The Norfolk post. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1865-1866, 1866-02-24
CHE Aurfulk gust.
SATURDAY. FEBRUARY "a. 1865
CLUB LIFE IN LONDON.
OLD AND NEW CLUBs-THEIR ORIGIN AND
PECULIARITIES.
ANCIENT COFFEE HOUSES AND CURIOUS SIGN

|
and Taverns of the Metropolis durin
the 18th, 18th and 10th Centuries" TIL
first volume contains notices of a hun
dred London clubs and their mos
lannon's members, and the second has
variety of miscellaneous gossip abou
London coffee houses and Londol
taverns.
Mr.. Timbs begins by controvertinl
Carlyle's speculation that the word clul
is relic, 'in singularly dwindled con
dition," of the vow or gelubde of the
chivalrOus societies common six or sever
hundred years ago. The Templars, Hos
| pitallers and others never called theil
orders clubs; and the noun is held to bs
derived from the old verb ito club" tina
Is, to join in partnership for anything
| The word club in its social sense coin.
cides in its spelling only by an accident
| with the quite different word club, that
means bludgeon or cudgel. The two
words are of different origin. The social
idea of clubbing, applied to the division
Of an expense among several persOns-as
when Steele wrote in the 1dtter, 1--WE
| were resolved to club for a coach'-is
from the Anglo-Saxon cieofdn, to cleave
or divide. 1t was applied in that sense
| to social meetings at which men clubbe
together their several shares to produce
some common result
ODD NAMES
The fanciful clubs described In the
Spectator were hardly beyond the truth.
October Club, where, said Swift, "abOve
a hundred Parliament men who drink
October beer meet to consult affairs and
IL h In, IN, frot af lo
whigs;" the Saturday Club, of which
Swift was member, although he grum-
bled at the number of its members and
the weakness of its wit, and the Broth
ers' Club, of which he himself was the
founder. 1--WE take i'm none" he said,
"but men of wit or men of interest; and
If we go on as we began, no other clu q
in this town will be worth talking OFF,
The Brothers was broken up in TIA, to
be followed by the Scriblerus Club, also
founded by Swift, with Oxford and st.
John, Arbuthnot, Pope, and, Gay for
members. The Calves Head Club was
established "in ridicule of the memory
of Charles the First" and the Kings
Head Club was organized for the sup
port of Charles the Seconds govern
ment. These, and others like them,
were violent enough; but very much
worse were such clubs as the MOhocks,
describedin the Spectator, and the He'll
fire, with the Duke Of Wharton for It's
high priest of debauchery and profane-
ness. Very much worthier was the Kit
Kat Club, of which Mr.. limbs gives an
account, differing much from that re-
Gently included in Mr.. Knights
"Shadows of the Old booksellers.
THE OLDEST CLUB IN ENGLAND.
The Royal Society Club is the Oldest
now in existence in England. 1t origi-
mated with DIR. HALEY, who FUSED to
come on Tuesday from Greenwich, the
Royal Observatory, to Child's Coffee
House, where literary people met for
conversation. The talk lasted so long
that they were often troubled where to
get their dinner. At last they arranged,
according to the old letter writer quoted
by Mr. limbs, "to go to house iri Deans
court, between an alehouse and a tav-
ern, where there was great draught of
porter. 1t was kept by one Reynell. 1t
was agreed that one of the company
shOuldgoand buy fish in Ne,sgate street,
having first in formed himse lfhow 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. DIR. Haley never ate any,
thing hut fish, for he had no teeth.r
That was in 1881. Before lon,g Reynell
took the Kings Arms, in st. PauPs
Churchyard. DIR. Haley and his friends
went with him, land they beg an to have
little meat" On Halley's death his
friends removed to the Mitre, in Fleet
street, and there, in 1743, established
the Club of Royal Philosophe RS. Fifty
years later the name was chan ged to the
Royal Society Club, and as such. in va.
rious houses, it has fiourished to this
day.
GAMBLING AT WHITES CENTURY AGO.
Arthur's and Whites, originally
coffee house became famous as clubs
about the middle of the eighteenth CEN
tury. Boobies was founded about 177S,
and Brookes's in 177S. All were great
gaming places, and famous as the resort
of Fox and Sheridan, Selwyn, Garrick
and others of that time, about whom
Mr.. limbs collects number of curious
anecdotes.
There was heavier gambling at Whites
than at Brookes's. Mr.. limbs says:
"At Whites, the least difference of
opinion invariably ended in a bet, and
abook for entering the particulars of all
bets was always laid upon the table; one
of these, with entries of 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 t o be
found bets on births, deaths and marri-
ages; the length of life, or the dura.
ton of q ministry; the placeman's pros.
pect of a coronet; on the shock of an
earthquake; or the last scandal ut Ra-
nelagh, or Madame Cornelys's. A man
dropped down at the door of Whites;
he was carried into the house. Was he
dead or not The odds were immediate.
ly given and taken for and against. 1t
was proposed to bleed him. Those who
had taken the odds the man was dead.
protested that the use of lancet would
affect the fairness of the bet.
"Walpole give some of these nara
tives as good stories made on Whites.
A parsOn coming into the club on the
morning of the earthquake of 1850. and
hearing bets laid whether the shock
was caused by an earthquake or the
blowing up of power mills. went away
in horror, protesting they were such an
Impious set, that he believed IL the lat
trump were to sound, they would bet
puppet-show against Judgment. GiIIv
Williams writes to Selwyn, 1854, Lord
Digby is very soon to be married tn
Miss Fielding Thousands might have
been won in this house (White'sl on
his lordship not knowing that such
being existed,