343 
might also be relished by the Chinese, and thereby become a saleable com¬ 
modity amongst them; and accordingly introduced to them the herb Sage, 
so much once extolled by the Salernian school of physic, as a powerful pre¬ 
servative of health: the Dutch accepting in return the Chinese Tea , which 
they brought to Europe. The European herb did not continue, long at 
* 
least, in use in China; but the consumption of tea has been gradually in¬ 
creasing in Europe ever since.* 
In 1641, Tulpius, a celebrated physician, and consul at Amsterdam, wrote 
in praise of the good qualities of tea. It is asserted that he did so by desire 
of the Dutch East India Company, who rewarded him w r ith a considerable 
sum of money. In 1667 , Jonquet , a French physician, extolled its virtues. 
In 167 ®? Bontetre , physician to the Elector of Brandenburgh, who had ac¬ 
quired great reputation, bestowed high encomiums on its qualities, in a dis¬ 
sertation which he published on tea, coffee, and chocolate. This work was 
f attended with great success, and contributed not a little to render the use of 
it more general; and, before the end of the century, the consumption of it 
was considerable. 
The introduction of Tea into England was about the year 1660 , when 
the first mention of it was made in the statute-book, and a duty of four- 
pence a gallon laid on the liquor made and sold in coffee-houses. 
A quantity of it being brought over from Holland in the year 1 666 by 
Lord Arlington and Lord Ossory , tea soon came into request among people 
of fashion, and its use by degrees since that period has become f general. 
Han way informs us, that at this time it sold for sixty shillings a pound. + 
From these small beginnings we have seen the infusion of a leaf from 
the farthest extremity of the earth become in a manner a necessary of life, 
in several parts of Europe, and the passion for it descend from the most 
elevated to the lowest orders in society. In 1785 it was computed that the 
whole quantity of tea imported into Europe was about nineteen millions of 
pounds, of which it is conjectured that twelve millions were consumed in 
Great Britain and its dependencies.§ 
Sir George Staunton informs us, that the annual public sales of tea by our 
East India Company did not, in the beginning of the eighteenth century, 
* Staunton’s Embassy, Yol. I. p. 21 . f Idem, p. 21. J Journal, Yol. II. p. 21. 
§ Robertson’s India, p. 252. 
