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China drink, called by the Chineans Tcha, by other nations 
tay, alias tee. ’ At iirst it was very dear, and in 1661 the 
East India Company considered two pounds a lit present for 
the king. In 1667 the importation of 4,713 lbs. glutted the 
market for several years. In 1660 it was first taxed, — the 
impost being levied on the liquor brewed, viz., 8d. per gallon. 
Many amusing stories are told of the way in which it was used 
by ignorant people, e.g., boiled and served as a vegetable. 
The new beverages had much prejudice to overcome. The 
practice of tea and coffee drinking was looked on as effeminate ; 
the beverages were derided and slandered. The advertise- 
ments of the time are very fulsome and flattering, detailing 
the new drinks as beneficial for all complaints. Queen Mary 
did much to make tea popular. She introduced the tea urn, 
and her tea-service of cups without handles was famous. 
The introduction of tea and coffee led to the establishment 
of coffee houses. In 1708 there were 3,000 of these in London. 
They were the meeting places of the wits, the literary people, 
business men and men of fashion. Each class affected its 
own coffee house — the physicians at Child’s, merchants at 
Garraway’s, lawyers at the Grecian, Tories at White’s, shippers 
at Lloyd s. The latter gave origin to the shipping insurance 
exchange. Rigid rules were laid down for the conduct of 
the company. It was at a coffee house (Elford’s) that Defoe 
saw the narrative of Alexander Selkirk which inspired “ Robin- 
son Crusoe.” Button’s was the haunt of Addison, Will’s of 
Dryden and Pope. Saltero’s was famous for its extraordinary 
collection of curiosities. The coffee houses in turn gave rise 
to clubs. Of these the most famous were the Calf’s Head 
Club, October Club, Kit-Kat Club, and Almack’s, the latter 
of which ruled fashion. Some fantastic clubs were in existence, 
e.g., Heaven, Hell, the Fat Men, the Skeletons, etc. 
