titude of both Sexes from meeting together in so clandestine a Manner. I am

Your humble Servant,

and Fellow-Labourer,

Τ. Β.

Not long after the Perufal of this Letter, I receiv'd another upon the same Subject; which by the Date and Style of it, I take to be written by some young Templer.

SIR,

HEN

Middle-Temple, 1710-11.

:W a Man has been guilty of any Vice or

Folly, I think the best Aftonement he can make for it, is to warn others not to fall into the like. In order to this I must acquaint you, that some time in February last I went to the Tuesday's Masquerade. Upon my first going in I was attack'd by half a Dozen female Quakers, who seem'd willing to adopt me for a Brother; but upon a nearer Examination I found they were a Sisterhood of Coquets disguised in that precife Habit. I was foon after taken out to dance, and, as I • fancied, by a Woman of the first Quality, for she was very tall, and moved gracefully. As soon as the Minuet was over, we ogled one another through our Masques; • and as I am very well read in Waller, I repeated to her the four following Verses out of his Poem to Vandike.

The heedless Lover does not know
Whose Eyes they are that wound him fo;
But confounded with thy Art,

Enquires her Name that has his Heart.

* I pronounced these Words with such a languishing Air, that I had fome Reason to conclude I had made a Conquest. She told me that she hoped my Face was not *akin to my Tongue; and looking upon her Watch, I accidentally discovered the Figure of a Coronet on the 'back Part of it. I was so transported with the Thought " of such an Amour, that I plied her from one Room to another with all the Gallantries I could invent; and at length brought things to so happy an Issue, that the

C4

6

gave

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gave me a private Meeting the next Day, without Page or Footman, Coach or Equipage. My Heart danced in Raptures; but I had not lived in this golden Dream above three Days, before I found good Reason to wish * that I had continued true to my Laundress. I have • since heard, by a very great Accident, that this fine Lady does not live far from Covent-Garden, and that I am not the first Cully whom she has pass'd her felf upon for a Countess.

Cloud

THUS, Sir, you see how I have mistaken a for a Juno; and if you can make any use of this Ad* venture, for the Benefit of those who may possibly be as vain young Coxcombs as my self, I do most heartily give you Leave. I am, SIR,

Your most humble Admirer,

B. L.

I design to vifit the next Masquerade my self, in the same Habit I wore at Grand Cairo; and 'till then shall suspend my Judgment of this Midnight Entertainment.

No. 9. Saturday, March 10.

Tigris agit rabida cum tigride pacem Perpetuam: savis inter fe convenit urfis.

M

C

Juv.

AN is said to be a Sociable Animal, and, as an Instance of it, we may observe, that we take all Occafions and Pretences of forming our selves into those little Nocturnal Assemblies, which are commonly known by the Name of Clubs. When a Sett of Men find themselves agree in any Particular, tho' never so trivial, they establish themselves into a kind of Fraternity, and meet once or twice a Week, upon the Account of fuch a Fantastick Resemblance. I know a confiderable MarketTown, in which there was a Club of fat Men, that did not come together (as you may well suppose) to entertain one another with Sprightliness and Wit, but to keep

one

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one another in Countenance: The Room where the Club met was something of the largest, and had two Entrances, the one by a Door of a moderate Size, and the other by a Pair of Folding-doors. If a Candidate for this Corpulent Club could make his Entrance through the first, he was looked upon as unqualified; but if he stuck in the Passage, and could not force his Way through it, the Folding-doors were immediately thrown open for his Reception, and he was faluted as a Brother. I have heard that this Club, tho' it consisted but of fifteen Persons, weighed above three Tun.

IN Opposition to this Society, there sprung up another composed of Scare-crows and Skeletons, who being very meagre and envious, did all they could to thwart the Designs of their Bulky Brethren, whom they represented as Men of Dangerous Principles; till at length they worked them out of the Favour of the People, and consequently out of the Magistracy. These Factions tore the Corporation in Pieces for several Years, till at length they came to this Accommodation; that the two Bailiffs of the Town should be annually chosen out of the Two Clubs; by which means the principal Magistrates are at this Day coupled like Rabbets, one fat and one lean.

EVERY one has heard of the Club, or rather the Confederacy, of the Kings. This grand Alliance was formed a little after the Return of King Charles the Second, and admitted into it Men of all Qualities and Profeffions, provided they agreed in this Sirname of King, which, as they imagined, sufficiently declared the Owners of it to be altogether untainted with Republican and Anti-Monarchical Principles.

A Christian Name has likewise been often used as a Badge of Distinction, and made the Occafion of a Club. That of the George's, which used to meet at the Sign of the George, on St. George's Day, and swear Before George, is still fresh in every one's Memory.

THERE are at present in several Parts of this City what they call Street-Clubs, in which the chief Inhabitants of the Street converse together every Night. I remember, upon my enquiring after Lodgings in Ormond-ftreet, the Landlord, to recommend that Quarter of the Town,

told me, there was at that time a very good Club in it; he also told me, upon further Discourse with him, that two or three noisie Country Squires, who were fettled there the Year before, had confiderably funk the Price of House-Rent; and that the Club (to prevent the like Inconveniencies for the future) had Thoughts of taking every House that became vacant into their own Hands, till they had found a Tenant for it, of a fociable Nature and good Conversation.

THE Hum-Drum Club, of which I was formerly an unworthy Member, was made up of very honest Gentlemen, of peaceable Dispositions, that used to fit together, smoak their Pipes, and say nothing till Midnight. The Mum Club (as I am informed) is an Institution of the fame Nature, and as great an Enemy to Noife.

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AFTER these two innocent Societies, I cannot for bear mentioning a very mischievous one, that was erected in the Reign of King Charles the Second I mean, the Club of Duellifts, in which none was to be admitted that had not fought his Man. The Prefident of it was faid to have killed half a dozen in single Combat; and as for the other Members, they took their Seats according to the Number of their Slain. There was likewife a SideTable, for fuch as had only drawn Blood, and shewn a laudable Ambition of taking the first Opportunity to qualifie themselves for the first Table. This Club, confifting only of Men of Honour, did not continue long, most of the Members of it being put to the Sword, or hanged, a little after its Inftitution.

OUR Modern celebrated Clubs are founded upon Eating and Drinking, which are Points wherein most Men agree, and in which the Learned and Illiterate, the Dulland the Airy, the Philosopher and the Buffoon, can all of them bear a Part. The Kit-Cat itself is said to have taken its Original, from a Mutton-Pye. The Beef Steak, and October Clubs, are neither of them averse to Eating and Drinking, if we may form a Judgment of them from their respective Titles.

WHEN. Men are thus knit together; by a Love of Society, not a Spirit of Faction, and don't meet to cenfure or annoy those that are absent, but to enjoy one another; When they are thus combined for their own Improvement, or for the Good of others, or at least to relax themthemselves from the Business of the Day, by an innocent and chearful Conversation, there may be fomething very ufeful in these little Institutions and Establishments.

I cannot forbear concluding this Paper with a Scheme of Laws that I met with upon a Wall in a little Alehouse: How I came thither I may inform my Reader at a more convenient time. These Laws were enacted by a Knot of Artizans and Mechanicks, who used to meet every Night; and as there is something in them which gives us a pretty Picture of low Life, I shall transcribe them Word for Word.

RULES to be observed in the Two-Penny Club, erected in this Place, for the Preservation of Friendship and good Neighbourhood.

I. EVERY Member at his first coming in shall lay down his Two-Pence.

II. EVERY Member shall fill his Pipe out of his own Box.

III. If any Member absents himself he shall forfeit a Penny for the Use of the Club, unless in case of Sickness or Imprisonment.

IV. IF any Member swearsor ourses, his Neighbour may give him a Kick upon the Shins.

V. IF any Member tells Stories in the Club that are not true, he shall forfeit for every third Lie an Halfpenny.

VI. IF any Member strikes another wrongfully, he shall pay his Club for him.

VII. IF any Member brings his Wife into the Club, he shall pay for whatever she drinks or smoaks.

VIII. IF any Member's Wife comes to fetch him home from the Club, she shall speak to him without the Door.

IX. IF any Member calls another Cuckold, he shall be turned out of the Club.

X. NONE shall be admitted into the Club that is of the fame Trade with any Member of it.

XI. NONE of the Club shall have his Cloaths or Shoes made or mended, but by a Brother-Member.