Having given this short Account of the Institution and Continuation of the Everlasting Club, I should here endeavour to say something of the Manners and Characters of its several Members, which I shall do according to the best Lights I have received in this Matter.
It appears by their Books in general, that, since their first Institution, they have smoked fifty Tun of Tobacco; drank thirty thousand Butts of Ale, One thousand Hogsheads of Red Port, Two hundred Barrels of Brandy, and a Kilderkin of small Beer. There has been likewise a great Consumption of Cards. It is also said, that they observe the law in
Ben. Johnson's
Club, which orders the Fire to be always kept in (
focus perennis esto
) as well for the Convenience of lighting their Pipes, as to cure the Dampness of the Club-Room.
have an old Woman in the nature of a Vestal, whose Business it is to cherish and perpetuate the Fire
which