send for a cup of tea (a China drink) of which I never had drunk
before, and went away."

In a letter from Mr. Henry Savill to his uncle, Secretary Coventry,
dated from Paris, Aug. 12, 1678, and printed by Mr. Ellis, the writer,
after acknowledging the hospitalities of his uncle's house, quaintly
observes, "These, I hope, are the charms that have prevailed with me
to remember (that is to trouble) you oftener than I am apt to do other
of my friends, whose buttery-hatch is not so open, _and who call for_
TEA instead of pipes and bottles after dinner; _a base unworthy Indian
practice_, and which I must ever admire your most Christian family for
not admitting. The truth is, all nations have grown so wicked as to
have some of these filthy customs." In 1678, the year in which the
above letter is dated, the East India Company began the importation of
tea as a branch of trade; the quantity received at that time amounting
to 4,713 lbs. The importation gradually enlarged, and the government,
in consequence, augmented the duties upon tea. By the year 1700, the
importation of tea had arrived at the quantity of 20,000 lbs. In 1721,
it exceeded a million of pounds. In 1816, it had arrived at 86,234,380
lbs. Something more than thirty millions of pounds is probably the
present average of importation: some allowance must be made for tea
damaged and spoiled upon the passage.--See more on this subject, well
worthy of perusal, in Mr. Ellis's Letters, _Second Series_, vol. iv.
pp. 57, et seq.

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DANGER.