“There are three chief virtues in _Tay_. The first is to cure and prevent
headache; for my part, when I had a headache, by taking _Tay_, I felt so
comforted, that it seemed to draw all my pain away, for the principal
force in _Tay_ is to expel those gross vapours that mount to the head,
and inconvenience us. If it is taken after supper, it generally hinders
sleep; yet there are some in whom it causes sleep, because by only
expelling the grossest vapours, it leaves those which induce sleep. For
myself, I have experienced it often enough, when I have been obliged to
sit up all night hearing the confessions of my native Christians, which
frequently happened; I had only to take _Tay_ at the hour when I should
have been going to sleep, and I could go all night without wishing for
sleep, and next morning I was as fresh as if I had had my usual slumber.
I could do this once a week without being incommoded. Once I tried to
continue this wakefulness for six consecutive nights, but on the sixth I
was quite knocked up.
“_Tay_ is not only good for the head; it has a marvellous effect
in comforting the stomach, and aiding the digestion, so that it is
ordinarily drank after dinner, but not generally after supper, if sleep
is required. The third thing that _Tay_ does is to purge the reins of
gout and gravel, and it is, perhaps, the true reason why these maladies
are unknown in these countries, as I have said before.”
One thing is very certain. Tea would not have been in use any length of
time in France before it would be drank, as a novelty, in England, and
by the year 1660 it had become in such general use that it was made a
vehicle for taxation, as we see by the 12 Chas. II., c. 23: “For every
gallon of Chocolate, Sherbet, and Tea, made and sold, to be paid by
the Makers thereof, Eightpence,” and men were appointed to visit the
coffee-houses twice daily to see the quantity brewed.
But this was so inconvenient, that in 1688, after giving this scheme
a good trial, the Act was repealed by 1 Will. & Mary, c. 40, and the
duties on coffee, chocolate, and tea (for this latter 1_s._ per lb.) were
charged and collected at the Custom House, because “It hath been found by
experience, that the collecting of the duty arising to your Majesties by
virtue of several Acts of Parliament, by way of excise, upon the liquors
of Coffee, Chocolate and Tea, is not only very troublesome and unequal
upon the retailers of those liquors, but requireth such attendance of
officers, as makes the neat receipt very inconsiderable.”
In the British Museum is a broadside folio advertisement, supposed to
be about A.D. 1600, of a tobacconist, one Thomas Garway, who kept a
coffee-house in Exchange Alley, known up till late years, when it has
disappeared in the universal rage for improvements, as Garraway’s Coffee
House. It is as follows:—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account