“The Cup of Tea,” by Mary Cassatt (1879)
Need a break? You’ve come to the right place.
Whether it’s morning or afternoon where you are, take a few moments to read this lovely opening from Henry James’ The Portrait of a Lady. I haven’t read this novel since college, but now I want to read it again. The Portrait is one of James’ transatlantic novels — he liked to contrast the decadence of Europeans with the brash energy of Americans.
Sit back and relax. I’ve poured you the perfect cup of Lady Grey in a fine bone china cup and saucer. Let James’ unhurried prose quiet your mind and transport you to the 19th century:
Under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea. There are circumstances in which, whether you partake of the tea or not — some people of course never do — the situation is in itself delightful. Those that I have in mind in beginning to unfold this simple history offered an admirable setting to an innocent pastime. The implements of the little feast had been disposed upon the lawn of an old English country house in what I should call the perfect middle of a splendid summer afternoon. Part of the afternoon had waned, but much of it was left, and what was left was of the finest and rarest quality. Real dusk would not arrive for many hours; but the flood of summer light had begun to ebb, the air had grown mellow, the shadows were long upon the smooth, dense turf. They lengthened slowly, however, and the scene expressed that sense of leisure still to come which is perhaps the chief source of one’s enjoyment of such a scene at such an hour. From five o’clock to eight is on certain occasions a little eternity; but on such an occasion as this the interval could be only an eternity of pleasure. ~ Opening from The Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James (1881)
In no time at all, anyone who was anyone in high society was hosting afternoon tea in the drawing rooms of stately homes, with the practice becoming more and more elaborate — ladies wearing long tea gowns, and every manner of tea accoutrement (caddies, muffineers, cake stands, bone china tea services) being wheeled out with a vast array of little cakes, thin sandwiches, and dazzling sweets for the sweet. By Edwardian times, afternoon tea had become a full-blown social occasion with musicians, hot dishes, and footmen handing round the teacups and pouring from ornately carved silver teapots. The conversation was kept ever so polite; the fashionable hour was set at 5 p.m.
I imagine Mr. James was grateful to the Duchess. If she hadn’t gotten the munchies at 4 p.m., how would he have written his opening scene?
A FEW MORE BISCUITS:
The Portrait of a Lady first appeared in serial form in The Atlantic Monthly and Macmillan’s Magazine, between 1880-81.
This realistic novel remains the most popular of James’ longer works, a prime example of his “beautiful prose,” and imaginary use of interior monologue, unrealiable narrator, and point of view.
In this novel, Isabel Archer, a young American woman who suddenly inherits a fortune, is victimized by two American expatriates.
Leon Edel is considered THE Henry James biographer, having received a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award in 1963 for Volumes 2 and 3 of his five-volume masterpiece, Henry James: A Biography (not pictured here.) This work is a seminal example of the great American literary biography. I had the distinct honor of taking a seminar in research methods from Professor Edel at the University of Hawai’i. He was beyond awesome!
“The British have an umbilical cord which has never been cut and through which tea flows constantly. It is curious to watch them in times of sudden horror, tragedy or disaster. The pulse stops apparently, and nothing can be done, and no move made, until a ‘nice cup of tea’ is quickly made. There is no question that it brings solace and does steady the mind. What a pity all countries are not so tea-conscious. World peace conferences would run more smoothly if a ‘nice cup of tea’, or indeed, a samovar were available at the proper time.” ~ Marlene Dietrich
Jama's Alphabet Soup 