69, St. James's Street. It was rebuilt in 1827. cated basement of five

ARTHUR'S,

Derives its name from the original proprietor. The front is of stone, and presents a rustiantæs, above which are six columns of the Corinthiar. order, supporting an entablature, cornice, and balustrade.

BROOKS'S,

60, St. James's Street, corner of Park Place. A handsome building, ornamented with Corinthian pilasters: built in 1778, by Henry Holland, Esq., architect.

Among the many eminent men who have been members of this club, may be named C. J. Fox, Selwyn, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Garrick, Horace Walpole, David Hume, and Sheridan.

BOODLE'S,

28, St. James's Street. A subscription house of long standing and first-rate respectability. Gibbon, the historian, dates many of his letters from this club.

WHITE'S,

37 and 38, St. James's Street. Established as a Chocolate House, in 1690. A handsome building, erected from the designs of James Wyatt, Esq. In by gone days the club was famous for the immense amount of gambling carried on here.

NAVAL, MILITARY, AND COUNTY SERVICE,

50, St. James's Street, late Crockford's. Erected in 1827, from designs by Messrs. B. and J. Wyatt. The front drawing-room is a splendid apartment, having an entire frontage, in St. James's Street, of fifty feet long by forty feet wide richly decorated in the style of Louis Quatorze.

THE GUARDS,

70, Pall Mall, A narrow, lofty, yet pleasing exterior. The members consist of the officers of the Household Troops.

THE ALFRED,

23, Albermarle Street. Established in 1808, and limited to six hundred members.

"I was a member of the Alfred," says Lord Byron, in his journal, "it was pleasant; a little too sober and literary, and bored with Sotheby and Sir Francis D'Invernois; but one met with Peel, and Ward, and Valentia, and many other pleasant or known people; and it was upon the whole a decent resource in a rainy day, in a dearth of parties, or parliament, or in an empty season.'

THE ORIENTAL,

18, Hanover Square. Founded in 1826, by Sir John Malcolm; and is composed of noblemen and gentlemen, who have travelled or resided in Asia, at St. Helena, in Egypt, at the Cape of Good Hope, the Mauritius, or at Constantinople; or whose official situations connect them with the administration of our Eastern government, abroad or at home.

Amongst the numerous portraits of eminent men, which the club possesses, may be noticed Lord Clive, Sir Eyre Coote, Stringer Lawrence, Sir David Ochterloney, Sir G. Pollock, Sir W. Nott, Mountstuart Elphinstone, Sir H. Pottinger, and the Duke of Wellington.

THE PARTHENON,

16, Regent Street, adjoining the Gallery of Illustration, formerly the house of John Nash, Esq., the architect, under whose direction the improvements in Regent Street and Regent's Park were carried out.

THE ERECHTHEUM,

St. James's Square. A kind of junior Atheneum, established in 1839. This club house, which stands on the site of Romney House, was formerly occupied by Mr. Wedgewood, so celebrated for his "ware."

THE GARRICK,

35, King Street, Covent Garden. Instituted in 1834, as a club for those connected with the drama. Here is to be seen the finest collection of theatrical portraits extant, chiefly collected by the late Charles Mathews, and now the property of a member of the club; they are on view every Wednesday, and may be inspected by the personal introduction of a member.

King William Street, corner of St. Swithin's Lane. This elegant structure was erected in 1844, from designs by Mr. Henry Flower, architect, for the accommodation of the members, consisting of merchants and bankers of the city.

THE CITY,

19, Old Broad Street. Established in 1833, for the accommodation of merchants, bankers, and ship-owners. It is a handsome building, erected on the site of the Old South Sea House, from designs by Mr. Hardwicke, at a cost of £8,000.

CLUB CHAMBERS,

Regent Street. This chastely-elegant building was erected in 1839, from designs by Mr. Decimus Burton, at a cost of £26,000. It is in the Italian style of architecture, and occupies a frontage of seventysix feet; and contains seventy-seven sets of chambers, exclusive of rooms for gentlemen's servants.

On the ground-floor is a coffee and reading room, and a superior dining room.

CHAPTER XXII.

THE INSURANCE OFFICES.

"What the Club is to the street architecture of the West-end, the Assurance office is to the City; and the edifices devoted to the more useful purposes of life, it is pleasing to see, are not inferior to those which are only the appendages of luxury. Indeed, the range of Assurance offices in London, constitute in its architectural, as well as in its moral aspect, a characteristic of which England may be proud. The foreigner has hitherto envied us our charities, our parks, and our clubs; he will now have another feature in the phsyiognomy of London, which suggest honourable associations in connection with the private and domestic habits of the professional and middle classes, and testifies to the earnest and provident care of those to whose comfort their lives have been devoted."

There are probably few classes of edifices in the metropolis, which more strikingly arrest the attention of the stranger, or more deeply interest the thoughtful mind, than the numerous Insurance Offices, which occupy the most prominent situations in the leading thoroughfares of the city and the west end. These admirable institutions, many of which possess architectural features of great beauty, although but of comparatively recent origin, have, from the sound and healthy principles on which they are conducted, attained to a degree of stability and prosperity, that whilst it imparts full confidence to those who have already availed themselves of their benefits, holds out the most satisfactory inducement to the vast number of individuals who have, as yet, neglected to avail themselves of them.

The businesses of Life Assurance, and Insurance against loss by Fire, is entirely carried on in offices established for that purpose. The care of the latter in providing engines and firemen, the known honour of the governors and directors, and the general respectability of the establishments, have destroyed all possibility of competition by individual means.

The Assurance of Life, partly from its being partly from its requiring a larger immediate sively practised than Insurance against Fire. portance, as it regards the interests of surviving

less understood, and outlay, is less extenBut its greater imfamilies. cannot fail

to suggest itself to every prudent mind, as affording the means of insuring an adequate provision against loss of life, from unlooked for disease or accident; and thus securing to the widow and the father less, a certain consolation in the hour of their deepest distress.

It is therefore gratifying to know that the worth of Life Assurance is becoming daily more and more understood; and the time, we hope is not far distant, when its practice must become almost universal. It is useful to all classes and conditions of men, chiefly so to the middle and poorer classes; but the greater portion of the immense multitude who gain their living by their own exertions, have yet to learn the power of th pence. Few fathers of families consider how very cheaply they can protect from want, in case of sudden bereavement, those who are dependant upon their habitual labours.

To all who depend on personal exertion, or on incomes terminable at death, Life Assurance is of the utmost importance, more especially to those moving in a sphere of society, whose offspring are not expected to fill inferior stations-such as clergymen, professional men, officers in the army and navy, and individuals holding public situations. But, in reality, there is no class, from the Sovereign to the tradesman, or from the peer to the peasant, who may not, to the extent of their means, avail themselves of its benefits. or to whom it may not be highly advantageous.

Indeed, the uses to which Life Assurance may be turned are almost innumerable;-husbands may make provision for their widows; parents may provide endowments for their children; possessors of entailed estates may provide for the younger branches of their families; creditors may compensate themselves for the loss which the death of their debtors might occasion; borrowers may secure, in case of death, a fund to repay the loan; holders of leases, dependent on a life, or lives, may provide a fund to meet the fine, increase of rent, or loss of capital, which may ensue; purchasers of annuities on the lives of others, may secure the capital laid out; all who have a pecuniary interest in the existence of a life, may guard that interest from total ruin through the failure of such life; parents of daughters about entering the marriage state, may very easily and prudently cause the huband to assure his life, and thus make a provision for his young wife and family, who might otherwise be left destitute or a burden upon friends; and even the triumphs of science, in the rapid development of our wonderful railway system, has called Life Assurance to its aid, and for a few pence every railway traveller may insure a handsome provision for his family, in the event of an accident, happily of rare occurrence through the care of railway employees. The insurance of life in all cases is wise-in many, absolutely necessary-in some, an imperative duty. We say then to all persons having fixed incomes, and living up to the amount, it is a duty they owe to their families, to insure their lives as a future provision for their offspring. If they deprive themselves of a few of the luxuries they have been accustomed to enjoy; let them recollect, that it is for the ultimate advantage of those whom they hold most dear in the world, and whom it is their bounden duty to protect and provide for.