Volume I Part 9 (2/2)
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 s.h.i.+ne, ”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, (d.i.c.k Edgec.u.mbe, 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 Edgec.u.mbe, 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 s.h.i.+llings.
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 Lords.h.i.+p 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, d.u.c.h.ess of Marlborough, would outlive the old d.u.c.h.ess 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 s.h.i.+p, by way of experiment, and both s.h.i.+p and man have not appeared since. Another man and s.h.i.+p are to be tried for their lives, instead of Mr. Blake, the a.s.sa.s.sin.”
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 fas.h.i.+on. I never saw more das.h.i.+ng 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 fas.h.i.+onable 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 waiters.h.i.+p 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 a.s.sistance 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 circ.u.mstances are suspicious. The bill was dropped: Dundas, its introducer, was Rigby's intimate a.s.sociate.
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 G.o.dfather to one of Rumbold's children; the other G.o.dfather 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 c.o.c.k-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 fas.h.i.+on, headed by St. Leger, gave a dinner at White's: one dish was a tart of choice cherries from a hot-house; only one gla.s.s 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 pa.s.sed 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 facade; 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 n.o.blemen and men of fas.h.i.+on 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:
<script>