Club-houses.—During the last forty or fifty years new habits amongst the upper classes have led to the establishment of a variety of _Club-houses_—places of resort unknown to our ancestors. There are at present, including many fifth-rate clubs, about 84 clubs in London. A London club-house is either the property of a private person, who engages to furnish subscribers with certain accommodation, on paying a fixed sum as entrance-money, and a specified annual subscription; or else it belongs to a society of gentlemen who associate for the purpose. Of the first class, the most noted are _Brookes’s_ and _White’s_, both situated in St. James’s Street, The second class of clubs is most numerous: the principal among them being the _Carlton_, _Junior Carlton_, _Reform_, _Athenæum_, _Oriental_, _Conservative_, _Travellers’_, _United University_, _Oxford and Cambridge_, _Army and Navy_, _Guards’_, _United Service_, _Junior United Service_, _Union_, _Arthur’s_, and _Windham_ clubs. The houses belonging to these clubs respectively are among the finest at the West-end of London, and may easily be distinguished in and about Pall Mall, St. James’s Street, and Waterloo Place. No member sleeps at his club; the accommodation extends to furnishing all kinds of refreshments, the use of a library, and an ample supply of newspapers and periodicals in the reading-room. The real object of these institutions is to furnish a place of resort for a select number of gentlemen, on what are really moderate terms. The Athenæum Club, (near the York Column,) which consists chiefly of scientific and literary men, is one of the most important. It has 1,200 members, each of whom pays thirty guineas entrance-money, and seven guineas yearly subscription. As in all other clubs, members are admitted only by ballot. The expense of the house in building was £35,000, and £5,000 for furnishing; the plate, linen, and glass cost £2,500; library, £5,000; and the stock of wine in cellar is usually worth about £4,000. The other principal clubs vary from nine to thirty guineas entrance-fee, from six to eleven guineas annual subscription, and from 600 to 1,500 members. During part of the life of the late M. Soyer, the _kitchen_ of the Reform Club-house was one of the sights of the West-end. The _Garrick Club_, in Garrick Street, W.C., consists chiefly of theatrical and literary men. The same remark applies to the _Arundel_, in Salisbury Street, Strand. The _Whittington Club_, in the Strand, was the humblest of its class, and bore little resemblance to the others; it was rather a literary and scientific institution, with a refreshment department added.