THE LITTLE TEA BOOK 



Three or four cups at a sitting are 

 enough ; and a little milk or cream 

 renders the beverage smoother and 

 more powerful in blunting the acid 

 humors of the stomach. 



The satirists believed that tea had 

 a contrary effect upon the acid hu- 

 mors of the mind, making the tea- 

 table the arena for the display of the 

 feminine capacity for backbiting and 

 scandal. Listen to Swift describe a 

 lady enjoying her evening cups of 

 tea: 



" Surrounded with the noisy clans 

 Of prudes, coquettes and harridans. 

 Now voices over voices rise, 

 While each to be the loudest vies ; 

 They contradict, affirm, dispute, 

 No single tongue one moment mute ; 

 All mad to speak, and none to hearken, 

 They set the very lapdog barking ; 

 Their chattering makes a louder din 

 Than fish-wives o'er a cup of gin ; 

 Far less the rabble roar and rail 

 When drunk with sour election ale." 



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