which Wyndham paid him, +says: "Such conversation I shall not have again till I come back to +the regions of literature, and there Wyndham is 'inter stellas luna +minores.'" + +In the mansion also lived the accomplished John, Duke of Roxburghe; +and here the Roxburghe Library was sold in 1812, the sale extending to +forty-one days. Lord Chief Justice Ellenborough lived here in 1814; +and subsequently, the Earl of Blessington, who possessed a fine +collection of pictures. + + + + +THE TRAVELLERS' CLUB. + + +This famous Club was originated shortly after the Peace of 1814, by +the Marquis of Londonderry (then Lord Castlereagh), with a view to a +resort for gentlemen who had resided or travelled abroad, as well as +with a view to the accommodation of foreigners, who, when properly +recommended, receive an invitation for the period of their stay. One +of the Rules directs "That no person be considered eligible to the +Travellers' Club who shall not have travelled out of the British +Islands to a distance of at least 500 miles from London in a direct +line." Another Rule directs "That no dice and no game of hazard be +allowed in the rooms of the Club, nor any higher stake than guinea +points, and that no cards be introduced before dinner." + +Prince Talleyrand, during his residence in London, generally joined +the muster of whist-players at the Travellers'; probably, here was the +scene of this felicitous rejoinder. The Prince was enjoying his +rubber, when the conversation turned on the recent union of an elderly +lady of respectable rank. "How ever could Madame de S---- make such a +match?--a person of her birth to marry a _valet-de-chambre_!" "Ah," +replied Talleyrand, "it was late in the game: at nine we don't reckon +honours." + +The present Travellers' Club-house, which adjoins the Athenæum in +Pall-Mall, was designed by Barry, R.A., and built in 1832. It is one +of the architect's most admired works. Yet, we have seen it thus +treated, with more smartness than judgment, by a critic who is +annoyed at its disadvantageous comparison with its more gigantic +neighbours:-- + +"The Travellers' is worse, and looks very like a sandwich at the +Swindon station--a small stumpy piece of beef between two huge pieces +of bread, _i.e._ the Athenæum and the Reform Clubs, which look as if +they were urging their migratory neighbour to resume the +peregrinations for which its members are remarkable. Yet people have +their names down ten years at the Travellers' previous to their coming +up for ballot. An election reasonably extended would supply funds for +a more advantageous and extended position." + +The architecture is the nobler Italian, resembling a Roman palace: the +plan is a quadrangle, with an open area in the middle, so that all the +rooms are well lighted. The Pall-Mall front has a bold and rich +cornice, and the windows are decorated with Corinthian pilasters: the +garden front varies in the windows, but the Italian taste is preserved +throughout, with the most careful finish: the roof is Italian tiles. +To be more minute, the consent of all competent judges has assigned a +very high rank to this building as a piece of architectural design; +for if, in point of mere _quantity_, it fall greatly short of many +contemporary structures, it surpasses nearly every one of them in +_quality_, and in the artist-like treatment. In fact, it makes an +epoch in our metropolitan architecture; for before, we had hardly a +specimen of that nobler Italian style, which, instead of the flutter +and flippery, and the littleness of manner, which pervade most of the +productions of the Palladian school, is characterized by breath and +that refined simplicity arising from unity of idea and execution, and +from every part being consistently worked up, yet kept subservient to +one predominating effect. Unfortunately, the south front, which is by +far the more striking and graceful composition, is comparatively +little seen, being that facing Carlton Gardens, and not to be +approached so as to be studied as it deserves; but when examined, it +certainly must be allowed to merit all the admiration it has obtained. +Though perfect, quiet, and sober in effect, and unostentatious in +character, this building of Barry's is remarkable for the careful +finish bestowed on every part of it. It is this quality, together with +the taste displayed in the design generally, that renders it an +architectural bijou. Almost any one must be sensible of this, if he +will but be at the pains to compare it with the United Service Club, +eastward of which, as far as mere quantity goes, there is much more. + +Another critic remarks: "The Travellers' fairly makes an epoch in the +architectural history of Club-houses, as being almost the first, if +not the very first, attempt, to introduce into this country that +species of rich _astylar_ composition which has obtained the name of +the Italian palazzo mode, by way of contradistinction from +Palladianism and its orders. This production of Barry's has given a +fresh impulse to architectural design, and one in a more artistic +direction; and the style adopted by the architect has been applied to +various other buildings in the provinces as well as in the metropolis; +and its influence has manifested itself in the taste of our recent +street architecture." + +The Travellers' narrowly escaped destruction on October 24, 1850, when +a fire did great damage to the billiard-rooms, which were, by the way, +an afterthought, and addition to the original building, but by no +means an improvement upon the first design, for they greatly impaired +the beauty of the garden-front. + + + + +THE UNITED SERVICE CLUB. + + +One of the oldest of the modern Clubs, was instituted the year after +the Peace of 1815, when a few officers of influence in both branches +of the Service had built for them, by Sir R. Smirke, a Club-house at +the corner of Charles-street and Regent-street,--a frigid design, +somewhat relieved by sculpture on the entrance-front, of Britannia +distributing laurels to her brave sons by land and sea. Thence the +Club removed to a more spacious house, in Waterloo-place, facing the +Athenæum; the Club-house in Charles-street being entered on by the +Junior United Service Club; but Smirke's cold design has been +displaced by an edifice of much more ornate exterior and luxurious +internal appliances. + +The United Service Club (Senior) was designed by Nash, and has a +well-planned interior, exhibiting the architect's well-known +excellence in this branch of his profession. The principal front +facing Pall Mall has a Roman-Doric portico; and above it a Corinthian +portico, with pediment. One of the patriarchal members of the Club was +Lord Lynedoch, the hero of the Peninsular War, who lived under five +sovereigns: he died in his 93rd year, leaving behind him a name to be +held in honoured remembrance, while loyalty is considered to be a real +virtue, or military renown a passport to fame. It is a curious fact +that the Duke of Wellington fought his last battle at an earlier +period of life than that in which Lord Lynedoch "fleshed his maiden +sword;" and though we were accustomed to regard the Duke himself as +preserving his vigour to a surprisingly advanced age, Lord Lynedoch +was at his death old enough to have been the father of his Grace. The +United Service was the favourite Club of the Duke, who might often be +seen dining here on a joint; and on one occasion, when he was charged +1_s._ 3_d._ instead of 1_s._ for it, he bestirred himself till the +threepence was struck off. The motive was obvious: he took the trouble +of objecting, so that he might sanction the principle. + +Among the Club pictures is Jones's large painting of the Battle of +Waterloo; and the portrait of the Duke of Wellington, painted for the +Club by W. Robinson. Here also are Stanfield's fine picture of the +Battle of Trafalgar; and a copy, by Lane, painted in 1851, of a +contemporary portrait of Sir Francis Drake, our "Elizabethan +Sea-King." The Club-house has of late years been considerably +enlarged. + + + + +THE ALFRED CLUB. + + +In the comparatively quiet Albemarle-street was instituted, in 1808, +the Alfred Club, which has, _ab initio_, been remarkable for the +number of travellers and men of letters, who form a considerable +proportion of its members. Science is handsomely housed at the Royal +Institution, on the east side of the street; and literature nobly +represented by the large publishing-house of Mr. Murray, on the west; +both circumstances tributary to the _otium_ enjoyed in a Club. Yet, +strangely enough, its position has been a frequent source of banter to +the Alfred. First it was known by its cockney appellation of +_Half-read_. Lord Byron was a member, and he tells us that "it was +pleasant, a little too sober and literary, and bored with Sotheby and +Francis D'Ivernois; but one met Rich, and Ward, and Valentia, and many +other pleasant or known people; and it was, in the whole, a decent +resource in a rainy day, in a dearth of parties, or Parliament, or in +an empty season." + +Lord Dudley, writing to the Bishop of Llandaff, says: "I am glad you +mean to come into the Alfred this time. We are the most abused, and +most envied, and most canvassed, Society that I know of, and we +deserve neither the one nor the other distinction. The Club is not so +good a resource as many respectable persons would believe, nor are we +by any means such quizzes or such bores as the wags pretend. A duller +place than the Alfred there does not exist. I should not choose to be +quoted for saying so, but the bores prevail there to the exclusion of +every other interest. You hear nothing but idle reports and twaddling +opinions. They read the _Morning Post_ and the _British Critic_. It is +the asylum of doting Tories and drivelling quidnuncs. But they are +civil and quiet. You belong to a much better Club already. The +eagerness to get into it is prodigious." + +Then, we have the _Quarterly Review_, with confirmation strong of the +two Lords:--"The Alfred received its _coup-de-grâce_ from a well-known +story, (rather an indication than a cause of its decline,) to the +effect that Mr. Canning, whilst in the zenith of his fame, dropped in +accidentally at a house dinner of twelve or fourteen, stayed out the +evening, and made himself remarkably agreeable, without any one of the +party suspecting who he was." + +The dignified clergy, who, with the higher class of lawyers, have long +ago emigrated to the Athenæum and University Clubs, formerly mustered +in such great force at the Alfred, that Lord Alvanley, on being asked +in the bow-window at White's, whether he was still a member, somewhat +irreverently replied: "Not exactly: I stood it as long as I could, but +when the seventeenth bishop was proposed I gave in. I really could not +enter the place without being put in mind of my catechism." +"Sober-minded people," says the _Quarterly Review_, "may be apt to +think this formed the best possible reason for his lordship's +remaining where he was. It is hardly necessary to say that the +presence of the bishops and judges is universally regarded as an +unerring test of the high character of a Club." + + + + +THE ORIENTAL CLUB. + + +Several years ago, the high dignitaries of the Church and Law kept the +Alfred to themselves; but this would not do: then they admitted a +large number of very respectable good young men, who were +unexceptionable, but not very amusing. This, again, would not do. So, +now the Alfred joined, 1855, the Oriental, in Hanover-square. And +curiously enough, the latter Club has been quizzed equally with the +Alfred. In the merry days of the _New Monthly Magazine_ of some thirty +years since, we read:--"The Oriental--or, as the hackney-coachmen +call it, the Horizontal Club--in Hanover-square, outdoes even Arthur's +for quietude. Placed at the corner of a _cul-de-sac_--at least as far +as carriages are concerned, and in a part of the Square to which +nobody not proceeding to one of four houses which occupy that +particular side ever thinks of going, its little windows, looking upon +nothing, give the idea of mingled dulness and inconvenience. From the +outside it looks like a prison;--enter it, it looks like an hospital, +in which a smell of curry-powder pervades the 'wards,'--wards filled +with venerable patients, dressed in nankeen shorts, yellow stockings, +and gaiters, and faces to match. _There_ may still be seen pigtails in +all their pristine perfection. It is the region of calico shirts, +returned writers, and guinea-pigs grown into bores. Such is the +_nabobery_, into which Harley-street, Wimpole-street, and +Glocester-place, daily empty their precious stores of bilious +humanity." Time has blunted the point of this satiric picture, the +individualities of which had passed away, even before the amalgamation +of the Oriental with the Alfred. + +The Oriental Club was established in 1824, by Sir John Malcolm, the +traveller and brave soldier. The members were noblemen and gentlemen +associated with the administration of our Eastern empire, or who have +travelled or resided in Asia, at St. Helena, in Egypt, at the Cape of +Good Hope, the Mauritius, or at Constantinople. + +The Oriental was erected in 1827-8, by B. and P. Wyatt, and has the +usual Club characteristic of only one tier of windows above the +ground-floor; the interior has since been redecorated and embellished +by Collman. + + + + +THE ATHENÆUM CLUB. + + +The Athenæum presents a good illustration of the present Club system, +of which it was one of the earliest instances. By reference to the +accounts of the Clubs existing about the commencement of the present +century, it will be seen how greatly they differed, both in +constitution and purpose, from the modern large subscription-houses, +called Clubs; and which are to be compared with their predecessors +only in so far as every member must be balloted for, or be chosen by +the consent of the rest. Prior to 1824, there was only one institution +in the metropolis particularly devoted to the association of Authors, +Literary Men, Members of Parliament, and promoters generally of the +Fine Arts. All other establishments were more or less exclusive, +comprising gentlemen who screened themselves in the windows of +White's, or Members for Counties who darkened the doors of Brookes's; +or they were dedicated to the Guards, or "men of wit and pleasure +about town." It is true that the Royal Society had its convivial +meetings, as we have already narrated; and small Clubs of members of +other learned Societies, were held; but with these exceptions, there +were no Clubs where individuals known for their scientific or literary +attainments, artists of eminence in any class of the Fine Arts, and +noblemen and gentlemen distinguished as patrons of science, +literature, and the arts, could unite in friendly and encouraging +intercourse; and professional men were compelled either to meet at +taverns, or to be confined exclusively to the Society of their +particular professions. + +To remedy this, on the 17th of February, 1824, a preliminary +meeting,--comprising Sir Humphry Davy, the Right Hon. John Wilson +Croker, Sir Francis Chantrey, Richard Heber, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Dr. +Thomas Young, Lord Dover, Davie Gilbert, the Earl of Aberdeen, Sir +Henry Halford, Sir Walter Scott, Joseph Jekyll, Thomas Moore, and +Charles Hatchett,--was held in the apartments of the Royal Society, at +Somerset House; at this meeting Professor Faraday assisted as +secretary, and it was agreed to institute a Club to be called "The +Society," subsequently altered to "The Athenæum." "The Society" first +met in the Clarence Club-house; but, in 1830, the present mansion, +designed by Decimus Burton, was opened to the members. + +The Athenæum Club-house is built upon a portion of the court-yard of +Carlton House. The architecture is Grecian, with a frieze exactly +copied from the Panathenaic procession in the frieze of the +Parthenon,--the flower and beauty of Athenian youth, gracefully seated +on the most exquisitely sculptured horses, which Flaxman regarded as +the most precious example of Grecian power in the sculpture of +animals. Over the Roman Doric entrance-portico is a colossal figure of +Minerva, by Baily, R.A.; and the interior has some fine casts of +_chefs-d'oeuvre_ of sculpture. Here the architecture is grand, +massive, and severe. The noble Hall, 35 feet broad by 57 feet long, is +divided by scagliola columns and pilasters, the capitals copied from +the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates. This is the Exchange, or Lounge, +where the members meet. The floor is the Marmorato Veneziano mosaic. +Over each of the two fire-places, in a niche, is a statue--the Diana +Robing and the Venus Victrix, selected by Sir Thomas Lawrence--a very +fine contrivance for sculptural display. The Library is the best Club +Library in London: it comprises the most rare and valuable works, and +a very considerable sum is annually expended upon the collection, +under the guidance of members most eminent in literature and science. +Above the mantelpiece is a portrait of George IV., painted by +Lawrence, upon which he was engaged but a few hours previous to his +decease; the last bit of colour this celebrated artist ever put upon +canvas being that of the hilt and sword-knot of the girdle; thus it +remains unfinished. The bookcases of the drawing-rooms are crowned +with busts of British worthies. Among the Club gossip it is told that +a member who held the Library faith of the promise of the Fathers, and +was anxious to consult their good works, one day asked, in a somewhat +familiar tone of acquaintance with these respectable theologians, "Is +Justin Martyr here?"--"I do not know," was the reply; "I will refer to +the list, but I do not think that gentleman is one of our members." + +Mr. Walker, in his very pleasant work, _The Original_, was one of the +first to show how by the then new system of Clubs the facilities of +living were wonderfully increased, whilst the expense was greatly +diminished. For a few pounds a year, advantages are to be enjoyed +which no fortunes, except the most ample, can procure. The only Club +(he continues) I belong to is the Athenæum, which consists of twelve +hundred members, amongst whom are to be reckoned a large proportion of +the most eminent persons in the land, in every line,--civil, military, +and ecclesiastical,--peers spiritual and temporal (ninety-five +noblemen and twelve bishops), commoners, men of the learned +professions, those connected with science, the arts, and commerce, in +all its principal branches, as well as the distinguished who do not +belong to any particular class. Many of these are to be met with every +day, living with the same freedom as in their own houses, for 25 +guineas entrance, and 6 guineas a year. Every member has the command +of an excellent library, with maps; of newspapers, English and +foreign; the principal periodicals; writing materials, and attendance. +The building is a sort of palace, and is kept with the same exactness +and comfort as a private dwelling. Every member is master, without any +of the trouble of a master: he can come when he pleases, and stay away +when he pleases, without anything going wrong; he has the command of +regular servants, without having to pay or manage them; he can have +whatever meal or refreshment he wants, at all hours, and served up as +in his own house. He orders just what he pleases, having no interest +to think of but his own. In short, it is impossible to suppose a +greater degree of liberty in living. + +"Clubs, as far as my observation goes, are favourable to economy of +time. There is a fixed place to go to, everything is served with +comparative expedition, and it is not customary in general to remain +long at table. They are favourable to temperance. It seems that when +people can freely please themselves, and when they have an opportunity +of living simply, excess is seldom committed. From an account I have +of the expenses at the Athenæum in the year 1832, it appears that +17,323 dinners cost, on an average, 2_s._ 9¾_d._ each, and that the +average quantity of wine for each person was a small fraction more +than half-a-pint. + +"The expense of building the Club-house was 35,000_l._, and 5,000_l._ +for furnishing; the plate, linen, and glass cost 2,500_l._; library, +4,000_l._, and the stock of wine in cellar is usually worth about +4000_l._: yearly revenue about 9000_l._" + +The economical management of the Club has not, however, been effected +without a few sallies of humour. In 1834, we read: "The mixture of +Whigs, Radicals, _savants_, foreigners, dandies, authors, soldiers, +sailors, lawyers, artists, doctors, and Members of both Houses of +Parliament, together with an exceedingly good average supply of +bishops, render the _mélange_ very agreeable, despite of some two or +three bores, who 'continually do dine;' and who, not satisfied with +getting a 6_s._ dinner for 3_s._ 6_d._, 'continually do complain.'" + +Mr. Rogers, the poet, was one of the earliest members of the Athenæum, +and innumerable are the good things, though often barbed with +bitterness, which are recorded of him. + +Some years ago, judges, bishops, and peers used to congregate at the +Athenæum; but a club of twelve hundred members cannot be select. +"Warned by the necessity of keeping up their number and their funds, +they foolishly set abroad a report that the finest thing in the world +was to belong to the Athenæum; and that an opportunity offered for +hobnobbing with archbishops, and hearing Theodore Hook's jokes. +Consequently all the little crawlers and parasites, and +gentility-hunters, from all corners of London, set out upon the creep; +and they crept in at the windows and they crept down the area steps, +and they crept in unseen at the doors, and they crept in under +bishops' sleeves, and they crept in in peers' pockets, and they were +blown in by the winds of chance. The consequence has been, that +ninety-nine hundredths of this Club are people who rather seek to +obtain a sort of standing by belonging to the Athenæum, than to give +it lustre by the talent of its members. Nine-tenths of the +intellectual writers of the age would be certainly black-balled by the +dunces. Notwithstanding all this, and partly on account of this, the +Athenæum is a capital Club: the library is certainly the best Club +library in London, and is a great advantage to a man who writes."[22] + +Theodore Hook was one of the most clubbable men of his time. After a +late breakfast, he would force and strain himself at large arrears of +literary toil, and then drive rapidly from Fulham to town, and pay a +visit "first to one Club, where, the centre of an admiring circle, his +intellectual faculties were again upon the stretch, and again aroused +and sustained by artificial means: the same thing repeated at a +second--the same drain and the same supply--ballot or general meeting +at a third, the chair taken by Mr. Hook, who addresses the members, +produces the accounts, audits and passes them--gives a succinct +statement of the prospects and finances of the Society--parries an +awkward question--extinguishes a grumbler--confounds an +opponent--proposes a vote of thanks to himself, seconds, carries +it,--and returns thanks, with a vivacious rapidity that entirely +confounds the unorganized schemes of the minority--then a chop in the +committee-room, and just one tumbler of brandy-and-water, or _two_, +and we fear the catalogue would not always close there." + +At the Athenæum, Hook was a great card; and in a note to the sketch of +him in the _Quarterly Review_, it is stated that the number of dinners +at this Club fell off by upwards of three hundred per annum after Hook +disappeared from his favourite corner, near the door of the +coffee-room. That is to say, there must have been some dozens of +gentlemen who chose to dine there once or twice every week of the +season, merely for the chance of Hook's being there, and permitting +them to draw their chairs to his little table in the course of the +evening. Of the extent to which he suffered from this sort of +invasion, there are several bitter oblique complaints in his novels. +The _corner_ alluded to will, we suppose, long retain the name which +it derived from him--_Temperance Corner_. Many grave and dignified +personages being frequent guests, it would hardly have been seemly to +be calling for repeated supplies of a certain description; but the +waiters well understood what the oracle of the corner meant by +"Another glass of toast and water," or, "A little more lemonade." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[22] New Quarterly Review. + + + + +THE UNIVERSITY CLUB. + + +In Suffolk-street, Pall Mall East, was instituted in 1824, and the +Club-house, designed by Deering and Wilkins, architects, was opened +in 1826. It is of the Grecian Doric and Ionic orders; and the staircase +walls have casts from the Parthenon frieze. The Club consists chiefly +of Members of Parliament who have received University education; +several of the judges, and a large number of beneficed clergymen. This +Club has the reputation of possessing the best stocked wine-cellar in +London, which is of no small importance to Members, clerical or lay. + + + + +ECONOMY OF CLUBS. + + +Thirty years ago, Mr. Walker took some pains to disabuse the public +mind of a false notion that female society was much affected by the +multiplication of Clubs. He remarks that in those hours of the +evening, which are peculiarly dedicated to society, he could scarcely +count twenty members in the suite of rooms upstairs at the Athenæum +Club. If female society be neglected, he contended that it was not +owing to the institution of Clubs, but more probably to the long +sittings of the House of Commons, and to the want of easy access to +family circles. At the Athenæum he never heard it even hinted, that +married men frequented it to the prejudice of their domestic habits, +or that bachelors were kept from general society. Indeed, Mr. Walker +maintains, that Clubs are a preparation and not a substitute for +domestic life. Compared with the previous system of living, they +induce habits of economy, temperance, refinement, regularity, and good +order. Still, a Club only offers an imitation of the comforts of home, +but only an imitation, and one which will never supersede the reality. + +However, the question became a subject for pleasant satire. Mrs. Gore, +in one of her clever novels, has these shrewd remarks:--"London Clubs, +after all, are not bad things for family men. They act as conductors +to the storms usually hovering in the air. The man forced to remain at +home and vent his crossness on his wife and children, is a much worse +animal to bear with, than the man who grumbles his way to Pall Mall, +and not daring to swear at the Club-servants, or knock about the +club-furniture, becomes socialized into decency. Nothing like the +subordination exercised in a community of equals for reducing a fiery +temper." + +Mr. Hood, in his _Comic Annual_ for 1838, took up the topic in his +rich vein of comic humour, and here is the amusing result:-- + + "CLUBS, + + "TURNED UP BY A FEMALE HAND. + + "Of all the modern schemes of Man + That time has brought to bear, + A plague upon the wicked plan + That parts the wedded pair! + My female friends they all agree + They hardly know their hubs; + And heart and voice unite with me, + 'We hate the name of Clubs!' + + "One selfish course the Wretches keep; + They come at morning chimes; + To snatch a few short hours of sleep-- + Rise--breakfast--read the Times-- + Then take their hats, and post away, + Like Clerks or City scrubs, + And no one sees them all the day,-- + They live, eat, drink, at Clubs! + + "With Rundell, Dr. K., or Glasse, + And such Domestic books, + They once put up, but now, alas! + It's hey! for foreign cooks. + 'When _will_ you dine at home, my dove?' + I say to Mr. Stubbs. + 'When Cook can make an omelette, love-- + An omelette like the Clubs!' + + "Time was, their hearts were only placed + On snug domestic schemes, + The book for two--united taste,-- + And such connubial dreams,-- + Friends, dropping in at close of day, + To singles, doubles, rubs,-- + A little music,--then the tray,-- + And not a word of Clubs! + + "But former comforts they condemn; + French kickshaws they discuss, + And take their wine, the wine takes them, + And then they favour us;-- + From some offence they can't digest, + As cross as bears with cubs, + Or sleepy, dull, and queer, at best-- + That's how they come from Clubs! + + "It's very fine to say, 'Subscribe + To Andrews'--can't you read? + When Wives, the poor neglected tribe, + Complain how they proceed! + They'd better recommend at once + Philosophy and tubs,-- + A woman need not be a dunce, + To feel the wrong of Clubs. + + "A set of savage Goths and Picts + Would seek us now and then,-- + They're pretty pattern-Benedicts + To guide our single men! + Indeed, my daughters both declare + 'Their Beaux shall not be subs + To White's, or Black's, or anywhere,-- + They've seen enough of Clubs!' + + "They say, without the marriage ties, + They can devote their hours + To catechize, or botanize-- + Shells, Sunday Schools, and flow'rs-- + Or teach a Pretty Poll new words, + Tend Covent Garden shrubs, + Nurse dogs and chirp to little birds-- + As Wives do since the Clubs. + + "Alas! for those departed days + Of social wedded life, + When married folks had married ways, + And liv'd like Man and Wife! + Oh! Wedlock then was pick'd by none-- + As safe a lock as Chubb's! + But couples, that should be as one, + Are now the Two of Clubs! + + "Of all the modern schemes of Man + That time has brought to bear, + A plague upon the wicked plan, + That parts the wedded pair! + My wedded friends they all allow + They meet with slights and snubs, + And say, 'They have no husbands now,-- + They're married to the Clubs!'" + +The satire soon reached the stage. About five-and-twenty years since +there was produced at the old wooden Olympic Theatre, Mr. Mark Lemon's +farce, _The Ladies' Club_, which proved one of the most striking +pieces of the time. "Though in 1840 Clubs, in the modern sense of the +word, had been for some years established, they were not quite +recognized as social necessities, and the complaints of married ladies +and of dowagers with marriageable daughters, to the effect that these +institutions caused husbands to desert the domestic hearth and +encouraged bachelors to remain single, expressed something of a +general feeling. Public opinion was ostentatiously on the side of the +ladies and against the Clubs, and to this opinion Mr. Mark Lemon +responded when he wrote his most successful farce."[23] + +Here are a few experiences of Club-life. "There are many British +lions in the coffee-room who have dined off a joint and beer, and have +drunk a pint of port-wine afterwards, and whose bill is but 4_s._ +3_d._ One great luxury in a modern Club is that there is no temptation +to ostentatious expense. At an hotel there is an inclination in some +natures to be 'a good customer.' At a Club the best men are generally +the most frugal--they are afraid of being thought like that little +snob, Calicot, who is always surrounded by fine dishes and expensive +wines (even when alone), and is always in loud talk with the butler, +and in correspondence with the committee about the cook. Calicot is a +rich man, with a large bottle-nose, and people black-ball his friends. + +"For a home, a man must have a large Club, where the members are +recruited from a large class, where the funds are in a good state, +where a large number every day breakfast and dine, and where a goodly +number think it necessary to be on the books and pay their +subscriptions, although they do not use the Club. Above all, your home +Club should be a large Club, because, even if a Club be ever so +select, the highest birth and most unexceptionable fashion do not +prevent a man from being a _bore_. Every Club must have its bores; but +in a large Club _you can get out of their way_."[24] + +"It is a vulgar error to regard a Club as the rich man's public-house: +it bears no analogy to a public-house: it is as much the private +property of its members as any ordinary dwelling-house is the property +of the man who built it. + +"Our Clubs are thoroughly characteristic of us. We are a _proud_ +people,--it is of no use denying it,--and have a horror of +indiscriminate association; hence the exclusiveness of our Clubs. + +"We are an _economical_ people, and love to obtain the greatest +possible amount of luxury at the least possible expense: hence, at our +Clubs we dine at prime cost, and drink the finest wines at a price +which we should have to pay for slow poison at a third-rate inn. + +"We are a _domestic_ people, and hence our Clubs afford us all the +comforts of home, when we are away from home, or when we have none. +Finally, we are a _quarrelsome_ people, and the Clubs are eminently +adapted for the indulgence of that amiable taste. A book is kept +constantly open to receive the outpourings of our ill-humour against +all persons and things. The smokers quarrel with the non-smokers: the +billiard-players wage war against those who don't play; and, in fact, +an internecine war is constantly going on upon every conceivable +trifle; and when we retire exhausted from the fray, sofas and _chaises +longues_ are everywhere at hand, whereon to repose _in extenso_. The +London Clubs are certainly the abodes of earthly bliss, yet the ladies +won't think so."[25] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[23] _Times_ journal. + +[24] New Quarterly Review. + + + + +THE UNION CLUB. + + +This noble Club-house, at the south-west angle of Trafalgar-square, +was erected in 1824, from designs by Sir Robert Smirke, R.A. It is +much less ornate than the Club-houses of later date; but its +apartments are spacious and handsome, and it faces one of the finest +open spaces in the metropolis. As its name implies, it consists of +politicians, and professional and mercantile men, without reference +to party opinions; and, it has been added, is "a resort of wealthy +citizens, who just fetch Charing Cross to inhale the fresh air as it +is drawn from the Park through the funnel, by Berkeley House, out of +Spring Gardens, into their bay-window." + +James Smith, one of the authors of the _Rejected Addresses_, was a +member of the Union, which he describes as chiefly composed of +merchants, lawyers, members of Parliament, and of "gentlemen at +large." He thus sketches a day's life here. "At three o'clock I walk +to the Union Club, read the journals, hear Lord John Russell deified +or diablerized, do the same with Sir Robert Peel or the Duke of +Wellington, and then join a knot of conversationists by the fire till +six o'clock. We then and there discuss the Three per Cent. Consols +(some of us preferring Dutch Two-and-a-half per Cents.), and speculate +upon the probable rise, shape, and cost of the New Exchange. If Lady +Harrington happen to drive past our window in her landau, we compare +her equipage to the Algerine Ambassador's; and when politics happen to +be discussed, rally Whigs, Radicals, and Conservatives alternately, +but never seriously, such subjects having a tendency to create +acrimony. At six, the room begins to be deserted; wherefore I adjourn +to the dining-room, and gravely looking over the bill of fare, exclaim +to the waiter, 'Haunch of mutton and apple-tart!' These viands +dispatched, with the accompanying liquids and water, I mount upward to +the library, take a book and my seat in the arm-chair, and read till +nine. Then call for a cup of coffee and a biscuit, resuming my book +till eleven; afterwards return home to bed." The smoking-room is a +very fine apartment. + +One of the grumbling members of the Union was Sir James Aylott, a +two-bottle man; one day, observing Mr. James Smith furnished with +half-a-pint of sherry, Sir James eyed his cruet with contempt, and +exclaimed: "So, I see you have got one of those d--d life-preservers." + +The Club has ever been famed for its _cuisine_, upon the strength of +which, we are told that next-door to the Club-house, in +Cockspur-street, was established the Union Hotel, which speedily +became renowned for its turtle; it was opened in 1823, and was one of +the best appointed hotels of its day; and Lord Panmure, a _gourmet_ of +the highest order, is said to have taken up his quarters in this +hotel, for several successive seasons, for the sake of the soup.[26] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[25] The Builder. + +[26] London Clubs, 1853, p. 75. + + + + +THE GARRICK CLUB. + + +Mr. Thackeray was a hearty lover of London, and has left us many +evidences of his sincerity. He greatly favoured Covent Garden, of +which he has painted this clever picture, sketched from "the Garden," +where are annually paid for fruits and vegetables some three millions +sterling:-- + +"The two great national theatres on one side, a churchyard full of +mouldy but undying celebrities on the other; a fringe of houses +studded in every part with anecdote and history; an arcade, often more +gloomy and deserted than a cathedral aisle; a rich cluster of brown +old taverns--one of them filled with the counterfeit presentment of +many actors long since silent, who scowl or smile once more from the +canvas upon the grandsons of their dead admirers; a something in the +air which breathes of old books, old pictures, old painters, and old +authors; a place beyond all other places one would choose in which to +hear the chimes at midnight; a crystal palace--the representative of +the present--which peeps in timidly from a corner upon many things of +the past; a withered bank, that has been sucked dry by a felonious +clerk; a squat building, with a hundred columns and chapel-looking +fronts, which always stands knee-deep in baskets, flowers, and +scattered vegetables; a common centre into which Nature showers her +choicest gifts, and where the kindly fruits of the earth often nearly +choke the narrow thoroughfares; a population that never seems to +sleep, and that does all in its power to prevent others sleeping; a +place where the very latest suppers and the earliest breakfasts jostle +each other on the footways--such is Covent-Garden Market, with some of +its surrounding features." + +About a century and a quarter ago, the parish of St. Paul was, +according to John Thomas Smith, the only fashionable part of the town, +and the residence of a great number of persons of rank and title, and +artists of the first eminence; and also from the concourse of wits, +literary characters, and other men of genius, who frequented the +numerous coffee-houses, wine and cider cellars, jelly-shops, etc., +within its boundaries, the list of whom particularly includes the +eminent names of Butler, Addison, Sir Richard Steele, Otway, Dryden, +Pope, Warburton, Cibber, Fielding, Churchill, Bolingbroke, and Dr. +Samuel Johnson; Rich, Woodward, Booth, Wilkes, Garrick, and Macklin; +Kitty Clive, Peg Woffington, Mrs. Pritchard, the Duchess of Bolton, +Lady Derby, Lady Thurlow, and the Duchess of St. Alban's; Sir Peter +Lely, Sir Godfrey Kneller, and Sir James Thornhill; Vandevelde, +Zincke, Lambert, Hogarth, Hayman, Wilson, Dance, Meyer, etc. The name +of Samuel Foote should be added. + +Although the high fashion of the old place has long since ebbed away, +its theatrical celebrity remains; and the locality is storied with the +dramatic associations of two centuries. The Sublime Society of Steaks +have met upon this hallowed ground through a century; and some thirty +years ago there was established in the street leading from the +north-west angle of Covent-Garden Market, a Club, bearing the name of +our greatest actor. Such was the Garrick Club, instituted in 1831, at +No. 35, King-street, "for the purpose of bringing together the +'patrons' of the drama and its professors, and also for offering +literary men a rendezvous; and the managers of the Club have kept +those general objects steadily in view. Nearly all the leading actors +are members, and there are few of the active literary men of the day +who are not upon the list. The large majority of the association is +composed of the representatives of all the best classes of society. +The number of the members is limited, and the character of the Club is +social, and therefore the electing committee is compelled to exercise +very vigilant care, for it is clear that it would be better that ten +unobjectionable men should be excluded than that one terrible bore +should be admitted. The prosperity of the Club, and the eagerness to +obtain admission to it, are the best proofs of its healthy management; +and few of the cases of grievance alleged against the direction will +bear looking into." + +The house in King-street was, previous to its occupation by the +Garrick men, a family hotel: it was rendered tolerably commodious, but +in course of time it was found insufficient for the increased number +of members; and in 1864, the Club removed to a new house built for +them a little more westward than the old one. But of the old place, +inconvenient as it was, will long be preserved the interest of +association. The house has since been taken down; but its memories are +embalmed in a gracefully written paper, by Mr. Shirley Brooks, which +appeared in the _Illustrated London News_, immediately before the +removal of the Club to their new quarters; and is as follows:-- + +"From James Smith (of _Rejected Addresses_) to Thackeray, there is a +long series of names of distinguished men who have made the Garrick +their favourite haunt, and whose memories are connected with those +rooms. The visitor who has had the good fortune to be taken through +them, that he might examine the unequalled collection of theatrical +portraits, will also retain a pleasant remembrance of the place. He +will recollect that he went up one side of a double flight of stone +steps from the street and entered a rather gloomy hall, in which was a +fine bust of Shakspeare, by Roubiliac, and some busts of celebrated +actors; and he may have noticed in the hall a tablet recording the +obligation of the Club to Mr. Durrant, who bequeathed to it the +pictures collected by the late Charles Mathews. Conducted to the left, +the visitor found himself in the strangers' dining-room, which +occupied the whole of the ground-floor. This apartment, where, +perhaps, more pleasant dinners had been given than in any room in +London, was closely hung with pictures. The newest was Mr. O'Neil's +admirable likeness of Mr. Keeley, and it hung over the fireplace in +the front room, near Sir Edwin Landseer's portrait of Charles Young. +There were many very interesting pictures in this room, among them a +Peg Woffington; Lee (the author of the Bedlam Tragedy, in nineteen +acts); Mrs. Pritchard, and Mr. Garrick, an admirable illustration of + + 'Pritchard's genteel, and Garrick six feet high;' + +a most gentlemanly one of Pope the actor, Garrick again as Macbeth in +the court-dress, two charming little paintings of Miss Poole when a +child-performer, the late Frederick Yates, Mrs. Davison (of rare +beauty), Miss Lydia Kelly, and a rich store besides. The stranger +would probably be next conducted through a long passage until he +reached the smoking-room, which was not a cheerful apartment by +daylight, and empty; but which at night, and full, was thought the +most cheerful apartment in town. It was adorned with gifts from +artists who are members of the Club. Mr. Stanfield had given a +splendid seapiece, with a wash of waves that set one coveting an +excursion; and Mr. David Roberts had given a large and noble painting +of Baalbec, one of his finest works. These great pictures occupied two +sides of the room, and the other walls were similarly ornamented. Mrs. +Stirling's bright face looked down upon the smokers, and there was a +statuette of one who loved the room--the author of _Vanity Fair_. + +"The visitor was then brought back to the hall, and taken upstairs to +the drawing-room floor. On the wall as he passed he would observe a +vast picture of Mr. Charles Kemble (long a member) as Macbeth, and a +Miss O'Neil as Juliet. He entered the coffee-room, as it was called, +which was the front room, looking into King-street, and behind which +was the morning-room, for newspapers and writing, and in which was the +small but excellent library, rich in dramatic works. The coffee-room +was devoted to the members' dinners; and the late Mr. Thackeray dined +for the last time away from home at a table in a niche in which hung +the scene from _The Clandestine Marriage_, where Lord Ogleby is +preparing to join the ladies. Over the fireplace was another scene +from the same play; and on the mantelpiece were Garrick's +candlesticks, Kean's ring, and some other relics of interest. The +paintings in this room were very valuable. There was Foote, by +Reynolds; a Sheridan; John Kemble; Charles Kemble as Charles II. +(under which picture he often sat in advanced life, when he in no +degree resembled the audacious, stalwart king in the painting); Mrs. +Charles Kemble, in male attire; Mrs. Fitzwilliam; Charles Mathews, +_père_; a fine, roystering Woodward, reminding one of the rattling +times of stage chivalry and 'victorious burgundy;' and in the +morning-room was a delightful Kitty Clive, another Garrick, and, near +the ceiling, a row of strong faces of by-gone days--Cooke the +strongest. + +"On the second floor were numerous small and very characteristic +portraits; and in a press full of large folios was one of the +completest and most valuable of collections of theatrical prints. In +the card-room, behind this, were also some very quaint and curious +likenesses, one of Mrs. Liston, as Dollalolla. There was a sweet face +of 'the Prince's' Perdita, which excuses his infatuation and +aggravates his treachery. When the visitor had seen these things and +a few busts, among them one of the late Justice Talfourd (an old +member), he was informed that he had seen the collection and he could +go away, unless he were lucky enough to have an invitation to dine in +the strangers' room. + +"The new Club-house is a little more westward than the old one, but +not much, the Garrick having resolved to cling to the classic region +around Covent-Garden. It is in Garrick-street from the west end of +King-street to Cranbourn-street. It has a frontage of ninety-six feet +to the street; but the rear was very difficult, from its shape, to +manage, and Mr. Marrable, the architect, has dealt very cleverly with +the quaint form over which he had to lay out his chambers. The house +is Italian, and is imposing, from having been judiciously and not +over-enriched. In the hall is a very beautiful Italian screen. The +noble staircase is of carved oak; at the top, a landing-place, from +which is entered the morning-room, the card-room, and the library. All +the apartments demanded by the habits of the day--some of them were +not thought necessary in the days of Garrick--are, of course provided. +The kitchens and all their arrangements are sumptuous, and the latest +culinary improvements are introduced. The system of sunlights appears +to be very complete, and devices for a perfect ventilation have not +been forgotten." + +The pictures have been judiciously hung in the new rooms: they +include--Elliston as Octavian, by Singleton; Macklin (aged 93), by +Opie; Mrs. Pritchard, by Hayman; Peg Woffington, by R. Wilson; Nell +Gwynne, by Sir Peter Lely; Mrs. Abington; Samuel Foote, by Sir Joshua +Reynolds; Colley Cibber as Lord Foppington; Mrs. Bracegirdle; Kitty +Clive; Mrs. Robinson, after Reynolds; Garrick as Macbeth, and Mrs. +Pritchard, Lady Macbeth, by Zoffany; Garrick as Richard III., by +Morland, sen.; Young Roscius, by Opie; Quin, by Hogarth; Rich and his +family, by Hogarth; Charles Mathews, four characters, by Harlowe; Nat +Lee, painted in Bedlam; Anthony Leigh as the Spanish Friar, by +Kneller; John Liston, by Clint; Munden, by Opie; John Johnston, by +Shee; Lacy in three characters, by Wright; Scene from Charles II., by +Clint; Mrs. Siddons as Lady Macbeth, by Harlowe; J. P. Kemble as Cato, +by Lawrence; Macready as Henry IV., by Jackson; Edwin, by +Gainsborough; the twelve of the School of Garrick; Kean, Young, +Elliston, and Mrs. Inchbald, by Harlowe; Garrick as Richard III., by +Loutherbourg; Rich as Harlequin; Moody and Parsons in _The Committee_, +by Vandergucht; King as Touchstone, by Zoffany; Thomas Dogget; +Henderson, by Gainsborough; Elder Colman, by Reynolds; Mrs. Oldfield, +by Kneller; Mrs. Billington; Nancy Dawson; Screen Scene from _The +School for Scandal_, as originally cast; Scene from _Venice Preserved_ +(Garrick and Mrs. Cibber), by Zoffany; Scene from _Macbeth_ +(Henderson); Scene from _Love, Law, and Physic_ (Mathews, Liston, +Blanchard, and Emery), by Clint; Scene from _The Clandestine Marriage_ +(King and Mr. and Mrs. Baddeley), by Zoffany; Weston as Billy Button, +by Zoffany. + +The following have been presented to the Club:--Busts of Mrs. Siddons +and J. P. Kemble, by Mrs. Siddons; of Garrick, Captain Marryat, Dr. +Kitchiner, and Malibran; Garrick, by Roubiliac; Griffin and Johnson in +_The Alchemist_, by Von Bleeck; Miniatures of Mrs. Robinson and Peg +Woffington; Sketch of Kean by Lambert; Garrick Mulberry-tree +Snuff-box; Joseph Harris as Cardinal Wolsey, from the Strawberry Hill +Collection; Proof Print of the Trial of Queen Katherine, by Harlowe. + +The Garrick men will, for the sake of justice, excuse the mention of a +short-coming: at the first dinner of the Club, from the list of toasts +was omitted "Shakspeare," who, it must be allowed, contributed to +Garrick's fame. David did not so forget the Bard, as is attested in +his statue by Roubiliac, which, after adorning the Garrick grounds at +Hampton, was bequeathed by the grateful actor to the British Museum. + +The Club were entertained at a sumptuous dinner by their brother +member, Lord Mayor Moon, in the Egyptian Hall of the Mansion House, in +1855. + +The Gin-punch made with iced soda-water, is a notable potation at the +Garrick; and the rightful patentee of the invention was Mr. Stephen +Price, an American gentleman, well known on the turf, and as the +lessee of Drury-lane Theatre. His title has been much disputed-- + + "Grammatici certant et adhuc sub judice lis est;" + +and many, misled by Mr. Theodore Hook's frequent and liberal +application of the discovery, were in the habit of ascribing it to +him. But, Mr. Thomas Hill, the celebrated "trecentenarian" of a +popular song, who was present at Mr. Hook's first introduction to the +beverage, has set the matter at rest by a brief narration of the +circumstances. One hot afternoon, in July, 1835, the inimitable author +of _Sayings and Doings_ (what a book might be made of his own!) +strolled into the Garrick in that equivocal state of thirstiness which +it requires something more than common to quench. On describing the +sensation, he was recommended to make a trial of the punch, and a jug +was compounded immediately under the personal inspection of Mr. Price. +A second followed--a third, with the accompaniment of some chops--a +fourth--a fifth--a sixth--at the expiration of which Mr. Hook went +away to keep a dinner engagement at Lord Canterbury's. He always ate +little, and on this occasion he ate less, and Mr. Horace Twiss +inquired in a fitting tone of anxiety if he was ill. "Not exactly," +was the reply; "but my stomach won't bear trifling with, and I was +tempted to take a biscuit and a glass of sherry about three." + +The receipt for the gin punch is as follows:--pour half a pint of gin +on the outer peel of a lemon, then a little lemon-juice, a glass of +maraschino, about a pint and a quarter of water, and two bottles of +iced soda-water; and the result will be three pints of the punch in +question. + +Another choice spirit of the Garrick was the aforesaid Hill, "Tom +Hill," as he was called by all who loved and knew him. He "happened to +know everything that was going forward in all circles--mercantile, +political, fashionable, literary, or theatrical; in addition to all +matters connected with military and naval affairs, agriculture, +finance, art, and science--everything came alike to him." He was born +in 1760, and was many years a drysalter at Queenhithe, but about 1810 +he lost a large sum of money by a speculation in indigo; after which +he retired upon the remains of his property, to chambers in the +Adelphi. While at Queenhithe, he found leisure to make a fine +collection of old books, chiefly old poetry, which were valued at six +thousand pounds. He greatly assisted two friendless poets, Bloomfield +and Kirke White; he also established _The Monthly Mirror_, which +brought him much into connection with dramatic poets, actors, and +managers, when he collected theatrical curiosities and relics. Hill +was the Hull of Hook's clever novel, _Gilbert Gurney_, and the reputed +original of Paul Pry, though the latter is doubtful. The standard joke +about him was his age. He died in 1841, in his eighty-first year, +though Hook and all his friends always affected to consider him as +quite a Methuselah. James Smith once said that it was impossible to +discover his age, for the parish-register had been burnt in the fire +of London; but Hook capped this:--'_Pooh, pooh!_--(Tom's habitual +exclamation)--he's one of the Little Hills that are spoken of as +skipping in the Psalms.' As a mere octogenarian he was wonderful +enough. No human being would, from his appearance, gait, or habits, +have guessed him to be sixty. Till within three months of his death, +Hill rose at five usually, and brought the materials of his breakfast +home with him to the Adelphi from a walk to Billingsgate; and at +dinner he would eat and drink like an adjutant of five-and-twenty. One +secret was, that a 'banyan-day' uniformly followed a festivity. He +then nursed himself most carefully on tea and dry toast, tasted +neither meat nor wine, and went to bed by eight o'clock. But perhaps +the grand secret was, the easy, imperturbable serenity of his temper. +He had been kind and generous in the day of his wealth; and though his +evening was comparatively poor, his cheerful heart kept its even beat. + +Hill was a patient collector throughout his long life. His old English +poetry, which Southey considered the rarest assemblage in existence, +was dispersed in 1810; and, after Hill's death, his literary rarities +and memorials occupied Evans, of Pall Mall, a clear week to sell by +auction: the autograph letters were very interesting, and among the +memorials were Garrick's Shakspeare Cup and a vase carved from the +Bard's mulberry-tree; and a block of wood from Pope's willow, at +Twickenham. + +Albert Smith was also of the Garrick, and usually dined here before +commencing his evening entertainment at the Egyptian Hall, in +Piccadilly. + +Smith was very clubbable, and with benevolent aims: he was a leader of +the Fielding Club, in Maiden-lane, Covent Garden, which gave several +amateur theatrical representations, towards the establishment of "a +Fund for the immediate relief of emergencies in the Literary or +Theatrical world;" having already devoted a considerable sum to +charitable purposes. This plan of relieving the woes of others through +our own pleasures is a touch of nature which yields twofold +gratification. + + + + +THE REFORM CLUB. + + +This political Club was established by Liberal Members of the two +Houses of Parliament, to aid the carrying of the Reform Bill, +1830-1832. It was temporarily located in Great George-street, and +Gwydyr House, Whitehall, until towards the close of 1837, when designs +for a new Club-house were submitted by the architects, Blore, Basevi, +Cockerell, Sydney Smirke, and Barry. The design of the latter was +preferred, and the site selected in Pall Mall, extending from the spot +formerly occupied by the temporary National Gallery (late the +residence of Sir Walter Stirling), on one side of the temporary Reform +Club-house, over the vacant plot of ground on the other side. The +instructions were to produce a Club-house which should surpass all +others in size and magnificence; one which should combine all the +attractions of other Clubs, such as baths, billiard-rooms, +smoking-rooms, with the ordinary accommodations; besides the +additional novelty of private chambers, or dormitories. The frontage +towards Pall Mall is about 135 feet, or nearly equal to the frontage +of the Athenæum (76 feet) and the Travellers' (74 feet). The style of +the Reform is pure Italian, the architect having taken some points +from the celebrated Farnese Palace at Rome, designed by Michael Angelo +Buonarroti, in 1545, and built by Antonio Sangallo. However, the +resemblance between the two edifices has been greatly over-stated, it +consisting only in both of them being astylar, with columnar-decorated +fenestration. The exterior is greatly admired; though it is objected, +and with reason, that the windows are too small. The Club-house +contains six floors and 134 apartments: the basement and mezzanine +below the street pavement, and the chambers in the roof are not seen. + +The points most admired are extreme simplicity and unity of design, +combined with very unusual richness. The breadth of the piers between +the windows contributes not a little to that repose which is so +essential to simplicity, and hardly less so to stateliness. The +string-courses are particularly beautiful, while the cornicione (68 +feet from the pavement) gives extraordinary majesty and grandeur to +the whole. The roof is covered with Italian tiles; the edifice is +faced throughout with Portland stone, and is a very fine specimen of +masonry. In building it a strong scaffolding was constructed, and on +the top was laid a railway, upon which was worked a traversing crane, +movable along the building either longitudinally or transversely; by +which means the stones were raised from the ground, and placed on the +wall with very little labour to the mason, who had only to adjust the +bed and lay the block.[27] + +In the centre of the interior is a grand hall, 56 by 50, (the entire +height of the building,) resembling an Italian _cortile_, surrounded +by colonnades, below Ionic, and above Corinthian; the latter is a +picture-gallery, where, inserted in the scagliola walls, are +whole-length portraits of eminent political Reformers; while the upper +colonnade has rich floral mouldings, and frescoes of Music, Poetry, +Painting, and sculpture, by Parris. The floor of the hall is +tessellated; and the entire roof is strong diapered flint-glass, +executed by Pellatt, at the cost of 600_l._ The staircase, like that +of an Italian palace, leads to the upper gallery of the hall, opening +into the principal drawing-room, which is over the coffee-room in the +garden-front, both being the entire length of the building; adjoining +are a library, card-room, etc., over the library and dining-rooms. +Above are a billiard-room and lodging-rooms for members of the Club; +there being a separate entrance to the latter by a lodge adjoining the +Travellers' Club-house. + +The basement comprises two-storied wine-cellars beneath the hall; +besides the kitchen department, planned by Alexis Soyer, originally +_chef-de-cuisine_ of the Club: it contains novel employments of steam +and gas, and mechanical applications of practical ingenuity; the +inspection of which was long one of the privileged sights of London. +The _cuisine_, under M. Soyer, enjoyed European fame. Soyer first came +to England on a visit to his brother, who was then cook to the Duke of +Cambridge; and at Cambridge House, Alexis cooked his first dinner in +England, for the then Prince George. Soyer afterwards entered the +service of various noblemen, amongst others of Lord Ailsa, Lord +Panmure, etc. He then entered into the service of the Reform Club, and +the breakfast given by that Club on the occasion of the Queen's +Coronation obtained him high commendation. His ingenuity gave a sort +of celebrity to the great political banquets given at the Reform. In +his O'Connell dinner, the _soufflés à la Clontarf_, were considered by +gastronomes to be a rich bit of satire. The banquet to Ibrahim Pacha, +July 3, 1846, was another of Soyer's great successes, when Merlans à +l'Égyptienne, la Crême d'Égypte and à l'Ibrahim Pacha, mingled with Le +Gâteau Britannique à l'Amiral (Napier). Another famous banquet was +that given to Sir C. Napier, March 3, 1854, as Commander of the Baltic +Fleet; and the banquet given July 20, 1850, to Viscount Palmerston, +who was a popular leader of the Reform, was, gastronomically as well +as politically, a brilliant triumph. It was upon this memorable +occasion that Mr. Bernal Osborne characterized the Palmerston policy +in this quotation:-- + + "Warmed by the instincts of a knightly heart, + That roused at once if insult touched the realm, + He spurned each State-craft, each deceiving art, + And met his foes no vizor to his helm. + This proved his worth, hereafter be our boast-- + Who hated Britons, hated him the most." + +Lord Palmerston was too true an Englishman to be insensible to "the +pleasures of the table," as attested by the hospitalities of +Cambridge House, during his administration. One of his Lordship's +political opponents, writing in 1836, says: "Lord Palmerston is +redeemed from the last extremity of political degradation by his +cook." A distinguished member of the diplomatic body was once +overheard remarking to an Austrian nobleman, upon the Minister's +shortcomings in some respects, adding, "mais on dîne fort bien chez +lui." + +It is always interesting to read a foreigner's opinion of English +society. The following observations, by the Viscountess de Malleville, +appeared originally in the _Courrier de l'Europe_, and preceded an +account of the Reform. Commencing with Clubs, the writer remarks: + +"It cannot be denied that these assemblages, wealthy and widely +extended in their ramifications, selfish in principle, but perfectly +adapted to the habits of the nation, offer valuable advantages to +those who have the good fortune to be enrolled in them.... The social +state and manners of the country gave the first idea of them. The +spirit of association which is so inherent in the British character, +did the rest. It is only within the precincts of these splendid +edifices, where all the requirements of opulent life, all the comforts +and luxuries of princely habitations are combined, that we can +adequately appreciate the advantages and the complicated results +produced by such a system of association. For an annual subscription, +comparatively of small amount, every member of a Club is admitted into +a circle, which is enlivened and renewed from time to time by the +accession of strangers of distinction. A well-selected and extensive +library, newspapers and pamphlets from all parts of the world, assist +him to pass the hours of leisure and digestion. According as his +tastes incline, a man may amuse himself in the saloons devoted to +play, to reading, or to conversation. In a word, the happy man, who +only goes to get his dinner, may drink the best wines out of the +finest cut-glass, and may eat the daintiest and best-cooked viands off +the most costly plate, at such moderate prices as no Parisian +restaurateur could afford. The advantages of a Club do not end here: +it becomes for each of its members a second domestic hearth, where the +cares of business and household annoyances cannot assail him. As a +retreat especially sacred against the visitations of idle +acquaintances and tiresome creditors--a sanctuary in which each member +feels himself in the society of those who act and sympathize with +him--the Club will ever remain a resort, tranquil, elegant, and +exclusive; interdicted to the humble and to the insignificant." + +The writer then proceeds to illustrate the sumptuous character of our +new Club-houses by reference to the Reform. "Unlike in most English +buildings, the staircase is wide and commodious, and calls to mind +that of the Louvre. The quadrangular apartment which terminates it, is +surrounded by spacious galleries; the rich mosaic pavement, in which +the brilliancy of the colour is only surpassed by the variety of the +design--the cut-glass ceiling, supported by four rows of marble +pillars--all these things call to remembrance the most magnificent +apartments of Versailles in the days of the great king and his +splendours. This is the vestibule, which is the grand feature of the +mansion." The kitchen is then described--"spacious as a ball-room, +kept in the finest order, and white as a young bride. All-powerful +steam, the noise of which salutes your ear as you enter, here performs +a variety of offices: it diffuses a uniform heat to large rows of +dishes, warms the metal plates upon which are disposed the dishes that +have been called for, and that are in waiting to be sent above: it +turns the spits, draws the water, carries up the coal, and moves the +plate like an intelligent and indefatigable servant. Stay awhile +before this octagonal apparatus, which occupies the centre of the +place. Around you the water boils and the stew-pans bubble, and a +little further on is a moveable furnace, before which pieces of meat +are converted into savoury _rôtis_; here are sauces and gravies, +stews, broths, soups, etc. In the distance are Dutch ovens, marble +mortars, lighted stoves, iced plates of metal for fish; and various +compartments for vegetables, fruits, roots, and spices. After this +inadequate, though prodigious nomenclature, the reader may perhaps +picture to himself a state of general confusion, a disordered +assemblage, resembling that of a heap of oyster-shells. If so, he is +mistaken; for, in fact, you see very little, or scarcely anything of +all the objects above described. The order of their arrangement is so +perfect, their distribution as a whole, and in their relative bearings +to one another, all are so intelligently considered, that you require +the aid of a guide to direct you in exploring them, and a good deal of +time to classify in your mind all your discoveries. + +"Let all strangers who come to London for business, or pleasure, or +curiosity, or for whatever cause, not fail to visit the Reform Club. +In an age of utilitarianism, and of the search for the comfortable, +like ours, there is more to be learned here than in the ruins of the +Coliseum, of the Parthenon, or of Memphis." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[27] Civil Engineer and Architects' Journal, 1841. + + + + +THE CARLTON CLUB. + + +The Carlton is purely a political Club, and was founded by the great +Duke of Wellington, and a few of his most intimate political friends. +It held its first meeting in Charles-street, St. James's, in the year +1831. In the following year it removed to larger premises, Lord +Kensington's, in Carlton Gardens. In 1836, an entirely new house was +built for the Club, in Pall-Mall, by Sir Robert Smirke, R.A.: it was +of small extent, and plain and inexpensive. As the Club grew in +numbers and importance, the building became inadequate to its wants. +In 1846, a very large addition was made to it by Mr. Sydney Smirke; +and in 1854, the whole of the original edifice was taken down, and +rebuilt by Mr. Smirke, upon a sumptuous scale; and it will be the +largest, though not the most costly Club-house, in the metropolis. It +is a copy of Sansovino's Library of St. Mark, at Venice: the +entablature of the Ionic, or upper order, is considerably more +ponderous than that of the Doric below, which is an unorthodox defect. +The façade is highly enriched, and exhibits a novelty in the shafts of +all the columns being of red Peterhead granite, highly polished, +which, in contrast with the dead stone, is objectionable: "cloth of +frieze and cloth of gold" do not wear well together. In the garden +front the pilasters, which take the place of columns in the entrance +front and flank, are of the same material as the latter, namely, +Peterhead granite, polished. Many predictions were at first ventured +upon as to the perishable nature of the lustre of the polished +granite shafts; but these predictions have been falsified by time; +nine years' exposure having produced no effect whatever on the +polished surface. Probably the polish itself is the protection of the +granite, by preventing moisture from hanging on the surface. + +The Carlton contains Conservatives of every hue, from the good +old-fashioned Tory to the liberal progressist of the latest +movements,--men of high position in fortune and politics. + +Some thirty years ago, a _Quarterly_ reviewer wrote: "The improvement +and multiplication of Clubs is the grand feature of metropolitan +progress. There are between twenty and thirty of these admirable +establishments, at which a man of moderate habits can dine more +comfortably for three or four shillings (including half a pint of +wine), than he could have dined for four or five times that amount at +the coffee-houses and hotels, which were the habitual resort of the +bachelor class in the corresponding rank of life during the first +quarter of the century. At some of the Clubs--the Travellers', the +Coventry, and the Carlton, for example--the most finished luxury may +be enjoyed at a very moderate cost. The best judges are agreed that it +is utterly impossible to dine better than at the Carlton, when the +cook has fair notice, and is not hurried, or confused by a multitude +of orders. But great allowances must be made when a simultaneous rush +occurs from both Houses of Parliament; and the caprices of individual +members of such institutions are sometimes extremely trying to the +temper and reputation of a _chef_." + + + + +THE CONSERVATIVE CLUB. + + +This handsome Club-house, which occupies a portion of the site of the +old Thatched House Tavern, 74, St. James's-street, was designed by +Sydney Smirke and George Basevi, 1845. The upper portion is +Corinthian, with columns and pilasters, and a frieze sculptured with +the imperial crown and oak-wreaths; the lower order is Roman-Doric; +and the wings are slightly advanced, with an enriched entrance-porch +north, and a bay-window south. The interior was superbly decorated in +colour by Sang: the coved hall, with a gallery round it, and the domed +vestibule above it, is a fine specimen of German encaustic +embellishment, in the arches, soffites, spandrels, and ceilings; and +the hall-floor is tessellated, around a noble star of marqueterie. The +evening room, on the first floor, has an enriched coved ceiling, and a +beautiful frieze of the rose, shamrock, and thistle, supported by +scagliola Corinthian columns: the morning room, beneath, is of the +same dimensions, with Ionic pillars. The library, in the upper story +north, has columns and pilasters with bronzed capitals. Beneath is the +coffee-room. The kitchen is far more spacious than that of the Reform +Club. In the right wing is a large bay-window, which was introduced as +an essential to the morning room, affording the lounger a view of Pall +Mall and St. James's-street, and the Palace gateway; this introduction +reminding us, by the way, of Theodore Hook's oddly comparing the +bay-window of a coffee-house nearly on the same spot, to an obese old +gentleman in a white waistcoat. Hook lived for some time in +Cleveland-row: he used to describe the _real London_ as the space +between Pall Mall on the south, Piccadilly north, St. James's west, +and the Opera-house east. + +This is the second Club of the Conservative party, and many of its +chiefs are honorary members, but rarely enter it: Sir Robert Peel is +said never to have entered this Club-house except to view the +interior. Other leaders have, however, availed themselves of the Club +influences to recruit their ranks from its working strength. This has +been political ground for a century and a half; for here, at the +Thatched House Tavern, Swift met his political Clubs, and dined with +Tory magnates; but with fewer appliances than in the present day; in +Swift's time "the wine being always brought by him that is +president."[28] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[28] The Palace clock has connected with it an odd anecdote, which we +received from Mr. Vulliamy, of Pall Mall, who, with his family, as +predecessors, had been the royal clockmakers since 1743. When the +Palace Gate-house was repaired, in 1831, the clock was removed, and +not put up again. The inhabitants of the neighbourhood, missing the +clock, memorialized William IV. for the replacement of the +time-keeper, when the King inquired why it was not restored; the reply +was that the roof was reported unsafe to carry the weight, which His +Majesty having ascertained, he shrewdly demanded how, if the roof were +not strong enough to carry the clock, it was safe for the number of +persons occasionally seen upon it to witness processions, and the +company on drawing-room days? There was no questioning the +calculation; the clock was forthwith replaced, and a minute-hand was +added, with new dials. (_Curiosities of London_, p. 571.) + + + + +THE OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE CLUB. + + +The Oxford and Cambridge Club-house, 71, Pall Mall, for members of the +two Universities, was designed by Sir Robert Smirke, R.A., and his +brother, Mr. Sydney Smirke, 1835-8. The Pall Mall façade is 80 feet in +width by 75 in height, and the rear lies over against the court of +Marlborough House. The ornamental detail is very rich: as the +entrance-portico, with Corinthian columns; the balcony, with its +panels of metal foliage; and the ground-story frieze, and arms of +Oxford and Cambridge Universities over the portico columns. The upper +part of the building has a delicate Corinthian entablature and +balustrade; and above the principal windows are bas-reliefs in panels, +executed in cement by Nicholl, from designs by Sir R. Smirke, as +follows:--Centre panel: Minerva and Apollo presiding on Mount +Parnassus; and the River Helicon, surrounded by the Muses. Extreme +panels: Homer singing to a warrior, a female, and a youth; Virgil +singing his Georgics to a group of peasants. Other four panels: Milton +reciting to his daughter; Shakspeare attended by Tragedy and Comedy; +Newton explaining his system; Bacon, his philosophy. Beneath the +ground-floor is a basement of offices, and an entresol or mezzanine of +chambers. The principal apartments are tastefully decorated; the +drawing-room is panelled with _papier mâché_; and the libraries are +filled with book-cases of beautifully-marked Russian birchwood. From +the back library is a view of Marlborough House and its gardens. + + + + +THE GUARDS' CLUB. + + +Was formerly housed in St. James's-street, next Crockford's, north; +but, in 1850, they removed to Pall Mall, No. 70. The new Club-house +was designed for them by Henry Harrison, and remarkable for its +compactness and convenience, although its size and external appearance +indicate no more than a private house. The architect has adopted some +portion of a design of Sansovino's in the lower part or basement. + + + + +THE ARMY AND NAVY CLUB. + + +The Army and Navy Club-house, Pall Mall, corner of George-street, +designed by Parnell and Smith, was opened February 1851. The exterior +is a combination from Sansovino's Palazzo Cornaro, and Library of St. +Mark at Venice; but varying in the upper part, which has Corinthian +columns, with windows resembling arcades filling up the intercolumns; +and over their arched headings are groups of naval and military +symbols, weapons, and defensive armour--very picturesque. The frieze +has also effective groups symbolic of the Army and Navy; the cornice, +likewise very bold, is crowned by a massive balustrade. The basement, +from the Cornaro, is rusticated; the entrance being in the centre of +the east or George-street front, by three open arches, similar in +character to those in the Strand front of Somerset House. The whole is +extremely rich in ornamental detail. The hall is fine; the coffee-room +is panelled with scagliola, and has a ceiling enriched with flowers, +and pierced for ventilation by heated flues above; adjoining is a room +lighted by a glazed plafond; next is the house dining-room, decorated +in the Munich style; and more superb is the morning-room, with its +arched windows, and mirrors forming arcades and vistas innumerable. A +magnificent stone staircase leads to the library and reading rooms; +and in the third story are billiard and card rooms; and a +smoking-room, with a lofty dome elaborately decorated in traceried +Moresque. The apartments are adorned with an equestrian portrait of +Queen Victoria, painted by Grant, R.A.; a piece of Gobelin tapestry +(Sacrifice to Diana), presented to the Club in 1849 by Prince Louis +Napoleon; marble busts of William IV. and the Dukes of Kent and +Cambridge; and several life-size portraits of naval and military +heroes. The Club-house is provided with twenty lines of Whishaw's +Telekouphona, or Speaking Telegraph, which communicate from the +Secretary's room to the various apartments. The cost of this superb +edifice, exclusive of fittings, was 35,000_l._; the plot of ground on +which it stands cost the Club 52,000_l._ + +The Club system has added several noble specimens of ornate +architecture to the metropolis; to the south side of Pall Mall these +fine edifices have given a truly patrician air. But, it is remarkable +that while both parties political have contributed magnificent +edifices towards the metropolis and their opinions; while the +Conservatives can show with pride two splendid piles and the Liberals +at least one handsome one; while the Army and Navy have recently a +third palace--the most successful of the three they can boast; while +the Universities, the sciences, even our Indian empire, come forward, +the fashionable clubs, the aristocratic clubs do nothing for the +general aspect of London, and have made no move in a direction where +they ought to have been first. Can anything be more paltry than that +bay-window from which the members of White's contemplate the cabstand +and the Wellington Tavern? and yet a little management might make that +house worthy of its unparalleled situation; and if it were extended to +Piccadilly, it would be the finest thing of its kind in Europe. + + + + +THE JUNIOR UNITED SERVICE CLUB. + + +At the corner of Charles-street and Regent-street, was erected in +1855-57, Nelson and James, architects, and has a most embellished +exterior, enriched with characteristic sculpture by John Thomas. The +design is described in the _Builder_ as in the Italian style of +architecture, the bay-window in Regent-street forming a prominent +feature in the composition, above which is a sculptured group +allegorical of the Army and Navy. The whole of the sculpture and +ornamental details throughout the building are characteristic of the +profession of the members of the Club. The exterior of the building is +surmounted by a richly-sculptured cornice, with modillion and dentils, +and beneath it an elaborate frieze, having medallions with trophies +and other suitable emblems, separated from each other by the rose, +shamrock, and thistle. The external walls of the building are of Bath +stone, and the balustrade round the area is of Portland stone; and +upon the angle-pieces of this are bronze lamps, supported by figures. +The staircase is lighted from the top by a handsome lantern, filled +with painted glass, with an elaborate coved and ornamented ceiling +around. On the landing of the half space are two pairs of caryatidal +figures, and single figures against the walls, supporting three +semicircular arches, and the whole is reflected by looking-glasses on +the landing. On the upper landing of the staircase, is the celebrated +picture, by Allan, of the Battle of Waterloo. Upon the first floor +fronting Regent-street, and over the morning-room, and of the same +dimensions, is the evening-room, which is also used as a +picture-gallery, 24 feet high, with a bay-window fronting +Regent-street. In the gallery are portraits of military and naval +commanders; Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, and the Emperor +Napoleon; and an allegorical group in silver, presented to the Club by +his Imperial Majesty. + + + + +CROCKFORD'S CLUB. + + +This noted gaming Club-house, No. 50, on the west side of St. +James's-street, over against White's, was built for Mr. Crockford, in +1827; B. and P. Wyatt, architects. + +Crockford started in life as a fishmonger, at the old bulk-shop +next-door to Temple Bar Without, which he quitted for play in St. +James's. "For several years deep play went on at all the +Clubs--fluctuating both as to locality and amount--till by degrees it +began to flag. It was at a low ebb when Mr. Crockford laid the +foundation of the most colossal fortune that was ever made by play. He +began by taking Watier's old Club-house, in partnership with a man +named Taylor. They set up a hazard-bank, and won a great deal of +money, but quarrelled and separated at the end of the first year. +Taylor continued where he was, had a bad year, and failed. Crockford +removed to St. James's-street, had a good year, and immediately set +about building the magnificent Club-house which bears his name. It +rose like a creation of Aladdin's lamp; and the genii themselves could +hardly have surpassed the beauty of the internal decorations, or +furnished a more accomplished _maître d'hôtel_ than Ude. To make the +company as select as possible, the establishment was regularly +organized as a Club, and the election of members vested in a +committee. 'Crockford's' became the rage, and the votaries of fashion, +whether they liked play or not, hastened to enrol themselves. The Duke +of Wellington was an original member, though (unlike Blücher, who +repeatedly lost everything he had at play) the great Captain was never +known to play deep at any game but war or politics. Card-tables were +regularly placed, and whist was played occasionally; but the aim, end, +and final cause of the whole was the hazard-bank, at which the +proprietor took his nightly stand, prepared for all comers. _Le +Wellington des Joueurs_ lost 23,000_l._ at a sitting, beginning at +twelve at night, and ending at seven the following evening. He and +three other noblemen could not have lost less, sooner or later, than +100,000_l._ apiece. Others lost in proportion (or out of proportion) +to their means; but we leave it to less occupied moralists, and +better calculators, to say how many ruined families went to make Mr. +Crockford a _millionnaire_--for a _millionnaire_ he was in the English +sense of the term, after making the largest possible allowance for bad +debts. A vast sum, perhaps half a million, was sometimes due to him; +but as he won, all his debtors were able to raise, and easy credit was +the most fatal of his lures. He retired in 1840, much as an Indian +chief retires from a hunting country when there is not game enough +left for his tribe, and the Club is now tottering to its fall."[29] + +The Club-house consists of two wings and a centre, with four +Corinthian pilasters, and entablature, and a balustrade throughout; +the ground-floor has Venetian windows, and the upper story, large +French windows. The entrance-hall had a screen of Roman-Ionic +scagliola columns with gilt capitals, and a cupola of gilding and +stained glass. The library has Sienna columns and antæ of the Ionic +order, from the Temple of Minerva Polias; the staircase is panelled +with scagliola, and enriched with Corinthian columns. The grand +drawing-room is in the style of Louis Quatorze: azure ground, with +elaborate cove; ceiling enrichments bronze gilt; door-way paintings _à +la Watteau_; and panelling, masks, terminals, heavily gilt. Upon the +opening of the Club-house, it was described in the exaggerated style, +as "the New Pandemonium"; the drawing-rooms, or real Hell, consisting +of four chambers; the first an ante-room, opening to a saloon +embellished to a degree which baffles description; thence to a small, +curiously-formed cabinet, or boudoir, which opens to the supper room. +All these rooms are panelled in the most gorgeous manner, spaces +being left to be filled up with mirrors, silk or gold enrichments; the +ceilings being as superb as the walls. A billiard-room on the upper +floor completes the number of apartments professedly dedicated to the +use of the members. Whenever any secret manoeuvre is to be carried +on, there are smaller and more retired places, both under this roof +and the next, whose walls will tell no tales. + +The _cuisine_ at Crockford's was of the highest class, and the members +were occasionally very _exigeant_, and trying to the patience of M. +Ude. At one period of his presidency, a ground of complaint, formally +addressed to the Committee, was that there was an admixture of onion +in the _soubise_. Colonel Damer, happening to enter Crockford's one +evening to dine early, found Ude walking up and down in a towering +passion, and naturally inquired what was the matter. "No matter, +Monsieur le Colonel! Did you see that man who has just gone out? Well, +he ordered a red mullet for his dinner. I made him a delicious little +sauce with my own hands. The price of the mullet marked on the _carte_ +was 2_s._; I asked 6_d._ for the sauce. He refuses to pay the 6_d._ +That _imbécille_ apparently believes that the red mullets come out of +the sea with my sauce in their pockets!" The _imbécille_ might have +retorted that they do come out of the sea with their appropriate sauce +in their pockets; but this forms no excuse for damaging the consummate +genius of a Ude. + +The appetites of some Club members appear to entitle them to be called +_gourmands_ rather than _gourmets_. Of such a member of Crockford's +the following traits are related in the _Quarterly Review_, No. +110:--"The Lord-lieutenant of one of the western counties eats a covey +of partridges for breakfast every day during the season; and there is +a popular M.P. at present [1836] about town who would eat a covey of +partridges, as the Scotchman ate a dozen of becaficos, for a whet, and +feel himself astonished if his appetite was not accelerated by the +circumstance. Most people must have seen or heard of a caricature +representing a gentleman at dinner upon a round of beef, with the +landlord looking on. 'Capital beef, landlord!' says the gentleman; 'a +man may cut and come again here.' 'You may cut, Sir,' responds +Boniface; 'but I'm blow'd if you shall come again.' The person +represented is the M.P. in question; and the sketch is founded upon +fact. He had occasion to stay late in the City, and walked into the +celebrated Old Bailey beef-shop on his return, where, according to the +landlord's computation, he demolished about seven pounds and a half of +solid meat, with a proportionate allowance of greens. His exploits at +Crockford's have been such, that the founder of that singular +institution has more than once had serious thoughts of giving him a +guinea to sup elsewhere; and has only been prevented by the fear of +meeting with a rebuff similar to that mentioned in _Roderick Random_ +as received by the master of an ordinary, who, on proposing to buy off +an ugly customer, was informed by him that he had already been bought +off by all the other ordinaries in town, and was consequently under +the absolute necessity of continuing to patronize the establishment." + +Theodore Hook was a frequent visitor at Crockford's, where play did +not begin till late. Mr. Barham describes him, after going the round +of the Clubs, proposing, with some gay companion, to finish with half +an hour at Crockford's: "The half-hour is quadrupled, and the +excitement of the preceding evening was nothing to that which now +ensued." He had a receipt of his own to prevent being exposed to the +night air. "I was very ill," he once said, "some months ago, and my +doctor gave me particular orders not to expose myself to it; so I come +up [from Fulham] every day to Crockford's, or some other place to +dinner, and I make it a rule on no account to go home again till about +four or five o'clock in the morning." + +After Crockford's death, the Club-house was sold by his executors for +2,900_l._; held on lease, of which thirty-two years were unexpired, +subject to a yearly rent of 1,400_l._ It is said that the decorations +alone cost 94,000_l._ The interior was re-decorated in 1849, and +opened for the Military, Naval, and County Service Club, but was +closed again in 1851. It has been, for several years, a +dining-house--"the Wellington." + +Crockford's old bulk-shop, west of Temple-bar, was taken down in 1846. +It is engraved in Archer's _Vestiges of London_, part i. A view in +1795, in the Crowle Pennant, presents one tall gable to the street; +but the pitch of the roof had been diminished by adding two imperfect +side gables. The heavy pents originally traversed over each of the +three courses of windows; it was a mere timber frame filled up with +lath and plaster, the beams being of deal with short oak joints: it +presented a capital example of the old London bulk-shop (sixteenth +century), with a heavy canopy projecting over the pathway, and turned +up at the rim to carry off the rain endwise. This shop had long been +held by a succession of fishmongers; and Crockford would not permit +the house-front to be altered in his lifetime. He was known in gaming +circles by the sobriquet of "the Fishmonger." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[29] Edinburgh Review. + + + + +"KING ALLEN," "THE GOLDEN BALL," AND SCROPE DAVIES. + + +In the old days when gaming was in fashion, at Watier's Club, princes +and nobles lost or gained fortunes between themselves. It was the same +at Brookes's, one member of which, Lord Robert Spencer, was wise +enough to apply what he had won to the purchase of the estate of +Woolbidding, Suffolk. Then came Crockford's hell, the proprietor of +which, a man who had begun life with a fish-basket, won the whole of +the ready money of the then existing generation of aristocratic +simpletons. Among the men who most suffered by play was Viscount +Allen, or 'King Allen,' as he was called. This effeminate dandy had +fought like a young lion in Spain; for the dandies, foolish as they +looked, never wanted pluck. The 'King' then lounged about town, grew +fat, lost his all, and withdrew to Dublin, where, in Merrion-square, +he slept behind a large brass plate with 'Viscount Allen' upon it, +which was as good to him as board wages, for it brought endless +invitations from people eager to feed a viscount at any hour of the +day or night, although King Allen had more ready ability in uttering +disagreeable than witty things. + +Very rarely indeed did any of the ruined gamesters ever get on their +legs again. The Golden Ball, however, was an exception. Ball Hughes +fell from the very top of the gay pagoda into the mud, but even there, +as life was nothing to him without the old excitement, he played pitch +and toss for halfpence, and he won and lost small ventures at +battledore and shuttlecock, which innocent exercise he turned into a +gambling speculation. After he withdrew, in very reduced +circumstances, to France, his once mad purchase of Oatlands suddenly +assumed a profitable aspect. The estate was touched by a railway and +admired by building speculators, and between the two the Ball, in its +last days, had a very cheerful and glittering aspect indeed. + +Far less lucky than Hughes was Scrope Davies, whose name was once so +familiar to every man and boy about town. There was good stuff about +this dandy. He one night won the whole fortune of an aspiring fast lad +who had come of age the week before, and who was so prostrated by his +loss that kindly-hearted Scrope gave back the fortune the other had +lost, on his giving his word of honour never to play again. Davies +stuck to the green baize till his own fortune had gone among a score +of less compassionate gentlemen. His distressed condition was made +known to the young fellow to whom he had formerly acted with so much +generosity, and that grateful heir refused to lend him even a guinea. +Scrope was not of the gentlemen-ruffians of the day who were addicted +to cruelly assaulting men weaker than themselves. He was well-bred and +a scholar; and he bore his reverses with a rare philosophy. His home +was on a bench in the Tuileries, where he received old acquaintances +who visited him in exile; but he admitted only very tried friends to +the little room where he read and slept. He was famed for his +readiness in quoting the classical poets, and for his admiration of +Moore, in whose favour those quotations were frequently made. They +were often most happy. For example, he translated 'Ubi _plura_ nitent +non ego _paucis_ offendar maculis,' by '_Moore shines so brightly that +I cannot find fault with Little's vagaries_!' He also rendered 'Ne +_plus_ ultra,' '_Nothing is better than Moore!_'[30] + + + + +THE FOUR-IN-HAND CLUB. + + +Gentleman-coaching has scarcely been known in England seventy years. +The Anglo-Erichthonius, the Hon. Charles Finch, brother to the Earl of +Aylesford, used to drive his own coach-and-four, disguised in a livery +great-coat. Soon after his _début_, however, the celebrated "Tommy +Onslow," Sir John Lacy, and others, mounted the box in their own +characters. Sir John was esteemed a renowned judge of coach-horses and +carriages, and a coachman of the old school; but everything connected +with the coach-box has undergone such a change, that the Nestors of +the art are no longer to be quoted. Among the celebrities may be +mentioned the "B. C. D.," or Benson Driving Club, which held its +rendezvous at the "Black Dog," Bedfont, as one of the numerous driving +associations, whose processions used, some five-and-thirty years ago, +to be among the most imposing, as well as peculiar, spectacles in and +about the metropolis. + +On the stage, the gentlemen drivers, of whom the members of the +Four-in-Hand Club were the exclusive _élite_, were illustrated rather +than caricatured in _Goldfinch_, in Holcroft's comedy _The Road to +Ruin_. Some of them who had not "drags" of their own, "tipped" a +weekly allowance to stage coachmen, to allow them to "finger the +ribbons," and "tool the team." Of course, they frequently "spilt" the +passengers. The closeness with which the professional coachmen were +imitated by the "bucks," is shown in the case of wealthy young Ackers, +who had one of his front teeth taken out, in order that he might +acquire the true coachman-like way of "spitting." There were men of +brains, nevertheless, in the Four-in-Hand, who knew how to ridicule +such fellow-members as Lord Onslow, whom they thus immortalized in an +epigram of that day:-- + + "What can Tommy Onslow do? + He can drive a coach and two! + Can Tommy Onslow do no more? + He can drive a coach and four." + +It is a curious fact, that the fashion of amateur charioteering was +first set by the ladies. Dr. Young has strikingly sketched, in his +satires, the Delia who was as good a coachman as the man she paid for +being so:-- + + "Graceful as John, she moderates the reins, + And whistles sweet her diuretic strains." + +The Four-in-Hand combined gastronomy with equestrianism and +charioteering. They always drove out of town to dinner, and the ghost +of Scrope Davies will pardon our suggesting that the club of drivers +and diners might well have taken for their motto, "Quadrigis, petimus +bene vivere!"[31] + +There is another version of the epigram on Tom Onslow:-- + + "Say, what can Tommy Onslow do? + Can drive a curricle and two. + Can Tommy Onslow do no more? + Yes,--drive a curricle and four." + +This is the version current, we are told, among Onslow's relations in +the neighbourhood of Guildford. + +Lord Onslow's celebrity as _a whip_ long preceded the existence of the +Four-in-Hand Club (the palmy days of which belong to the times of +George the Fourth), and it was not a _coach_, but a _phaeton_, that he +drove. A correspondent of the _Athenæum_ writes: "I knew him +personally, in my own boyhood, in Surrey, in the first years of the +present century; and I remember then hearing the epigram now referred +to, not as new, but as well known, in the following form:-- + + 'What can little T. O. do? + Drive a phaeton and two. + Can little T. O. do no more? + Yes,--drive a phaeton and four.' + +"Tommy Onslow was a little man, full of life and oddities, one of +which was a fondness for driving into odd places; and I remember the +surprise of a pic-nic party, which he joined in a secluded spot, +driving up in his 'phaeton and four' through ways that were hardly +supposed passable by anything beyond a flock of sheep. An earlier +exploit of his had a less agreeable termination. He was once driving +through Thames-street, when the hook of a crane, dangling down in +front of one of the warehouses, caught the hood of the phaeton, +tilting him out, and the fall broke his collar-bone." + +The vehicles of the Club which were formerly used are described as of +a hybrid class, quite as elegant as private carriages and lighter than +even the mails. They were horsed with the finest animals that money +could secure. In general, the whole four in each carriage were +admirably matched; grey and chestnut were the favourite colours, but +occasionally very black horses, or such as were freely flecked with +white, were preferred. The master generally drove the team, often a +nobleman of high rank, who commonly copied the dress of a mail +coachman. The company usually rode outside, but two footmen in rich +liveries were indispensable on the back seat, nor was it at all +uncommon to see some splendidly attired female on the box. A rule of +the Club was that all members should turn out three times a week; and +the start was made at mid-day, from the neighbourhood of Piccadilly, +through which they passed to the Windsor-road,--the attendants of each +carriage playing on their silver bugles. From twelve to twenty of +these handsome vehicles often left London together. + +There remain a few handsome drags, superbly horsed. In a note to +Nimrod's life-like sketch, "The Road,"[32] it is stated that "only ten +years back, there were from thirty-four to forty four-in-hand +equipages to be seen constantly about town." + +Nimrod has some anecdotical illustrations of the taste for the _whip_, +which has undoubtedly declined; and at one time, perhaps, it occupied +more attention among the higher classes of society than we ever wish +to see it do again. Yet, taken in moderation, we can perceive no +reason to condemn this branch of sport more than others. "If so great +a personage as Sophocles could think it fitting to display his science +in public, in the trifling game of ball, why may not an English +gentleman exercise his skill on a coach-box? If the Athenians, the +most polished nation of all antiquity, deemed it _an honour_ to be +considered skilful charioteers, why should Englishmen consider it a +disgrace? To be serious, our amateur or _gentlemen-coachmen_ have +done much good: the road would never have been what it now is, but for +the encouragement they gave, by their notice and support, to all +persons connected with it. Would the Holyhead road have been what it +is, had there been no such persons as the Hon. Thomas Kenyon, Sir +Henry Parnell, and Mr. Maddox? Would the Oxford coachmen have set so +good an example as they have done to their brethren of 'the bench,' +had there been no such men on their road as Sir Henry Peyton, Lord +Clonmel, the late Sir Thomas Mostyn; that Nestor of coachmen, Mr. +Annesley; and the late Mr. Harrison of Shelswell? Would not the +unhappy coachmen of five-and-twenty years back have gone on, wearing +out their breeches with the bumping of the old coach-box, and their +stomachs with brandy, had not Mr. Warde of Squerries, after many a +weary endeavour, persuaded the proprietors to place their boxes upon +springs--the plan for accomplishing which was suggested by Mr. +Roberts, nephew to then proprietor of the White Horse, Fetter Lane, +London, but now of the Royal Hotel, Calais? What would the Devonshire +road have been, but for the late Sir Charles Bamfylde, Sir John +Rogers, Colonel Prouse, Sir Lawrence Palk, and others? Have the advice +and the practice of such experienced men as Mr. Charles Buxton, Mr. +Henry Villebois, Mr. Okeover, Sir Bellingham Graham, Mr. John Walker, +Lord Sefton, Sir Felix Agar,[33] Mr. Ackers, Mr. Maxse, Hon. Fitzroy +Stanhope, Colonel Spicer, Colonel Sibthorpe, _cum multis aliis_, been +thrown away upon persons who have looked up to them as protectors? +Certainly not: neither would the improvement in carriages--stage-coaches +more especially--have arrived at its present height, but for the +attention and suggestions of such persons as we have been speaking +of." + +A commemoration of long service in the coaching department may be +related here. In the autumn of 1835, a handsome compliment was paid to +Mr. Charles Holmes, the driver and part proprietor of the Blenheim +coach (from Woodstock to London) to celebrate the completion of his +twentieth year on that well-appointed coach, a period that had elapsed +without a single accident to his coach, his passengers, or himself; +and during which time, with the exception of a very short absence from +indisposition, he had driven his sixty-five miles every day, making +somewhere about twenty-three thousand miles a year. The numerous +patrons of the coach entered into a subscription to present him with a +piece of plate; and accordingly a cup, bearing the shape of an antique +vase, the cover surmounted by a beautifully modelled horse, with a +coach and four horses on one side, and a suitable inscription on the +other, was presented to Mr. Holmes by that staunch patron of the road, +Sir Henry Peyton, Bart., in August, at a dinner at the Thatched House +Tavern, St. James's-street, to which between forty and fifty gentlemen +sat down. The list of subscribers amounted to upwards of two hundred +and fifty, including among others the Duke of Wellington. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[30] Athenæum review of Captain Gronow's Anecdotes. + +[31] Athenæum, No. 1739. + +[32] Written, it must be recollected, some thirty years since. +Reprinted in Murray's 'Reading for the Rail.' + +[33] Perhaps one of the finest specimens of good coachmanship was +performed by Sir Felix Agar. He made a bet, which he won, that he +would drive his own four-horses-in-hand, up Grosvenor-place, down the +passage into Tattersall's Yard, around the pillar which stands in the +centre of it, and back again into Grosvenor-place, _without either of +his horses going at a slower pace than a trot_. + + + + +WHIST CLUBS. + + +To Hoyle has been ascribed the invention of the game of Whist. This is +certainly a mistake, though there can be no doubt that it was indebted +to him for being first specially treated of and introduced to the +public in a scientific manner. He also wrote on piquet, quadrille, and +backgammon, but little is known of him more than he was born in 1672, +and died in Cavendish-square on 29th August, 1769, at the advanced age +of ninety-seven. He was a barrister by profession, and Registrar of +the Prerogative in Ireland, a post worth £600 a year. His treatise on +Whist, for which he received from the publisher the sum of £1000, ran +through five editions in one year, besides being extensively pirated. + + "Whist, Ombre, and Quadrille, at Court were used, + And Bassett's power the City dames amused, + Imperial Whist was yet but slight esteemed, + And pastime fit for none but rustics deemed. + How slow at first is still the growth of fame! + And what obstructions wait each rising name! + Our stupid fathers thus neglected, long, + The glorious boast of Milton's epic song; + But Milton's muse at last a critic found, + Who spread his praise o'er all the world around; + And Hoyle at length, for Whist performed the same, + And proved its right to universal fame." + +Whist first began to be popular in England about 1730, when it was +very closely studied by a party of gentlemen, who formed a sort of +Club, at the Crown Coffee-house in Bedford-row. Hoyle is said to have +given instructions in the game, for which his charge was a guinea a +lesson. + +The Laws of Whist have been variously given.[34] More than half a +century has elapsed since the supremacy of "long whist" was assailed +by a reformed, or rather revolutionized form of the game. The +champions of the ancient rules and methods did not at once submit to +the innovation. The conservatives were not without some good arguments +on their side; but "short whist" had attractions that proved +irresistible, and it has long since fully established itself as the +only game to be understood when whist is named. But hence, in the +course of time, has arisen an inconvenience. The old school of players +had, in the works of Hoyle and Cavendish, manuals and text-books of +which the rules, cases, and decisions were generally accepted. For +short whist no such "volume paramount" has hitherto existed. Hoyle +could not be safely trusted by a learner, so much contained in that +venerable having become obsolete. Thus, doubtful cases arising out of +the short game had to be referred to the best living players for +decision. But there was some confusion in the "whist world," and the +necessity of a code of the modern laws and rules of this "almost +perfect" game had become apparent, when a combined effort was made by +a committee of some of the most skilful to supply the deficiency. + +The movement was commenced by Mr. J. Loraine Baldwin, who obtained the +assistance of a Committee, including members of several of the best +London Clubs well known as whist players. They were deputed to draw up +a code of rules for the game, which, if approved, was to be adopted by +the Arlington Club. They performed their task with the most decided +success. The rules they laid down as governing the best modern +practice have been accepted, not only by the Arlington, but the Army +and Navy, Arthur's, Boodle's, Brookes's, Carlton, Conservative, +Garrick, Guards, Junior Carlton, Portland, Oxford and Cambridge, +Reform, St. James's, White's, etc. To the great section of the whist +world that do not frequent Clubs, it may be satisfactory to know the +names of the gentlemen composing the Committee of Codification, whose +rules are to become law. They are Admiral Rous, chairman; Mr. G. +Bentinck, M.P.; Mr. J. Bushe; Mr. J. Clay, M.P.; Mr. C. Greville; Mr. +R. Knightley, M.P.; Mr. H. B. Mayne; Mr. G. Payne; and Colonel Pipon. +The _Laws of Short Whist_[35] were in 1865 published in a small +volume; and to this strictly legal portion of the book is appended _A +Treatise on the Game_, by Mr. J. Clay, M.P. for Hull. It may be read +with advantage by the commencing student of whist and the advanced +player, and with pleasure even by those who are totally ignorant of +it, and have no wish to learn it. There are several incidental +illustrations and anecdotes, that will interest those not gifted with +the faculties good whist requires. Mr. Clay is reported to be one of +the best, if not the very best, of modern players. The Dedication is +as follows: "To the Members of the Portland Club, admitted among whom, +as a boy, I have passed many of the pleasantest days of my life, I +have learned what little I know of Whist, and have formed many of my +oldest friendships, this Treatise on Short Whist is dedicated with +feelings of respect and regard, by their old playfellow, J. C." + +Leaving his instructions, like the rules of the committee, to a more +severe test than criticism, we extract from his first chapter a +description of the incident to which short whist owes its origin. It +will probably be quite new to thousands who are familiar with the +game. + +"Some eighty years back, Lord Peterborough, having one night lost a +large sum of money, the friends with whom he was playing proposed to +make the game five points instead of ten, in order to give the loser a +chance, at a quicker game, of recovering his loss. The new game was +found to be so lively, and money changed hands with such increased +rapidity, that these gentlemen and their friends, all of them leading +members of the Clubs of the day, continued to play it. It became +general in the Clubs, thence was introduced to private houses, +travelled into the country, went to Paris, and has long since so +entirely superseded the whist of Hoyle's day, that of short whist +alone I propose to treat. I shall thus spare the reader, the learning +much in the old works that it is not necessary for him to know, and +not a little which, if learned, should be at once forgotten." + +Graham's, in St. James's-street, the greatest of Card Clubs, was +dissolved about five-and-twenty years back. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[34] Abridged from the _Times_ journal. + +[35] _The Laws of Short Whist_, edited by J. L. Baldwin, and a +Treatise on the Game, by J. C. Harrison, 59, Pall Mall. + + + + +PRINCE'S CLUB RACQUET COURTS. + + +In the early history of the metropolis we find the Londoners warmly +attached to outdoor sports and pastimes; although time and the spread +of the great city have long obliterated the sites upon which these +popular amusements were enjoyed. Smithfield, we know, was the +town-green for centuries before it became the focus of its fanatic +fires; Maypoles stood in various parts of the City and suburbs, as +kept in remembrance by name to this day; football was played in the +main artery of the town--Fleet-street and the Strand, for instance; +_paille malle_ was played in St. James's Park, and the street which is +named after the game; and tennis and other games at ball were enjoyed +on open grounds long before they were played in covered courts; while +the bowling-greens in the environs were neither few nor far between, +almost to our time. + +Tennis, we need scarcely state here, was originally played with the +hand, at first naked, then covered with a thick glove, to which +succeeded the bat or racquet, whence the present name of the game. A +few of our kings have been tennis-players. In the sixteenth century +tennis courts were common in England, being attached to country +mansions. Later, playing-courts were opened in the metropolis: for +example, to the houses of entertainment which formerly stood at the +opposite angles of Windmill-street and the Haymarket were attached +tennis-courts, which lasted to our time: one of these courts exists in +James-street, Haymarket, to this day. To stroll out from the heated +and crowded streets of the town to the village was a fashion of the +last century, as we read in the well-remembered line-- + + "Some dukes at Marybone bowl time away." + +Taking into account the vast growth of the metropolis, we are not +surprised at so luxurious a means of healthful enjoyment as a racquet +court presents being added to the establishments or institutions of +this very clubbable age. Hitherto Clubs had been mostly appropriated +to the purposes of refection; but why should not the social refinement +be extended to the enjoyment of so health-giving sport and manly a +pastime as racquet? The experiment was made, and with perfect success, +immediately upon the confines of one of the most recent settlements of +fashion--Belgravia. It is private property, and bears the name of +"Prince's Club Racquet Courts." + +The Club, established in 1854, is built upon the Pavilion estate, in +the rear of the north side of Sloane-street, the principal entrance +being from Hans-place. The grounds are of considerable extent, and +were originally laid out by Capability Brown. They were almost +environed with lofty timber-trees; and the genius of landscape +gardening, fostered by wealth, rendered this glade in the Brompton +groves of old a sort of rural elysium. + +The Pavilion estate was once the property of Holland, the well-known +architect, who planned Sloane-street and Hans-place, as a building +speculation; and, in the grounds nearly between them, built himself +what was then considered a handsome villa, the front of which was +originally designed by Holland as a model for the Prince of Wales's +Pavilion at Brighton; hence the name, the Pavilion estate. In the +grounds, among the remains of Brown's ornamental work, was an +icehouse, amidst the imitative ruins of a priory. Here, also, were the +Ionic columns (isolated) which were formerly in the screen of Carlton +House. + +The Club buildings comprise seven closed courts; a tennis court; +gallery and refreshment rooms; baths, and a Turkish bath. + +Prince's Club is a subscription establishment; and its government is +vested in a committee. Gentlemen desirous of becoming members of the +Club must be proposed and seconded by two of its members. Two of the +rules enact--that members have the privilege of introducing two +friends, but that such visitors, if they play, be charged double the +rate charged to members; and that no hazard, dice, or game of chance +be allowed in this Club. Their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales +and the Duke of Cambridge are members. + + + + +AN ANGLING CLUB. + + +Professor Owen is accustomed to relate the following very amusing +incident, which occurred in a Club of some of the working scientific +men of London, who, with a few others, after their winter's work of +lecturing is over, occasionally sally forth to have a day's fishing. +"We have," says Professor Owen, "for that purpose taken a small river +in the neighbourhood of the metropolis, and near its banks there +stands a little public-house, where we dine soberly and sparingly, on +such food as old Izaak Walton loved. We have a rule that he who +catches the biggest fish of the day shall be our president for the +evening. In the course of one day, a member, not a scientific man, but +a high political man, caught a trout that weighed 3½ lb.; but earlier +in the day he had pulled out a barbel of half a pound weight. So while +we were on the way to our inn, what did this political gentleman do +but, with the butt-end of his rod, ram the barbel down the trout's +throat, in which state he handed his fish to be weighed. Thus he +scored four pounds, which being the greatest weight he took the +chair. + +"As we were going away from home, a man of science,--it was the +President of the Royal Society,--said to the man of politics, 'If you +don't want that fine fish of yours, I should like to have it, for I +have some friends to dine with me to-morrow.' My Lord took it home, +and I heard no more until we met on the next week. Then, while we were +preparing our tackle, the President of the Royal Society said to our +high political friend, 'There were some very extraordinary +circumstances, do you know, about that fish you gave me. I had no idea +that the trout was so voracious; but that one had swallowed a +barbel.'--'I am astonished to hear your Lordship say so,' rejoined an +eminent naturalist; 'trout may be voracious enough to swallow +minnows--but a barbel, my Lord! There must be some mistake.'--'Not at +all,' replied his lordship, 'for the fact got to my family that the +cook, in cutting open the throat, had found a barbel inside; and as my +family knew I was fond of natural history, I was called into the +kitchen. There I saw the trout had swallowed a barbel, full half a +pound weight.'--'Out of the question, my Lord,' said the naturalist; +'it's altogether quite unscientific and unphilosophical.'--'I don't +know what may be philosophical in the matter--I only know I am telling +you a matter of fact,' said his Lordship; and the dispute having +lasted awhile, explanations were given, and the practical joke was +heartily enjoyed. And" (continued Professor Owen) "you will see that +both were right and both were wrong. My Lord was right in his +fact--the barbel was inside the trout; but he was quite wrong in his +hypothesis founded upon that fact, that the trout had therefore +swallowed the barbel,--the last was only matter of opinion." + + + + +THE RED LIONS. + + +In 1839, when the British Association met in Birmingham, several of +its younger members happened, accidentally, to dine at the Red Lion, +in Church-street. The dinner was pleasant, the guests well suited to +each other, and the meeting altogether proved so agreeable, that it +was resolved to continue it from year to year, wherever the +Association might happen to meet. By degrees the "Red Lions"--the name +was assumed from the accident of the first meeting-place--became a +very exclusive Club; and under the presidency of Professor Edward +Forbes, it acquired a celebrity which, in its way, almost rivalled +that of the Association itself. Forbes first drew around him the small +circle of jovial philosophers at the Red Lion. The names of Lankester, +Thomson, Bell, Mitchell, and Strickland are down in the old +muster-roll. Many were added afterwards, as the Club was kept up in +London, in meetings at Anderton's, in Fleet-street. The old cards of +invitation were very droll: they were stamped with the figure of a red +lion erect, with a pot of beer in one paw, and a long clay pipe in the +other, and the invitation commenced with "The carnivora will feed" at +such an hour. Forbes, who, as _pater omnipotens_, always took the +chair at the first chance meeting round the plain table of the inn, +gave a capital stock of humour to this feeding of the naturalists by +taking up his coat-tail and roaring whenever a good thing was said or +a good song sung; and, of course, all the other Red Lions did the +same. When roaring and tail-wagging became so characteristic an +institution among the members, Mr. Mitchell, then secretary of the +Zoological Society, presented a fine lion's skin to the Club; and ever +after the President sat with this skin spread over his chair, the paws +at the elbows, and the tail handy to be wagged. Alas! this tail no +longer wags at Birmingham, and after vibrating with languid emotion in +London, has now ceased to show any signs of life. The old Red Lion has +lost heart, and has slumbered since the death of Forbes. + +At the Meeting of the British Association at Birmingham, in 1865, an +endeavour was made to revive the Red Lion dinner on something like its +former scale; the idea being probably suggested by the circumstance of +the Club having been originated in Birmingham. Lord Houghton, who is, +we believe, "an old Red," presided; but the idiosyncrasy of the real +Red Lion, and his intense love of plain roast and boiled, were missed: +some sixty guests sat down, _not_ at the Red Lion, but at a hotel +banquet. Not one of the celebrants on this occasion had passed through +his novitiate as a Red Lion cub: he was not asked whether he could +roar or sing a song, or had ever said a good thing, one of which +qualifications was a _sine quâ non_ in the old Club. There were, +however, some good songs: Professor Rankine sang "The Mathematician in +Love," a song of his own. Then, there are some choice spirits among +these philosophers. After the banquet a section adjourned to the B. +Club, members of which are chiefly chemical in their serious moments. +Indeed, all through the meeting there was a succession of jovial +parties in the identical room at the Red Lion.[36] + + + + +THE COVENTRY, ERECTHEUM, AND PARTHENON CLUBS. + + +The Coventry, or Ambassadors' Club was instituted about twelve years +since, at No. 106, Piccadilly, facing the Green Park. The handsome +stone-fronted mansion occupies the site of the old Greyhound inn, and +was bought by the Earl of Coventry of Sir Hugh Hunlock, in 1764, for +£10,000, subject to the ground-rent of £75 per annum. The Club enjoyed +but a brief existence: it was closed in March, 1854. + +The Erectheum Club, St. James's-square, corner of York-street, was +established by Sir John Dean Paul, Bart., and became celebrated for +its good dinners. The Club-house was formerly the town depôt of +Wedgwood's famous "ware;" and occupies the site of the mansion built +for the Earl of Romney, the handsome Sydney of De Grammont's Memoirs. + +The Parthenon Club-house (late Mr. Edwards's), east side of +Regent-street, nearly facing St. Philip's Chapel, was designed by +Nash: the first floor is elegant Corinthian. The south division was +built by Mr. Nash for his own residence; it has a long gallery, +decorated from a _loggia_ of the Vatican at Rome: it is now the +_Gallery of Illustration_. + +"The Coventry Club was a Club of most exclusive exquisites, and was +rich in diplomacy; but it blew up in admired confusion. Even so did +Lord Cardigan's Club, founded upon the site of Crockford's. The +Clarence, the Albion, and a dozen other small Clubs have all +dissolved, some of them with great loss to the members, and the +Erectheum and Parthenon thought it prudent to join their forces to +keep the wolf from the door."--_New Quarterly Review._ + +FOOTNOTES: + +[36] Abridged from the _Daily News_. + + + + +ANTIQUARIAN CLUBS,--THE NOVIOMAGIANS. + + +We have already seen how the more convivially disposed members of +Learned Societies have, from time to time, formed themselves into +Clubs. The Royals have done so, _ab initio_. The Antiquaries appear to +have given up their Club and their Anniversary Dinner; but certain of +the Fellows, resolving not to remain _impransi_, many years since, +formed a Club, styled "Noviomagians," from the identification of the +Roman station of Noviomagus being just then discovered, or rather + + "Rife and celebrated in the mouths + Of wisest men." + +One of the Club-founders was Mr. A. J. Kempe; and Mr. Crofton Croker +was president more than twenty years. Lord Londesborough and Mr. +Corner, the Southwark antiquary, were also Noviomagians; and in the +present Club-list are Sir William Betham, Mr. Fairholt, Mr. Godwin, +Mr. S. C. Hall, Mr. Lemon, etc. The Club dine together once a month +during the season at the old tavern next the burial-place of Joe +Miller in Portugal Street. Here the Fellows meet for the promotion of +good fellowship and antiquarian pursuits. "Joking minutes are kept, in +which would be found many known names, either as visitors or +associates,--Theodore Hook, Sir Henry Ellis, Britton, Dickens, +Thackeray, John Bruce, Jerdan, Planché, Bell, Maclise, etc." The Club +and its visitors may have caught inspiration here; for in their +sallies _movere jocum_, they have imitated the wits at Strawberry +Hill, and found Arms for the Club, with a butter-boat rampant for the +crest, which is very significant. + +In 1855, Lord Mayor Moon, F.S.A., entertained at the Mansion House the +Noviomagians, and the office-bearers of the Society of Antiquaries to +meet them. After dinner, some short papers were read, including one by +Mr. Lemon, of the State Paper Office, presenting some curious +illustrations of the state of society in London in the reign of James +I., showing the "Migration of Citizens Westward." (See _Romance of +London_, vol. iii. pp. 315-320.) + + + + +THE ECCENTRICS. + + +Late in the last century there met at a tavern kept by one Fulham, in +Chandos Street, Covent Garden, a convivial Club called "The +Eccentrics," which was an offshoot of "The Brilliants." They next +removed to Tom Rees's, in May's-buildings, St. Martin's-lane, and +here they were flourishing at all hours, some five-and-twenty years +since. Amongst the members were many celebrities of the literary and +political world; they were always treated with indulgence by the +authorities. An inaugural ceremony was performed upon the making of a +member, which terminated with a jubilation from the President. The +books of the Club up to the time of its removal from May's-buildings +are stated to have passed into the possession of Mr. Lloyd, the +hatter, of the Strand, who, by the way, was eccentric in his business, +and published a small work descriptive of the various fashions of hats +worn in his time, illustrated with characteristic engravings. + +From its commencement the Eccentrics are said to have numbered upwards +of 40,000 members, many of them holding high social position: among +others, Fox, Sheridan, Lord Melbourne, and Lord Brougham. On the same +memorable night that Sheridan and Lord Petersham were admitted, Hook +was also enrolled; and through this Club membership, Theodore is +believed to have obtained some of his high connexions. In a novel, +published in numbers, some five-and-twenty years since, the author, F. +W. N. Bayley, sketched with graphic vigour the meetings of the +Eccentrics at the old tavern in May's-buildings. + + + + +DOUGLAS JERROLD'S CLUBS. + + +One of the chapters in "_The Life and Remains of Douglas Jerrold_," by +his son, Blanchard Jerrold, discourses most pleasantly of the several +Clubs to which Mr. Jerrold became attached. He was of a clubbable +nature, and delighted in wit-combats and brilliant repartees, the +flash of which was perfectly electric. + +In this very agreeable _précis_, we find that towards the end of the +year 1824, some young men at a humble tavern, the Wrekin, in the +genial neighbourhood of Covent Garden, with Shakspeare as their common +idol; and "it was a regulation of this Club that some paper, or poem, +or conceit, bearing upon Shakspeare, should be contributed by each +member." Hither came Douglas Jerrold, and he was soon joined by Laman +Blanchard. Upon Jerrold's suggestion, the Club was called the +Mulberries, and their contributions were entitled Mulberry Leaves. In +the Club were William Godwin; Kenny Meadows, the future illustrator of +Shakspeare; W. Elton, the Shakspearean actor; and Edward Chatfield, +the artist. Mr. Jerrold wrote, in the _Illuminated Magazine_, a +touching memoir of the Society--"that knot of wise and jocund men, +then unknown, but gaily struggling." + +The Mulberry Club lived many years, and gathered a valuable crop of +leaves--contributions from its members. They fell into Mr. Elton's +hands, and are now in the possession of his family. They were to have +been published, but no one would undertake to see them through the +press--an office which, in most cases, is a very un-thankful one. The +Club did not, however, die easily: it was changed and grafted. "In +times nearer the present, when it was called the Shakspeare Club, +Charles Dickens, Mr. Justice Talfourd, Daniel Maclise, Mr. Macready, +Mr. Frank Stone, etc. belonged to it. Respectability killed it." But +some delightful results of these Mulberry Club meetings are embalmed +in Mr. Jerrold's _Cakes and Ale_, and their life reminds one of the +dancing motes in the latter. Then we hear of other clubs--the Gratis +and the Rationals, of which Jerrold was a member. + +"But," says the gentle Memoir, "with clubs of more recent date, with +the Hooks and Eyes, and lastly, with Our Club, Douglas Jerrold's name +is most intimately associated. It may be justly said that he was the +life and soul of these three gatherings of men. His arrival was a +happy moment for members already present. His company was sought with +wondrous eagerness whenever a dinner or social evening was +contemplated; for, as a club associate said of him, 'he sparkled +whenever you touched him, like the sea at night.' A writer in the +_Quarterly Review_ well said of him: 'In the bright sallies of +conversational wit he has no surviving equal.' + +"He was thus greatly acceptable in all social literary Clubs. In the +Museum Club, for instance, (an attempt made in 1847 to establish a +properly modest and _real_ literary Club,) he was unquestionably _the_ +member; for he was the most clubbable of men." When members dropped +in, sharp shots were possibly exchanged: here are a few that were +actually fired within the precincts of the Museum Club--fired +carelessly, and forgotten: + +Jerrold defined dogmatism as "puppyism come to maturity;" and a +flaming uxorious epitaph put up by a famous cook, on his wife's tomb, +as "mock turtle." A prosy old gentleman, meeting him as he was passing +at his usual quick pace along Regent Street, poised himself into an +attitude, and began: "Well, Jerrold, my dear boy, what is going +on?"--"I am," said the wit, instantly shooting off. + +At a dinner of artists, a barrister present, having his health drunk +in connexion with the law, began an embarrassed answer by saying he +did not see how the law could be considered one of the arts, when +Jerrold jerked in the word _black_, and threw the company into +convulsions. + +A bore remarking how charmed he was with a certain opera, and that +there was one particular song which always carried him quite +away--"Would that I could sing it!" ejaculated the wit. + +A dinner is discussed. Douglas Jerrold listens quietly, possibly tired +of dinners, and declining pressing invitations to be present. In a few +minutes he will chime in, "If an earthquake were to engulf England +to-morrow, the English would manage to meet and dine somewhere among +the rubbish, just to celebrate the event." + +A friend is anxious to awaken Mr. Jerrold's sympathies in behalf of a +mutual acquaintance who is in want of a round sum of money. But this +mutual friend has already sent his hat about among his literary +brethren on more than one occasion. Mr. ----'s hat is becoming an +institution, and friends were grieved at the indelicacy of the +proceeding. On the above occasion, the bearer of the hat was received +with evident dissatisfaction. "Well," said Douglas Jerrold, "how much +does ---- want this time?"--"Why, just a four and two noughts will, I +think, put him straight," the bearer of the hat replied. +_Jerrold_--"Well, put me down for one of the noughts." + +"The Chain of Events," playing at the Lyceum Theatre, though +unsuccessful, is mentioned. "Humph!" said Douglas Jerrold, "I'm afraid +the manager will find it a door-chain strong enough to keep everybody +out of the house,"--and so it proved. + +Douglas Jerrold is seriously disappointed with a certain book written +by one of his friends, and has expressed his disappointment. +_Friend_--"I have heard that you said ---- was the worst book I ever +wrote." _Jerrold_--"No, I didn't; I said it was the worst book anybody +ever wrote." + +A supper of sheep's-heads is proposed, and presently served. One +gentleman present is particularly enthusiastic on the excellence of +the dish, and, as he throws down his knife and fork, exclaims, "Well, +sheep's-heads for ever, say I!" _Jerrold_--"There's egotism!" + +During a stormy discussion, a gentleman rises to settle the matter in +dispute. Waving his hands majestically over the excited disputants, he +begins: "Gentlemen, all I want is common sense."--"Exactly," says +Douglas Jerrold, "that is precisely what you _do_ want." + +But the Museum Club was broken up by troubled spirits. Then succeeded +the Hooks and Eyes; then the Club, a social weekly gathering, which +Jerrold attended only three weeks before his death. Hence some of his +best sayings went forth. + +Jerrold ordered a bottle of old port; "not _elder_ port," he said. + +Walking to his Club with a friend from the theatre, some intoxicated +young gentleman reeled up to the dramatist and said, "Can you tell me +the way to the Judge and Jury?"--"Keep on as you are, young +gentleman," was the reply; "you're sure to overtake them." + +Asking about the talent of a young painter, his companion declared +that the youth was mediocre. "Oh!" was the reply, "the very worst +ochre an artist can set to work with." + +"The laughing hours, when these poor gatherings," says Mr. Blanchard +Jerrold, "fell from the well-loaded branch, are remembered still in +the rooms of Our Club; and the hearty laugh still echoes there, and +will, it is my pride to believe, always live in the memory of that +genial and refined circle." + +The Whittington Club originated in 1846, with Douglas Jerrold, who +became its first President. It was established at the Crown and Anchor +Tavern in the Strand; where, in the ball-room, hung a picture of +Whittington listening to Bow-bells, painted by Newenham, and presented +to the Club by the President. All the Club premises were destroyed by +fire in 1854; the picture was not saved, but fortunately it had been +cleverly engraved. The premises have been rebuilt, and the Club still +flourishes. + + + + +CHESS CLUBS. + + +The Clubs in various parts of the Metropolis and the suburbs, where +Chess, and Chess only, forms the staple recreation of the members, are +numerous. We must, however, confine ourselves to the historical data +of the early Clubs, which record the introduction of the noble game in +the Metropolis. + +In 1747, the principal if not the only Chess-Club in the Metropolis +met at Slaughter's Coffee-house, St. Martin's-lane. The leading +players of this Club were--Sir Abraham Janssen, Philip Stamma (from +Aleppo), Lord Godolphin, Lord Sunderland, and Lord Elibank; +Cunningham, the historian; Dr. Black and Dr. Cowper; and it was +through their invitation that the celebrated Philidor was induced to +visit England. + +Another Club was shortly afterwards founded at the Salopian +Coffee-house, Charing Cross: and a few years later, a third, which met +next door to the Thatched House Tavern, in St. James's-street. It was +here that Philidor exhibited his wonderful faculty for playing +blindfold; some instances of which we find in the newspapers of the +period:-- + +"Yesterday, at the Chess-Club in St. James's-street, Monsieur Philidor +performed one of those wonderful exhibitions for which he is so much +celebrated. He played _three different games at once_ without seeing +either of the tables. His opponents were Count Bruhl and Mr. Bowdler +(the two best players in London), and Mr. Maseres. He defeated Count +Bruhl in one hour and twenty minutes, and Mr. Maseres in two hours; +Mr. Bowdler reduced his games to a drawn battle in one hour and +three-quarters. To those who understand Chess, this exertion of M. +Philidor's abilities must appear one of the greatest of which the +human memory is susceptible. He goes through it with astonishing +accuracy, and often corrects mistakes in those who have the board +before them." + +In 1795, the veteran, then nearly seventy years of age, played three +blindfold matches in public. The last of these, which came off shortly +before his death, we find announced in the daily newspapers thus:-- + + "CHESS-CLUB, 1795. PARSLOE'S, ST. JAMES'S STREET. + +"By particular desire, Mons. Philidor, positively for the last time, +will play on Saturday, the 20th of June, at two o'clock precisely, +three games at once against three good players; two of them without +seeing either of the boards, and the third looking over the table. He +most respectfully invites all the members of the Chess-Club to honour +him with their presence. Ladies and gentlemen not belonging to the +Club may be provided with tickets at the above-mentioned house, to see +the match, at five shillings each." + +Upon the death of Philidor, the Chess-Clubs at the West-end seem to +have declined; and in 1807, the stronghold and rallying-point for the +lovers of the game was "The London Chess-Club," which was established +in the City, and for many years held its meetings at Tom's +Coffee-house, in Cornhill. To this Club we are indebted for many of +the finest chess-players of the age. + +About the year 1833, a Club was founded by a few amateurs in +Bedford-street, Covent Garden. This establishment, which obtained +remarkable celebrity as the arena of the famous contests between La +Bourdonnais and M'Donnell, was dissolved in 1840; but shortly +afterwards, through the exertions of Mr. Staunton, was reformed under +the name of the "St. George's Club," in Cavendish-square. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + + + +ALMACK'S. + +(Page 86.) + + +Captain Gronow, writing in 1814, says: "At the present time, one can +hardly conceive the importance which was attached to getting admission +to Almack's, the seventh heaven of the fashionable world." Of the +three hundred officers of the Foot Guards, not more than half-a-dozen +were honoured with vouchers of admission to this exclusive temple of +the _beau monde_; the gates of which were guarded by lady patronesses, +whose smiles or frowns consigned men and women to happiness or +despair. These lady patronesses were the Ladies Castlereagh, Jersey, +Cowper, and Sefton; Mrs. Drummond Burrell, now Lady Willoughby; the +Princess Esterhazy, and the Countess Lieven. + +"The most popular amongst these _grandes dames_ were unquestionably +Lady Cowper, now Lady Palmerston. Lady Jersey's bearing, on the +contrary, was that of a theatrical tragedy queen: and whilst +attempting the sublime, she frequently made herself simply ridiculous, +being inconceivably rude, and in her manner often ill-bred. Lady +Sefton was kind and amiable; Madame de Lieven haughty and exclusive; +Princess Esterhazy was a _bon enfant_; Lady Castlereagh and Miss +Burrell, _de très grandes dames_. + +"Many diplomatic arts, much finesse, and a host of intrigues, were set +in motion to get an invitation to Almack's. Very often persons, whose +rank and fortunes entitled them to the _entrée_ anywhere, were +excluded by the cliqueism of the lady patronesses; for the female +government of Almack's was a pure despotism, and subject to all the +caprices of despotic rule: it is needless to add that, like every +other despotism, it was not innocent of abuses. The fair ladies who +ruled supreme over this little dancing and gossiping world, issued a +solemn proclamation, that no gentleman should appear at the assemblies +without being dressed in knee-breeches, white cravat, and _chapeau +bras_. On one occasion, the Duke of Wellington was about to ascend the +staircase of the ball-room, dressed in black trousers, when the +vigilant Mr. Willis, the guardian of the establishment, stepped +forward and said, 'Your Grace cannot be admitted in trousers;' +whereupon the Duke, who had a great respect for orders and +regulations, quietly walked away. + +"In 1814, the dances at Almack's were Scotch reels, and the old +English country-dance; the orchestra, being from Edinburgh, was +conducted by the then celebrated Neil Gow. In 1815, Lady Jersey +introduced from Paris the favourite quadrille. The persons who formed +the very first quadrille that was ever danced at Almack's were Lady +Jersey, Lady Harriett Butler, Lady Susan Ryder, and Miss Montgomery; +the men being the Count St. Aldegonde, Mr. Montgomery, Mr. Montague, +and Charles Standish. The mazy waltz was also brought to us about +this time; but there were comparatively few who at first ventured to +whirl round the salons of Almack's; in course of time Lord Palmerston +might, however, have been seen describing an infinite number of +circles with Madame de Lieven. Baron de Neumann was frequently seen +perpetually turning with the Princess Esterhazy; and in course of +time, the waltzing mania, having turned the heads of society +generally, descended to their feet, and the waltz was practised in the +morning in certain noble mansions in London with unparalleled +assiduity."--_Abridged from the Reminiscences of Captain Gronow, +1862._ + + + + +CLUBS AT THE THATCHED HOUSE. + + +Mr. Willis took this tavern from Mr. Freere, about 1755; and, as a +relative of Mr. Almack, afterwards succeeded to the celebrated +assembly-rooms which bore his name. "If the old saw, that 'practice +makes perfect,'" writes Admiral Smyth, "be correct, the _cuisinerie_ of +the Thatched House ought to surpass that of all others; for besides +accidental parties and visitors, the Messrs Willis ably entertain the +following Societies and Clubs: [this was written in 1860.] + + Actuaries, Institute of. + Catch Club. + Club, Johnson's. + Cornish Club. + Dilettanti Society. + Farmers' Club. + Geographical Club. + Geological Club. + Linnæan Club. + Literary Society. + Navy Club. + Philosophical Club. + Physicians, College of, Club. + Political Economy Club. + Royal Academy Club. + Royal Astronomical Club. + Royal Institution Club. + Royal London Yacht Club. + Royal Naval Club, (1765). + Royal Society Club. + St. Albans Medical Club. + St. Bartholomew's Contemporaries. + Star Club. + Statistical Club. + Sussex Club. + Union Society, St. James's. + +And they moreover accommodate the following Masonic Lodges:-- + + Friendship. + Prince of Wales's. + Middlesex. + Chapter of Friendship. + Chapter of Prince of Wales's. + Mount Mosiah Chapter. + Castle Lodge of Harmony. + The Knights Templars. + Britannic Lodge. + + + + +THE KIT-KAT CLUB. + +(Page 62.) + + +Charles Dartiquenane, better known by the abbreviated name of +Dartineuf, was the intimate friend and associate of Swift, Steele, and +Addison, and a member of the Kit-Kat Club. He was not only famous as +an epicure, but as a punster. He is said to have been a contributor to +the _Tatler_, though his papers cannot now be ascertained. Pope, in +his _Epistles_, has: + + "Each mortal has his pleasure, none deny-- + Scarsdale his bottle, Darty his Ham Pie. + . . . . . + Hard task to suit the palate of such guests, + When Oldfield loves what Dartineuf detests." + +Lord Lyttelton has a Dialogue in the Shades between Dartineuf and +Apicius, on good eating, in which ham pie is stated to have been the +favourite dainty of the former. Darty died in 1737, and is stated to +have left the receipt for his favourite pie with an old lady, who +transferred it to Dr. Kitchiner. (See his _Housekeeper's Oracle_, +1829, p. 249.) + + + + +WATIER'S CLUB. + +(Page 168.) + + +Captain Gronow also relates the following account of the origin of +this noted but short-lived Club:-- + +Upon one occasion, some gentlemen of both White's and Brookes's had +the honour to dine with the Prince Regent, and during the +conversation, the Prince inquired what sort of dinners they got at +their Clubs; upon which Sir Thomas Stepney, one of the guests, +observed "that their dinners were always the same, the eternal joints +or beef-steaks, the boiled fowl with oyster sauce, and an apple-tart; +this is what we have at our Clubs, and very monotonous fare it is." +The Prince, without further remark, rang the bell for his cook Watier, +and in the presence of those who dined at the Royal table, asked him +whether he would take a house, and organize a dinner-club. Watier +assented, and named Madison, the Prince's page, manager; and Labourie, +the cook, from the Royal kitchen. The Club flourished only a few +years, owing to the night-play that was carried on there. The Duke of +York patronized it, and was a member. The dinners were exquisite: the +best Parisian cooks could not beat Labourie. The favourite game played +there was Macao. Upon one occasion, Jack Bouverie, brother of Lord +Heytesbury, was losing large sums, and became very irritable. Raikes, +with bad taste, laughed at Bouverie, and attempted to amuse the +company with some of his stale jokes; upon which Bouverie threw his +play-bowl, with the few counters it contained, at Raikes's head; +unfortunately, it struck him, and made the City dandy angry, but no +serious results followed this open insult. + + + + +CLUBS OF 1814. + + +Captain Gronow, in his very entertaining _Anecdotes and +Reminiscences_, gives these details of the Clubs of the above +period:-- + +"The members of the Clubs in London, many years since, were persons, +almost without exception, belonging exclusively to the aristocratic +world. 'My tradesmen,' as King Allen used to call the bankers and the +merchants, had not then invaded White's, Boodle's, Brookes's; or +Watier's, in Bolton-street, Piccadilly; which, with the Guards, +Arthur's, and Graham's, were the only Clubs at the West End of the +town. White's was decidedly the most difficult of entry; its list of +members comprised nearly all the noble names of Great Britain. + +"The politics of White's Club were then decidedly Tory. It was here +that play was carried on to such an extent that made many ravages in +large fortunes, the traces of which have not disappeared at the +present day. General Scott, the father-in-law of George Canning and +the Duke of Portland, was known to have won at White's 200,000_l._; +thanks to his notorious sobriety and knowledge of the game of whist. +The General possessed a great advantage over his companions by +avoiding those indulgences at the table which used to muddle other +men's brains. He confined himself to dining off something like a +boiled chicken, with toast-and-water: by such a regimen he came to the +whist-table with a clear head; and, possessing, as he did, a +remarkable memory, with great coolness and judgment, he was able +honestly to win the enormous sum of 200,000_l._ + +"At Brookes's, for nearly half a century, the play was of a more +gambling character than at White's.... On one occasion Lord Robert +Spencer contrived to lose the last shilling of his considerable +fortune given him by his brother, the Duke of Marlborough. General +Fitzpatrick being much in the same condition, they agreed to raise a +sum of money, in order that they might keep a faro-bank. The members +of the Club made no objection, and ere long they carried out their +design. As is generally the case, the bank was a winner, and Lord +Robert bagged, as his share of the proceeds, 100,000_l._ He retired, +strange to say, from the foetid atmosphere of play, with the money +in his pocket, and never again gambled. George Harley Drummond, of the +famous banking-house, Charing Cross, only played once in his whole +life at White's Club at whist, on which occasion he lost 20,000_l._ to +Brummell. This even caused him to retire from the banking-house, of +which he was a partner." + +Arthur's and Graham's were less aristocratic than those Clubs I have +mentioned. It was at the latter place, in 1832, that a most painful +circumstance took place. A nobleman of the highest position and +influence in society, was detected in cheating at cards, and after a +trial, which did not terminate in his favour, he died of a broken +heart. + + + + +GAMING-HOUSES KEPT BY LADIES. + + +The following curious piece of evidence, probably an extract from the +Journals of the House of Lords, although there is no reference to the +subject in the published "Parliamentary Debates," was found not long +since by the Editor of the _Athenæum_ amongst a mass of contemporary +MSS.:-- + +"Die Lunæ, 29° Aprilis, 1745.--Gaming.--A Bill for preventing the +excessive and deceitful use of it having been brought from the +Commons, and proceeded on so far as to be agreed to in a Committee of +the whole House with amendments,--information was given to the House +that Mr. Burdus, Chairman of the Quarter Session for the city and +liberty of Westminster, Sir Thomas de Veil, and Mr. Lane, Chairman of +the Quarter Sessions for the county of Middlesex, were at the door; +they were called in, and at the Bar severally gave an account that +claims of privilege of Peerage were made and insisted on by the Ladies +Mordington and Cassillis, in order to intimidate the peace officers +from doing their duty in suppressing the public gaming-houses kept by +the said ladies. And the said Burdus thereupon delivered in an +instrument in writing under the hand of the said Lady Mordington, +containing the claim she made of privilege for her officers and +servants employed by her in her said gaming-house.--And then they were +directed to withdraw.--And the said instrument was read as +follows:--'I, Dame Mary, Baroness of Mordington, do hold a house in +the Great Piazza, Covent Garden, for and as an Assembly, where all +persons of credit are at liberty to frequent and play at such +diversions as are used at other Assemblys. And I have hired Joseph +Dewberry, William Horsely, Ham Cropper, and George Sanders as my +servants or managers (under me) thereof. I have given them orders to +direct the management of the other inferior servants, (namely) John +Bright, Richard Davids, John Hill, John Vandenvoren, as +box-keepers,--Gilbert Richardson, housekeeper, John Chaplain, +regulator, William Stanley and Henry Huggins, servants that wait on +the company as the said Assembly, William Penny and Joseph Penny as +porters thereof--And all the above-mentioned persons I claim as my +domestick servants, and demand all those privileges that belong to me +as a peeress of Great Britain appertaining to my said Assembly.--M. +MORDINGTON.--Dated 8th Jan. 1744.'--Resolved and declared that no +person is entitled to privilege of Peerage against any prosecution or +proceeding for keeping any public or common gaming-house, or any +house, room, or place for playing at any game or games prohibited by +any law now in force." + + +END OF VOL. I. + +PRINTED BY J. E. TAYLOR, LITTLE QUEEN STREET, HOLBORN. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Club Life of London, Vol. I (of 2), by John Timbs + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41146 *** |