Page 90 - An account of the Lodge of Nine Muses No. 235. 1777 to 2012UGLE

90 An Account of the

The disbursements were,
dinner and desert for 24 at 10/6 Tea and Coffee for 20 at
1/6 with wines &c &c ...................................................... 26 : 14 : 6
Servants and Chambermaids ........................................ 1. –. –
27 : 14 : 6
And the receipts, viz!
6 Lady Visitors ....................... 6 : 6 : 0
2 Gentlemen do ..................... 2 : 10 : –
Cards paid by the Whist players – 4. –
9. –. –

This sounds like a very festive evening for everyone except the servants and
chambermaids.
During the nine years after 1848 the minutes make no reference to these
relaxations, but on 11 April 1858 it was
Agreed that a Lodge of recreation be held at the Ship Greenwich upon Saturday
the [blank] of June. That each member pay 21/- for himself and 10/6 for each lady
introduced. Also that Members might introduce friends Gentlemen at 21/- each
and Ladies at 10/6, the other expences to be defrayed from the funds of the Lodge.
The Ship at Greenwich was renowned for its whitebait dinners; and whitebait,
Mrs Beeton informs us, is in season from April to August.
Lodges of Recreation were projected on 20 June 1859, and again at the Ship,
Greenwich, on Saturday, 23 June 1860 (“dinner to be ordered at ½ p 4 for five”);
in 1863, 1864 and 1865, all three to be at Richmond; and at a place unspecified
in May 1871. After 1871 there is no further reference in the minutes to Lodges
of Recreation as such, though on 11 April 1880, “The subject of a summer
Banquet was discussed & a unanimous feeling expressed in favor of its being held
& the Secretary was requested to undertake the arrangements as to time place &
details.” None of these meetings took place.
In the minute referring to the proposed meeting in 1865 there is at least a hint
that these gatherings were losing their appeal.