y old Welsh friends, who used each of them to
dispose of five bottles of wine daily, residing here in 1815, when the
familiar joints, boiled fish and fried soles, were the only eatables
you could order.

THE CLUBS OF LONDON IN 1814

The members of the clubs in London, many years since, were persons,
almost without exception, belonging exclusively to the aristocratic
world. "My tradesmen," as King Allen used to call the bankers and the
merchants, had not then invaded White's, Boodle's, Brookes', or
Wattiers', in Bolton Street, Piccadilly; which, with the Guards,
Arthur's, and Graham's, were the only clubs at the West End of the
town. White's was decidedly the most difficult of entry; its list of
members comprised nearly all the noble names of Great Britain.

The politics of White's club were then decidedly Tory. It was here
that play was carried on to an extent which made many ravages in large
fortunes, the traces of which have not disappeared at the present day.
General Scott, the father-in-law of George Canning and the Duke of
Portland, was known to have won at White's 200,000L.; thanks to his
notorious sobriety and knowledge of the game of whist. The General
possessed a great advantage over his companions by avoiding those
indulgences at the table which used to muddle other men's brains. He
confined himself to dining off something like a boiled chicken, with
toast-and-water; by such a regimen he came to the whist-table with a
clear head, and possessing as he did a remarkable memory, with great
coolness and judgment, he was able honestly to win the enormous sum of
200,000L. At Brookes', for nearly half a century, the play was of a
more gambling character than at White's. Faro and macao were indulged
in to an extent which enabled a man to win or to lose a considerable
fortune in one night. It was here that Charles James Fox, Selwyn, Lord
Carlisle, Lord Robert Spencer, General Fitzpatrick, and other great
Whigs, won and lost hundreds of thousands; frequently remaining at the
table for many hours without rising.

On one occasion, Lord Robert Spencer contrived to lose the last
shilling of his considerable fortune, given him by his brother, the
Duke of Marlborough; General Fitzpatrick being much in the same
condition, they agreed to raise a sum of money, in order that they
might keep a faro bank. The members of the club made no objection, and
ere long they carried out their design. As is generally the c