Bad EffeSis of : Tea , and Opinions of Doctors. 223 
What shakesp ear afcribes to the concealment of love, is in this 
age more frequently occaftoned by the ufe of tea. 
cc Like a 'worm 1 the bud y 
“ It feeds on the damajk cheek.” 
How can this effed be avoided, whilft we continue to com- 
mit fuch offences againft nature ? Custom is faid to be a 
second nature, and in many inftances it is a first ; but as 
we fhall never walk on our hands fo conveniently as upon 
our feet, I am perfuaded we fhall not enjoy a blooming 
health whilft we continue the ufe of tea. 
Conftder how mankind are governed by their prejudices. 
Amongft others I dare fay you have imbibed this from the very 
earlieft part of life, that you fhall certainly be a dead woman if 
you venture on cold liquids in a morning ; and yet you fly to 
wells of cold mineral waters to remove the pernicious ef- 
fects of lipping tea. And as foon as you recover your health, 
you return to sipping again. Thus you shorten your days : 
You give up your health a prey, and with it all the joys which 
attend it. Be allured that tea hurts many who do not believe 
the evils they fufter arife from this caufe • and that many per- 
lift in the ufe of it, in fpite of the cleared: convidion that it is 
hurtful. Who can behold without forrow and indignation, 
young perfons fipping tea and fugar, late in the evening, perhaps 
a fhort hour before their fupper ? What purpofe is this tea to 
anfwer ? As a nutriment ? It is not a solid to nourish ; it is 
not a liquid to quench thirft, for the fugar makes them thirfty. 
What is it ? An idle cuftom ; an abfurd expence ; tending 
to 
