CHAPTER XLI. "The Pic-nic Club "-Its supporters-Its entertainment-Its short life-Automata T - - Ranelagh HE theatre, although the main source of amusement, was not the only one. There were masquerades at the Pantheon, and a private theatrical club, called the "Pic-nic Club," of which a Captain Caulfield was the manager. Lady Buckinghamshire-foremost in this, as in gaming-was one of its chief supporters; and it took its name from every one drawing lots, as to what should be his, or her, share of the entertainment. This club consisted of the leaders of fashion-the Prince of Wales, Lords Cholmondeley, Valletort, Carlisle, Spooner, Kirkcudbright, and Derby; and, of course, "old Q," the Duke of Queensberry. Sir Lumley Skeffington, also, was an ornament to the society; whilst the lady members, besides Lady Albina Buckinghamshire, numbered in their "THE PIC-NIC CLUB." 157 ranks, Lady Salisbury, Lady Jersey, and Mrs. Fitzherbert. It was crême de la crême, and I find them chronicled in the Morning Herald of March 16, 1802, thus: "The Pic-nic Club met last night for the first time, in the Tottenham Street Rooms. The Entertainment commenced with a Prologue by Colonel Greville, which was followed by a French Proverb. An Act of the Bedlamites, a piece translated from the French, for the occasion, was then performed. A French Proverb, and an Epilogue, succeeded; and the whole succeeded with a Pic-nic Supper, provided from a tavern.2 The company was not numerous, though 300 cards of invitation were issued. Madame Parisot,3 disapproving of the dilettanti project, refused to take any part in the performance. It being apprehended that the public peace might be disturbed by this irregular assemblage, the Bow Street officers held themselves in readiness to act, during the whole of the evening, but happily there was no occasion for their services." The society afterwards moved to the Argyle Rooms, then most highly proper, and fashionable. There were several caricatures of this society from Gillray's pencil, one of which (the next illustration) I reproduce. Here Gillray has given, as a contrast, Lord Valletort "the neatest of little beaux," and the smallest man in the I Used also for the concerts of Ancient Music. 2 This marks, as much as anything, the manners of the times. Fancy the upper ten, now-a-days, ordering their supper from a tavern! 3 The famous ballet-dancer of that time. 1 Club, and Lord Cholmondeley, who was very tall and stout. Lady Buckinghamshire, whose embonpoint Gillray never spared, plays the piano, and Lady Salisbury, who from her love of hunting, was frequently satirized under the name of Diana, performs on a hunting horn. The fashionable papers of the day were, during the season, seldom without a paragraph of this society, but it did not last long, and its death is recorded in the Times, February 28, 1803: "The Pic-nic Society is at an end. Many of its members, at a late meeting, wished to continue the Theatrical amusements, but no person would undertake the management of them." In 1801, there .ere to be seen in Spring Gardens, Maillardet's Automata, where a wooden lady performed on the piano; also Miss Linwood's Exhibition of Needlework, first at the Hanover Square Rooms, and afterwards at Saville House, Leicester Square, where were exhibited marvels of crewel work. There are one or two of her pictures in the South Kensington Museum; but her "Salvator Mundi," after Carlo Dolci, for which she refused 3,000 guineas, she bequeathed to the Queen. She had a rival, whose name, however, has not been so well perpetuated-vide the Morning Post, June 4, 1800: "The wool pictures, so much talked of among the connoisseurs, are certainly executed with very great taste. Miss Thompson has brought her art to very great perfection," &c. These were shown in Old Bond Street. |