mmm ■; ■»• >.»d.j«»WHm*--- CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE Cornell University Library DA 687.W58B77 v.1-2 History of White's. Published by the Hon 3 1924 028 074 411 .!,...« n^ All books are subject to recall after two weeks Uris Library DATE DUE -^ fl?SERft! ^"^P^^m^mmm HI — iw URIS-F incmfl pSEBH ia=2S03 AHUUUBBS^ tffv GAYLORD rr — ■ PRINTED IN U.SA K;..t" F Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028074411 The History of White's WITH THE Betting Book from 1743 to 1878 AND A List of Members from 1736 to 1892. This Edition consists of five hundred copies. Numher.....^..^.f.../.^ WHITE S IN 18 9 2 Fpom a drawing By A.Ludoviei The History of White's. VOL. I. PUBLISHED BY THE HONABLE. ALGERNON BOURKE 39A, ST. James's street, london. ^^ tlfv'i'Vl KM 1 Y ! r.UAUY (.%! v^ s-S ^^7 ''^ -t ^ V. I LONDON : WATERLOW AND SONS LIMl'IED, PRINTERS, LONDON WALL. 1892. 1,1 iKiMUO / CONTENTS, PAGE Preface . ■ . xi CHAPTER I. Introduction of Coffee into England— The Coffee Houses — Their importance as places of public meeting — Attempt to suppress them — Life at Coffee Houses — Distinct character of the com- pany at each of the better known houses — White's Chocolate House — Disadvantages of promiscuous company at the fashionable Coffee Houses — Transformation of Coffee Houses into Clubs . i CHAPTER II. White's Chocolate House — Site of the original White's — Francis White — Removal of White's to new building — White's death and will — Widow White — Her prosperity — Fashionable character of her house — Masquerades and operas — John Arthur — Fire at White's in 1733 — Temporary removal of White's to Gaunt's Coffee House— White's and Hogarth- Robert Arthur . . . . o vi Contents- PAGE CHAPTER III. Contemporary references to White's — Allusions to Gambling — Far- quhar — Gay — Steele — Addison — Pope — CoUey Cibber at White's — Swift — Mrs. Delany — White's and Heidegger's Mas- querades — Popular opposition to Masquerades — Satirical notices — Hogarth .... CHAPTER IV. The first rules of the "Old Club" — List of members in 1736 — Con- temporary affairs in England — Quarrels at Court — Division of Society — Prominent members of White's in 1736 — Walpole — Pulteney — Dodington — Chesterfield — Marlborough — Bedford —Newcastle — Pelham, &c. — Cibber — Heidegger — The Duke of Montagu's practical joke — Robert Arthur— White's a non- Political Club CHAPTER V. 33 Slow increase of White's — Early elections — Stair — Ligonier — Granby — Anson — Fawkener — Grafton— Burlington, &c— Difficulty of entry to White's — The Young Club and its origin — First elec- tions at the Young Club — Cathcart — Conway — Sackville — Selwyn — March — Selwyn and his correspondents— Carlisle — Williams— Edgecumbe— Walpole, &c.— The origin of the arms of White's . . . . .60 CHAPTER VI. Horace Walpole and his connection with White's — His stories of the Club— Extraordinary wager— The Club Betting Book— Rigby —A typical night at the Club— Lord Coke's domestic affairs —The earthquake at White's— A traditional wager— A dinner at the Club — The Miss Gunnings — An apology at White's — A blackballing and the reason of it . . 79 Contents. ' vii CHAPTER VII. PAGE Gaming at White's — At Court — Amongst the lower classes — Colonel Lyttelton's address to the King — Contemporary allusions to White's — "The Polite Gamester" — The "Connoisseur'' — The Club Betting Book — Lord Montfort — His curious wager with Sir John Bland — Deaths of Lord Montfort and Sir John Bland by suicide — Great Members of White's — Chatham and his Government — Clive — Rodney, &c. . 94 CHAPTER VIII. Increase of both clubs — Curious rules of the Old Club— Removal of both clubs to present premises — The " Great House " and its tenants — Death of Arthur — Robert Mackreth — The Cherubim — Mackreth returned as Member for Castle Rising — Allusions to White's as Arthur's — Gilly Williams and his gossip — Decrease of Gaming at White's — Macall — Almack's — The origin of Brookes's — Experiences of Members of White's at Brookes's — March — Selwyn — Carlisle . - .114 -CHAPTER IX. Changes of Proprietorship — The Cherubim— John Martindale — The Martindale family — White's under John Martindale — Altera- tions in Rules — Fusion of the Old and Young Clubs — Mackreth's later career — Law suit with Mr. Fox-Lane — Mackreth imprisoned — Sir Robert Mackreth, Knt. — His will — Thomas Rumbold, boot-boy at White's and Governor of Madras — His career in India — Made a Baronet — Bill of Pains and Penalties — Bargain with Rigby . • '35 viii Contents. CHAPTER X. PAGE Parliament and the Clubs— White's a political club for the first time— William Pitt at White's— His rivalry with Fox — The Prince of Wales— Dissensions at Court — Mrs. Fitzherbert — The King's illness— Ball at White's to celebrate the King's recovery — The Prince's action — Ball at Brookes's — Duel between the Duke of York and Col. Lennox— The Chevalier St. George— Record of his visit to White's . 148 CHAPTER XI. Alterations in Rules — William Pitt's Committee— Appointment of Managers— Wines drunk in England in the Eighteenth Century — Faro forbidden at White's — Faro at Brookes's — Beau Brummell — Initiates the Beau period at White's — Brummell's parentage — Meets the Prince — Becomes a leader of fashion — His rudeness — Decline of Brummell's influence — His flight — Napoleon and bets at White's — The heroes of the Peninsular War — Ball to celebrate the peace — Dinner to the Duke of Wellington — White's and Waterloo .... 167 CHAPTER XII. Changes in Rules — The origin of the Bow Window— George Raggett —Other Clubs of Raggett's— Whist at the Roxburgh— The Bow Window— The Dandies— Lord Alvanley— His dinners —Lord Allen— Lord Sefton— The Marquess of Worcester- Ball Hughes— Thomas Raikes— The tyranny of the Dandies —Betting at White's . . . • • -'89 Contents. ix CHAPTER XIII. PAGE White's under George Raggett — The Candidates' Books — Blackballing by the Dandies — Probable reason — Expansion of Club Life in London — Instances of particular blackballings — Reaction — A General Meeting — The Special Committee of 1833 — Drastic changes in Rules — Famous Foreign Members — Talleyrand — Notice of White's in the "News and Sunday Herald" — Crockford's — Benjamin Crockford — His career — The effect of Crockford's on the other Clubs — Count D'Orsay . . 204 CHAPTER XIV. Uneventful period at White's under George Raggett — His death — Henry Raggett — His complaint to the Committee — Henry Raggett's death — Amicable relations between White's and the Raggett family acknowledged — The elder Percival — Smoking in England, and at White's — Resistance by the older members — The effect of their action — The Prince of Wales and White's — Unsettled state of affairs under the younger Percival — The present management . . 227 Chronicle of White's ...... 243 Addenda. — Note of Horace Walpole as to Lord Chesterfield's reasons for leaving White's — Original letter of W. M. Thackeray . 245 Index ..... -251 PREFACE. " I "HE numerous writers on the social history of the -*■ last two hundred years have given very little attention to one of its most interesting features — the growth of Clubs and of Club life in England. And thus it happens that nearly all that has hitherto been written about White's, notwithstanding the prominent and important position among clubs it has always occupied, is contained in a couple of pages of a handbook to London, published nearly half-a-century ago. The approaching bi-centenary of the opening of White's Chocolate House, which preceded the foundation of the Club itself by a few years only, has been thought an appropriate time to put on record a fuller account of White's and its traditions. There is no lack of contemporary allusion to White's from the first. Its members have, been mostly xii Preface. notable men, their doings at the Club have employed the wits of satirical writers from Pope downwards, and they themselves have left much scattered information about White's in their own letters and diaries. It has been the object of the present volume to collect such of this information as will form, with the records of the Club itself, a connected history of a remarkable institution. When at the end of the seventeenth century a company of gentlemen founded the " Club at White's " by drawing up a few simple rules to regulate their private meetings at the Chocolate House, there were few clubs in existence, and none which have survived to the present day. Clubs then, were either assemblies of men bound together by strong political feeling like the October; small groups of philosophers and rhetoricians who met to discuss abstract theories of ethics, like the Rota ; or bands of choice spirits, such as those whose very questionable doings found a historian in Ned Ward of the London Spy. Club life as we know it, began with the establishment of White's nearly two centuries ago, and during those two centuries White's has seen the origin of every other institution of its own kind Preface. xiii existing to-day, and the development of Club life into its huge modern proportions. White's, with its corporate existence of nearly two hundred years, has associations which are far reaching and of great interest. The Club was well established before the last of the Stuarts left the throne, and among its members were many of the men who led the nation to decide in favour of the Royal House under which it is still governed. During the aristocratic governments of the eighteenth century, the destinies of Great Britain were practically in the hands of members of White's. All the Prime Ministers from Walpole to Peel, and most of their colleagues, have been at one time or other elected members, and a large number of the great generals and captains who have executed the schemes of those statesmen in all parts of the world, have spent their leisure in the club rooms. In looking back to the year of the establishment of White's, one is struck by its claims to rank among the venerable institutions of the country. White's is a year older than the Bank of England. Its members have assisted in the acquisition of the greater portion of the xiv Preface. Colonies ; it has seen the Indian Empire brought under the British flag, and has witnessed the loss of the American colonies. The first great master of the English School of Painting satirized the Club in one of his pictures, and its members were among the chief patrons of the great portrait painters who succeeded him. White's has existed through two great periods of English literature, the Augustan period of Anne, and the greater renaissance of a century later. Great national privileges, which to-day affect the lives of millions, religious tolerance, popular education, parlia- mentary representation, freedom of speech and of the press, have grown up since the Club was founded. With these memories of White's, however, our book has little to do; it is of necessity confined to narrower limits. We have attempted in the following pages to trace, in the simplest manner, the story of this Club, from its beginning at the Chocolate House to the present day. Much of our history is drawn from the gossiping letters and memoirs of members themselves, and deals with their lighter moods and weaknesses. But we hope to indicate the connection of White's Preface. xv through other of its members, with some of the great events of the last two centuries, and for the rest to give, perhaps, some faint picture of the company which during the same period, has gathered within the doors of the oldest of the clubs of London. White's, June, i8g2. The History of Whites. CHAPTER I. Introduction of Coffee into England — The Coffee Houses — Their importance as places of public meeting — Attempt to suppress them — Life at Coffee Houses. — Distinct character of the Company at each of the better known — Whites Chocolate House — Disadvantages of pro- miscuous company at fashionable houses — Transformation of Coffee Houses into Clubs. jO say that the whole modern system of club life owes its existence to the introduction of coffee into England, seems a startling proposition, but there is little doubt of its truth. In 1652 a Turkey merchant, one David Saunders, met with the berry in the course of his dealings with the East, and imported a parcel of it into London. His friends and business connections were invited to taste the The History of White's. new beverage, described by Mr. Samuel Pepys as " the bitter black drink called Coffee," and the rage for it at once became so great, that Saunders set up a foreign servant, Pasqua Rosee, at a house in St. Michael's Alley, Cornhill, with the sign of the Pasqua's Head, where the public were able to drink the new decoction. This was the first of the Coffee Houses in London,* which after- wards played so important a part in the social history of the country, and eventually became the parents of the first of the social clubs. Clubs, of course, had existed before the rise of the coffee houses, indeed some writers will trace back clubs of one sort or another to the earliest periods of human history. But the fact remains that the great modern institution of clubs owes its origin to the gatherings of men which began to meet at the different coffee and chocolate houses during the latter half of the seventeenth century. The coffee house has passed away and left no modern parallel, for the club of to-day represents but one phase of the life at a typical coffee house of the time of Queen Anne. There may perhaps be some faint survival of the customs which prevailed at these places still to be found lingering at Limmer's and Longs, but to all intents and purposes the coffee house is extinct. But the important * There was a coffee house opened by a Jew at Oxford a little earlier. The History of White's. part these houses played in a very few years after their establishment can scarcely be exaggerated. In the reign of Charles II. they were the only means for the expression of public opinion. There was at that time nothing representing the modern newspaper in existence ; public meetings and platform oratory were unknown, and the coffee house was used for the discussion of news, and the propagation of political opinion.* Much of the latter was, quite naturally, hostile to the Court, and the Government soon took alarm at this new power arising in the very heart of the kingdom. An attempt was made to suppress the coffee houses by royal proclamation, " because in such houses, and by occasion of the meeting of disaffected persons in them, divers false, malicious and scandalous reports were devised and spread abroad, to the defamation of his Majestie's Government, and to the disturbance of the quiet and peace of the Realm.''t This was in 1675, but the coffee house had become so popular with all classes, that an outcry was immediately raised against the proclamation, and the Government found itself too weak to enforce it. The judges were called together and consulted as to its legality, which appears to have been doubtful. Finally there was a show of compromise, by which the coffee-house keepers were * Macaulay's Hist. i. 368 et seq. t Kennett's History of England 1706, iii. 307. The History of Whites. induced to make some vague promise of good behaviour for the future. But practically the proclamation was a dead letter, and the coffee houses flourished more than ever, so much so that in 1710, there were two thousand of them scattered about in London and Westminster.* All the coffee and chocolate houses were open to any one who could afford to pay the very moderate charge of admission. This was usually a penny laid on the bar on entering, which entitled the guest to the use of the room and of the news sheet. Every rank of life, except perhaps the very lowest, was represented at one or other of these houses. Men met there to transact business, talk politics, discuss the latest play or poem, to play dice or cards. To one man the coffee house was an office for business, where he received and from which he dated his letters ; to another a place in which to push his fortunes among patrons ; to most a lounging place in which to discuss the news and pass away the time. The advertisements of the day are full of allusions to them. One gentleman loses his watch or his sword, and will give a reward if they are returned to Tom's or Button's, " and no questions asked." Another, one Brown, " late City Marshall," will settle all affairs that he had in his hands while holding that office, if the persons interested will repair to * North's "Examen," 1740, 138 et seq. The History of White's. " Mr. Gibbon's Cofifee House at Charing Cross." At another coffee house, Widow Barn's, "there is newly imported from Ireland a parcel of superfine and extra- ordinary rich usquebaugh, where attendance will be given till all sold." A regular auction by inch of candle will be announced at another, and the creditors of a bankrupt will meet and liquidate his estate at yet another.* Men with the same tastes or interests naturally congregated together ; and their meetings at particular houses gave each a special character of its own. Politicians of the same way of thinking frequented the coffee house patronized by their party. The Whigs met at the St. James's, at the bottom of the street of the same name ; the Tories at Ozinda's close by ; and the out-and-out Jacobites would discuss the fortunes of the Pretenders at the Cocoa Tree, at first nearly opposite the palace in Pall Mall, later in St. James's Street. Will's, at the corner of Bow Street and Russell Street, became, under the patronage of Dryden, the head-quarters of the literary society of the day. Dryden was succeeded by Addison, who left after a time with his following, to make the fortune of another coffee house, Button's, on the other side of the way in Russell Street. Military men met at Young Man's ; * " Flying Post," Aug. nth, 1698, The History of White's. Scotsmen at the British or Forrest's; lawyers at Nando 's and the Grecian, both near the Temple ; clergymen at Child's in St. Paul's Churchyard ; stock jobbers at Old Man's ; merchants at Garra way's or Jonathan's ; Frenchmen at Giles's or Old Slaughter's in St. Martin's Lane. White's Chocolate House, in St. James's Street, was distinguished as the meeting-place of men of fashion. It is the fortunes of this house, as the parent of White's Club, that we have first to follow. The special character given to each of the better- known houses by its regular customers, did not close it to the general public. Any one who was decently clad, and could behave himself, was free to enter White's or any other of the more fashionable houses which were grouped near St. James's Palace. Smoking, we read, was general in all but these few West-end houses. Here tobacco was to be found only in the form of finely-scented snuff, " and if any clown, ignorant of the usages of the house, called for a pipe, the sneers of the whole assembly, and the short answers of the waiters, soon convinced him that he had better go some- where else." At the time when coffee houses became well established as an institution, say during the last quarter of the seventeenth century, the meeting of different classes within their doors, classes elsewhere separated more sharply than is conceivable to-day, was The History of Whites. no doubt of very great advantage. A writer of 1724 is enthusiastic on this point. " After the play, the best company generally go to Tom's or Will's coffee houses near adjoining, where there is playing at piquet and the best of conversation until midnight. Here you will see blue and green ribands and stars sitting familiarly with private gentlemen and talking with the same freedom as if they had left their quality and degrees of distance at home, and a stranger tastes with pleasure the universal liberty of speech of the English nation."* But in the better class of coffee and chocolate houses these advantages of free intercourse had corres- ponding disadvantages, and these perhaps would be felt most in the professed houses of fashion, of which White's Chocolate House was the chief Play at these places had early become generalj and in its train had followed whole swarms of adventurers, sharpers and even highwaymen, whose bold bearing and assurance was quite sufficient to enable them to mix with the company at White's, or other of the fashionable assemblies where high play was going on. It was inconvenient, to say the least, that one of these gentlemen should rub shoulders with the judge who might afterwards have to sentence him for highway robbery. Considerations of this sort doubtless induced the respectable frequenters of * Mackay, "Journey through England." The History of White's. many of the coffee houses to form themselves into private clubs, meeting at the house, but with a room or rooms of their own to which members only were admitted. White's was the first to adopt this course. Others followed its example. Swift, at first a frequenter of Button's, formed a small club called the Brothers, at the Thatched House, and in his Journal to Stella, he grumbles at the price of the dinner. Johnson later formed his famous Literary Club at the Turk's Head, in Gerrard Street. Tom's Coffee House became a private club, and the present Cocoa Tree, Boodle's and Thatched House Clubs, as well as White's, are all examples of existing clubs originally formed at coffee houses or taverns. White's Chocolate House, from the first the resort of the well-born and fashionable, skimmed the cream of its company to form the " Club at White's " ; the club thus formed drew into its ranks the leading men of the day, and as time went on, increased its numbers and influence. The proprietor soon found the catering for its members, all men of means and leisure, the chief part of his business, and more lucrative than the custom of the general public. His interest accorded with the wishes of his patrons, the public were eventually excluded, and White's Chocolate House was transformed into the private and exclusive society since known as " White's." Is. H O O t-H m m W o o (in CO H O < PL, CO Pil pq W CHAPTER II. Whites Chocolate House — Site of the original Whites — Francis White — Removal of White's to new building — Whites Will — Widow White — Her prosperity —Fashionable character of her house — Masquerades and operas— fohn Arthur — Fire at Whites in 1733 — Temporary removal of White s to Gaunfs Coffee House — Whites and Hogarth— Robert Arthur. The site of White's Chocolate House has been a stumbling block to most of the London topographers. Peter Cunningham, in his " London Past and Present " (1850), is the first who attempts to fix it, and he places the house five doors from the bottom of St. James's Street, on the west side, and gives the date of the opening as circa 1698. Cunningham founded his opinion as to the position of the house on a print published in 1751, showing a procession which accompanied the Hon. Alexander Murray on his release from Newgate, where he had been imprisoned for interfering with the High Bailiff of Westminster in one of the elections for that borough. A drawing from this print is here reproduced, and at first sight it would seem to place White's five doors exactly from the bottom of the street. But it must be remembered that in caricature of this sort accuracy of detail was nearly always wanting, especially in background. lo The History of Whites. One has only to look at the work of much abler artists than the one here employed, to be convinced of this. The perspective of Gilray, for s instance, is atrocious. The artist here was representing a popular demon- stration, and he naturally thought first of his figures. To give point to the democratic nature of the occasion by a contrast, he places his procession in front of the, aristocratic White's in St. James's Street. In doing this, he no doubt wished to convey the fact that White's in 1751 was on the west side, and near the bottom of the street, and this general truth he has given. But, in the presence of contrary evidence, the print is not worth serious consideration as an authority for accurately fixing the site of a particular house. This site, however, has been accepted as that of the original White's by most of the writers who have dealt with the matter since Cunningham's book appeared. A writer in the "National Review," in an article which is in most respects the best short account of clubs and club life extant,* adopts the theory as a matter of course ; his essay being really a review of Cunningham's book. Other writers — Mr. Timbs, Mr. Wheatley and Mr, Walford — have followed him like sheep through a gap. None of these gentlemen seem to have consulted the rate-books of St. James's, Westminster. These books prove beyond any doubt whatever that White's * "National Review," No. 8, 1857. The History of White's. ii Chocolate House was opened by a Francis White in 1693, ^t ^ house on the east side of the street, which stood on the site of the present Boodle's Club. Westminster originally consisted of two parishes only, St. Margaret's and St. Martin's-in-the-Fields. St. Paul's Covent Garden, formed in 1660, St. Anne's Soho in 1678, St. James's in 1684, St. George's Hanover Square in 1724, and St. John's in 1728, are all subdivisions of those two original parishes. St. James's Street was a new part of the town at the time we are considering. Defoe, writing in 1714, says, " The increase of buildings here is really a kind of prodigy. All the buildings north of Long Acre up to Seven Dials, all the streets from Leicester Fields to St. Martin's Lane, both north and west from the Haymarket to St. James's Street inclusive to the Park wall, even all the buildings on the north side of the street called Piccadilly and the road to Knightsbridge .... were within the time men- tioned meer fields of grass, as other fields are. " * The period he is speaking of is that between the Great Fire in 1666 and the date of his book, 17 14. Cunningham and the rest of the writers on the early history of White's, make no mention of White himself ; they all begin with the younger Arthur, the second of two of White's successors of that name. We have nothing to do with White's life previous to his * Defoe, "Tour through England, 1714," ii. 118. 12 The History of White's. appearance in St. James's Street, indeed nothing is known of it. He had probably been in business of the same kind before, and from his will it is clear that he could not have been a very young man in 1693. It is likely that he was attracted to the West- end by the exodus of fashion which had taken place in that direction. St. James's Square, Cleveland Row, and St. James's Place were then, as now, occupied almost exclusively by " persons of quality." St. James's Street was in the centre of this good neighbourhood, and White no doubt chose it as a situation likely to afford him a remunerative class of customers for his new venture. Here he set up, as we have said, in 1693. Francis White seems to have been successful from the first, for, after four years' residence in his first house, we find him crossing the street to another at a higher rental, his rates being considerably increased. This house, on the west side of the street, was three doors below St. James's Place, and its site was that of the northern part of the present Arthur's Club. Here he continued at the same rental until 1702, when he added the next house below to his premises. In this year the name of a John Arthur appears as his next- door neighbour above, and this name, as will be seen, is an important one in tracing the subsequent history of the Club. Arthur was at this time White's servant and assistant manager. '■' 1^^^ ' M 1 1 '^^j^m^ '^m m^iM.^^^mm:\ 'f'Mi^^': ;. - €3 .--iMSsiPI n-» ■t^^^-'l ^ • ^ '^^^mi pv^ : 1 ,|#*'-'' ■ :^ h; .111 f "^^y^ j^A t ■-■' -- ^ iisii i^ ir -' =A=" "*4* iJw^m, H ^^^^HHHBL^ ^^^Cd^^H^HH^^sliUH^^^S 1 __^^^^E'^9^R^B%^H^^^^^^^^^^^ ^pMHi^P'^^^^^^H^^Ifi^lMi^i^^^^H^^ir *'%^^H^H^^I^^^^^^^^HnWml ^ '^^^SK^tB^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^KBwSll^^m^S^BK^^^^^^^S^m^^ ^^''""'"-" & ►— 1 £i 1 > ^ w J2 B H (U bl < o a ►J (3 FM tc ■3 PM C/f « CO "S w o ■a (2s; 5 o o o o en H ■s p-( 3 en ^ 'l. w s H ^ o o Pil a ^ 'T' ■tl 60 H S' a '? M 1 tn W The History of White's. 13 At the enlarged premises, White carried on the business of the Chocolate House until his death in 171 1. He was buried in February of that year at St. James's Church in Piccadilly, and his will shows that he was a man of some property. This document, executed in 1708, begins in the impressive manner usual in wills of that time, and states that the testator is "weake and infirm in body, but in sound disposing mind and memory (thanks be given to Almighty God for the same) ". From it we learn that White left four children, minors, and a widow, Elizabeth, but that the rest of his connections were settled in Italy. Thus there are legacies to his sister, Angela Maria, wife of Tomaso Casanova of Verona, and to "my aunt, Nicoletta Tomasi," also settled at Verona. It is possible that White himself ' was an Italian, or of Italian extraction. It is not at all unusual for foreigners settled in England to assume an English form of their patronymic. White may have been some Bianco or Bianchi who took advantage of the culinary reputation which rightly or wrongly is enjoyed by one or two foreign nations, to embark in a catering business in the land of his adoption. The legacies mentioned in the will amount to ^2,750, a comfortable sum of money in those days for a man of White's station. His widow, Elizabeth, is 14 The History of Whitens. named as residuary legatee, and sole executrix so long as she remained a widow. She could only console herself with a second husband under penalty of two hundred pounds to be paid to each of the four children. Elizabeth White succeeded her husband in the management of the Chocolate House, and under her its prosperity continued. Her house became the centre of the fashionable life of the day, and the place from which its amusements were directed. Advertisements in the papers show that " Mrs. White's Chocolate House, in St. James's Street," was the place of distribution of tickets for all the fashionable amusements of the early years of the eighteenth century. Opera was being produced at the Haymarket, and the announcement of the performance of each new piece is accompanied by the notice that tickets are to be obtained at Mrs. White's. A little later, Heidegger was taking the town by storm with his masquerades, ridottos and balls. He was quick to see that Mrs. White's was an advantageous ground from which to reach his patrons of the aristocracy. He accordingly issued his admissions for these entertainments from White's, and requested those who were not using them to return them there, in order to prevent their falling into bad hands, and so spoiling the select character of his assemblies. Mrs. White's prosperity is even reflected in the rate-books. The entries give us three degrees ST. JAMES'S STREET, shewing Arthur's Club. This Building, since much enlarged, was occupied by White's from 1697 to 1755. From a Drawing by Holland Tringham. The History of Whites. 15 of comparison. At White's death, positive, "Widow White " ; later, comparative, " Mrs. White " ; later still, superlative, " Madam White." The Bumble of the period was evidently impressed by her prosperity, and by the fine company which met at her house. Madam White continued at the Chocolate House until some time between 1725 and 1729 (the exact year is uncertain, as the rate-books for those years are missing), and she probably left the place with a fortune. We have not succeeded in tracing this lady further. She is not buried in St. James's parish, and does not seem to have left a will. Whether she joined her husband's friends abroad, or again changed her name at a cost of eight hundred pounds, is now only a matter of con- jecture, which falls outside the scope of our history. In 1730, John Arthur, Francis White's assistant, appears as the tenant of the premises. Arthur had no doubt been associated with the widow in the management of the place, and its flourishing condition continued after he became proprietor, for in 1732 we find him adding the house he had formerly occupied to the two rented by White and his widow, and the business of White's Chocolate House was after that year conducted in the second, third and fourth houses below the corner of St. James's Place. It was under John Arthur's management in the following year, 1733, that an event happened which 1 6 The History of Whitens. robbed us of the original records of the Club which was meeting daily at White's. In April of that year the Chocolate House was burnt to the ground with every- thing in it, and the inmates themselves seem to have had difficulty in escaping. The fire occurred at four o'clock" in the morning, and was duly noticed in the newspapers. The "Daily Courant" of April 30th, 1733, says: — " On Saturday morning about four o'clock, a fire broke out at Mr. Arthur's, at White's Chocolate House in St. James's Street, which burnt with great violence, and in a short time entirely consumed that house with two others, and much damaged several others adjoining. Young Mr. Arthur's wife leaped out of a window two pair of stairs upon a feather bed without much hurt.. A fine collection of paintings belonging to Sir Andrew Fountaine, valued at ^3,000 at least, was entirely destroyed. His Majesty and the Prince of Wales were present above an hour, and encouraged the firemen and people to work at the engines, a guard being ordered from St. James's to keep off the populace. His majesty ordered twenty guineas among the firemen and others that worked at the engines, and five guineas to the guard ; and the Prince ordered the firemen ten guineas." It must have been a good blaze which brought George II. from his bed at four o'clock on a spring morning. The Prince, too, it seems, was there. Frederic ■ was fond of fires, and of the mob popularity he gained GAUNT'S COFFEE HOUSE. The History of White's. 17 by attending them. On one occasion, at a fire in the Temple, he stayed from nine at night till five the next morning. The crowd were so pleased with his exertions, that there were shouts of " Crown him," " Crown him." This may account for the King's appearance at White's, for he was intensely jealous of any popularity his son enjoyed. On May 3rd following, Arthur advertised in the " Daily Post " " to acquaint all noblemen and gentlemen " that, having had the misfortune to be burnt out of White's Chocolate House, he had " removed to Gaunt's Coffee House, next the St. James's Coffee House in St. James's Street, where he humbly begs that all will favour him with their company as usual. " The St. James's Coffee House, according to Cunningham, was the last house but one on the west side of the street at the bottom, and was kept at this time by a man named Elliot. Now Elliot was the third tenant up from the corner of Cleveland Row. Lord Shelburne was at the corner house, next above him a George Morriss, then Elliot.* Opposite the name of Morriss, in the rate- book, is an entry in another hand, " Mr. Arthur." From this it seems pretty clear that the St. James's was three doors up the street, and that Gaunt's was kept by Morriss one door below, that is, * Rate Books of St. James's Parish. 1 8 The History of Whitens. the second from the corner. Any way, Arthur removed to Gaunt's in 1 733, and for three years the business of White's Chocolate House was there carried on. The site is to-day occupied by Mr. Bignell's Racirg Club, and by Mr. Wallis the wine merchant, and it is probable that the present house, somewhat altered, is the original Gaunt's. Gaunt's and the rest of the houses at that time standing at the south-western end of St. James's Street, were built on ground which has interesting associations. In 1668 Charles II. had given or lent to Barbara, Duchess of Cleveland, the mansion called Berkshire House, which stood in large grounds on the north side of Cleveland Row, and had a garden running up the side of St. James's Street, and forming its boundary as far as Catherine Wheel Yard. In 1670 changes were made in this property ; Berkshire House was pulled down and Cleveland House built. Part of the ground covered by the garden was let or sold for building, and the houses forming the south-western end of the street, including Gaunt's, were erected upon it. Now, about the time of the fire, Hogarth was preparing for publication the engravings from his " Rake's Progress " series of paintings. He had chosen St. James's Street as the scene of one of his vivid pictures of the downward progress of the Rake, and in Plate IV. we see him arrested for debt at the corner of Ryder Street. Each plate of the series is dated June 25th, 1735. M 5 H S ^—^ JS o en o u iz; ^ t-t ^ e W' bo W .S t/j ■s 'S • Ph K* M ctl w g H 'So o P4 V ,5 C/) »H 0) P4 ffi o H o < p^ 3 Pi K CD ^ W M fc4 C < S P^ M w u ffi .g H E h The History of White's. 19 This would be the date of the completion of the last plate, and the pictures had of course been finished earlier. Plate IV. was one in which Hogarth made great alterations before publishing the final state. The group of boys gambling in the foreground does not appear in the original picture, or in the first state of the engraving, and the very marked allusion to White's, in the background, occurs only in the final state. It would seem that Hogarth had painted this picture before the occurrence of the fire at White's in 1733, and had proceeded with the engraving of it. The fire resulted, as we know, in the temporary removal of White's to the bottom of the street. White's, in fact, moved into a house already painted by Hogarth in the middle of the background of his picture. Here was an opportunity which he was quick to seize in order to give additional point to his satire. He accordingly introduced in the engraving a sign bearing the word " White's " projecting from the front of Gaunt's, and added a portentous flash of lightning, with a barbed head like a harpoon, issuing from a thunder- cloud, and pointing straight at the house. The place by this time had become notorious for the high play that went oh, and was fair game for the great satirist, who further emphasizes the point by filling his foreground with a group of gambling street-boys, as a contrast to the aristocratic gaming house in the background. 20 The History of White's. The whole picture is reversed by the process of engraving, and in the print this makes White's appear on the wrong side of the street. This peculiarity has been copied in engravings made since, and has led more than one writer to place White's on the east side of the street.* But there is at the British Museum a small plate of No. IV. of the Rake series, reversed to show the proper arrangement of the composition as it appears in the original painting still to be seen at the Soane Museum in Lincoln's Inn Fields. This plan has been adopted in reproducing the engraving here. Returning to Arthur and the Chocolate House, we find the house was some time in rebuilding after the fire. In 1736, Robert Arthur, the "young Mr. Arthur" of the notice in the newspaper, appears in the newly-built house at the old address,t which, from the rental, must have covered the sites of the three houses which had been burnt. John Arthur had either died, or had made over his business to his son Robert. This gentleman, as we shall see, was proprietor when the first existing records of White's Club begin. * See engravings in Knight's " London," 1850, and Timb's " Clubs and Club Life." Mr. Walford, in his valuable " Old and New London, " says, " White's originally stood on the eastern side, nearly opposite to where are now the Conservative and Thatched House Clubs." t Rate Books, St. James's). 21 CHAPTER III. Contemporary references to Whites — Allusions on Gambling — Farqukar, Gay, Steele, Addison, Pope, Colley Gibber, on Whitis — Swift — Mrs. Delaney — Heidegger's Masquerades — Popular opposition to Masquerades — Satirical Notices — Hogarth. In the foregoing chapters we have traced White's Choco- late House under successive proprietors, from its foun- dation by Francis White in 1693, down to the year 1736, when young Arthur took over the management from his father after the fire. We have mentioned that the first existing records of the " Club at White's " begin in that year ; but before passing on to consider these, we may try to supply the loss of the original books, by whatever information as to early doings at White's we can gather from outside sources. White's soon began to attract the attention of the writers of the day. The Chocolate House was from the first, as we have seen, a meeting place for men of leisure and fortune, and for the followers who lived upon them. Field sports, which at present occupy so much of the time of men of position, were little followed by their ancestors 2 2 The History of Whites. in the days of Queen Anne. The love of natural scenery, which takes so many of the independent classes into the country or abroad for a great part of the year, was not general. A stay of a few weeks in the provinces was regarded as a banishment, young men in society had done most of their travelling when they returned from the grand tour. The gilded youth of the eighteenth century, as a rule, occupied his ample leisure by a thorough-going indulgence in the passion for play, which was common to all classes from the Court downwards. In most of the early references to life at White's this is alluded to with the utmost candour. In passing on to consider them, we may note that they are drawn almost entirely from the writings of outsiders. To many of these the acquaintance of the company which met at White's was like sour grapes to the fox in the fable, and we think this will account for a good deal of the exaggera- tion which undoubtedly exists in some of the quotations we shall have to make. One of the first of these allusions occurs in George Farquhar's " Beaux's Stratagem," published in 1707. Here one ruffian asks another if he has not seen his face at White's, and is told, " Ay, and at Will's, too." If this is to be taken literally, it would seem that the literary reputation of' the company at Will's was not sufficient to exclude doubtful characters when gaming was going on. Gay's allusion to White's, in "Trivia," points only to The History of White's. the fashionable character of its company, which found employment for the chairmen : " At White's the harnessed chairman idly stands, And swings around his waist his tingling hands." The genial Richard Steele is another who makes early mention of White's. Steele, though never a member of the Club, must often have been of the com- pany at the Chocolate House. He was living over the way in 1716. In the first number of the "Tatler," pub- lished in 1 709, he informs his readers that " all accounts of gallantry, pleasure and entertainment shall be under the article of White's Chocolate House," while Will's was to supply the poetry and the Grecian the learning. We find, accordingly, many of the early numbers of the " Tatler " dated from White's. Steele further asks his readers to consider " that as I cannot keep an ingenious man to go daily to Will's under 2d. each day, merely for charges, to White's under 6d., nor to the Grecian without allowing him some plain Spanish .... I say these considerations will, I hope, make all persons willing to comply with my humble request "... (of buying his paper). From this it seems that the ordinary charge of a penny for entrance to a coffee house was increased in the case of fashionable houses like Will's and White's. 24 The History of White's. Joseph Addison, too, has a word to say about White's in his prologue to Steele's " Tender Husband " : " Our modern wits are forc'd to pick and cull, And here and there by chance pick up a fool. Long ere they find the necessary spark, They search the town and beat about the park. • To all his most frequented haunts resort, Oft dog him in the ring, and oft to Court. As love of pleasure or of place invites, And sometimes find him taking snuff at White's." There is a passage in the life of Arthur Maynwaring, published in 171 5, and written by John Oldmixon, which is interesting as mentioning a garden as part of the pre- mises at White's. Oldmixon gave his friend an appoint- ment at the Chocolate House in 1710, and we read that they retired into the garden and discussed the authorship of the "Examiner," about which Maynwaring was much exercised. This garden is shown in an old plan of St. James's, and its boundaries may still be traced at the back of Arthur's Club. When we come to consider the records of the " Club at White's," we shall find among the names, in the early lists of members, that of Mr. Colley Cibber, the poet laureate. It was probably his membership that attracted Pope's attention to the Club. In holding up the laureate to the derision of the world in the " Dunciad," he men- tions it more than once. Thus : " Or chair'd at White's among the Doctors sit, Teach oaths to gamesters, and to nobles wit." 1 U)cx^. ^xus , die ■>\-, <^^^€7umi€^t IS ui .^i .^.V^c/, x.u' ulzco Acmai. ^^cA'A c7u A^, ■7n A^^ z££n Ae7i€n ytzren^ , .J^mJ. J. j THE BACK OF WHITE'S CHOCOLATE HOUSE, FROM THE GARDEN. (As Rebuilt after the Fire in 1733). THE CLUB HOUSE OF WHITE'S, 1697— 1733, and 1736—1755. FROM AN OLD PRINT. The History of Whitens. 25 " Doctors," it may be noted, was a slang term of the period for loaded dice. Again : " This arch absurd that wit and fool delights, This mess toss'd up of Hockley Hole and White's." And again : " Familiar White's God save, King Colley cries ; God save King Colley, Drury Lane replies." There is a piece of not very good-natured gossip in Davie's Life of Garrick, which explains the last couplet : " But Colley, we are told, had the honour to be a member of the great Club at White's ; and so, I suppose, might any man who wore good clothes and paid his money when he lost it. But on what terms did Cibber live with this society ? Why, he feasted most sumptuously, as I have heard his friend Victor say with an air of triumphant exultation, with Mr. Arthur and his wife, and gave a trifle for his dinner. After he had dined, when the club room door was opened, and the laureate was introduced, he was saluted with the loud and joyous acclamation of ' Old King Coll ! — come in. King Coll. Welcome, welcome. King Colley.' And this kind of gratulation Mr. Victor thought was very gracious and very honourable." In the Moral Essays, Pope makes further allusion to White's. Here the poet is supposed to be discussing with Lord Bathurst the use and abuse of riches, and in the course of the conversation he makes some speculations 26 The History of White's on a world in which there should be no money, and where all bargains must be made in kind. Statesmen, says he, would find it difficult to accept bribes in the shape of barrels of wine, bales of wool or droves of oxen. Gambling at White's, too, would be a different business altogether. There is great humour, in his picture of White's in these circumstances : " His Grace would game, to White's a bull be led, With spurning heels, and with a butting head ; To White's be carried, as to ancient games. Fair coursers, vases, and alluring dames." Pope goes on to draw a shocking picture. One of the gamesters, whom he calls Uxorio, wins half-^-dozen of the last-named stakes, and moves his wife to tears by bearing them horrie. His Grace is the third Duke of Bedford. He lost an immense sum to a notorious gamester. Sir Theodore Jansen, whose extraordinary luck had made him the subject of some suspicion. Pope alludes to the event in his Satire : " As when a Duke to Jansen punts at White's." Lastly, in the eighth Satire : " See where the British youth, engaged no more At Figg's, at White's, with felons or a w , Pay their last duty to the Court, and come All fresh and fragrant to the Drawing room." And in an explanatory note of Pope's own, he calls White's " a noted gaming house." ( ' , Jufr/fV/f/rr JOHN JAMES HEIDEGGER. FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. By W. Sharp, from the Death Mask. The History of White's. 27 Jonathan Swift, we find from his Essay on Educa- tion, had " heard that the late Earl of Oxford, in the time of his Ministry, never passed by White's Chocolate House (the common rendezvous of infamous sharpers and noble cullies) without bestowing a curse on that famous academy, as the bane of half the English aristocracy." It is not surprising that Pope and Swift found themselves little in sympathy with the company which met at White's. It is said that neither of these two friends was ever seen to laugh. Besides, they were on the losing side in politics, and White's, as we shall see later, was identified with more than one of the statesmen who ruled the roast when George the First came over from Hanover. Mrs. Delany turns up her eyes in horror at some of the doings at White's, and apropos of some large cast at hazard between Capt. O'Brien and Sir John Bland, she writes : " What a curse to nations is such a pit of destruction as White's. It is a sad thing that in a Xtian country it should continue undemolished."* It has been mentioned that under the widow's manage- ment White's had much to do with the masquerades and ridottos which for many years formed the chief amuse- ment of people of fashion. John James Heidegger was the originator of public masquerades, and his * Delany Correspondence, i. 594. 28 The History of White's. success in these, and other matters patronised by the aristocracy, eventually led to his being admitted as a member of the " Club at White's." He seems to have organised his first masquerade in 17 17. In the early part of that year Pope writes to Lady Mary Wortley Montagu : " For the news in London, I'll sum it up in short : we have masquerades at the theatre in the Haymarket, of Mr. Heidegger's institution; they are very frequent." These entertainments at once became the fashion amongst the higher classes, and the object of a deter- mined opposition from everyone else. There seems to have been a prejudice against masques in the popular mind, which dated, perhaps, from the days of Charles I., when Queen Henrietta Maria produced one at Whitehall on a Sunday. A mob assembled outside, and protested in riotous fashion against what they considered a violation of the Lord's day. Whatever the cause, there was a very decided set against masquerades under Heidegger's management by all who did not take part in them. Bishops preached against them ; the writers of the period satirized them ; the grand jury presented them, "conceiving the same to be a wicked and unlawful design to carry on gaming, chances by way of lottery and other impious and illegal practices." There was even an attempt to pass an Act of Parliament against them. But Heidegger had the support of all the people of influence, which with the PHILIP DORMER, FOURTH EARL OF CHESTERFIELD. FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. By J. Brooks, after W. HoARE. The History of White's. 29 patronage of the Court itself, enabled him to laugh at the opposition of the populace. It is difficult to ascertain the precise objection taken to these entertainments ; the accusers are full of vague charges, but do not descend to particulars. There is nothing dreadful in the references to masquerades in the memoirs and correspondence of the time. Pope, who was prone enough to find fault, says nothing against them in the passage we have quoted. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu describes a very ordinary feminine quarrel with a Mrs. Murray at one of them. Lord Chesterfield's allusion, too, is quite innocent. He wrote to Mrs. Howard in 1728: "I considered you particularly last Tuesday, suffering the heat and disorders of the masquerade, supported by the Duchess of Richmond on one side and Miss Fitzwilliam on the other." On the other hand, writers of the time who looked on masquerades from the outside, if wanting in definite accusation, are prodigal in innuendo. Here is Defoe, for instance, in his " Tour" : " Advancing to the Haymarket, we saw first a great new theatre, a very magnificent building, and perfectly accomplished for the thing for which it was built, though the entertainments there of late have been chiefly operas and balls. These meetings are called balls, the word masquerade not being so well relished by the English, who, though at first fond of the novelty, began to be sick 30 The History of White's. of the thing on many accounts. However, as I cannot in justice say anything to recommend them, and am by no means to make this work a satyr upon anything, I choose to say no more, but to go on."* There is an account, too, of an intrigue in a brochure called the " Masqueraders," one of a good many minor publications called forth by the prevailing rage, from which it would appear that it was an ordinary thing, attracting no attention, for a gentleman to greet a lady of his acquaintance at the masquerade by taking her in his arms. Heidegger's own advertisements are of a suspicious character. Tickets were issued (from White's) to sub- scribers, and every effort was made to keep the assemblies select. People of quality were begged not to allow their names to be used for obtaining tickets, and if they had more than they required, to return them, " to prevent them falling into bad hands." He advertised, also, that there would always be a " sufficient guard within and without to prevent all disorders and indecencies," and that " strict orders were given not to deliver any glasses or bottles from the sideboards, and to shut them up early." A letter in the " Guardian " relates some strange experiences of the writer at a masquerade given by the French Ambassador. This would seem to indicate a * "Tour through England," ii. ii8. I J Q c i [:4 The History of Whitens. 31 curious confusion of sexes at these entertainments. " I had like to have been knocked down by a shepherdess," says the writer," for having run my elbow a little inadver- tently into her side. She swore like a trooper, and threatened me with a very masculine voice. But I was timely taken off by a presbyterian parson, who told me in a very soft tone that he believed I was a very pretty fellow, and that he would meet me in Spring Gardens to-morrow night." * Hogarth found a subject for his satire in the mas- querade. He mocked the fashion in an engraving published in 1727, to which he gave the title of " The Masquerade Ticket." There is no beating about the bush here. It shows a large room with a masquerade in progress. The presiding deities are Venus and Priapus, and an altar blazes to each. The altar of the goddess is decorated with periwigs and ribbons, and bears a sacrifice of bleeding hearts ; that of the god with the horns of stags. Further down the room, one on each side, are a pair of what the inscription tells us are " lecherometers," displayed like weather glasses against the wall. Cakes and jellies on sideboards in the background are labelled provocatives, and the end of the room is filled by a picture in which nymphs and bacchanals and satyrs are the chief figures. The design is surmounted by a clock, the hands * Guardian, No. 154. 32 The History of White's. and pendulum of which are inscribed'with words indicating that nonsense occurs every second, impudence every minute, and wit only once an hour. Heidegger made some show of deference to the popular agitation against the masquerade, but it was little else. He altered the name but not the character of his entertainments, and the masquerade as the Ridotto was as much the fashion as ever. Bramston, in the " Man of Taste," alludes to this : "Thou Heidegger, the English taste hast found, And rul'st the mob of quality with sound ; In Lent, if Masquerades displease the town, Call 'em Ridottos, and they still go down. Go on. Prince Phiz, to please the British nation. Call thy next Masquerade a Convocation." Heidegger went on, and made a very good thing of it. From the vantage ground of White's he continued to deal his tickets for Bali, Masquerade or Ridotto, and boasted of clearing five thousand a year by the business. HIS MAJESTY KING GEORGE II. From the Original Painting by Kneller, presented to the Club in 1788 by The Earl of Bessborough. 33 CHAPTER IV. The first Rules of the "Old Club" — List of Members in 1736 — Contem- porary Affairs — Quarrels at Court — Division of Society — Prominent Members of White's in 1736 — Walpole — Pulteney — Dodington — Chesterfield — Marlborough — Bedford — Newcastle — Pelham, &'c. — Cibber — Heidegger — Masquerades— Duke of Montagues Practical foke — Robert Arthur — White's not a Political Club. " We whose names are hereunto subscribed do agree that the following Rules be observed : 1. That no one be admitted but by ballot. 2. That nobody be proposed but when twelve members are present. 3. That there be twelve members present when the person is ballotted for, which is to be the day sevennight after he is proposed, and one black . ball is an exclusion for that time. 4. That any person that is ballotted for before nine a clock is not duely elected. 5. That every member is to pay a guinea a year towards having a good cook. 6. That no person be admitted to dinner or supper but what are members of the Club. 7. That every member that is in the room after ten a clock is to pay his reckn"' at supper. E 34 The History of Whitens. 8. The supper to be on table at ten a clock, and the bill at twelve. 9. That every member who is in the room after seven a clock, and plays, is to pay half a crown. 10. That no person be proposed or ballotted for, but during the sitting of Parliament." On the first page of the first of the existing books of White's Club are written these rules. The book itself is dated October ye 30th, 1736, and entitled " Rules of the Old Club at White's." The Old Club at White's, as the name implies, was no new institution in 1736, but had met at the Chocolate House for many years before that date. The fire of 1733, unfortunately, robbed us of all information as to the exact year of its foundation, and of the names of its first members. Who the gentlemen were who agreed to subscribe their names to these rules it is impossible now to say. As soon as Robert Arthur was settled in his new house in 1736, he opened his club book with a copy of the original rules, evidently written from memory ; but much to our loss he seems to have made no effort to get together the names of the original members. This points to the conclusion that the Old Club at White's was founded well before the time of the Arthurs. Robert Arthur, as we know, was a married man in 1733, and if the Old Club had been established within his memory, he would doubtless have recollected the jfllABd jringtM^ THE GAMING ROOM OF THE OLD CLUB AT WHITE'S. FROM AN ORIGINAL DRAWING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUE. By Holland Tringuam. This Room still exists at Arthur's. The History of White's. 35 founders, and would have made record of their names, together with the original rules, in his first book. The rules are followed by a list of eighty-two members, who composed the Old Club at White's in 1736. We shall find, in discussing the doings of some of these gentlemen, that many of them were in that year men of mature age. It is possible that amongst these were some who had helped to found the original Club — perhaps, as reported by tradition, in 1697, when Francis White moved across the street to the larger premises on the site of the present Arthur's. Our history, however, opens perforce in 1736, a year which brings us well into the reign of George II., and we may here glance very briefly at contemporary affairs in England. The King had been nine years on the throne, and the possession of that throne by his house was by this time fairly secure. There had been trouble in 171 5, when the Pretender had made that miserable attempt in Scotland, which ended so disastrously for his friends in the north. But the Jacobites were less bold in action than skilful in intrigue, and the best opportunity they were ever to have of placing James on the throne was allowed to pass without an effort at all adequate to the end in view. In 1736 affairs in England were peaceful. Walpole was at the height of his power ; he and the Queen were 36 The History of White's. ruling the country much as they liked, and the chief interest of the time centres in the Court itself, and in the dissensions between the King and the Prince of Wales. This, at the time we are considering, had grown into a very pretty quarrel, and as most of the members of White's were concerned with one side or the other, we may glance at it here. The House of Brunswick was remarkable for the ill feeling which existed between father and son. George II. as Prince of Wales had been on notoriously bad terms with his father, and when he came to the throne soon found that the example had not been lost on his son Frederick. What the original quarrel was it is impossible to say, but immediately after the King's accession there was open rupture. The Prince, still in Hanover, and eager to be married, made a secret proposal for the hand of the Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia. There had been talk of this betrothment between the two mothers, but George II. was on such terms with the Prussian Court that he, at any rate, had abandoned all idea of the match. The Queen of Prussia, however, was delighted — too delighted to keep the secret, for she happened to mention the affair to the English Ambassador, who at once communicated the intelligence to the King. The King would not hear of it, and Frederick had to give up his bride. Later we read that the Prince was left out of the The History of White's, 2i7 Regency when the King went abroad, and that " he took this very ill." There was a grievance, too, about his allowance. George, as Prince of Wales, had received an annuity of ;^ 100,000, and Frederick had, perhaps, a right to expect more than ;;^2 6,000, which was all he got. There were other causes of complaint. Frederick asked for a military command. They were all given to his brother the Duke of Cumberland. He proposed going abroad to serve on the Rhine. The King would not hear of it. The Prince sulked, posed as an injured innocent, took every opportunity of insulting his father and mother, and matters at one time came to such a pass, that the Queen declared, " My dear firstborn is the greatest ass, and the greatest liar, and the greatest canaille, and the greatest beast in the whole world, and I heartily wish he was out of it." The effect of all this was to divide the society with which we are concerned into two distinct camps. The Prince, who had been turned out of St. James's after the birth of his first child, set up a court of his own, which became the head-quarters of the Opposition, and of mal- contents generally. Any courtier out of favour with the King was sure of a flattering reception here. On the other hand, it was ruin for anyone connected with the Government to appear at Norfolk House. The . King forbad all who went there to come to his own Court at St. James's, and the foreign ambassadors were notified 38 The History of Whitens. that their visiting the Prince would be distasteful to the King. The intrigues continually on foot at the rival Courts, the jealousies, backbitings, appointments, dismissals at each, the humours of the King, the patient watchfulness of the Queen, the vapourings of the Prince, all appear in the vivid pages of Lord Hervey. After making due allowance for the prejudice of the courtier and the sneer- ing cynicism of the man, that nobleman's memoirs afford a source of information from which one can draw much of interest concerning the men who were meeting at the Old Club at White's in 1736. First among these, in point of interest, is Sir Robert Walpole, the great Whig leader. He was at this time the most considerable man in England, and the dexterity he displayed in a difficult position at Court, as revealed by Lord Hervey, is nothing less than amazing. The King at first hated him. It was Walpole who, as his son tells us, killed two horses in carrying the news of the old King's death to George at Richmond, and for his pains was told by that Monarch to go for his orders to the old favourite. Sir Spencer Compton. The crafty Minister did as he was bid, posted off to Chiswick, humbled himself before Compton, and was employed by that simple gentleman to prepare the necessary speech for the King on his accession. This was Walpole's opportunity. The Queen, his friend, took SIR ROBERT WALPOLE, FIRST EARL OF ORFORD. FROM AN ENGRAVING AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM. By J. TiMON, after H, Hysing. The History of White's. 39 the occasion to point out to the King that his affairs must suffer in the hands of a Minister who had more confidence in the abilities of his predecessor in office than in his own, and urged that Walpole should be restored to power. The King, anxious for the settlement of his civil list, gave way, and from that day until his elevation to the Peerage fifteen years later, Walpole practically governed England. We read that Walpole and the Queen were the " ears of the King." The Minister must have acted with great tact. He had a difficult part to play at Court, where the presence of the King's mistress was calculated to embarrass a less skilful courtier who had his power to maintain by his influence with the Queen ; but Walpole never made a false step on this delicate ground. The King's temper was another difficulty. He would come over from Hanover, sore, as we are told, at having to leave a new mistress, and nothing in England would be right. The poor Queen was accused of "always stuffing herself" because His Majesty saw her drinking chocolate. Walpole (at first) was a rogue and a rascal. This man was an ass, that an Irish blockhead, another a puppy, another an impudent coxcomb. The faithful Commons were scoundrels, and the Bishops " a pack of black, canting, hypocritical rascals." It was Walpole's business, of course, to get these blockheads and rascals and scoundrels to work together, and the 40 The History of Whitens. King's attitude towards each was not calculated to help him. Then there was the King's vanity to be guarded against. He grumbled sadly at the life of inaction he was forced to lead, while his brother of Prussia, whom he hated, was attracting the attention of Europe. George, undoubtedly a brave man, was for ever anxious to distinguish himself in battle, and it required all care and watchfulness on the part of Walpole, who received little help from the Queen in this respect, to prevent England from being dragged into complications on the continent. We read there was a danger that the Court of Vienna would flatter George into accepting the com- mand of the Imperial army on the Rhine. Walpole saw the danger before the offer was made, and primed the King with an answer before he set out for Hanover. As Hervey says, " He tied him so fast to the mast, that he enjoyed the safety of Ulysses, though he did not, like him, owe that safety to his own prudence and foresight." There were other matters than those of state which Walpole was called upon to decide. There was the famous " ladder incident," for instance. The King was in Hanover, when a gardener found a ladder placed against the window of his new favourite, Madame de Walmoden. That lady took the bull by the horns, and posted off in the early morning, to be first with her tale to the King. It was, said she, a plot of a rival to ruin WILLIAM PULTENEY, FIRST EARL OF BATH, FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB, By D. Martin, after A. Ramsay. The History of White's. 41 her, and she begged George to release her from a posi- tion which exposed her to such persecution. The King accepted her version of the story, but seems to have had misgivings as to whether it was the right one. So in one of those extraordinary letters to the Queen, letters fifty and sixty pages long, in which he made Caroline his confidant in all his doings during his absence, he begs her to consult " le gros homrae " in the matter. "Qui a," says the King, " plus d'experience, ma chere Caroline, que nous dans ces affaires, et moins de prejuge, que moi dans celle-ci." This reads like a sly joke of George's, for Walpole in private life was a notorious free liver, but this and other letters to the Queen of the same character were written in all seriousness. This great member of White's Club, on the whole, used his power well. The times were corrupt, and he was not above receiving a bribe here or bestowing one there ; but he was a profound lover of peace, and under his rule the country prospered and was contented. It is a touching instance of his influence with the Queen, that when that royal lady was nearing her end she recom- mended the King to the care of the Minister — the Minister whose abilities she had been so quick to recognise when she ascended the throne with her husband ten years before. The name of Walpole naturally suggests that of the ablest of his rivals. William Pulteney, afterwards Earl 42 The History of Whitens. of Bath, was another of the Old Club at White's ini 736, and occupied at the Prince's court the position of leader of the opposition Whigs, who called themselves the " Patriots." Here he gradually drew into his party all .the young men of the time conspicuous for their ability in politics. With the increase of the power of his rivals, Walpole felt his own slipping away. To retain that power, he had con- sented to a war with Spain, to which his convictions were totally opposed, and every attack of the patriots, led by Pulteney, left him weaker than before. The final scene in the rivalry between these two members of White's is amusing enough. There was, first, the debate on the motion for the impeachment of Walpole in 1 74 1. Walpole had quoted a verse from Horace. Pulteney rose and remarked that the right honourable gentleman's Latin and logic were alike inaccurate. Walpole denied it, and a bet of a guinea was made across the floor of the House. The matter was then referred to the Clerk at the table, a noted scholar, and decided against the Minister. The guinea was handed to Pulteney, and is now in the British Museum, with the following inscription in that gentleman's handwriting : " This guinea, I desire, may be kept as an heirloom. It was won of Sir Robert Walpole in the House of Commons ; he asserting the verse in -Horace to be ' Nulli pallescere culpse,' whereas I laid the wager of a guinea The History of White's. 43 that it was ' Nulla pallescere culpa.' I told him that I could take the money without blush on my side, but believed it was the only money he ever gave in the House where the giver and receiver ought not equally to blush. This guinea, I hope, will prove to my posterity the use of knowing Latin, and encourage them in their learning." Walpole, defeated, but still in high favour with the King, went up to the House of Lords as the Earl of Orford, but he managed to drag Pulteney after him, in what he described as his " tumble up stairs." There is a letter still extant which he wrote to the King, showing how Pulteney was entrapped. The Minister here is candour itself Pulteney is " a troublesome man, whose eloquence had so attracted the mob, that the most manifest wrong appeared right when urged by him." George is advised that the only way of dealing with this enemy is "to destroy his popularity and ruin the good belief that people have in him." The King is told, in plain terms, to invite him to Court, make much of him, leave him to arrange the Administration to his own liking, and to put his own friends in office. " There can be no danger in that," says Sir Robert, "as you can dismiss him when you think fit." His Majesty is then to profess a great concern for the new Minister's health. This must be represented as too precious to be wasted by the " malevolent tempers " 44 The History of White's. of the House of Commons ; for the King's sake, as well as his own, Pulteney must seek the less trying atmosphere of the House of Lords. " Once there," says the adviser, "your Majesty can turn your back on him, dismiss him from his post, and all will be over with him."* The bait was laid and taken. Pulteney became Earl of Bath. Horace Walpole says that he discovered his mistake before taking his seat, and flung down his patent in a rage on the floor of the house. But it was too late ; he had already kissed hands on his elevation, and it must have been a bitter reflection that in the very hour of the triumph of his party, he himself had been no match for his old enemy. Walpole openly boasted with a twist of the hand to imitate the locking of a door, that he had " turned the key on him," and met Pulteney him- self with the cheerful remark, that they were now the two most insignificant men in England. We have discussed at some length the doings of the King's Prime Minister. Another member of White's, George Bubb Dodington, may be said at one time to have filled that office for the Prince of Wales. Dodington was probably the best hated man of his day. He attached himself in turn to every party, and was trusted by none. Walpole hated him, and with reason. Dodington had been his supporter, and had * Quoted in Burke's Extinct Peerage. WILLIAM, THIRD DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE. FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. By John Brooks, after James Worsdale. The History of White's. 45 found prose inadequate to express his feelings towards the Minister : " To share thy adverse fate alone pretend, In power a servant, out of power a friend." But when that power had been suspended for a few days, on the accession of the King, Dodington showed his friendship by being one of the first to pay court to the new Minister, Compton. He then went over to the Prince of Wales. The Prince's opinion of him may be gathered from a remark of his : " Dodington is reckoned a clever man, and yet I have got ^5,000 from him, which he will never .see again." We read, too, that Frederick used to play rough practical jokes on the favourite, and that when the parting came he changed the locks of the gates in his garden, to which as a neighbour he had given Dodington access, and " built and planted " in front of that gentle- man's private door. After this we find him opposing the motion for an increase in the Prince's allowance, later rejoining the Prince's party ; attacking what he called the infamous government of Walpole, and giving that statesman an opportunity of reminding him that he had shared the infamy for sixteen years. At the Prince's death he offered himself to the Pelhams, abusing them at the same time to the Princess. He finally made court to Lord Bute, in order to obtain a peerage from George HI 46 The History of White's. He was created Baron Melcombe in 1762, and died in the following year. Dodington had not the excuse of necessity for his tergiversation. He was a man of vast wealth, and is said to have spent ;^ 140,000 on his house at Eastbury, which one of his successors offered, with two hundred a year, to anyone who would occupy it. He seems to have been careful enough in some matters. Walpole says that the gold and silver lace which adorned his state bed showed, by the marks of pocket and button holes, that it was taken from old coats and breeches. A very prominent member of the early White's was Lord Chesterfield, the famous Philip Dormer Stanhope. He was often at White's, as we learn from Walpole, " pronouncing witticisms amongst the boys of quality." The Earl was of the Prince's party, and in disfavour at St. James's. There are several reasons given for this. One was that he fell into the mistake Walpole was so careful to avoid, and offended the Queen by an injudicious visit he paid to Mrs. Howard, the King's mistress. He won much money one twelfthnight at Court, and afraid to carry it home, ran with it to Mrs. Howard's apartments. The Queen, we read, saw him trip up the mistress's staircase from " an obscure window " in the palace, and drew her own conclusions. This would account for muchi, but the King The History of White's. 47 himself had a grievance. The Earl had married Lady Walsingham, the reputed niece of the Duchess of Kendal, but the real daughter of that lady by George I. The Duchess was believed to have benefited to the extent of ^40,000 under the old King's will. This will his son George II. had suppressed. He snatched it up from under the very nose of the astonished Archbishop, who brought it to read to his Majesty, and it was never seen again. Lord Chesterfield, as the husband of the heiress of the Duchess, was, of course, interested in this will. It was believed, Walpole tells us, that he began or threatened legal proceedings, and that the King paid him ;;^20,ooo as hush money. Little wonder then, that he was out of favour at St. James's. The Earl's brother, Sir William Stanhope, is another of our first list of members. This gentleman was also of the Prince's party, but got himself into sad disgrace by a piece of pleasantry. Lady Archibald Hamilton had the reputation of being Frederick's mistress. At one of the Prince's levees. Stanhope, perhaps a little elevated by wine, greeted every stranger he met with the remark, " Your servant, Mr. or Mrs. Hamilton." Here is another of the Prince's party, the third Duke of Marlborough, whose sister, Lady Diana Spencer, was near becoming the Prince's wife. Frederick, eager to be married after his arrival in 48 The History of White's. England, had mentioned a wife among other wants to the King, but without result. He then invoked the aid of the Dowager Duchess of Marlborough, widow of the great John Churchill, who was affectionately remembered by succeeding generations as " Old Sarah." This lady had tasted real power in the reign of Queen Anne, and was nothing loth to see her granddaughter wife of the Heir Apparent, or for that matter to annoy the King, whom she was accustomed to speak of as " neighbour George." She accordingly arranged a marriage between Frederick and Lady Diana ; the Prince was to receive ;^ 100,000 from the Duchess^ and the day was fixed for the match to take place at her private lodge in Windsor Great Park. But Walpole got scent of the plot, and was just in time to prevent it. Lady Diana subsequently married the fourth Duke of Bedford, whose name also appears in our first list of members. He, like the Duke of Marlborough, was of the Prince's party, and in connection with the names of these two young noblemen, Hervey gives us an interesting picture of the ways of a courtier of George IL Here is what his lordship says about them and himself : " These two young Dukes were of good consideration from their quality and their estates, and were as much alike in pride and violence of temper, and in their public conduct, as they were different in their ways of thinking and acting in private life. The JOHN, FOURTH DUKE OF BEDFORD. FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. After a Picture by G. Garrard. The History of White's. 49 Duke of Marlborough was profuse, and never looked into his private affairs, and the Duke of Bedford covetous, and the best economist in the world. This made Lord Hervey often pay his court to the King (who hated them both) by saying His Majesty would in a few years see these two men as inconsiderable as any in the kingdom, the one from giving nothing, the other from having nothing to give. Hervey himself was not a member of White's,, but the family of the Earl of Bristol was represented by a younger son, the Honourable Thomas Hervey. Some one described mankind as composed of " men, women and Herveys," and this gentleman must have had a great share in earning the family reputation for eccentricity. He had eloped with the wife of Sir Thomas Hanmer, and after the lady's death he wrote to Sir Thomas, complaining about the cutting of timber on an estate in Wales, to the reversion of which Hervey seems to have been entitled. Sir Thomas soon closed the correspondence by returning a letter from Hervey unopened. The latter at once took the public into his confidence. He published a letter forty pages long addressed to the baronet, and setting forth what he was pleased to call his wrongs. In this he speaks of the lady as " our wife, for in Heaven whose wife shall she be ? " and adds later, " she was plain, you know." There are foot notes to the letter. One informs the reader that a certain passage is "an apostrophe " ; another, that G 50 The History of White's. Jaques, whom he quotes, is " a character in a play by Shakespeare, 'As You Like It.' " The conclusion is worth quoting : " I have troubled you, Sir, and to be sincere with you, I hope I have troubled you, with a tedious Rhapsody . • , • • What I have said, as well as what I have done, I can amply justify ; it is the nature of all innocence to be bold — injured innocence will be a little impatient, too." " Injured innocence" in this case, it will be remembered, had run away with the oppressor's wife.. Here are the Duke of Newcastle and his brother Henry Pelham, later both Prime Ministers of England. Pelham, as we learn from Glover's autobiography, " even when Minister, divided his time to the last between his office and the club of gamesters' at White's." The Duke was, of course, of the Court party, but no favourite with the King. George, as Prince of Wales, had been put under arrest for shaking his fist in the Duke's face, and calling him a rascal in the King's presence. The occasion was the christening of the infant Duke of Cumberland, and the Prince was sore because Newcastle had been chosen godfather for the child instead of the Duke of York. Hervey has much to say of the Duke, very little to his advantage. The courtier makes great fun of his owl- like deliberations over trifles, such as the position of a postscript or the columns in a printer's proof ' He was The History of White's. 51 not in fact an able man, except perhaps in backstairs intrigue, but his vast parliamentary and family interest made him an important personage. Another member of the Club when our records begin was the Honourable George Berkeley, son of the second Earl. This gentleman is remembered as the husband of the Countess of Suffolk, the King's discarded mistress. The marriage, we are told, caused great merriment at Court. " People wondered," says Hervey, " what induced Lady Suffolk's prudence to deviate into this unaccountable piece of folly. Some imagine that it was to persuade the world that nothing criminal had passed between her and the King, others that it was to pique the King. If this was her reason, she succeeded very ill in her design." His lordship was apparently quite right. Here is what the King himself says on the subject in another of those long letters to the Queen : " J'etois extremement surpris de la disposition que vous m'avez majide, que ma vielle maitresse a fait de son corps en mariage a ce vieux goutteux George Berkeley, et je m'en rejouis fort. Je ne voudrais pas faire de tels presens a mes amis, et quand mes ennemis me volent, plut k Dieu, que ce soit toujours de cette fa^on." There was a celebrated physician among the members of White's in 1736, Dr. Nathaniel Broxholme. He attended the Princess of Wales on that famous journey from Hampton Court to St. James's, and later was called 52 The History of White's. into the palace when the Queen lay dying. A contem- porary and fellow-student says of him : " He was a man of wit and gaiety, loved poetry, and was a good classic, and got much money by the Mississippi projects in France." Walpole, too, remembers him " as a man of as much wit as ever I knew." Another famous professional man was Nicholas Fazackerly, the lawyer who defended the publisher of " The Craftsman " in the Government prosecution of that paper. Lord Mansfield said of his conduct of this case : " He started every objection, and laboured every point, as if the fate of the empire had been at stake." He is described as a Jacobite of the cautious type. He certainly displayed great caution in presenting a twenty- pound note to the Mayor of Preston, of which borough he was Member, to be used for " apprenticing the sons of freemen." People laughed, and wanted to know how many sons of freemen could be apprenticed for the money. Other members of the Old Club, when our records begin, were the Earl of Cholmondeley, who, we are told, having been extremely " ill-used by the Prince," was solaced with a post in the Treasury; the Ear] of Scarborough, an independent nobleman who incurred the displeasure of the King by refusing to divulge the quarter from which he had received a lampoon against the Court ; Sir Paul Methuen, Treasurer of the Household, The History of White's. 53 " a mixture of Spanish formality and English roughness," strongly seasoned with pride, and not untinctured " with honour ; " Sir William Yonge, Commissioner of the Treasury, of whom Walpole said, " Nothing but so bad a character could have kept down his talents, and nothing but his talents could have kept up his character." Here, too, are Major-General Churchill, natural son of the brother of the great Marlborough, a staunch friend and great admirer of Walpole, who said that the Minister " could never resist any show of repentance from those who had treated him with the basest ingratitude ; " here is Walpole's brother Horatio, afterwards Lord Walpole of Wolterton, a diplomatist of the first rank under Sir Robert's Administration. Other names of note are Thomas Winnington, Lord of the Admiralty, and later predecessor of the great Pitt in the office of Paymaster, " one of the first men in England," says Horace Walpole, " for his parts and public employments ; " Lord Baltimore, Lord of the Bedchamber to the Prince, and employed by him to break off his connection with Miss Vane on his approaching marriage with the Princess of Saxe-Gotha ; Miss Vane's brother, afterwards the first Earl of Darlington ; Lord Harrington, Secretary of State. Two other members of White's, who belonged to a different rank of life, we have already mentioned, CoUey Cibber and Heidegger. They owed their membership of a very exclusive club, which included all the fashionable 54 The History of White's. youth of the day, to their ability to minister to its pleasures. We have seen Heidegger as the organizer of those rather doubtful entertainments, the Masquerades. Cibber, as a prominent representative of the theatre, doubtless did the honours of the green room. Cibber was vastly proud of his connection with White's. There is an amusing passage in his Apology pointing to this. He congratulates himself on the pleasure he feels on being able to talk wholly about himself — " a secret liberty I here enjoy for a whole volume together— a privilege which neither could be allowed me nor would become me in the company I am generally admitted to." Cibber was a good deal laughed at for this weakness. Here is a specimen of a contemporary lampoon on the subject. " Don't boast, prythee, Cibber, so much of thy state, That like Pope thou art blessed with the smiles of the great ; With both they converse, but for different ends, And 'tis easy to know their buffoons from their friends." John James Heidegger was a man of great ability. He was the son of the Swiss pastor of Zurich, and came to England, it is said, at the age of near fifty, after a Bohemian life passed in almost every capital on' the Continent. In England he soon came into prominence. In 1 707 we find him superintending the production of the airs in the opera of " Thomyris " at Drury Lane ; later. COLLEY CIBBER, POET LAUREATE. FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. By G. Van der Gocht, after Vanloo. The History of White's. 55 in 1 713, he appears as manager of the Hay market. About this time he co-operated with Handel in the production of opera for the Royal Academy of Music, and again in 1728 he was in partnership with the great musician in an operatic venture, which was not successful. But he was best known as the organizer of the Masquerade. Heidegger had an extraordinary personality, and was reputed the ugliest man of his day. The portrait by Vanloo and the engraving of the death mask confirm this. There are several stories about his want of beauty. The best is undoubtedly founded on fact, and suggested a subject for Hogarth. Conscious of his ugly face, Heidegger was very averse to sit for his portrait. The Duke of Montagu determined to get a likeness in order to play a trick upon him at the next masquerade. He induced the Swiss Count, as he was called, to make one of a select party, which (very appropriately) met to dine at the Devil Tavern. The rest of the company, all chosen for their powers of hard drinking, were in the plot, and a few hours after dinner Heidegger was carried out of the room dead drunk. A daughter of Mrs. Salmon, the waxwork maker, was sent for, and took a mould from the unconscious man's face, from which she was ordered to make a cast in wax, and colour it to nature. The King, who was a party to the joke, was to be present, with the Countess of Yarmouth, at the next of Heidegger's 56 The History of White's. masquerades. The Duke, in the meantime, bribed his valet to get all information as to the clothes the Swiss was to wear on the occasion, procured a man of Heidegger's figure, and, with the help of the mask, made him up into a duplicate Master of the Revels. When the King arrived with the Countess and was seated, Heidegger, as was usual, gave the signal to the musicians in the gallery to play the National Anthem. As soon, however, as his back was turned, the sham Heidegger appeared and ordered them to play " Over the Water to Charlie," the Jacobite song, and the most insulting and treasonable piece that could have been chosen to perform in the presence of royalty. The whole room was at once thrown into confusion. Heidegger rushed into the gallery, raved, stamped, and swore, and accused the band of conspiring to ruin him. The bewildered musicians at once altered the tune to " God Save the King." Heidegger then left the gallery to make some arrangements in one of the smaller rooms. As soon as he disappeared, the sham Heidegger again came forward, this time in the middle of the main room, in front of the gallery, and, imitating Heidegger's voice, damned the leader of the band for a blockhead, and asked if he had not told him to play "Over the Water " a minute before. The bandmaster, thinking Heidegger mad or drunk, lost his head, and ordered his men to strike up the Jacobite air a second time. The History of Whitens. 57 This was the signal for a confusion worse than before. There was great excitement and fainting of women, and the officers of the Guards who were present were only prevented from kicking Heidegger out of the house by the Duke of Cumberland, who was in the secret. Heidegger rushed back to the theatre, and was met by the Duke of Montagu, who told him that he had deeply offended the King, and that the best thing he could do was to go at once to His Majesty and ask pardon for the behaviour of his men. Heidegger accordingly approached the King, who, with the Countess, could barely keep his countenance, and made an abject apology. He was in the act of bowing to retire, when he heard his own voice behind him say, " Indeed, Sire, it was not my fault, but that devil's in my likeness ! " He turned round, and for the first time saw his double, staggered, and was speechless. The Duke now saw that the joke had gone far enough, and whispered an explanation of the whole affair. Heidegger recovered himself and the masquerade went on, but he swore he would never attend another until "that witch the wax-woman was made to break the mould and melt down the mask" before his face. Hogarth's plate, " Heidegger in a rage," was suggested by this occurrence.* * Angelo's Reminiscences, 1828, i. 404. H 58 The History of White's. Heidegger, popular with the great people for whom he catered, and honoured by the visit of the King to his private house at Barn Elms, lived to a great age. He bore the reputation of great charity, and died, as the "London Post" informs us, in 1749, "immensely lamented, aged near ninety." Robert Arthur, the " master of the house," under whose management the men we have discussed met at White's, became a man of some note in his own walk of life. He seems to have been popular with the members of his time, and admitted to a certain degree of intimacy with some of them. In the Club Betting Book, there appear three wagers of his with members of the Club, all on the subject of his second marriage, and amounting together to five hundred and fifty guineas. There was a similar sum at stake between members themselves on the same event. Arthur was probably associated with Heidegger in the masquerade business, for the year after the latter died Horace Walpole mentions, in one of his letters, that Arthur was superintending the production of a ridotto. This was in 1 750. Ten years later, when George HI. came to the throne, the same authority tells us that "Arthur is removed from being clerk to the wine cellar, a sacrifice to morality." It is difficult to say exactly what this means. George III. was of course separated by a generation from George II., and the training he received from his mother the Princess The History of Whites. 59 made his ideas of morality altogether different from those of the old King. It may have been Arthur's connection with the ridotto that cost him his post when the young King came to the throne. Before passing from the first list of the Old Club at White's that has come down to us, we may note that the Club did not concern itself with politics. As will have been gathered from the names of members we have mentioned, White's was a neutral ground, upon which the most virulent of political opponents were content to lay aside their differences. So long as a man's opinions were untainted with disloyalty to the reigning house, those opinions, however pronounced, were no bar to his entrance to the Old Club at White's. A firm line, however, was drawn against the sup- porters of the Pretenders. There seems to have been no professed Jacobite in the list we have discussed. Fazackerly was notoriously a man who would sacrifice his Tory principles for office, and become, as Walpole said, " the staunchest Whig in England." There is, it is true, a name of a member who may have been concerned in the troubles of the '45, but if so White's was soon purged of the taint. The name of a Mr. k Court bears opposite it in two of the first books the ominous word " hanged." This mysterious note, after some searching in the records of the time, remains unexplained. 6o CHAPTER V. Slow increase of White's — Early Elections — Stair, Ltgonier, Granby, Anson, Fawkener, Grafton, Burlington, Ss'c. — Difficulty of entry to Whites — The Young Club— First elections of the Young Club—Cathcart, Conway, Sackville — The Selwyn Group — Selwytis Correspondence — Carlisle, Williams, Walpole, &'c. — The origin of the arms of White's. We have discussed in the last chapter the names ot some of the members of White's, as we find the Club con- stituted in the first of the existing books. After 1 736 we are on firm ground. The roll of White's Club is complete from October of that year until the present day, and we are enabled to note the entrance of each of its members through a period of over one hundred and fifty years. The early books show that White's was in no hurry to increase the number of its eighty odd members. Aristocratic from the first, its prestige as a centre of fashion had increased, and its members preserved that prestige by religious blackballing. The vacancies in the Club were filled up in the most leisurely fashion possible. We find that elections during the six or seven years following the opening of the first of our books, averaged only about half-a-dozen per annum, a number little more than sufficient to fill the gaps caused by the death-rate. It is evident, too, that although scrupulous care was JOHN, SECOND EARL OF STAIR. FROM AN ENGRAVING AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM, By F. Faber, after A. Ramsay. The History of White's. 61 used in the selection of candidates for admission, White's was ever ready to open its doors to men who had distinguished themselves in the service of their country. Among the first members whose elections are recorded are some names of note, which we may notice in passing. Here is John Dalrymple, the second Earl of Stair, a name which takes the associations of the Club back to the Battle of the Boyne, for at fifteen Dalrymple fought in that famous engagement. These associations are con- tinued through the wars of Marlborough. Stair was aide- de-camp to the great General, and took part in most of the battles of his wonderful campaigns. He brought the news of the victory at Ramillies to Queen Anne, and was thanked by both Houses of Parliament at the close of the war. Although a distinguished soldier. Stair's military reputation was eclipsed by the name he gained as a diplomatist. His father, the first Earl, refused to train him to the law, because, as he said, the openness of his son's character would prevent his success as a courtier. Of Stair's character in private life this estimate seems to have been just, but as Ambassador to France he was distinguished, even in an age of intrigue, by the extra- ordinary nature of his methods and their success. As he was fond of saying, there were two Individuals at the Embassy, the Earl of Stair and the English Ambassador. With the Ambassador the end justified 62 The History of White's. the means. Devoted to the Brunswick Dynasty, he went over to France determined to foil the plots of the Pretenders. He would disguise himself and mix with Jacobites at coffee houses, dextrously extract the opinions of his brother-ambassadors as to affairs which concerned England, obligingly lose large sums at cards to ladies of the Court, in order to learn " that another effort was to be made in favour of the poor fugitive." He made love to one Ambassador's lady whom he knew could give him information he wanted, but to no purpose. Then he lost money to her ; this, too, was of no use. He tried winning, and left the lady in his debt to the extent of some thousands. Rather than ask her miserly husband, Count Gillenburgh, for the money, the lady gave Stair the information he sought. He was able to tell the Duke of Orleans what had taken place at the meeting of his own Cabinet, and, as the Duke said : " Nothing, though ever so secretly transacted, could be hid from so prying an Ambassador, and through poverty one-half of the French nation have become spies on the other." His finesse, however. Stair confined to his methods of getting information. In his personal dealings his downright speech and bold bearing confounded the French Court. There are many stories of his address. One of the best describes his wit and assurance at a diplomatic dinner in Holland early in his career. De Ville, the French Plenipotentiary, drank to " My master. John, first viscount ligonier. FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. By E. Fisher, after Sir Joshua Reynolds. The History of White's. 63 the rising sun," Baron Reissbach following suit with a toast to the Empress-Queen, whom he described as the moon. Dalrymple, who was little over twenty at the time, rose. " I drink," said he, "to my master (William III.) Joshua, the son of Nun, who commanded the sun and moon to stand still." Another of Marlborough's lieutenants elected to White's at this time was John, afterwards Earl Ligonier. At fifteen he had purchased a captaincy in Lord North's regiment, and was the only captain of that regiment who came out of the battle of Blenheim alive. He, too, was present at almost every important engagement in the Marlborough campaigns, and seems to have borne a charmed life. It is said that at Malplaquet twenty-two bullets went through his clothes without wounding him ; he must have worn a coat with very wide skirts. Ligonier distinguished himself wherever he fought. Even at Fontenoy he found time to recommend his wounded to the care of his opponent Saxe ; at Laffeldt, losing his horse, he was taken prisoner and introduced to the French King by the same General as the man "who by one glorious action has disconcerted all my projects." Lord Tyrawly, another of Marlborough's captains and a distinguished soldier, was one of the first members of White's whose elections are recorded. White's added another military member to its list in John Manners, Marquess of Granby. Granby's reck- 64 The History of Whitens. less bravery made his services extremely valuable to his superior officers on more than one occasion, but as a general and commander-in-chief he was less of a success. He was very popular, both from his bravery and from the care he always bestowed on his troops. He gained much by contrast with the hesitating Sackville, who was his superior at Minden. After his death even the bitter Junius acknowledged the fineness of Granby's character and his extraordinary courage. The Navy at this time is represented in our list by the famous Anson, elected in 1744 on his return from his four years' voyage. He had returned to Portsmouth with one ship only of the four which had sailed with him from St. Helen's in 1 740, and with but two hundred men out of his original corripany of nearly a thousand. But he had put on a bold face, and with his one ship captured the galleon for which he had been watching. In a fog, he sailed right through the French fleet cruising in the Channel, and brought his prize with half a million of treasure to Spithead. The gold, we read, filled thirty- two wagons, and was paraded in triumph through London by the crew of the Centurion, with flags flying and band playing. Sir Everard Fawkener was one of the few merchants to whom White's opened its doors. He was a man of culture, and had the distinction of entertaining the great Voltaire during^ his three years' residence in JOHN, MARQUESS OF GRANBY. From an engraving in the possession of the club. By J. Watson, after Sir J. Reynolds. The History of Whiie's. 65 England. It was at Fawkener's house at Wandsworth that a great part of the tragedy of " Brutus " was written, and " Zaire " was dedicated to " M. Falkener, English Merchant." Fawkener afterwards went ambassador to Constantinople. When old Simon Frazer, Lord Lovat, was finally hunted down and brought to trial after the '45, Fawkener, who had met him, was produced as a witness. Lovat was asked if he wished to cross-examine. He said he did not, but begged to wish the witness joy of the young wife he had just married, and opined that Fawkener's neck was in as much danger as his own. Fawkener, after retiring from his business as a merchant, divided the lucrative office of Postmaster with Lord Leicester. Francis Fauquier, the able writer on finance, and Governor of Virginia, was another member of White's. He saw the danger of that taxing of the colonists which eventually led to the independence of America, and warned Chatham against the proposal in a letter written as early as 1759. Here is the Duke of Grafton, who, though a grand- son of Charles H., was a thorough-going supporter of the Brunswicks, and held the post of Lord Chamberlain. As an enemy of the favourite Lord Hervey, he was much disliked by Queen Caroline, who also, it is said, objected to his attentions to the Princess Amelia. The Duke seems to have been a man of more ambition than 1 66 The History of White's. ability. Proud of his royal blood, he held aspirations which were never fulfilled. " Sole Minister I am not capable of being," said he ; " First Minister by G— d I will be." A member of a different type was Richard Boyle, Earl of Burlington. He is remembered as the friend of Pope, and as an amateur in architecture. Critics have allowed that some of his designs in the style of Palladio are not without merit ; but he was accustomed to sacrifice all domestic arrangements to beautiful exteriors. A dor- mitory at Westminster School is from his designs ; and he built mansions for Lord Harrington at Petersham, the Duke of Richmond in Whitehall, and for General Wade in Cork Street. The latter building, with a fine front as usual, but no convenience, drew from Lord Chesterfield the remark, that " as the General could not live in it at his ease, he had better take a house over against it and look at it." A "Mr. Brettingham" in our list must be another architect — Matthew Brettingham, whose work was much in vogue during the first half of the seventeenth century. He was a pupil of Kent, and worked with him on Lord Leicester's seat at H olkham. Kent died sixteen years before the building was finished, and Brettingham got most of the credit of the designs. He was accused of publishing an elaborate series of drawings and plans made by Kent as his owji work, but there is nothing to show with what justice. The History of White's. 67 We may conclude our notice of this group of early members of White's by mentioning a name which became famous in the next generation. Edward Gibbon the elder. Member for Petersfield, was an opponent of Walpole, and father of the great historian, who later, also became a member of the Club. The addition of these names and others, amounting altogether to about forty, to the list of the Club, during a period of seven years, had not increased the original number of its members, and in 1743 that number was still well under one hundred. The Chocolate House in the meantime was flourish- ing, under the management of Arthur. The Old Club meeting there shed some of its lustre on the house itself, and gave additional dclat to the assemblies of fashionable youth which daily met in its rooms. The first step towards becoming a member of the Old Club would be to be constantly in evidence at the Chocolate House, and among Arthur's customers were many men of good birth and social standing, anxious for election into the exclusive circle of the Old Club, but who found them- selves debarred by that very exclusiveness for more years than they could afford to wait. This led to an important event irt the history of White's. The numbers of the Old Club were not large enough to include half the aspirants for admission, and these gentlemen resolved to form themselves into another 68 The History of White's. Club, meeting under the same roof as the Old Club, intimately connected with, and yet quite distinct from, that society. This new assembly took the title of the " Young Club at White's." The Old Club from the first looked on the Young Club with an indulgent eye ; indeed, the seniors were good enough to allow their names to appear as honorary members in the first lists of the junior society. Then, as time went on, there \yere additions to the rules of the Old Club, not important in themselves, but showing the complimentary feeling which existed between the two Clubs. Thus, in 1751 "it is ordered, no person be admitted into this Club from ye 24th of June until ye 30th of October inclusive, but those gentlemen who are members of the other Club." Again, nearly twenty years later, a rule of the Old Club provided that every member in the billiard room at the time supper was declared on the table was liable for his share of the reckoning, unless he had supped at the Young Club. The Young Club formed itself exactly on the lines of the Old ; its first rules are a verbatim copy of those of the elder society, with the exception of one, which pro- vides " that there be a good cook entire to the Club." We notice, also, that little acts of administration, like the whipping up of members late with their subscriptions, originating in the Old Club, were always followed a month or two later by the executive of the Young Club. HENRY FOX, FIRST LORD HOLLAND. FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. By McArdell, after A. Ramsav. The History of White's. 69 But there was a hard and fast line between the two. The Young Club soon became a place of probation, in which men waited for admission to the charmed circle of the old society. Men were elected members of the Young Club, and generally put up their names for the Old, but the time they had to wait varied very much. Rank, even the most exalted, was not in itself sufficient to gain admittance to the Old Club at White's ; there was other influence required. We find, accordingly, that members of the Young Club, wishing to pass into the Old, met w^ith very different luclc. To take a famous name as an example, we may look forward some years, and notice that Charles James Fox appears on the roll of the Young Club in January, and passes into the Old in December of the same year — 1770. This, no doubt, was owing to the influence of his father. Lord Holland, who had long been a member of Old White's. On the other hand, George Selwyn, later a shining light of the Old Club, waited in the Young Club for eight years; and a friend of his. Lord March, afterwards Duke of Queensberry, never got in at all. He was rejected as " a foreigner" — an allusion, perhaps, to his lordship's prolonged stay in Paris with his friends of the ballet. This curious division of White's continued only for a period of about forty years. In 1781 the two Clubs were merged into the White's which still continues ; but it is necessary to bear the two institutions in mind in consider- 70 The History of White's. ing many of the contemporary allusions to the Club which we shall notice in the course of our history. Considering the circumstances in which the Young Club was founded, it is not surprising to find the Old Club claiming the chief share of the notable men of the time. But there were men of note, also, among the first members of the Young Club. Here is Charles, ninth Baron Cathcart, who was dangerously wounded by a pistol shot in the head at Fontenoy. Although the ball was never extracted, Lord Cathcart completely recovered, and lived for thirty years afterwards to serve his country in other ways. He was one of the peers who went to France as hostages for the return of Cape Breton, and later went Ambassador to St. Petersburgh. Lord Cathcart was pardonably proud of the wound received at Fontenoy. " It is not often a man has a pistol bullet in his head and lives," said he, and when he sat to Sir Joshua Reynolds for his portrait we read that he made careful arrangements with the great painter that the patch on his cheek might appear in the picture. Conway was another soldier of the Young Club. He was a brave officer, but not remarkable for capacity, and the adulation which his friend Horace Walpole showered upon him in his letters was not warranted by his actual performances. He was a man of honest, straightforward character, and was extremely ill-treated CHARLES, NINTH BARON CATHCART. FROM AN ENGRAVING AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM. By J. McArdell, after SiR JosHUA Reynolds. The History of White's. 71 by the Government by being dismissed from his appoint- ments for voting against them in the Wilkes matter. It was on this occasion that Walpole made the very generous offer to his friend of the chief part of his fortune, which, with an offer by the Duke of Devonshire of ;^i,ooo a year until he regained his lost employments, Conway very honourably refused. A fellow member of White's with Conway was Lord George Sackville. The two men were constantly opposed to each other in Parliament, and Sackville never failed to discredit Conway as much as possible for his share in the failure of the expedition against Rochfort with Mordaunt in 1757. It did not lie in Sackville 's mouth to make the charge ; his own deputation as a soldier was at least breathed upon, for his conduct when in command of the cavalry at Minden. A notable group of members of the Young Club was that of which George Selwyn was the central figure. It included the wit " Gilly Williams," Richard Edgecumbe, the Earl of March, Horace Walpole, and other young men of fashion and fortune. These men were the leaders of the fashionable youth of their day, and we are indebted to the letters they left behind them for much of the social history of White's during the middle of the eighteenth century. George Augustus Selwyn was the son of Colonel John Selwyn, aide-de-camp to the great Marlborough, 72 The History of Whitens. and a person of some influence. His wife was Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Caroline. George was early- provided with a sinecure office at the Mint, the duties of which, following the comfortable practice of the day, he performed by deputy. We first get sight of Selwyn in 1744, when he was dismissed from Oxford for some foolish jest made after drinking too much wine. He came up to London and made his head-quarters at White's, where all his letters at this time were addressed. He may have found the Club convenient for advance and retreat in making his peace with the Colonel, who lived round the corner in Cleveland Row. Settled in London, Selwyn quickly made friends on all sides. He was soon the typical man about town, a professed wit, and the presumed author of all the good sayings of his time. Many of Selwyn's jokes have been preserved by Walpole and others, and it must be confessed that some of them to-day seem rather ponder- ous. But the best of jokes lose their point in print, and fashion in these matters changes. Walpole, in one of his later letters, declares that even a century ago George's good sayings were antiquated, and that the youth of White's laughed at him only from tradition. There were extraordinary contradictions in the character of this good-natured, easy-going man of the world. His love for young children was a passion; his love for criminals, executions, tombs and coffins The Histary of White's. 73 was hardly less. He would leave an adopted daughter to whom he was devoted to see the head sewn on a decapitated corpse; discuss in the same letter the infantile disorders of his friends' children, and the last moments of some criminal at Tyburn. There are letters showing that he took extraordinary pains to get a good seat to see the end of the rebel lords on Tower Hill after the '45. As a connoisseur in such matters we may be sure Selwyn revelled in the spectacle of Balmerino delaying the ceremony by his reckless humour, feeling the edge of the axe, reading the inscription on his coffin lid, and presenting his wig to the headsman. Selwyn never married, and seems to have been remarkable for his indifference to women. The romance of his life was his attachment to the little girl " Mie Mie." It is said that he beheved himself entitled to her paternity ; it is said also, that his friend Lord March made the same claim. However this may have been, her mother was undoubtedly an Italian lady, the Countess Fagniani. George adopted the little girl as a baby, and the care and education of the child became a passion with him. How real this was is evident from the letters of his friends when the parting came. When the child was claimed by her Italian relations his dejection was so great that his friends despaired of his safety. All his acquaintance, from K 74 The History of Whitens. the roue March to his niece Miss Mary Townshend, wrote imploring him to resign himself to the separation, and think about his health. It is characteristic of the man, that one of them, a member of the Club, Anthony Storer, by way of cheering Selwyn up at this crisis, sent him a particular account of the execution of the forger. Dr. Dodd. After a few years' absence the girl was restored to the disconsolate Selwyn. She married the third Marquess of Hertford, and on George's death succeeded to his fortune of ;^3 3,000. The Duke of Queensberry left her a much larger sum. The lady lived well on into modern times, dying at a great age in 1856. Selwyn was a good correspondent, and the letters collected half a century ago by Captain Jesse are valuable to our history, as forming a correspondence between many members of White's, and containing much reference to the Club and its doings. Few of Selwyn's own letters have survived ; he seems to have persuaded his friends to burn them after reading, but his correspondents included such opposite and prominent characters as Horace Walpole, Lord March, Henry Fox, Lord Carlisle, George Williams, Lord Coventry, and many others. From the letters of these it is • clear that he was the trusted friend of each. Lord March, afterwards Duke of Queensberry, "Old Q.," the "Star of WILLIAM, FOURTH DUKE OF QUEENSBERRY. From an Engraving by J. Cook. The History of White's. 75 Piccadilly," the hero of the tableaux vivants, and half- a-hundred other disreputable tales, as a young man was a constant correspondent of Selwyn's. As might be expected, his letters are of a decidedly wordly nature. There are mutual accommodations in money matters ; his lordship, perhaps, has had a bad week at Newmarket. Later on, it may be, George is feeling the effects of a heavy night at hazard at White's, and the Earl consoles and assists him. Then Selwyn will be abroad, and will get a letter from Lord March begging him to bring " half-a-dozen pairs of silk stockings for the Zamperini, of a very small size, with embroidered clocks. She is but fifteen," adds his lordship, and will beg at the same time to be remembered to some other lady of the ballet whom he has discarded, and who is likely to meet George in Paris. Other members of White's will be travelling together. Lord Holland and his son Charles James Fox, who is already losing rouleaux at foreign gaming tables under his father's auspices, are making the tour of Europe. Lord Holland, whose private character seems to have inspired as much affection as his public career did animosity, will write, deploring the apostacy of his friend Rigby. That gentleman contributes to the collection a rattling letter of his doings at White's, and at cockfights. Charles Fox, too, writes now and then, 76 The History of White's. and promises to steal some relic from Herculaneum for George, if he cannot come by it honestly. He will try to get some ancient false dice as an appropriate present for George to make to the Club. Perhaps the most pleasant letters in this collection are those written to Selwyn by the fifth Earl of Carlisle. There was an extraordinary friendship between these two men with thirty years' difference in their ages. Lord Carlisle was not at this time a member of White's ; later he was one of the chief victims of the gaming table, and we shall have occasion to resume our acquaintance with his letters at a later period. But there are many allusions to the Club in the early part of his correspondence, and we gather from these and others how large a place in the lives of these young men of ton was filled by the Club and its doings. Lord Carlisle, in his passage across the Alps, tells Selwyn that he never saw in any company he was ever in, "not excepting the Club room at White's— the Temple of Content," such looks of health and comfort as were to be seen in the faces of the mountaineers who lived in snow for half the year. He thinks, too, that foreign travel would be likely to improve the manners of the Old Club. " We should then see," says he, " Fanshawe and Reynolds bowing to one another who should go out of the room first, each of them with as high a Grec as my w CO V (— ( *■' hJ c Oil ^ < .9 CJ IJh O o J c: p^ < w ca D .J § u a ffi » s g H ^ pi u. Co O <« HH 2 3 tlH O a fcj en J s O ^ M o 2 § 1— 1 h s .2 O Cii ^§ w z Si Q o z > oi % a fe "rt u d Q •z < s < 1 r, fcj ^ >> nJ ^ S 1-1 i4 < CO Ph W c4 O pi ^ >^ o cq w o The History of White s. 77 own," and a shocking expression which he mentions as being much in use at the Club would then be thought, perhaps, uncivil and vulgar. There is a good deal of unforced humour in these letters of the young Earl, as when he writes to say that he has drunk all the wine on the table in order to keep the gout off his tutor's stomach. George James Williams, or " Gilly " Williams, was another of the Young Club who had a great reputation for wit, and from his letters one thinks the reputation deserved. Racy and straightforward, if highly seasoned, they are interesting reading, and refreshing after the posturing and affectation of Walpole. Of Walpole himself we need say little here ; his connection with White's will appear from the ample extracts we shall have to make from his letters in another chapter. He was a close friend of Selwyn and his set, although his tastes were very different. They were accus- tomed to laugh at "Horry" Walpole and his dilettante ways. He was once called the " Prince of Cockleshells " by some Grub Street scribbler, and it was noticed by his friends that the expression hurt him more than the refutation of one of his dearest historical theories. " Dick " Edgecumbe was the fourth of the famous out-of-town party which met periodically at Walpole's villa at Strawberry Hill. Edgecumbe was a man of small stature, and as such attracted the attention of 7S The History of White's. George II., who was delighted to find a man smaller than himself : "When Edgecumbe spoke, the Prince in sport Laughed at the merry elf, Rejoiced to see within his Court One shorter than himself. ' I'm glad,' cried out the quibbling squire, ' My lowness makes your Highness higher.' " The members of this party amused themselves one wet day at Strawberry Hill in designing a coat of arms for the Clubs at White's. Edgecumbe painted it, and Walpole had an engraving made of the arms, from which our illustration is taken. The original painting is still to be seen at Arthur's Club, to which it has been erroneously supposed to refer. There is a good copy of the arms, carved in high relief, at White's. Walpole gives the blazon in a letter to Montagu : " Vert (for a card table) ; between three parolis proper, on a chevron sable, two rouleaux in saltire between two dice, proper. In a canton sable, a ball (for election), argent. Supporters, an old Knave of Clubs on the dexter, a young Knave on the sinister side ; both accoutred proper. Crest, issuing out of an Earl's coronet (Lord Darlington's), an arm shaking a dice box, all proper. Motto alluding to the crest, ' Cogit amor nummi.' The arms encircled with a claret bottle ticket by way of order." THE ARMS OF WHITE'S. As designed at Strawberry Hill, by The Out of Town Party. 79 CHAPTER VI. Horace Walpole — His connection with Whites — His Stories of Whites- Extraordinary Wager by a Member — The Club Betting Book — Rigby and a Typical Night at the Club — Lord Cokeys domestic affairs — The Earthquake at Whitens — The Traditional Wager at Whitens — A Dinner at the Club — The Miss Gunnings — An Apology at Whitens — A Blackballing, and the reason of it. Nothing that happened during the chief part of the eighteenth century was too great or too small to appear in one or other of the famous letters of Horace Walpole. The fate of kings and empires, battles and christening parties, murders and marriages, the new poem and the thickness of the paint on a lady's face, are discussed side by side, and with the same richness of detail. It was quite in the natural order of things that White's and its doings should supply the ingenious Horace with a good part of his gossip. The Club was a very necessary institution to Walpole in the life that he chose. His tastes were essentially literary, but he had a morbid dread of being taken for a literary man. When his friends congratulated him on one or other of his literary productions, he made haste to deny the soft im- peachment. Grub Street and its associations were hateful to him. A busy gentleman, who devoted to literature 8o The History of White's. what little time he could snatch from the distractions of fashion, if they liked, but not a mere literary man. This attitude was one of the many affectations of the dilettante " Horry " Walpole, and a punctual appearance among the fashionable youth at White's, and a plentiful chronicle of the Club gossip in his letters, helped him in its assumption. Soon after Walpole's return from the grand tour, he tells us that Lord Chesterfield brought three hundred copies of a French novel by the younger Crebillon, to be sold at White's. This was " Le Sopha," and it details the experiences of a young lady of eastern origin who, for her sins, had been changed into that useful article of furniture. Walpole himself expatiates on the beauty of the work — a proof of the vast difference in taste in such matters between his time and our own. " Le Sopha " to-day would not be allowed to lie for an hour on any drawing room table in London. Then we get an idea of the sporting character of some members of the Club. " One of the youth at White's," says Walpole, " has committed a murder, and intends to repeat it. He betted ;^i,5oo that a man could live twelve hours under water ; hired a desperate fellow, sunk him in a ship by way of experiment, and both ship and man have not appeared since. Another ship and man are to be tried for their lives, instead of Mr, Blake, the assassin." The Club Betting Book does not contain this HORACE WALPOLE, FOURTH EARL OF ORFORD. FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. By J. McArdell, after Sir Joshua Reynolds. The History of Whitens. 8i particular wager, but there are others of a character quite as extraordinary, if less criminal. The duration of a man's life, and the increase of a lady's family, were both favourite subjects on which to risk large sums of money. The first bet in the book as it exists to-day, is for a hundred guineas that the Dowager Duchess of Marlborough outlives the Dowager Duchess of Cleveland. This, and half-a-dozen others on the same subject, is dated 1743. Some members had evidently great faith in the vitality of Old Sarah. She had been very ill two years before, and had lain for hours without speaking, but when the physician said " she must be blistered, or she'll die," the old lady woke up and replied " I won't be blistered, and I won't die." She did live until the latter part of 1744. We get an interesting peep into the club room at White's in 1 745, from one of the Selwyn letters. It is from Richard Rigby, who says : " I am waiting to hear the rattle of coaches from the House of Commons in order to dine at White's." The House in those days rose early, and dinner or supper would be the beginning of the evening at the Club. The same letter tells us how the evening was spent : " I held my resolution of not going to the Ridotto till past three o'clock, when, finding nobody was willing to sit any longer but Boone, who was not able, I took the least of two evils, and so went there rather than to L 82 The History of White's. bed .... The next morning I heard there had been extreme deep play, and that Harry Furnese went drunk from White's at six o'clock, having won the dear memorable sum of one thousand guineas. He won the chief part of Doneraile and Bob Bertie." Of another night in the same week he says : " He (a friend) went to sleep at twelve and I to White's, where I stayed till six." Here, then, is a typical night at White's in 1745. Dinner, say, at seven o'clock, play all night, one man unable to sit in his chair at three o'clock, a break-up at six the next morning, and the winner going away drunk with a thousand guineas. A little later the Club was prepared with a very interesting piece of advice to one of its members, who was in some trouble about his wife. This was Lord Coke, the son of the Earl of Leicester. Walpole is writing to his friend Conway, and his lordship is the subject of his gossip. "They say," says the letter, "that since he has been at Sunning Hill with Lady Mary, she has made him a declaration in form that she hates him, that she always did, and that she always will. This seems to have been a very unnecessary notification." The marriage, in fact, had not been a success. The lady entered into it unwillingly, and as for Lord Coke, we learn in a former letter that " he is always drunk, has lost immense sums at play, and seldom goes home to his THOMAS, FIRST EARL OF LEICESTER. FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. By ZiNKS, after Valentine Green. The History of White's. 83 wife until eight in the morning." We see justice in this Nemesis of domestic discord overtaking Lord Coke. Of all the members of White's who so freely recorded their opinions on the matrimonial affairs of their friends in the Club Betting Book, none was more unreserved than his lordship. Indeed, some of his speculations on the subject are of such a nature as to necessitate their omission from the printed copy. Walpole goes on : " However, as you know his part is to be extremely in love, he is very miserable upon it, and relating his woes at White's, probably at seven in the morning, he was advised to put an end to all this history and to shoot himself, an advice they would not have given him if he were not insolvent. He has promised to consider of it" Lord Coke decided not to shoot himself; he died a natural death in his bed some years later. Some members of White's were accustomed in those days to take the air at Richmond from Saturday till Monday, Writing to his "dear child," Sir Horace Mann, in 1 749, who was then Ambassador at Florence, and later a member of the Club, Walpole says : " As I passed over the green I saw Lords Bath and Lonsdale and half-a-dozen more of White's sauntering at the door of a house they have taken there, and come to every Saturday and Sunday to play at Whist. You will naturally ask why they can't play at whist in London on these two days, as well as on the other five." 84 The History of Whitens, The next year, 1750, was the year of the earthquake, which seems to have scared the fashionable world very considerably. The ridotto arranged by Arthur for the night following the shock was so thinly attended, that he tells Walpole he will be obliged to postpone the next one, as he fears no one will come to it. " Several people are going out of town," says Horace; "they say they are not frightened, but that it is such fine weather. Lord ! one can't help going into the country. " The shock left White's unmoved. A parson, it seems, came into the Club in the morning and " heard bets laid whether it was an earthquake or the blowing-up of powder mills." The reverend gentleman went away much scandalized. " I protest," said he, " they are such an impious set of people, that I believe if the last trumpet were to sound, they would bet puppet-show against Judgment." We find also, that the Right Honourable Richard Rigby, in company with a Mr. Dick Leveson, having supped and stayed late at Bedford House, took occasion to communicate the intelligence to some of the citizens of London. They knocked at several doors, and, assuming the voice of the watchmen, cried, " Past four o'clock, and a dreadful earthquake." About this time appears the famous wager which Walpole calls the " good story made on White's." A man, it was said, dropped dead at the door of the Club, The History of White's. 85 was carried in, and the members immediately made bets as to whether he was dead or not, and " when they were going to bleed him, the wagerers for his death interposed, and said it would affect the fairness of the bet." This was probably, as Walpole hints, a bon mot of some wit occasioned by the notorious gaiety of the youth at White's. Here is another instance of their taste for the bizarre. A highwayman, one McLean, had been taken, a fashion- able highwayman, we are told, "who had lodgings in St. James's Street over against White's, and whose face was as well known as any other gentleman who lives in that quarter, and perhaps goes on the road, too. I am almost single," continues Walpole, " in not having been to see him. Lord Montfort, 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, and what a favourable idea people must have of White's, and what if White's should not deserve a much better ? " We get a notion of how some of these gentlemen were accustomed to dine from the following account of a dinner at White's at the same period. We still quote Walpole, writing to Mann : " The dinner was a folly of seven young men, who bespoke it to the utmost extent of 86 The History of Whitens. expense. One article was a tart made of duke cherries from a hot house, and another that they tasted but one glass out of each bottle of champagne. The bill of fare is got into print, and with good people has produced the apprehension of another earthquake. Your friend St. Leger was at the head of these luxurious heroes of fashion." This was St. Leger's deb6t at the Club; he was elected in 1 75 1. " He is the hero of all fashion," says Walpole; " I never saw more dashing vivacity and absurdity, with some flashes of parts." St. Leger had been in trouble over the ducking of a sharper, and the Judge had interrupted him as he was about to burst into strong language : " I see, Sir," said he, " you are very ready to take an oath." "Yes, my lord," replied St. Leger, " my father was a judge." This dinner, together with the two famous beauties, the Miss Gunnings, was more talked of, we read, than the changes in the Ministry. The elder of these ladies, Maria, married a member of White's, the sixth Earl of Coventry ; her younger sister, Elizabeth, was the wife of two dukes, the sixth of Hamilton and the fifth of Argyll. The seventh and eighth Dukes of Hamilton, and the sixth and seventh of Argyll, were her sons, and all subsequently members of White's. We find great interest excited at the Club as to which of the two sisters should first present her husband GEORGE, SIXTH EARL OF COVENTRY. From the Painting by A.RAMSAY, in the possession of Lord Coventry. The History of White's. 87 with an heir. There are bets entered in the book on the subject amounting to £2&p, besides sweepstakes, in which their names appeared with those of other ladies. Walpole quotes a letter from the old poet laureate, CoUey Cibber, which is pleasant to read from its abundant good nature. The old man thought himself dying, and wrote to the Duke of Grafton : " May it please your Grace, " I know no nearer way of repaying your favours for these last twenty years than by recommending the bearer, Mr. Henry Jones, for the vacant laurel. Lord Chesterfield will tell you more of him. I don't know the day of my death, but while I live I shall not cease to be Your Grace's, &c., CoLLEY Gibber." Walpole asked Lord Chesterfield about Mr. Henry Jones, and was told a better poet would not take the post, and a worse ought not to have it : an epigrammatic description of the Laureates and their office in the reign of George the Second. We think Walpole's tastes seldom allowed him to be of the company which amused itself all night at the Club ; he contented himself with a punctual daily attendance in the afternoon, and a disappearance at reasonable hours. We find, from one of his letters in 1752, that he had left White's in good time, and had gone home to bed round 88 The History of White's. the corner in Arlington Street. He is undressing, and hears a cry of " Stop thief," rushes down stairs, and with the watchmen and chairmen of the neighbourhood at his heels, captures a burglar in the area of an adjacent house. He has left George Selwyn at the Club, and knowing that gentleman's taste (" he loves nothing on earth so well as a criminal," says the letter, " except the execution of him ") sends off a message with the news. "It happened very luckily," says Walpole, " that the drawer who received my message had lately been robbed himself, and had the wound fresh in his memory. He stalked up into the Club room, stopped short, and with a hollow, trembling voice, said : ' Mr. Selwyn, Mr. Walpole's compliments to you, and he has got a housebreaker for you.' " Selwyn and the rest leave their cards, rush out to share in the capture, and the burglar is marched off by the watch to appear in due time before Sir Thomas Clarges. White's, later, saw the end of an incident which speaks volumes for the manners of good society in the reign of George II., and for the dignified behaviour of one of its members in very trying circumstances. This was the second Earl of Bristol, son of the Lord Hervey whose memoirs we have quoted. Both father and son were remarkable for a certain effeminacy in dress and manner. Pope's malevolence has exhibited this weak- ness of Lord Hervey in some celebrated lines, and the same failing in Lord Bristol led Lord Cobham and a The History of Whites. 89 Mr. Nugent to consider him a safe object for an insult of a very extraordinary nature. Lord Cobham made a bet of a guinea with Mr. Nugent that he would spit in Lord Bristol's hat without his resenting it, and, incredible as it may appear, the scene he chose for this performance was his own wife's drawing room. Lord Bristol was leaning over a chair, talking to some ladies at Lady Cobham's assembly, and was holding his hat behind him. Cobham came up, spat into it, and turning to Nugent, asked with a loud laugh for his guinea. Lord Bristol, taking no notice of Lord Cobham's profuse apologies, enquired if he had any further use for his hat, resumed his talk with the ladies, played a few rubbers of whist as usual, and went home. The others considered the matter at an end, but they were never more mistaken in their lives. They both waited on the Earl in the morning, but he would not see them. He sent a message instead, demanding satisfaction for the insult, and naming time and place. They answered with submissive apologies, protested that no insult was intended, but that the incident was the result of a foolish joke. Lord Bristol replied, that the insult was so gross and so public, that nothing but a public apology would satisfy him, and named the club room at White's as the place where he would receive it. It was at White's, crowded, as we may be sure, for M 90 The History of White's. the occasion, that these gentlemen duly humbled them- selves. In 1 75 1 there were two young men of fashion arrested in France upon an extraordinary charge. These were a Mr. Taafe and a Mr. Edward Montagu, son of the famous Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. They had invited a Jew to play, and the Jew had lost heavily to both. Wise in his generation, that gentleman had given them bills on a house in Paris with which he had no dealings, and the drafts were duly dishonoured. The Englishmen then went to his lodgings, ransacked his bureau, and helped themselves to what they considered the equivalent of their debt in money and jewels. The Jew prosecuted them, and they were confined in separate dungeons of the Grand Chitelet for three months. The escapade of these two gentlemen was the text of a sermon on White's by the Speaker, the famous Onslow. He was moved to rail at the gaming and other follies that went on at the Club to one of its mem- bers, our acquaintance Lord Coke. That gentleman replied : " Sir, all I can say is, they are both members of the House of Commons, and neither of them of White's." Mr. Montagu was not, and the Mr. Taafe, who was a member of the Club, and in the Speaker's mind at the time, was probably the father of the young man. This same year we get an account of a blackballing at White's, and the reason for it. Politics had much to The History of White's. 91 do with this ballot : indeed, Walpole speaks of it as " an odd sort of codicil " to a debate which had just taken place on a treaty with Saxony, in which the Duke of Bedford had taken a prominent part in opposition to the Ministry. The candidate was a Mr. Richard Vernon, " a very inoffensive, good-humoured young fellow," says Walpole, " who lived in the strongest terms of intimacy with all the fashionable young men." We learn that " before being initiated into the mysteries of the Old Club, it was necessary to be well with the ruling powers." The ruling powers, at this time, were the Duke of Newcastle and his friends. Vernon, it seems, had been lately on a visit to the Duke of Bedford at Woburn. When the night of the ballot came, he was rejected by six black balls, although of the twelve persons present, eight, his particular friends, we are told, had promised him their votes. " This," says Walpole, " made a great noise. His friends found it necessary to clear up their faith to him ; ten of the twelve assured him upon their honour that they had given him white balls. I fear," he adds, " this will not give you too favourable an idea of the honour of the young men of the age." The difficulty of overcoming the scruples of the Club at White's led men to propose themselves with diffidence and hesitation. Here is Gilly Williams, writing to 92 The History of White's. •Selwyn in 1751 as to his own election : " I have desired Lord Robert Bertie to propose me at White's. Don't let any member shake his head at me for a wit, for God knows he may as well reject me for being a giant." Williams was a man of huge stature, and one would gather from this passage that he could no more help his wit than his height. However, he had to wait three years before entering White's — he was not elected until 1754- Here is a paragraph from a mock " Gazette," which Walpole wrote to his friend George Montagu : " Last night the Hon. and Rev. James Brudenell was admitted a Doctor of Opium in the ancient university of White's, being received ad eundem by his Grace the Revd. Father in Chess the Duke of Devonshire, president, and the rest of the senior fellows. At the same time. Lord Robert Bertie and Col. Barrington were rejected on account of some deficiency of formality in their testimonials." This, apparently, is a reference to another blackballing at the Old Club ; Lord Robert Bertie was elected to the Young Club in 1 744. Chess appears to have been much in vogue at White's about this period ; there are several matches arranged in the Betting Book. For instance. Lord Howe engages " to play twelve games at chess with Lord Egmont, and bets Lord Egmont twelve guineas to six guineas of each game." We read, too, that M. de Mirepoix, the French ADMIRAL SIR CHARLES SAUNDERS. FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. Ey James McArdell, after Sir Joshua Reynolds. The History of Whites. 93 Ambassador, sent an invitation to all chess players of both Clubs to meet him for a game. He spells the word "clubs" "clamps," it seems, and gives the literary Walpole an opportunity of exclaiming at the poverty of an intellect which had learnt but the first two letters of a word to be heard twenty times a day. 94 CHAPTER VII. Gaming at Whitens — At Court — Amongst the Lower Classes — Col. Lytteltotis Address to the King — Contemporary allusions to White's — " The Polite Gamester" — '■'■The Connoisseur'' — The Club Betting Book — Lord Montfort — Curious Wager — Death of Lord Montfort and Sir John Bland by suicide — Great members of Whites — Chathain and his Government — Clive, Rodney, Ss'c. Both from internal and external evidence, it is clear that the reputation for high play which distinguished White's from the first, reached its zenith during the last ten years of the reign of George II. Considering the times, this was but natural ; these were the palmy days of the dice box, and what Lord Lyttelton called "the destructive fury, the spirit of play," was dominant at every assembly, public or private, in London. The Court itself set the example. We read in the " Gentleman's Magazine " for January, 1753, that " His Majesty played at St. James's Palace on twelfth night, for the benefit of the groom Porter," and that all the Royal Family were winners. The Duke of Cumberland pocketed ;^3,ooo ; the losers were the Duke of Grafton, Lords Huntingdon, Holdernesse, Ashburnham and Hertford. One is curious to know how the groom Porter benefited. The History of White's. 95 Play was not confined to the Court and the fashion- able society which met at White's. It was quite as general at the other end of the social scale. There sharpers appear to have been so common that it was thought necessary to insert advertisements like the following in the public papers : " To prevent the scandalous and mischievous abuses and cheats in play, it is thought proper to give public notice of one or two usual practices of that kind. At piquet, the dealer places the stock near him, and whilst you are intent upon ordering your game, lets down eight cards, the five worst uppermost, and takes up the stock instead of them, and so puts five bad cards out of his own into yours, taking in the good ones which belonged to you in stock. Or, a sitter by looks in your hand, and by giving one, two, three or four treads upon your adversary's foot under the table, signifying clubs, diamonds, hearts or spades, gives him notice what suit he can play." With its company of young men, with plenty of money and leisure, White's was naturally not backward in the prevailing mania. Lord Lyttelton, already men- tioned, writing to Dr. Doddridge in 1750, congratulates himself that " the Dryads at Hagley are at present pretty secure," but he trembles to think "that the rattling of a dice box at White's may one day or other shake down all his fine oaks, if his son should happen to become a member of ' that famous academy.' " 96 The History of White's. Two years later another Lyttelton — a colonel and a member of the Club — was 'responsible for an effusion in the style of the numerous addresses which George II. was receiving on his return from Hanover. There is humour in this fancy portrait of the Club by one of its members : " The Gamesters' Address to the King. " Most Righteous Sovereign, " May it please your Majesty, we, the Lords, Knights, etc., of the Society of White's, beg leave to throw ourselves at your Majesty's feet (our honours and consciences lying under the table and our fortunes being ever at stake), and congratulate your Majesty's happy return to these kingdoms, which assembles us together to the great advantage of some, the ruin of others, and the unspeakable satisfaction of all, both us, our wives and children. We beg leave to acknowledge your Majesty's great goodnes and lenity in allowing us to break those laws which we ourselves have made, and you have sanctified and confirmed, while your Majesty alone religiously observes and regards them. And we beg leave to assure your Majesty of our most unfeigned loyalty and attachment to your sacred person, and that next to the Kings of Diamonds, Clubs, Spades and Hearts, we love, honour and adore you." The King was supposed to return the following answer : CHARLES, FIRST EARL CAMDEN. FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. By J. Ogborne, after N. Dance. The History of White s. 97 " My Lords and Gentlemen, " I return you thanks for your loyal address, but while I have such rivals in your affections as you tell me of, I can neither think it worth preserving or regarding. I look upon yourselves as a pack of cards, and shall deal with you accordingly." As a specimen of contemporary opinion on gaming at White's, we may here notice a brochure, in dramatic form, published in 1753. It is anonymous and bears the following title " The Polite Gamester ; or, the Humours of Whist: A dramatick satyre as acted every day at White's and other coffee houses and assemblies." Such plot as there is in this production centres in a character called Professor Whiston, representing Hoyle, who had just published his treatise on the game of Whist. The other characters include " two common sharpers under the appearance of gentlemen of fashion," two pupils of the professor — an exquisite, and a typical young citizen, ambitious of becoming a member of White's. There is also a victim of the sharpers, the usual moral man, and the master of the chocolate house, " Cocoa," who evidently represents our old acquaintance Arthur. As a literary work, the " Polite Gamester " is a very depressing performance ; its references to the Club, however, are interesting, and we may give an outline of the story presented. This is soon done. The common sharpers are discovered in consultation, and are much N g8 The History of White's. exercised by the publication of the professor's book. They are afraid it will make good players so common that their trade will be spoilt. " Thou knowest," says one to the other, "that we have the honour to be admitted to the best company .... merely for our reputation as good whist players. If this d d book of the professor's answers, we must bid adieu to White's, George's, Brown's and all the fashionable assemblies about town." The other consoles him by the production of a system of signs, by which they may counteract the influence of the professor's book. " We shall need all the aids of art to-day at White's," says he ; " deep matches are talked of; some fortunes will squeak for it I warrant." In another scene, the beau. Lord Slim, announces his election to the Club. " Wish me joy, my dear friends, I'm entered i' faith— not one black ball, by Jupiter." He is congratulated by another character: " I rejoice to see your lordship a member of a Club, without exception, the most elegant one in Europe." Then there is a scene at White's. There is here very poor fooling with the professor, who is bantered about his book. He is told that two of his pupils, "first-rate players, have been most lavishly beat by a couple of 'prentices. They came down flap by honours on them almost every deal." We learn, too, that the common sharpers have been detected in their pre- arranged cheating at whist, and kicked out of the place. The History of White's. 99 The moral man here appears with Cocoa, and begs a hearing for him. Cocoa relates how he is ready to make oath that he has seen foul play going at whist, by which a young man has been " bubbled " out of his fortune, and asks the advice of the company. There is great indigna- tion expressed, and finally measures are taken to prevent the conveyance of the young man's property to the sharpers. There is a foot note to one of the references to White's in this play, which is of some value to our history. It is the last mention of the Chocolate House which we have been able to find, and runs thus : "In the Club at White's, being a select company above stairs, where no person of what rank soever is admitted, without first being proposed by one of the Club." The process of nomination and ballot is then accurately described, as it appears in the first rules of White's, which it is clear that the writer of the note had seen. The other information as to White's and its doings volunteered by the author of the "Polite Gamester" is of less value. He confuses the Chocolate House with the Club. Sharpers, though at one time common enough, no doubt, at the Chocolate House, were never admitted to the Club ; it is probable that the Club was originally formed to get rid of these gentry and their practices. Neither were Professor Whiston and men of his kidney ever seen at White's. Lastly, there is no record of the slightest suspicion of foul play at the Club throughout its history. lOO The History of White's. There is a much more valuable piece of contem- porary criticism on doings at White's in a publication of the same period. The "Connoisseur" for May, i754j devotes a number to the discussion of gaming and betting at the Club. This we may quote fully ; it describes very accurately the vagaries revealed by the Bettiug Book : " A friend of mine, who belongs to the Stamp Office, acquaints me that the revenue arising from the duty on cards and dice continues to increase every year, and that it now brings in near six times more than it did at first. This will not appear very wonderful, when we consider that gaming has now become the business rather than the amusement of our persons of quality ; that their whole attention is employed in this same article, and that there are more concerned about the transactions of the two Clubs at White's than the proceedings of both Houses of Parlia- ment. Thus it happens that estates are almost as frequently made over by whist and hazard as by deeds and settlements, and the chariots of our nobility may be said (like Count Basset's in the play) to roll upon the four aces. " The love of gaming has taken such entire pos- session of their ideas that it infects their common con- versation. The management of a dispute was formerly attempted by reason and argument, but the new way of adjusting all difference in opinion is by the sword or the wager, so that the only genteel method of decision is to risk a thousand pounds, or to take the chance of being RICHARD GRENVILLE, EARL TEMPLE. FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. By W. Dickinson, after Sir Joshua Reynolds. The History of White s. loi run through the body. The strange custom of deciding everything by wager is so universal that if, in imitation of Swift, anybody was to pubHsh a specimen of polite conversation, instead of old sayings and trite repartees, he would in all probability fill his dialogues with little more than bet after bet, or now and then a calculation of the odds. " White's, the present grand scene of these transactions, was formerly distinguished for gallantry and intrigue. During the publication of the ' Tatler,' Sir Richard Steele thought proper to date all his love news from that quarter ; it would now be as absurd to pretend to gather any such intelligence at White's, as to send to Batson's for a lawyer, or to the Rolls Coffee House for a man-midwife." " The gentlemen who now frequent this place profess a kind of universal scepticism, and as they look upon everything as dubious, put the issue upon a wager. There is nothing, however trivial or ridiculous, which is not capable of producing a bet. Many pounds have been lost upon the colour of a coach horse, an article in the news, or a change in the weather. The birth of a child has brought great advantages to persons not in the least related to the family, and the breaking-off of a marriage has affected many another's fortunes besides the people immediately concerned ; but the most extraordinary part of this fashionable practice is, what in the 102 The History of Whitens. gaming dialect is called betting one man against another, that is, in plain English, wagering which of the two will live longest. In this way people of the most opposite characters make up the subject of a bet. A player, perhaps, is pitted against a duke, an alderman against a bishop, a pimp with the privy council. There is scarce one remarkable person upon whose life there are not many thousand pounds depending, or one person of quality whose death will, not leave several of these kinds of mortgages upon his estate. The various changes in the health of one who is the subject of many bets occasion many serious reflections in those who have ventured large sums on his. life or death. Those who would be gainers by his decease, upon every slight indisposition watch all the stages of his illness, and are as impatient for his death as the undertaker who expects to have the care of his funeral ; while the other side are very solicitous about his recovery, send every hour to know how he does, and take as great care of him as the clergyman's wife does of her husband, who has no other fortune than his living. " I remember a man with the constitution of a porter upon whose life great odds were laid, but when the person he was pitted against was expected to die every week, this man unexpectedly shot himself through the head, and the knowing ones were taken in. "Though most of our follies are imported from WELBORE ELLIS, FIRST LORD MENDIP. FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. , By Whessell, after Gainsborough. The History of White's. 103 France, this has had its rise and progress entirely in England. In the last illness of Louis XIV., Lord Stair laid a wager on his death, and we may guess what the French thought of it, from the manner in which Voltaire mentions it in his Siecle de Louis XIV. : ' Le roi fut attaqud vers le mileu du mois d'Aout, Le Comte de Stair, Ambassadeur d'Angleterre, para selon la genie de sa nation, que le roi ne passeroit pas le mois de Septembre.' " A glance at the Club Betting Book shows that this account is not in the least exaggerated. Not only was the slightest difference in opinion a sufificient inducement for members to risk large sums of money, but they seem to have strained their ingenuity to find subjects for their wagers. One would have thought that the chances of a lottery were sufficiently speculative in themselves. But here " Mr. Jeffreys bets Mr. Reynolds ten guineas that No. 9999B proves a better prize than 38894." Then there will be a sweepstake of 20 guineas " for the highest raffle in the Dresden China," in which members stake that sum, not in the raffle itself, but on the chance of drawing the name of a prize winner in the raffle. It is hard to see rhyme or reason in the following : " Lord Coke promises to pay Mr. Fanshawe one hundred guineas whenever it shall happen that he. Lord Coke, loses five hundred guineas in one day for value received." There is more sense in Lord Chesterfield's bet with his I04 The History of White's. brother, Sir William Stanhope, made in April, 1751, that after August of the same year he would never make a wager of more than a guinea. His lordship had apparently determined to turn over a new leaf at the end of the season. Of wagers on legitimate subjects of sport or athletics there are very few in this extraordinary record. Sports- men will be interested to learn that long before the day of percussion caps Lord Eglinton staked a hundred guineas that " he finds a man shall kill twenty snipes in three-and- twenty shots." It is a matter of regret that there is no record of the result of Lord Eglinton 's confidence in his man with the flint piece. We find too, that Lord Montfort gets ten to one from five different members, against his riding thirty, twenty-five, twenty, fifteen, ten and five miles in six successive days. It is not surprising to modern ideas that he won his money. This same Lord Montfort may be taken as a type of the reckless gamester of this period. The end of his career, we think, marks the height of the gaming spirit at White's during the last century. In the few pages of the early Betting Book that have come down to us, we find that this gentleman has recorded sixty wagers, amounting to five thousand five hundred pounds. The events upon which this sum was depending were almost entirely of the nature of those which attracted the attention of the "Connoisseur " — that is, births, marriages, and deaths. On The History of White's. 105 subjects of sport, such as that we have quoted, Lord Montfort was content to risk very small sums. He was apparently possessed by the spirit of the true gambler, and preferred to risk his fortune, and as it turned out his life, on the unforeseen. On the 4th of November, 1754, is entered the following : " Lord Montfort wagers Sir Jno. Bland one hundred guineas that Mr. Nash outlives Mr. Gibber." This refers to two very old men, Colley Gibber the actor, and Beau Nash, the " King of Bath." Below the entiy in the Betting Book, written in another handwriting, is the significant note : " Both Lord M. and Sir Jno. Bland put an end to their own lives before the bet was decided." The first of these tragedies took place on New Year's Day of 1755. Lord Montfort's death and the circumstances of it attracted great attention. He was considered one of the shrewdest men of his time, and, as Walpole says, " would have betted any man in England against himself for self-murder. I knew him but little, but he was good natured and agreeable, and had the most compendious understanding I ever knew." Lord Montfort had come to the end of his fortune. He had spent vast sums of money, we learn, on his house at Horse Heath, lived in great extravagance, and had no doubt lost heavily at hazard at White's, though this is not stated by Walpole. The final blow seems to have been the loss of sixteen hundred a year by the o io6 The History of White's. deaths on the same day of the Earl of Albemarle and Lord Gage, who presumably paid him annuities during their lives. After this he became reckless ; indeed, he deliberately staked his life on the answer he should receive to an application to the Duke of Newcastle for a government appointment. He surprised the dilatory Duke by the eagerness with which he pressed for a reply to his request for the Governorship of Virginia, or the Mastership of the Royal hounds. The answer, when it came, was unfavourable. Immediately afterwards, Lord Montfort aroused the suspicions of his friends by enquiries as to the easiest mode of self-destruction. He allayed these suspicions by asking the same friends to dine with him for the day after his death. This unfortunate gentleman spent the last evening of his life at White's. It was the last day of the year 1754. He ordered a supper at the Club, and sat up at whist until one o'clock. Lord Robert Bertie was of the party, and drank to Lord Montfort a happy new year, wJien he was seen to pass his hand across his eyes in a strange manner. The following morning Lord Montfort sent for a lawyer and witnesses, and having made a will, asked if it would hold good even though a man should shoot himself On being assured that it would, he requested the lawyer to wait for a minute, stepped into an adjoining room, and there shot himself GEORGE, FIRST LORD ANSON. FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSBSSION OF THE CLUB. By J. McArdell, after SiR Joshua Reynolds. The History of Whitens. 107 Lord Lincoln's comment on this event was remarkable : " Well, I am very sorry for poor Lord Montfort, but it is the part of wise men to make the best of every misfortune ; I shall now have the best cook in England." This was said in the hearing of Lord Anson, and was the occasion of what Walpole calls a dreadful quarrel between the two noblemen. Joras, the cook in question, hesitated about making a new engagement until he knew whether the new Lord Montfort required his services. Lord Lincoln, accordingly, was in no hurry in the matter, and when he at last came to enquire, he found that Joras had already been engaged by Lord Anson. We learn from Walpole that there was already some jealousy between these two gentlemen about their relations with the Duke of Newcastle, and that it was only their connection with the Ministry which prevented them from fighting over the cook. It was in September of the same year that the second party to this strange wager was overtaken by fate in the same form. Sir John Bland, of Kippax Park, was the seventh baronet. His difficulties seem to have arisen entirely from the sums he had lost at the gaming table. Walpole says he flirted away his whole fortune at hazard, and that during a single sitting he had at one time lost as much as thirty-two thousand pounds, though he recovered a portion of it before play was ended. Sir John shot himself on the road from Calais to Paris, io8 The History of Whitens. and there were some circumstances connected with his death in which the name of Mr. Taafe appears. Walpole speaks of the "execrable villainy" of Mr. Taafe, but gives no particulars, and the news- papers of the day announce only that Sir John died suddenly in France. Walpole took the occasion of the death of these two parties to the wager on the life of Gibber, to congratulate the old gentleman on looking so well. " Faith, it is very well that I look at all," replied the laureate. The death of two of its members by suicide in the short space of nine months gave White's a greater notoriety than ever. The good people of the City came to gaze on the building with awe and wonder. " The citizens put on their double-channelled pumps," says Walpole, "and trudge to St. James's Street in expectation of seeing judgments executed on White's, angels with flaming swords, and devils flying away with dice boxes, like the prints in Sadeler's ' Hermits.'" So far, much of our history has been concerned with the foibles of members of White's as related in their own letters and diaries. But, meeting daily at the Club with these men, were others whose doings are recorded in the history of their country. It would be superfluous here to go at all fully into the events in which these great members of White's took part ; their names and their doings are national property, and to follow them closely would be to WILLIAM PITT, FIRST EARL OF CHATHAM. FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. By R. Houston, after W. Hoare. The History of White's. 109 write the national history. But the time at which we have arrived is an appropriate one to make mention of some of the members of White's whose conduct of affairs shed such lustre on the closing years of the reign of George II. Chief of these was the elder Pitt, Lord Chatham, just now, in 1757, forming the famous Government with Newcastle which was destined to make the name of England feared in every quarter of the globe. All differences were laid aside, and the ministry included the chief men of all parties. All Chatham's colleagues hailed from White's. The Duke of Newcastle we have already seen as an early member of the Old Club. With him were the brothers-in-law of Chatham, Richard Grenville, Earl Temple, and Privy Seal, and George Grenville, Secretary of the Navy, the former a man of restless and turbulent character, which made him later the evil genius of the great minister ; the latter laborious and painstaking, but equally bold and determined. George Grenville will be remembered as long as history lasts as the author of the Stamp Act, which led to the loss of the American Colonies. Here is John, Duke of Bedford, whose appointment as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland conciliated the great Whig faction, or " Bloomsbury gang," as they were called by their enemies. The Duke, as Macaulay tells us, was a man of parts, but unfortunate in the choice of his friends, no The History of Whitens. by whom he was apt to be led. Chief of these were two other prominent members of White's — Richard Rigby, the Duke's secretary, who is said to have made his interest by saving his Grace from a horsewhipping on a race- course ; and Lord Sandwich, " both pleasant boon companions, dextrous intriguers, and masters of all the arts of electioneering." To complete the Ministry was Henry Fox, Chatham's old opponent, quieted now with the lucrative office of Paymaster. In this Ministry, as we have said, all parties were provided for, and there was no opposition left. The. House of Commons contented itself with voting supplies and discussing small matters of domestic interest, such as the making of new roads. Chatham as Foreign Minister and War Secretary was the controlling spirit of the Government. He left all the arts of bribery and intrigue to Newcastle, to whom they were a second nature, and introduced into public life a spotless integrity and a burning enthusiasm, which before his day were unknown. These qualities were early recognised by the people, and made him the popular idol. His restless activity and daring were so diffused through every department of the State with which he had to do, that private soldiers and sailors in action all over the world took their cue from the great Minister who was directing their operations at home in England. Chatham's administra- tion marks what the historian we have quoted calls the L. GEORGE, FIRST LORD RODNEY. FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. By J. Watson, after Sir Joshua Reynolds. The History of Whitens. m double-or-quits period. The English Generals' and Captains were ever prepared to risk any advantage they had obtained so long as there was something further to be gained from the enemy. Victory followed victory, and whenever the French met the English fleets or regiments they came to look upon defeat as a settled thing, and were seldom disappointed. Chatham, like most great administrators, was an admirable judge of the abilities of his contemporaries. He was quick to recognise capacity in the two services ; he ignored seniority altogether, and bestowed his promotions for merit alone. Among the soldiers and sailors who were carrying out his schemes in every quarter of the globe were many members of White's. A prominent one was Admiral Rodney, at this time opposing the French on their own coasts, and burning their towns ; later taking a chief share in the reduction of the West Indies ; later still gaining the famous victories of St. Dominica and St. Vincent. An incident in Rodney's later career associates his name very closely with White's. In 1777 his debts, arising from contested elections and losses at the gaming- table, necessitated his living abroad. During his residence in France Lady Rodney came over to London with a view to procuring assistance by a subscription among his friends at White's. One could wish that she had been successful, but as a fact he owed his return to the liberality of a French nobleman. Marshal de Biron. 112 The History of White's. Here is George Keppel, third Earl of Albemarle, the distinguished soldier who in 1762 reduced Havannah after a siege successful in spite of almost incredible obstacles — a victory, says a contemporary, " equal to the greatest naval victory by its effect on the enemy's marine, and in the plunder it equalled the produce of a national subsidy." Here, too, is Lord Albemarle's brother Augfustus, famous later as Admiral Viscount Keppel. Another of the many admirals who were members of White's was Charles Saunders. He it was who co-operated with Wolfe in that wonderful assault on Quebec which secured Canada to the English. Here too, is Admiral Boscawen, who defeated the French off Lagos, and by his daring gained the creditable nickname of " Old Dreadnought." It is said that on one occasion Boscawen swore at his lieutenant for waking him before engaging with three French ships, which in the darkness he found alongside his own single vessel. Another great man, who, although acting indepen- dently of Chatham and his Government, added mate- rially to the renown of the British arms, was Robert, Lord Clive. Clive's genius and bravery were at the time we are considering adding an immense empire in India to the possessions of Great Britain. He was elected to White's a little later, in 1762. In a letter written from the Club in that year Williams says to Selwyn: " I wish you could see Lord Clive's face, that is over AUGUSTUS, VISCOUNT KEPPEL. FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. By W. Doughty, after Sir Joshua Reynolds. 1SSM The History of White's. 113 against me while I am writing ; I think it would match your Shafto partly for beauty." This alludes, perhaps, to the marks left on the General's face by his exertions under the burning sun of India. Clive was over on his second visit to England, and at the height of his fame and prosperity. The persecution, which on his final return drove him to death by his own hand, had not yet begun. Another Anglo-Indian was Lord Pigott, one of the survivors of the Black Hole of Calcutta, and, later, Governor of Madras. There are members of White's, too, associated with the less glorious period of history which followed the accession of George III. Chief among these is John Stuart, Marquess of Bute, the upright but obstinate and narrow- minded favourite, whose counsels with the young King did so much to nullify the advantages gained by Chatham's vigorous foreign policy. We have mentioned George Grenville and his Stamp Act. Here, too, are the Generals of the American War of Independence : Burgoyne, whose sur- render to Gates at Saratoga practically ended the campaign in favour of the Americans ; Sir William Howe, Sir H. Clinton, and Lord Cornwallis. Unlike Burgoyne, Lord Cornwallis had an opportunity of retrieving his ill luck in America by his successful conduct of the Mysore war, and his subsequent administration of India as Governor- General. 114 CHAPTER VIII. General increase of both Clubs — Curious Rules of the Old Club- -Removal afboth Clubs to present premises — The House and its Tenants — Death of Arthur — Robert Mackreih — The Cherubim — Mackreth an M.P, — Allusions to White' s as " Arthur'' s " — '' Gilfy" Williams and his gossip— Decrease of Gaming at White's — Macall — Almack's and Brookes' s — Experiences ofMetnbers of White's at those Clubs — March — Selwyn — Carlisle. Both Clubs at White's had increased their numbers during the time through which we have followed them. The Old Club, which in 1743 contained less than a hundred jnembers, six years later fixed its numbers at a hundred and twenty. The rules were not added to or altered in any way until the same year, when there were slight changes in the method of election. These regulations, which enabled the management to deal with candidates in groups, and make a selection before the final ballotting, all point to the exclusiveness of the Old Club, and to the constantly increasing numbers of men waiting for admission. For twenty years after 1743 every change in the rules of the Old Club related entirely to this same subject of elections. In 1754 it was decided that " no more than one member be ballotted for on the same night, and then GEORGE, FIRST LORD PIGOT. FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. By ScAWEN, after Powell. The History of Whitens. 115 only between the hours of eleven and twelve ; " a year later, " to prevent any contest between gentlemen who want to recommend new candidates," it was provided that the names of such candidates should first be deposited in the hands of Arthur or Bob. Another rule, enacted a year or two later, is interesting : " To prevent those invidious conjectures which disappointed candidates are apt to make concerning the respective votes of their electors, or to render at least such surmises more difficult and doubtful, it is ordered that every member present at the time of ballotting shall put in his ball, and any such person or persons as refuse to comply with it shall pay the supper reckoning of that night." The " disappointed candidates " would be members of the Young Club up for election at the Old, whose murmurs would be likely to reach that assembly. The fine of paying the supper reckoning for the whole club seems original. There was little change in the rules of the Young Club from the beginning. We find they adopted the plan of ballotting at eleven at night, but they did not trouble themselves with the elaborate regulations as to the admission of members which the Old Club thought necessary. In 1754 Arthur found that the guinea payable towards " having a good cook entire to the Club " was in arrear with a good many of the Young Club. He therefore sent a circular enclosing a copy of the rule to ii6 The History of White's. each member in arrear, and requested to know whether those gentlemen wished still to be considered as belonging to the Club, in order, as he said, " to the ascertaining of the precise number of the members." Forty of these did not reply, and in the following year the Young Club fixed its members at two hundred and thirty. White's, therefore, using the term as including both clubs, consisted in 1755 of three hundred and fifty members. Arthur thus took his census and reviewed his position preparatory to a change. In 1755 he removed, with the household gods of both clubs, to the " great house in St. James's Street," the identical premises in which White's still flourishes, after an occupation of nearly a hundred and forty years. Arthur's prosperity had enabled him to purchase the freehold of the " great house" from its owner. Sir Whistler Webster. The " great house " had from the first been the residence of some person of note. One of its early occupants was the Countess of Northumberland, whom Walpole mentions as one of the last to practise the unmaimed rites of the old Peerage. " When she went out," says he, " a footman bareheaded walked on each side of her coach, and a second coach with her women attended her. I think, too, that Lady Suffolk told me that her granddaughter-in-law, the Duchess of Somerset, never sat down before her without her leave to do so." Henry, second Duke of Beaufort, was owner or THE GREAT HOUSE IN ST. JAMES'S STREET. WHITE'S CLUB HOUSE since 1755. FROM AN OLD PRINT. The History of Whites. 117 tenant of the house for some years after 1 707, and was followed, in 1 7 16, by the Duchess of Newcastle, the widow of the first Duke of the 1694 creation. Sir William Windham was another tenant or owner, and was succeeded, in 1721, by Sir Thomas Webster, the first Baronet, who was undoubtedly the owner of the place.* From his son, Sir Whistler, the house passed to Robert Arthur. It is in 1755 that Arthur's name last appears in the Club records. In that year he transferred the manage- ment of his business to his assistant, " Bob " Mackreth. Five years later Robert Arthur was gathered to his fathers ; in June of 1761 the parish register of St. James's, Westminster, records the burial at St. James's Church, in Piccadilly, of " Robert Arthur, of St. James's Street, Gentleman." Arthur's will shows that he died possessed of considerable property. Besides the freehold of the " great house," he was owner of other property in the neighbourhood, and his whole estate, including person- alty, he left unreservedly to his only daughter, Mary, then, as the will tells us, engaged to be married to Robert Mackreth. Mackreth, who is described in the will as of " St. James's Street, Vintner," had an extraordinary career. By his marriage with Mary Arthur, which duly took * Rate-books of St. James's. ii8 The Flistory of Whites. place, he became possessed of all the old gentleman's property, but he was not long at the Club after Arthur's death. In 1763 he wrote a letter to Selwyn, showing that in that year the management of White's passed to a relation of his, who rejoiced in the name of the " Cheru- bim." This letter, evidently a circular to members of the Club, is as follows :— » White's, ..Sir, April 5th, 1763. " Having quitted business entirely, and let my house to the Cherubim, who is my near relation, I humbly beg leave, after returning you my most grateful thanks for all favours, to recommend him to your patronage, not doubting, by the long experience I have had of his fidelity, that he will strenuously endeavour to oblige. " I am. Sir, " Your most dutiful and much obliged humble servant, " R. Mackreth." Mackreth did not at that time part with his busi- ness. At his death, in 18 19, he was still in possession of the Club premises, and as " Bob " is spoken of in certain monetary transactions between members, some years after the supposed sale of the business, it is clear that the Cherubim,* and possibly even the Martindales, * The Cherubim was never on the Rate Books. John Martindale first appears as a ratepayer for the premises in 1772. The History of Whitens. 119 who succeeded him, were merely the agents of Mackreth, still the real owner. However that may have been, Mackreth was a man of ambition, and had other fish to fry. We next get sight of him in 1768. The demagogue Wilkes was a candidate for Middlesex, and we learn that bets as to his success " were made a regular stock, and found as much employment for brokers as ever India business did. Mackreth," writes Williams to Selwyn, "was in the Alley, and had several negotiations." It was a few years later that the quondam waiter at White's became Member of Parliament for Castle Rising. There are two accounts of the circumstances to which the nation was indebted for this addition to the ranks of its legislators. Lord Russell, in his " Recollections," says : " A noble lord, who owned several pocket boroughs in the good old days of Eldon and Perceval, was asked, by the returning officer, whom he meant to nominate. Having no eligible candidate at hand, he named a waiter at White's, one Robert Mackreth; but as he did not happen to be sure of the Christian name of his nominee, the election was declared void. Nothing daunted, his lordship persisted in his nomination. A fresh election was therefore held, when the name of the gentleman having been ascertained, he was returned as a matter of course, and took his seat at St. Stephen's." This would make Mackreth 's election an accident, I20 The History of White's. but, as a matter of fact, there was a perfectly good reason for the noble lord's choice. The noble lord was the third Earl of Orford, grandson of Sir Robert Walpole, and nephew of Horace, who succeeded him as fourth Earl. Lord Orford was elected a member of White's in 1 758, and is remembered chiefly by the abuse showered upon him by his uncle Horace, also by his sale of the fine collection of pictures made by Sir Robert at Houghton to the Empress Catherine of Russia. This nobleman had borrowed money of Mackreth, who, after leaving White's, had devoted his talents to usury, and the seat in Parliament was in reality a sop to an importunate creditor. There is no doubt of the truth of this version of the matter. Walpole, writing to Mann in 1774, mentions some circumstances connected with the resignation of Mackreth. He congratulates himself that he is free " from this disgraceful transaction." In a note he adds : " Robert Mackreth had been a waiter at White's. Lord Orford having borrowed money of him, brought him into Parliament for his borough of Castle Rising, and, to excuse it, pretended that his mother, Lady Orford, who knew nothing of it, had borrowed the money." We will here leave Mr. Mackreth sitting for Castle Rising ; we shall have occasion to notice his later career further on. At White's, under the new management, things The History of White's. 121 seem to have gone on much as usual. We continue to get glances into the club rooms from the correspondence of the period. From many of these references to White's, we learn that at this time the place was more often than not spoken of as " Arthur's." White's had become identified with the name of the man who had so long presided over its management, and the fact claims notice, because it has been taken as evidence of the existence at that time of an Arthur's Coffee House, a presumed parent of the present Arthur's Club. A short examination of these allusions to Arthur's clears up the point. In one of the earliest, Lady Hervey, the "beautiful Molly Lepel" of Lord Chesterfield's ballad, writing in 1756, says : " Arthur's is the resort of old and young, courtiers and anti-courtiers, nay, even of Ministers." Later she hears that " Mr. George Selwyn has proposed to the Old and New Clubs at Arthur's to depute him to present the freedom of each Club in a dice box to the Right Hon. William Pitt and the Right Hon. William Bilson Legge." From this allusion to the Old and New Clubs at Arthur's, it is certain that Lady Hervey was writing of White's. If confirmation were needed, it appears in a letter of Lord March's, written ten years later. In this, he says he is going to ride out, and will finish his letter at White's. The latter portion of his letter is dated from Arthur's. Walpole, too, writing to Dr. Ducarel in 1758, mentions the coat Q 122 The History of Whitens. of arms designed at Strawberry Hill as that of " the two Clubs at Arthur's." " Gilly " Williams is our chief authority for the doings at the Clubs at this period. Walpole begins to fail us ; he is advancing in years, and getting fond of talking about his gout and the pains in his stomach. But Williams continues to retail the smallest gossip of the day from White's. George the Third's marriage is fixed, ceremonials are being arranged, and there is a question as to the precedence of the Irish peers. White's is selected by Lord Halifax, the Chamberlain, as a convenient place to make an announcement on the point. We read he stuck up a paper in the coffee room at Arthur's : " That His Majesty, not having leisure to determine a point of such great importance, permits for this time such Irish peers as shall be at the wedding to walk in the procession." In the former reign. Lord Hervey had incurred much odium by his regulations on the same subject, and this was evidently an attempt to avoid the difficulty. Later we find that the expected confinement of the Queen keeps some of the courtiers in town. " This place is quite deserted," writes Williams ; " though the Queen's delivery, which is expected every day, keeps some of the Court corps at White's." Lord Digby concludes a marriage with a Miss Fielding, to the surprise and consternation of his The History of Whitens. 123 particular friends. Lord Essex announces the fact at the Club, and Williams, full of the information, writes off to Selwyn : " Thousands might have been won in this house on his lordship not knowing that such a being existed. He has stole this match on us," he adds ruefully, "and shut us out of a very comfortable house, where we had promised ourselves many a cod and oyster sauce for the winter." We learn, too, that the "white Cavendishes are for ever whispering in every corner of White's, and declare their intention of storming the closet in a few months. Horry Walpole is violent for the old arrangement, and is for ever abusing them." This was in 1 766, and the " white Cavendishes " were out of favour at Court. Their head, the Duke of Devonshire, had a few years before incurred the wrath of the young King by refusing to support the favourite. Lord Bute. George erased the Duke's name with his own hand from the list of the Privy Council, and the Duke, with much spirit, tore off his gold key of office, and threw it at the feet of the page who came out to say the King would not see him. Then we have Lord Coventry, "opposing and disputing with every person every night at the Old Club, to the no small surprise of some new members, who have had perseverance enough to be duly elected — viz., Topham Beauclerk, James Walters, Sir G. Pigott, and 124 The History of White's. Dick Vernon. On finding them in so good humour," says Williams, " I started Lord March, but they swore he was now a foreigner and rejected him." Like his rejection on a former occasion, Mr. Vernon's election to White's attracted some attention. Miss Mary Townshend writes to Selwyn, " Mr. Vernon is chosen at last." In 1 763 our old acquaintance Mr. Thomas Hervey reappears with more letters addressed to the public on his private affairs. Walpole tells us that " Tom Hervey " always obliged the town with an amusing letter at a dull season. His own wife is the subject of this one. The poor lady is endeavouring to get a copy of it ; she hears her husband had sent one to Arthur's, and invokes Selwyn's aid as a member of the Club to get it for her. It was this same letter which moved Dr. Johnson to interfere. Hervey had sent the Doctor a fifty-pound note, instead of leaving it in a legacy, as he had intended, and in a postscript to the letter enclosing it he said, " I am about to part with my wife." In his wrath the good doctor forgot all about the money, and wrote Hervey a letter of expostulation without mentioning it. Johnson was under obligations to the Hervey family. Speaking to Boswell of one of them, he said : " He was a vicious man, but very kind to me ; if you call a dog Hervey I shall love him." The History of Whites. 125 Extracts such as we have been quoting from the letters of Williams and others could be continued to an indefinite length, but to no purpose. We have given enough to suggest an outline of the company and the conversation of W'hite's, a century or more ago, which may be filled up by the imagination of the reader. Club life, as represented by White's, had evidently assumed something of its modern proportions in the reign of George the Third, and the Club was as much used by its members and filled as large a part of their daily life as it does to-day. White's was still the only social club of importance in London. The Cocoa Tree, though fre- quented by men of rank, made no pretentions to influence or exclusiveness as a body ; Boodle's, if founded, was a new institution, wanting its subsequent prestige ; Arthur's was not in existence ; Brookes's was only on the point of being formed. Whether it was that the influence of the stricter Court of George the Third began to make itself felt at White's, or that members themselves had less taste than formerly for the reckless gaming for which the Club had gained a reputation, can now only be conjectured. It is certain that that reputation was declining. Allusions to high play at the Club grow much less frequent. They occur occasionally, it is true, and we may quote one of the latest as a final specimen, both on account of its humorous character and of the date of its appearance. 126 The History of White's. " The Foundling Hospital for Wit," published in 1768, contains these lines: " From hence to White's our virtuous Cato flies, There sits with countenance erect and wise, And talks of games and whist and pigtail pies, Plays all the nights, nor doubts each law to break Himself unknowingly has helped to make ; Trembling and anxious stakes his utmost groat, Peeps o'er his cards, and looks as if he thought. Next morn disowns the losses of the night, Because a fool would fain be thought a bite.'' They were evidently suggested by the following from " The Man of Taste," published in 1733 : " Had I whole counties, I to White's would go, And set land, woods and rivers on a throw. And should I meet with an unlucky run. And at a throw be gloriously undone. My debts of honour I'd discharge the first, Let all my lawful creditors be curst. My title would preserve me from arrest, And seizing hired horses be a jest." But the state of things here laughed at belonged to a passing day at White's. From whatever reason, it seems that the majority of both Clubs set their faces against the old orgies of the dice box. Those members who wished to continue them found another place for their operations. In the year 1764, a Scotsman named Macall, supported by twenty-seven gentlemen of position whose names The History of White's. 127 formed his first list of members, founded a new club in Pall Mall. This club was at first called by the Scotsman's own name, reversed, "Almack's." It was subsequently taken over by a wine merchant named Brookes, and still flourishes as Brookes's. Almack's Club must not be confounded with the famous Assembly Rooms which were renowned for their fashionable company for half a century or more. Almack's Assembly Rooms, later Willis's Rooms, were a separate institution, founded by Macall a year after the Club, viz., in 1765. Almack's Club seems to have been formed for no other purpose than that of high play. One of its first rules compelled its members to keep a considerable sum of gold on the table whilst playing, fifty guineas at one table, twenty at another. Walpole mentions that the ordinary stakes were rouleaux of ;^50 each, and that there was usually ^10,000 in specie to be seen on the table. Its original members were nearly all old fnembers of White's ; and another rule seems to have been framed expressly for attracting new members from the older club. It provides that candidature for any other club than Old White's disqualified a man seeking admission to Almack's. Some of the younger members of Almack's formed themselves into a companionship or brotherhood, with the queer title of Macaronis. The Macaronis were the exquisites of the day, and were supposed to be 128 The History of White's. distinguished by the elegance of their dress and manners, acquired during the foreign travel which was one of the conditions of their entrance to the order. The effect of the establishment of the new Club was to relieve White's of most of the heavy gaming formerly carried on within its doors. During the first year of Almack's, Williams, writing to Selwyn in Paris, complains of not hearing from him oftener, and supposes that he will wait " until some d — d odd animal joins the Macaronis to save me twelve pence postage. Now I have mentioned the Macaronis," he goes on, " I can tell you it flourishes much. Drogheda plays immensely deep, and with as little skill as you do. Bully (Lord Bolingbroke) was chose last night. Lord Gower went from White's to his election." Again, " the Dutchman is at the Almack house every night. You have no loss, as quinze is everything ; no hazard. Drogheda is the game bear." The popularity of Almack's among the members of White's caused some little rivalry between the two institutions, or at least between Almack's and the Young Club. In February of 1765, we learn from Miss Mary Townshend, writing to Selwyn, that "the Macaronis have demolished Young White's by admitting almost the whole Club, and are in danger of being deserted in their turn by their members being chosen of the Old Club." The Young Club seems to have resented The History of White's. 129 this robbery of its members. We find Lord Carlisle writing to Selwyn, asking him to propose the Marquess of Kildare at Young White's and Almack's, " but take care," says he, " that he is not put up first at Almack's, as that excludes him from White's." In 1765, the second year of the new club, Rigby writes to Selwyn : " The Old Club flourishes very much, and the Young one has been better attended than of late years, but the deep play has been removed to Almack's, where you will certainly follow it." Selwyn, Lord March, Lord Carlisle, Fox, and others of their set, who had been the pillars of the gaming table at White's for years, certainly did follow it. Before taking leave of these gentlemen, we may glance at the experiences of some of them at the new club. Here, in 1765, is Lord March writing to Selwyn that he is " quite broke," and thanking George for thinking of him in the midst of his own difficulties. Selwyn himself must have been hard put to at the same time. Here is a letter he received in July of the same year : " Dear Sir, " I intended to have spoke to you last night, but had not an opportunity, in regard to the one thousand pounds you owe me. Your money I relied on, which has made me lose more than I otherwise should have done, and which I must pay before I leave town. On R 130 The History of White's. Monday early I must, at all events, be at Newmarket, and hope it will be convenient to you to leave the money for me at White's, either to-morrow or the next day. If you cannot so soon, I must beg the favour that you will leave me your note, payable to me, or order, in a fort- night or three weeks, and I can get it discounted at my banker's. I should not have mentioned the affair to you, could I, with convenience to myself, do without it. I therefore flatter myself that you will excuse this appli- cation. " I am. Yours sincerely, " I. Shafto." Lord March and Selwyn were old and seasoned gamblers, and we may be sure they soon extricated themselves from the toils. But there was a young member of White's, and one of their own set, whom, later, we find in the very depths of despair over his losses at the hazard table. This was the Earl of Carlisle. We may trace, in the letters of this young gentle- man, who was not thirty at the time, the struggle with the temptations of the gaming table, which beset every young man of fashion of his day. Lord Carlisle was no selfish spendthrift. He had a wife and children to whom he was devoted. The consequences of his folly to them were ever first in his mind, and, as we shall see, he found resolution to break away from his infatuation in FREDERICK HOWARD, FIFTH EARL OF CARLISLE. FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. By W. Ward, Junr., after Sir Joshua Reynolds. The History of White's. 131 time to avert their ruin and his own. He was a promi- nent member of White's, and his experiences at Almack's are, perhaps, the best possible illustration of the pro- ceedings at that institution, and of the change its establishment wrought in the character of the daily meetings at White's. W^ith his letters before us, and knowing what was to follow, it is almost comic to find him writing to Selwyn, a man thirty years his senior, warning him against the dangers of the hazard table. He " trembles to see the word " in one of George's letters. " I do not like to hear you talk so much of hazard," he says. "If you hover round the table, I am afraid Harrington's crooked fingers will lay hold of you." Hazard was a shore on which they had both suffered shipwreck ; for himself, however, the danger is past. He feels more ambition at Castle Howard " than amongst a set of people who have none, except Charles, and he seems to have as much in ruining himself as in any other pursuit." Charles is the great Charles James Fox. Lord Carlisle spoke feelingly about Charles. We find, from a letter of his to that statesman's mother, that the Earl was at this tirrie security for ;^ 16,000, which Charles had lost at play. For a time, Lord Carlisle held his resolution of keeping away from the dice box, but his letters show that he is already feeling the effects of his former indiscre- 132 The History of White's. tions. There is talk of getting two hundred pounds from " some soft-hearted Christian ; " his lordship wants no dealings with the Jews. Timber, too, is to be felled, and there are ominous consultations with stewards and lawyers as to ways and means. A year passes, it is now 1775, 3-i^d there is evident embarrassment; the foreign valet is to be parted with, house-keeping is to be restricted. Lord Carlisle is uneasy, we notice, to find that " Sir Joshua has sent the pictures to Castle Howard. So well as I remember," says he, " he was one of those who were to wait. What is to be done, I know not. I am sure you will agree with me, it is an awkward circumstance." It certainly was ; still, at Castle Howard he is safe from the hazard table, and Selwyn is again admonished as to its dangers. The following year he is back again in town at White's and Almack's. " The hazard this evening was very deep," he writes, speaking of an evening at the latter ; " Meynell won ;^4,ooo and Pigott ^5,000, I did nothing." At present he is holding aloof, and still anxious about Selwyn. A single month later comes a letter, which tells its own story : " My Dear George, " I have undone myself, and it is to no purpose to conceal from you my abominable madness and folly, though the particulars may not be known to the rest of the world. I never lost so much in five times as The History of White's. 133 I have done to-night, and am in debt to the house for the whole. You may be sure that I do not tell you this with an idea that you can be of the least assistance to me ; it is a great deal more than your abilities are equal to. Let me see you, though I shall be ashamed to look at you, after your goodness to me." Selwyn endorsed this letter " after the loss of ;^ 10,000." After this there is remorse and dejection. Lady Carlisle and her children are for ever in his thoughts ; he will " prevent this man from setting ruin at her like a bull dog," will accept Government employment anywhere, "let it tear me, as it will, from everything dear to me in this country." His family and friends have a right to call on him for the sacrifice, and he will submit to it with the resolution of a man. All this, and much more to the same effect, poured in by every post to the sympathetic Selwyn. George, in the midst of his solicitude for his friend, must have smiled when he thought of all those nice letters about the dangers of hazard. The wit may have laughed outright when, a couple of months after, he got a letter to say that another four hundred pounds had gone the same way : " Brookes was in the list of debts I made out a creditor for ^100, he is now by my cursed folly /500." This, however, was but a temporary relapse, we hear no more of losses at cards and dice. There is, 134 The History of Whites. indeed, another letter which tells us that in the early part of his. gambling experiences Lord Carlisle had won thirteen thousand pounds from a Lord I , of which he had not received, and did not expect to receive a penny. But he soon had other matters to think of. He became Treasurer of the Household, and in 1778 went over as Chief Commissioner " for treating, consulting, and agreeing upon the means of quieting the divisions sub- sisting in His Majesty's colonies, plantations and provinces in North America." In that capacity Lord Carlisle was challenged by the fire-eating Lafayette, who considered his country reflected upon in one of the Commissioner's manifestoes. Lord Carlisle very properly declined to meet that warrior. " I do and ever shall," wrote he, "consider myself responsible to my country and King, and not to any individual, for m.y public conduct and language." The commission, as we know, came to nothing. There were more differences between George HI. and " His Majesty's colonies, plantations, and provinces " than could be settled by five English gentlemen. Lord Carlisle returned to England, and the United States became a nation. He was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland for a term, and eventually " sobered down into a worthy peer and good country gentleman," wrote poems and dramas, lost a son at Waterloo, and died full of years in the middle of the reign of George IV. ^35 CHAPTER IX. Changes of Proprietorship — The Cherubim— John Martindalcr-The Martin- dale Family — White's under John Martindale — Alterations in Rules — Fusion of the Old and New Clubs — MackretKs later career — Law- suit with Mr. Fox Lane—^Mackretk Imprisoned— Sir Robert Mack- reth, Knt. — His Will— Thomas Rumbold, boot boy at White's and Governor of Madras — Bill of Pains and Penalties — Bargain with Rigby. We left the management of the two clubs at White's in the hands of the mysterious Cherubim, who succeeded his "near relation," Mackreth, in 1763. This gentleman's name has been given as Chambers;* but as the statement is unaccompanied by authority or reference, we will not rob him of his pleasing appellation, although a cherub certainly seems a little out of place at White's. Nothing seems to be known of the Cherubim except what appears in Mackreth's letter (See p. 118). He was at the Club for a few years only, for in 1770 a new name appears in the books as " The master of the house." This was John Martindale. The name of Martindale crops up frequently at the end of last century. They all seem to have been engaged * Wheatley, " Round about Pall Mall," i., p. 151. 1 36 The History of White's. in ministering to the amusements of the upper classes in one way or another. The management of White's re- mained in the hands of two of them for over forty years. John, we find, was a subscriber to the series of the " Racing Calendar'' which began in 1773. We learn from Mr. Taunton's " Celebrated Racehorses " that another Martin- dale, of St. James's Street, a saddler, cleared over ;^i,ooo by the stud services of his horse Regulus. Walpole tells a tale of still another of the name — one Henry Martindale — who kept a public gaming table. It seems, a Miss Caroline Vernon, yf//e d'honneur, in 1791 lost £200 at his faro bank, and told him "to mark it up." He said he preferred a draft on her bankers. The lady gave, him one. In the morning he hurried to Drummond's to cash it, when the clerk handed it back for him to read : it ran, " Pay the bearer two hundred blows, well applied." In 1797, Henry Martindale was charged at the police court as the keeper of a common gaming table ; and three ladies, well known in society — Lady Bucking- hamshire, Lady E. Luttrell, and Mrs. Sturt— were summoned with him for playing at his house. Martindale was fined ^200, and the ladies ;^5o each. Two years later, the same Martindale applied for a licence for a new Club, of which the Prince of Wales was announced as a patron. The licensing magistrates were fluttered at the connection of this great name' with the matter, and ifC^lilaissmii/m X o u w < o u D Q < Pi ■—1 K < X o u P Pi O o Hi O o The History of White's. 137 requested the Judge, Lord Kenyon, to take the affair into his own hands. Lord Kenyon replied that they must do their duty fearlessly, ignore the Prince's connection with the application, and refuse the licence. The Prince then wrote to Lord Kenyon, asking for an explanation of his remarks. The Judge replied that, in doing his duty, he had meant nothing offensive to his Royal Highness, but that Martindale, " considering what had passed respecting him judicially, was certainly an improper person to receive a licence." We have, however, to follow the management of White's under John Martindale. One of his first acts was to write a circular letter to those members of both Clubs " who had paid no subscriptions for the last five years." This seems a liberal allowance of credit, but the letter led to the resignation of many of these gentlemen. A note opposite Lord Chesterfield's name says : " In consequence of a letter being sent April 5th, 1770, his lordship declined being a member any longer, and concluded his name had been struck out of the list fourteen or fifteen years before the letter was sent." Other members who resigned were Mr. Rollinson,- Mr. Boucher, the Duke of Rutland, Lord Berkeley of Stratton, Lord Holland, and Sir Richard Littleton. Martindale's management marks a period of unrest at both Clubs. Various entries in the records of this period point to the conclusion that he was not satisfied 138 The History of White's, with what he was making by the business. In 1772 the subscription of the Old Club was increased to two guineas. In the same year there is a rule showing that members were expected to take meals at the Club. Members who ate, drank, or played in any of the rooms, and did not partake of the regular supper, were fined five shillings. In the following year it was enacted that all members entering the dining room before eight in the evening were liable for their share of the dinner reckoning, whether they dined or not. In 1775, too, we learn that Lord Bessborough, Lord Ashburnham, Lord Weymouth, Lord Fredk. Cavendish, and Mr. Douglas, " were chose by the Club a committee to take the consideration of it into their consideration." At the recommendation of these gentlemen the Old Club increased its membership from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and fifty, and its subscription to ten guineas. In the same year the Young Club raised its subscription to five guineas, and added thirty members to its list, which was now fixed at two hundred and sixty. We think these alterations in the rules of both Clubs — rules which had practically remained unchanged since their original enactment — were concessions to the " Master of the house." There were probably two reasons for Martindale's uneasiness. Arthur, beside his income from the management of the two Clubs, had the profits of the Chocolate House, open to the public, to depend upon. WILLIAM, SECOND EARL OF BESSBOROUGH. FROM A PRINT IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. By Dunkarton, after J. S. Copley, The History of White's. 139 Martindale was without this resource. There is no mention of White's Chocolate House after the note in the " Polite Gamester," which we quoted in a former chapter. This was published in 1753, and there is little doubt that the Chocolate House was extinguished on the removal of the Clubs to the present building, in 1755- A stronger reason for Martindale's dissatisfaction than the loss of the Chocolate House was probably the removal of the high play to Brookes's. The profits of the hazard table, and of the usury connected with it, must have been a large source of revenue to the " Master of the House." Besides this, the all-night sittings of the gamblers no doubt led to much profitable catering of wine and provisions. Whatever may have been the reason, it is evident that Martindale remained dissatisfied with his position. In 1780 another committee was "chose" to again consider the Club and its situation. Lord Aylesford, Lord Cadogan and Lord Digby were the chief members of this committee. What little these gentlemen recommended pointed in the same direction — that is, to an increase in payments to the " Master of the house." Two of their new rules are very quaint. The committee thought " it would be very advantageous to the house, as well as agreeable to members of the Club, if a dinner at twelve shillings a head were provided every night during the sitting of 140 The History of White's. Parliament." This, it seems, could be arranged, if a sufficient number of members would agree to pay Martlndale half-a-guinea a week. A paper, therefore, is ordered to be " immediately stuck up " for members agreeing to the proposal to sign, " as soon as convenient." One would suppose from this that their assent to the scheme was optional. Not at all. The next rule provides that " any member who does not subscribe the aforesaid paper shall pay five shillings forfeit." This was the last committee that ever sat to regulate the affairs of the Old Club as such. Eight months after their recommendation had been adopted, the Old Club threw open its doors to the junior society which had grown up under its eye. On the first day of the year 1781a new book was opened for " The Club at White's," and the thin but firm barrier which had stood between the Old and New Clubs for nearly forty years was removed. White's in 1 78 1 took the form which it still retains. Before taking final leave of the Old and New Clubs, we may return for a few moments to the later career of Mackreth, and glance at the still more extraordinary career of another servant of the Old Club. Mackreth, whom we saw Member of Parliament for Castle Rising, appeared in 1786, as defendant in a remarkable lawsuit. The plaintiff, Mr. Fox Lane, was a young man of good birth, and later a member of the Club. This gentleman appears to have gone to The History of Whites. 141 Mackreth for a loan ; high play and extravagant living had probably left him in embarrassment, like most of his contemporaries. Mr. Fox Lane pleaded that in the course of their transactions Mackreth had defrauded him of his patrimony, worth £\,2f>o a year, he being still a minor. After a trial, which lasted seven days, the Master of the Rolls took the plaintiff's view of the matter. The Court found that Mackreth had taken undue advantage of the young man during his minority, ordered him to refund the value of the estate, with five per cent, interest, and to pay the costs of the suit. These payments together amounted to ;^20,ooo. Mackreth appealed. The Lord Chancellor confirmed the decision of the Court below. He then took the cause to the House of Lords, but with no better success. The Peers supported the previous decisions, and, on the motion of Lord Loughborough, imposed the highest costs ever given in a similar case. The counsel who had represented Mr. Fox Lane in all these proceedings was Sir John Scott, afterwards the famous Lord Eldon. Mackreth long bore him a grudge, as the instrument which had opened his ill-gotten money- bags. He met Sir John, it seems, in Lincoln's Inn Fields, six years after the first suit had been begun, and, as the -report says, " accosted him with a degree of vehemence, called him a liar and a scoundrel, and threatened to insist upon it everywhere, and proclaim 142 The History of White's. it in all places."* He ended by challenging Sir John to mortal combat. Sir John naturally declined that honour, and invoked the aid of the law. Mackreth was sentenced to six weeks' imprisonment and a fine of ;^ioo, for a breach of the King's peace. " The truth is," said Sir John, " three Courts thought his conduct so bad that they made him pay a young man, of whom they declared he had taken undue advantage, about ;i^i 7,000 and all costs, and the fellow is fool enough to think he can retrieve his character by insulting me." Mackreth was at this time the sitting Member of Parliament for Ashburton. But notwithstanding his misfortunes in the law and police courts, he was destined for further honour. In 1794, two years only after his imprisonment, he was knighted by George III. Sir Robert Mackreth lived well on into the present century— he died in 18 19, at the age of ninety-four. His will is evidence of a very successful career. Besides the freehold of the present club building, which came to him by his marriage with Mary Arthur, there is mentioned much other real property. There are houses on Snow Hill, a landed estate in Cumberland, and a slave estate in the West Indies. Nearly the whole of this passed to a * The King v. Mackreth, reported in "Sporting Magazine," i- 336. Annual Register, 1793. SIR THOMAS RUMBOLD, FIRST BARONET. FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OP THE CLUB. The History of White's. 143 nephew, on condition of his assuming the testator's patronymic within a twelvemonth. We may conclude our notice of the old Knight's career by quoting the opening paragraph of his will : " This is the last will and testament of me, Sir Robert Mackreth, of Ewhurst, in the County of Southampton, nor will I make it as worldlings do, by leaving any sum of more to him that hath too much, but, on the contrary, will and bequeath the fortune I shall leave behind me to those who I most sincerely hope will derive happiness from it, with all the blessings and comforts of life which it can possibly afford them. When, therefore, it shall please Almighty God to call me to that State from whose bourne no traveller returns, I shall have a full confidence in His mercy, and, conscious that I have endeavoured to act the honest and upright part through life, I am encouraged to hope that I shall obtain a blessed eternity." In this pious hope even Sir John Scott and Mr. Fox Lane could have had no objection to join. In the early days of Arthur's reign at the Old Club, Mackreth, as majordomo of the proprietor, engaged as boot black* a boy named Thomas Rumbold. , He was a * Mrs. Thrale, in a note in Wraxall's Hist. Mem., Vol. II., p. 252, speaking of Rumbold's personal appearance, says : " So he was, and what is much more surprising, he had the air and look of a man of quality. Very strange, surely, in a black-shoe boy, for such he was at starting." 144 The History of White's. lad of spirit, and after a short term among the knives and boots at White's, left England to seek his fortune in India. In 1756 he was a clerk in the East India Com- pany's offices at Calcutta. They were stirring times in India, and Rumbold, like Clive and other civilians before him, volunteered for military service. As a soldier he at once attracted notice ; on one occasion, in particular, he conveyed despatches in circum- stances of great danger, and was publicly thanked by the Company. He returned to his civil employment, and speedily rose in the service. In 1766 we find him taking his seat as a member of the Council of Bengal. This appointment was much resented by other servants of the Company, who considered themselves superseded, and Rumbold was the object of much interested malevolence. Clive, to whom Rumbold had acted as aide-de-camp at Plassey, took the occasion to mention his name in des- patches as a man whose services to the Company entitled him to protection from all indignity of the sort. He was almost immediately promoted to the Governorship of Patna, and made such good use of his time there, that he returned to England, in 1770, with a large fortune. He was made a baronet, and finally succeeded Lord Pigot as Governor of Madras, in 1772. Ini78ihe again returned to England with an enormous fortune, as the result of a comparatively short career in India.* * "European Magazine," 1782. ROBERT, FIRST LORD CLIVE. FROM AN ENGRAVING AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM. By Bartolozzi, after N. Dance. The History of White's. 145 The administration of Indian affairs was at this time attracting general attention in England, and a Secret Committee of the House of Commons was sitting to examine into the matter. The Chairman of this Com- mittee was Henry Dundas, and in the report which was adopted by the House, Warren Hastings, Impey, Rum- bold and others were accused of serious maladministration in India. Rumbold's vast fortune seems to have attracted especial attention. He was forbidden to leave the coun- try or to convey his property during the proceedings, and a Bill of Pains and Penalties against him was introduced by Dundas, as Chairman of the Secret Committee. On his return to England, Rumbold had entered Parliament as Member for Shaftesbury ; he had also pro- cured a seat for his son, William Robert Rumbold, who was a member of White's in 178 1. At the House of Commons Rumbold came in contact with the men who were hunting him down, and began to cast about among the friends of these men for help in his extremity. He soon found that help in Richard Rigby. This gentleman had lately lost the very lucrative office of Paymaster-General, and had been succeeded in it by Edmund Burke. Rigby found himself called upon by that statesman to refund large sums which he had left unaccounted for on his quitting office. Rigby was a man of reckless extravagance, and all the vast erirolu- T 146 The History of White's. ments of the Pay Office had been squandered as soon as earned. He was as much at his wits' end to know where to turn for money to avoid ruin, as was Rumbold to know how to keep the wealth he had got. The two struck a bargain. Rumbold undertook to find the money to save Rigby from impeachment ; Rigby, in return, engaged to procure the stoppage of the Bill of Pains and Penalties against Rumbold. There was never any proof of this bargain brought to light, but it was an open secret at the time. Rigby was the intimate friend of Dundas, and spoke openly against the Bill in the House. Then Dundas began to complain that he could never keep a House for its discus- sion. The restrictions against Rumbold's dealing with his property were first withdrawn, and, after the end of 1783, nothing further was heard of the Bill. The alliance between the two friends was confirmed by the marriage of Rigby 's nephew and heir to Rumbold's daughter.* The boot-black boy at White's ended his career as a baronet of large wealth, and the founder of a family. He died in 1791, and having survived his eldest son, the baronetcy passed to the second son, George. The chief part of his fortune was divided amongst the children of a second marriage. * Wraxall's Hist. Mem., III., pp. 77, 193 et seq. ; 449 et seq. in W 1-1 H tn J < ^ Q (U >< p4 C S ^ K <; !/l i? )-H J (Sl H-( m en w o K w H H S > w W Q W :2i o h-t Q C/3 s o o o PS w pi p< . & ^ H » Mirror ... Two Regimental Bands Jenkins, for Flowers and Gravel Gow, „ Music Payne, „ Ditto Surveyor of Buildings Hawker, for Engraving Cards Tatem, „ China Rundell and Bridge Payne, Trumpeters Barker, Raggett, for additional Music „ Artificial Flowers „ entering Resolutions in Club Book Gratuities : — Raggett Panton, Steward at Burlington House Porter Clerk at White's Waiters „ Gentlemen who attended to receive Tickets Porters and other Servants at White's, for extra trouble £800 900 2.575 2,807 75 473 188 8 179 18 18 255 30 106 19 42 39 31 31 36 15 35 200 760 4 6 3 3 4 4 II 7 440 100 30 10 10 20 20 50 12 10 ^9.848 IS 2 SIR DAVID BAIRD, FIRST BARONET. FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. By HoDGETTS, after Raeburn. The History of White's. 187 It is pleasant to read that, in the midst of all this rejoicing, the sick and needy were not forgotten. The final resolution of the Managers runs : " That the sum remaining in the hands of the Club from the late enter- tainment be distributed in proportions, to be hereafter resolved, to certain public charities." This sum amounted to as much as seven hundred pounds, and the hospitals of London benefited to that extent. A few weeks later. White's again united to do honour to one of the greatest of its members, who had played a very prominent part in " the late glorious events." On the 6th of July a grand banquet was given to the Duke of Wellington in the dining room of the Club. The accounts of this entertainment do not appear at length,, but we gather from a resolution of the 25th of the same month, that the subscriptions for the affair amounted to ;^2,530. los., and that £2,^Zo. los. had been expended on the dinner. The balance of ^50 was given to the Society for the Relief of Small Debtors. The feelings of relief which had produced these and other rejoicings on the abdication of Buonaparte, were rudely shaken in the following year, when Europe was astounded by the news that he had escaped from Elba and landed at Cannes. The opinions of White's at this crisis are again reflected in the Betting Book. Little else, apparently, was discussed at the Club; there are pages of the book filled with wagers on Napoleon and 1 88 The History of Whites. his fortunes. Some of the members took a very gloomy view of the situation. Chief among these was Mr. Thomas Raikes, of the "Journal," who makes numerous bets for considerable sums that Napoleon would be master of Belgium within a few months, that he would enter Berlin before the Allies entered Paris, and so forth. Waterloo, indeed, cost this gentleman a good deal of money. The croakers, however, were not in the majority. Mr. Hugh Seymour gives odds that Buonaparte would be got rid of within two years, and was not apprehensive that he would unduly expose his person in battle, for, in the event of his death in action, he concedes the stake to his opponent. Sir Christopher Cole. Sir George Talbot, as before, is quite cheerful, and looks forward to seeing Napoleon in England as a prisoner of war. In April of 1 815 he bets that he will have met him at White's within two years. Sir George never seems to have been happy unless recording a wager. A note to this particular bet draws attention to the fact that it was the hundred and fiftieth already entered in his name, and it is followed in the book by, at least, as many more. To do him justice, he won most of them. RICHARD, FIRST MARQUESS OF WELLESLEY. FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. By J Heath, after Howe. 1 89 CHAPTER XII. Changes in Rules — The origin of the Bow Window — George Raggett — Other Clubs of Raggetfs— Whist at the Roxburgh — The Bow Window — The Dandies — Lord Alvanley — His Dinners — Lord Allen — Lord Sefton — Marquess of Worcester— Ball Hughes — Thomas Raikes — The Tyranny of the Dandies — Betting at Whitens. During the first ten years of the present century no change was made in the rules of White's, still under the management of the younger Martindale; but, in 1811, the subscription was raised to eleven guineas, and, in consideration of certain alterations to be made by Martindale, the entrance fee was raised from ten to twenty guineas. Up to this time the main entrance to the Club had been in the centre of the front of the building, as shown in the drawing from an old print here given. It was now resolved to remove the entrance lower down, by converting the second window from the bottom of the house into a door, and to enlarge the morning room by taking in the old entrance hall. This gave room for an additional window. The old doorway was utilised for this purpose, and the famous "Bow Window at White's" was -built out over the entrance steps, which may still be seen supporting it. I go The History of White's. " Should Mr. Martindale not fulfil the contract to the satisfaction of the Managers of the time being," runs the minute, "the increased subscription to be withdrawn." Whether the fulfilment of the contract broke Mr. Martindale, or whether he died at this time, is uncertain. His name disappears from the records of the Club in the following year, and he was succeeded as " Master of the house " by a gentleman of the name of Raggett. Raggett was, in his way, a remarkable character. Besides White's, he owned a small Club in St. James's Square, called the Roxburgh. Here, as at White's, whist for high stakes was the rule. On one celebrated occasion four players — Messrs. Hervey Combe, Tippoo Smith, Ward, and Sir John Malcolm — sat down on. a Monday evening, played through the night, through the following Tuesday and Tuesday night, and finally separated at eleven on Wednesday morning. It is interesting to notice that the separation took place then only because Mr. Combe had to attend a: funeral. That gentleman rose a winner of thirty thousand pounds from Sir John Malcolm. On settling, " he pulled out of his pocket a handful of counters, ^.mounting to several hundred pounds, over and above the thirty thousand he had won from the Baronet, and gave them to Raggett, saying : ' I give them to you for sitting so long with us, and providing ROBERT (VISCOUNT CASTLEREAGH), SECOND MARQUESS OF LONDONDERRY. FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION Of THE CLUB. By Turner, after Sir T. Lawrence. The History of Whites. 191 us with all we required.* ' " It was the practice of the astute Raggett to attend his patrons personally whenever there was high play going on. " I make it a rule never to allow any of my servants to be present when gentle- men play at my Clubs," said he, " for it is my invariable custom to sweep the carpet after the gambling is over, and I generally find on the floor a few counters, which pays me for my trouble of sitting up. By this means I have made a decent fortune." Raggett was quick to take advantage of the stream of fashion which flowed to Brighton with the Prince of Wales. He opened a small Club on the Steyne, which was available only to members of White's and Brookes's. Raikes, in his "Journal," speaks of the excellent accom- modation provided by Raggett at Brighton during the season, and mentions that the cards and dice boxes of St. James's were not forgotten. With Raggett's management of White's began the period of the famous Bow Window. No sooner was the last workman out of the altered premises, than the new window was taken possession of by Brummell, and converted by him and his set into a very shrine of fashion, of which they constituted themselves the high priests. The bow window of White's became an institution in fashionable life at the West-end. It was from the first * Crego's "Gronow's Reminiscences," 1892, ii. 283. 192 The History of Whites. sacred ground, to which only the chosen were admitted. The leaders of the inner circle of the Club were its occupants, and to them it was tacitly relinquished by the rest. From members still living we learn that, within their memory, an ordinary frequenter of White's would as soon have thought of taking his seat on the throne in the House of Lords, as of appropriating one of the chairs in the bow window. Nice questions of etiquette arose in connection with the bow window, and were duly discussed and settled. We may give an instance. Its occupants were so much in evidence to the outside world in St. James's Street, that ladies of their acquaintance could not fail to recognise them in passing. It was decided, after anxious discussion, that no greeting should pass from the bow window or from any window in the club. As a consequence, the hat of the dandy in posses- sion was ever after firmly fixed on his head, no matter who passed. The decision, we think, was a wise one. The amenities of polite salutation would have been sadly incongruous with much that proceeded from the bow window at White's. There many a scandalous story had its origin, and very candid criticism on all that went on in St. James's Street during the London season was wont to be wafted out on the summer air through the open window. Mr. Luttrell, a member of the Club who may be presumed to have some knowledge of what passed. fji ^hTX'Zmn&fmoii!- Going to WHITE' WILLIAM, SECOND LORD ALVANLEY. From the Caricature by Dighton. The History of Whitens. 193 alludes to the practice in his poem, " Advice to Julia," published in 1820. He is describing the town in August : " Shot from yon heavenly bow at White's, No critic arrow now alights On some unconscious passer by Whose cape's an inch too low or high, Whose doctrines are unsound in hat, In boots, or trousers, or cravat ; On him who braves the shame and guilt Of gig or Tilbury ill built, Sports a barouche with panels darker Than the last shade turned out by Barker, Or canters with an awkward seat. And badly mounted, up the street. No laugh confounds the luckless girl Whose stubborn hair disdains to curl, Who, large in foot, or long in waist, Shows want of blood as well as taste. Silenced awhile that dreadful battery. Whence never issued sound of flattery ; That whole artillery of jokes. Levelled point blank at humdrum folks. Who now, no longer kept in awe, By Fashion's judges or her law. Close by the window, at their ease. Strut with what looks or clothes they please." The traditions of the bow window, begun by Brummell, were handed on by him to his dandy suc- cessors. Chief among these was Lord Alvanley. Brummell's junior by some years, he was elected to B B 194 The History of White's. White's in 1805. Captain Gronow, in his " Reminis- cences," doubts "whether the year 1789 did not produce the greatest wit of modern times in William Lord Alvanley." Lord Alvanley was the son of the first baron, the famous lawyer, Richard Pepper Arden. Arden was notorious for the irascible manner in which he conducted his cases, and his name was translated to an enquiring Frenchman, who heard him pleading, as "le Chevalier Poivre Ardent." "Parbleu," said the Frenchman, " il est bien nommd." The son inherited nothing of his father's ill temper. The sting of his wit, unlike Brummell's, was invariably disarmed by the geniality with which it was expressed. Of his great powers in this direction there seems to be no doubt. He was credited abroad, we read, with the true esprit frangais — a very unusual compliment to an Englishman. His manner, aided by a slight lisp, was, says Gronow, irresistible. Lord Alvanley, as an ofificer in the Coldstream Guards, had served with distinction at Copenhagen and in the Peninsula. He left the army on succeeding to an immense fortune, and, like so many of his contemporaries, seems to have devoted himself to getting rid of it. He was the most noted ban vivant of his day, and Wcis utterly regardless of what his dinners cost. One of his fancies was to have a cold apricot tart on his sideboard every day throughout the year. Another instance of his The History of White's. 195 prodigality was the payment of two hundred guineas to Gunter for a luncheon basket, or its equivalent, which had been forgotten in arranging a day's boating on the Thames, and which he provided at the last moment. Gunter and Lord Alvanley must have had many dealings. His advice to Gunter on the restive horse is well known. " He is so hot, my Lord, I can't hold him," said the confectioner. "Ice him, Gunter, ice him," was the reply. We are indebted to a newspaper cutting without date for the following account of a private dinner at White's, organized in peculiar circumstances, by Lord Alvanley : "It was agreed that whoever could produce the most expensive dish should dine for nothing. The winner was Lord Alvanley, whose dish was a fricassee composed entirely of the noix or small pieces at each side of the back taken from thirteen kinds of birds, among them being one hundred snipe, forty woodcocks, twenty pheasants, &c., in all about three hundred birds. The cost, including garniture, amounted to ;^io8 5s." It is not surprising to learn that this dish secured the prize for Lord Alvanley. Lord Alvanley was never known to pay cash for anything. He was asked once by the sarcastic Colonel Armstrong, who knew of this failing, what he had given for a fine horse he was riding. " Nothing," said his lordship ; "I owe Math Milton two hundred guineas for 196 The History of Whites. him." Another failing of Lord Alvaxiley's caused his friends at country houses some anxiety. He always read in bed, and would never blow out his candle. His method of extinguishing the light was usually to fling it into the middle of the room ; if this was ineffectual he would throw a pillow at it. Sometimes he would vary the proceedings by putting the burning candle bodily under his bolster. The habit becoming known at Bad- minton and elsewhere, a servant was told off to keep watch in the corridor outside his room. Another constant occupant of the bow window was Viscount Allen. " King " Allen, as he was called, like his friend Lord Alvanley, fought in the Peninsula, and greatly distinguished himself at Talavera. He was a notable figure at White's for thirty years, and much resented the entrance of bankers and merchants to the Club. He was accustomed to speak of these gentlemen as "my tradesmen." Lord Allen, popular among his own friends, was gifted with a very sharp tongue, which made many enemies, and it is safe to assume that he was responsible for many of the hard sayings for which the bow window was famous. He was not a man of large means, and at times had a difficulty in making both ends meet. Lord Allen was a great diner-out, and some uncivil remark of his to an old lady of similar temper to himself, drew from her the retort, " My Lord, your title must be as good as 'Si W H < o < CO Pi > O The History of White's. 197 board wages to you ! " A sharp retort by Count d'Orsay to some irritating chaff of Lord Allen's is also on record. The latter was remarkable for a disagreeable breath, and Mr. John Bush, entering the room at the moment, d'Orsay said, " Voila la difference entre une bonne bouche et une mauvaise haleine." Lord Allen was a confirmed cockney. During the latter part of his life it was said his only walk was from White's to Crockford's over the way and back again. It was also said that he was so accustomed to the roar of the London traffic, that to get him to sleep at Dover, where he was visiting Lord Alvanley, that nobleman hired a hackney coach to drive in front of his window at the inn all night, and sent out the boots at proper intervals to call the time and the weather, like the London watchmen. The Earl of Sefton was hardly a beau, but he was a very prominent member of White's during the Beau period. The Earl was one of the founders of the original Coaching Club, and drove a splendid team of bays. He was one of the very few tall men who have suffered from a deformity of the spine, but this notwith- standing, he was an excellent horseman, and often to be seen riding in the park. Lord Sefton was a great epicure, and prided himself on the invention of a plat made of the soft roe of the mackerel. He was one of the chief victims at Crockford's, 198 The History of White's. and is believed to have lost as much as two hundred thou- sand pounds at that establishment. And it is said that his successor honoured an acceptance of his for forty thousand pounds, held by Crockford, and presented at the Earl's death. The property in the neighbourhood of Liverpool and Manchester which he sold to meet his losses at play would to-day be valued at millions of money. Amateur coaching was much in vogue at this period, as a fashionable amusement. A colleague of Lord Sefton's in the Coaching Club was another dandy of White's, the Marquis of Worcester, afterwards the seventh Duke of Beaufort. The Marquess seems to have been popular with all classes, a great ladies' man, and one of the first figures at Almack's. Unlike many of his dandy contemporaries, he was a great sportsman. Another celebrated whip was Lord Onslow, the " Tommy Onslow " of the doggerel : " What can Tommy Onslow do ? Oh, he can drive a chaise and two. Can Tommy Onslow do no more ? Yes, he can drive a phaeton and four." Ball Hughes, the " Golden Ball," was a notable dandy of White's. He succeeded to a fortune of forty thousand a. year on the death of his uncle. Admiral Hughes, whose name he took. Hughes must have been the most inveterate gambler of his day ; he was intro- ./^X '7 "^ THOMAS, SECOND EARL OF WILTON. JIR. CHARLES TYRWHITT. MR. ALFRED MONTGOMERY. CAPTAIN EDMOND ST. JOHN MILDMAY. FROM LITHOGRAPHS Mi THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. After the Oiiginal Drawings by Count D'Orsay. The History of White's. 199 duced to Louis Napoleon as the " Wellington des joueurs," Failing cards or dice, he would play pitch and toss for large sums, and it is recorded that he and Lord Petersham were found asleep on the floor, after passing an entire night playing battledore and shuttle- cock for high stakes. Hughes seems to have been an amiable, good- natured fellow, and universally- popular. He formed himself on the model of his Colonel of the 7th Hussars, the Earl of Uxbridge. An extremely handsome man, he had singularly bad luck in his love affairs. He was rejected by three ladies in succession, his Colonel's daughter, Lady Jane Paget, Miss Floyd, afterwards Lady Peel, and Lady Caroline Churchill. Hughes finally married a Spanish lady of the ballet, named Mercadotti, whom he took off so secretly and suddenly that the audience at the Opera were awaiting her performance at the time of her disappearance. Hughes greatly injured his immense fortune by play, but he retrieved it in part by the lucky purchase of Oatlands, the place of the Duke of York in Surrey, which became valuable as building land. He died in affluence abroad. Of other dandies we cannot speak at length. The City dandy, " Apollo " Raikes, so called because he rose in the east and set in the west, the butt of the other dandies, and the author of the " Journal" of 200 The History of White's. which we have fully availed ourselves, was a prominent member of White's before his financial affairs drove him abroad. Here, too, are Berkeley Craven, who shot himself when Lord Jersey's Middleton won the Derby in 1836; "Poodle" Byng, "Kangaroo" Cooke, Sir Joseph Copley, Sir George Warrender, Dawson Damer, Henry de Ros, and many other names familiar to readers of the social history of the first part of the present century. The traditions of the dandy brother- hood were preserved by these men, and handed on to another generation, with whom they expired. If we are to believe contemporaries, the extinction of the dandy cult is not a matter of regret. The dandies, as a class, were neither amiable nor beloved. Members of White's, still living, declare that the tyranny of the dandies to those outside their circle is hardly conceivable by the present generation, and the general effect of their reign was to make the Club insufferably dull to the great majority of their fellow members. We may take leave of these gentlemen by again quoting Captain Gronow, a contemporary, but who, it is fair to say, was never admitted to the dandy circle at White's, and may have been a little prejudiced. " How insufferably odious," says the Captain, writing in i860, "with a few brilliant exceptions, were the dandies of forty years ago. They were generally middle-aged, some even elderly men, had large appetites. /A^"' -•/ -/-y---. ^ 'A"' //.i-^- JAMES, SECOND EARL OF MALMESEURY. GEORGE, TENTH EARL OF WINCHILSEA. LORD GEORGE BENTINCK. MR. C. GREVILLE. FROM LITHOGRAPHS IN THE rOSSESSION OF THE CLUB. After the Original Drawings by COUNT D'Orsay. The History of Whitens. 201 gambled freely and had no luck, and why they arrogated to themselves the right of setting up their fancied superiority on a self-raised pedestal, and despising their betters, Heaven only knows. They hated everybody and abused everybody, and would sit together in White's, bow window or the pit boxes at the Opera. They swore a good deal, never laughed, had their own particular slang, looked hazy after dinner, and had most of them been patronised at one time or other by Brummell or the Prince Regent." There are several points of difference between the bets recorded at White's during the first half of this century and those of a century earlier, noticed in a former chapter. The most striking is in the amounts staked. Bets of a hundred guineas and over occur only at rare intervals ; the majority are for sums ranging from one to twenty-five. The increase of their friends' families is still a favourite subject with members, but, as we have seen, there is much more reference to passing events in the Betting Book than formerly. Some of these bets are of a vague character. Here, for instance, Mr. Talbot bets " a certain gentleman a certain sum, that a certain event does not take place within a certain time." On the other hand, there is a pleasing comprehensiveness about Mr. Butler's under- taking to name the winners of the Derby and Oaks, and the new Bishop. Then we find Lord Alvanley c c 202 The History of White's. " bets Mr. Goddard five guineas that Mr. G. Talbot does not die a natural death." Mr. Talbot retaliates by recording his opinion that " Lord Alvanley is not worth three shillings this day two years. If a three- shilling token," says a note, "a drawn bet." The notes are laconic, and often significant. One draws attention to the fact that Mr. Brummell's bets are still unpaid, and we are told in another that Colonel Cooke (a party to numerous wagers at this time), is " bankrupt, and pays a shilling in the pound." A distressed Baronet is the subject of a couple of curious wagers. Lord Alvanley bets Sir Joseph Copley five guineas " that a certain Baronet understood between them " will be in very embarrassed circumstances within a given date. " If he is observed to borrow small change of the chairmen or waiters," runs the bet, " Sir Joseph to be reckoned to lose." This may have been the " certain worthy Baronet " about whom Mr. Methuen bets Colonel Stanhope ten to one that he " does not of necessity part with his gold ice pails before this day twelvemonth. The ice pails being found at a pawnbroker's will not entitle Colonel Stanhope to receive his ten guineas." When George IV. ascended the throne of his fathers, the movements of Queen Caroline began to attract great attention. A member of the Club, Charles Greville of the " Memoirs," tells us that the discussion of the Queen's affairs became an intolerable nuisance in society, and that J ■' /'"■; r^" SIR G. WOMBWELL, THIRD BARONET. CAPTAIN J. HOME PURVES. CHARLES, SIXTH EARL OF TANKERVILLE. RICHARD, FIRST MARQUESS OF WELLESLEY. FROM LITHOGRAPHS IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. After the Original Drawings by COUNT D'Orsav. ONE of the RAKES of LONDON /at ^>rj Z±' 'Z--^. 2: J} --i-c-f * Mr. THOMAS RAIKES. From the Caricature by Dighton. The History of White*s. 203 no other subject was talked of. " Great sums of money have been won and lost on the Queen's return," says he, " for there was much betting at the clubs." The old King died on the 29th of January, 1820, and a week later we find Mr. Thomas Raikes betting fifty guineas with Mr. Horace Beckford "that a certain person understood will be in England in six months," and many other bets on the same subject follow. They were soon determined, for the Queen came to London on the 6th of June. " I rode as far as Greenwich to meet her," says Greville. " The road was thronged with an immense multitude the whole way from Greenwich to Westminster Bridge. The Queen looked exactly as she did before she left England, and seemed neither dispirited nor dismayed. As she passed by White's she bowed and smiled to the men who were in the window." 204 CHAPTER XIII. Whites under George Raggett — The Candidates' Books — Blackballing by the Dandies — Probable reason — Expansion of Club Life — Instances of particular Blackballings — Reaction — General Meeting — The Special Committee of 1833 — Drastic Changes in Rules — Famous Foreign Members of White's — Talleyrand— Contemporary Notice of Whitens in "■News and Sunday Herald" — Crockford's — Its effect on the Clubs — Count d'Orsay. Looking back to the year 1813, when Raggett took over the management of White's, we find that the Club increased its number to five hundred. There was no change of importance in the rules; but the three Managers whom we saw appointed under Martindale were swelled into a Committee of Management, with power to act for the Club in its dealings with Raggett. The dinner hour we notice getting gradually later, and the price of the meal was fixed at seventeen shillings a head without wine. The event of the most interest during Raggett's early management was the opening of the first of the Candidates' Books in 18 13. In these books, as is the custom in all clubs to-day, the names of the candidate and his proposer and seconder were entered, and the result of the ballot recorded. In the first of them the WILLIAM, SECOND VISCOUNT MELBOURNE. FROM A DRAWING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. By C. Turner, after Hayter. The History of White s. 205 number of black balls by which a candidate was rejected was also given, but after a time this was discontinued as invidious and unnecessary. The Candidates' Books reveal in a remarkable manner the height to which blackballing was carried at White's under the sway of the Dandies. For a single election recorded during the first twenty years after the books were opened, there are whole pages of rejections. " Five balls," " eight balls," " fifteen balls," are the laconic entries announcing the failure of hundreds of men to gain entrance to White's every year. Many pages bear witness to the chagrin of the proposers and seconders of unsuccessful candidates. Their names are not only crossed out, but painted out in black ink, or else cut bodily from the page. The middle column, with its eternal motto of " five balls, " is the only record of these ballots. Politics had nothing to do with these wholesale rejections. The traditions of White's and Brookes's during the rivalry of Pitt and Fox doubtless survived in some measure, and made it natural for a Tory to choose the former, and a Whig the latter club, for his entrance to London life ; but it is evident that in a club with such names on its list as Peel, Grey, Goulburn, Palmerston, Wellington, Aberdeen, Graham, and Melbourne, politics did not count for much at the ballots. 206 The History of Whitens. We think that the ultra exclusiveness of White's under the Dandies was a protest by those gentlemen against the great expansion in club life which was taking place. White's and Brookes's were no longer the only clubs of importance at the West-end. Boodle's and Arthur's were attracting numbers of country gentlemen. The " Sir John's " mustered in such force at the former, that it is said half the members in the coffee room looked up when " Sir John's carriage " was announced. The Guards, dissatisfied with the accommodation and the company of their old rendezvous at the St. James's Coffee House, had founded a club of their own. Wattiers, under the auspices of the Prince Regent, was attracting many of the gamesters from Brookes's and the Cocoa Tree. Daubigne's and Graham's were other clubs of less note, but frequented by men of fashion. In the midst of this popularisation of clubs and club life. White's may have resolved to wrap itself closer than ever in its cloak of exclusiveness. Whatever the reason, this was the result. Captain Gronow, speaking of the clubs we have mentioned, says: "They were all composed almost exclusively of the aristocracy, and of these White's was decidedly the most difficult of entry." After looking at the Candidates' Books there is no difficulty in agreeing with him. The rank of the candidate seems to have mattered little—the men by whom he was proposed and seconded HENRY, THIRD VISCOUNT PALMERSTON. FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. By F. Bacon, after E. B. Morris. The History of White's. 207 less. Lord Castlereagh, Lord Duncannon and Lord Dufferin were each blackballed three times in 181 3, Sir Robert Peel twice in the same year. A little later Lords Sefton and Alvanley were, as we have seen, both influential members of the Club, yet their candidates were rejected time after time. Mr. Berkeley Craven, we notice, was rejected sixteen times before his final election. Mr., afterwards Sir George, Wombwell was up nearly twenty times before he 'gained entrance to the Club. Other candidates with less persistence and more diffi- dence were rejected every season by the score. The proceedings at the ballots became almost grotesque. " We must pill that man," a member would say ; "it will do him good." " We really cannot have that fellow," said another; " I saw him wearing a white tie in the evening." Sometimes there were personal grudges or family quarrels, which kept out candidates for years. Sir George Wombwell's continued rejection, for instance, was the result of a vow by one of his Yorkshire neighbours with whom his family had some misunderstanding, that, so long as he lived, young Wombwell should not enter White's. Later, Charles Greville and Lord George Bentinck had some difference about a turf transaction. Greville was anxious for the election of Viscount Brackley, afterwards Earl of Ellesmere ; Lord George was equally determined that Viscount Brackley, as Greville's nominee, should remain 2o8 The History of White's. outside the Club. He never failed to attend the ballot and drop in his black ball. Lord George was accustomed to take his dinner very late. He usually dined at the Club at eleven o'clock, at which hour the ballots also took place. On one occasion, when Lord Brackley was up for election, Greville was delighted to find, as he thought, that Lord George was for once absent. "Its all right this time," said he, as the ballot box was brought to him ; ■' Bentinck's down stairs at dinner, and I shall get Brackley in at last." "Will you?" said a voice near him. He had not noticed Lord George, sitting beside him on the sofa. Particular ballots often aroused much feeling. The son of a famous financier was proposed as a member, and all his friends at the Club attended at the ballot to support him. As eleven o'clock approached the Club became abnormally full. Members came into the drawing room, where the ballot took place, who had not been seen in the Club for years, and it was soon evident to the proposer and seconder that they could not all have come to support their candidate. These gentlemen took their stand by the ballot box, and as each of the strangers stepped up to record his vote, said the one to the other, " Here comes another assassin." -Incidents of this sort no doubt produced reprisals ; GEORGE, FOURTH EARL OF ABERDEEN. FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. By S. Cod SINS, after Sir T. Lawrence, The History of White's. 209 proposers whose candidates were rejected would very naturally take good care that the nominees of other members shared the same fate. But it is probable that the wholesale blackballing which made the difficulty of entrance to White's notorious, was the work of a comparatively small band of Dandy reactionaries. It required very little effort on the part of these gentlemen to prevent any undue increase in the membership of White's. The attendance at each ballot of one or two of them, untroubled with any sentimental weakness for the feelings of the victims, was sufficient to effect that purpose. Whatever the reason, the game went merrily on for twenty years. The inevitable consequence followed. The Club became so reduced in numbers that its position was a source of anxiety to all members not included in the blackballing faction. How little the doings of the " assassins " were in sympathy with the Club at large is evident from a requisition addressed to the Committee in 1833, which demanded a general meeting of the Club to consider its position. The general meeting took place in March of that year, under the presidency of Lord Grantham, and members were prepared with a heroic remedy for the existing state of things. The meeting at once did away with a rule requiring the names of fifteen members to any proposition altering the rules, and appointed a Special D D 2IO The History of Whitens. Committee to sit for a year, with full powers to act as they thought fit in the interests of the Club. They were empowered during their year of management to cancel, add to or revise old rules, and were given absolute authority to fill up all vacancies in the Club list by ballot amongst themselves. The members of this Committee were Lord Sefton, Lord Grantham, Lord Wharncliffe, Lord Foley, Colonel Lyster, Mr. John Mills and Colonel Berkeley Drummond. They at once met, and began their labours by devoting themselves to filling up vacancies in the Club. During the season of its year of management this Com- mittee added nearly a hundred new members to White's, without overstepping the limit of five hundred already fixed. It rejected no single candidate; the names of any about which the Committee had doubts were carried forward for consideration by the Club at large. When, punctually at the expiration of their year of office, the recommendations of these gentlemen were accepted by the Club in general meeting, it must have been evident to the blackballers that their game was up. We have seen that one black ball had been an exclusion to a candidate throughout the whole period in which there is any record of election at White's. The Committee of 1833 softened this regulation. Since that time two balls have been necessary to reject him. Another rule of great importance, directed against THE RIGHT HON. GEORGE CANNING. FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. By C. Turner, after Sir Thomas Lawrence. The History of White s. 2 1 1 the efforts of the blackballers, was one which added to the limited powers of the Standing Committee authority to suspend the ordinary ballots by the Club, and fill up ten vacancies in the list by ballot among themselves, if, on the first of June, twenty or more vacancies had occurred in the membership of White's. These rules were not allowed to pass without a final protest by the reactionaries. A little more than a month after they had been adopted by the Club, the Committee received a requisition to rescind the latter one. This they declined to do. A minute points out that the rule was made to " prevent the Club from falling again into the same state in which it was in March, 1833," and they refused to take upon themselves "the responsibility of rescinding it." The rule never was rescinded ; it was the first step towards placing the election of members entirely in the ■hands of a Committee, as is the case to-day. This and other enactments of the Committee of 1833 brought the Club safely through a crisis in its history, and they mark the inevitable swing of the pendulum from the excesses of the blackballers of 1813-33. Another rule of the 1833 Committee was one which admitted without entrance fee, as supernumerary members of the Club, all Foreign Ministers accredited to the Court of St. James's. This rule added some interesting names to the Club list. The first Minister admitted under it 212 The History of White's. was the famous Talleyrand. It would be superfluous to say much here about this celebrated man, who, beginning life as a priest of the Catholic Church, preserved his neck, and made a vast fortune, amidst the turbulence of the revolutions, empires and monarchies of the France of his day. There is an interesting passage in Raikes' "Journal," which tells us of Lord Alvanley reading the manuscript of the Prince's " Memoirs," while visiting him at the Chiteau Valen9aye : " The Memoirs of Talleyrand," said Lord Alvanley, "whenever published, must be a valuable acquisition to the history of Europe and to the study of human nature." These memoirs, lately published, which the world awaited with great interest, have not fulfilled expectations. Talleyrand's good sayings have been quoted indefi- nitely. A bitter one was that in which he replied to the inquisitive Girardin, who suffered from an ugly squint. " Comment vont les affaires. Prince?" asked De Girardin. " Comme vous voyez. General, tout de travers," said Talleyrand. A funny one was his advice to Count Flahault, who also came to White's under the Ambassa- dor's rule. Flahault was very bald, and expressed a desire to find a rare present for a lady of his acquaintance. "Give her a lock of your hair," said Talleyrand. In the " News and Sunday Herald " of December loth, 1835, appears an account of an interview of a representative of that paper with some gentleman pro- CHARLES, SECOND EARL GREY. FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. By T. Cousins, after Sir T. Lawrence. The History of White's. 213 fessing an intimate acquaintance with life at White's in that year. We have no means of knowing who this gentleman was, but we quote his account of the Club as an early specimen of the reported interview which has since become so common in journalism, and as an interesting, though perhaps somewhat imaginary, account of White's in 1835. This gentleman had apparently supplied similar information as to the doings at other clubs at the time. This particular essay appears under the heading " The Clubs of London, No. II.— White's":— " You rather bored me about Brookes's when we last talked on this subject," says the interviewer ; " pray what is that building at the opposite side, at the corner of Jermyn Street, where one sees so many well-dressed men at the window ?" " That is White's Club House, called in the olden time — I speak of sixty years ago— White's Chocolate House. White's was formerly, and indeed until three or four years ago, the grand rendezvous of the Tory party, but it has since been in a measure superseded by the Carlton, where the Party congregate under the new name of Conservative." "Is White's, then, no longer Tory ? " " Very nearly as much so as ever, for there are not above a dozen Whigs or Liberals among the members. Previous to 1827 White's was composed of the dlite of 214 The History of White's. the Liverpool majorities of both Houses, but in that year Canning became Prime Minister, and as he was supported by a number of Whigs, who opened the door of Brookes's to a few Liberal Tories, so the Liberal Tories, not to be outdone, opened the doors of White's to a few stray Whigs." "And who were these stray Whigs, as you call them, who thus got admitted to White's ?" "Why, there were my Lords Cowper, Tankerville and Sefton, Paul Methuen, called by the wags at White's the Emperor Paul, and a few others such as Tom Buncombe and Alvanley, who are more bon vivants than politicians." Many of these "stray Whigs" were members of White's long before 1827, and their admittance to the Club was in no way connected with politics. Sir Paul Methuen was elected quite at the beginning of the century, Lord Alvanley in 18 14, Lord Sefton in 1818, Mr. Buncombe in 1821. Against this gentleman's opinion of the political character of White's, we may quote such a prominent member as Mr. Thomas Raikes on the same subject. Writing in 1832 of the foundation of the Carlton, he says : " The object is to have a counter- balancing meeting to Brookes's, which is purely a Whig reunion ; White's, which was formerly devoted to the other side, being now of no colour, and frequented indiscriminately by all." LORD GEORGE BENTINCK. FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. By S. W. Reynolds, after Samuel Lane. The History of White's. 215 We proceed with the article in the " News and Sunday Herald " ; — " Have these men any important influence in the Club ? " " Not in the least. Lord Cowper is greatly liked as a quiet, gentlemanly, well-informed man ; so is my Lord Tankerville. As to my Lord Sefton, his bustling news- seeking air, his relish for and knowledge of good cookery, render him everywhere rather a favourite. Methuen, too, is a man who loves good cheer, and he is borne with, notwithstanding his shrill voice, egregious vanity, and extreme opinions. Tom is a madcap whom one cannot be vexed with ; and as to that pleasant but too-fat peer, 'Age cannot wither him, nor custom stale his infinite variety.' He is received with open arms ; but it would be wrong to suppose that these men exercise any influence in the Club. The true Tories of the establish- ment, whenever they talk over politics with such of the Whigs as may be of the Club, of course discuss them with courtesy and good humour, and without any of the asperity of party As to Lord Alvanley, they look upon him as a sort of tertium quid, before whom it is allowable to say anything ; but the others rarely drop in, unless to hear, on particular occasions, what certain of the Conservative leaders think on a subject which starts up suddenly — such, for instance, as Burdett's letter to the ' Times,' or Raphael's first epistle on the Carlo w 2i6 The History of White's. affair, or a version of a story or public event, which is more authentic at White's than Brookes's." " Would it be exact to say that White's is an exclusively Tory Club ? " " Why, no ; for the reasons I have just been stating to you. There are, perhaps, a dozen men not Tories who belong to it; but, for the rest, its members are exclusively Tory — men on town, with no political opinions, or who do not give themselves the trouble of forming any ; but if these fine gentlemen were driven to the necessity of pronouncing themselves, there can be no doubt that they would, to a man, declare for the Tories." "Is White's, then, a fashionable Club?" " Extremely so ; indeed, after Crockford's, I should say it was the most fashionable Club in England, though there was formerly, and there is now, an indisposition to let very young men into it. The famous bow window, however, in St. James's Street, discloses during the season some of the best-dressed men of the day : the Chesterfields, the Foresters, the Ossultons, the Dawson Damers, the Aliens, the Wombwells, the Castlereaghs, the Beauchamps, Lygons, &c." " But do any men of political eminence belong to it?" " Oh, yes ; there are the Duke of Wellington, Lords Aberdeen, EUenborough, Rosslyn, Sir Robert Peel, Sir WILLIAM, FIFTH DUKE OF PORTLAND. FROM rt. DRAWING IN THR POSSESSION OF THE CLUF'.. The History of White's. 217 G. Murray, Lord Francis Egerton,Wharnclifife, Harrowby, Sandon, Canterbury, Ashley, Sir G. Clark, Mr. Herries, Mr. George Dawson, &c." " Does Peel ever go there ? " " Yes, frequently ; on a Wednesday when out of office, and oftener still on a Saturday. The late Speaker, too, often visited the Club on Saturdays and Sundays." " Does much play go on ? " " Not so much as formerly, though there is often a rubber of whist, and sometimes 6cart6. For play, how- ever, you must go opposite, to Crockford's. White's is more a Club of political gossip and private scandal than a gambling Club. Among the political gossips, the greatest are George Dawson, that most disagreeable of men, Yonham, Charles Ross, Thomas Sherlock Gooch, and Billy Holmes, who does not now go there so rhuch as formerly. As raconteurs, there are Alvanley, the slyly solemn Allen, Archibald Macdonald, Tom Duncombe, and sometimes the Emperor Paul and my Lord Sefton." " Are political measures and motions ever arranged at White's?" " Yes, just in the same manner as at Brookes's ; but since the Reform Bill has passed there are comparatively very few members of the Lower House at White's ; indeed, so scarce are M.P.'s, even during the sessions, that it is sometimes difficult to get a frank there ; and E £ 2i8 The History of Whites. now it would be impossible, unless for a stray peer who drops in occasionally. There is a woful falling-off in the number of country gentlemen ; and, besides, the Carlton Club has wofully injured White's." " How is that ? " "Why, White's, like Brookes's, is a very old and, therefore, a very dear Club, and has few of the appliances and means of more modern Clubs. For instance, it has neither warm baths nor dressing rooms, nor can you have a breakfast or dinner in the same style of comfort and economy as at the United Service, the Naval, the Union, the Travellers, or even at that philosophic dirty- shirt concern called the Athenaeum. In truth, it is meant as a conversational exchange, where you may write your letters on exquisite satin post, with Toussaint's best wax candles, for the men of White's love luxury too much to patronise the lamps which the unwashed and filthy-fingefed litterati of the Athenaeum so much delight in." " Have you a good supply of papers and books at White's ? " "A tolerably fair supply of papers, but no books, excepting a few reviews and magazines. And as to news- papers and periodicals, no one at the tip-top Clubs reads either the one or the other. I myself have heard Burdett say (laying hold of the ' Standard '), ' Lord ! I never knew there was a paper of that name ' ; and, strange ;)w i w I- , '?*'B'^y'' - ' -*-"- ' -" ' " " ■ j' l'TiF^^'*''" ■"' JlfS c^--e-^^ 4^.*-^ tylCi,'if..,i^ ^^.-^^^5>sCi COLONEL J. GURWOOD. THOMAS, FIRST EARL OF LICHFIELD. MR. GEORGE HERBERT. VISCOUNT CANTELUPE. From Lithographs in the possession of the Club, after the original Drawings by Couxr D'Orsay. The History of Whites. 219 enough, I have often seen him reading Cobbett very attentively. The most relentless reader of newspapers at the St. James's Club is a peer with as pretty an Irish brogue as O'Connell — Daniel." "Who do you consider the best-dressed man at White's ? You say there are some well-dressed men among them." " Colonel Dawson Damer is, to my mind, the most gentlemanly dressed man in the Club." " Is that the man who was second to Alvanley in the affair with Morgan O'Connell ? " "The very same." "And are they all, then, dandies at White's?" " No ; Bonham, Peel's great confidant, is one of the slovenliest men in England ; and Holmes is a very filthy pig-" " Are any literary men members of White's ? " " None, except Croker. They are considered as vermin in the fashionable Clubs. It is not as chez vous, where literary men are courted, and are (to use the happy language of the 'Times') 'presentable, dinnerable, waltz- able.' In our fashionable Clubs they are thought canaille. Moore, it is true, is a member of Brookes's — a very new one, however ; but Moore is a Whig as well as a poet. So, too, is Rogers ; but Rogers is a banker as well as a Whig ; so, too, was the Hon. W. Spencer, but he was a man of birth and blood, as well as a person 2 20 The History of Whitens. of taste. Horace Walpole was of Brookes's, but he could not be called an author by profession." "Are any foreigners members of White's?" " None, that I am aware of. Foreigners are for the most part of the Travellers', or of Crockford's." "What character has Peel at White's?" " They don't like him a bit, though they do him much lip service. The fact is. Peel is a cold-hearted, plausible, specious humbug ; but, there is not much talk against him. in the Club, for three of his brothers and four of his most intimate friends are members." " Has not the eldest son of the Duke of Cleveland seceded from Brookes's, and become a member of White's and the Carlton ? " " I believe Lord Darlington is of- White's, and know he is no longer of the Whig party." " Is Lord Stanley or Sir J. Graham of White's ? " " No." " Are there any scenes connected with White's ? " " None ; almost all the present fellows of White's are Whigs or ex Whigs, and their debauches never proceed beyond a few bottles of burgundy or champagne. A few years ago there was a young guardsman of the Club (and a Whig, too) who used to get drunk on small beer, but he is no longer in it, and it is recorded of Peel, that he used, some eighteen or twenty years ago, to draw caricatures of the passers-by with Vesey Fitzgerald. ■:Z.^^^^'^^^^^-^6^ yf.-Y T „4?&- /s ^^,M'' THE HON. G. EARRINGTON. HENRY, SEVENTH DUKE OF BEAUFORT. THE HON. C. WELD FORESTER. THE HON. AUGUSTUS VILLIERS. FROM LITHOGRAPHS IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. After the Original Drawings by Count D'Orsay. The History of White s. 221 But these days are now past. If it were not for the quaint stories of Allen, the drollery of Alvanley, the gamesome twaddle of Wombwell, the noisy gaiety of Master Tom, and the hollow sepulchral note of Sefton, the Club would be as dull and decorous as ditchwater, for there is little fellowship and no heart within the walls. I must, however, say for the Tories of White's, that whenever any one of them has a motion on in the Commons, his brother clubbists go down, not only to vote with him, but to cheer him, and you cannot conceive of what value the latter service is to a young speaker. As to the Whigs, they never go down to support each other, and they never cheer a young man ; on the contrary, there is the foolish .... the pert coxcomb .... and the lugubrious jackanapes .... who, out of good will to our excellent Ministers shall be name- less, behind the Speaker's Chair, to cough, or laugh, or sneer him down. When Lord Althorp led the House, he was frequently obliged to reprimand these ill-natured men, who are held in contempt by all parties ; and, by none more than the honest Whigs and straight- forw'ard Radicals." The concluding allusion to ill-natured men is comic from a writer who has filled columns with remarks about pert coxcombs, lugubrious jackanapes and specious humbugs. We do not think this gentleman could have been the companion of men who ever met at 222 The History of Whites. White's. The tone of his communications to the reporter, and his mention of several men as members who were never elected, drives us to the conclusion that this article is one of those interesting outside references to the Club which we have had occasion to notice several times during the course of our history. Crockford's, which the writer mentions as the head-quarters of high play, was at this time a very important institution in fashionable life at the West-end. It was the speculation of a man who gave his name to the club, and who had begun life as a fishmonger near Temple Bar. Benjamin Crockford seems to have been a sporting character from the first. While in the fish business he was accustomed to stake a few shillings nightly at a low gaming house kept by a George Smith in King's Place ; later he was lucky in a turf transaction. His first venture as a gaming house proprietor was the purchase, for a hundred pounds, of a fourth share in a hell at No. 5, King Street. His partners here were men named Abbott, Austin and Holdsworth, and their opera- tions were not above suspicion. Afterwards Crockford, in partnership with two others, opened a French hazard bank at 81, Piccadilly, and here again there was foul play. The bank cleared ;^20o,ooo in a very short time ; false dice were found on the premises and exhibited in a shop window in Bond Street for some days, and Crockford was sued by numbers of his victims, but ,-2^'a--5^ ULICK, FIRST MARQUESS OF CLANRICARDE. ADMIRAL H. S. ROUS. RICHARD, SIXTH VISCOUNT POWERSCOURT. THE HON. C. SPENCER COWPER. FROM LITHOGRAPHS IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. AftiT the Origiaal Drawings by Count D'Orsay. The History of White's. 223 took care to compromise every action before it came into Court.* With a large sum of money gained in these trans- actions, Crockford, still known as "The Fishmonger," started the famous Crockford 's Club at No. 50, James's Street, now the Devonshire Club. Gambling, pure and simple, was the object of the establishment ; there was no pretence of any other. Hazard was the raison d'etre of the place, and there it reached a height never known, even in the palmy days of White's and Brookes's. "It is no exaggeration to say," says Gronow, " that ' Crockey's ' absorbed the entire ready money of the contemporary generation of men of fashion and fortune." We have mentioned the losses of Lord Sefton and of Mr. Ball Hughes at Crockford's ; their cases were not at all exceptional. Mr. George Payne told Sir Augustus Webster, a present member of White's whom he saw at Eton, that he remembered meeting his grandfather Sir Godfrey on the steps of Crockford's, who told him that he had just experienced "a facer." The "facer" was the loss of ninety thousand pounds at a sitting. The establishment of Crockford's considerably affected the other Clubs. The astute proprietor of the establishment was nominally in partnership with " two * It is only right to say that there was never any suspicion of unfair play at " Crockford's," where the bulk of his fortune was made. 2 24 The History of White's. sporting noblemen," and it was announced from the first that members of White's, Brookes's, Boodle's, and the Guards' Clubs were considered eligible for the new club. Crockford got together a " Committee of Management," composed of well-known gentlemen from these Clubs ; but their functions were restricted to the election of members, and to the framing of rules connected with social matters at the club. With the regulation of the hazard tables or its profits, the Committee had nothing whatever to do. Thus started in St. James's Street, Crockford did all he could to make his club attractive. His suppers were of the first quality, and supplied gratis. The celebrated chef Ude presided over the cookery, and there was no lack of wines of the finest vintages. Crockford's patrons were all men of rank and breeding, the utmost decorum was observed, and society at the club was of the most pleasant and fashionable character. There are members of White's who remember Crockford's in its glory. There was no smoking room, "and in the summer even- ings," says one of them, " we used to stand outside in the porch, drinking champagne and seltzer, with our cigars, and looking at the people going home from parties or the Opera. White's, except in the afternoons, was deserted, members naturally going across the way, where there was a first-rate supper with wine of unexceptionable quality provided free of cost." Crockford was well .,/^ /i-^t:^^ y.fj- -J MR. HENRY LUTTRELL. MR. FREDERICK BYNG. MR. BALL HUG?IES. JOSHUA, SIXTH VISCOUNT ALLEN. FROM LITHOGRAPHS IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. After the Original Drawings by Count D'Orsay. The History of White's. 225 repaid for his liberality in these matters. By the profits of the hazard table he realised in the course of a few years the enormous sum of a million two hundred thousand pounds. Prominent members of White's who were usually to be met at Crockford's were Lord Anglesey, Lord Raglan, Colonel Armstrong, Mr. John Wilson Croker, Sir Joseph Copley, Lord Alvanley, Lord Sefton, Lord Allen, Mr. Ball Hughes, Mr. George Payne, Lord Chesterfield. Talleyrand, Prince Esterhazy, and General Alava were noted members of the corps diplomatique, and the Duke of Wellington often put in an appearance. Another very prominent figure at Crockford's was the Comte d'Orsay. The Count, to whom we are indebted for many of the portraits of his contemporaries amongst the members of White's, made several attempts to enter the Club, but without success. He was cer- tainly very popular amongst the men of his day, and it was probably the irregularity of his domestic affairs which kept him out of White's. D'Orsay was an officer of the Corps de Garde, and in the best Parisian society, when he met Lady Blessing- ton. He formed a very strong attachment to that lady, at once threw up his commission, and followed her to Rome. The fact of having resigned just before the French expedition to Spain in 1823 made his reception by his brother officers at Paris on his return from Rome a very F F 226 The History of White's. cool one. He then followed Lady Blessington to England, and married Lord Blessington's daughter by a former wife. This marriage was not a success ; the pair soon separated, and D'Orsay, after the death of Lord Blessington, took up his abode at Gore House. The parties at Gore House were frequented by all the men of the day famous in art and literature, as well as by the leading wits. Louis Napoleon, another distinguished man who is said to have longed in vain for admittance to White's, dined at Lady Blessington's two or three times a week during his residence in England. The circumstances of the Gore House manage prevented many ladies being of the company ; among the few, however, was Mrs. Disraeli, the wife of the statesman. D'Orsay was soon over head and ears in debt, and eventually was only able to appear to the outside world at the Opera on Saturday evenings, just as it emptied at midnight, after the Queen's writ had ceased to run. The well-known portraits of his acquaintances were drawn for Mitchell, the proprietor of the theatrical box office, and the lithographic copies were sold by him at five shillings apiece, as a means of Somewhat reducing his bill against the Count for Opera boxes. , ( l^i.-L.-^ .c^-C-cfL— /?y4 LORD FREDERICK FITZCLARENCE. SIR RAINALD KNIGIITLEY, THIRD BART. GENERAL SIR WILLOUGHEY COTTON. COUNT D'ORSAY. From the Lithographs by COUNT D'Orsay in the possession of the Club. 227 CHAPTER XIV. Uneventful period at White's under George Raggett — His death — Henry Raggett — Complaints to the Committee— Henry Raggett's death — Amicable Relations between the Club and the Raggett Family acknowledged — The elder Percival — Smoking at Whites — Resistance by the Old School— The Effect of their Action — The Prince of Wales and Whites — Unsettled State of Affairs under the younger Percival — The Present Management. Our history has now arrived at a period which presents very little for comment. The troublous times which we glanced at in the last chapter were set at rest by the enactments of the Committee of 1833, and were succeeded by a period of calm, in which nothing occurred to ruffle the even course of events at White's under the manage- ment of George Raggett. There is a business-like and prosperous air about the entries in the Club records during the Thirties ; the Club had been filled again by the new rules, and from the absence of any record of communications between the Committee and the " Master of the house," it is clear that Raggett was giving satis- faction and doing well at the Club. Raggett died in 1 844, possessed of a decent fortune, ■ which included the freehold of the Club premises. Shortly before his death he had handed over the management to his son Henry, on a year of probation. 2 28 The History of WMie's. The young man's management during that year had been satisfactory to all parties, and the old gentleman's death occurring in the meantime, his executors, with the con- currence of the Club Committee, granted a lease of the house to Henry Raggett. We-" may note that by a stipu- lation in his will George Raggett gave the Committee a refusal of a lease of the Club premises, in case his son failed in his trial, or chose another walk of life. Under the first years of Henry Raggett's manage- ment the uneventful period at White's continued. There is nothing to chronicle. We notice in 1848 that the Club in general meeting decided, in answer to an appeal by the Rector of St. James's for the local charities, to add five members to the list, and to devote one-half of the entrance fees to the good Vicar's fund. They bound themselves at the same time to a future annuity of fifty pounds for the same purpose. But this decision was dis- pleasing to the Standing Committee. These gentlemen discovered an informality in the general meeting, and rescinded the resolution. As a compromise they ordered a list of the charities to be placed in the morning room, and we have no doubt that members' subscriptions supplied the place of the sum irregularly voted by the general meeting. Things went on much as usual until 1850. In that year the Club received a letter from Raggett, stating that "circumstances had recently occurred, which, in his H -1 < > Pi w « to w w D u ^ u u '^ o w 113 a H I— I 0» g § Q a W o O The History of Whites. 229 humble judgment, rendered it desirable that a change should shortly be made in the management of the Club." The nature of the circumstances is not stated. Raggett in very general terms declared his opinion that the welfare of the Club was concerned in his proposal, and concluded his moderate and respectful letter, with an earnest appeal to the Committee for their advice and assistance. At the same time he protested his gratitude for " the long encouragement and liberal support which had enabled his father and himself to maintain the high reputation and respectability which the Club had attained." At the meeting called to consider the matter, Raggett attended and made a statement, but the circumstances which called forth his letter were still left unrecorded. The meeting refused to accept his resignation, and appointed a sub-committee to confer with " Mr. Raggett as to the future management of the Club." We can give a shrewd guess at the nature of Raggett's disquietude by the recommendations of this sub-committee. They reported: "Mr. Raggett has suggested that he be not required to make advances of money for any game of cards or play, or to give the unlimited credit for house dinner accounts, which has hitherto exposed him to considerable pecuniary loss." The Club agreed with these suggestions, and for the future required menibers to pay for any advances of 230 The History of White's. card counters before leaving the house. They also limited credit for house dinner accounts to the liberal term of six months. The matter did not rest here. A few weeks later the following notice was placed on the chimney-piece of the morning room : " A report having prevailed that Mr. Raggett was lately obliged to proceed at law against a member for a debt of ^140 advanced at play, and that payment was resisted by a plea that the money was not recoverable as having been lost at a common gambling house, we, the undersigned members of White's, in the event of the above-mentioned report being true, and no sufficient explanation having been given of the affair, request the Committee, if the person alluded to is still a member, to write to him desiring that he will withdraw his name, having publicly brought such an unfounded charge against the Club. (Signed) "W. Lyon. G. Bentinck. Redesdale. Foley. Philip Dundas. Q. Dick." After due enquiry into this unpleasant matter it appeared that the solicitor employed by the member referred to had been alone responsible for the offensive JOHN, FIRST EARL REDESDALE. FROM A DRAWING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE CLUB. The History of White's. 231 plea. The Committee reported that "they find great irregularity and delay had taken place in the settlement of the account, which was only liquidated after the commencement of an action by Mr. Raggett. The member in question has distinctly denied any intention to evade the ultimate discharge of the debt on the ground of illegality, and the Cpmmittee see no reason to believe that he was cognizant of the plea put forward by the solicitor ' that the money sought to be recovered was lost in a common gambling house.' " No other event marks the management of White's by Henry Raggett. That management ended with his death in 1859, and with him died the last of the proprietors of the Club who were also the owners of the freehold of the Club building. The conduct of the business of White's by the Raggetts had been satisfactory to the Club throughout, and in some communications with the solicitors of Henry Raggett's sisters, to whom the property passed on his death, we find the satisfactory nature of the relations between the family and the Club placed on record. The Committee of 1859 " begged to express their sense of the satisfactory manner in which the business of the Club has so long been conducted by Mr. Raggett and his father." Immediately after their brother's death, the Miss Raggetts began to look out for a Manager for the Club who might be acceptable to the Committee. They found 232 The History of White's. this gentleman in Mr. Percival of Wansford. There was some enquiry at the time as to the terms upon which the Miss Raggetts would grant a lease to the Club itself ; but the proposal came to nothing, and in June, 1859, Percival succeeded Henry Raggett as Manager of White's. Under Percival's early management affairs at White's proceeded smoothly, but events were ap- proaching which were to have a very marked effect on its history. With these events the practice of smoking at White's had much to do, and we may here glance at the progress of the habit at the Club. There is no allusion to tobacco in the Club records until the year 1845, when it was decided to provide a room for smokers. Up to that year, we may take it, the cigar had not been seen at White's. Snuff was the only form of tobacco with which the beaux of a preceding generation had regaled themselves, but by this time smoking was becoming general among the younger men of fashion. It was still incorrect to be seen with a cigar in the streets, but the habit was growing a common one in private, although, even at country houses, it was usual for the smokers to retire to the stables or kitchens. The great influx of foreigners to the Exhibition of 1851 removed the ban upon smoking in public. Among these foreigners were numbers of men of rank and assured position, who were constantly to be seen smoking in the streets and other MR. H. PERCIVAL. Manager of White's, 1859-82. FROM A PHOTOGRAPH. '^^^/.^■'J^r**!*^'*^^^^'**''**^^^^ ^''''^'"' i >'™it«>'»'''-'^* THE BOW WINDOW AT WHITE'S. From a Sketch by A. LuDovici. The History of White's. 233 public places of London. The open practice of the habit began to be no longer frowned upon, and since that time, as we know, the cigar or cigarette has become almost a part of the dress of the man about town. , The growing popularity of smoking may be seen reflected in the records of White's. In 1854, for instance, there were clamours for increased accommodation for smoking. After some discussion, in which the existence of an anti-tobacco party at the Club was made quite clear, it was decided to move the billiard table into the old house dinner room, and allow smoking there. This for a time satisfied the smokers, and members of the old school who objected to the habit, were conciliated by precautions taken to prevent the fumes reaching the other rooms of the Club. In 1859 a proposal was made to allow smoking in the drawing room, the present coffee room. This was a bold move on the part of the smokers. The drawing room at White's was the head-quarters of the party of decorum, and at that time and afterwards, it was never entered by a member with his hat on. At the general meeting which met to consider the question, there was a trial of strength between the two parties. The Marquess of Bath proposed the resolution, which was seconded by Mr. G. Bentinck. The leaders of the opposing party were Lord Rosslyn and Lord Cawdor. After much GG 234 The History of White's. discussion the proposal was adopted by a majority of twenty-seven, in a full meeting. The resolution, however, did not take effect. The Committee, quite irregularly as it would seem, took the matter into their own hands, and announced " that, in deference to the wishes of a large minority of the Club, the Committee have decided, before carrying out the resolution, that a survey of the house shall be made to ascertain whether such accommodation for smoking can be afforded, as shall be less objectionable to that minority, and at the same time be satisfactory to the smokers." The same year they accepted some proposal of the trustees of the Raggetts to build a new smoking room ; but nothing seems to have been done, and for six years there was continual grumbling by these aggrieved gentlemen at the poorness of their accommodation. Requisitions were signed, which however were declared irregular, and complaints were constantly before the Committee. The matter was in this position when, in 1866, the Prince of Wales honoured White's by signifying his intention of becoming a member of the Club. His Royal Highness was elected an honorary member of White's on the 5th of March. Just at the time of the Prince's entrance the old question as to smoking in the drawing room was being re-opened. On the 23rd of March the Committee IN THE COFFEE ROOM AT WHITE'S. From a Sketch by A. LUDOVICI. The History of Whitens. 235 received a requisition for a general meeting to decide the question, and a date was fixed for the meeting to take place a month later. The Club at the time was greatly agitated by the matter. The smoking party included most of the young members of White's ; but their opponents spared no effort to enlist the older members of the Club against the proposal. For the first time on record, the Com- mittee sent a circular to each member, requesting his attendance at the general meeting. Special leave was obtained from the Head Master of Eton to allow the Marquess of Huntly, lately elected at White's, to be present. It would be interesting to know what old Goodford, who religiously flogged any of the Eton boys caught smoking, said, when he discovered for what purpose his pupil had been to London. When the day arrived, the Club was full of old gentlemen who had not been seen there for years, and who now put in an appear- ance to resist what they considered a desecration of the drawing room. "Where do all these old fossils come from ? " asked a member. " They come from Kensal Green," replied Mr. Alfred Montgomery, " and the hearses are waiting outside to take them back." Lord Malmesbury presided at the meeting, and a resolution, " That hereafter the members of the Club shall be permitted to smoke in the drawing room," was moved by Mr. JBromley Davenport, and seconded by Lord de 236 The History of White's. Lisle. Lord Wilton, in moving its rejection, was supported by Lord Cardigan and Lord Dalhousie. General). Macdonaldand Mr. G. Byngtook a prominent part in opposing the resolution. After much discussion, it was lost by a majority of twenty-three votes. By inducing the Club to come to this decision, the old school of White's, we think, made a vast mistake ; they certainly took a step which had a great influence on the subsequent fortunes of the Club. The Prince of Wales, though, of course, taking no part in the contest, was himself a smoker, and naturally interested in the question. His Royal Highness had married, and was taking his place at the head of society. Many of the old barriers of caste were in process of removal, and society was gradually opening its doors to men who could never have entered it under the old tyranny of the Dandies. This movement received a great impulse from the influence of the Prince himself He was not the man to surround himself with a circle of personal courtiers, as his predecessors, Frederick and George, Princes of Wales, had done ; his high sense of duty, and his genial disposition, made this impossible. The days of the old exclusiveness were at an end, but White's might have maintained its unique position if the older members had been wise enough to make the Club congenial to the Prince, and to the young men who were entering life with him. This they failed to do. THE LOUNGE. From a Sketch by A. LUDOVICI. The History of White's, 237 The result of their action in the smoking matter was, that the Prince, though still remaining an honorary member of White's, began to look elsewhere for accom- modation which was more to his liking. He interested himself in the foundation of the Marlborough Club, where, from the first, smoking was allowed in every room but that used for dining ; and White's has since shared with that club and with the Turf Club the position of chief of the social clubs, which was once exclusively its own. The decision of White's on the smoking question is all the more to be regretted, in that the Club saw reason to reverse that decision only two years after the mischief had been done. It is true that the resolution did not at once take effect ; for some extraordinary reason the trustees of the Raggetts interfered, and asked for a postponement of the question. But in 1870 the drawing room was at last thrown open to members who wished to smoke. With the appointment of Percival as manager of the Club the old relations which had existed between the Raggetts, as owners of the property as well as managers, came to an end. Under Percival there began a feeling of insecurity as to the future tenancy of the building. In 1868 we find a proposal that the place should be purchased from the Miss Raggetts by the Club ; but it was found that the property was in Chancery, and that nothing could be done. The Club, still feeling unsettled, 238 The History of White's. decided to form a fund to provide against eventualities connected with the tenure of the house. This they accomplished by raising the entrance fee to nineteen guineas, ten of which were devoted to the purpose, and placed in the hands of trustees. Lord Hartington, the present Duke of Devonshire (who had undertaken to enquire into matters on behalf of the Club), reported, in 1870, that he had at last induced the trustees of the Raggetts to name a price for the sale of the Club building. This was fixed at ;^6o,ooo. He reported at the same time, that Percival held an unexpired lease of ten years, at a rental of ;^2,ioo. The Club very naturally refused to entertain the purchase at any such figure. A reduced offer of ;^50,ooo made a month later, they also refused. A year afterwards the place was sold by auction. With a view to purchase, members of White's had subscribed for debentures to the amount of ;^ 16,000. At the auction, the representative of the Club bid ;^3 8,000 for the property, but it was bought by Mr. Eaton, M.P., afterwards Lord Cheylesmore, for ;^46,ooo. This gentleman did not show himself at all anxious to meet the views of the Club. He refused to sell the place to the Committee on any terms, but offered a lease of twenty years at a rent of ;^3,ooo. With ten years of Percival's lease still to run, these gentlemen did not see the necessity of coming to any arrangement in the matter. THE BILLIARD ROOM. From a Sketch by A. LUDOVICI. The History of Whitens. 239 They contented themselves with entering into an agreement with Percival, by which he bound himself not to sub-let the premises, the Committee engaging to keep up the membership to a minimum of four hundred and eighty. In a minute at this time the Committee expressed the hope that by the time the existing lease had expired " Mr. Eaton would become better informed as to the resources of the Club, and be prepared to prqpose more reasonable terms. If not it would be the duty of the Committee of that day to secure other suitable premises for the Club."* The subsequent management of White's by Percival requires little comment. It was a period of unrest, during which other fruitless negotiations were entered into by the Committee and Mr. Eaton. In July, 1876, the number of the Club was raised to six hundred, and in the following year Percival, negotiating on his own account with Mr. Eaton, announced that he had obtained a new * Lord Cheylesmore's action towards the Club has often been commented upon ; it is, however, not true as reported, that he was influenced in the matter by the fact that he had been blackballed at White's. Before the purchase of the building he had been a candidate, but his candidature was not persevered with. Baron Hirsch's purchase of the house of the Rue Royale Club is a somewhat parallel case. The Baron however was more considerate, and although he had been rejected at the club, with characteristic magnanimity he allowed them to purchase the house from him at a moderate price. 240 The, History of White's. lease of thirty years, from 1881, at a rent of ^3,000 a year. In 1882 Mr. Percival died. The management of White's then passed to his son, as representative of Mrs. Percival the widow. Young Percival's conduct of the business of the Club was not a success, and during six years there was a constant falling off in the membership. Percival himself became unsettled in 1885. He reported to the Committee that he had heard rumours to the effect that the Club was about to break up and to satisfy him they placed a notice in the morning room that such rumours were utterly without foundation. Three years later, in 1888, matters arrived at a crisis. Mrs. Percival announced her intention of ter- minating her lease with Lord Cheylesmore, and it was proposed by the Committee to grant her a sum of ;^i, 200 in consideration of her carrying on the Club business until the end of the year. There were various meetings at which the proposal was discussed, and much was said on both sides. Eventually it was carried, and negotiations were entered into with two members of the Club who had expressed themselves willing to take over the management. In July of 1888 the management of the Percivals came to an end by the signing of an agreement for the future conduct of White's by a member of the club, Mr. Algernon Bourke. Of recent changes at White's we do not propose to speak at length. The state of things at the Club under THE HONOURABLE ALGERNON BOURKE. FROM A PHOTOGRAPH, The History of White's. 241 the younger Percival is well within the recollection of many present members, and it is almost unnecessary to recall the fact that a lack of enterprise during the few years of his conduct of the Club brought it dangerously near extinction. The Club indeed had for some years not been abreast of the times. During the expansion of Club life in the early and middle part of the century, the traditions of its long existence seem to have acted as a drag upon White's, and the Club was certainly behind others in some matters of convenience and organization. The present management may claim to have removed any such reproach and to have restored White's to its former position. The beginning of Mr. Bourke's management was marked by extensive alterations in the Club building. Chief among these was the addition of a billiard room of very original design. The outer walls of the old billiard and smoking rooms, which formed the northern and southern sides of the courtyard, were removed, and the courtyard itself was covered by an arched glass roof supported on ionic pillars. The large room thus formed, though giving perfect accommodation for billiards, is not dominated by the game. A gallery running along its eastern end, and connecting the Secretary's office with the drawing room, is an effective part of the design. Another structural improvement, made subsequently, was the conversion of some small rooms at the back of II II 242 The History of White s. the morning room into a very comfortable apartment known as the Lounge, which is much used by members. Lavatories, dressing rooms, and bath rooms have been added, and the Club entirely refurnished. In all these additions and alterations great care has been taken to preserve the style of the old Club building ; and the glitter of marble and polished wood, which forms so prominent a feature of modern decoration, has been excluded at White's as incongruous with the character of the place. The walls have been hung with a collection of engraved portraits of past and present members, chiefly in inezzo- tint, and which is probably unique. From this collection our illustrations have been mostly taken. The changes at White's since 1888 in these and other matters have had their natural effect. When Percival gave up the Club, it consisted of no more than two hundred paying members, and there was not a single candidate on the books. To day there are seven hundred and fifty members of White's, and the Candi- dates' Book contains the names of some two hundred and fifty gentlemen awaiting admission. White's, in fact, at the end of two centuries, has taken a fresh lease of life, and at the moment of writing we see no reason why the Club should not look forward to another two hundred years of existence. FINIS. \A/H\TE"S BEFOBE RECENT CHANGES GROUND PUAN J /^ rvl f^ 5 ' 3 -r Fj E e T" & c A u e OF pe ET WHITE'S BEFORE RECENT" CHAMGES PL>vN OF UPPER FLOOR ■ f l M l t l acA.I.E. OF" F'EET WHITE '5 PRESENT PUAN GROUND FLOOR ST J/Kt\/ieS" STREET sc^i_E OF- f=-ee"r WHlXE'5 PRESENT PLAM UPPER FLOOR ' ip 5 SCALE OP FEET .^Oy^^^ CHRONICLE OF WHITE'S, 1693. White's Chocolate House opened by Francis White, at a house on the site of Boodle's Club. 1697. Francis White removed the Chocolate House to the site of the present Arthur's Club. Probable date of the foundation of the " Old Club." 171 1. Death of Francis White; succession of his widow, Madam White, as proprietress. 1725-29. John Arthur succeeded Madam White as proprietor. 1733- Fire at White's Club, and loss of the early- records. Removal of the Club and Chocolate House to Gaunt's Coffee House. 1736. Return of the Club and Chocolate House to the premises rebuilt on the site of the present Arthur's Club. Robert Arthur succeeded John Arthur as proprietor. Date of the first existing records. 244 The History of White's. 1743. The "Young Club" founded. 1755. Both Clubs removed to the "Great House in St. James's Street," the present club house. Robert Mackreth succeded Robert Arthur. 1 761. Death of Robert Arthur. 1763. Nominal transfer of the management by R. Mackreth to the " Cherubim." 1770. John Martindale succeeded the "Cherubim," 1 78 1. Fusion of the Old and Young Clubs into White's in its present form. 1783. Election of William Pitt, and beginning of the political period at White's. 1789. Ball to celebrate the recovery of George III. 1797. Meeting of William Pitt's Committee. First Standing Committee elected. 1 81 2. George Raggett succeeded Benjamin Martindale as proprietor. 1 813. The first Candidates' Book opened. 1814. F^te given by White's at Burlington House to the Allied Sovereigns to celebrate the peace of Europe. Banquet to the Duke of Wellington at the Club. 1 81 9. Death of Sir Robert Mackreth. 1833. Committee appointed to take over the election of Members from the Club for a period of one year, in consequence of the excessive black- balling which had prevailed for some years. The History of White s. 245 1844. Death of George Raggett ; Henry Raggett succeeded him as proprietor. 1859. Death of Henry Raggett; Henry Percival succeeded him as proprietor. 1866. Rejection of the proposal to allow smoking in the Drawing Room. 1 87 1. The Club building bought at auction by Mr. Eaton, M.P., afterwards ist Lord Cheyles- more, 1882. Death of Henry Percival ; Henry Percival, Jun., succeeded him as proprietor. 1888. The Hon. Algernon Bourke succeeded Henry Percival, Jun., as proprietor. Elections taken out of the hands of the Club at large and placed in those of a committee. 1892. Death of Henry Percival, Jun. ADDENDA. In Horace Walpole's marginal notes written in Dr. Maty's Works of Lord Chesterfield, and privately- printed in July, 1892, by the Philobiblon Society from the original notes in the possession of R. S. Turner, Esq., there is an interesting account of the reason which induced Lord Chesterfield to withdraw from White's. The note says : " Lord Chesterfield used to frequent the Club at White's in St. James's Street, and when he left off play used to utter some witticism which he had pre- pared in the morning, as he passed through the supper room. George Selwyn, who had more wit than the Earl, perceived this, and gave him the name of Joe Miller, which came to the Earl's ears, and was one cause of his leaving off the Club." Lord Chesterfield never sent in any formal resigna- tion, but gradually discontinued using the Club. His name was still on the list of members in 1770, when in reply to a circular letter of the proprietor, John Martin- dale,, he ordered it to be struck off, with the remark that he concluded this had been done fourteen or fifteen years before. See p. 137. Addenda. 247 The following letter from Thackeray to "Jacob Omnium" (Mr. Higgins), now in the possession of Mr. H. V. Higgins, gives an interesting account of D'Orsay after he had returned to Paris (see p. 226). The whole letter is so characteristic of the writer that we give it in full: — Hotel Bristol. Place Vendome. Jan. 12. 14. (1851). My dear ViEux, It breaks my heart to think that I have left at home 3 sides of a letter beautifully and closely written and in- tended for your worship. What a number of clever things there are in those 3 pages (confound them, for you see I must write 3 more) what a neat artless style it is, what a pleasant bitter re- freshing smack good (for used palates) to drink, and good for after digestion ! But I came away in a hurry, and left the letter where it was compoged by my bedside. I arrived here the night afore last, and finding Edward Ellice in the hotel went and brekfasted affably with him, and lanced myself in the grand monde instanta- ceously. Last night M. Duchatel — a sworry — a splendid salon in the Fbg. St. Germain, all the people Louis Philippists and we were all of course in mourning for the poor dear Queen of the Belgians. It was the first French soiree I have ever seen, and shall I tell you what I thought of the folks ? I thought they were not so genteal as people I know — the house was too handsome, the people did not seem at home somehow : perhaps I wasn't. The lady of the house and other 2 ladies sate on a sophy by the fire, the gendemen went up and made their boughs & then walked away and talked standing 248 Addenda. with one another about politics — president — chambers — the poor dear king & so forth. After that was a grand time at Lady Sandwich's, splendid apartments and O such lovely women ! All the notabilities of Paris, Thiers Mold and Dukes & Princes without number. The thing that struck me most (having an i for such things) was the crowd of lackeys in the hall sitting on benches with their masters' & missises wraps & cloaks. "Les gens de Lady Molesworth " ! the man hollowed out at the head of the stair, & it was grand to see my lady step down, and Maclane, the butler who hands the champagne you know, come up the grand stair-case with her ladyship's- pink satin capote a whatd'youcallum. Plenty of the London world was there, and it was refreshing, my good feller, to see what a plenty of old fogies there was. Here I was introduced to a nobleman with a star on his bussum, your friend Lord Frederick Gordon & we both talked about you and abused you, and seeing another nobleman with another star (Lord Steyne) I asked Lord Harry Vane to introduce me to him, wh : he did, but with a manifest scowl of unwillingness, thinking no doubt that I was a pushing man eager to know the aristocracy. Now the fact is Lord Hertford has praised my writing very much, and I like to know people who think well of me. You sardonic wretch — I know you've read the article in the Times assaulting me. I think it was unfair play : besides being pompous stupid and ungentlemanlike, and I have made a preface to the second edition of the Kickleburys (a real bon^ fide second edition paid for, every copy of edition ist sold) in wh: I flatter myself I have shewn that critic that it is dangerous to meddle with yours to command. There's still feud between me & Forster: who passes me over in dignified silence. Ah me, what it is to be a man without an enemy ! I saw Ainsworth at Brighton, who told me stories of what I had done — the most ludicrous tales. Enough of my griefs. Addenda. 249 On Sunday I went to the play, the better the day, the better the deed, and before to the 3 Frbres to dine. There were 4 tables of English I knew, Molesworth and Lady at one with a friend, and the best of dinners and champagne in abundance. These people take their money's worth, and eat and drink the best and the most every day. Appy folks ! There was something at the play wh. will do for an article in Punch perhaps — a moral article you understand. Ashburton has most kindly given Dicky Doyle an order for drawings for ;£ioo. I'm very much afraid from the favourable state of the balance at the bankers that you never used my jQ^o cheque : Confound you if you didn't : for th' heart breaking afterwards. The Brookfields have got laooo;^ by poor Harry Hallara's death. Mr. Hallam gave it them, and had not Harry destroyed a will wh: he made, my dear lady would have had all. I went down & saw the poor fellow laid in his vault, when I was ill he (and some others) were very kind indeed to me — not Sir that I wish to act as mourner over your great coffin. I went to see poor Dossy yesterday. He has got an atelier not far from his sister's house : and he has filled it gaily with pictures, looking glasses, trophies and a thousand gimcracks. His bed is in the corner surmounted by a medallion of Lady Blessington : a view of her tomb: the star and sword of the Emperor Napoleon and a crucifix, and here he sleeps as soundly as a child and looks with a happy admiration at the most awful pictures wh. hang up of his own painting, and at his statues and busts in wh : he possibly has some assistance. He has done one of Lamartine who has com- poged a copy of verses to his own bust of wh. he says that the passer-by regarding it — it is to be on his own tomb — will ask, who is this cove? is he a statesman? is he a warrior? is he a prophet? is he a priest? is he a tribune of the people? is ha an Adonis? meaning that he is every one of these things. — And these mad verses written by a madman D'Orsay says are the finest verses that I I 250 Addenda. ever were written in the world. Marguerite has translated them in the finest translation that ever was made, and the bust is the grandest that ever wasn't made by an amateur. Are we mad too I wonder? Well I don't think I have any more to say herefrom. Heres the 3 pages, and I send my best regards to Mrs. Higgins: and I am always my dear Vieux, yours W. M. T. Monsieur M. J. Higgins, d, Nice. INDEX. Abergavenny, Marquess of, ACourt, Mr., curious note respecting, S9 Addison, Joseph, mention of White's by, " Advice to Juha," mention of White's in, 193 Albemarle, Third Earl of, 112 Allen, Lord, 196, 197 Allied Sovereigns, The, present at White's FIte, 186 Almack's Assembly Rooms, 127 Almack's (Club), its origin. Parent of Brookes's, 127. Founded by members of White's for high play, 127. Its effect on White's, 128. Rivalry with the Young Club, 128, 129. Gaming at, 129 Alvaiiley, Lord, 176, 193, 196. His services abroad, 194. His dinners, 194, 19s Anglesey, Marquess of, 182 Anson, Lord, 64. Quarrel with Lord Lincoln, 107 Arms of White's, origin and blazon, 78 Arthur, Mary, 117 Arthur, Robert, 20. Succeeds his father at White's, 20. Popularity, 58. Manager of the Ridotto, 58. Dismissed from Post in the House- hold, 58. Prosperity of, 116. Buys club premises, 116. Death and Will of, 117 Arthur, John, 15. Succeeds Widow White as proprietor, 1 5. Increases premises, 15 "Arthur's " another name for White's, 121. Erroneous deductions from this use of the name, 121 Arthur's Club, 125, 206 B. Baird, Sir David, 182 Ball given by White's to celebrate the King's recovery, 159 Ball given by White's to celebrate Peace after the Peninsular War, 183. List of Stewards. Accounts of Expenditure, 186 Ball given by Brookes's to celebrate the King's recovery, 160 Ballotting, alteration in the method of, 169 Baltimore, Lord, 53 Barry, Sir Ed., on wines, 168 Beaufort, Second Duke of, Beaufort, Duke of, 198 Bedford, Fourth Duke of, 48, 109 Bentinck, Lord George, 208 Berkeley, Honourable G., 5 1 Berkshire House, 18 Betting Book, The, 103 Bignell's Racing Club, 18 Blackballing at White's, an early instance, 91. Under the Dandies, 205, 209. Particular instances of, 207, 208. Humours of. 207 208. Reaction against, 209, 210 K K 252 Index. Bland, Sir John, 105. Party to extraordinary wager, 105. His death, 107 Blessington, Lady, 225 Bliicher, Marshal, 183 Boodle's Club, 125, 206 Boscawen, Admiral, 112 Bourke, Honourable Algernon, 240 His management, 241, 242. Its effect on the club, 242 Bow Window at White's, The, 188. Brummell and, 191. A fashionable lounge, 192. Questions of etiquette connected with, 192. Described by Luttrell, 193 Brackley, Viscount, blackballed, 208 Bradford, Lord, 156 Bramston's " Man of Taste," allusion to White's in, 126 Brettingham, Matthew, 66 Bristol, Second Earl of, insulted by Lord Cobham, 88 Brookes's Club, 125, 152.