on the outer peel of a lemon, then a little lemon-juice, a glass of
maraschino, about a pint and a quarter of water, and two bottles of
iced soda-water; and the result will be three pints of the punch in
question.
Another choice spirit of the Garrick was the aforesaid Hill, "Tom
Hill," as he was called by all who loved and knew him. He "happened to
know everything that was going forward in all circles--mercantile,
political, fashionable, literary, or theatrical; in addition to all
matters connected with military and naval affairs, agriculture,
finance, art, and science--everything came alike to him." He was born
in 1760, and was many years a drysalter at Queenhithe, but about 1810
he lost a large sum of money by a speculation in indigo; after which
he retired upon the remains of his property, to chambers in the
Adelphi. While at Queenhithe, he found leisure to make a fine
collection of old books, chiefly old poetry, which were valued at six
thousand pounds. He greatly assisted two friendless poets, Bloomfield
and Kirke White; he also established _The Monthly Mirror_, which
brought him much into connection with dramatic poets, actors, and
managers, when he collected theatrical curiosities and relics. Hill
was the Hull of Hook's clever novel, _Gilbert Gurney_, and the reputed
original of Paul Pry, though the latter is doubtful. The standard joke
about him was his age. He died in 1841, in his eighty-first year,
though Hook and all his friends always affected to consider him as
quite a Methuselah. James Smith once said that it was impossible to
discover his age, for the parish-register had been burnt in the fire
of London; but Hook capped this:--'_Pooh, pooh!_--(Tom's habitual
exclamation)--he's one of the Little Hills that are spoken of as
skipping in the Psalms.' As a mere octogenarian he was wonderful
enough. No human being would, from his appearance, gait, or habits,
have guessed him to be sixty. Till within three months of his death,
Hill rose at five usually, and brought the materials of his breakfast
home with him to the Adelphi from a walk to Billingsgate; and at
dinner he would eat and drink like an adjutant of five-and-twenty. One
secret was, that a 'banyan-day' uniformly followed a festivity. He
then nursed himself most carefully on tea and dry toast, tasted
neither meat nor wine, and went to bed by eight o'clock. But perhaps
the grand secret was, the easy, imperturbable serenity of his temper.
He had been kind and generous in the day of his wealth; and though his
evening was comparatively poor, his cheerful heart kept its even beat.
Hill was a patient collector throughout his long life. His old English
poetry, which Southey considered the rarest assemblage in existence,
was dispersed in 1810; and, after Hill's death, his literary rarities
and memorials occupied Evans, of Pall Mall, a clear week to sell by
auction: the autograph letters were very interesting, and among the
memorials were Garrick's Shakspeare Cup and a vase carved from the
Bard's mulberry-tree; and a block of wood from Pope's willow, at
Twickenham.
Albert Smith was also of the Garrick, and usually dined here before
commencing his evening entertainment at the Egyptian Hall, in
Piccadilly.
Smith was very clubbable, and with benevolent aims: he was a leader of
the Fielding Club, in Maiden-lane, Covent Garden, which gave several
amateur theatrical representations, towards the establishment of "a
Fund for the immediate relief of emergencies in the Literary or
Theatrical world;" having already devoted a considerable sum to
charitable purposes. This plan of relieving the woes of others through
our own pleasures is a touch of nature which yields twofold
gratification.
THE REFORM CLUB.
This political Club was established by Liberal Members of the two
Houses of Parliament, to aid the carrying of the Reform Bill,
1830-1832. It was temporarily located in Great George-street, and
Gwydyr House, Whitehall, until towards the close of 1837, when designs
for a new Club-house were submitted by the architects, Blore, Basevi,
Cockerell, Sydney Smirke, and Barry. The design of the latter was
preferred, and the site selected in Pall Mall, extending from the spot
formerly occupied by the temporary National Gallery (late the
residence of Sir Walter Stirling), on one side of the temporary Reform
Club-house, over the vacant plot of ground on the other side. The
instructions were to produce a Club-house which should surpass all
others in size and magnificence; one which should combine all the
attractions of other Clubs, such as baths, billiard-rooms,
smoking-rooms, with the ordinary accommodations; besides the
additional novelty of private chambers, or dormitories. The frontage
towards Pall Mall is about 135 feet, or nearly equal to the frontage
of the Athenæum (76 feet) and the Travellers' (74 feet). The style of
the Reform is pure Italian, the architect having taken some points
from the celebrated Farnese Palace at Rome, designed by Michael Angelo
Buonarroti, in 1545, and built by Antonio Sangallo. However, the
resemblance between the two edifices has been greatly over-stated, it
consisting only in both of them being astylar, with columnar-decorated
fenestration. The exterior is greatly admired; though it is objected,
and with reason, that the windows are too small. The Club-house
contains six floors and 134 apartments: the basement and mezzanine
below the street pavement, and the chambers in the roof are not seen.
The points most admired are extreme simplicity and unity of design,
combined with very unusual richness. The breadth of the piers between
the windows contributes not a little to that repose which is so
essential to simplicity, and hardly less so to stateliness. The
string-courses are particularly beautiful, while the cornicione (68
feet from the pavement) gives extraordinary majesty and grandeur to
the whole. The roof is covered with Italian tiles; the edifice is
faced throughout with Portland stone, and is a very fine specimen of
masonry. In building it a strong scaffolding was constructed, and on
the top was laid a railway, upon which was worked a traversing crane,
movable along the building either longitudinally or transversely; by
which means the stones were raised from the ground, and placed on the
wall with very little labour to the mason, who had only to adjust the
bed and lay the block.[27]
In the centre of the interior is a grand hall, 56 by 50, (the entire
height of the building,) resembling an Italian _cortile_, surrounded
by colonnades, below Ionic, and above Corinthian; the latter is a
picture-gallery, where, inserted in the scagliola walls, are
whole-length portraits of eminent political Reformers; while the upper
colonnade has rich floral mouldings, and frescoes of Music, Poetry,
Painting, and sculpture, by Parris. The floor of the hall is
tessellated; and the entire roof is strong diapered flint-glass,
executed by Pellatt, at the cost of 600_l._ The staircase, like that
of an Italian palace, leads to the upper gallery of the hall, opening
into the principal drawing-room, which is over the coffee-room in the
garden-front, both being the entire length of the building; adjoining
are a library, card-room, etc., over the library and dining-rooms.
Above are a billiard-room and lodging-rooms for members of the Club;
there being a separate entrance to the latter by a lodge adjoining the
Travellers' Club-house.
The basement comprises two-storied wine-cellars beneath the hall;
besides the kitchen department, planned by Alexis Soyer, originally
_chef-de-cuisine_ of the Club: it contains novel employments of steam
and gas, and mechanical applications of practical ingenuity; the
inspection of which was long one of the privileged sights of London.
The _cuisine_, under M. Soyer, enjoyed European fame. Soyer first came
to England on a visit to his brother, who was then cook to the Duke of
Cambridge; and at Cambridge House, Alexis cooked his first dinner in
England, for the then Prince George. Soyer afterwards entered the
service of various noblemen, amongst others of Lord Ailsa, Lord
Panmure, etc. He then entered into the service of the Reform Club, and
the breakfast given by that Club on the occasion of the Queen's
Coronation obtained him high commendation. His ingenuity gave a sort
of celebrity to the great political banquets given at the Reform. In
his O'Connell dinner, the _soufflés à la Clontarf_, were considered by
gastronomes to be a rich bit of satire. The banquet to Ibrahim Pacha,
July 3, 1846, was another of Soyer's great successes, when Merlans à
l'Égyptienne, la Crême d'Égypte and à l'Ibrahim Pacha, mingled with Le
Gâteau Britannique à l'Amiral (Napier). Another famous banquet was
that given to Sir C. Napier, March 3, 1854, as Commander of the Baltic
Fleet; and the banquet given July 20, 1850, to Viscount Palmerston,
who was a popular leader of the Reform, was, gastronomically as well
as politically, a brilliant triumph. It was upon this memorable
occasion that Mr. Bernal Osborne characterized the Palmerston policy
in this quotation:--
"Warmed by the instincts of a knightly heart,
That roused at once if insult touched the realm,
He spurned each State-craft, each deceiving art,
And met his foes no vizor to his helm.
This proved his worth, hereafter be our boast--
Who hated Britons, hated him the most."
Lord Palmerston was too true an Englishman to be insensible to "the
pleasures of the table," as attested by the hospitalities of
Cambridge House, during his administration. One of his Lordship's
political opponents, writing in 1836, says: "Lord Palmerston is
redeemed from the last extremity of political degradation by his
cook." A distinguished member of the diplomatic body was once
overheard remarking to an Austrian nobleman, upon the Minister's
shortcomings in some respects, adding, "mais on dîne fort bien chez
lui."
It is always interesting to read a foreigner's opinion of English
society. The following observations, by the Viscountess de Malleville,
appeared originally in the _Courrier de l'Europe_, and preceded an
account of the Reform. Commencing with Clubs, the writer remarks:
"It cannot be denied that these assemblages, wealthy and widely
extended in their ramifications, selfish in principle, but perfectly
adapted to the habits of the nation, offer valuable advantages to
those who have the good fortune to be enrolled in them.... The social
state and manners of the country gave the first idea of them. The
spirit of association which is so inherent in the British character,
did the rest. It is only within the precincts of these splendid
edifices, where all the requirements of opulent life, all the comforts
and luxuries of princely habitations are combined, that we can
adequately appreciate the advantages and the complicated results
produced by such a system of association. For an annual subscription,
comparatively of small amount, every member of a Club is admitted into
a circle, which is enlivened and renewed from time to time by the
accession of strangers of distinction. A well-selected and extensive
library, newspapers and pamphlets from all parts of the world, assist
him to pass the hours of leisure and digestion. According as his
tastes incline, a man may amuse himself in the saloons devoted to
play, to reading, or to conversation. In a word, the happy man, who
only goes to get his dinner, may drink the best wines out of the
finest cut-glass, and may eat the daintiest and best-cooked viands off
the most costly plate, at such moderate prices as no Parisian
restaurateur could afford. The advantages of a Club do not end here:
it becomes for each of its members a second domestic hearth, where the
cares of business and household annoyances cannot assail him. As a
retreat especially sacred against the visitations of idle
acquaintances and tiresome creditors--a sanctuary in which each member
feels himself in the society of those who act and sympathize with
him--the Club will ever remain a resort, tranquil, elegant, and
exclusive; interdicted to the humble and to the insignificant."
The writer then proceeds to illustrate the sumptuous character of our
new Club-houses by reference to the Reform. "Unlike in most English
buildings, the staircase is wide and commodious, and calls to mind
that of the Louvre. The quadrangular apartment which terminates it, is
surrounded by spacious galleries; the rich mosaic pavement, in which
the brilliancy of the colour is only surpassed by the variety of the
design--the cut-glass ceiling, supported by four rows of marble
pillars--all these things call to remembrance the most magnificent
apartments of Versailles in the days of the great king and his
splendours. This is the vestibule, which is the grand feature of the
mansion." The kitchen is then described--"spacious as a ball-room,
kept in the finest order, and white as a young bride. All-powerful
steam, the noise of which salutes your ear as you enter, here performs
a variety of offices: it diffuses a uniform heat to large rows of
dishes, warms the metal plates upon which are disposed the dishes that
have been called for, and that are in waiting to be sent above: it
turns the spits, draws the water, carries up the coal, and moves the
plate like an intelligent and indefatigable servant. Stay awhile
before this octagonal apparatus, which occupies the centre of the
place. Around you the water boils and the stew-pans bubble, and a
little further on is a moveable furnace, before which pieces of meat
are converted into savoury _rôtis_; here are sauces and gravies,
stews, broths, soups, etc. In the distance are Dutch ovens, marble
mortars, lighted stoves, iced plates of metal for fish; and various
compartments for vegetables, fruits, roots, and spices. After this
inadequate, though prodigious nomenclature, the reader may perhaps
picture to himself a state of general confusion, a disordered
assemblage, resembling that of a heap of oyster-shells. If so, he is
mistaken; for, in fact, you see very little, or scarcely anything of
all the objects above described. The order of their arrangement is so
perfect, their distribution as a whole, and in their relative bearings
to one another, all are so intelligently considered, that you require
the aid of a guide to direct you in exploring them, and a good deal of
time to classify in your mind all your discoveries.
"Let all strangers who come to London for business, or pleasure, or
curiosity, or for whatever cause, not fail to visit the Reform Club.
In an age of utilitarianism, and of the search for the comfortable,
like ours, there is more to be learned here than in the ruins of the
Coliseum, of the Parthenon, or of Memphis."
FOOTNOTES:
[27] Civil Engineer and Architects' Journal, 1841.
THE CARLTON CLUB.
The Carlton is purely a political Club, and was founded by the great
Duke of Wellington, and a few of his most intimate political friends.
It held its first meeting in Charles-street, St. James's, in the year
1831. In the following year it removed to larger premises, Lord
Kensington's, in Carlton Gardens. In 1836, an entirely new house was
built for the Club, in Pall-Mall, by Sir Robert Smirke, R.A.: it was
of small extent, and plain and inexpensive. As the Club grew in
numbers and importance, the building became inadequate to its wants.
In 1846, a very large addition was made to it by Mr. Sydney Smirke;
and in 1854, the whole of the original edifice was taken down, and
rebuilt by Mr. Smirke, upon a sumptuous scale; and it will be the
largest, though not the most costly Club-house, in the metropolis. It
is a copy of Sansovino's Library of St. Mark, at Venice: the
entablature of the Ionic, or upper order, is considerably more
ponderous than that of the Doric below, which is an unorthodox defect.
The façade is highly enriched, and exhibits a novelty in the shafts of
all the columns being of red Peterhead granite, highly polished,
which, in contrast with the dead stone, is objectionable: "cloth of
frieze and cloth of gold" do not wear well together. In the garden
front the pilasters, which take the place of columns in the entrance
front and flank, are of the same material as the latter, namely,
Peterhead granite, polished. Many predictions were at first ventured
upon as to the perishable nature of the lustre of the polished
granite shafts; but these predictions have been falsified by time;
nine years' exposure having produced no effect whatever on the
polished surface. Probably the polish itself is the protection of the
granite, by preventing moisture from hanging on the surface.
The Carlton contains Conservatives of every hue, from the good
old-fashioned Tory to the liberal progressist of the latest
movements,--men of high position in fortune and politics.
Some thirty years ago, a _Quarterly_ reviewer wrote: "The improvement
and multiplication of Clubs is the grand feature of metropolitan
progress. There are between twenty and thirty of these admirable
establishments, at which a man of moderate habits can dine more
comfortably for three or four shillings (including half a pint of
wine), than he could have dined for four or five times that amount at
the coffee-houses and hotels, which were the habitual resort of the
bachelor class in the corresponding rank of life during the first
quarter of the century. At some of the Clubs--the Travellers', the
Coventry, and the Carlton, for example--the most finished luxury may
be enjoyed at a very moderate cost. The best judges are agreed that it
is utterly impossible to dine better than at the Carlton, when the
cook has fair notice, and is not hurried, or confused by a multitude
of orders. But great allowances must be made when a simultaneous rush
occurs from both Houses of Parliament; and the caprices of individual
members of such institutions are sometimes extremely trying to the
temper and reputation of a _chef_."
THE CONSERVATIVE CLUB.
This handsome Club-house, which occupies a portion of the site of the
old Thatched House Tavern, 74, St. James's-street, was designed by
Sydney Smirke and George Basevi, 1845. The upper portion is
Corinthian, with columns and pilasters, and a frieze sculptured with
the imperial crown and oak-wreaths; the lower order is Roman-Doric;
and the wings are slightly advanced, with an enriched entrance-porch
north, and a bay-window south. The interior was superbly decorated in
colour by Sang: the coved hall, with a gallery round it, and the domed
vestibule above it, is a fine specimen of German encaustic
embellishment, in the arches, soffites, spandrels, and ceilings; and
the hall-floor is tessellated, around a noble star of marqueterie. The
evening room, on the first floor, has an enriched coved ceiling, and a
beautiful frieze of the rose, shamrock, and thistle, supported by
scagliola Corinthian columns: the morning room, beneath, is of the
same dimensions, with Ionic pillars. The library, in the upper story
north, has columns and pilasters with bronzed capitals. Beneath is the
coffee-room. The kitchen is far more spacious than that of the Reform
Club. In the right wing is a large bay-window, which was introduced as
an essential to the morning room, affording the lounger a view of Pall
Mall and St. James's-street, and the Palace gateway; this introduction
reminding us, by the way, of Theodore Hook's oddly comparing the
bay-window of a coffee-house nearly on the same spot, to an obese old
gentleman in a white waistcoat. Hook lived for some time in
Cleveland-row: he used to describe the _real London_ as the space
between Pall Mall on the south, Piccadilly north, St. James's west,
and the Opera-house east.
This is the second Club of the Conservative party, and many of its
chiefs are honorary members, but rarely enter it: Sir Robert Peel is
said never to have entered this Club-house except to view the
interior. Other leaders have, however, availed themselves of the Club
influences to recruit their ranks from its working strength. This has
been political ground for a century and a half; for here, at the
Thatched House Tavern, Swift met his political Clubs, and dined with
Tory magnates; but with fewer appliances than in the present day; in
Swift's time "the wine being always brought by him that is
president."[28]
FOOTNOTES:
[28] The Palace clock has connected with it an odd anecdote, which we
received from Mr. Vulliamy, of Pall Mall, who, with his family, as
predecessors, had been the royal clockmakers since 1743. When the
Palace Gate-house was repaired, in 1831, the clock was removed, and
not put up again. The inhabitants of the neighbourhood, missing the
clock, memorialized William IV. for the replacement of the
time-keeper, when the King inquired why it was not restored; the reply
was that the roof was reported unsafe to carry the weight, which His
Majesty having ascertained, he shrewdly demanded how, if the roof were
not strong enough to carry the clock, it was safe for the number of
persons occasionally seen upon it to witness processions, and the
company on drawing-room days? There was no questioning the
calculation; the clock was forthwith replaced, and a minute-hand was
added, with new dials. (_Curiosities of London_, p. 571.)
THE OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE CLUB.
The Oxford and Cambridge Club-house, 71, Pall Mall, for members of the
two Universities, was designed by Sir Robert Smirke, R.A., and his
brother, Mr. Sydney Smirke, 1835-8. The Pall Mall façade is 80 feet in
width by 75 in height, and the rear lies over against the court of
Marlborough House. The ornamental detail is very rich: as the
entrance-portico, with Corinthian columns; the balcony, with its
panels of metal foliage; and the ground-story frieze, and arms of
Oxford and Cambridge Universities over the portico columns. The upper
part of the building has a delicate Corinthian entablature and
balustrade; and above the principal windows are bas-reliefs in panels,
executed in cement by Nicholl, from designs by Sir R. Smirke, as
follows:--Centre panel: Minerva and Apollo presiding on Mount
Parnassus; and the River Helicon, surrounded by the Muses. Extreme
panels: Homer singing to a warrior, a female, and a youth; Virgil
singing his Georgics to a group of peasants. Other four panels: Milton
reciting to his daughter; Shakspeare attended by Tragedy and Comedy;
Newton explaining his system; Bacon, his philosophy. Beneath the
ground-floor is a basement of offices, and an entresol or mezzanine of
chambers. The principal apartments are tastefully decorated; the
drawing-room is panelled with _papier mâché_; and the libraries are
filled with book-cases of beautifully-marked Russian birchwood. From
the back library is a view of Marlborough House and its gardens.
THE GUARDS' CLUB.
Was formerly housed in St. James's-street, next Crockford's, north;
but, in 1850, they removed to Pall Mall, No. 70. The new Club-house
was designed for them by Henry Harrison, and remarkable for its
compactness and convenience, although its size and external appearance
indicate no more than a private house. The architect has adopted some
portion of a design of Sansovino's in the lower part or basement.
THE ARMY AND NAVY CLUB.