51 



raised one plant ; and this was probably the first tea plant 

 ever raised in England. In the year 1771* a tea tree 

 blossomed for the first time in England, at Sion House, 

 in the months of October and November. 



Much has been said about the unwholesomeness 

 of this plant, and perhaps truly, with respect to some 

 of its properties; but your Grandmamma has now 

 drank strong green tea for more than seventy years ; 

 and my best wish for you is, that you may always have 

 as bright an intellect, and as steady a hand at her age, 

 as she has now. 



It has been much the habit of studious men to in- 

 dulge in drinking tea. I once called upon the great 

 Professor Porson at five o'clock, when I myself was 

 going to dinner, and found him in his room alone, 

 sitting over his books, with a disorderly tea equipage 

 on the table, and his tea-pot standing on a trevet be- 

 fore the fire. Dr. Johnson would sometimes drink 

 more than twenty cups at a sitting; and he tells us 

 himself, that he was ' a hardened and shameless tea- 

 drinker; who, for twenty years, diluted his meals 

 with only the infusion of this fascinating plant; whose 

 kettle had scarcely time to cool; who with tea amused 

 the evening, with tea solaced the midnight, and with 

 tea welcomed the morning.' Nevertheless, according 

 to the same enthusiastic admirer of it, its proper use is 

 to amuse the idle, to relax the studious, and to dilute 

 the full meals of those who cannot use exercise, and 

 will not use abstinence. 



