DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1213#0290
CHAPTER XVI.
THE CLUB-HOUSES.
In a preceding portion of this work some notice has been
taken of a few club-houses more or less connected with the
history of the locality described. "We now purpose to review
these stately establishments collectively, not, indeed, taking
them in detail, for their name is Legion, but to mention
a few of the leading ones, which may be considered as the
types and the exemplars ou which the others are formed.
Externally considered, the club-houses present, gen-
erally, very fine specimens of architectural taste, several
of these structures ranking among our noblest public
edifices. The outward elegance is fully equalled by the
internal comforts which these agreeable resorts yield to
their frequenters. For a moderate fee and a yearly sub-
scription, varying according to the character of the club-
house, the members have at their command elegant suites
of apartments, an excellent library, the free use of the
newspapers, a bevy of attendants; and, moreover, may
take refreshments or dine at a cost not exceeding that of
the humblest ordinary. Almost every class in the higher
and middle ranks of society is represented by its club-
house, which is the great arena of meeting when any class
question is in agitation. Thus, the liberals have the
Reform Club-house; the conservatives and ultra-tones, the
Conservative and the Carlton; the disciples of Cobden,
the Free Trade; the actors, the Garrick; the savants, the
Athenseum; the army and navy, the United Service, the
Junior United Service, and the Naval and Military; the
universities, the Oxford and Cambridge; the merchants,
the Gresham, and the City Club; and the shopkeepers and
'prentices, the Whittington.
The Conservative Club-house, in St. JamesVstreet, co-
vering the site of the once-famous Thatched House
THE CLUB-HOUSES.
In a preceding portion of this work some notice has been
taken of a few club-houses more or less connected with the
history of the locality described. "We now purpose to review
these stately establishments collectively, not, indeed, taking
them in detail, for their name is Legion, but to mention
a few of the leading ones, which may be considered as the
types and the exemplars ou which the others are formed.
Externally considered, the club-houses present, gen-
erally, very fine specimens of architectural taste, several
of these structures ranking among our noblest public
edifices. The outward elegance is fully equalled by the
internal comforts which these agreeable resorts yield to
their frequenters. For a moderate fee and a yearly sub-
scription, varying according to the character of the club-
house, the members have at their command elegant suites
of apartments, an excellent library, the free use of the
newspapers, a bevy of attendants; and, moreover, may
take refreshments or dine at a cost not exceeding that of
the humblest ordinary. Almost every class in the higher
and middle ranks of society is represented by its club-
house, which is the great arena of meeting when any class
question is in agitation. Thus, the liberals have the
Reform Club-house; the conservatives and ultra-tones, the
Conservative and the Carlton; the disciples of Cobden,
the Free Trade; the actors, the Garrick; the savants, the
Athenseum; the army and navy, the United Service, the
Junior United Service, and the Naval and Military; the
universities, the Oxford and Cambridge; the merchants,
the Gresham, and the City Club; and the shopkeepers and
'prentices, the Whittington.
The Conservative Club-house, in St. JamesVstreet, co-
vering the site of the once-famous Thatched House