Volume 1

The Farington diary / edited by James Greig.

  • Joseph Farington
Date:
[1922?-1928]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Farington diary / edited by James Greig. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    398/464 (page 338)
    1801-2 The “ Rake’s Progress ” Enfeebled State of the Turks November 1.—Having heard that my old acquaintance the Revd. Mr Carlyle, Chancellor of this Diocese of Carlisle lately returned from his tour to the East I called & drank tea * with him at the deanery where He resides. The great object He had in view when He left England was to examine the Manuscripts in the Seraglio at Constantinople, which He did, but was disappointed as He did not find anything but Arabick Manuscripts.—It was supposed that some of the Classicks which are now lost might be among these stores, and literary works of other kinds but there were none.—He said He found no difficulty to obtain permission to make the search from the men in Authority, but as far as their opinions went they were somewhat apprehensive of the prejudices of the people & feared they might take umbrage at it.—The Turks appear to be in a state so enfeebled that He doubts whether if the Russians were seriously to attack them they would make any resistance. The English Name The English name was held in the most extraordinary respect wher¬ ever He went, in countries the farthest removed from information, and from being affected by the events of the times.—The French were on the contrary detested everywhere, such has been the consequence of their spoliations. On arriving at the Austrian frontier on his way home by the Tyrol, He was obliged to return back to Padua, Seven Posts (Stages) to have it [Phis passport] corrected so strict were the Austrians in this * W. T. writes : Farington mentions that on two occasions during his travels he was charged “ one shilling for tea in afternoon ” at an inn in Matlock, and also at an inn in Edinburgh. It is generally supposed that the habit of drinking tea in the afternoon was not customary in Great Britain before the Seventies of the Nineteenth Century. [People in England began to drink tea about the middle of the Seventeenth Century. Pepys, on Sep¬ tember 25, 1660, wrote : “I did send for a cup of tee, a China drink, of which I never had drunk before.” In the Eighteenth Century, however, the use of tea rapidly increased until at its end an annual average of 2lb. per person was consumed. Farington mentions a retired doctor who used to prescribe free of charge to all his intimate friends except those who drank tea. In a pamphlet dated 1758, dealing with “ the Good and Bad Effects of Tea,” the author says : “ Prevalent custom hath introduced it [tea] into every cottage, and my gammer must have her tea twice a day ” ; more¬ over, from a little book called “ Low Life,” we learn that in the afternoon citizens walked out with their wives and to take tea or punch and to come home laden with flowers for “ beau pots.”—Ed.]