"Tr you want to have," says the pronouncement of Sir Andrew Clark which has lately lifted up the hearts of despondent chaaszees, " tea which will not injure and which will refresh, get black China tea, putting in the right measure—the old-fashioned teaspoonful for each person and one for the blessed pot. Then pour on briskly boiling water, and within five minutes you must pour it off again, or it will become wicked instead of good." Thus summing up the experience of two centuries and his own, as to the virtues of thea Bohea, Sir Andrew bade his hearers beware of the interloping, nerve-destroying Indian plant—advice which, if they are wise, should. cheer but not inebriate our teamen of Foochow. While we wait to mark the effect of his most excellent brave words on Mincing Lane, it is amusing if not instructive to turn back to the beginning of those two centuries, and see in what light tea was regarded' by the primeval teamen, its first introducers to the West, Many of their judgments have been collected for us by their contemporary Nieuhof, whom Osilby' a few years later translated by foh This is the result of the obsér-. vations and experiments of one Athanasins Kircher "There is a plant called cha, which not being able to contain itself within the boundaries of China hath insinuated itself into Europe. The leaf being'boiled and infused in water the Chineses drink very hot as often as they please. It is of a diuretick faculty, much fortifies the stomach, exhilarates the spirits, and wonderfully openeth all the nephretick passages or reins. It freath the head by suppressing of fuliginous vapors, so that it is a most excellent drink for studious and sedentary persons, to quicken them in their operations, Al-belt at the first it seemeth insipid and bitter yet custom makes it pleasant, and though the Turkish Coffee is said to produce the like effect, and the Mexican Chocolate be another excellent drink, yet 'lea, if the best, very much excelleth them, because Chocolate in hot seasons inflameth the blood more than ordinary, and Coffee agitateth choler but this liquor in all seasons hath one and the same effect."
The members of the Dutch Embassy of 1655-6 bore very similar testimony. "Such," they noted in their, diary, especially find the benefit thereof who have overcharged their Stomachs with eating, or discomposed their brains with too much strong Drink: for it is.a very great drier of gross Humours, and dispels Vapors, occasioning sleep. It strengthens the Memory, but increases Gall if drunk in too great a quantity. In brief, they extol the Vertues of this Drink infinitely, and attribute their not having the Stone or Gout to this (as they term it) Most noble Drink; which we may believe the rather, because in all our Journey forward and backward we net with none that were afflicted with these distempers."
A later writer, commenting on tea after its introduction into Europe, is equally enthusiastic: "'To drink it after meals takes away all indigestion and rawness of the stomach, and causes digestion, makes thosethat/aré inebriated sober and restores them fresh power and senses, removes giddiness and pains of the head occasioned by excess of drink, and they that are called upon to vigilancy, by drinking the same expel their drowsiness and become very vigorous and fit for business. It prolongs life also, fortifies the sight, and is commended by the famous physician Nicholaus Tulp for the wholesome st plant that grows." They did not then believe in the "slow poison" theory. But there was (Sir Andrew Clark might answer) no Indian tea in those days.
An impression which even the twenty: years-in-the-country speak-the-language men imbibe is rudely dispelled by thes
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.