It may, however, be questioned whether "the dinners" of the Club were not more important than the literature. They were given at the St. Alban's, at Grillion's, at the Clarendon, and the Albion, taverns; the _Amphytrions_ evincing as _recherché_ taste in the _carte_, as the Club did in their vellum reprints. Of these entertainments some curious details have been recorded by the late Mr. Joseph Haslewood, one of the members, in a MS. entitled, "Roxburghe Revels; or, an Account of the Annual Display, culinary and festivous, interspersed incidentally with Matters of Moment or Merriment." This MS. was, in 1833, purchased by the Editor of the _Athenæum_, and a selection from its rarities was subsequently printed in that journal. Among the memoranda, we find it noted that, at the second dinner, a few tarried, with Mr. Heber in the chair, until, "on arriving at home, the click of time bespoke a quarter to four." Among the early members was the Rev. Mr. Dodd, one of the masters of Westminster School, who, until the year 1818 (when he died), enlivened the Club with Robin-Hood ditties and similar productions. The fourth dinner was given at Grillion's, when twenty members assembled, under the chairmanship of Sir Mark Masterman Sykes. The bill on this occasion amounted to £57, or £2. 17_s._ per man; and the twenty "lions" managed to dispose of drinkables to the extent of about £33. The reckoning, by Grillion's French waiter, is amusing:--
20 . . . . . . . . 200 0 | 2 Boutelle de Bourgogne Desser . . . . . . 20 0 | . . . . . . 1 12 0 Deu sorte de Glasse 1 4 0 | (Not legible) 0 14 0 Glasse pour 6 . . 0 4 0 | Soder . . . . . . . 0 2 0 5 Boutelle de Champagne | Biere e Ail . . . . 0 6 0 . . . . . . . . . 4 0 0 | Por la Lettre . . . 0 2 0 7 Boutelle de harmetage | Pour faire un prune 0 6 0 . . . . . . . . . 5 5 0 | Pour un fiacre . . 0 2 0 1 Boutelle de Hok 0 15 0 | ________ 4 Boutelle de Port 1 6 0 | 55 6 0 4 Boutelle de Maderre 2 0 0 | Waiters . . 1 14 0 22 Boutelle de Bordeaux | ________ . . . . . . . . 15 8 0 | 57 0 0
The anniversary of 1818 was celebrated at the Albion, in Aldersgate-street: Mr. Heber was in the chair, and the Rev. Mr. Carr _vice_, vice Dr. Dibdin. Although only fifteen sat down, they seem to have eaten and drunk for the whole Club: it was, as Wordsworth says, "forty feeding like one;" and the bill, at the conclusion of the night, amounted to £85. 9_s._ 6_d._ "Your cits," says Mr. Haslewood, "are the only men for a feast; and, therefore, behold us, like locusts, travelling to devour the good things of the land, eastward ho! At a little after seven, with our fancies much delighted, we fifteen sat down."