In a letter from Mr. Henry Savill to his uncle, Secretary Coventry, dated from Paris, Aug. 12, 1678, and printed by Mr. Ellis, the writer, after acknowledging the hospitalities of his uncle's house, quaintly observes, "These, I hope, are the charms that have prevailed with me to remember (that is to trouble) you oftener than I am apt to do other of my friends, whose buttery-hatch is not so open, _and who call for_ TEA instead of pipes and bottles after dinner; _a base unworthy Indian practice_, and which I must ever admire your most Christian family for not admitting. The truth is, all nations have grown so wicked as to have some of these filthy customs." In 1678, the year in which the above letter is dated, the East India Company began the importation of tea as a branch of trade; the quantity received at that time amounting to 4,713 lbs. The importation gradually enlarged, and the government, in consequence, augmented the duties upon tea. By the year 1700, the importation of tea had arrived at the quantity of 20,000 lbs. In 1721, it exceeded a million of pounds. In 1816, it had arrived at 86,234,380 lbs. Something more than thirty millions of pounds is probably the present average of importation: some allowance must be made for tea damaged and spoiled upon the passage.--See more on this subject, well worthy of perusal, in Mr. Ellis's Letters, _Second Series_, vol. iv. pp. 57, et seq. * * * * * DANGER. FROM L'ADONE OF MARINO. _(For the Mirror.)_ Like some lone Pilgrim in the dusky night, Seeking, through unknown paths, his doubtful way, While thick nocturnal vapours veil his sight From yawning chasms, that 'neath his footsteps lay; Sudden before him gleams the forked light! Dispels the gloom, yet fills him with dismay. His trembling steps he then retraces back, And seeks again the well-known beaten track. E.S.J. * * * * * CATS. (_For the Mirror_.) The first couple of these animals which were carried to Cuyaba sold for a pound of gold. There was a plague of rats in the settlement, and they were purchased as a speculation, which proved an excellent one. Their first kittens produced thirty _oilavas_ each; the new generation were worth twenty; and the price gradually fell as the inhabitants were stocked with these beautiful and useful creatures. Montengro presented to the elder Almagro the first cat which was brought to South America, and was rewarded for it with six hundred _pesos_. * * * * * THE DEATH OF KING JOHN. _Extracted from an old black-letter volume, entitled "The Abridgment of the Acts and Monuments of Martyrs, from the earliest period of Christian suffering to the time of Queen Elizabeth, our gracious lady, now reigning," printed in her reign_. (_For the Mirror_.)