Having given this short Account of the Institution
and Continuation of the Everlasting Club, I should
here endeavour to say something of the Manners and
Characters of its several Members, which I shall do
according to the best Lights I have received in this
Matter.
It appears by their Books in general, that, since
their first Institution, they have smoked fifty Tun
of Tobacco; drank thirty thousand Butts of Ale, One
thousand Hogsheads of Red Port, Two hundred Barrels
of Brandy, and a Kilderkin of small Beer. There
has been likewise a great Consumption of Cards.
It is also said, that they observe the law in Ben.
Johnson’s Club, which orders the Fire to
be always kept in (focus perennis esto) as
well for the Convenience of lighting their Pipes,
as to cure the Dampness of the Club-Room. They
have an old Woman in the nature of a Vestal, whose
Business it is to cherish and perpetuate the Fire
[which [2]] burns from Generation to Generation, and
has seen the Glass-house Fires in and out above an
Hundred Times.
The Everlasting Club treats all other Clubs with an
Eye of Contempt, and talks even of the Kit-Cat and
October as of a couple of Upstarts. Their ordinary
Discourse (as much as I have been able to learn of
it) turns altogether upon such Adventures as have
passed in their own Assembly; of Members who have
taken the Glass in their Turns for a Week together,
without stirring out of their Club; of others [who
[2]] have smoaked an Hundred Pipes at a Sitting; of
others [who [2]] have not missed their Morning’s
Draught for Twenty Years together: Sometimes they
speak in Raptures of a Run of Ale in King Charles’s
Reign; and sometimes reflect with Astonishment upon
Games at Whisk, [which [2]] have been miraculously
recovered by Members of the Society, when in all human
Probability the Case was desperate.
They delight in several old Catches, which they sing
at all Hours to encourage one another to moisten their
Clay, and grow immortal by drinking; with many other
edifying Exhortations of the like Nature.
There are four general Clubs held in a Year, at which
Times they fill up Vacancies, appoint Waiters, confirm
the old Fire-Maker or elect a new one, settle Contributions
for Coals, Pipes, Tobacco, and other Necessaries.
The Senior Member has out-lived the whole Club twice
over, and has been drunk with the Grandfathers of
some of the present sitting Members.
C.
[Footnote 1: The other]
[Footnotes 2 (several): that]
[Footnote 3: Of London in 1666.]
* * * *
*
No. 73. Thursday, May 24, 1711.
Addison.
‘...
O Dea certe!’
Virg.
It is very strange to consider, that a Creature like
Man, who is sensible of so many Weaknesses and Imperfections,
should be actuated by a Love of Fame: That Vice
and Ignorance, Imperfection and Misery should contend
for Praise, and endeavour as much as possible to make
themselves Objects of Admiration.
