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
Five years after the death of Garrick, Dr. Johnson dined with the Club
_for the last time_. This is one of the most melancholy entries by
Boswell. "On Tuesday, June 22 (1784), I dined with him (Johnson) at
the Literary Club, the last time of his being in that respectable
society. The other members present were the Bishop of St. Asaph, Lord
Eliot, Lord Palmerston (father of the Premier), Dr. Fordyce, and Mr.
Malone. He looked ill; but he had such a manly fortitude, that he did
not trouble the company with melancholy complaints. They all showed
evident marks of kind concern about him, with which he was much
pleased, and he exerted himself to be as entertaining as his
indisposition allowed him."
From the time of Garrick's death the Club was known as "The Literary
Club," since which it has certainly lost its claim to this epithet. It
was originally a club of authors _by profession_; it now numbers very
few except titled members (the majority having some claims to literary
distinction), which was very far from the intention of its founders.
To this the author of the paper in the _National Review_ demurs.
Writing in 1857, he says: "Perhaps it now numbers on its list more
titled members and fewer authors by profession, than its founders
would have considered desirable. This opinion, however, is quite open
to challenge. Such men as the Marquis of Lansdowne, the late Lord
Ellesmere, Lords Brougham, Carlisle, Aberdeen, and Glenelg, hold their
place in 'the Literary Club' quite as much by virtue of their
contributions to literature, or their enlightened support of it, as by
their right of rank." [How many of these noble members have since paid
the debt of nature!]
"At all events," says Mr. Taylor, "the Club still acknowledges
literature as its foundation, and love of literature as the tie which
binds together its members, whatever their rank and callings. Few
Clubs can show such a distinguished brotherhood of members as 'the
Literary.' Of authors proper, from 1764 to this date (1857), may be
enumerated, besides its original members, Johnson and Goldsmith, Dyer
and Percy, Gibbon and Sir William Jones, Colman, the two Wartons,
Farmer, Steevens, Burney, and Malone, Frere and George Ellis, Hallam,
Milman, Mountstuart Elphinstone, and Lord Stanhope.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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