Half a dozen
cooks were employed upon this occasion, upwards of twenty tenders to wait
upon the tables; they had the best of old cyder, one barrel of Lisbon wine,
punch in plenty before and after dinner, made of old Barbados spirit. The
cost of this moderate dinner was upwards of fifty pounds lawful money."
This special ordination-feast, even as detailed by the complaining
"Countryman," does not seem to me very reprehensible. The standing of the
church, the wealth of the congregation, the character of the guests (among
whom were the Governor and the judges of the Superior Court) all make
this repast appear neither ostentatious nor extravagant. Fifty pounds was
certainly not an enormous sum to spend for a dinner with wine for over one
hundred persons, and such a good dinner too. Nor is it probable that a city
as large as was Boston at that date could through that dinner have been
swept of provisions to such an extent that prices would be raised a quarter
part. I suspect some personal malice caused "Countryman's" attacks, for he
certainly could have found in other towns more flagrant cases to complain
of and condemn.
Though no record exists to prove that "the poor were the better for
what remained" after this Boston feast, in other towns letters
and church-entries show that any fragments remaining after the
ordination-dinner were well disposed of.
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