The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-04-17

going to, or coming from rehearsal or per-
maps the gentlemen are out of engagements,
and having no '1engths' to study, and no
rehearsals to attend, find consolation in
spending the tedious day in the neighborhood
of the theatrical tavems and small clubs, with
which thedistrict north Of the Strand abounds;
and. perhaps, the ladies are bound for their
afternoon coffee and buns at Creighton's.'
AUTHORS.
The interval between southampton street
and the Adelphi may be regarded as the peou-
liar property of dramatists, actors, essayists,
and authors of every reputable class. Three
or four well-known literary and theatrical
clubs are within few hundred yards Of this
classic spot and it will rarely happen that
you can traverse the short distance between
Southampton street and the Adelphi, without
meeting some one whose name, at all events,
is, or should be familiar to you, if you pre-
tend to be at all an fat in literary or theatri-
cal affairs. This is particularly the case ON
Saturday afternoon. New pieces of import
ance are usually produced on Saturday nights
nowadays and the actors, dramatists, and
critics who are interested in the result,
usually dine at one or other of the clubs to
which have alluded, before they proceed to
the business of the evening"
'sENIOR" CLUB-MEN.
The interval between the Adelphi and Pail
mail lldS peri dpS, leSb luulfluudllJg bldl any
other portion of the route we have chosen. We
will, if you please, avoid the Haymarket and
make our way westward through Pail Mall.
After passing an unsavory collection of Jew
cigar Dealers distinguished foreigners, and
cheap little men about town, which infests the
Colonnade, we reach the eastern limit of West
End life. Pail Mall is, as everybody knows,
the headquarters of London clubdom. The first
indication of this is to be found in the pursy,
ptt 10 fopoH old HNyar cxuhp 70 ha
going in and out of the "Senior." They do not
lounge on the steps of their club, these mottle-
faced old gentlemen, as do their younger breth-
rem ofthe "Rag." They goin and come out with
an air of doing it with purpose; for the most
part, their days of lounging and loafng about
London are long past. They have been bucks
of the first water in their day; but their day
is gone by, and though they are bucks still,
they are bucks with a smack rather of the
Regency than of the Victoria era. They still
stick to the high collars, stiff satin Stock curly
hat and tight straps of forty years ago; but,
for all their accuracy of dress and punctillo Of
manner, these old gentlemen, as a rule, are
very Jolly old gentlemen indeed, when they
get together. They have good stories to tell
about this or that dowager-when she was a
reigning beauty in '23, though for matter of
that, they do not confine their attention to
dowagers. The beauties of '23 have grown
old in mind as well as in body; but the dash
ing subs who admired them then, have re-
manned much as they were, save in the mat
ter of rank and outward appearance. Their
faces are redder and their moustaches winter
their sword-belts have been let out some half
dozen holes, and their morning headaches
have given way to chronic gout; but their
tastes are those of young fellows Of thirty,
nevertheless. They have the reputation of
being stern old pipeclayists, and the stiff high
stock, cross-belts, and white-braided coattee,
find staunch advocates among them still.
Many of them are decrepit enough now; but
see them on a leU6e day; decrepitude never
looks so well as when decked out in stars,
medals, and X. C. b. ribbons, and passers-by,
who would not hesitate to sneer at the quiet
and rather eccentric looking old gentleman
in clothes of superannuated cut as ''mouldy
old fOgy," step respectfully aside to allow him
to pass, when decked in the bravery he has
won IN the Peninsula, India, and the Crimea.
ATHEN4EUM CLUB-1IEN.
Who are these solemn old gentlemen, with
gold eyeglasses, and ugly, but intelligent
faces, who are turning in and out of the build
ing at the opposite corner of Waterloo Place
They are members of the Atheneum, the
most eminent, from an intellectual point of
view, and the most unsociable from a domestic
point of view, of all the frst-class in London.
These grave old gentlemen are distinguished
antiquarans, adventurous travellers, emf
nent divines, successful barristers, popular
novehsts, and first-class essayists. If you
want to make one of them, you must wait
patiently for the fifteen years or so which
must elapse between your nomination and
election-don't be deferred by the considera-
tiOn that you are not an eminent man now
you may be utterly unknown to every soul in
England, except your relations and your
tradespeople at the date of your nomination,
and Great Britain may ring with your fame
| long before your election. You will have
plenty of time between those two dates, to
make for yourself famous name-and to lose
it, and be utterly forgotten, too, for matter of
that.
OTHER CLUBDoM.
These busy, independent-looking gentle
men are members of the Reform Club; and
those remarkable, gentlemanly looking old
! Conservatives are members of the Carlton
two clubs that sit side by side, and frown
| at each other out of the corners Of their
! eyes, like two old ladies who are not 'on
terms" but who happen to rent adjoining
stalls at the opera.
Another batch of dashing-going civil SER
wants are lowering about the entrance to the
| War Office; and opposite, group of smart
young warriors are lounging about the steps
of the Rag. These young gentlemen are a
| fair type OF better middle-class young English
men. They are generally well-dressed; they
smoke fair cigars; they are honorable; they
are in debit they are brave; they are rather
fast; but, nevertheless, they are gentlemanly,
! should like to talk about them for two OF
J three pages more, for | take a kindly pleasure
in studying the ways and means of these mill
tary and civil servants of the Crown but the
eXigencies OF time and space will only allow
me 10 glance at them en- PasSdm. The British
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