DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

sp: patil anc pati ( 45.) would derive by attracting to themselves the services of the ablest writers of the day, and securing the weight of their talent in their electioneering and debating controversies. Thus it was that reforms sprung out of the growing tendency to democracy, and the growing importance of parliamentary debates and party struggles. The union of political leaders with men of letters, which soon led to an enormous increase of literary productions, was cemented by the formation of political clubs. Social clubs were not altogether unknown. They had their origin in convivial meetings. To associate on terms of perfect equality, friends clubbed together, and divided the expenses of the entertainment ; hence the term club. Out of these convivial meetings the political club was formed, which became chiefly instru- mental in extending the organization of public opinion. Foremost among these institutions was the ‘ Kit Cat’ Club. It was founded by a bookseller, Jacob Tonson, who enlisted among its members thirty-nine leading men of the Whig party, some of whom were of the highest rank. They assembled at a pastry- cook’s, Christopher Catt’s, who gave his name to the Society, and its mutton cutlets, which were its ordinary entertainment. For us the most important of its mem- bers was Joseph Addison, who through his literary merits and industry rose from the precincts of his