We agree with the _National Review_, that "it is hard to believe, as we pick our way along the narrow and filthy pathway of Shire-lane, that in this blind alley [?], some hundred and fifty years ago, used to meet many of the finest gentlemen and choicest wits of the days of Queen Anne and the first George. Inside one of those frowsy and low-ceiled rooms, now tenanted by abandoned women or devoted to the sale of greengroceries and small coal,--Halifax has conversed and Somers unbent, Addison mellowed over a bottle, Congreve flashed his wit, Vanbrugh let loose his easy humour, Garth talked and rhymed." The Club was literary and gallant as well as political. The members subscribed 400 guineas for the encouragement of good comedies in 1709. The Club had its toasting-glasses, inscribed with a verse, or _toast_, to some reigning beauty; among whom were the four shining daughters of the Duke of Marlborough--Lady Godolphin, Lady Sunderland, Lady Bridgewater, and Lady Monthermer; Swift's friends, Mrs. Long and Mrs. Barton, the latter the lovely and witty niece of Sir Isaac Newton; the Duchess of Bolton, Mrs. Brudenell, and Lady Carlisle, Mrs. Di. Kirk, and Lady Wharton. Dr. Arbuthnot, in the following epigram, seems to derive the name of the Club from this custom of toasting ladies after dinner, rather than from the renowned maker of mutton-pies:-- "Whence deathless Kit-Kat took his name, Few critics can unriddle: Some say from pastrycook it came, And some from Cat and Fiddle. From no trim beaus its name it boasts, Grey statesmen or green wits, But from this pell-mell pack of toasts Of old Cats and young Kits." Lord Halifax wrote for the toasting-glasses the following verses in 1703:-- _The Duchess of St. Albans._ The line of Vere, so long renown'd in arms, Concludes with lustre in St. Albans' charms. Her conquering eyes have made their race complete: They rose in valour, and in beauty set. _The Duchess of Beaufort._ Offspring of a tuneful sire, Blest with more than mortal fire; Likeness of a Mother's face, Blest with more than mortal grace: You with double charms surprise, With his wit, and with her eyes. _The Lady Mary Churchill._ Fairest and latest of the beauteous race, Blest with your parent's wit, and her first blooming face; Born with our liberties in William's reign, Your eyes alone that liberty restrain. _The Lady Sunderland._ All Nature's charms in Sunderland appear, Bright as her eyes, and as her reason clear; Yet still their force to man not safely known, Seems undiscover'd to herself alone. _The Mademoiselle Spanheim._ Admir'd in Germany, ador'd in France, Your charms to brighten glory here advance: The stubborn Britons own your beauty's claim, And with their native toasts enrol your name. _To Mrs. Barton._