Other remarkable properties are attributed to the Chinese herb; but the
extracts we have given sufficiently indicate the efforts made to arrest
attention and to induce people to buy tea. As a further inducement,
this enterprising dealer assures his readers that whereas tea "hath
been sold in the leaf for six pounds, and sometimes for ten pounds the
poundweight, the said Thomas hath ten to sell from sixteen to fifty
shillings in the pound." This clever puff had the desired effect; for,
according to the Diurnal of Thomas Rugge, "There were at this time
(1659) a Turkish drink, to be souled almost in every street, called
coffee, and another kind of drink called tea; and also a drink called
chocolate, which was a very hearty drink." It was advertised in the
public journals. The _Mercurius Politicus_, of the 30th of September,
1658, sets forth: "That excellent, and by all physicians approved,
China drink, called by the Chineans Teha, by other nations Tay, alias
Tee, is sold at the 'Sultaness Head' coffee-house, in Sweeting's Rents,
by the Royal Exchange, London." It was sold also at "Jonathan's"
coffee-house, in Exchange Alley. In her "Bold Strike for a Wife" Mrs.
Centlivre laid one of her scenes at "Jonathan's." While the business
goes on she makes the coffee boys cry, "Fresh coffee, gentlemen! fresh
coffee! Bohea tea, gentlemen!" But the most famous house for tea was
Garway's, or, as it appears in "Old and New London," "Garraway's
Coffee-house," which was swept away a few years ago in the "march
of improvement." For two centuries, however, it had been one of the
most celebrated coffee-houses in the city. Defoe mentions it as being
frequented about noon by people of quality who had business in the
city, and "the more considerable and wealthy citizens;" but it was also
the resort of speculators. Here the South Sea Bubblers met, as well
as the lovers of good tea. Dean Swift, in his ballad on the South Sea
Bubble, calls 'Change Alley "a narrow sound, though deep as hell;" and
describes the wreckers watching for the shipwrecked dead on "Garraway's
Cliffs."
But the influence of Royalty did more than anything else to make
tea-drinking fashionable. "In 1662," remarks Mr. Montgomery Martin, in
a treatise on the 'Past and Present State of the Tea Trade,' published
in 1832, "Charles II. married the Princess Catherine of Portugal, who,
it was said, was fond of tea, having been accustomed to it in her own
country, hence it became fashionable in England." Edmund Waller, in a
birthday ode on her Majesty, ascribes the introduction of the herb to
the queen, in the following lines:--
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.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account