tremes there were some instructive measures of local
government bearing upon public morals, of which the reader will be
afforded some curious illustrations in the course of this chapter.

The Old Royston Club must have been established before 1698, for at
that time there was a list of members, but what was the common bond of
fellowship, which enabled the Club to figure so notably among the
leading people of the neighbouring counties, we are left to infer from
one or two of its rules, and the emblems by which the members were
surrounded, rather than from any documentary proof. It flourished in
an age of Clubs, of which the Fat Men's Club (five to a ton), the
Skeleton Club, the Hum-drum Club, and the Ugly Club, are given by
Addison as types in the _Spectator_. The usual form of this
institution in the Provinces was the County Club. The Royston Club
itself has been considered by some to have been the Herts. County Club,
but the County Clubs usually met in the county towns. Mr. Hale Wortham
has in his possession some silver labels, bearing the words "County
Club," said to have been handed down as part of the Royston Club
property; but on the other hand there is the direct evidence of the
contemporary account of the Club given in the _Gentleman's Magazine_,
for 1783, describing it as the Royston Club, by which title it has
always been known.

{20}

It may not have been strictly speaking a political institution, and
yet, according to the custom of the times, could never have assembled
without a toast list pledging the institutions of the country, and the
prominent men of the day.

But push round the claret,
Come, stewards, don't spare it,
With rapture you'll drink to the toast that I give!

Indeed, among some old papers placed at the writer's disposal, is this
candid expression of opinion by an old Roystonian:--"Probably the
members were strong partisans of the Stuarts; but, whatever may have
been their loyalty to the King, there is no doubt of their devotion to
Bacchus." If so, they reflected the custom of the times rather than
the weakness of their institution which could scarcely have existed for
a century, and included such a distinguished membership, without
promoting much good feeling and adding to the importance of the town in
this respect. The Club held its meetings at the Red Lion--then the
chief posting inn in the town--in two large rooms erected at the back
of the inn at the expense of