636 



ENGLAND. 



towns, and there are companies of strollers, that, for want of better accommodations, wiil per 

 form in a barn.* 



The holidays may be included under the head of amusements, as generally the religious ob- 

 servances are obsolete, and only liie games and feasts retained. But it is a pity, that the two 

 great festivals, one of the church, and the other of the spring, Christmas and May-day, sliould 

 fall into neglect. Christmas is no longer what it was in the olden time of " Merry England,' 

 and May-day is honored chiefly by the chimney sweepers. A turkey is always on the table 

 at Christmas, and a goose at Michaelmas. Buns, marked with a cross, are baked on Good 

 Friday, and pancakes are made at " Merry Shrove-tide." But the good old custonis that 

 brought landlord and tenant together, to be " merry in hall " ; the Christmas pranks, pageanls, 

 and gambols are no more, and thus one more bond is broken, that united in feeling the high and 

 the low. The maypole may be sometimes seen in a village, but seldom is there a joyous com- 



fashion are apt to prefer the ease of their own club, to tlie 

 full dress necessary for these reunions. Or when they do 

 bestow their presence upon the society, few of them will 

 go through with the exertion of performing a set of quad- 

 rilles. A few turns in the waltz with a fashionable married 

 beauty, with the wife of a cabinet minister, or the daugh- 

 ter of the premier, suffices lliem for the evening. The 

 gallopade, however, has begun to add a little life to the form- 

 ality of Almacks. Sixty couples galloping at once round 

 the room, are apt to lose a little of their reserve in the 

 mere absurdity of their employment. The refreshments are 

 little attended to. Tables with weak green tea and sugar 

 biscuits shock the lover of a good supper. Many attempts 

 have been made to throw this assembly into discredit. 



Former patronesses, who have quarreled with their col- 

 leagues in office, have given select parties on the same 

 night, in the amiable hope of drawing away the most dis- 

 tinguished persons from Willis's. But, as a select public 

 assembly, it is still without a rival in the annals of London 

 gayety. 



' Tlie Clubs of London deserve notice here. Among 

 the most fashionable are Brooke's, White's, Crockford's, 

 Boodle's, and the Wyndhani. The United Service Club 

 and the Traveler's are also very celebrated : for admission 

 to the latter, an individual must have been a traveler. 

 These clubs are supported by an annual subscription from 

 each of the members ; as also by a sum of money paid by 

 each member on entering. A club is formed by the asso- 

 ciation of a certain number of gentlemen, who fix upon a 

 house, which they either buy or rent, and choose a master 

 to manage it, in whose name the establishment is carried 

 on. Tiiey agree upon certain rules which are written 

 down, and which every mejnber is bound to observe. By 

 this means a single man finds himself enabled to enjoy the 

 benefit of the best and most select society, together with 

 every luxury that he can possibly desire, without the ex- 

 pense or trouble of maintaining an establishment of his 

 own. When any innovation or amendment is about to be 

 proposed, a committee of the members is held to deliberate 

 upon its expediency. When one of the members proposes 

 the introduction of any gentleman, he is balloted for by 

 the others. Two black balls are sufficient to exclude hiin. 

 I'he black-balled member may be again ]iroposed for, and 

 returned the next year. A good deal of interest is re- 

 quired to obtain admittance into the most fashionable 

 clubs. Each member may have a sleeping apartment. 

 There are several public rooms ; one allotted exclusively 

 for smoking, where cigars and coffee are always in readi- 

 ness ; another for b'ltliards. A variety of servants, and a 

 first rate French cook, are maintained by the master of the 

 establishment. The arranijements of the first rate London 

 clubs have now arrived at such a tieight of perfection, that 

 young men of fashion not only spend the greatest part of 

 their time there, but care little for any other society. 

 Newspapers, breakfast, and billiards, conversation upon 

 sport, gayety, or politics ; lounn-ing at the windows, and 

 quizzing the passers-by, usually fill up their morning 

 hours; and pass away those dull moments, during whicti 

 no votary of fashion can with propriety be seen out of 

 door.s. Returning either from his attendance at the House 

 01 from a fatiguing ride, a member has the satisfaction of 



liaving dinner at a moment's warning, without the trouble- 

 some necessity of dressing or of pulling ofi his boots. Or 

 if he gives a dinner to a party of his fashionable friends, a 

 private apartment is provided for liim, together with every 

 hixury and delicacy that London can aflbrd ; the most 

 perfect attendance, the best cookery, and the rarest wines. 

 Gambling is usually carried to a great extent; cards and 

 dice are Ijrought in after supper, or after a lengthened din- 

 ner, which has terminated in a call for supper, and during 

 which the bottle has circulated freely Immense sums 

 are lost and won at whist and ecarte. The excitement 

 and dissipation, the total absence of ceremony mingled with 

 refinement, which characterize these associations; com- 

 bined, perhaps, with the insipid reserve which is observa- 

 ble in the circles of the modern aristocracy, have induced 

 the young men of fashion in some measure to withdraw 

 themselves from these more polished reunions, and to pre- 

 fer an evening spent at their own club to the best society 

 elsewhere. 



Those sinks of vice and iniquity, known under the ap- 

 propriate denomination of Hells, which disgrace the neigh- 

 borhood of St James's, and other fashionable parts of the 

 metropolis, are unfortunately the resort of nearly half of 

 the young men of rank and fortune in London. As they 

 are not under the protection of government, like similar 

 gambling establishments in Paris, Milan, &c., a certain 

 degree of" secrecy is necessary in conducting them. They 

 are usually opened by some needy adventurer, who is as- 

 sociated with sharpers and other notorious characters. 

 The society is of the most mixed description ; the peer 

 and the blackleg sit familiarly at the same table. Gam- 

 bling levels all distinctions; and the proudest and most 

 aristocratic nobleman is not ashamed to pass night after 

 night in the company of the lowest and most infamous 

 characters. No sooner has a young man of fortune set 

 foot in London, than the members of the Hells fix their 

 eye upon him as a fit subject for fleecing, and unless he 

 lias sufficient good sense to be warned by the experience 

 of others, it is seldom that he can avoid the snare. But a 

 gambler who lias lost his fortune, too often has a pleasure 

 in reducing all others to the same condition. A young 

 man is induced to visit these gaming-houses from curios- 

 ity and a love of novelty. He plays at first with caution, 

 and it is seldom that the company do not contrive that he 

 shall win for the first few nights. Excitement soon fo! 

 lows ; loss after loss at length renders him desperate ; and 

 he soon finds liimself upon a level with those whose verj 

 names he would have scorned to pronounce but a few 

 months before. The light of the sun is excluded from 

 these asylums. Tlie shutters are closed, and night suc- 

 ceeds day, and day follows night, and yet the gamblers 

 continue in fierce and desperate contest. Hazard and 

 ecarte are the principal games. The lights, cards, and 

 dice are supplied by the master of the establishment, with a. 

 casual refreshment to those who find it necessary. If the 

 young man who has been inveigled into these haunts can 

 by an effort of courage shake himself free before it is toe 

 late, the experience he has gained may be of service tc 

 him ; otherwise he is plunged into irretrievable ruin, both 

 of fortune and principles. 



