THE 



is now held on Fridays. Hero arc alfo two annual fairs. In 

 the population return of the year i8i i, Tliaxtcd was ftatcd 

 to contain 390 houfes, occupied by 1733 pcrfons. The 

 church is a very large and beautiful ftrufture, and appears, 

 from the various arms and cognizances on fevcral parts, to 

 have been built at different times in the fourteenth and fif- 

 teenth centuries. The whole fabric is embattled, and fup- 

 ported by llrong buttreffes, terminated by canopied niches, 

 and curioully purfled pinnacles. At the weft end is an em- 

 battled tower, fullained by buttreffes, and furmounted by a 

 neat odagonal fpire, rifing to the height of 181 feet. The 

 interior confitls of a nave, tranfept, chancel, and fide aifles : 

 the arches of the nave are pointed, and fupportcd by eight 

 cluttered columns on each fide. The expcnce of the erec- 

 tion of this church was principally defrayed by the noble fa- 

 milies of Clare and Mortimer, who then poffeffed the manor, 

 with fome affiftancc from king Edward IV. A chantry, 

 befides various chapels and alurs, were ufed here before the 

 reformation. The charitable benefaftions for the ufe of the 

 poor inhabitants of Thaxted are confiderable. An eftate, 

 called Yendleys, deriving its name from Thomas Yendale 

 (who rcfided on it temp. Henry VI.) was, on his death, 

 vetted in truft for his four fons and their iffue ; and in de- 

 fault of fuch iffue, to be fold for the benefit of the church 

 and poor. The fons all dying childlefs, the eftate was fold 

 5 Henry VII. and the produce is applied to the fupport of 

 a fchool, repairing the church, improving the highways, 

 &c. In 1698, William, lord Maynard, bequeathed 4000/. in 

 truft, the produce to be apphed for increafing the minifter's 

 falary, repairing the church, marrying poor young women, 

 binding out apprentices, and relieving poor people overbur- 

 thened with children. Among other benefadlions are en- 

 dowments for alms-houfcs in feveral parts of the town : one 

 of the buildings appropriated for that purpofe is the old 

 chantry-houfe. The ancient guildhall is now the parifti 

 workhoufe : the mote-hall is ufed for a public fchool. — 

 Beauties of England and W^les, vol. v. Effex ; by J. Brit- 

 ton and E- W. Brayley. Morant's Hiftory, &c. of Effex, 

 2 vols, folio. 



THE A, in Ancient Geography, a town of the Peloponnefus, 

 in Laconia. 



Thea, in Botany, the Tea-tree, a name of barbarous de- 

 rivation, originating in the Chinefe Tcha, or Japanefe Tsja, 

 of which the vai"ious nations of Europe have made, accord- 

 ing to their fancy, Chaa, Tea, The, &c. and which Ksempfer 

 has formed in Latin into Thea. This laft has been admitted 

 by Linnaeus, for the fake of its Greek orthography, exaftly 

 that of fisx, a goddefs, R coincidence highly welcome to thofe 

 who honour the cordial beverage of tea as it deferves. — 

 Linn. Gen. 269. Schreb. 361. Willd. Sp. PI. v. 2. 1180. 

 Mart. Mill. Dift. v. 4. Ait. Hort. Kew. v. 3. 303. 

 Juff. 262. Lamarck lUuftr. t. 474. Gaertn. t. 9^. — Clafs 

 and order, Po/yandria Monogynia, Linn. Rather Monadel- 

 ph'ia Polyandria ; fee Sm. Introd. to Bot. ed. 3. 335. Nat. 

 Ord. Colummferit, Linn. Aurant'ns et Mel'iis ajine, Juff. 



Gen. Ch. Cat. Perianth inferior, fmalI,of one leaf, in five 

 deep, rounded, obtufe, permanent fegments. Cor. of one 

 patal ; tube none ; hmb in fix, or more, deep, unequal, 

 rounded, concave, imbricated fegments, much longer than 

 the calyx ; the outer ones fmalleft. Starn. Filaments nu- 

 merous, about two hundred, thread-lhaped, fhorter than the 

 corolla, united at the bafe into a fhallow cup-like tube, inferted 

 into the receptacle, and connefted with the botiom of the 

 petal ; anthers peltate, fimple, nearly globofe. Piji. Ger- 

 men fuperior, globofe, with three obtufe angles ; ftyle tri- 

 angular, wuh three furrows, the length of the ftamens, 

 fplitting into three parts ; ftigmas three, linear-oblong, de- 



THE 



flexed. Perk. Capfule three-lobed, three-celled, burfling 

 along the upper fide of each lobe. Seeds folitary, globofe, 

 fomcwhat angular. 



Eff. Ch. Calyx in five deep rounded fegTTients. Corolla 

 in fix, or more, deep imbricated fegments. Capfule fupe- 

 rior, threc-lobcd. Seeds folitary. 



Obf. Gxrtner remarks that there are rudiments of four or 

 fix feeds in each cell of the germen. The genus is, doubt-, 

 lefs, nearly related to Camellia, (fee that article,) and fhould 

 ftand next to it in the artificial, as well as natural fyftem. 

 Whether theconneftion of the ftamens varies, or whether we 

 have fometimes in our gardens Thunberg's C. Safanqua for 

 the true Tea-plant, is extremely difficult to determine. 

 The flowers in England are certainly never fo large as in his 

 plate of Safanqua, which latter may poffibly be a fpecies of 

 Thea, though very dittinft from the Linna?an fpecimens 

 marked T. Bohca, and from all we have ever examined in 

 gardens. Plukenet's Fruticis These fpecies altera Sinarum, 

 Anialth. t. 405. f. 3, may belong to this Safanqua. The 

 fpecies of Thea are involved in much obfcurity. Linnaeus 

 was led to defcribe two, under the popular names of Bohea 

 and viridh, which he diftinguidied by the former having fix 

 petals, or rather fegments of the corolla, and the latter nine. 

 But for thefe charafters he is indebted to Hill, whofe autho- 

 rity is little to be relied on. We have never feen perfedt fpe- 

 cimens of more than one fpecies, which anfwers to the defi- 

 nition of the Bohea, with fcarcely any variation ; nor do the 

 leaves of common green or black tea, when expanded by hot 

 water, betray any difference in their ferratures, veins, or 

 other refpedls, from that or from each other. The Pekoe, 

 whofe filky young branches are confpicuous in the tea-cheft 

 for their whitenefs, agrees in that particular with our gar- 

 den fpecimens of Thea, and not with Camellia Safanqua fent 

 by Thunberg, for this laft is hairy in a very different manner. 

 Such being the ftate of the cafe, we can undertake to defcrSbe 

 only one fpecies of Thea. 



I. T. viridis. Green Tea. G^rtn. v. 2. 83. t. 95. f. I. 

 Linn. Sp. PI. 735. Willd. n. 2. (T. bohea ; Linn. Sp. PI. 

 734. Amccn. Acad. v. 7. 253. t. 4. Willd. n. i. Ait. n. i. 

 Thea ; Kaempf Am. Exot. 605. t. 606. Woodv. Med. 

 Bot. fuppl. 1 16. t. 256. T chinenfis ; Curt. Mag. t. 998. 

 T. cantonienfis ; Lour. Cochinch. 359. Thee ; Barth. 

 Aft. V. 4. I. t. I. Tea-tree ; Letfom Monogr. t. I.) — 

 Native of China and Japan. The late Mr. John Ellis is laid 

 to have firft raifed it from feed in England, about the year 

 1768. The ftirub is propagated by cuttings, and will bear 

 our winters with a fiiglit degree of ftielter, though it rarely 

 flowers, except in a greenhoufe or ftove. T\ieJ}em is from 

 three to fix feet high, buftiy, with numerous, alternate, round, 

 leafy branches, fmooth, except at the very extremity, where 

 tlie youngeft ftioots are finely filky, with clofe-prefl'ed hairs. 

 Leaves alternate, on ftiort, thick, channelled, fmooth foot- 

 flalks, evergreen, elliptic-oblong, with a blunt emarginate 

 point, copioufly fcrrated, except at the bafe, with inllexed 

 pointed feiratures, fmooth on both fides, with one rib and 

 many tranfverle veins, interbranching towards the margin ; 

 paler beneath ; their length two or three inches ; their 

 breadth about one inch : the young ones finely filky before 

 expanfion, with a deciduous point. Stipulas none. Floiuers 

 axillary, or, on the lateral ftioots, nearly terminal, white, not 

 unlike thofe of a Myrtle, but rather larger, and on fliort, 

 thick, recurved, round, imooth. Jlalks, ufually two together, 

 accompanied by a few alternate, ftiort, ovate, deciduous 

 bralleas. The two outer fegments of the corolla, fmaller than 

 the reft, are green, or purplifh, at the back. Anthers and 

 Jligmas yellow. 



For the economical hiftory of this plant, fee Tea. We 



have 



