By Garway’s Advertisement we get at one fact, that the use of tea had not been brought into popular use before 1657: a fact which is borne out by that old _quid nunc_ Pepys, who would surely have noticed it, as, indeed, he did as soon as it was brought under his ken. He mentions it in his diary under date 25th Sept., 1661, as being then a novelty, at all events to him. “I did send for a Cup of Tee, a China Drink of which I never drank before.” And again, 28th June, 1667, “Home, and there find my wife making of Tee, a drink which Mr. Pelling the Potticary tells her is good for her cold and defluxions.” So that even then it was not a common drink with people well to do, as we know Pepys was. The old English custom of drinking beer at breakfast died very hard—nay, it is not yet dead—surviving in farm houses in many places in the country, notably in Somersetshire; and when tea became cheap enough to be drank by the middle classes, those beneath them in the social scale indulged in sage tea, and infusions of other home grown herbs. As it increased in popularity, the poets got hold of it, and numerous were the laudatory verses in Latin respecting its virtues. But, as far as can be found, the earliest English poem about it was by Waller, as under:— “OF TEA. COMMENDED BY HER MAJESTY.[129] “Venus her Myrtle, Phœbus has his bays; Tea both excels, which she vouchsafes to praise. The best of queens,[130] and best of herbs, we owe To that bold nation[130] which the way did shew To the fair region where the Sun does rise, Whose rich productions we so justly prize. The Muses’ friend, Tea does our fancy aid, Repress those vapours which the head invade, And keeps that palace of the soul serene, Fit on her birthday to salute the Queen.” As years went on, its popularity became greater, and it is satisfactory to find by the following extract from Lord Clarendon’s diary, 10th Feb., 1688, that the tea imported was good, and that it was treated properly. “Le Père Couplet supped with me; he is a man of very good conversation. After supper we had tea, which he said was as good as any he had drank in China. The Chinese, who came over with him and Mr. Fraser, supped likewise with us.” With time, the consumption of tea increased, and its price was much lower; but still, taking the money value in the time of Queen Anne, in relation to our own it was excessively dear, and its value fluctuated much. Black tea varied in 1704 from 12_s._ to 16_s._ per pound; in 1706, 14_s._ to 16_s._; in 1707, which seems to have been an exceptionally dear year, 16_s._, 20_s._, 22_s._, 24_s._, 30_s._, and 32_s._ In 1709 it was from 14_s._ to 28_s._; and in 1710, 12_s._ to 28_s._ Green tea in 1705 was 13_s._ 6_d._; in 1707, 20_s._, 22_s._, 26_s._; in 1709, 10_s._ to 15_s._; and in 1710, 10_s._ to 16_s._ The difference between new and old is given once; the new tea is 14_s._, and the old 12_s._ and 10_s._