Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/493

 9* S. IV. Dec, 23, '99.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 521 Anchor"' in the Strand, at the corner of Arundel Street ('The Epicure's Almanack,' 1812). Cf. Soc. of Musicians, Athenian, Temple, and Whittington clubs. The Society of Antient Britons (Welsh- men) celebrated St. David's Day at the Merchant Taylors' Hall (vide Daih/ Advertiser, 1 Mar., 1742). On 1 May [? Mar.], 1894, the customary festival was held at the Holborn Restaurant (Daily Teleg., 2 May [1]). Antigallicans, The Laudable Societies of, of which there were several, gave vent to their patriotic feelings at any tavern of the neighbourhood in which their association happened to be situated. There were taverns with the sign of the " Antigallican "' in Tooley Street, South wark, Darkhouse Lane, and in Threadneedlo Street. The name reflected those barbarous sentiments of hatred towards the French, beginning, probably, with their naval defeat at the hands of Admiral Benbow, and further inspired by the victories or Marlborough, and the scouring of the seas in the middle of last century by Anson and Hawke, when the Indian Empire in 1756 and the Canadas in 1759 were added to the British dominions. After Dr. Johnson ceased to write for the Literary Magazine it gradually declined, though the popular epithet of "Antigallican" was added to it, and in July, 1758, it expired (Boswell's ' Johnson'; vide also bill of invitation relating to one of these " Laudable Associations," with mock-heroic coat of arms, in the Creed Coll. Tavern Signs, B. Mus.). The Apollo Club (Ben Jonson's).—There was a coffee - house with the sign of the " Apollo," " just within Temple Bar, facing the Temple Great Gate," in 1742, which appears to have been a popular resort, and where auctions were held about the middle of the eighteenth century (vide Daily Advertiser, 13 May and 29 June, 1742). The Artists' Club.--The rendezvous of this club, of which Hogarth was a member, was the "Bull's Head," formerly No. 40, Ve re Street, Clare Market, the site of which is now occupied by the Board school. The "Bull's Head" in Clare Market was a favourite haunt of Sir Richard Steele. Cf. ' Shepherd and his Flock Club.' The Athenian Club.—A social club which, in the early years of the nineteenth cen- tury, met for dinners and conversation at the " Crown and Anchor" in the Strand. Long extinct. " 31 Dec, 1804. I dined at the Athenian Club at the Crown and Anchor; a society of gentlemen, men of great fortune, M.P.s, rich City merchants, philosophers, and men of literature: John Kemble is a member" (Sir Charles Bell's ' Letters'). The Beefsteak Club was formerly held at what is now the Bedford or Warner's Hotel, No. 14 in Covent Garden Piazzas, and pre- viously known both as the Bedford Coffee- House and the Bedford Arms Tavern. The Beefsteak Society used also to meet at the " Shakespeare's Head" in Russell Street, Covent Garden, before removing to the Lyceum. The Blue Friars, Brotherhood'of.—Charles Mathews the elder was a brother. The Blue Friars snuff mixture, named after the club, i? still sold at the sign of the " Crown and Rasp " in the Haymarket (vide 'The Blue Friars: their Sayings and Doings,' by W. H. K. Wright, F.R.H.S., 1889). The Loyal True Blues Friendly Society (s.v. ' Loyal'). The Blundering Club (vide Gent. Mag., vol. ii. p. 647). Brethren of the W.A.V.C.T.—About middle of eighteenth century ; reference lost. For what did the initial letters stand ? Brothers'Club. -The"Starand Garter,"No. 44, Pall Mall, opposite Schomberg House, wan once a fashionable club tavern. It was the meeting-place of the Brothers' Club, of which Swift, who was a member, says :— " I made our society change their house, and we met together at the ' Star and (iartcr' in Pall Mall. Lord Arran was president. The other dog was so extravagant in his bills that for four dishes, first and second courses, without wine or dessert, he charged twenty-one pounds, six shillings and eight- pence to the Duke of Orniond " (vide Swift's ' Journal to Stella,' 1712). In the ' Hist, of Signboards' these exorbitant charges are erroneously^ attributed to the landlord of the "Star and Garter." The Cadgers' Club.—The beggars of the West-End lived and associated in lordly style at the " Noah's Ark "in Dyot Street, a den that was swept away with the Oxford Street im- provements, the members themselves at the same time becoming the objects of solicitude on the part of the Mendicity Society (vide Pierce Egan, ' Tom and Jerry '). The Calves' Head Club.—Their regular place of meeting was, according to Malcolm (' Man- ners and Cust. of London,'p. 272), the "Golden Eagle " in Suffolk Street. There are two prints extant of this club (vide Creed Coll. Tavern Signs, B. Mus.), which appears to have met also at the "Cock " in Suffolk Street. It was established by the Puritans and Roundheads in ridicule of the memory of Charles I., and in support of JtheTrotestant succession. The Cat and Fiddle Society held their monthly meetings at the " Bowl and Pin " in