ii s. in. MAT 20,
NOTES AND QUERIES.
399
ence, a hundred years old. The baize at
the bottom was certainly intended as an
aid to its not slipping on the table. The
inside of the box was only used for keeping
cottons in. E. B. S. BOYS.
London Clubs : their History and Treasures. By
Ralph Nevill. (Chatto & Windus.) MR. NEVILL has got hold of an excellent subject, and made an entertaining volume out of it. He revels in anecdote which, if not always new to the expert student of history and memoirs, will probably be fresh to the present generation of readers. He covers in part some of the ground of his ' Light Come, Light Go,' a history of gambling, so that there is some repetition of matter concerning the gamesters of Brooks's. That volume contains an illustration of ' The Gambling-Room ' of the club just mentioned which would have been appropriate here. The illustrations presented to us are, however, all to the point.
Rapid changes have been passing over club-life of recent years, and Mr. Nevill does not fail to supply interesting details of the conservative members who grumble at innovations such as increased facilities of smoking, largely due to the example of King Edward and have in some cases by their obstinacy led to the departure of prominent men, and subsequent collapse of their favourite institution.
The hospitality of the Garrick Club is famous. At this place of good entertainment our late and well-beloved editor was a favourite, and we are pleased to find the following reference to him, which is unnoted in the Index :
" The Beefsteak Club, like the Garrick, once contained quite a number of members who had a great disinclination to go to bed, and who lingered late over the pleasant talk of the supper-table. Here also the spirit of the age has effected a change, for practically all the old school of Beef- steakers, of which that most delightful of men, the late Joseph Knight, was such a brilliant example, are gone, and the hours kept are now very reasonable."
Besides clubs which aim merely at social life and the pleasures of the table, there are others which cater for higher qualifications, and Mr. Nevill has found much of interest concerning the Dilettanti Society and " The Club," of which Johnson, Goldsmith, Burke, Fox, Gibbon, and other great men were members, and which, demanding distinction as a qualification for entrance, " is perhaps the most exclusive institu- tion in Europe." The Travellers, which refused to admit Cecil Rhodes, has a similar reputation.
Mr. Nevill imagines Dr. Johnson saying of the modern club, " Sir, this may be a palace, but it is no club," and one can fairly imagine some such dictum from the philosopher. But when he speaks of " the days when Dr. Johnson blew his cloud by the side of an old-fashioned fire- place," he is surely at fault. We gather from Boswell's great work that Johnson did not smoke himself, though he viewed the habit with leniency.
Upper Norwood Athenceum : the Record of the-
Winter Meetings and Summer Excursions*
1910.
WE are delighted to find the Upper Norwood Athenaeum in such a flourishing condition ; new members are being enrolled, and these not only add to the number of the ramblers, but are prepared to- take their part in conducting rambles and reading papers.
The winter visits included Fishmongers' Hall and St. Magnus the Martyr, conducted by Mr.. Frederick Higgs, and Deptford and Sayes Court,, by Mr. William F. Potter. In St. Nicholas's churchyard, Deptford, was found the following epitaph to the memory of a publican : " God takes the good, too good on earth to stay ; and leaves the bad, too bad to take away." In the church- yard of St. Paul's, Deptford, is an epitaph in memory of Mrs. Mary Hawtree, midwife, who died, in 1734, and gave silver christening^ bowls to St- Paul's and St. Nicholas's. On her tombstone is this inscription : " She was a devoted mother and the best of wives ; she brought into the worldi more than 3,000 lives."
The first summer excursion was to Walton-on-the Hill, conducted by Mr. Charles Wheeler, followed by one to Great Berkhamsted, conducted by Mr. Alfred Burch. An important ramble was tha't to Lesnes Abbey, under the auspices of Mr. W. T. Vincent, who is actively engaged in the excava- tions being made there under the direction of the Woolwich Antiquarian Society.
Another interesting trip was to Ickenham,, when Mr. A. J. Pitman took charge of the party- It seems hard to realize that this quiet, secluded village is but sixteen miles from London. Thfr registers in the church date back to the beginning of the sixteenth century. Mr. Pitman made reference to Roger Crab, one of the most re- markable worthies connected with Ickenham, who was " a devotee of the simple life long before the phrase had been devised.
An entire day was devoted to Chi Chester, when Mr. Henry W. Burrows and Mr. W. J. Burrows acted as leaders. The Roman pottery in the Museum was inspected, and Prebendary Codrjng- ton welcomed the party to the Cathedral, and 1 called attention to every point of interest. After- wards a remnant of the city vail was traversed. " and in the open undercroft of the Council Chamber the inscribed Roman stone was seen bearing the name of Pudens, who was mentioned by St. Paul when writing to Timothy." As archi- tects, Messrs. Burrows hoped by their paper " to awake in the non -architectural members of the Society an interest in the comparative study of the grand examples of the architecture of the Middle Ages. The planning, design, and orna- mentation of these buildings is, in itself, a charming study, and when the main facts are grasped, the reward is indeed great. The buildings themselves carry their own history ; each moulding and carving is characteristic of its period, and carries, so to speak, a mark which is as distinctive to the con- nois eur as the hall mark to the jeweller, or the pottery mark to the expert in fhina."
The visit to Windsor, when Mr George Thatcher conducted, included ladies, and Canon Dalton showed the party over St. George's Chapel. Eltham Manor, under the leadership of Messrs. Frederic and Herbert J. Weise, formed another delightful ramble. Mr. Harold F. Murrell took
