Wednesday 28 June 2023

Dick Turner had long since coined the word 'teetotal' and the exponents of that ghastly creed were preaching misery throughout the land

Another factor which contributed to the falling demand [for sherry] was the changing moral attitude towards drink. By the 1880s Victorian smugness and philistinism were reaching their peak; the Salvation Army had been beating its drums for years and saving souls from the torments of alcohol; Dick Turner had long since coined the word 'teetotal' and the exponents of that ghastly creed were preaching misery throughout the land; pious faces could be seen every Sunday leaving tin tabernacles to threaten publicans with eternal damnation. There were, of course, a few of the enlightened, but Saintsbury's influence lay still in the future and G.K. Chesterton was far too young to compose the rimes of The Flying Inn. The naughty nineties were hardly in sight, and when they did come they bright young things only thought of champagne.

J. Jeffs, Sherry (6th edition, 2016), 74

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