Lady Freya Cunningham, the heroine of book 5 in this series, “accidentally” encounters Lady Emma Orson (Richard’s wife), Miss Victoria Whitchurch (Benjamin Thompson’s betrothed), and Lady Annalise Beaufort (Navan’s wife) leaving Madame Emmeline’s modiste. The ladies ask Freya to accompany them to a nearby tearoom. Freya is hoping to enlist the ladies in assisting her in drawing Lord Aaran Graham’s attention. But what would they be served?
A Regency-era (1811–1820) tearoom in England likely served Chinese green and black teas, often accompanied by thin bread and butter, toast, muffins, crumpets, Sally Lunn buns, or seed cake. Sweet options included biscuits (macaroons), fruit-filled jellies, and gingerbread, while lighter, elegant refreshments like lemon ices were also popular.
Key Refreshments Served:
- Tea: Commonly imported black and green teas from China, served with milk or lemon.
- Breads & Spreads: Thinly sliced white or brown bread, Sally Lunn buns/bread, toast, and crumpets, often with fresh butter, jam, or marmalade.
- Sweets & Cakes: Seed cake, Queen cakes, gingerbread, sponge cake, macarons, and biscuits.
- Other Delicacies: Lemon ices, jellies, potted meats or fish (salmon), and fruit.
- Savouries: Sandwiches or bites (though the formal, multi-tiered afternoon tea service was actually a later Victorian invention, light bites were common).
These items were often served as a social, light, mid-afternoon meal designed to bridge the gap between luncheon and a late dinner.
While they discuss other things, they make plans to escort Lady Freya to the Lyon’s Den and permit Mrs. Dove-Lyon to arrange a marriage between Freya and Aaran. This is a transition scene to where we bring Mrs. Dove-Lyon back into the tale.
“In March 1767, Taylor purchased a 331 acre tract known as the ‘Manor of Chawton’ located approximately 15 miles west of Easton. There he built an impressive two-story Georgian stone house on a bluff overlooking the Lehigh River. He hired carpenters from Philadelphia to erect the home in 1768. This home still stands, identified as the George Taylor Mansion. Tragically, his wife Ann died that year. It is not known where she was buried. Among the possibilities suggested by historians are the new property, in Easton, and the Gallows Hill Cemetery. Taylor leased most of the property out in 1771 and in 1772 appears to have been living with his son, James, who had moved to what is now Allentown, PA.
“In 1775, he was part of the Pennsylvania delegation. Originally, the delegations were instructed to vote against separation. “When several delegates, including John Dickinson, chose not to vote in favor of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, the Assembly chose five replacements on July 20. They were George Taylor, George Ross, George Clymer, Dr. Benjamin Rush and James Smith, all of whom joined Congress and subsequently signed the Declaration of Independence when the engrossed copy of the document was ready for signatures on August 2, 1776.
George was born in May 1730. From his father, young George received a sound classical education. “George’s sister Gertrude married Thomas Till, the son of William Till, a prominent judge and politician; after his death, she married George Read, another signer of the Declaration. Betsy Ross (born Elizabeth Phoebe Griscom in 1752) only had her famous last name “Ross” for 4-years, which she obtained by marrying John Ross (b.1752, d.1776) in 1773. John was a nephew of George Ross. John was the son of Rev. Aeneas Ross (b.1716, d.1782) and Sarah Leach. George and Aeneas were brothers. John and Betsy had a sewing business, but John died 1/10/1776 in Philadelphia by explosion while guarding a munitions building during the Revolutionary War. Betsy would often tell her children, grandchildren, relatives, and friends of the fateful day when three members of a secret committee from the Continental Congress came to call upon her. Those representatives, George Washington, Robert Morris, and George Ross, asked her to sew the first flag. This meeting occurred in her home some time late in May 1776. The Stars and Stripes design Ross may have designed was officially adopted by the congress on June 14, 1777. The next day, June 15, 1777, Betsy married Joseph Ashburn, thus becoming Betsy Ashburn.” (
“In 1774 he was elected to the provincial conference that would select delegates to attend the General Congress and was selected as a representative of Pennsylvania that same year. Ross continued to serve his provincial legislature and was a member of the Committee of Safety for his colony in 1775. In 1776 he was again elected to the Continental Congress, while serving as a provincial legislator and a Colonel in the Continental Army. His strong stance for the Colonists’ freedom led to his greatest contribution by being one of nine signers of the Declaration of Independence from Pennsylvania. He also undertook negotiations with the Northwestern Indian on behalf of his colony, and took a seat as vice-president of the first constitutional convention for Pennsylvania. He was re-elected to the Continental Congress once more in 1777, but resigned the seat before the close due to poor health. In March, 1779, he was appointed to a judgeship in the Pennsylvania Court of Admiralty. He died in that office in July 1779.”
According to Signing Their Lives Away (Denis Kiernan and Joseph D’Agnest, ©2009, page 125), Ross suffered greatly from gout and left politics in 1777. However, his public service did not end. He became a judge of the admiralty court. One of his more interesting cases involved the extent of state rights and federal rights. The case involved the prize money awarded for the capture of the British sloop Active in 1778. Gideon Olmstead led the capture of the Active. Afterward, two privateers joined in the capture to escort the Active to port. When the reward money was paid out, Olmstead only received one-fourth of the funds. The state of Pennsylvania and the two privateers claimed the other portions. Olmstead applied to Congress to right what he thought was a wrong. Congress agreed with Olmstead and ordered Pennsylvania to reimburse Olmstead. George Ross was to see to the outcome, but he disagreed with the Congressional ruling. He refused to overturn his and the state’s decision. This was one of the first cases involving states’ rights, and it occurred even before the British accepted defeat and the U. S. Constitution was signed. In fact, Pennsylvania was not yet a state. Ironically, the final ruling did not come until 1809 when the Supreme Court ruled in Olmstead’s favor. 
Every Woman Dreams... 