In these places the company was of course of all classes and colours;
but, as the conversation was general, there was naturally at first a
good deal of squabbling, till, for the sake of peace and comfort, a man
chose his place of resort according to his political principles; and a
little later there were regular Whig and Tory coffee-houses. Thus, in
Anne's day, 'The Cocoa-nut,' in St. James's Street, was reserved for
Jacobites, while none but Whigs frequented 'The St James's.' Still there
was not sufficient exclusiveness; and as early as in Charles II.'s reign
men of peculiar opinions began to appropriate certain coffee-houses at
certain hours, and to exclude from them all but approved members. Hence
the origin of clubs.
The October Club was one of the earliest, being composed of some hundred
and fifty rank Tories, chiefly country members of Parliament. They met
at the 'Bell,' in King Street, Westminster, that street in which Spenser
starved, and Dryden's brother kept a grocer's shop. A portrait of Queen
Anne, by Dahl, hung in the club-room. This and the Kit-kat, the great
Whig club, were chiefly reserved for politics; but the fashion of
clubbing having once come in, it was soon followed by people of all
fancies.
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