_The Tatler_, No. 220., in describing his "Ecclesiastical Thermometer"
which gave indication of the changes and revolutions in the Church, and of
the different degrees of heat in religion throughout the country, says:
"To complete the experiment, I prevailed upon a friend of mine, who
works under me in the occult sciences, to make a progress with my glass
through the whole island of Great Britain; and after his return, to
present me with a register of his observations. I guessed beforehand at
the temper of several places be passed through by the characters they
have had time out of mind. Thus that facetious divine, Dr. Fuller,
speaking of the town of Banbury near a hundred years ago, tells us, it
was a place famous for cakes and zeal, which I find by my glass is true
to this day as to the latter part of this description; though I must
confess it is not in the same reputation for cakes that it was in the
time of that learned author."
In Gough's _Camden_, vol. i. p. 298., there is rather an amusing account of
the manner in which the town of Banbury gained a proverbial reputation for
zeal; and the following note by Mr. Camden, in his MS. supplement to the
_Britannia_, is added:
"Put out the word _zeale_ in Banbury, where some think it a disgrace,
when as _zeale_ with knowledge is the greater grace among good
Christians; for it was first foysted in by some compositor or pressman,
neither is it in my Latin copie, which I desire the reader to hold as
authentic."
And Ray gives as a proverbial saying:
"Banbury veal, cheese, and cakes."
and refers to the mistake in Camden.[4] Now it is {107} possible, that Dr.
Fuller derived his estimation of the town of Banbury from Camden; still, as
we know that Banbury in the seventeenth century had a character for
Puritanism, he may have intended by the word _zeal_ to refer to the
sectarian spirit of the inhabitants. But what I would ask is, whether any
events occurred in Banbury in the eighteenth century, which justify _The
Tatler_ in classing it among those places which were hot in the cause of
the Church; and giving to the words of the "facetious divine," whom he
quotes, a signification entirely different to that which must have been
intended?
Also, where is the first mention of Banbury cakes? Did their reputation
decline in the eighteenth century, and revive again afterwards; or had they
a celebrity in early days to which the present age can present no parallel?
The Banbury people would hardly assent to _The Tatler's_ disparaging
remark.