THE LITTLE TEA BOOK 



was the Female Spectator, which de- 

 clared the use of the fluid to be not 

 only expensive, but pernicious ; the 

 utter destruction of all economy, the 

 bane of good housewifery, and the 

 source of all idleness. Tradesmen 

 especially suffered from the habit. 

 They could not serve their customers 

 because their apprentices were ab- 

 sent during the busiest hours of the 

 day drumming up gossips for their 

 mistresses' tea-tables. 



This same censor says that the 

 most temperate find themselves 

 obliged to drink wine freely after 

 tea, or supplement their Bohea with 

 rum and brandy, the bottle and glass 

 becoming as necessary to the tea- 

 table as the slop-basin. 



Although Jonas Hanway, the 

 father of the umbrella, was success- 



23 



