performed a journey from Portfmouth to Kingston upon Thames, through Southampton, Wiltfhire, &c. which, though completed in the fpace of eight days, and attended with no extraordinary circumftances, was, it feems, in his judgment, worthy of being recorded, and, by means of the prefs, tranfmitted to pofterity; and accordingly he gave a relation of it to the public, in two octavo volumes. It may be needlefs to fay, that this work abounds with mifcellaneous thoughts, moral and religious, and alfo political reflec tions; for of which of all his numerous productions cannot the fame be faid? Connected with it is An Effay on Tea, confidered as pernicious to health, ⚫ obftructing industry, and impoverishing the nation, with an account of its growth, and great confumption in these kingdoms *.'

As

* Mr. Hanway feems not very accurate in his ftate of the time when tea was first brought into England. He fays, that lord Arlington and lord Offory introduced it in 1666, and that it was then admired as a new thing. Waller has a poem addressed to the queen, Maria d'Efte, wife of Ja. II. in 1683, On tea <commended by her majefty,' whereby it feems, that even then it was a new thing.

It is a question of fome curiofity, and worthy investigation, what were the viands of a morning meal with people of condition, for which tea with its concomitants is now the substitute; and I am glad to be able to refolve it by the following extract from the Northumberland houfhold book, in which is contained the regulations and establishment of the houthold of Henry Algernon Percy, the fifth earl of Northumberland, at his caftles of Wrefill and Leckinfield in Yorkshire, begun anno domini 1512.

Braikfaftis for FLESCH DAYS.

• Braikfaftis for my Lorde and my lady.

Furft, a loof of brede in trenchors, 2 manchetts, 1 quart

of

As I do not mean to follow this author in the courfe of an argument conducted in no method, interrupted by a redundancy of foreign matter, and which violates every rule in logic, I fhall content myself with remarking, that though every one of his three affertions may be true, he has fucceeded in the proof of no one of them. That tea is a luxury, and not a fit aliment for the poor, is implied in a farcafim of Swift to this purpose, that the world must be encompaffed, that is to fay, by a voyage to the East Indies for tea, and another to the Weft for fugar,

of bere, a quart of wine, half a chyne of mutton, or ells a chyne of beif boiled.

Braikfaftis for the Nurcy, for my Lady Margaret,

and Mr. Yngram Percy.

Item, a manchet, 1 quarte of bere, and 3 muton bonys ⚫ boiled.

Braikfaftis for my Ladys Gentylwomen.

Item, a loif of houshold breid, a pottell of beire, and 3 muton bonys boyled, or ells a pece of beif boiled.

LENT.

Braikfafte for my Lorde and my Lady.

Furft, a loif of brede in trenchors, 2 manchets, a quart of bere, a quart of wyne, 2 pecys of faltfifch, 6 baconn'd herrying, 4 white herring or a dyfche of fproits.

Braikfafte for the Nurcy, for my Lady Margaret,

and Maifter Ingeram Percy.

• Item, a manchet, a quarte of bere, a dysch of butter, a pece of faltfifch, a difch of fproits, or 3 white herrying.

Braikfafte for my Ladis Gentyllwomen.

Item, a loof of brede, a pottell of bere, a pece of faltfifche, or

before a washerwoman can fit down to breakfast. That it is pernicious to health is difputed by phyficians Quincy commends it, as an elegant and wholesome beverage; Cheyne condemns it, as prejudicial to the nervous system. Bishop Burnet, for many years, drank fixteen large cups of it every morning, and never complained that it did him the leaft injury. The two laft objections, that tea is an obstruction to industry, and that it impoverishes the nation, are political questions which I am not able to decide upon.

Epictetus fomewhere advifes us to confider the gratification of the calls of hunger and thirft, as acts of neceffity; to be performed as it were by the bye, but by no means to be estimated among the enjoyments of life; and by a precept no lefs than divine, we are exhorted to take no thought what we shall eat or what we shall drink. Johnson looked upon the former as a very ferious bufinefs, and enjoyed the pleasures of a fplendid table equally with most men. It was, at no time of his life, pleafing to fee him at a meal; the greediness with which he ate, his total inattention to those among whom he was feated, and his profound filence in the hour of refection, were circumstances that at the inftant degraded him, and fhewed him to be more a fenfualift than a philofopher. Moreover, he was a lover of tea to an excefs hardly credible whenever it appeared, he was almoft raving, and by his impatience to be ferved, his inceffant calls for those ingredients which make that liquor palatable, and the hafte with which he fwallowed it down, he feldom failed to make that a fatigue to every one elfe, which was intended as a general refreshment. Such

figns of effeminacy as thefe, fuited but ill with the appearance of a man, who, for his bodily ftrength and ftature, has been compared to Polyphemus.

This foible in Johnson's character being known, it will excite no wonder in the reader to be told, that he readily embraced the opportunity of defending his own practice, by an examen of Hanway's book. Accordingly, he began his remarks on it in the Literary Magazine, Number VII *, but receiving from this author an injunction to forbear proceeding in his cenfure till a fecond edition fhould appear, he fubmitted, though it was a prohibition that could neither be reasonably impofed, nor by any means inforced; yet, fuch was its effect, that Mr. Hanway's journal was not remarked on, till he had been allowed every advantage that could protect it from cenfure.

Such candour on the part of him, on whofe opinion perhaps many were waiting to form theirs, might have relieved the author from any dread of unfair treatment; but Johnson, who paid all proper deference to good intentions, did not think this tacit indication of the temper in which he fat down to review Mr. Hanway's journal, fufficient: he, therefore, in refuming the difpute, promifes him, that he shall find no malignity of cenfure, and draws a very handfome inference from the contents of his thirty-two letters, that he is a man whose failings may well be pardoned for his virtues.

The criticism on this fecond edition appeared in the Literary Magazine, Number XIII t, and extends

From 15th Oct. to 15th Nov. 1756.

↑ From 15th April to 15th May, 1757.

A a 2

chiefly

chiefly to Mr. Hanway's arguments against tea and gin: fubjects which feem to have infpired him with fuch enthufiaftic eloquence as difdained all the rules of logic, and dictated obfervations and conclufions, fo incoherent and incongruous, as would have ftimulated even thofe, who, in the main, thought with him, to an endeavour at correcting his judgment.

But, in Johnfon, when writing on the qualities of tea, he met with an opponent on principle; for its antagonist's hatred, however radical or zealous, could not exceed the love its champion bore it: he defcribes himfelf as a hardened and fhameless tea-drinker, who has, for many years, diluted his meals with only the infufion of this fafcinating plant; whofe kettle has fcarcely time to cool; who, with tea amufes the evening, with tea folaces the midnights, and with tea welcomes the morning.'

That Mr. Hanway was right in afferting, that the practice of drinking tea is productive of harm among the lower claffes of people, muft certainly be admitted; and that Johnfon was right in denying that it has all the poifonous qualities the Journal attributes to it, experience fhews. From what has been faid on both fides, little can be inferred, but that to fome it is noxious, and to others neutral; that thofe do wrong who perfift in the ufe of it when they find it injurious to their health, and that fuch as cannot afford the neceffaries of life, ought not to indulge in its luxuries.

At Johnfon's candid examen, which fhould not have offended Mr. Hanway, as, by fubmitting his work to public infpection, he recognized the right of public criticifm, the latter was extremely irritated, and