The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1877-01-30
LONDON CLUBS.
The Story Of "White'S," the fFSWell Club OF
st. James Street.

LONDON CLUBS.
The Story Of "Whte's," the fFSWell Club" OF
.1- st. James Street.
. There are three coeYa and still exist
ing club-houses in London, of which the
fame has gone forth into all lands.
Brookes', Boobies and Whites have
each OF them such history as would
suffice to occupy the pens of the liy-
ling successors to Mr.. Cunningham, DR..
Doran, or Mr.. TImps for many a day,
and vet not little would Still remain
untold. They symbolTze the existence
In the West End ol an age when such
gambling as the present generation with
all its wealth has happily no experience
of, flourished with an intensity and to a
degree which, as Horace WalpOle writes
to his friend Sir Horace Mann, Zone can
scarcely expect 10 be believed out OF
England" . ..... .
Perhaps there is no better exemplif-
cation Of the truth proclaimed by Lord
| Alacaulay, that men always 0Verrate
| the happiness OF previous generations,
than a comparison of the habits ana
manners distinguishing the fashionable
club-men OF to-day with those prevail =
ing a century ago. For tits undeniabie
that when Charles James Fox, George
| SelwyD, Col. st. Leger, Gilly Williams,
Lord March afterwards Duke OF
QueeDs0errE), and Sheridan were in
Tue heyday oI their social renoWn, st.
James street eXualed Il far more dam
gerous atmosphere to young men of
birth than is now the case.
Such was the universalltv and ma gni-
tude of the card-playing during The lat
ter half of last century that even the
younger Pitt and Wllberforce did not
escape unscathed from its contagion.
Upon his debutin London, Mr.. Pitt was
immediately ecteG to Miles, Evans,
Brookes', Boobies, Whites and Goose
| trees clubs. He came of age in 1880,
| and played cnietiy at Goosetree's,
Whites and Broukee', with character :
4 istic eagerness. Mr. Wilberiorce was
his constant companion, and their ac-
| quaintance, which commenced at Cam
4 bridge, ripened into friendship eXtin-
| guished only by the deata, in 1896, OF
| 'stbe pilot who weathered 4he Storm"
1t Is recorded Of Mr.. WilberIorce that
he was ollen a player, aAd that one
| night he Kept the faro bank al Goose
| trees and won 5000. Happily the visit
| that the two young friends paid, in 1888,
| to FraDce--Lhe only foreign trip ever
made by Mr.. Pitt--suliced forever 70
| extirpate their early passion lor play.
But it. is a striking illustration OF the
perilous temptations adued during the
last century by 1.-THE deV4I's pictures"
aud the dIce-boX to the ever .xist ent
snare6 OF a great metropolis, tAa5 TWO
such men an Pitt and MllbertOrce, the
sons of steady and demure parents,
should have falien, though only for a
moment, into the pitfall from which
death alonB emaneipated most OF their
equals and contemporaries. .:
Let it not, then, be for a moment de-
MED that, at the outset, Whites, Boodle's 8
4 and Brookess to say nothing OF Al
\ mack's, Go0seCree's and ArJ4u's, were
undisguis edly play-hOuses. They tiled,
| in short, the same place i'll our metre
| politan civilization When George III was
\ on the throne, and during the whole OF
1 his grandson, George his reign, that
| was occupied ageneratiol ago by Crock
ford's, the CocoR-tree Club, Bonds, Au.
kin's and OidtieIu's. Every volume OF
contemporary memoirs, every biography
which lifts the veil OF tue past, Tells us
that drink and play, alternating with
play and drink, were the twin idols OF
1.-THE more reckless among the jettneSSe
d0ree Of the day. Sat The Irish Uiub,''
1 writes General Grant i'll l7SS to his
4 friend Lord CornWallis in India, "we
have been honored with the presehc OF
1.-The Prince Of Wales and the Duke OF
\ York, who are reeiprocaliy obliged to
| one another.
The Prince has taught the Duke to
drink in the most liberal and copious
way, and the Duke in return has been
equally successful in teaching his broth.
er to lose his money at all sorts OF play
| to the amount, as we are told, OF very
large sums in favor of India, Gen. Smith
"a ,Io nj hn hot N
4 very much" Gen. Smith was in Parlia-
nent from 1880 to 1890, and having been
twice elected for Hlndon-a borough 50
4 obscure that many weH-educated men
/ could not to-day pronounce i'll What
4 country Itlay-Was twice unseated Iol
4 bribery, prosecuted and convicted. He
4 was commonly called "Hy der Ali,'j
whence his son, reckOned the best whis
4 player of the day, got the name OF "Iip.
poo" Is there any difficulty about find
4 ing a modern Hyder All and a modern
| TippOo among our existing West-end
| types? Today they no longer play
| qulnZe, ombre, hazard or faro; but
| Whist, ecarte and piquet still have theil
numerous Yotaries, although, fortunate.
lly, it is now most unusual Tor man t.
lose more than $1,000 or $4,000 at sit
ting. When s'hyder Alp was at has an,
| ogee gamesters lost 10000, c 10000, 950,
600, and iii some instances even larger
sums at bout, and suicides COMMITTED
by ruined men were not more uncom.
mon in consequence of "a "bad night" il
S.. James street than they were "a doz.
en- years ago at Homburg and Baden.
| Baden. ....
"rhe dryads Of Hagley," writes Lord
| lLyttleton to DR.. DJddridge in 1850, care
at present pretty secure, but l tremble
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