"Venus her myrtle, Phoebe has his bays; Tea both excels, which she vouchsafes to praise. The best of Queens and best of herbes we owe, To that bold nation which the way did show To the fair region, where the sun does rise, Whose rich productions we so justly prize. The Muse's 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." Waller is believed to have been the first poet to write in praise of tea, and no doubt his poem did much to promote its use among the rich. In Lord Clarendon's diary, 10th of February, 1688, occurs the following entry:-- "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." In the _Tatler_, of the 10th of October, 1710, appears the following advertisement:-- "Mr. Favy's 16_s._ Bohea tea, not much inferior in goodness to the best foreign Bohee tea, is sold by himself only at the 'Bell,' in Gracechurch Street. Note.--The best foreign Bohee is worth 30_s._ a pound; so that what is sold at 20_s._ or 21_s._ must either be faulty tea, or mixed with a proportionate quantity of damaged green or Bohee, the worst of which will remain black after infusion." Tea continued a fashionable drink. Dr. Alex. Carlyle, in his "Autobiography," describing the fashionable mode of living at Harrowgate in 1763, wrote:--"The ladies gave afternoon's tea and coffee in their turn, which coming but once in four or six weeks amounted to a trifle." Probably the ladies did not drink so much as their servants, who are reported to have cared more for tea than for ale. In 1755 a visitor from Italy wrote:--"Even the common maid-servants must have their tea twice a day in all the parade of quality; they make it their bargain at first; this very article amounts to as much as the wages of servants in Italy." This demand was a serious tax upon the purses of the rich; for at that time tea was still excessively dear. According to Read's _Weekly Journal, or British Gazetteer_, of the 27th of April, 1734, the prices were as follows:-- Green tea 9_s._ to 12_s._ per lb. Congon 10_s._ " 12_s._ " Bohea 10_s._ " 12_s._ " Pekoe 14_s._ " 16_s._ " Imperial 9_s._ " 12_s._ " Hyson 20_s._ " 25_s._ "