Club Life of London, Vol. 1 (of 2): With Anecdotes of the Clubs, Coffee-Houses and Taverns of the Metropolis During the 17th, 18th, and 19th CenturiesTimbs, John
History
Club Life of London, Vol. 1 (of 2): With Anecdotes of the Clubs, Coffee-Houses and Taverns of the Metropolis During the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries
Timbs, John
Clubs -- England -- London; Literary landmarks -- England -- London; London (England) -- Social life and customs
The registrar or chronicler of the box was a Mr. Murray, an episcopal
Scotch minister, who generally sat in one place from nine in the
morning till nine at night; and was famous for having read, at least
once through, every morning and evening paper published in London
during the last thirty years. His memory being good, he was appealed
to whenever any point of fact within the memory of man happened to be
disputed. It was often remarked, however, that such incessant daily
reading did not tend to clear his views.
Among those from whom I constantly profited was Dr. Berdmore, the
Master of the Charterhouse; Walker, the rhetorician; and Dr. Towers,
the political and historical writer. Dr. B. abounded in anecdote;
Walker, (the Dictionary-maker,) to the finest enunciation united the
most intelligent head I ever met with; and Towers, over his half-pint
of Lisbon, was sarcastic and lively, though never deep.
Among our constant visitors was the celebrated Dr. George Fordyce,
who, having much fashionable practice, brought news which had not
generally transpired. He had not the appearance of a man of genius,
nor did he debate, but he possessed sound information on all subjects.
He came to the Chapter after taking his wine, and stayed about an
hour, or while he sipped a glass of brandy-and-water; it was then his
habit to take another glass at the London Coffee-house, and a third at
the Oxford, before he returned to his house in Essex-street, Strand.
Dr. Gower, the urbane and able physician of the Middlesex, was another
pretty constant visitor. It was gratifying to hear such men as
Fordyce, Gower, and Buchan in familiar chat. On subjects of medicine
they seldom agreed, and when such were started, they generally laughed
at one another's opinions. They seemed to consider Chapter punch, or
brandy-and-water, as _aqua vitæ_; and, to the credit of the house,
better punch could not be found in London. If any one complained of
being indisposed, the elder Buchan exclaimed, "Now let me prescribe
for you without a fee. Here, John or Isaac, bring a glass of punch for
Mr. ----, unless he likes brandy-and-water better. Take that, Sir, and
I'll warrant you you'll soon be well. You're a peg too low; you want
stimulus, and if one glass won't do, call for a second."
There was a growling man of the name of Dobson, who, when his asthma
permitted, vented his spleen upon both sides; and a lover of absurd
paradoxes, author of some works of merit, but so devoid of principle,
that, deserted by his friends, he would have died for want, if Dr.
Garthshore had not placed him as a patient in the empty Fever
Institution.
Robinson, the king of the booksellers, was frequently of the party, as
well as his brother John, a man of some talent; and Joseph Johnson,
the friend of Priestley, and Paine, and Cowper, and Fuseli, came from
St. Paul's Churchyard.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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