Volume I Part 1 (1/2)

Club Life of London.

Vol. I.

by John Timbs.

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 a.s.semble with reasonable limits, the histories of the leading a.s.sociations 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 a.s.suming the gravity of history or biography, sufficient attention is paid to both to give the several narratives the value of trustworthiness. From the mult.i.tude 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 spa.r.s.e, or briefly descriptive; the main object being personal characteristics, the life and manners, the sayings and doings, of cla.s.ses among whom conviviality is often mixed up with better qualities, and the finest humanities are blended with the gladiators.h.i.+p 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 ill.u.s.trate 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 cla.s.sification 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 mult.i.tudinous contents of the Work.

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 a.s.sociate 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 bona 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 princ.i.p.al 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 a.s.signed 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_, a.s.sumes that the vow of the Chivalry Orders--_Gelubde_--in vogue about A.D. 1190, ”pa.s.sed to us in a singularly dwindled condition: Club we now call it.” To this it is objected that the mere resemblance in sound of _Gelubde_ 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.