Sentence:  Some facetious members of the club gave, in a few years, local notoriety to this election; and, when <WSD>party spirit</WSD> ran high in the days of "Wilkes and Liberty", it was easy to create an appetite for a burlesque election among the lower orders of the Metropolis. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  The feeling of common purpose and togetherness experienced or shown by members or supporters of a group, especially a political party, sometimes accompanied by unreasonable animosity towards members or supporters of other groups.