the most memorable days of his life.

Talking of clubs reminds me that there was a good deal of club life in
Edinburgh in those days. The most notable were those in which the
members were drawn together by occupations, habits, or tastes. They
met in the evenings, and conversed upon congenial subjects. The clubs
were generally held in one or other of the taverns situated in or near
the High Street. Every one will remember the Lawyers' Club, held in an
Edinburgh close, presided over by Pleydell, so well described by Scott
in Guy Mannering.

In my father's early days he was a member of a very jovial club, called
the Poker Club. It was so-called because the first chairman,
immediately on his election, in a spirit of drollery, laid hold of the
poker at the fireplace, and adopted it as his insignia of office. He
made a humorous address from the chair, or "the throne," as he called
it, with sceptre or poker in hand; and the club was thereupon styled by
acclamation "The Poker Club." I have seen my father's diploma of
membership; it was tastefully drawn on parchment, with the poker duly
emblazoned on it as the regalia of the club.

In my own time, the club that he was most connected with was the
Dilettanti Club. Its meetings were held every fortnight, on Thursday
evenings, in a commodious tavern in the High Street. The members were
chiefly artists, or men known for their love of art. Among then were
Henry Raeburn, Hugh Williams (the Grecian), Andrew Geddes,
William Thomson, John Shetkay, William Nicholson, William Allan,
Alexander Nasmyth, the Rev. John Thomson of Duddingston,
George Thomson, Sir Walter Scott, John Lockhart, Dr. Brewster,
David Wilkie, Henry Cockburn, Francis Jeffrey, John A. Murray,