Volume I Part 25 (2/2)

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. G.o.dwin, 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 fellows.h.i.+p and antiquarian pursuits. ”Joking minutes are kept, in which would be found many known names, either as visitors or a.s.sociates,--Theodore Hook, Sir Henry Ellis, Britton, d.i.c.kens, Thackeray, John Bruce, Jerdan, Planche, Bell, Maclise, etc.” The Club and its visitors may have caught inspiration here; for in their sallies _movere joc.u.m_, they have imitated the wits at Strawberry Hill, and found Arms for the Club, with a b.u.t.ter-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 ill.u.s.trations 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 flouris.h.i.+ng 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 pa.s.sed 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 fas.h.i.+ons of hats worn in his time, ill.u.s.trated 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 members.h.i.+p, 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 _precis_, 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 ent.i.tled Mulberry Leaves. In the Club were William G.o.dwin; Kenny Meadows, the future ill.u.s.trator 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 d.i.c.kens, 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 a.s.sociated. 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 a.s.sociate 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 pa.s.sing at his usual quick pace along Regent Street, poised himself into an att.i.tude, 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 embarra.s.sed 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!” e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed 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.”

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