Peninsular war, and ultimately attained almost the patriarchal age of a centenarian before he disappeared from the scene. There, too, may yet occasionally be seen his greater surviving chief, enjoying his simple shoulder of mutton repast, murmuring, chafing, chiding, and in the end positively refusing to pay the excess of threepence charged him in eighteen pennies for a dinner. But though we have an illustrious example, and Marlborough, we are told, would walk home of a night, after winning a hundred pounds at cards, to save the shilling expense of chair-hire, to no such unworthy feeling or impulse of the "good old gentlemanly vice," is the objection of Wellington to be attributed. It, on the contrary, is rather to be ascribed to a desire for the maintenance of the principle which originally led to the establishment of the club, and a commendable care for the finances of some less fortunate comradein arms, to whom such trifles in the aggregate might possibly be of importance.

The United Service, however, admits no member of rank inferior to that of captain in the navy or major in the army. Yet of these, fifteen hundred were speedily on its rolls; and so popular was the principle, so numerous were the candidates for admission, that another club, of similar character,

THE JUNIOR UNITED SERVICE,

was quickly established to provide for officers of lower grade, and those of higher rank whom the Senior Club was unable to receive.

The Junior United Service, which consists of fully as many members as the old club, and four or five hundred additional or "supernumeraries" abroad has established itself at the corner of Charles-street, Regent-street, the old head-quarters of the Senior Club. The house is of a lighter order, more airy in its internal aspect, though not so impressive in the exterior. In addition to commissioned officers of all ranks in both army and navy, its portals are open for the reception of those of like grade in the Honourable East India Company's service, and consequently its members are the most numerous of any institution of the kind in London.

Many of the senior members of each club are common to both, it having been considered a high honour, when the Junior was established, for the more distinguished individuals in the ranks of the Senior Club to be elected as honorary members, although those belonging to the other could not of course attain a similar distinction, unless of the requisite grade. But still, although the two institutions afforded accommodation for nearly three thousand members, so admirable and so useful were found the principles on which these popular bodies were constituted, that the claimants soon became too numerous for admission, and

THE ARMY AND NAVY CLUB

was consequently established for the reception of the teeming members. This institution, originally held at a private mansion in St. James'ssquare, has recently been erected on a scale of unparalleled splendour, throwing, in the estimation of many, even the new building of the Carlton into the shade. It is understood that it will likewise afford accommo

dation for fifteen hundred members, and one would have thought that the whole officers in the service, resident or likely to be visitors in the metropolis, were thus amply provided for; but no, we have a fourth military club,

THE GUARDS,

in existence; and a sixth exclusively devoted to one branch of the service,

THE NAVAL

cnly recently extinct, or merged in the Army and Navy.

The former of these two last-named institutions (the GUARDS) is, perhaps, of older date than any of the other military clubs of the metropolis; it having long been the practice of this favoured division of her Majesty's service-the Household Brigade-destitute of separate regimental messes themselves, to unite for the purpose of enjoying the advantages of association in a body. Their present establishment is a small house, vis-a-vis to White's, adjoining the boot-maker's at the corner of St. James's-street; and on a drawing-room day it forms a battery not less formidable for the fairer portion of creation than the celebrated baywindow itself. In the estimation of many, indeed, it is a more dangerous citadel for the ladies to pass; the eyes of the young Guardsman being far more trenchant than the glasses of the antiquated beaux at White's. A few years ago, the members of the Guards, finding their present premises inconveniently small, erected a new club-house in Jermyn-street, adjacent; and in this they carried simplicity to extreme, in opposition tothe profusion lavished in ornamenting the exterior of other clubs of the day. But the experiment failed to afford satisfaction either to themselves or others. The building had (and has, for it still exists) a barrack-like aspect uninviting in the extreme; and though elegant within, it was destitute of the one great advantage-the view of the tempting streetenjoyed by the smaller edifice in proximity with Hoby's. It has consequently been abandoned for the old resort; and the extinction of Crockford's, adjoining, will possibly afford the Guards an opportunity of acquiring ample accommodation without quitting the vicinity of their favourite spot.

The other club alluded to, in connection with another branch of her Majesty's service (the Naval) had originally its head-quarters, we believe, in Covent Garden; was afterwards removed to New Bond-street; and within these last few years has become extinct, or merged in the Army and Navy. Yet it was the resort of many a choice spirit in its day. Founded on the model of the old tavern or convivial clubs, but confined exclusively to members of the naval service, it numbered among its members men from the days of Boscawen, Rodney, and the "First of June" downwards. It was a favorite retreat for his late Majesty when Duke of Clarence, and his comrade, Sir Philip Durham, the survivor of Nelson, and almost the last of the "old school," frequented it to the last. Sir Philip, however, though a member of the old school, was by no means one of the Trunnion class. Coarseness and profane language, on the contrary, he especially avoided; but in "spinning a yarn" there has been none like him since the days of Smollett. The loss of the

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Royal George, from which he was one of the few, if, indeed, not only officer, who escaped, was a favorite theme; and the admiral, not content with having made his escape, was wont to maintain that he swam ashore with his midshipman's dirk in his teeth. Yet Sir Philip would allow no one to trench on his manor. One day when a celebrated naval captain, with the view of quizzing him, was relating the loss of a merchantman on the coast of South America, laden with Spitalfields products, and asserting that silk was so plentiful, and the cargo so scattered, that the porpoises were for some hours enmeshed in its folds. "Aye, aye," replied Sir Philip, “I believe you; for I was once cruising on that coast myself, in search of a privateer, and having lost our fore topsail one morning in a gale of wind, we next day found it tied round a whale's neck by way of a cravat." Sir Philip was considered to have the best of it, and the novelist was mute.

But these are reminiscences of bye-gone days. Leaving the fields of Mars and Neptune for those of Minerva and Apollo, approach we

now to

THE LITERARY CLUBS,

or those which, if not strictly devoted to literature, are at least in some degree or another connected with its cultivation; and the first to which we shall direct attention is

THE ATHENÆUM,

the earliest and most recherché of them all, and which, if not the abode of wit, is the place where that sensible spirit, in its most exuberant form, was lately poured out and appreciated.

The successful example of the United Service led to the establishment of the Athenæum. A number of gentlemen, connected with the learned professions and higher order of the fine arts and literature, observing how advantageously the members of Her Majesty's service had combined, thought of applying the same principle to those who moved in the quieter sphere of civil office, the belles lettres, and private life; and the Athenæum, which stands opposite, and in fine tranquil array to its martial neighbour, was the result. With the exception, perhaps, of the United Service, it is the most select establishment in London, and it contains possibly a still greater number of candidates for admission to its halls ; the circumstance of belonging to the Athenæum being now considered a distinction, extended only to the most eminent in literature, art, science, and civil life—although, of course, a great majority of its fifteen hundred members must previously have obtained the entrée without any such claims to notice. Mr. Rogers, the poet, one of its earliest members, is still amongst the chief of its present ornaments; and innumerable are the quiet, satirical, but generally biting, bon mots recorded of him. The late Theodore Hook was also one of its great attractions; and the table adjoining the door, near which he used to sit, is still considered as a spot sacred to mirth and hostile to dolour. The Athenæum, however, now contains no such choice spirit as he, qualified alike, as in the instance of the Berners-street hoax, to fright the town from its propriety, and “set the table in a roar." "Alas! poor Yorick" may be said of him, when

contemplating the melancholy end of all his "gibes and quips, and cranks and jeering;" and, when contemplating such a wreck, it is perhaps well for society, and the dignity of literature itself, that the like exists no longer.

The Athenæum is an exceedingly handsome structure, elegantly ornamented on the exterior, and surmounted by an imposing statue of Minerva. In the interior, the chief feature is the staircase, which is on a scale of splendour unexpected for the size of the building, and may be adduced as an instance that such a feature is not necessarily fatal to beauty and magnificence in architecture. One of its great attractions is an extensive and well-chosen library, exceeding, it is understood, twenty thousand volumes in number, and continually increased by donations, as well as the dedication of £500 a year from its funds for the purchase of new works of distinction in literature and art.

The names of Sir Thomas Lawrence, Sir Humphrey Davy, Sir James Mackintosh, Sir Walter Scott, and Mr. John Wilson Croker, may all be mentioned in union with the Athenæum; and the numerous candidates for admission-extending at one time, it is believed, to the hopeless number of sixteen hundred-led to the establishment of several similar clubs; conspicuous among which are

THE OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE,

in Pall Mall, midway on the shady side, and

THE UNIVERSITY,

at the extremity of Suffolk-street, Pall Mall East.

The

These clubs may both be mentioned together as peculiar, we believe, to University men, and such only as are members of the two great colleges of England. The former is a handsome structure; and, before the recent erections of the Conservative, the Army and Navy, and Charlton, was, in its exterior, amongst the most conspicuous in London. other is a somewhat dull and heavy-looking affair, but possessing, it is said, the best cellar of wine in London. The Oxford and Cambridge, which is the more recent in its origin, consists chiefly of the younger spirits of the Universities, and is less select. The other is, for the most part, composed of the old and graver members; and in these ranks some of the most experienced bibbers in the metropolis are to be found-men more learned in all the varieties of foreign wine than Roberts himself in the shocking mysteries of the composition of British, and whom even the sagest and most expert "tasters" of the London Docks are disposed to regard with envy. All the serious Members of Parliament, who have received university education, are invariably to be found in the latter. It also contains a considerable number of the judges, and no small portion of beneficed clergymen.

When admission to the Athenæum, and perhaps these clubs tooespecially the last-named-became an anticipation almost hopeless, a new club,

THE ERECTHEUM

was established for the purpose of receiving the despairing members; but is by no means of the same high order with the others.

It is situated in

St. James's-square,-a quiet, unassuming mansion, hired for the purpose, and entering from an adjoining street. An institution of a similar order, the CLARENCE, originally named the Literary Union, was established a few years ago, but failed from want of resources; Hood, the noted punster, though capable of higher things, declaring that its members were republicans in literature, because they had not a sovereign amongst them. A new club of this order, named the MUSEUM, of humbler pretensions, and more economic terms of admission, has lately been established in Northumberland-street, Strand; but it is doubtful whether it will obtain success, the ordinary places of public entertainment being more accessible to the majority of those likely to become its members, and the various literary institutions of the metropolis affording them reading accommodation at a price still more equitable. Still, it is a movement not to be discouraged; and the extension of the advantages of the clubsystem to a still humbler grade, as in the instance of a vast city institution, known by the somewhat puerile name of the WHITTINGTON, may be mentioned as another praiseworthy attempt of a similar description.

But, connected somewhat with literature, somewhat with politics, and somewhat with commerce of the highest order, is another

THE UNION,

one of the oldest, and, until of late years, one of the most recherché of all. This club was established in Cockspur-street, Trafalgar-square, shortly after the institution of the Senior United Service and Athenæum ; and, for years celebrated, has almost ever since maintained its ascendancy. At one time almost equally exclusive with the Athenæum itself, it has of late years become more accessible, chiefly in consequence of the increased number of similar establishments diminishing the aggregate of candidates. But it is still select; and the fame of its cuisine is second to that of none in London. A small hotel, bearing a like designation, was established on this reputation in the immediate neighbourhood; and we know not whether there was any connexion with the management or not, but it speedily became so renowned for turtle, that the fortune of the proprietor was secure: old Lord Panmure, a connoiseur of the highest order in all culinary matters, regularly taking up his quarters in it every year, and attending his parliamentary duties with exemplary assiduity for the sake of the soup; although the whole of his eloquence, during a course of a quarter of a century, consisted of the exclamation “ What a sheam!" in 1815, when some of the refractory populace endeavoured to break the windows of St. Stephen's chapel, during the discussion of the corn-law bill of that day.

The Union, as already mentioned, consists of politicians, and the higher order of professional and commercial men, without reference to party opinions; and the ALFRED, the WYNDHAM, and the PARTHENON, are clubs of similar nature; tourists, however, predominating in the first of these three institutions, and literateurs in the last. The Wyndham is rather a place of resort with country gentlemen, like Arthur's and Boodle's; but tourists on a grand scale, or those whose excursions have extended to a distance of not less than five hundred miles from London, or the bounds of Britain, have a club of their own—