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Figure lo. — Pieces of a tea set of Crown-Derby porcelain, dating about 1790. The cups and 

 saucers, covered sugar bowl, container for cream or rnilk, plate, and bowls are ornamented 

 with gilt borders and a scattering of blue flowers on a white ground. {US J^M 3 4089-3 4095; 

 Smithsonian photo 43j4r~A.) 



as in the north, tea — or, at the time of the American 

 Revolution its patriotic substitute, cofifee — was served 

 by the fire as soon as the first winter winds were felt. 

 Philip Fithian, while at Nomini Hall in Virginia, 

 wrote in his journal on September 19, 1774: ''the 

 Air is clear, cold & healthful. We drank our Coffee 

 at the great House very sociably, round a fine Fire, 

 the House and Air feels like winter again." " 



Table cloths — usually square white ones (as in fig. 9) 

 that showed folds from having been stored in a linen 

 [iress — were used when tea was served, but it is dif- 

 firull to say with any certainty if their use depended 

 uj)on the whim of the hostess, the type of table, or 

 the time of day. A cloth probably was used more 

 often on a table with a plain top than on one with 

 scalloped or carved edges. However, as can be seen 

 in Family Group (fig. 1) and An English Family at Tea 

 (frontispiece), it was perfectly acceptable to serve tea 

 on a plain-top table without a cloth. Apparently 

 such tables were also used at breakfast or morning 

 tea, because Benjamin Franklin, in a letter from 

 London dated February 19, 1758, gave the following 



directions for the use of "si.x coarse diaper Breakfast 

 Cloths" which he sent to his wife: "they are to spread 

 on the Tea Table, for nobody breakfasts here on the 

 naked Table, but on the Cloth set a large Tea Board 

 with the Cups." " Some of the 18th-century paint- 

 ings depicting tea tables with cloths do deal with the 

 morning hours, as indicated by their titles or internal 

 evidence, as in The Honeymoon (fig. 9) painted by John 

 Collett about 1760. In this scene of domestic con- 

 fusion and bliss, a tray or teaboard has been placed 

 on the cloth, illustrating Franklin's comment about 

 English breakfast habits. Cloths may also be seen 

 in pictures in which the time of day cannot be de- 

 termined. Therefore, the use of a cloth at teatime 

 mav in truth have depended upon the hostess's 

 whim if not her pocketbook. 



In addition, trays or teaboards of various sizes and 

 shapes were sometimes used. They were usually cir- 

 cular or rectangular in form, occasionally of shaped 

 or scalloped outline. Some trays were supported 



** Fithian, op. at. (footnote 1 4), p. 1 93. 

 78 BULLETIN 225: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM 



••3 Benjamin Franklin, letter to Mrs. Deborah Franklin, 

 dated February 19, 1758, London. The Writings of Benjamin 

 Franklin, edited by Albert Henry Smyth, New York, 1905, 

 vol. 3, p. 432. 



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