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 ��Anecdotes.

��I think the original names, when I first heard him talk with fervor of every member's peculiar powers of instructing or delighting mankind, were Sir John Hawkins, Mr. Burke, Mr. Langton, Mr. Beauclerc, Dr. Percy, Dr. Nugent, Dr. Gold smith, Sir Robert Chambers, Mr. Dyer, and Sir Joshua Rey nolds, whom he called their Romulus x, or said somebody else of the company called him so, which was more likely : but this was, I believe, in the year 1775 or 1776. It was a supper meet ing then, and I fancy Dr. Nugent ordered an omelet sometimes on a Friday or Saturday night 2 ; for I remember Mr. Johnson felt very painful sensations at the sight of that dish soon after his death, and cried, ' Ah, my poor dear friend ! I shall never eat omelet with thce again ! ' quite in an agony. The truth is, nobody suffered more from pungent sorrow at a friend's death than Johnson, though he would suffer no one else to complain of their losses in the same way 3 ; 'for (says he) we must either outlive

��signature, evidently affixed when he was too drunk to guide his pen.' Trevelyan's Macaulay, ed. 1877,1!. 52.

In the winter of 1857-1858 Grote was invited to join the Club, but he refused. When Lord Overstone, after in vain urging him, was taking his leave, Mrs. Grote ' whispered to him, " Slip a shilling into his hand, and enlist him in the name of the Club." ' ' Lord O. (ever alive to a joke) accomplished this " legerde main " on shaking hands, and hurry ing down the stairs left Grote laugh ing over this " impromptu " trick, and exclaiming, as he looked down at the coin, " How very absurd ! " He surrendered at discretion and frequented the meetings of "The Club" with more and more relish as years rolled on, confessing that "it certainly was the best literary talk to be had in London." ' Life of George Grote, 1873, p. 240.

1 Percy, Chambers, and Dyer were not among the original members. Johnson and Chamier are omitted.

��According to Malone Reynolds 'started the first thought of the Club to Johnson at his own fireside.' Life, i. 477 ; Prior's Malone, p. 434. In the Malone MSS. in the British Museum, No. 36, is an account of a resolution of the Club to raise a subscription for a monument in St. Paul's to * Sir J. Reynolds, one of the founders of the Club;' Johnson is mentioned as ' our other founder.'

2 In 1766 Monday was the night of meeting. In 1772 it was changed to Friday. Life, i. 478, n. 3. It was no doubt at the Friday meetings that Nugent, who was a Roman Catholic, ordered an omelet. He died on Nov. 12, 1775. Gentleman's Magazine, 1775, p. 551.

The Friday Club instituted in Edinburgh, in June 1 803, was founded, Lockhart believed, on the model of the Club. Among its original mem bers were Sydney Smith, Scott, Brougham, and Jeffrey. Lockhart's Scott, iii. 240.

3 Ante, p. 205.

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