Food and Drink
In the eighteenth century the Tea Room at Bath was used primarily for refreshments and concerts. Meals were served throughout the day, from public breakfasts, to supper during Dress Balls. Food was laid out on side-tables that included "sweetmeats, jellies, wine, biscuits, cold ham and turkey". Tea was the favorite drink, usually drunk as a weak infusion without milk, but sometimes with arrack (fermented cocoa) and lemon. A foreign visitor noted that, at Bath "the Tea-Parties are extremely gay". Sometimes though things could get out of hand: "The tea-drinking passed as usual, and the company having risen from the tables, were sauntering in groupes, in expectation of the signal for attack, when the bell beginning to ring, they flew with eagerness to the dessert, and the whole place was instantly in commotion. There was nothing but justling, scrambling, pulling, snatching, struggling, scolding, and screaming."
The Master of Ceremonies
In his book What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew, Daniel Pool talks about the Master of Ceremonies, whose responsibility was to know the background of the young men and women present, and then introduce them so they could dance, as it was improper for men and women of the day to introduce themselves. The Master of ceremonies also made sure that the attendees maintained their propriety and proper etiquette (Classes of Regency Balls By Sandra Causey).
(The Museum of Costume & Assembly Rooms Bath The Official Guide. Published by the Museums and Historic Buildings section of Bath City Council in Association with The National Trust. 1994).
