Chapter XXXII: Letter X: Clubs and Social Meetings

Non inter lances mensasque nitentes,
Cum stupet insanis acies fulgoribus, et cum
Acclinis falsis animus meliora recusat;
Verum hîc impransi mecum disquirite.

_Hor._ Sat. lib. ii. [Sat. 2. vv. 4-7].

O prodiga rerum
Luxuries, nunquam parvo contenta paratu,
Et quæsitorum terrâ pelagoque ciborum
Ambitiosa fames et lautæ gloria mensæ.

_Lucan._ lib. iv. [vv. 373-6].

[Sed] quæ non prosunt singula, [multa] juvant.

[_Ovid. Remed. Amor._ v. 420.]

Rusticus agricolam, miles fera bella gerentem,
Rectorem dubiæ navita puppis amat.

_Ovid. Pont._ lib. ii. [Ep. 2. vv. 61-2].

Desire of Country Gentlemen for Town Associations--Book-clubs--Too
much of literary Character expected from them--Literary
Conversation prevented: by Feasting: by Cards--Good,
notwithstanding, results--Card-club with Eagerness resorted
to--Players--Umpires at the Whist Table--Petulances of Temper
there discovered--Free-and-easy Club: not perfectly easy or
free--Freedom, how interrupted--The superior Member--Termination
of the Evening--Drinking and Smoking Clubs--The Midnight
Conversation of the Delaying Members--Society of the poorer
Inhabitants: its Use: gives Pride and Consequence to the humble
Character--Pleasant Habitations of the frugal Poor--Sailor
returning to his Family--Freemasons' Club--The Mystery--What its
Origin--Its professed Advantages--Griggs and Gregorians--A Kind of
Masons--Reflections on these various Societies.