The modern club, with its luxuries and comforts, has its origin in the tavern2 and coffee-house of a long-past age. The resorts in question have long since entirely3 changed their character, although they were once important features of London life, and were used by all classes for purposes of conviviality4 and conversation.
The appellation5 “club” seems to have come into use at the time when coffee-houses began to be popular in London. The first notable London club, of course, was the Mermaid6, in Broad Street, which was supposed to have been founded by Raleigh, and which was the reputed scene of many witty7 combats between Shakespeare and Ben Jonson. The latter himself originated another club—the Apollo—which had its meetings at the Devil Tavern, near Temple Bar.
In course of time many landlords perceived the advantage which would accrue8 to their business from the setting apart of special rooms for privileged 2customers; and gradually a number of fairly exclusive clubs came into being.
Thus Tom’s, a coffee-house till 1764, in that year, by a guinea subscription9, was easily converted into a fashionable club. In the same way White’s and the Cocoa-tree changed their character from chocolate-house to club. When once a house had customers enough of standing10 and good repute, well acquainted with each other, it was quite worth while to purchase the power of excluding all but subscribers, and to turn the place into a club; for by such a proceeding12 undesirable13 characters, who could obtain constant admission to an open house, were at once kept outside the doors.
The evolution of the modern club has been so simple that it can be traced with great ease. First the tavern or coffee-house, where a certain number of people met on special evenings for purposes of social conversation, and incidentally consumed a good deal of liquid refreshment14; then the beginnings of the club proper—some well-known house of refreshment being taken over from the proprietor15 by a limited number of clients for their own exclusive use, and the landlord retained as manager; and finally the palatial16 modern club, not necessarily sociable17, but replete18 with every comfort, and owned by the members themselves. In such places, however, the old spirit of club-life is generally lost. Dr. Johnson, for example, can be imagined passing through the portals of one of these huge buildings, and saying: “Sir, this may be a palace, but it is no club.” There is no doubt that in a great measure he would be right.
3It is believed that the first house in Pall19 Mall ever used as a club was No. 86, originally built for Edward, Duke of York, brother of George III. It was opened as a “subscription house,” and called the Albion Hotel towards the end of the last century.
In the early part of the eighteenth century there were said to be no fewer than 2,000 coffee-houses in London. Every profession, trade, class, party, had its favourite coffee-house. The lawyers discussed law or literature, criticized the last new play, or retailed20 the legal scandal at Nando’s or the Grecian, not very far away from the Temple. At such places the young bloods of the Inns of Court paraded their gowns in the morning, and swaggered in their lace coats and Mechlin ruffles21 at night, after the theatre. City men met to discuss the rise and fall of stocks, and to settle the rate of insurance, at Garraway’s or Jonathan’s; parsons exchanged University gossip or discussed points of theology at Truby’s or at Child’s, in St. Paul’s Churchyard; whilst military men mustered22 to grumble23 over their grievances24 at Old or Young Man’s, near Charing25 Cross. The St. James’s and the Smyrna were the headquarters of the Whig politicians, whereas the Tories frequented the Cocoa-tree or Ozinda’s, in St. James’s Street; Scotchmen had their house of call at Forrest’s, Frenchmen at Giles’s or Old Slaughter’s, in St. Martin’s Lane; the gamesters shook their elbows in White’s and the chocolate-houses round Covent Garden; and the leading wits gathered at Will’s, Button’s, or Tom’s, in Great Russell Street, where, after the 4theatre, there was piquet and the best of conversation till midnight. At all these places, except a few of the most aristocratic coffee or chocolate houses of the West End, smoking was allowed.
Many of these old taverns must have been exceedingly comfortable places, and the few which survive have an especial charm. They carry one’s thoughts irresistibly26 to the days when Dr. Johnson blew his cloud by the side of an old-fashioned fireplace, and occasionally floored some unhappy wight with the sledge-hammer of his conversation.
One of the last, if not the last, hostelries, which still retains its ancient appearance, is the Cheshire Cheese. This well-known house is half-way up Fleet Street, on the northern side. It remains27, I believe, substantially as it was when, seven years after the Restoration, it was rebuilt on the site of that older Cheshire Cheese where Shakespeare and many other Elizabethan wits were wont28 to meet.
Ben Jonson was a frequent visitor, and here occurred his dispute with Sylvester as to which of them could make the best couplet in the shortest time. The latter began:
“I, Sylvester,
Kiss’d your sister.”
The other’s retort was:
“I, Ben Jonson,
Kiss’d your wife.”
“But that’s not rhyme,” said Sylvester. “No,” said Jonson, “but it’s true.”
The original courtyard of the Cheshire Cheese is 5now roofed over with glass, and here may be seen some interesting old prints. These include two by H. Bunbury—“A City Hunt” and “Hyde Park, 1780”; while others are, “Destruction of the Bastille, July 14, 1789,” after a painting by H. Singleton, and a line engraving29 by James Heath, from a painting by F. Wheatley of “The Riot in Broad Street on the 17th of June, 1773.”
Dr. Johnson is supposed to have passed many an evening here, and from his time down to the present day unbroken links of tradition connect the Cheshire Cheese of the twentieth century with the Cheshire Cheese of the eighteenth.
The seat on which legend reports that the redoubtable30 lexicographer31 sat is one of the most treasured relics32 of the dining-room. Above it hangs a copy of the famous portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds, now preserved in the National Gallery. Underneath34 may be read the following inscription35: “The Favourite Seat of Dr. Johnson. Born 18th Septr., 1709. Died 13th Decr., 1784. In him a noble understanding and a masterly intellect were united with grand independence of character and unfailing goodness of heart, which won the admiration36 of his own age and remain as recommendations to the reverence37 of posterity38. ‘No, Sir! there is nothing which has yet been contrived39 by man by which so much happiness has been produced as by a good tavern.’—Johnson.”
Upstairs is another copy of Sir Joshua’s oil-painting of the Doctor. This, it is said, dates back 6to Johnson’s time, and was painted in order that it might adorn41 the room at the Mitre, in Chancery Lane, where the club founded by Dr. Johnson first held its meetings. Dr. Johnson’s Mitre has long since been pulled down, but the club he founded still exists, and it meets several times a year in what was formerly42 the coffee-room. This is now known as “William’s room,” on account of the portrait of William Simpson which hangs over the fireplace. William began to be a waiter at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Chop-house in 1829, and his portrait, as the inscription below says, “was subscribed43 for by the gentlemen frequenting the coffee-room, and presented to Mr. Dolamore (the landlord) to be handed down as an heirloom to all future landlords of ‘Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese,’ Wine Office Court, Fleet Street.” The name of the artist is unknown.
In the opposite room is a picture of another waiter—a portrait of Henry Todd, as the inscription informs us, who commenced as waiter at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese February 27, 1812. It was painted by Wageman, July 1827, and “subscribed for by the gentlemen frequenting the coffee-room, and presented to Mr. Dolamore (the landlord) in trust to be handed down as an heirloom to all future landlords of the Old Cheshire Cheese, Wine Office Court, Fleet Street.”
Besides being the meeting-place of the Mitre Club, the Cheshire Cheese is used by a number of clubs resembling somewhat those which were so popular with a long-vanished generation. These are: The Johnson Club, founded about twenty-five 7years ago; the Sawdust Club, founded 1906; “Ourselves,” founded 1897; St. Dunstan’s, founded 1890; the Rump Steak Club; the Dickens Club. The Johnson Club is literary and social in character, and consists of thirty-one members, who sup together annually44 on or about December 13th, the anniversary of the Doctor’s death. Various other meetings are held throughout the year.
The Doctor was certainly the most typical club-man of a past age, and his name is connected with quite a number of social clubs which held their meetings at coffee-houses and taverns. Indeed, no more clubbable man than the writer of the famous Dictionary ever lived; but, then, sociability45 was the main object of the clubs of his day, whereas the modern tendency is more towards comfort and efficient management than anything else. In most large modern clubs quite a number of members are totally unknown to their fellows, and there is no reason why a member should speak to anyone at all unless he wishes to do so. The majority of the larger modern clubs are in reality merely comfortable caravanserais—hotels receiving a certain number of selected visitors who recognize no social obligations within the club walls except such as regulate ordinary civilized46 behaviour.
Dr. Johnson founded several social clubs at the taverns and coffee-houses which he loved to frequent. One of these was the King’s Head, Ivy47 Lane, Paternoster Row, a famous beefsteak house, and here he spent every Tuesday evening in conversation with the members of a social club of his own foundation.
8At the Queen’s Arms, in St. Paul’s Churchyard, the Doctor in later years founded a club of a similar sort, and Boswell records that he was also desirous of having a City club, the members of which he suggested that Boswell should collect. “Only,” added the great lexicographer, “don’t let there be any patriots48.”
Yet another club instituted by Dr. Johnson was one which met thrice a week at the Essex Head, in Essex Street, Strand49, at the time when that tavern was kept by Samuel Greaves—an old servant of Mr. Thrale’s. Failure to attend was penalized50 by a fine of twopence.
The Mitre Tavern in Fleet Street, so often referred to by Boswell, was Dr. Johnson’s favourite supper-place, and here was planned the celebrated51 tour to the Hebrides. It is interesting to remember, in this connection, that Chamberlain Clarke, who died in 1831, aged52 ninety-two, was the last survivor53 of those friends with whom Dr. Johnson forgathered at the Mitre.
Peele’s Coffee-house, at Nos. 177, 178, Fleet Street, which afterwards became a tavern, was also supposed to have been a haunt of Dr. Johnson, whose portrait, painted on the keystone of a chimney-piece, for years after his death formed one of the attractions of the house. The artist was supposed to have been Sir Joshua Reynolds. Peele’s was once noted54 for its collection of old newspapers. Here were preserved files from the following dates: The Gazette, 1759; Times, 1780; Morning Chronicle, 1773; Morning Post, 1773; Morning Herald55, 1784; Morning Advertiser, 1794.
9Nearly every literary man of that time had his favourite coffee-house.
George’s, at No. 213 Strand, near Temple Bar, was the resort of Shenstone, who found it an economical place. Probably it was for this reason that the eccentric Sir James Lowther, a very rich man, but penurious56, also went there. On his first visit he got the proprietors57 to change a piece of silver in order to pay twopence for his coffee. A few days later he returned expressly to tell the woman that she had given him a bad halfpenny, and demanded another in exchange for it.
Clients of this coffee-house could read pamphlets and papers for a very moderate subscription.
London hours were very different in those days. Three o’clock, or at latest four, was the dining hour of the most fashionable people, for in the country no such late hours had been adopted. In London, therefore, the men began to assemble soon after six at the coffee-house they frequented—unless, indeed, they were setting in for hard drinking, which seems to have prevailed much less in private houses than in taverns.
The conversation varied58 in different coffee-houses. In those about the Temple, legal matters formed the principal subject of discussion. On the other hand, at Daniel’s, the Welsh coffee-house in Fleet Street, it was mostly of births, pedigrees, and descents; Child’s and the Chapter, upon glebes, tithes59, advowsons, rectories, and lectureships; North’s, undue60 elections, false pollings, scrutinies61, and the like; Hamlin’s, infant baptism, lay ordination62, free-will, election, and reprobation63; Batson’s, 10the prices of pepper, indigo64, and saltpetre; and all those about the Exchange, where the merchants met to transact65 their affairs, were in a perpetual hurry about stock-jobbing—cheating, and tricking widows and orphans66, and committing spoil and rapine on the public, malicious67 people said.
In some coffee-houses and taverns political feeling ran high. One noted chop-house near Holborn lost its business owing to the democratic character of a number of its frequenters, and eventually had to be shut up. A new landlord, however, seeking to restore its prosperity, exhibited the sign of the King’s Head, referring to which a friend said to him: “Do you think your new sign will keep away old customers? Why, there is not one of them but would like as much as ever to have a chop at the King’s Head.”
The Chapter Coffee-house in Paternoster Row, an ancient building with low rooms and heavy beams, was in the eighteenth century the resort of all the booksellers and publishers; and the literary hacks68, the critics, and even the wits, used to go there in search of ideas or employment. This was the place about which Chatterton wrote, in those delusive69 letters he sent to his mother at Bristol, while he was starving in London. The Chapter also retained traditions of Oliver Goldsmith.
In later years it became the tavern frequented by University men and country clergymen who were up in London for a few days, and, having no private friends or access into society, were glad to learn what was going on in the world of letters, 11from the conversation which they were sure to hear in the coffee-room.
At one time leather tokens were issued by the proprietor; and the Chapter was noted for being entirely managed by men, no women servants being kept.
In the north-east corner of the coffee-room was a box known as the Witenagemote, which in the early morning was occupied by a group of individuals nicknamed the Wet Paper Club. The name was derived70 from their habit of opening the papers as soon as these were brought in by the newsman, and reading them before they were dried by the waiter; a dry paper was regarded as a stale commodity. In the afternoon another party enjoyed the wet evening papers.
A gentleman who was considered a fixture71 in this box was Mr. Hammond, a Coventry manufacturer, who evening after evening, for nearly forty-five years, was always to be found in the same place, and during the entire period was well known for his severe and often able comments on the events of the day. Here he pontificated throughout the days of Wilkes, of the American War, and of the French War, and, being on the side of liberty, was constantly in opposition72 to almost everyone else.
The Chapter continued to be a coffee-house up to 1854, when it became a tavern.
The Royal Exchange was the resort of all the trading part of the City, foreign and domestic, from half an hour after one till near three in the afternoon; but the better sort generally met in the 12Exchange Alley74 a little before, at three celebrated coffee-houses called Garraway’s, Robin’s, and Jonathan’s. In the first the people of quality who had business in the City, and the most considerable and wealthy citizens, congregated75. In the third met buyers and sellers of stock.
The Royal Exchange Coffee-house resembled a gaming-house more than anything else, being full of gamesters, with the same sharp, intent looks, with the difference only that there it was selling of Bank stock, East India, South Sea, and lottery77 tickets, instead of the cards and dice78 dear to ordinary gamblers.
The British Coffee-house in the West End was much frequented by Scotchmen, whilst a mixture of all sorts went to the Smyrna, not very far away. There were other little coffee-houses much frequented in this neighbourhood—Young Man’s for officers, Old Man’s for stockjobbers, paymasters, and courtiers, and Little Man’s for sharpers. Here there were two or three faro tables upstairs.
After the theatre fashionable men went to Tom’s and Will’s Coffee-houses, where they played piquet and indulged in conversation. Here you might see blue and green ribbons and stars sitting familiarly with private gentlemen, and talking with the same freedom as if they had left their quality and degrees of distance at home—a sight which amazed foreigners not used to the liberty of speech permitted in England.
A favourite resort of literary men was the Percy Coffee-house in Rathbone Place, Oxford79 Street. This was used by Thomas Byerley and Joseph 13Robertson, who together produced the “Percy Anecdotes” in 1820, writing as Sholto and Reuben Percy. A large sum was realized by the work in question, which began in 1820 and ran into forty-four parts.
The West End coffee-houses were often disturbed by the eccentricities80 of the “bloods.” A wild band, for instance, frequented the Royal Chocolate-house in St. James’s Street, where on one occasion a dispute at hazard produced a quarrel, which became general throughout the room; and, as they fought with their swords, three gentlemen were mortally wounded. The affray was at length ended by the interposition of the Royal Guards, who were compelled to knock the parties down indiscriminately with the butt-ends of their muskets81, as entreaties82 and commands were of no avail. On this occasion a footman of Colonel Cunningham’s, greatly attached to his master, rushed through the swords, seized and literally83 carried him out by force without injury.
Lord Camelford, of duelling notoriety, one evening entered the Prince of Wales Coffee-house, Conduit Street, and, as was his usual custom, sat down and began to read the papers. A dashing fellow, and in his own opinion a first-rate blood, happening to come in, threw himself on the opposite seat of the same box, and, in a consequential85 tone, bawled86: “Waiter! bring me a pint87 of madeira and a couple of wax candles, and put them in the next box.” He then drew over to himself Lord Camelford’s candles, and began to read, which proceeding merely caused his lordship to look indignant, whilst he continued reading his paper. The waiter soon 14reappeared, and announced the completion of the gentleman’s commands, who immediately lounged round to his own box. Lord Camelford, having now finished his paragraph, called out, in a mimicking89 tone: “Waiter! bring me a pair of snuffers.” These being quickly brought, his lordship laid down his paper, walked round the table at which the “blood” sat, snuffed out both the candles, and retired90 to his seat. Boiling with rage and fury, the indignant beau roared out: “Waiter, waiter! who the devil is this fellow that dares to insult a gentleman? What is he? What do they call him?” “Lord Camelford, sir,” replied the other in a tone scarcely audible. The coxcomb91, horror-struck at the name of the dangerous nobleman, said tremblingly, “What have I to pay?” and, on being told, quietly laid down his money and sneaked92 away, leaving his madeira untasted.
Disturbances93 were frequently caused in coffee-houses by dashing bucks94 who attempted either to dominate or to upset the domination of others. At the west end of Cecil Court, in St. Martin’s Lane, there existed, towards the end of the reign73 of George II, Pon’s Coffee-house, much frequented by foreigners of distinction, officers, and men about town. In the course of time the foreigners began to dominate this place, always contriving95 to get one of themselves into the chair, and occupying special seats which were kept for them alone. This created much ill-feeling, and at length reached the ears of the celebrated Lord Tyrawley, at that time a gay spark about town. Discussing the foreign ascendancy96 which prevailed in this place, Lord Tyrawley said, in his vigorous way: “It is all your own fault. 15The Frenchmen see you are afraid of them, and therefore behave with insolence97. I am sure they are cowards, and if I was in the company I would undertake to insult the lot with impunity98, and leave the room without being questioned or prevented by any one of them.” This led to a conversation, which ended in a bet that Lord Tyrawley would carry his threat into execution, and on an appointed day he proceeded to action.
Having made arrangements with a confederate, his lordship entered the room in time enough to take his seat in the president’s chair unquestioned, according to the law of the place. Afterwards the confederate, pretending to be a stranger, seated himself unnoticed, in the same manner, in the deputy chairman’s place at the bottom. As the Frenchmen dropped in, one by one, they were surprised to perceive the posts of honour thus unusually occupied. They whispered and muttered to each other as their numbers increased, but at last took their seats anywhere they could. In tones of discontent, deep but not loud, one whispered to his neighbour: “Connaissez-vous celui-là?” pointing to the new president. “Non.” “Ni l’autre?” “Non.” “Ni moi, non plus; ma foi, c’est singulier! Ah! les dr?les! Eh bien, tout99-à-l’heure le président viendra, et alors nous verrons comme tout cela va finir!” At last the French president arrived, and, finding the post of honour unexpectedly filled by the two dashing officers of rank, quietly took his seat, like his countrymen, where he could find it. The others, who were interested in the scene, seated themselves at the lower end of the table, whilst the few French 16who had come early seated themselves as near to the new president as they could.
The two intruders enjoyed the scene in secret, but behaved with politeness and affability to all, in their respective circles, till at last dinner was served. Lord Tyrawley formally did the honours—tasted the soup, put on a critical look, and asked those who were near him to taste, and favour him with their opinions. They were surprised at his assurance, but several tasted, and said simultaneously100, “Assez bien—comme à l’ordinaire—qu’en pensez-vous?” and so on. Lord Tyrawley then exclaimed: “It is most execrable stuff, and only fit to be placed before pigs! Waiter” (the man crept forward trembling), “what do you bring this stuff here for?” The astonished servant looked silently towards the Frenchmen, in the hopes of catching101 a hint, when Tyrawley, in a rage, vociferated: “Don’t answer me, sir! take it away, and bring me the next dish—take it away instantly, I say!” So saying, he seized his own plate in both hands, raised it above his head, and then dashed it with all his force, with its flat bottom, into the midst of the soup, which spread, in a circular sheet, upon the table and the clothes of all who sat at that end of it. The Frenchmen started with horror and surprise, springing from their seats to save their clothes, while his confederate jumped up, exclaiming: “What do you mean by that, sir?” “I mean to say,” said Lord Tyrawley, with provoking coolness, “the soup is very bad.” “Nonsense, sir,” said the apparently102 enraged103 deputy chairman; “you have insulted every man here, and I will see that you give me immediate88 17satisfaction.” “Oh, sir,” said the Peer, very coolly, “if you are for that sport, I will indulge you at once.” So saying, each took down his hat and sword with great dignity, and, the challenger strutting104 after the challenged, both descended105 into the courtyard. The bespattered foreigners, finding a duel84 was in progress, crowded the window for good places to see the sight, till it was quite full. The combatants took their ground, drew, and began a very furious-looking assault; one fought retreating, the other pushing him back till they were at the end of the court in St. Martin’s Lane, when they took off their hats, bowed gracefully106 to the astonished Frenchmen, and walked away arm in arm, laughing and kissing their hands to the company they had left, leaving them to enjoy their spoiled dinner and well-greased clothes as they were best able.
The great dread107 of the peaceful citizens who frequented taverns and coffee-houses was an incursion by members of the clubs known as Bold Bucks and Hell-Fires—for the most part composed of deliberately108 abandoned villains109. The Bold Bucks were given up to licentiousness110 of an unbridled kind; blind and bold love was their motto, and their main object seems to have been the assimilation of man to brute111.
The Hell-Fires, as may be gathered from their appellation, aimed at an even more transcendent malignity112, and derided113 the forms of religion as a trifle.
A regular code of etiquette114 was observed at coffee-houses. At most of these, though not at the fashionable 18West End ones, a penny was usually laid on the bar on entering, which entitled the guest to the use of the room and of the news-sheet. Every rank of life, except perhaps the very lowest, was represented at one or other of these houses. Men met there to transact business, talk politics, discuss the latest play or poem, to play dice or cards. To one man the coffee-house was an office for business, where he received, and from which he dated, his letters; to another, a place in which to push his fortunes among patrons; to most, a lounging-place in which to discuss the news and pass away the time. The advertisements of the day are full of allusions115 to them. One gentleman loses his watch or his sword, and will give a reward if they are returned to Tom’s or Button’s, “and no questions asked.” Another, one Brown, “late City Marshall,” will settle all affairs that he had in his hands while holding that office, if the persons interested will repair to “Mr. Gibbon’s Coffee-House at Charing Cross.”
The first coffee-house—that is, the first house where coffee was sold to the public in England—is said to have been the George and Vulture, in George Yard, Lombard Street, a house still in existence.
About 1652 a Turkey merchant, Mr. Edwards by name, is supposed to have brought to London from Smyrna a Ragusan youth, Pasqua Rosee by name, specially116 to prepare coffee for him every morning. This servant he eventually allowed to sell the new-fashioned infusion117 publicly, and eventually the Ragusan established the first coffee-house in London, at St. Michael’s Abbey, Cornhill, under 19the title of Pasqua Rosee’s Inn, afterwards known to fame as the George and Vulture.
The old Rainbow in Fleet Street, now known as Groom’s, was the second coffee-house; but the owner of the Rainbow apparently did not purvey118 a very attractive form of the new beverage119, for he was indicted120 by the Vestry for selling “a strong drink called Coffee which annoyed the neighbourhood by its evil smell.”
Curiously121 enough, both houses, Groom’s and the George and Vulture, now belong to the same proprietor, Mr. John Gardner, who, when he recently purchased the lease of the former, also acquired the original coffee-making recipe.
As a coffee-house the George and Vulture was a well-known resort of poets, wits, and satirists. The servants appear to have been very enterprising in attracting customers, for they would rush out and seize passers-by, crying: “Coffee, sir; tea, sir! Walk in and try a fresh pot!”
At the George and Vulture, Swift discussed the South Sea Bubble with his friends. Here, too, came Richard Estcourt, of Drury Lane, and founded the first Beefsteak Club. At a later period this coffee-house, on account of its sign, was especially popular with patriotic122 clubs. Amongst its patrons were Addison and Steele, whilst Daniel Defoe seems also to have been a visitor.
In Georgian days the old coffee-house became one of the most popular resorts of John Wilkes, and there also went Hogarth and other well-known men of the day, whilst members of the Hell-Fire Club were constant though unwelcome visitors.
20In later times Charles Dickens immortalized the George and Vulture by making it an abode123 of Mr. Pickwick and Sam Weller; the old hostelry was also selected by the great novelist as being the place where subp?nas were served on Mr. Pickwick’s friends in the famous case of Bardell and Pickwick. Dickens’s affection for “the George” is now perpetuated124 by the City Pickwick, a social club which holds its meetings there.
Dickens is supposed to have obtained the idea for the name of Tom Pinch from Dr. Pinche’s school, which in early Victorian days occupied the site of the Deutsche Bank, close to the George and Vulture, in George Yard. Sir Henry Irving was a pupil here, as was that still surviving legal luminary125, Sir Edward Clarke.
Another resort full of old-world memories—the London Coffee-house, on Ludgate Hill, where John Leech’s father and grandfather were proprietors—occupied a Roman site. In 1800, behind this house, in a bastion of the City Wall, was found a sepulchral126 monument, dedicated127 to a faithful wife by her husband, a Roman soldier. Here also were found a fragment of a statue of Hercules and a female head. In front of the coffee-house, immediately west of St. Martin’s Church, stood Ludgate.
This coffee-house was within the rules of the Fleet Prison; and in the coffee-house were “locked up” for the night such juries from the Old Bailey Sessions as could not agree upon verdicts. In later days it became a tavern.
A curious incident once occurred in this house. 21Mr. Broadhurst, the famous tenor128, by singing a high note caused a wineglass on the table to break, the bowl being separated from the stem. Brayley, the topographer, was present at the time.
Lloyd’s, now such a well-known institution, originated in a coffee-house of that name, which flourished as early as the very beginning of the eighteenth century.
Lloyd’s Coffee-house was originally in Lombard Street, at the corner of Abchurch Lane, subsequently in Pope’s-head Alley, where it was called “New Lloyd’s Coffee-house”; but on February 14, 1774, it was removed to the north-west corner of the Royal Exchange, where it remained until the destruction of that building by fire. When the Royal Exchange was rebuilt, special rooms were set aside for Lloyd’s, which assumed the form in which it flourishes to-day.
Lloyd’s, as a place for insuring ships, was at first started by an astute129 individual who saw the possibilities of a meeting-place for underwriters and insurers of ships’ cargoes130.
As early as the year 1740, it is recorded that Mr. Baker131, Master of Lloyd’s Coffee-house, in Lombard Street, waited on Sir Robert Walpole with the news of Admiral Vernon’s capture of Portobello. This was the first account received thereof, and, as it proved to be true, Sir Robert was pleased to order Mr. Baker a handsome present.
Another resort, somewhat similar to Lloyd’s, was Garraway’s Coffee-house—the first place where tea was sold in England. It was during the time of the South Sea Bubble that this became the scene 22of great mercantile transactions. The original proprietor was Thomas Garway, tobacconist and coffee-man. He issued the following curious circular: “Tea in England hath been sold in the leaf for six pounds, and sometimes for ten pounds the pound weight, and in respect of its former scarceness and dearness, it hath been only used as a regalia in high treatments and entertainments, and presents made thereof to princes and grandees132 till the year 1651. The said Thomas Garway did purchase a quantity thereof, and first publicly sold the said tea in leaf and drink, made according to the directions of the most knowing merchants and travellers into those eastern countries; and upon knowledge and experience of the said Garway’s continued care and industry in obtaining the best tea, and making drink thereof, very many noblemen, physicians, merchants, and gentlemen of quality, have ever since sent to him for the said leaf, and daily resort to his house in Exchange Alley, aforesaid, to drink the drink thereof; and to the end that all persons of eminence133 and quality, gentlemen and others, who have occasion for tea in leaf, may be supplied, these are to give notice that the said Thomas Garway hath tea to sell from ‘sixteen to fifty shillings per pound.’”
In 1673 there were some great sales of wine at Garraway’s. These took place “by the candle”—that is, by auction134 while an inch of candle burnt. In the Tatler, No. 147, we read: “Upon my coming home last night, I found a very handsome present of French wine left for me, as a taste of 216 hogsheads, which are to be put to sale at ￡20 a hogshead, 23at Garraway’s Coffee-house, in Exchange Alley,” etc. A sale by candle is not, however, by candlelight, but during the day. Such sales took place by daylight, and at the commencement of the sale, when the auctioneer had read a description of the property and the conditions on which it was to be disposed of, a piece of candle, usually an inch long, was lit, the last bidder135 at the time the light went out being declared the purchaser.
Garraway’s was famous for its sandwiches and sherry, pale ale, and punch. The sandwich-maker, it was said, occupied two hours in cutting and arranging the sandwiches before the day’s consumption commenced. The sale-room was on the first-floor, with a small rostrum for the seller, and a few rough wooden seats for the buyers. Sales of drugs, mahogany, and timber, were its speciality in the fifties of the last century, when twenty or thirty property and other sales sometimes took place in a day. The walls and windows of the lower room were covered with sale placards—unsentimental evidences of the mutability of human affairs.
In 1840 and 1841, when the tea speculation136 was at its height, and prices were fluctuating sixpence and eightpence per pound on the arrival of every mail, Garraway’s was frequented every night by a host of the smaller fry of dealers137, and there was much more excitement than ever occurred on ’Change when the most important intelligence arrived. Champagne138 flowed, and everyone ate and drank, and went, as he pleased, without the least question about the bill; yet everything was paid, though such a state of affairs continued for several months.
24At one time many taverns were the meeting-places of “mug-house clubs,” amusing resorts where gentlemen, lawyers, and tradesmen used to meet in a great room, seldom under a hundred in number.
Such assemblies usually had a president, who sat in an armchair some steps higher than the rest of the company, to keep the whole room in order. A harp76 played all the time at the lower end of the room; and every now and then one or other of the company rose and entertained the rest with a song, some being good singers. Here nothing was drunk but ale, and every gentleman had his separate mug, which he chalked on the table where he sat, as it was brought in. A free-and-easy atmosphere pervaded139 the place, and everyone did and said exactly what he pleased.
A number of these “mug-house clubs” were to be found in Cheapside and its vicinity, and others about Covent Garden, a district which formerly abounded140 in well-known coffee-houses. In the eighteenth century, in Russell Street alone, were three of the most celebrated: Will’s, Button’s, and Tom’s. Will’s, as is well known, was closely connected with Dryden, the Tatler, and the Spectator; and its wits’ room, on the first-floor, was celebrated throughout the town. So was Button’s, with its lion’s head letter-box, and the young poets in the back room. Tom’s, No. 17, on the north side of Russell Street, and of a somewhat later date, was taken down in 1865. The premises141 remained, with but little alteration142, long after they ceased to be a coffee-house. It was named after its original proprietor, Thomas West, who, November 26, 1722, 25threw himself, in a delirium143, from the second-floor window into the street, and died immediately. The upper portion of the premises was the coffee-house, under which lived T. Lewis, the bookseller, Pope’s publisher.
Will’s Coffee-house, known as the Wits’, which was very celebrated in its day, was at No. 23, Russell Street, Bow Street. Dryden first made it a resort of wits. The poet used to sit in a room on the first-floor, and his customary seat was by the fireside in the winter, and at the corner of the balcony, looking over the street, in fine weather; he called the two places his winter and his summer seat. In the eighteenth century this room became the dining-room. In Dryden’s day people did not sit in boxes, as subsequently, but at various tables which were dispersed144 through the room. Smoking was permitted in the public room, and was then much in vogue145; indeed, it does not seem to have been considered a nuisance, as it was some years later. Here, as in other similar places of meeting, the visitors divided themselves into parties; the young beaux and wits, who seldom approached the principal table, thought it a great honour to have a pinch out of Dryden’s snuff-box.
Swift thought little of the frequenters of Will’s; he used to say the worst conversation he ever heard in his life was to be heard there. The wits (as they were called), said he disparagingly147, used formerly to assemble at this house; that is to say, five or six men who had written plays or at least prologues148, 26or had a share in a miscellany, came thither149, and entertained one another with their trifling150 compositions, assuming as grand an air as if they had been the noblest efforts of human nature, or as if the fate of kingdoms depended on them.
It was Swift who framed the rules of the Brothers’ Club, which met every Thursday. “The end of our club,” said he, “is to advance conversation and friendship, and to reward learning without interest or recommendation. We take in none but men of wit or men of interest; and if we go on as we began, no other club in this town will be worth talking of.”
The Brothers’, which was really a political club, broke up in 1713, and the next year Swift formed the celebrated Scriblerus Club, an association rather of a literary than a political character. Oxford and St. John, Swift, Arbuthnot, Pope, and Gay were members. Satire151 upon the abuse of human learning was their leading object. The name originated as follows: Oxford used playfully to call Swift Martin, and from this sprang Martinus Scriblerus. Swift, as is well known, is the name of one species of swallow (the largest and most powerful flier of the tribe), and martin is the name of another species, the wall-swallow, which constructs its nest in buildings.
The Scriblerus Club broke up owing to quarrels between Oxford and Bolingbroke. Swift tried the force of humorous expostulation in his fable152 of the “Fagot,” where the Ministers are called upon to contribute their various badges of office to make the bundle strong and secure, but all was in vain. And at length, tired with this scene of murmuring 27and discontent, quarrel, misunderstanding, and hatred153, the Dean, who was almost the only mutual154 friend who laboured to compose these differences, made a final effort at reconciliation155; but his scheme entirely failed.
Button’s Coffee-house was another resort of wits. Here, in the early part of the reign of Queen Anne, Swift first began to come, being known as “the mad parson.” He knew no one; no one knew him. He would lay his hat down on a table, and walk up and down at a brisk pace for half an hour without speaking to anyone, or seeming to pay attention to anything that was going forward. Then he would snatch up his hat, pay his money at the bar, and walk off without having opened his lips. At last he went one evening to a country gentleman, and very abruptly156 asked him: “Pray, sir, do you know any good weather in the world?” After staring a little at the singularity of Swift’s manner and the oddity of the question, the gentleman answered: “Yes, sir, I thank God I remember a great deal of good weather in my time.” “That is more,” replied Swift, “than I can say. I never remember any weather that was not too hot or too cold, too wet or too dry; but, however God Almighty157 contrives158 it, at the end of the year ’tis all very well.”
At Tom’s Coffee-house in 1764 was formed a high-class club of about 700 members, paying each a guinea subscription. A card-room was on the first-floor.
The club flourished, so that in 1768, “having considerably159 enlarged itself of late,” Thomas Haines, 28the then proprietor, took in the front room of the next house westward160 as a coffee-room. The front room of No. 17 was then appropriated exclusively as a card-room for the subscription club, each member paying one guinea annually, the adjoining apartment being used as a conversation-room.
Tom Haines—Lord Chesterfield, as he was called, on account of his good manners—was succeeded by his son. The house ceased to be a coffee-house in 1814.
It would be interesting to know what has become of the old snuff-box—a most curious relic33. It was a big tortoiseshell box, bearing on the lid, in high relief in silver, the portraits of Charles I and Queen Anne; the Boscobel oak, with Charles II amid its branches; and at the foot of the tree, on a silver plate, was inscribed161 “Thomas Haines.” At Will’s the small wits grew conceited162 if they dipped but into Mr. Dryden’s snuff-box, and at Tom’s the box probably received similar veneration163.
The Bedford Coffee-house, in the north-west corner of the Piazza164, was another celebrated Covent Garden resort.
Here in its palmy days, about 1754, Foote reigned165 supreme166, his great rival being Garrick, who, however, usually got the worst of the verbal duels167 which constantly occurred. Garrick in early life had been in the wine trade, and had supplied the Bedford with wine; he was thus described by Foote as living in Durham Yard, with three quarts of vinegar in the cellar, calling himself a wine-merchant.
Leaving the Bedford one night in company with Garrick, Foote dropped a guinea; and not being 29able to find it, exclaimed: “Where on earth can it be gone to?” “Gone to the devil, I think,” replied Garrick, who had assisted in the search. “Well said, David!” was Foote’s reply. “Let you alone for making a guinea go farther than anybody else.”
Tom King’s Coffee-house—a rough shed just beneath the portico168 of St. Paul’s Church—was a regular Covent Garden night-house. This haunt of night-birds is shown in the background of Hogarth’s print of “Morning,” where the prim169 maiden170 lady, walking to church, is confronted by two fuddled beaux from King’s Coffee-house caressing171 two frail172 women. At the door a drunken brawl173 is proceeding, whilst swords and cudgels are being freely used.
The Piazza (known in the reign of Charles I as the “Portico walke”) in Covent Garden, the destruction of a portion of which, in 1858, was, from an artistic174 point of view, to be deplored175, was erected176 between 1634 and 1640 by Inigo Jones, who also built St. Paul’s Church for Francis, Duke of Bedford. Though a more ambitious scheme was originally conceived, only the north and east sides were, however, built, and half of the latter was destroyed by fire about the middle of the eighteenth century.
Several distinguished177 artists lived in the Piazza, including Sir Peter Lely and Zoffany. Sir Godfrey Kneller came into the Piazza the year after Lely died, and the house he occupied was near the steps leading into Covent Garden Theatre. He had a garden at the back, reaching as far as Dr. Radcliffe’s, in Bow Street. Kneller was fond of flowers, and 30had a fine collection. As he was intimate with Radcliffe, he permitted him to have a door into his garden; but Radcliffe’s servants gathering178 and destroying the flowers, Kneller sent him word he must shut up the door. Radcliffe replied peevishly179: “Tell him he may do anything with it but paint it.” “And I,” answered Sir Godfrey, “can take anything from him but physic.” Sir James Thornhill also lived in the same neighbourhood.
The Piazza Coffee-house, in Covent Garden, was a favourite resort of Sheridan’s. Here it was that he sat during the burning of Drury Lane Theatre in 1809, calmly taking some refreshment, which excited the astonishment180 of a friend. “A man may surely be allowed to take a glass of wine by his own fireside,” said Sheridan.
On the site of the Piazza Coffee-house was built the Floral Hall, in the Crystal Palace style of architecture, if the latter word be applicable to such a building. Henrietta Street, close by, was once well known for what seems to have been the first family hotel ever established in London, opened by David Low in 1774.
Gold, silver, and copper181 medals were struck and distributed by the landlord, as advertisements of his house—the gold to the Princes, silver to the nobility, and copper to the public generally. Mrs. Hudson succeeded him, and advertised her hotel “with stabling for one hundred noblemen and horses.” The next proprietors were Richardson and Joy.
For years the hotel was famous for its dinner and coffee-room—called the “Star,” from the 31number of men of rank who frequented it. One day the Duke of Norfolk entered the dining-room, and ordered of the waiter two lamb chops, at the same time inquiring: “John, have you a cucumber?” The waiter replied in the negative—it was so early in the season; but he would step into the market and inquire if there were any. The waiter did so, and returned with—“There are a few, but they are half a guinea apiece.” “Half a guinea apiece! Are they small or large?” “Why, rather small.” “Then buy two,” was the reply.
Low had purchased the house from the executors of James West, President of the Royal Society, and it had originally been the mansion182 of Sir Kenelm Digby, who had his laboratory at the back. In course of time it was practically rebuilt by the Earl of Orford, better known as Admiral Russell, who in 1692 defeated Admiral de Tourville. The fa?ade of the house originally resembled the forecastle of a ship, and the fine old staircase was formed of part of the vessel183 Admiral Russell commanded at La Hogue; on it were handsomely carved anchors, ropes, and the coronet and initials of Lord Orford, who died there in 1727. The house was afterwards occupied by Thomas, Lord Archer184, who had a well-stocked garden at the back. Mushrooms and cucumbers were his especial hobby.
In course of time Evans, of Covent Garden Theatre, removed here from the Cider Cellar in Maiden Lane, and, using the large dining-room for a singing-room, prospered185 until 1844, when he resigned the property to Mr. John Green, well known as Paddy Green, under whose rule the 32excellence of the entertainment attracted so great an accession of visitors that there was built, in 1855, on the site of the old garden (Sir Kenelm Digby’s), a handsome hall, to which the former singing-room formed a sort of vestibule. This was hung with portraits of celebrated actors and actresses collected by the proprietor.
The gallery was said to occupy part of the site of the cottage in which the Kembles occasionally resided during the zenith of their fame at Covent Garden Theatre. Kemble first saw the light there.
In the early seventies Evans’s ceased to attract, and, after undergoing various vicissitudes186 and sheltering several clubs, the house finally became the headquarters of boxing, being now occupied by the National Sporting Club. The original staircase remains, and a number of prints recalling the palmy days of the prize-ring decorate the walls of the club-house.
Ninety years ago, it should be added, the prize-fighting fraternity had a club of their own, called the Daffy Club, which met at the Castle Tavern, Holborn, then kept by the famous boxers187, Tom Belcher and Tom Spring. The walls of the long room in which it met were adorned188 by a number of sporting prints and portraits of famous pugilistic heroes, amongst them Belcher himself, Gentleman Jackson, Dutch Sam, Gregson, Humphreys, Mendoza, Cribb, Molyneux, Gulley, Randall, Turner, Martin, Harmer, Spring, Neat, Hickman, Painter, Scroggins, Tom Owen, and many others.
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1
taverns
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| n.小旅馆，客栈，酒馆( tavern的名词复数 ) | |
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tavern
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| n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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conviviality
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| n.欢宴，高兴，欢乐 | |
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appellation
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| n.名称，称呼 | |
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6
mermaid
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| n.美人鱼 | |
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witty
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| adj.机智的，风趣的 | |
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accrue
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| v.(利息等)增大，增多 | |
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subscription
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| n.预订，预订费，亲笔签名，调配法，下标（处方） | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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undesirable
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| adj.不受欢迎的，不良的，不合意的，讨厌的；n.不受欢迎的人，不良分子 | |
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refreshment
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| n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点 | |
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proprietor
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| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
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palatial
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| adj.宫殿般的，宏伟的 | |
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sociable
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| adj.好交际的，友好的，合群的 | |
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replete
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| adj.饱满的，塞满的；n.贮蜜蚁 | |
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pall
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| v.覆盖，使平淡无味；n.柩衣，棺罩；棺材；帷幕 | |
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retailed
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| vt.零售（retail的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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ruffles
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| 褶裥花边( ruffle的名词复数 ) | |
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mustered
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| v.集合，召集，集结（尤指部队）( muster的过去式和过去分词 )；（自他人处）搜集某事物；聚集；激发 | |
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23
grumble
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| vi.抱怨；咕哝；n.抱怨，牢骚；咕哝，隆隆声 | |
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grievances
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| n.委屈( grievance的名词复数 )；苦衷；不满；牢骚 | |
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charing
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| n.炭化v.把…烧成炭，把…烧焦( char的现在分词 )；烧成炭，烧焦；做杂役女佣 | |
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irresistibly
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| adv.无法抵抗地，不能自持地；极为诱惑人地 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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engraving
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| n.版画；雕刻（作品）；雕刻艺术；镌版术v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的现在分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中） | |
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redoubtable
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| adj.可敬的；可怕的 | |
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lexicographer
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| n.辞典编纂人 | |
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32
relics
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| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
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relic
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| n.神圣的遗物，遗迹，纪念物 | |
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underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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inscription
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| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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posterity
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| n.后裔，子孙，后代 | |
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contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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40
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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adorn
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| vt.使美化，装饰 | |
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42
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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43
subscribed
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| v.捐助( subscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；签署，题词；订阅；同意 | |
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annually
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| adv.一年一次，每年 | |
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sociability
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| n.好交际，社交性，善于交际 | |
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civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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ivy
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| n.常青藤，常春藤 | |
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patriots
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| 爱国者，爱国主义者( patriot的名词复数 ) | |
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strand
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| vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地） | |
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penalized
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| 对…予以惩罚( penalize的过去式和过去分词 )； 使处于不利地位 | |
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51
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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survivor
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| n.生存者，残存者，幸存者 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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herald
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| vt.预示...的来临，预告，宣布，欢迎 | |
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penurious
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| adj.贫困的 | |
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proprietors
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| n.所有人，业主( proprietor的名词复数 ) | |
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varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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59
tithes
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| n.（宗教捐税）什一税，什一的教区税，小部分( tithe的名词复数 ) | |
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undue
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| adj.过分的；不适当的；未到期的 | |
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scrutinies
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| 细看，细查，监视( scrutiny的名词复数 ) | |
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ordination
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| n.授任圣职 | |
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reprobation
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| n.斥责 | |
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indigo
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| n.靛青，靛蓝 | |
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65
transact
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| v.处理；做交易；谈判 | |
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66
orphans
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| 孤儿( orphan的名词复数 ) | |
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67
malicious
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| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
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68
hacks
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| 黑客 | |
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69
delusive
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| adj.欺骗的，妄想的 | |
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70
derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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71
fixture
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| n.固定设备；预定日期；比赛时间；定期存款 | |
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72
opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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73
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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74
alley
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| n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路 | |
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75
congregated
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| （使）集合，聚集( congregate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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76
harp
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| n.竖琴；天琴座 | |
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77
lottery
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| n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事 | |
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78
dice
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| n.骰子；vt.把（食物）切成小方块，冒险 | |
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79
Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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80
eccentricities
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| n.古怪行为( eccentricity的名词复数 )；反常；怪癖 | |
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81
muskets
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| n.火枪，（尤指）滑膛枪( musket的名词复数 ) | |
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82
entreaties
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| n.恳求，乞求( entreaty的名词复数 ) | |
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83
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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84
duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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85
consequential
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| adj.作为结果的，间接的；重要的 | |
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86
bawled
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| v.大叫，大喊( bawl的过去式和过去分词 )；放声大哭；大声叫出；叫卖（货物） | |
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87
pint
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| n.品脱 | |
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88
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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89
mimicking
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| v.（尤指为了逗乐而）模仿( mimic的现在分词 )；酷似 | |
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90
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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91
coxcomb
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| n.花花公子 | |
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92
sneaked
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| v.潜行( sneak的过去式和过去分词 )；偷偷溜走；（儿童向成人）打小报告；告状 | |
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93
disturbances
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| n.骚乱( disturbance的名词复数 )；打扰；困扰；障碍 | |
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94
bucks
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| n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃 | |
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95
contriving
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| （不顾困难地）促成某事( contrive的现在分词 )； 巧妙地策划，精巧地制造（如机器）； 设法做到 | |
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96
ascendancy
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| n.统治权，支配力量 | |
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97
insolence
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| n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度 | |
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98
impunity
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| n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除 | |
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99
tout
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| v.推销，招徕；兜售；吹捧，劝诱 | |
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100
simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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101
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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102
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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103
enraged
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| 使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤 | |
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104
strutting
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| 加固，支撑物 | |
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105
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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106
gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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107
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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108
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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109
villains
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| n.恶棍( villain的名词复数 )；罪犯；（小说、戏剧等中的）反面人物；淘气鬼 | |
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110
licentiousness
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| n.放肆，无法无天 | |
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111
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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112
malignity
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| n.极度的恶意，恶毒；（病的）恶性 | |
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113
derided
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| v.取笑，嘲笑( deride的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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114
etiquette
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| n.礼仪，礼节；规矩 | |
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115
allusions
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| 暗指，间接提到( allusion的名词复数 ) | |
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116
specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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117
infusion
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| n.灌输 | |
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118
purvey
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| v.（大量）供给，供应 | |
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119
beverage
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| n.(水，酒等之外的)饮料 | |
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120
indicted
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| 控告，起诉( indict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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121
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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122
patriotic
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| adj.爱国的，有爱国心的 | |
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123
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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124
perpetuated
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| vt.使永存（perpetuate的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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125
luminary
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| n.名人，天体 | |
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126
sepulchral
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| adj.坟墓的，阴深的 | |
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127
dedicated
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| adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的 | |
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128
tenor
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| n.男高音（歌手），次中音（乐器），要旨，大意 | |
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129
astute
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| adj.机敏的，精明的 | |
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130
cargoes
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| n.（船或飞机装载的）货物( cargo的名词复数 )；大量，重负 | |
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131
baker
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| n.面包师 | |
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132
grandees
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| n.贵族，大公，显贵者( grandee的名词复数 ) | |
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133
eminence
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| n.卓越，显赫；高地，高处；名家 | |
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134
auction
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| n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖 | |
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135
bidder
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| n.(拍卖时的)出价人，报价人，投标人 | |
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136
speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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137
dealers
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| n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者 | |
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138
champagne
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| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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139
pervaded
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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140
abounded
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| v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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141
premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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142
alteration
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| n.变更，改变；蚀变 | |
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143
delirium
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| n. 神智昏迷,说胡话;极度兴奋 | |
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144
dispersed
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| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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145
Vogue
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| n.时髦，时尚；adj.流行的 | |
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146
lampoons
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| n.讽刺文章或言辞( lampoon的名词复数 )v.冷嘲热讽，奚落( lampoon的第三人称单数 ) | |
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147
disparagingly
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| adv.以贬抑的口吻，以轻视的态度 | |
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148
prologues
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| n.序言，开场白( prologue的名词复数 ) | |
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149
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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150
trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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151
satire
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| n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品 | |
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152
fable
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| n.寓言；童话；神话 | |
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153
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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154
mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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155
reconciliation
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| n.和解，和谐，一致 | |
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156
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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157
almighty
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| adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的 | |
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158
contrives
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| （不顾困难地）促成某事( contrive的第三人称单数 )； 巧妙地策划，精巧地制造（如机器）； 设法做到 | |
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159
considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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160
westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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161
inscribed
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| v.写，刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；内接 | |
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162
conceited
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| adj.自负的，骄傲自满的 | |
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163
veneration
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| n.尊敬，崇拜 | |
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164
piazza
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| n.广场；走廊 | |
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165
reigned
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| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
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166
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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167
duels
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| n.两男子的决斗( duel的名词复数 )；竞争，斗争 | |
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168
portico
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| n.柱廊，门廊 | |
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169
prim
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| adj.拘泥形式的，一本正经的；n.循规蹈矩，整洁；adv.循规蹈矩地，整洁地 | |
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170
maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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171
caressing
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| 爱抚的，表现爱情的，亲切的 | |
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172
frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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173
brawl
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| n.大声争吵，喧嚷；v.吵架，对骂 | |
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174
artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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175
deplored
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| v.悲叹，痛惜，强烈反对( deplore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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176
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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177
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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178
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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179
peevishly
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| adv．暴躁地 | |
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180
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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181
copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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182
mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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183
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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184
archer
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| n.射手，弓箭手 | |
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185
prospered
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| 成功，兴旺( prosper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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186
vicissitudes
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| n.变迁，世事变化；变迁兴衰( vicissitude的名词复数 )；盛衰兴废 | |
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187
boxers
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| n.拳击短裤；（尤指职业）拳击手( boxer的名词复数 )；拳师狗 | |
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188
adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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