Out of this general spirit of conviviality arose those numberless Clubs wherein, upon the convivial stem, were graffed politics, literature, sport, science, as well as many other pursuits less worthy and less beneficial. No custom, no usage, no jest, in fact, seemed too trivial to be seized upon as the pretext to give a colour of excuse for founding a Club. Some of them were witty, others wise, others degrading. Such designations as the _Cape Club_,--so called from doubling the Cape of Leith Wynd, when half-seas over, to get home to the burgh of Low Calton, where several of the members lived; the _Pious Club_, because the brethren met regularly to consume pies; the _Spendthrift Club_, because no _habitué_ was permitted to spend more than _fourpence halfpenny_, and others, were harmless in their way, and promoted a cheap _bonhomie_ without leading the burghers into disgraceful excesses. But the _Hell-fire Club_, the _Sweating Club_, the _Dirty Club_, and others of a kindred order, were either founded to afford an opportunity for indulgence in riot and licence of every kind, or were intended to encourage habits as disgusting as they were brutal. Not to be supposed is it that Ramsay had lived six-and-twenty years of his life without having practised, and we have no doubt enjoyed, the widespread conviviality of the period. Hence, though the Easy Club was the first of the social gatherings wherewith he actually informs us he was connected, we have no reason to doubt he had been associated with several of them before. In fact, in that poetical 'Essay' of his which stands first in the chronological order of composition, though not of publication, the _Elegy on Maggy Johnston_, who died anno 1711--an alewife whose little farm and hotel were situated in the village of Morningside, just beyond the Bruntsfield Links,--he seems to imply that a club of some kind met there. The third stanza runs as follows-- 'And there by dizens we lay down; Syne sweetly ca'd the healths aroun', To bonny lasses, black or brown, As we loo'd best: In bumpers we dull cares did drown, An' took our rest.'