294- CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



and as it was imported in greater quanti- 

 ties, the price was lessened. From 1717 to 

 1726, the yearly importation did not exceed 

 seven hundred thousand pounds ; therefore, 

 the consumption must have been confined 

 principally to the metropolis, and to those 

 families who furnished themselves with con- 

 traband tea from the coast ; for in 1720, the 

 French began to send it to us by a clandes- 

 tine commerce, which the high duties crea- 

 ted ; and this unlawful traffic was carried to 

 so great an extent, that it was not uncom- 

 mon to meet (even within the memory of 

 the author of this work,) a troop of a hundred 

 horses laden with bags of tea. The farmers 

 in Sussex dared not refuse them a passage 

 through their grounds. So formidable were 

 these gangs of smugglers, that to lie under 

 the suspicion of being an informer, or in any 

 way to give them offence, was as danger- 

 ous in Sussex, as it would be in Spain to 

 incur the jealousy of the officers of the In- 

 quisition. 



The smuggling of tea was, at one time, 

 carried to so great an extent on the coast 

 of Suffolk, that it was calculated the quan- 

 tity thus clandestinely imported, from May 



