Admirable were the offhand puns and passes, which, though of a legal character, were played off by Bolland, another member of the Society. Brougham was putting hypothetically the case of a man convicted of felony, and duly hanged according to law; but restored to life by medical appliances; and asked what would be the man's defence if again brought to trial. "Why," returned Bolland, "it would be for him to plead _a cord_ and satisfaction." ["Accord and satisfaction" is a common plea in legal practice.] The same evening were talked over Dean Swift's ingenious but grotesque puns upon the names of antiquity, such as Ajax, Archimedes, and others equally well known. Bolland remarked that when Swift was looking out for those humorous quibbles, it was singular that it should never have occurred to him that among the shades that accost Æneas in the sixth book of the Æneid, there was a Scotchman of the name of Hugh Forbes. Those who had read Virgil began to stare. "It is quite plain," said Bolland: "the ghost exclaims, 'Olim Euphorbus eram.'"
The following are the first twenty-four names of the Club, copied from their book:--[13]
George Lambert. John Boson. William Hogarth. Henry Smart. John Rich. John Huggins. Lacy Ryan. Hugh Watson. Ebenezer Forrest. William Huggins. Robert Scott. Edmund Tuffnell. Thomas Chapman. Thomas Salway. Dennis Delane. Charles Neale. John Thornhill. Charles Latrobe. Francis Niveton. Alexander Gordon. Sir William Saunderson. William Tathall. Richard Mitchell. Gabriel Hunt.
Francis Hayman. Mr. Beard. Theo. Cibber. Mr. Wilkes. Mr. Saunders Welsh. Thomas Hudson. John Churchill. Mr. Williamson. Lord Sandwich. Prince of Wales. Mr. Havard. Chas. Price.
Sir J. Boyd. Estcourt. J. Travanion, jun. Earl of Suffolk. Crossdill. J. Kemble, expelled for his mode of conduct. Prince of Wales. Charles Howard, Duke of Norfolk. Mingay. Johnson. Scudamore. Haworth.
Stephenson. Cobb. Richards. Sir J. Scott, Bart. Foley. Arnold. Braddyll. Nettleshipp. Middleton. Denison. Johnson. Scudamore. Nixon. T. Scott. Wilson. Ellis. Walsh. Linley. Duke of Norfolk. Mayo. Duke of Sussex. Morrice. Bolland. Lord Grantley. Peter Moore. Dunn, Treasurer of Drury Lane Theatre.
When the Club dined at the Shakspeare, in the room with the Lion's head over the mantelpiece, these popular actors were members:--