The bill, as a specimen of the advantages of separate charges, as well as on other accounts, may be worth preserving:—
Albion House.
June 17, 1818.
| Bread and Beer | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| Dinners | 9 | 9 | 0 |
| Cheas and Butter | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| Lemons | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Strong Beer | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| Madeira | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Champagne | 2 | 11 | 0 |
| Saturne (sic in MS.) | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| Old Hock | 4 | 16 | 0 |
| Burgundy | 0 | 18 | 0 |
| Hermitage | 0 | 18 | 0 |
| Silery Champagne | 0 | 16 | 0 |
| Sherry | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| St. Percy | 2 | 11 | 0 |
| Old Port | 2 | 9 | 0 |
| Claret | 11 | 4 | 0 |
| Turtle Punch | 0 | 15 | 0 |
| Waxlights | 2 | 10 | 0 |
| Desert | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| Pine-ice creams | 1 | 16 | 0 |
| Tea and Coffee | 1 | 8 | 0 |
| Liqueures | 0 | 14 | 0 |
| 2 Haunches of Venison | 10 | 10 | 0 |
| Sweet sauce and dressing | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| 50 lbs. Turtle | 12 | 10 | 0 |
| Dressing do. | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Ice for Wine | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| Rose Water | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Soda Water | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| Lemons and Sugar for do. | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Broken Glass | 0 | 5 | 6 |
| Servants' dinners | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| Waiters | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| ————— | |||
| 85 | 9 | 6 | |
"Consider, in the bird's-eye view of the banquet, (says Mr. Haslewood,) the trencher cuts, foh! nankeen displays; as intersticed with many a brilliant drop to friendly beck and clubbish hail, to moisten the viands, or cool the incipient cayenne. No unfamished liveryman would desire better dishes, or high-tasted courtier better wines. With men that meet to commune, that can converse, and each willing to give and receive information, more could not be wanting to promote well-tempered conviviality; a social compound of mirth, wit, and wisdom;—combining all that Anacreon was famed for, tempered with the reason of Demosthenes, and intersected with the archness of Scaliger. It is true we had not any Greek verses in praise of the grape; but we had as a tolerable substitute the ballad of the Bishop of Hereford and Robin Hood, sung by Mr. Dodd; and it was of his own composing. It is true we had not any long oration denouncing the absentees, the Cabinet council, or any other set of men, but there was not a man present that at one hour and seventeen minutes after the cloth was removed but could not have made a Demosthenic speech far superior to any record of antiquity. It is true no trait of wit is going to be here preserved, for the flashes were too general; and what is the critical sagacity of Scaliger, compared to our chairman? Ancients, believe it we were not dead drunk, and therefore lie quiet under the table for once, and let a few moderns be uppermost.
"According to the long-established principles of 'Maysterre Cockerre,' each person had £5. 14s. to pay—a tremendous sum, and much may be said thereon."
Earl Spencer presided at the dinner which followed the sale of the Valdarfer Boccaccio: twenty-one members sat down to table at Jaquière's (the Clarendon), and the bill was comparatively moderate, £55. 13s. Mr. Haslewood says, with characteristic sprightliness: "Twenty-one members met joyfully, dined comfortably, challenged eagerly, tippled prettily, divided regretfully, and paid the bill most cheerfully."
The following is the list of "Tostes," given at the first Dinner, in 1812:—
The Order of ye Tostes.
The Immortal Memory of John Duke of Roxburghe.
Christopher Valdarfer, Printer of the Decameron of 1471.
Gutemberg, Fust, and Schæffher, the Inventors of the Art of Printing. William Caxton, the Father of the British Press. Dame Juliana Barnes, and the St. Alban's Press. Wynkyn de Worde and Richard Pynson, the Illustrious Successors of William Caxton. The Aldine Family, at Venice. The Giunta Family at Florence. The Society of the Bibliophiles at Paris. The Prosperity of the Roxburghe Club. The Cause of Bibliomania all over the World.