Preserving the fine old flavor of the time and subject with which he deals, Mr Allen here makes a delightful study of the position of the club among the literary currents of England's most socially-minded age. He traces the rise of the club to prominence as a social institution, shows how conspicuous clubs were in the countless descriptions of the Town, presents new material on the origin of the Kit-Cat Club, and corrects some old misapprehensions about various other societies. A considerable part of the book treats of the fictitious societies of gentlemen, by means of which essayists and versifiers adroitly catered to the public. The final chapter deals with the relations between clubs and authors.