My deeds upon my head! I crave the law,
The penalty and forfeit of my bond.
A JEW BROKER.
January 15, 1801. [The Brilliants], (21¼ × 16.) Published by R. Ackermann, 101 Strand.—We are not prepared with any special particulars as to the foundation of this convivial club; but we may record a solitary gratuitous observation, that in spite of the melancholy and frequent carpings, on puritanical grounds, which are now in fashion, over the growing degeneracy of the times in which we live—the sanctimonious being given to assert that each succeeding generation inveterately surpasses the excesses of its predecessors—in the instances of drinking and gaming our ancestors went to extremes beside which our modern dissipations, in their wildest excesses, fall into paltry insignificance. The clubs of the past, in the item of iniquity, although the institution was in its infancy, surpassed those of the present day in such a degree that our 'fastest' haunts appear prudish by comparison.
THE BRILLIANTS.
As to [The Brilliants], we do not accept the scene, in its literal sense, as a faithful transcript of current amusements as practised at the commencement of the century; but, allowing for the exaggeration of burlesque, we are far from denying that it is founded on actual observation, in an age notoriously given to conviviality, which was carried, in all phases of society, beyond the bounds of discretion, and, in some instances, to a decree incredible in our times. Their Royal Highnesses the Princes of the Blood, their Graces the Dukes, the proverbially drunken Lords, the Right Honourable Ministers of State, Honourable Members of every political shade, and gallant and learned gentlemen of the various services and professions, were, with the rest of the community, without mentioning notorious and personal instances, under no restraint of decorum in regard to inebriety; and, if we may trust their own chroniclers, exhibited themselves without reserve as frequently drunk as sober. If, in our charitable concessions to the failings of our ancestors, we assume that our artist has exercised undue licence in the representation of their failings, from the president of The Brilliants downwards, we must further take 'a grain of salt' to qualify our belief in the fidelity with which he has transmitted us the 'club rules.' It is impossible that any convivialist could continue to be 'brilliant' after his senses were diluted by the amount of fluid prescribed as a qualification for membership; the light that was in him must be effectally extinguished by the vinous drenching that was de rigueur:—