is thus alluded to in No. 24 of The Tatler :-
"Though this institution had so trivial a beginning, it is
now elevated into a formal order, and that happy virgin,
who is received and drunk to at their meetings, has no
more to do in this life but to judge and accept of the first
good offer. The manner of her inauguration is much
like that of a choice of a Doge at Venice; it is performed
by balloting; and when she is so chosen, she reigns
indisputably for that ensuing year; but must be elected
anew to prolong her empire a moment beyond it.
When she is regularly chosen, her name is written with
a diamond on one of the drinking glasses. The
hieroglyphic of the diamond is to show her that value is
imaginary; and that of the glass, to acquaint her that
her condition is frail, and depends on the hand which
holds her."

The Club had its toasting glasses inscribed with a verse or toast to some reigning beauty, amongst whom were the four lovely daughters of the Duke of Marlborough-Lady Godolphin, Lady Sunderland, Lady Bridgwater, and Lady Monthermer; Swift's friends, Mrs. Long and Mrs. Barton-the latter the beautiful and witty niece of Sir Isaac Newton; the Duchess of Bolton, Mrs. Brudenell, and Lady Carlisle, Mrs. D. Kirk, and Lady Wharton.

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Dr. Arbuthnot, in the following epigram, seems to derive the name of the Club from this custom of toasting ladies after dinner, rather than from the rumoured maker of mutton pies :—

"Whence deathless Kit Cat took his name

Few critics can unriddle;

Some say from pastry cook it came,

And some from 'Cat and Fiddle.'

"From no trim beaux its name it boasts,
Grey statesmen or green wits,

But from this pell-mell pack of toasts
Of old Cats and young Kits."

In the summer the Club met at the "Upper Flask," Hampstead Heath, then a gay resort, with its races, ruffles, and private marriages.

Tonson appears to have been the key-stone of the Kit Cat Club, as may be collected from the following extracts from letters addressed to him from several members. The Duke of Somerset tells him in an epistle dated June 22nd, 1703:-"Our Club is dissolved till you revive it again, which we are impatient of." In the same month and year, Vanbrugh, who was always exceedingly well disposed towards Tonson, and corresponded with him for upwards of twenty years, writing to him at Amsterdam, says "In short, the Kit Cat wants you much more than you ever can do them. Those who remain in town