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MY LORD,
IT was with no little satisfaction I undertook the pleasing task, assigned me by the gentlemen of the Kitcat club[2], of addressing your lordship with thanks for your late service so seasonably done to our sinking cause, in reprinting those most excellent
- ↑ Dr. William Fleetwood.
- ↑ This club, which consisted of the most distinguished wits and statesmen among the whigs, was remarkable for the strictest zeal toward the house of Hanover. They met at a little house in Shire lane, and took their title from the real name of a pastrycook who excelled in making mutton pies, which were regularly a part of their entertainment. The portraits of this society, drawn by sir Godfrey Kneller, were all at Barnes, in the possession of the late Mr. Jacob Tonson, whose father was a member. Sir Godfrey's own portrait is among them, of a smaller size than the others. From these portraits, "Kitcat" became a technical term in painting. — Dr. King, who was undoubtedly a first rate writer de re culinaria, has pointed out the merits of their proveditor, in his admirable Art of Cookery,
"Immortal made as Kitcat by his Pies!"
discourses,
