At this time cider seems to have risen to the dignity of civic feasts. At a feast held Nov. 5th, 1737, at an inn, the following are the charges:—
| £ | s. | d. | |
| Ordinaries | 1 | 10 | 0 |
| Wine | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| Beer, Cider, Ale | 0 | 8 | 10 |
| Candles and tobacco | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Beer, gunners and drummers | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| For firing | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Sugar, lemons, and glasses | 0 | 14 | 0 |
| Wine after the bill delivered | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| Beer firing, tobacco | 0 | 1 | 10 |
| — | — | — | |
| 5 | 15 | 0 |
No bill for feast or treat at any place ... was found to have any mention of cider as used at table, and charged for with beer and ale before this one.[224]
In 1746 A Bowl of Punch appears as a novelty in the bill of a corporation dinner. When Coade was Mayor in 1737, sixteen bowls of punch were drunk at a corporation banquet.
Whitsun-ales were still in force. In the postscript of a letter from a minister to his parishioners in the Deanery of Stow, Gloucestershire, 1736, the author writes:—
What I have now been desiring you to consider as touching the evil and pernicious consequences of Whitsun-ales among us, doth also obtain against Dovers Meeting ... and also against Midsummer Ales and Mead-mowings; and likewise against the ordinary violations of those festival seasons commonly called Wakes.
In the year 1735 occurred a scene which fairly gives colour to the Secret History of the Calves’ Head Club. The following account is given in the letters of L’Abbé Le Blanc:—
Some young men of quality chose to abandon themselves to the debauchery of drinking healths on the 30th of January, a day appointed by the Church of England for a general fast, to expiate the murder of Charles I., whom they honour as a martyr. As soon as they were heated with wine, they began to sing. This gave great offence to the people, who stopped before the tavern, and gave them abusive language. One of these rash young men put his head out of the window and drank to the memory of the army which dethroned this king, and to the rebels which cut off his head upon a scaffold. The stones immediately flew from all parts, the furious populace broke the windows of the house, and would have set fire to it.
The Chapter Coffeehouse was opened at this time, famous for punch, pamphlets, and newspapers. Buchan, of Domestic Medicine fame, was an habitué; so was Dr. Gower.