The Life of Samuel Johnson - James Boswell [882]
‘Every member present at the Club shall spend at least sixpence; and every member who stays away shall forfeit three-pence.
‘The master of the house shall keep an account of the absent members; and deliver to the President of the night a list of the forfeits incurred.
‘When any member returns after absence, he shall immediately lay down his forfeits; which if he omits to do, the President shall require.
‘There shall be no general reckoning, but every man shall adjust his own expences.
‘The night of indispensable attendance will come to every member once a month. Whoever shall for three months together omit to attend himself, or by substitution, nor shall make any apology in the fourth month, shall be considered as having abdicated the Club.
‘When a vacancy is to be filled, the name of the candidate, and of the member recommending him, shall stand in the Club-room three nights. On the fourth he may be chosen by ballot; six members at least being present, and two-thirds of the ballot being in his favour; or the majority, should the numbers not be divisible by three.
‘The master of the house shall give notice, six days before, to each of those members whose turn of necessary attendance is come.
‘The notice may be in these words: – “Sir, On – the – of – will be your turn of presiding at the Essex-Head. Your company is therefore earnestly requested.”
‘One penny shall be left by each member for the waiter.’
Johnson’s definition of a Club in this sense, in his Dictionary, is, ‘An assembly of good fellows, meeting under certain conditions.’
a I sent it to Mr. Pitt, with a letter, in which I thus expressed myself: ‘My principles may appear to you too monarchical: but I know and am persuaded, they are not inconsistent with the true principles of liberty. Be this as it may, you, Sir, are now the Prime Minister, called by the Sovereign to maintain the rights of the Crown, as well as those of the people, against a violent faction. As such, you are entitled to the warmest support of every good subject in every department.’ He answered: – ‘I am extremely obliged to you for the sentiments you do me the honour to express, and have observed with great pleasure the zealous and able support given to the Cause of the Publick in the work you were so good to transmit to me.’
b From his garden at Prestonfield, where he cultivated that plant with such success, that he was presented with a gold medal by the Society of London for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce.
a Who had written him a very kind letter.
a To which Johnson returned this answer: –
‘To THE RIGHT HONOURABLE EARL OF PORTMORE.
‘DR. JOHNSON acknowledges with great respect the honour of Lord Portmore’s
notice. He is better than he was; and will, as his Lordship directs, write to Mr. Langton.
‘Bolt-court, Fleet-street, April 13, 1784.’
a The eminent painter, representative of the ancient family of Homfrey (now Humphry) in the west of England; who, as appears from their arms which they have invariably used, have been, (as I have seen authenticated by the best authority,) one of those among the Knights and Esquires of honour who are represented by Holinshed as having issued from the Tower of London on coursers apparelled for the justes, accompanied by ladies of honour, leading every one a Knight, with a chain of gold, passing through the streets of London into Smithfield, on Sunday, at three o’clock in the afternoon, being the first Sunday after Michaelmas, in the fourteenth year of King Richard the Second. This family once enjoyed large possessions, but, like others, have lost them in the progress of ages. Their blood, however, remains to them well ascertained; and they may hope, in the revolution of events, to recover that rank in society for which, in modern times, fortune seems to be an indispensable requisite.
b Son of Mr. Samuel Paterson.
a Upon this subject there is a very fair and judicious remark in the life of Dr. Abernethy, in the first edition of