Tea was therefore much in vogue in China in the 9th century. From China the knowledge was carried to Japan, and there the cultivation was established at the beginning of the 13th century; from that time until the 19th century China and Japan have been the only two tea producing countries. As with all innovations Europe and particularly England was very slow to take to the practice, for tea is hardly mentioned by any of the writers prior to the 16th century. One of the earliest to allude to the subject was Giovanni Botero[3] in 1596, in his treatise on the causes of the magnificence and greatness of cities; he remarks that “they (the Chinese) have also an herb, out of which they press a delicate juice, which serves them for drink instead of wine, it also preserves their health and frees them from all those ills that the immoderate use of wine doth breed unto us.” It will be observed that in these early accounts much stress is laid on the beneficial action of tea in preserving health and curing disease, and this was in all probability the first use to which the shrub was applied. Thus one of the Sloane Manuscripts, dated 1686, gives a long list of “qualities and operations,” attributed by the Chinese to the tea plant. It was said to purify the blood and kidneys, cure giddiness and pains in the head, vanquish superfluous sleep and heavy dreams, open obstructions, clear the sight, strengthen the memory, sharpen the wits and quicken the understanding. About the year 1657, Thomas Garway of the Exchange Alley issued a sheet proclaiming the virtues of tea; the alleged qualities being almost identical with those given in the Sloane Manuscript just mentioned. This was a sort of advertisement of his place of business and he tells us that “many noblemen, physitians, merchants, and gentlemen of quality” sent to town for the “said leaf,” and “daily resort” to his house in Exchange Alley to drink tea. He informs us that prior to 1657 it was only used as a “regalia in high treatments and entertainments,” and for presents for princes and grandees. Another early reference is from an advertisement in the “Mercurius Politicus” for 1658. “That excellent, and by all physitians approved _China_ drink, called by the _Chineans_, Tcha, by other nations _Tay alias Tee_ is sold at the _Sultaness-head_, a _Cophee-house_ in _Sweetings_ Rents, by the Royal Exchange, London.”[4] A further early reference is by Thomas Rugge[5] which may be seen in a manuscript at the British Museum. “About this time the parliment that was forced out the 13th day of October, 59; it was called by all sorts of persons the Rump, because they war soe few in number; and there war also att this time a Turkish drink to be sould, almost in every street called Coffee, and another kind of drink called Tee, and also a drink called Chocolate which was a very harty drink.”