KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



49 



A CUP OF TEA. 

 BY THE AUTHOR OF " A COLD." * 



O, Winter ! ruler of the inverted year, 

 I love thee, all unlovely as thou seem'st, 

 And dreaded as thou art ! Thou hold'st the sun 

 A prisoner in the yet undawning East ; 

 Shortening his journey between morn and noon, 

 And hurrying him, impatient of his stay, 

 Down to the rosy West ; but kindly still 

 Compensating his loss with added hours 

 Of social converse and instructive ease. 

 I crown thee, Winter— king of dear delights, 

 Fireside enjoyments, home-born happiness, 

 And all the comforts that the lowly roof 

 Of undisturb'd retirement, and the hours 

 Of long uninterrupted evening know. 



Cowper. 



EADEK ! — A word with 

 you ! What is comfort ? 

 A lounge by our fire-side, on a 

 bleak, wintry night — a novel, 

 gently wooing us into doziness 

 — a snug seat in a post-chaise, 

 or a game at cribbage with 

 a mild old lady that never takes snuff. What 

 is comfort ? — a cup of tea, " with all appli- 

 ances and means to boot ?" Yes ; tJiis is a 

 snatch of legitimate comfort ; and his imagi- 

 nation must be very anti-social, that does not 

 summon a thousand tea-table delights from 

 the dead mass of joys that time leaves behind 

 it, at the mention of a cup of tea. Around 

 the tea-pot, unnumbered social sprites attend; 

 and after wreathing the steam clouds rising 

 from the urn, tinkling the spoons, and perching 

 on the edge of the tea-cups, they place a 

 smile on the lips, and a merry magic in the 

 eyes of the company assembled. 



Reader ! be thou downy -cheeked, or man- 

 fully bearded — be thou fair and young, or 

 old and stately, prithee, for a while, smoothen 

 thy face into placidity, lay aside all Miltonic 

 sternness of aspect, draw near the fire ; and 

 then, with its pleasing glare playing over thy 

 features, thou mayest have a fair chance of 

 relishing a few remarks on " a cup of tea." 

 If the winds are whistling and waltzing along 

 the streets, and the plashy pit-pat of pattens is 

 heard on the sloppy pavements, so much the 

 better. Discomfort without, will increase the 

 comfort within. 



Lord Byron calls gin-and-water the true 

 Hippocrene. Give me a good strong cup of 

 tea ! — one cup of this, in its sterling state, is 

 worth all the spirituous liquors put together. 

 It is very seldom that intoxication ensues from 

 drinking tea : its influence is quite ethereal ; 

 it trickles down the throat in a most luscious 

 stream of flavory richness, diffuses a comfor- 

 table warm vigor through the democratical 

 part of the human frame, composes the 

 temper, and makes the poorest personage feel 

 himself a man. 



Nobody that dislikes tea ought to be ad- 



* See Vol. I., page 172. 



mitted within the pale of civilised society. If 

 a man be pointed out to me as a tea hater, 

 he immediately becomes a suspected person 

 in my mind. He cannot, I fancy, be any 

 thing approaching to " a right merrie fellowe." 

 A regular, giggling tea-party, would not en- 

 liven him ; he would sit down in silent sadnes3 

 amid the busy clatter of their cups and sau- 

 cers — a mere automaton. 



Some people say, that tea is by no means 

 wholesome, that it frequently occasions a ner- 

 vousness, and is altogether unqualified for 

 constant use. This is a most wicked ac- 

 cusation, and must have originated from some 

 decrepid personage, who was malicious enough 

 to ascribe the effects of youthful intemperance 

 to tea ; or, what is more probable, it arose 

 from the mischievous spirit of innovation per- 

 taining to the medical art. It really is quite 

 melancholy to observe the influence of me- 

 dical pedantry over some people ; there is 

 hardly anything upon the bountiful earth but 

 what is unhealthy. Butter creates bile, milk 

 and eggs are heavy, cold pie indigestible, 

 meat unnecessary, and tea is guilty of occa- 

 sioning nervousness ! A genuine cup of un- 

 adulterated tea will hurt no man living, who is 

 in a sound state of health. If he feels 

 " nervous " after drinking it, he has no reason 

 to charge the tea with the cause ; the evil 

 comes from some other quarter. 



Tea unwholesome ! Place me before the 

 tea-table ; and I'll face the whole College of 

 surgeons, in defence of its manifold virtues. 

 They might batter me with learned compound 

 words, and disquisitions respecting the fid- 

 getty nature of the stomach, but they could 

 never annihilate the fact of its being the na- 

 tional beverage for so many years. If tea 

 were really so malevolently inclined as they 

 would represent it, people would not have 

 continued its constant consumption : — ill- 

 health, a more influential argument than any 

 in Mr. Abernethy's " Book," would have 

 banished it from our tables. And I should 

 like to know, what we are to substitute for 

 tea ! — black draughts and liquified pills ! or 

 those brick-colored, clammy looking cakes, 

 christened chocolate and cocoa ! or meagre 

 sugar and water, such as they use in France ! 

 or that gritty, gravelly stuff, called coffee ! 

 That man's taste is not to be envied who 

 prefers either of these to tea ! Tea stands 

 apart from all these, in proud and peerless 

 dignity — like an ancient jug on a dresser, amid 

 a crowd of modern smooth-faced rivals. 

 From this devotion to tea, my opinion of those 

 who can presume to offer their guest a weak 

 and miserable cup, may be easily guessed. It 

 is one of the most sinful acts that can be 

 committed — for people, in good circumstances, 

 to offer weak tea to their company. What ! 

 toprofane the beautiful,health-inspiring water 

 with a niggard sprinkling of tea — to hand 



Vol. III.— 4. 



