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1. A Night at the Club
- Ohio University Press
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&1 A Night at the Club These are the stages which all men propose to play their parts upon, For clubs are what the Londoners have clearly set their hearts upon. —Theodore Hook, “Clubs” A nineteenth-century clubman, James Smith, once recounted his clubland routines: At three o’clock I walk to the club, read the journals, hear Lord John Russell deified or diablerised, do the same with Sir Robert Peel or the Duke of Wellington , and then join a knot of conversationists by the fire till six o’clock. We then and there discuss the three per cent. consols (some of us preferring the Dutch two-and-a-half), and speculate upon the probable rise, shape, and cost of the new Exchange. If Lady Harrington happens to drive past our window in her landau, we compare her equipage to the Algerian ambassador’s; and when politics happen to be discussed, rally Whigs, Radicals, and Conservatives alternately, but never seriously, such subjects having a tendency to create acrimony. At six the room begins to be deserted; therefore I adjourn to the dining-room, and gravely looking over the bill-of-fare, exclaim to the waiter, “Haunch of mutton and apple tart!” These viands dispatched, with the accompanying liquids and water, I mount upward to the library, take a book and my seat in the arm-chair and read till nine. Then call for a cup of coffee and a biscuit, resuming my book till eleven; afterwards return home to bed. (quoted by Girtin, 132) a room of his own & Numerous are the accounts of other clubmen more adventurous than Smith, who often ended their nights at the club with cards or billiards until 2:00 in the morning.1 It was not uncommon for Victorian men to belong to several clubs and to have their favorites for different activities and at different times of the day and night. With clubs typically opening at 8 or 9 a.m. and closing at 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning, these institutions could fill up the lives of nineteenth-century men.2 The Victorians were frank about the multifaceted appeal of clubland’s social geography. They often acknowledged the male desire to escape domestic boredom and responsibilities; to enjoy pleasures safely behind closed doors and indulge in mischief among loyal brothers; to seek the male sociability afforded by clubland’s culture of professional networking; and, even in the ostensibly nonpolitical clubs, to engage in the political debates of the day beyond earshot of women.3 Indeed, the social observer Mrs. Gore in her Sketches of English Character (1846) admits that the coed days of Almack’s Assembly Rooms were brought to a close because of the heated politics of the French Revolution (25). A more detailed understanding of the urban routines of upper-class men and, as the century progressed, increasing numbers of aspiring middle-class men can clarify for us today what it meant to spend one’s nights, and even one’s days, in Victorian London’s clubs. As Travellers member Sir Almeric Fitzroy pronounced, clubs were “where social gratification was the ruling impulse ” (9); thus, the undisputed centerpiece of club life was dining and drinking . For many club brothers, what the table offered was paramount, and clubs carefully cultivated their reputations as desirable places in which to eat and drink.4 The popularity of the Reform was due as much to the fame of celebrity chef and food activist Alexis Soyer, the Reform’s head chef from 1838 to 1850, as it was to the club’s political sympathies. Martin Thomas Frost, head cook at the Travellers for many years until his death in 1875, earned the attention of David Livingstone and was hired to be Livingstone’s cook in Africa. And Florence Nightingale, known for her appreciation of fine food, required that her cook train at the Travellers, as did other cooks throughout the century. Clubs could even boast of signature dishes, as did Boodles with its “Boodle’s Cake,” an orange fool, and the Travellers with its “Travellers’ Pie” (fig. 1.1). Soyer’s “Cotelettes de Mouton à la Reform” became a famed dish (fig. 1.2), and Thackeray was known to love the Reform’s boiled beans and bacon. Victorian club menus tended to feature traditional British fare, with an emphasis on the mutton chop, and some clubs, such as the Garrick, [18.232.66.188] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 12:52 GMT) The two following recipes...