there is no news at all, they repeat old stories." ^° 

 NT any entries in Nancy Shippen's journal -' between 

 1783 and 1786 indicate that this Philadelphian passed 

 many such hours in a similar manner. On March 

 11, 1785, she wrote: "About 4 in the Afternoon 

 D"' Cutting came in, & we spent the afternoon in the 

 most agreable chit-chat manner, drank a \ery 

 good dish of Tea together & then separated." Part 

 of an undated entry in December 1783 reads: "This 

 Afternoon we were honor'd with the Company of 

 Gen' \Vashington to Tea, M" & Major Moore, 

 Xr^ Stewart M'' Powel XP B Washington, cS: two or 

 3 more." If acquaintances of Nancy's own age were 

 present or the company large, the tea hour often 

 extended well into the evening with singing, con- 

 versing, dancing, and playing of whist, chess, or 

 cards. Of one such occasion she wrote: -' 



M" Allen & the Miss Chews drank Tea with me & spent 

 the even'g. There was half a dozen agreable & sensible 

 men that \va& of the party. The conversation was carried 

 on in the most sprightly, agreable manner, the Ladies 

 bearing by far the greatest part — till nine when cards was 

 proposed, & about ten, refreshments were introduced \vhich 

 concluded the Evening. 



Obviously, young men and women enjoyed the 

 sociability of teatime, for it provided an ideal occasion 

 to get acquainted. When the Marquis de Chastellux 

 was in Philadelphia during the 1780"s he went one 

 afternoon to "take tea with Madam Shippen," and 

 found musical entertainment to meet with his ap- 

 proval and a relationship between the sexes which 

 had parental sanction. One young miss played on 

 the clavichord, and "Miss Shippen sang with timidity 

 but a very pretty voice," accompanied for a time by 

 Monsieur Otto on the harp. Dancing followed, 

 noted the Marquis, "while mothers and other grave 

 personages conversed in another room." ^' In New- 

 York as in Philadelphia teatime was an important 

 part of the younger set's social schedule. Eliza 

 Bowne, writing to her sister in January 1810, reported 

 that "as to news — New York is not so gay as last 



Winter, few balls but a great many tea-parties." ^' 

 The feminine interest and participation in such gather- 

 ings of personable young men and attractive young 

 women was expressed by Nancy Shippen -* when she 

 wrote in her journal after such a party: 



"Saturday night at 1 1 o'clock. I had a very large com- 

 pany at Tea this Evening. The company is but just broke 

 up, I dont know when I spent a more merry Even^. We 

 had music, Cards, &c &c." 



A masculine view of American tea parties was openly 

 \'oiced by one foreign visitor, Prince de Broglie, who, 

 upon arrival in America in 1782, "only knew a few 

 words of English, but knew better how to drink 

 excellent tea with even better cream, how to tell a 

 lady she was pretty, and a gentleman he was sensible, 

 by reason whereof I possessed all the elements of 

 social success." ^^ Similar feelings were expressed by 

 the Comte de Segur during his sojourn in America 

 in the late 18th century when, in a letter to his wife 

 in France, he wrote: "My health continues excellent, 

 despite the quantity of tea one must drink with the 

 ladies out of gallantry, and of madeira all day long 

 with the men out of politeness." -* 



Festive tea parties such as the ones described above 

 are the subject of some of the group portraits or 

 conversation pieces painted about 1730 by the English 

 artist ^Villiam Hogarth. The Assembly at Wanstead 

 House, now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, 

 illustrates quite an elegant affair taking place in a 

 large, richly decorated, English interior. The artist 

 has filled the canvas with people standing and con- 

 versing while a seated group plays cards at a table in 

 the center of the room. To one side near the fireplace 

 a man and two women drinking tea are seated at an 

 ornately carved, square tea table with a matching 

 stand for the hot water kettle. On a dish or circular 

 stand in the center of the table is a squat teapot with 

 matching cups and saucers arranged in parallel rows 

 on either side. 



Tea-drinking guests seem to have been free to sit 

 or stand according to their own pleasure or the num- 



2' Fransois, Marquis de Barbe-Marbois, Our Rcvolutiimary Fore- 

 fathers. The Letters of Franqois, Marquis de Barbe-Marhois During 

 His Residence in the United States as Secretary of the French Legal'on 

 7779-1785, translated and edited by Eugene Parker Chase, 

 New York, 1929, p. 123. 



2' Nancy .Shippen, Nancy Shippen, Her Journal Book, edited by 

 Ethel Armes, Philadelphia, 1935, pp. 167, 229, 243. 



22 Chastellux, op. cil. (footnote 9), quoted in Sherrill. op. cit. 

 (footnote 8), p. 40. 



-'3 Eliza Southgate Bowne, A Girl's Life Eighty Tears Ago. Selec- 

 tions from the Letters of Eli-za Southgate Bowne, edited by Clarence 

 Cook, New York, 1887, p. 207. 



=' Shippen, op. cit. (footnote 21), p. 167. 



25 Prince de Broglie, "Journal du Voyage," Melanges de la 

 Societe des Bibliophiles Franqais, Paris, 1903, quoted in .Sherrill, 

 op. cil. (footnote 8), p. 13. 



-** Comte de Segur, Mernoires, ou Souvenires et Anecdotes, Paris, 

 1826, quoted in Sherrill, op. cil. (footnote 8), p. 78. 



70 



BULLETIN 225: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



