May 12. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



367 



Tea first brought to England. — In Timbs's 

 Curiosities of London, p. 5(iQ., it is stated that — 



"The Earl of Arlington, in the year 1666, brought from 

 Holland, for sixty shillings, the first pound of tea received 

 in England ; so that in all probability the first cup of tea 

 made in England was drunk upon the site of Buckingham 

 Palace." 



Haydn too, in his Dictionary of Dates, p. 506., 

 also states that " tea was brought into England in 

 1666 by Lord Ossory and Lord Arlington from 

 Holland." 



I very much doubt the accuracy of these state- 

 ments, and am inclined to think that tea was used 

 in England some time before 1666. G. A. B. 



[Both Mr. Timbs and Mr. Haydn, we suspect, have 

 been misled by Anderson. From a paper in the Sloane 

 MSS., copied in extenso in Ellis's Letters (Second Series), 

 vol. iv. p. 58., it appears that tea was known in England 

 in 1657, though not then in general use. The writer of 

 this paper, Thomas Garway, the founder of Garraway's 

 Coffee-house, says, " That the virtues and excellencies of 

 this leaf and drink are many and great, is evident and 

 manifest by the high esteem and use of it (especially of 

 late years) among the physicians and knowing men in 

 France, Italy, Holland, and other parts of Christendom ; 

 and in England it hath been sold in the leaf for 6/., and 

 sometimes for 10/., the pound weight : and in respect of 

 ■ its former scarceness and dearness, it hath been only used 

 as a regalia in high treatments and entertainments, and 

 presents made thereof to princes and grandees till the 

 year 1657. The said Garway did purchase a quantity 

 thereof, and first publicly sold the said tea in leaf or 

 drink, made according to the directions of the most 

 knowing merchant into those eastern countries. On the 

 knowledge of the said Garway's continued care and in- 

 dustry in obtaining the best tea, and making drink 

 thereof, very many noblemen, physicians, merchants, &c. 

 have ever since sent to him for 'the said leaf, and daily 

 resort to his house to drink the drink thereof. He sells 

 tea from 16s. to 50«. a pound." Tea is mentioned in an 

 act of parliament of 1660 (12 Charles II. c. 23.), whereby 

 a duty of eightpence is charged on every gallon of cho- 

 colate, sherbet, and tea made for sale. And again, 15 

 Charles II. c. 11., 1663, "No person was permitted to sell 

 any cofiee, chocolate, sherbett, or tea, without license first 

 obtained of the general sessions." In the Diurnall of 

 Thomas Rugge, in the British Museum (Addit, MSS. 

 10,116-7.), under date of Nov. 1659, he says, "About this 

 time the parliament was forced out the 13th day of Octo- 

 ber, 1659. It was called by all sorts of people The Rump, 

 because they were so few in number. And there were 

 also at 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 hearty drink." Pepys, in his Diary, Sept. 25, 1660, 

 has the following entry : — " I did send for a cup of tee (a 

 China drink), of which 1 never had drunk before." Ca- 

 therine of Braganza, soon after her marriage with 

 Charles II., 1662, has the credit of setting the fashion 

 for the use of this temperate beverage. Waller, in his 

 complimentary verses upon his Majesty's marriage, ex- 

 pressly owns our obligations to the Portuguese for its 

 Introduction into England : 



" The best of queens and best of herbs we owe 

 To that bold nation, who the way did show 

 To the fair region where the sun doth rise. 

 Whose rich productions we so justly prize."] 



Cambridge Authors. — Do Cole's MS. Athenae 

 Cantab, contain any account of the following 

 authors ? 1. Mr. Brooke, of Trinity College, 

 author of Melanthe, a drama, acted before James L 

 in 1614. 2. Mr. Cecill of St. John's College, 

 author of Emilia, a comedy, acted before King 

 James L in 1614. 3. Robert Nevile, Fellow of 

 King's College, author of The Poor Scholar, a 

 comedy, 4to., 1662. 4. Mr. Arrowsmith, M.A., 

 author of The Reformation, a comedy, 4to., 1673. 



5. Robert Owen of King's College, author of 

 Hypermnestra, a tragedy, 4to., 1703; 12mo., 1722. 



6. George Adams, Fellow of St. John's College, 

 author of a translation of seven plays of Sophocle?, 

 2 vols, 8vo., 1729. R. J. 



[There is no account of these writers in Cole's Athence 

 Cantab. The following notice of Mr. Brooke is given in 

 Nichols's Progresses of James I., vol. iii. p. 55. : — "Of 

 this pastoral, Melanthe, there is a copy in the British 

 Museum, presented by George III. Dr. Pegge, in 1756, 

 had a copy, which had belonged to Matthew Hutton, and 

 in which ' the names of the Masters of Arts and Bache- 

 lors concerned in acting the plaj', are written against the 

 respective dramatis persoruB.' {Gent. Mag., vol. xxvi. 

 p. 224.) Of the author of Melanthe we know nothing 

 more than that he was IMr. Brooke, of Trinity College, 

 and ' mox Doctour : ' and that he had previously written 

 a Latin pastoral called Scyros, performed before Prince 

 Charles and the Elector Palatine, Mar. 30, 1612." Scyros 

 is in MS. in the library of Emmanuel College. Nichols 

 {Ibid. vol. iii. pp. 49. 88.) has also a brief notice of Mr. 

 Cecill : — " The first night's entertainment was a comedy, 

 entitled Emilia, written by Mr. Cecill, of St. John's 

 College. It has never been printed. The author was 

 Moderator of the Divinity Disputation before the King, 

 on his second visit to the university. May 13, 1615 ; upon 

 which occasion Mr. Cecill was taken seriously ill, fainted, 

 and was carried out apparently dead ; but after a quarter 

 of an hour recovered again."] 



Barmecide's Feast. — In Liddell and Scott's 

 Lexicon (1845), under kanaw, to feast, I find this 

 expression, " ea-TidcrOai ivvnviov, to have a visionary 

 feast, ' feast with the Barmecide ' (Aris. Vesp., 

 1218.," where the reference is, — 



"*I. Ilpbj Twi' &eS>v ivvTTviov ecTTKojuefla"). 



May I ask some of your readers to enlighten my 

 ignorance on the meaning and derivation of " to 

 feast with the Barmecide ? " B. H. Alfokd. 



[The family of the Barmecides was long one of the 

 most illustrious in the East. " The most ancient person- 

 age of this family (says the Biographic Universelle'), of 

 whom Mussulman authors make mention, appears to 

 have been one Djafar, who came to Damascus, where the 

 Calif Solyman, son of Abdelmelek, held his court. Djafar 

 distinguished himself no less by his mild and easy temper 

 and noble and agreeable manners, than by his eloquence, 

 wit, and judgment." He was the companion, friend, and 

 confidant of his master; and it is as such that he is so 

 often introduced in the Thousand and One Nights, com- 

 monly called The Arabian Nights, for Giafar is no other 

 than Djafar. " To feast with the Barmecide," therefore, 

 is to enjoy a dream, or to have an intellectual feast while 

 half- slumbering: to be in an ecstasy: "for whether what 

 we call ecstasy (says Locke) be not dreaming with our 

 eyes open, I leave to be examined." npbs tC>v Selav, &c. : 



