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
To the Steaks Wilkes sent a copy of his infamous _Essay on Women_,
first printed for private circulation; for which Lord Sandwich--Jemmy
Twitcher--himself, as we have seen, a member of the Society--moved in
the House of the Lords that Wilkes should be taken into custody; a
piece of treason as the act of one brother of the Steaks against
another, fouler than even the trick of "dirty Kidgell," the parson,
who, as a friend of the author, got a copy of the Essay from the
printer, and then felt it his duty to denounce the publication; he had
been encouraged to inform against Wilkes's Essay by the Earl of March,
afterwards Duke of Queensberry. However, Jemmy Twitcher himself was
expelled by the Steaks the same year he assailed Wilkes for the Essay;
the grossness and blasphemy of the poem disgusted the Society; and
Wilkes never dined there after 1763; yet, when he went to France, they
hypocritically made him an honorary member.
Garrick was an honoured member of the Steaks; though he did not affect
Clubs. The Society possess a hat and sword which David wore, probably
on the night when he stayed so long with the Steaks, and had to play
Ranger, at Drury-lane. The pit grew restless, the gallery bawled
"Manager, manager!" Garrick had been sent for to Covent Garden, where
the Steaks then dined. Carriages blocked up Russell-street, and he had
to thread his way between them; as he came panting into the theatre,
"I think, David," said Ford, one of the anxious patentees,
"considering the stake you and I have in this house, you might pay
more attention to the business."--"True, my good friend," returned
Garrick, "but I was thinking of my steak in the other house."
Many a reconciliation of parted friends has taken place at this Club.
Peake, in his _Memoirs of the Colman Family_, thus refers to a
reconciliation between Garrick and Colman the elder, through the
Sublime Society:--
"Whether Mr. Clutterbuck or other friends interfered to reconcile the
two dramatists, or whether the considerations of mutual interest may
not in a great measure have aided in healing the breach between Colman
and Garrick, is not precisely to be determined; but it would appear,
from the subjoined short note from Garrick, that Colman must have made
some overture to him.
"'My dear Colman,--Becket has been with me, and tells me of your
friendly intentions towards me. I should have been beforehand with
you, had I not been ill with the beefsteaks and arrack punch last
Saturday, and was obliged to leave the play-house.
"'He that parts us shall bring a brand from Heav'n,
And fire us hence.'
"'Ever yours, old and new friend,
"'D. GARRICK.'"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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