Rankenian Club

Rankenian Club,
one of the most influential 18th-cent. Edinburgh clubs, founded c. 1717 by a group of radical divinity students who were admirers of the moral and political writings of the third earl of Shaftesbury . Its leading members rose to prominence in the universities, the Church, medicine, and the law, and were influential in the improvement of literary style in Edinburgh. Lord Auchinleck , father of Boswell , was a member.