16 In the room, where of old the Eccentrics {*} met; When mortals were Brilliants, and fond of a whet, And _Hecate_ environ'd all London in jet. Where Adolphus, and Shorri',{**} and famed Charley Fox, With a hundred good whigs led by Alderman Cox, Put their names in the books, and their cash in the box; Where perpetual Whittle,{***} facetiously grand, On the president's throne each night took his stand, With his three-curly wig, and his hammer in hand: Then Brownly, with eloquence florid and clear, Pour'd a torrent of metaphor into the ear, With well-rounded periods, and satire severe. Here too Peter Finnerty, Erin's own child, Impetuous, frolicsome, witty, and wild, With many a tale has our reason beguiled: Then wit was triumphant, and night after night Was the morn usher'd in with a flood of delight. * The Eccentrics, a club principally composed of persons connected with the press or the drama, originally established at the Swan, in Chandos-street, Covent-garden, under the name of the Brilliants, and afterwards removed to the Sutherland Arms, in May's-buildings, St. Martin's-lane; --here, for many years, it continued the resort of some of the first wits of the time; the chair was seldom taken till the theatres were over, and rarely vacated till between four and five in the morning. ** Sheridan, Charles Fox, Adolphus, and many of the most eminent men now at the bar, were members or occasional frequenters. *** James Whittle, Esq., of Fleet-street, (or, as he was more generally denominated, the facetious Jemmy Whittle, of the respectable firm of Laurie and Whittle, booksellers and publishers) was for some years perpetual president of the society, and by his quaint manners, and good-humoured sociality, added much to the felicity of the scene--he is but recently dead.