contributed to make the Reform Club famed for the excellence of its cookery, his connection with the club as its first and most famous cook will long keep his memory in remembrance. Francatelli, who left the service of the Queen to become cook at the Reform, was as able a cook as Soyer; but he failed to please the club so well.

The banquets at the Reform Club have sometimes been events of great political and public importance. The most noteworthy deserve a brief notice. The first was given on the 3rd of July, 1846, to Ibrahim Pacha, the son of Mehemet Ali, with whom we had been at war, but with whom we wished to cultivate amicable relations, and this banquet was regarded as a token of the general feeling. The Times pronounced it the best which any club ever gave.' Lord Panmure wrote to the effect that the bill of fare was worthy of the great Soyer. Shortly before the hour appointed for the banquet, the under-cooks threatened to strike, and Soyer had to exert himself not only to persuade them to do their duty, but to work in order to make up for the delay which had been caused. The members present numbered 150. Commodore Sir Charles Napier was in the chair and proposed many of the toasts; but one of the most important-the health of Mehemet Ali was proposed by Palmerston, who also responded when ' the health of Her Majesty's Ministers' was drunk. The last toast but one was the health of the Lord Lieutenant, and prosperity to Ireland;' to which Sheil responded. It is curious to recall what that great patriot and orator said about his native land and its prospects forty years ago; the following passage has special interest

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now:

The prosperity of Ireland was not long ago scarce the object of a hesitating hope; it has become an object of almost confident expectation. A new era has commenced. Forty-six years have elapsed since the Minister of one country purchased the Parliament of the other, and during those forty-six years, no matter how ponderous the fetters which the Minister had fabricated for Ireland, the Parliament of England took a disastrous course and with alacrity hastened to put them on. But, at last, a great innovation has taken place. The House of Commons has at length interrupted the monotony of oppression-a general conviction begins to prevail that it is only by conciliation that Ireland can be successfully governed. Of what character should that conciliation be? It should be large and comprehensive-it should embrace every wrong-it should consist of concessions, flowing largely and abundantly from the deep fountain of your justice, instead of being, from a sense of your necessities, drop by drop, ignominiously squeezed out. The pacification of Ireland is almost the last thing left for a Minister to accomplish.

Palmerston was the guest at the next great banquet, which took place on the 20th of June, 1850. This was given in honour of the victory when his foreign policy, which had been challenged and condemned in the House of Lords by a majority of thirty-seven, was approved and supported in the House of Commons by a majority of forty-six. Writing to his brother a few days afterwards, he said that 'two hundred and fifty members of the Reform Club have invited me to a

dinner next Saturday to celebrate my victory, and if we had not thought it better to limit the demonstration to a small scale, the dinner would have been given in Covent Garden Theatre, and would have been attended by a thousand people.' Mr. Bernal Osborne presided and proposed Palmerston's health in a most effective speech, concluding by presenting to him an address of congratulation from the members of the club. Palmerston's reply was a condensed exposition of the principles of foreign policy which he desired to prevail; he declared that 'The guiding objects of the policy of the Government with regard to our foreign relations have been the interests of England, interests which have their beginning in the well-being of this country, and which in their progress comprehend the well-being of every other country.' He maintained that, without acting as knights-errant in the cause of liberty, it was the right and duty of English statesmen to sympathise with nations struggling to be free, and to aid them as far as could be done without endangering the peace of the world. The last toast, proposed by Mr. Maurice O'Connell, was 'Civil and religious liberty all over the world.' The exclusion of the Jews from Parliament was signalised as a disgrace. Baron de Rothschild responded. If some of those who drank the toast could revisit the earth they would be pleased to see many Jewish members of the House of Commons, and a Lord Rothschild sitting in the House of Lords; while they might be surprised to find amongst the Jewish members of Parliament some of the warmest adherents of the Conservative party which so long kept the doors of the House of Commons closed against persons of their race and faith.

Palmerston was in the chair when, on March 7, 1854, the Reform Club gave a banquet in honour of Admiral Sir Charles Napier, who sailed in command of the Baltic fleet a few days afterwards. The most remarkable speech was not that of the chairman, proposing the toast of the evening, though he was never in a happier vein, nor the reply of Sir Charles Napier, though it was very interesting, but it was the speech of the chairman in proposing a toast which, he remarked, had never been proposed since the days of the Crusaders.' This toast was the allied English and French fleets and armies.' Both the chairman and Sir James Graham, the First Lord of the Admiralty, praised Sir Charles Napier for his foresight as well as his bravery; the general public considered the compliments well deserved; the Times commended the club for giving the banquet, but thought it right to recall the admonition of the wise man, 'Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off. The wisdom of the warning was exemplified by results. When Sir Charles Napier returned from the Baltic no one was disposed to entertain him at a banquet.

In April 1864, Garibaldi visited England, and he was received with an enthusiasm which was almost overpowering; the demonstra❤

tions in his honour taxed his strength so greatly that he had to shorten his stay. He was made an honorary member of the Reform Club, and he was present at a luncheon there on the 21st of April. Ladies were admitted that day to the club. The chorus of Her Majesty's Theatre volunteered to attend; the offer being accepted, the Garibaldi Hymn was given by them in a magnificent style under the leadership of Signor Arditi. Lord Ebury presided at the luncheon, which was really a sumptuous dinner given at an early hour, and he made a most complimentary speech to the great and magnanimous Italian patriot. Garibaldi's reply was delivered in English, and with much feeling; as it is short as well as interesting I may quote it in full:

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My gratitude to you for the great sympathy you have for me I think is very great; but I cannot express my feelings of gratitude for your kind sympathy to my poor country. I am almost an Englishman now, and certainly I am very proud to be so, and I invite you to a toast to the prosperity of my adopted country,' and I pray you to receive my thanks for your kindness. Never in my life will I forget the kindness I have received in this illustrious association.

The last of the great banquets which I shall notice took place on the 22nd of February, 1879. It was given in honour of the Earl of Dufferin, and in special acknowledgment of the brilliant and successful way in which he had acted as Governor-General of the Canadian Dominion. At none of the previous banquets did the list of speakers include so many illustrious members of the club and of the party. Earl Granville presided. The other speakers were Mr. W. E. Forster, the Marquis of Ripon, Lord Clarence Paget, Lord Waveney, Mr. Richard Baxter, the chairman of the club, Sir William Harcourt, the Duke of Westminster, the Earl of Rosebery, Sir Henry James, and the Marquis of Hartington, then the leader of the Liberal party. That the entertainment was very imposing and satisfactory was acknowledged by Mr. Baxter, who, in returning thanks for the toast of the Reform Club, said that he had been 'a member of the club forty-five years, and that out of the four or five similar entertainments which he remembered this was the most brilliant.'

In addition to these grand banquets many minor ones have been given to distinguished personages. But these can be called minor only in the sense that they were given in the strangers' dining-room instead of the club coffee-room, and that the members present were smaller in number; yet neither the compliment nor the comfort was lessened by the lessened scale of the entertainment. Amongst the many which might be named, it may suffice to mention those given to General Grant and to Midhat Pasha when they visited England.

The lavish hospitality of the Reform Club has made its name famous throughout the world. Moreover, the rules for the admission of strangers to honorary membership are most liberal; any foreigner

who is personally known to a member, and is a fit and proper person to join such a club, can easily find admittance to honorary membership for a month and to ordinary membership for a year. Those who are settled and reside in any British colony or dependency are also eligible for the like privilege; while foreigners who have resided in this country for three years, and who are in sympathy with the Liberal party, are eligible to become ordinary members for life.

Several changes have been made in the mode of electing members during the half-century of the club's existence. The number of members has also been altered. Sixteen of the original members still survive, and they must be more struck with such changes and alterations than any of those who are solely acquainted with things as they are.

At the outset the members numbered one thousand, exclusive of members of either House of Parliament and foreigners of distinction. At that time candidates who were members of Parliament were elected by the committee, while other candidates were elected by a general ballot of the club. Later, it was resolved that the total number of members should be fourteen hundred, that all candidates should be elected by the club, but that members of either House of Parliament should have precedence. Twenty years ago a council of forty elected candidates, and this was the practice for three years. It is noteworthy that the Reform is the only political club in London on either side of politics in which the election of candidates is not entrusted to a committee.

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The Reform was originally managed by a committee of thirty.' The only surviving member of this committee is the venerable Viscount Eversley. Now, in addition to four trustees, there is a committee of fifteen to manage the general concerns of the club;' a political committee of fifty to manage the political affairs of the club,' and a library committee of five to whom the management of the library is referred.' I shall dispel a widespread delusion when I state that the political committee distribute no money and act merely as a board of conciliation and arbitration, their efforts being directed to promote harmony amongst the sections and members of the Liberal party, and to give good advice when asked.

'The names of the first trustees and of the first committee were thoroughly representative; it may interest some persons to read them. The trustees were the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Mulgrave, the Earl of Durham, the Right Hon. Edward Ellice, M.P., and General Sir R. Ferguson, M.P. The committee consisted of H. A. Aglionby, M.P., Alexander Bannerman, M.P., Walter Campbell, M.P., William Clay, M.P., John Crawford, M.P., Edward Divett, M.P., Viscount Ebrington, M.P., Edward Ellice, George Grote, M.P., Joseph Hume, M.P., Henry Kingscote, M.P., Charles Shaw Lefevre, M.P., Henry Shaw Lefevre, Denis Le Marchant, William Marshall, M.P., Sir William Molesworth, Bart., M.P., James Morrison, M.P., Daniel O'Connell, M.P., O'Connor Don, M.P., Barry O'Meara, Hon. C. A. Pelham, M.P., Edward Pendarves, M.P., Edward Romilly, Sutton Sharpe, E. J. Stanley, M.P., Robert Steuart, M.P., Edward Strutt, M.P., Henry Warburton, M.P., H. G. Ward, M.P.

After flourishing for fifty years the Reform has amply fulfilled the design of its founders. It has now many rivals, but it is still, what it was at the beginning, one of the best clubs in London, if not in the world. As a club-house it remains a masterpiece. Foreign as well as home critics are at one on that point. The plans were so highly valued that they were reproduced in the French Revue de l'Architecture in 1857, and they were commended to the close attention and serious study of French architects. In an artistic sense the French writer's praise is just and discerning, but his acquaintance with localities is peculiar. After stating that Piccadilly is nearly as familiar to French readers as the Palais Royal, he says that the chief London clubs are situated in Piccadilly and that the Reform is the principal ornament of that street.

A handsome and deserved tribute to Barry as the architect of the Reform club-house was paid to him by Digby Wyatt, on the 21st of May, 1860, before the Institute of British Architects, when he said that the Reform exemplified how the most minute attention to comfort and the satisfactory working of utilitarian necessities, are compatible with the exercise of the most delicate sense of refinement and the hardihood of genius.'

Every original member of the Reform who has survived till its jubilee can appreciate the completeness of the architect's design far better than those who saw it immediately after the doors of the clubhouse were first thrown open for their reception. In this building, as in an Italian palace, the sculptor and the painter were expected to adorn and perfect the architect's design. Year after year since the building of the club-house the places appointed by Barry for the purpose have been filled with the busts or portraits of members of the club who were notable reformers.

On entering the club-house the most conspicuous object, as I have already stated, is the marble bust of the Queen as she appeared to gladden the eyes of her people at the beginning of her memorable reign. To the right, when looking towards this charming bust, is the portrait of Palmerston when he was prime minister, and on the left is that of Earl Russell when well advanced in years. Turning one's back upon these portraits, one sees on the opposite side facing Palmerston the portrait of the Marquis of Westminster wearing the robes and insignia of a Knight of the Garter, while a portrait of Daniel O'Connell faces that of Earl Russell. One of the other two sides is graced with portraits of Lord Saye and Sele and Mr. Denison, and between them, on a high pedestal, is a marble bust of Mr. Gladstone. On the opposite side, the portrait of Macaulay faces that of Lord Saye and Sele, and the portrait of the Right Hon. C. P. Villiers faces that of Mr. Denison. The bust of Mr. Gladstone and the portrait of Mr. Villiers have been specially exempted from the rule that no member of the club is to be honoured with a place in