422 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2>"i S. IX. June 2. 'CO. 



cept those named by you, viz. Father Morgan Flaherty, 

 Tim M'Carthy, Charles Casey, Doctor Leyne, and Father 

 Nelan, son to old John. These I asked as Catholicks 

 particularly attached to you. Had I gone further I must 

 either have excited jealousy, or summoned half the 

 county. — We had a company of 22 in the parlour, of 

 whom I will send you a list next post. In the Breakfast- 

 parlour there was another company of second rate, and 

 the third rate dined in the tent pitched in the Avenue 

 near the Abbey. In the parlour your claret was made 

 free with, as Stephen tells me he opened 34 Bottles. 

 In the Breakfast parlour Port wine and Rum -punch 

 were supplied in abundance, and abroad large liba- 

 tions of whiske3'-punch, we had two quarter casks 

 (above 80 Gallons) of that beverage made the day 

 before, which was drawn off unsparingly for those 

 abroad, and plenty of Beer besides. Two patteraroes, 

 borrowed from Jack Collis, and placed on the top of 

 the Abbey tower, announced our dinner, and toasts, and 

 our exultation. Pipers and Fiddlers enlivened the inter- 

 vals between the peals of the Ordnance. The May men 

 and Maids with their hobby-horse, &c. danced most 

 cheerfully, and were all entertained at dinner, and with 

 drink in abundance. An ox was roasted whole at one 

 end of the Turf-house on a large ash beam by way of a 

 spit, and turned with a wheel well contrived by Tom 

 O'Brien ; it was cut up from thence, and divided as want- 

 ing. The name of its being roasted entire was more than 

 if two oxen had been served piecemeal. Six sheep were 

 also sacrificed on the occasion, and, in short, Plenty and 

 Hospitality graced both your board and your sod ; and 

 a fine serene evening favoured happily the Glee and 

 Hilarity of the meeting. All was Happiness, Mirth, and 

 Good Humour. God save great George our King was 

 cheered within and abroad accompanied with Fiddles, 

 Pipes, &c. &c." 



R. C. 

 Cork. 



" THE CIVIL CLUB." 



I enclose you a cutting from The City Press of 

 the 24th March, giving some account of this very- 

 ancient Club. Perhaps some of your correspon- 

 dents, so well versed both in the public and private 

 history of the reign of Charles II., can kindly 

 afford some information as to its origin and early 

 members. Having been established in 1669, it is 

 unquestionably the oldest Club in London. The 

 members, who are all citizens (Civil — quasi Civic 

 — Club, from "civis,") and men of respectability, 

 are very proud of their Club: — 1st. On account 

 of its antiquity ; and 2nd. Because it is the only 

 Club which attaches to its staff the respected office 

 of a chaplain. It would seem that the members 

 first united together for the sake of mutual aid 

 and support ; but the name of the founder, and 

 the circumstances of its origin, have unfortunately 

 been lost with its early records. 



" The Civil Club. — ■ The first quarterly dinner of this 

 ancient Club, for the present year, took place on Wednes- 

 day last, at the New Corn Exchange Hotel, Mark Lane, 

 when about 40 gentlemen sat down in the Banquetting 

 Hall belonging to the Hotel, to one of those well-selected 

 and well-served repasts for which Mr. Charles Hegin- 

 bothom, and his namesake and father (a former pro- 

 prietor), have been for so many years celebrated, and 



which invariably give satisfaction to all. The wines were 

 also of excellent quality. These facts are partly due to 

 the stewards for the day, Messrs. John Northway and 

 Richard Collyer ; the former of whom was, owing to in- 

 disposition, unable to take the chair, but which however 

 was ably tilled by Mr. John Healy. 



" The musical arrangements, under the direction of 

 Mr. William Coward, assisted by Messrs. J. Coward, 

 Montem Smith, and Wynn, gave universal satisfaction, 

 and some excellent glees and solos were performed. The 

 following sketch of the Club will probably prove interest- 

 ing to some of our readers: — It was established in the 

 year 1669, at a time when the great plague and the great 

 fire had devastated and broken up nearly all society and 

 many old associations, the object and recommendation 

 being, as one of the rules expresses it, ' that members 

 should give the preference to each other in their respec- 

 tive callings,' and 'that but one person of the same trade 

 or profession should be a member of the Club.' 



" There is a chaplain, treasurer, and secretary, and two 

 stewards, who are elected in rotation at each quarterly 

 dinner from amongst the members, no member being 

 eligible until he has been a member for a year, and no 

 member serving the office of steward twice within one 

 year. 



"The Club used for a great many years to meet at 

 the 'Old Ship Tavern,' in Water Lane, which has been 

 lately pulled down, and now meets at the New Corn 

 Exchange Tavern on the first Wednesday of every month, 

 besides dining together four times a-j'ear, viz. on the 

 Wednesda}' previous to Lady Da}-, the Wednesday after 

 Midsummer Day, the Wednesday previous to Michaelmas 

 Day, and the Wednesday previous to St. Thomas's Day. 

 An impression prevails amongst some of the members 

 that the Club was limited to the Ward of Tower, and 

 that its meetings must be held within the Ward, but 

 there is nothing in the present rules to warrant such a 

 supposition, and the fact of the summer dinner being 

 always held in the country, at a place selected by the 

 stewards for the time being, would also tend to negative 

 such an idea. 



" It should, perhaps, also be mentioned, that the oldest 

 member of the Club for the time being is called the 

 'Father of the Club,' Mr. Whitfield, of Snaresbrook, 

 being the present father — a position held for an unusual 

 number of years by a former member and treasurer, Mr. 

 Bryan Corcoran, of Mark Lane, the father and namesake 

 of the present respected treasurer. The office of secre- 

 tary is now, and has almost immemorially been, filled by 

 a solicitor. Unfortunately, the early records of the Club 

 have been lost or mislaid ; but those still extant show 

 many good names amongst former members, including 

 Members of Parliament, Baronets, and Aldermen. 



" The Alderman and Deputy of the Ward, and some of 

 the Common Councilmen of that and another Ward, aro 

 among the present members. Two high antique chairs, 

 bearing date 1669, always used by the stewards, and a 

 well-executed likeness of the late Mr. Bryan Corcoran, 

 are amongst the present property of the Club. The 

 present chaplain of the Club is the Rev. David Laing, 

 M.A., the respected incumbent of St. Olave by the 

 Tower, Hart Street."— City Press, March 24, 1860. 



Y. O. S. 



A Heathen Illustration of a Christian 



Formula. — "A tower of fifty cubits high," the 

 interior of which was furnished with " a round 

 instrument," was filled to a considerable height 



