Tea and the Tea-Table in Eighteenth-Century England

In the eighteenth century tea and coffee were both recent arrivals to English culture and commodities of conspicuous and luxurious consumption. Unlike coffee however, tea retained its luxury status – its high cost and associated rarity making it a favourite drink at Court. It also came to be seen as a domestic drink and one more often drunk by women, in contrast to the male-dominated coffee-house.

But the history of tea gains a more political edge after the East India Company transformed the market in the mid-eighteenth century. Increased consumption brought with it taxation, smuggling, and conflict between Britain and the Colonies, leading to violent action at the Boston ‘Tea Party’ in December 1773. Tea was also railed against by the Methodist preacher John Wesley, who saw the increase in tea-drinking as the corrupting influence of consumerism on the poor.

This four-volume, reset collection takes as its starting point the earliest substantial descriptions of tea as a commodity in the mid-seventeenth century, and ends in the early nineteenth century with two key events: the discovery of tea plants in Assam, India in 1823, and the dissolution of the East India Company’s monopoly on the tea trade in 1833. The majority of the material here is rare and has not previously been the subject of scholarly study of this kind.

• The works included have no modern editions, with many being very rare
• Most of this material has never been edited to an academic standard before
• Tea, like coffee, continues to have a major intellectual and cultural resonance in the twenty-first century
• Will allow scholars to assess the unique contribution made by tea to British and American culture
• Includes a general introduction, volume introductions, headnotes, endnotes and a concise bibliography of relevant secondary material
• Consolidated index in the final volume

Contents

Volume 1: Literary Representations of Tea and the Tea-Table (Editor: Markman Ellis)

Tate, Nahum, Panacea: a poem upon tea: in two canto's, By N Tate, servant to His Majesty (London, 1700); Motteux, Peter Anthony, A poem upon tea [London, 1712]; ‘On Tea Tables and Visiting Days’, Essays serious and comical, Viz, On the readers of this book – The art of pleasing in women... To which are added, characters satyrical and panegyrical, letters amorous and gallant, miscellaneous poems, the English epigrammatist, and the instructive library, fitted to the humour of the age, By a person of quality (London, 1707); [Letters for and against tea-drinking], in A collection of miscellany letters: selected out of Mist's Weekly Journal, 5 vols (London, 1722-27); ‘Discourse II: Of the Expensive Use of Drinking Tea’, in Whipping-Tom: or, a rod for a proud lady, bundled up in four feeling discourses, Both Serious and Merry. In order to touch The Fair Sex to the Quick (London, 1722); ‘Discourse II: Melancholy Considerations of the Universal Poison, or the dismal Effects of Tea’, in The Second Part of Whipping-Tom: or, a rod for a proud lady, bundled up in four feeling discourses, Both Serious and Merry. In order to touch The Fair Sex to the Quick (London, 1722); Ramsay, Allan, The tea-table miscellany (Edinburgh, 1723) [songs]; Tea: A poem, Or, ladies into china-cups, a metamorphosis (London, 1729); Bland, James, Professor of Physic, ‘Of her Temperence’, An essay in praise of women: or, a looking-glass for ladies to see their perfections in (London, 1733); Waldron, John, A satyr against tea, Or, Ovington's essay upon the nature and qualities of tea, &c Dissected, and burlesq'd, By Mr John Waldron (Dublin, 1733); Tea, a poem, In three cantos (London, 1743); Lockman, John, To the long-conceal'd first promoter of the cambrick and tea-bills [Stephen Theodore Janssen]: an epistle, Writ at the close of last session of parliament, By Mr Lockman (London, 1746); The tea drinking wife, and drunken husband, To which is added, three other songs ([Newcastle upon Tyne?], 1749); A new tea-table miscellany: or, bagatelles for the amusement of the fair sex, To which are added, a collection of conundrums, with their solutions (London, 1750); Colman, George, ‘Number LX, Thursday, March 20, 1755, A Dialogue Between a Tea-Table and a Card-Table’, The connoisseur, By Mr Town, critic and censor-general (London, 1755-1756); ‘Epistle XI, A Description of a Public Tea–drinking, with Remarks on the Company; concluding with an unfortunate Incident’, in The register of folly, or, characters and incidents at Bath and the hot-wells, in a series of poetical epistles, by an invalid ([London, 1773); Touchstone, Timothy, Tea and sugar, or the nabob and the creole, a poem (London, 1792); The art of making tea, a poem, in two cantos (Cambridge, 1797); Busk, Hans, ‘The Tea’, in The Dessert, a poem, to which is added The Tea, by the author of “The Banquet” (London, 1819)

Volume 2: Tea in Natural History and Medical Writing (Editor: Richard Coulton)

Garway, Thomas, An exact description of the growth, quality, and vertues of the leaf tea, By Thomas Garway in Exchange-Alley near the Royal Exchange in London, tobacconist, and seller and retailer of tea and coffee ([1660?]); Price, Samuel, in Christ-Church Hospital, The virtues of coffee, chocolette, and thee or tea, experimentally known in this our climate ([London, 1690?]); Ovington, J (John), An essay upon the nature and qualities of tea, Wherein are shown, I: The soil and climate where it grows, II: The various kinds of it, III: The rules for chusing what is best, IV: The means of preserving it, V: The several virtues for which it is fam'd, By J Ovington, MA chaplain to His Majesty (London, 1699); Daniel Duncan, Wholesome advice against the Abuse of Hot Liquors, Particularly of Coffee, Chocolate, tea, Brandy and Strong Waters (London, 1706) [Translation of Avis Salutaire a Tout le Monde, Contre L’Abus des Choses Chaude, et Particulierement Du Café, du Chocolat, & du Thé (Rotterdam, 1705)]; Cunningham, James, ‘Part of Two Letters to the Publisher from James Cunningham, FRS and Physician to the English at Chusan in China, Giving an Account of His Voyage Thither, of the Island of Chusan, of the Several Sorts of Tea, of the Fishing, Agriculture of the Chinese, &c with Several Observations Not Hitherto Taken Notice of’, in Miscellanea curiosa, Containing a collection of curious travels, Vol III, The second edition, to which is added, A discourse, ed by George Wishart, 3 vols (London, 1708); The volatile spirit of Bohee-Tea ([London, 1710?]); Of the use of Tobacco, Tea, Coffee, Chocolate, and Drams, Under the following Heads, I: Of Smoaking Tobacco, II: Of Chewing, III: Of Snuff, IV: Of Coffee & its Grounds, V: Of Tea, VI: Of Chocolate, VII: Of Drams, Clearly Shewing How the Sipping of these Hot Liquors, Sucking into the Body as much of Wind as Liquor, produces Flatulencies, which (by being debar'd a Free Passage Downwards) not only Grumble in the Bowels, & Cause Wind-Cholicks, Obstructions, Spleen, Vapours, &c But also (in Women of a more Strong Constitution) Recoil up to the Head, and Vents themselves entirely in Talkativeness, and other Distempers incident to Women - All which a Free and Seasonable Vent of the Wind Downwards might have prevented. This Book is Given Gratis, Up One pair of Stairs at the Sign of the Anodyne Necklace without Temple-Bar, At Mrs Gregg's Hosier next Northumberland-House Charing-Cross, And At Mrs Garway's, at the R Exchange-Gate, Cornhil Side (London, 1722); A treatise on the inherent qualities of the tea-herb: being an account of the natural virtues of the bohea, green, and imperial teas, Collected from MSS of learned and skilfull physicians ... Particularly from a latin MS entitul'd, De Potu Theae, wrote by the famous J N Pechlinus, Principal Physician to the late King of Denmark, celebrated amongst the Learned of his Faculty, for being as ingenious a Piece as this Age has produced, Wherein is clearly demonstrated, That this delicious Nectar has all the good Effects of Wine without the ill, a Liquor that warms without Inflammation, and exhilirates without intoxicating, and if drank according to the Directions which will be given, is preferable to all Mineral Waters, as being an unspeakable Benefit in most Chronical Diseases: A Discovery well worth the Knowledge of this Nation, It being particularly efficacious in that almost Epedemical Distemper the Scurvy, Which reigns so much in this Kingdom, Compiled by a gentleman of Cambridge (London, 1750); Lettsom, John Coakley, The natural history of the tea-tree, with observations on the medical qualities of tea, and effects of tea-drinking (London, 1772); Belchilgen, Count, An essay on the virtues and properties of the ginseng tea, by Count Belchilgen, MD and J A Cope, MD with observations on the pernicious effects of tea drinking in general (London, 1786); Smith, Hugh, ‘An essay on foreign teas’, in An essay on the nerves, illustrating their efficient, formal, material, and final causes, with a copper-plate, Descriptive Of their Anatomy, and a Plate of Figures displaying the Manner of the Liquids being corrupted by corrosive Acids and stagnated by obtuse Alkalies, To which is added an essay on foreign teas, in which Their Nature, Preparation, Manner of Using, and Effects, are investigated, so as to demonstrate their pernicious consequences on the nerves, and, therefore, on the Health of the Human Body, With observations on mineral waters, coffee, chocolate, &c and the Author's Remarks arising from his Analysis of such Preparations as may be most beneficially substituted for India Tea, The Whole Being designed to enable all Persons in Health or Disease, to instruct Themselves in the first Principles of knowing systematically the Construction of their Bodies, with the Causes and Cures of most Disorders incident to Nervous Affections, Interspersed With select Illustrations from the most scientific and respectable Authorities in the Theory and Practice of Physic, By H Smith, M D (London, [1795?]); Jean Baptiste Joseph Breton, ‘Monkeys Gathering Tea’, in China: its costume, arts, manufactures, &c Edited principally from the originals in the cabinet of the late M Bertin, with observations by M Breton, Translated from the French ... Embellished with plates, Second edition (London, 1812) [trans. of La Chine en miniature, ou Choix de costumes, arts et métiers de cet empire (Paris, 1811)]; The history of the Tea Plant, from the sowing of the seed to its package for the European market. [...] To which are added remarks on imitation tea, extent of the fraud, legal enactments against it, and the best means of detection (London, [1820?])

Volume 3: Tea, Commerce and the East India Company (Editor: Matthew Mauger)

Broadbent, Humphrey, The domestick coffee-man, shewing the true way of preparing and making of chocolate, coffee and tea, I: Cocoa chocolate the difference between carracca and martinico,... II: The best method of roasting coffee,... III: Of tea, green and bohea (London, 1722); Great Britain, Commissioners of Excise, Instructions for officers: Instructions to be observed by the officers employ'd in the duty on coffee, tea, and chocolate, in London (London, 1724); The case of the dealers in tea [Praying for an ad valorem duty] ([London?, 1736]); Decker, Matthew, Serious considerations on the several high duties which the nation in general, (as well as its trade in particular) labours under: with a proposal for preventing the running of goods, discharging the trader from any search, and raising all the publick supplies, by one single tax, By a well-wisher to the good people of Great Britain (London, 1743); Considerations on the duties upon tea, and the hardships suffer'd by the dealers in that commodity, Together with A Proposal for their Relief, Collected from the Champion, and publish'd at the request of the tea-dealers (London, 1744); Hanway, Jonas, ‘An Essay on Tea’, in A journal of eight days journey from Portsmouth to Kingston upon Thames, through Southampton, Wiltshire, &c with miscellaneous thoughts, Moral and Religious, In A Series Of Sixty-Four Letters: Addressed to two Ladies of the Partie, To which is added, AN Essay ON Tea, Considered as pernicious to Health, obstructing Industry, and impoverishing the Nation: With an Account of its Growth, and great Consumption in these Kingdoms, With Several Political Reflections, And Thoughts ON Public Love, In Twenty-Five Letters to the same Ladies, By a gentleman of the partie (London, 1756); Janssen, Stephen Theodore, Sir, Bart, Smuggling laid open, in all its extensive and destructive branches, with proposals for the effectual remedy of that most iniquitous practice: Comprehending Among other Particulars, the Parliamentary Evidence of some of the most notorious Smugglers, and a large Sheet, shewing in one view, the whole state of the Tea Importation, Consumption and Revenue, from Midsummer 1745, (when the reduction of Two Shillings per Pound, took place) to new Christmas 1763 (London, 1763); Osbeck, Pehr, A voyage to China and the East Indies, by Peter Osbeck... Together with a voyage to Suratte, by Olof Toreen... And an account of the Chinese husbandry, by Captain Charles Gustavus Eckeberg, Translated from the German by John Reinhold Forster... To which are added, a faunula and flora Sinensis, In two volumes (London, 1771); The Chinese Traveller, Containing a geographical, commercial, and political history of China, With A particular Account of their Customs, Manners, Religion, Agriculture, Government, Arts, Sciences, Ceremonies, Buildings, Language, Physick, Trade, Manufactures, Shipping, Plants, Trees, Beasts, Birds, &c, &c, To which is prefixed the life of Confucius, The celebrated Chinese Philosopher, Collected from du halde, le compte, and other modern travellers... Adorned with a map of China and other curious Copperplates (London, 1772), 2 vols; Entick, John, ‘Empire of China’, The present state of the British Empire, Containing a description of the kingdoms, principalities, conquests, and of the military and commercial establishments, under the British Crown, in Europe, Asia, Africa and America, In four volumes (London, 1774) 4 vols; Tsiology: a discourse on Tea, Being an account of that exotic, botanical, chymical, commercial & medical, with notices of its adulteration, the means of detection, Tea-making, with a brief history of the East India Company, &c, &c, By a Tea Dealer [and [—] Smith, a painter] (London, 1826)

Volume 4: Tea and Politics: the Boston Tea Party (1773) and the Commutation Act (1784) (Editor: Ben Dew)

The present state of the English East-India Company's affairs, comprehending the accounts delivered in by the Court of Directors to the Treasury, which were laid before the Committee of Secrecy, appointed by the House of Commons, Assembled at Westminster, in the Sixth Session of the Thirteenth Parliament of Great-Britain, to enquire into East-India affairs, drawn up by Mr Hoole, Auditor of Indian Accounts, and others, Together with the plans proposed by the different directors for the re-establishment of the Company's affairs, and several other Accounts equally important and interesting, To these Accounts is prefixt, an Address to the Public (London, [1773]); Christmas-box for the customers of the Pennsylvania journal, Friday afternoon 5 o'clock, Dec 24, 1773, Philadelphia, Dec 24, A [sic] two o'clock this afternoon arrived in this city a gentleman, who came express from New-York, with the following interesting advices from Boston, which were sent there by express also ([Philadelphia, 1773]) [Broadside: An account of the Boston Tea Party]; Poplicola, To the worthy inhabitants of the city of New-York, No subject is so misunderstood, none is so necessary at this season to be rightly apprehended, as liberty ([New York, 1773]); Mechanic, To the worthy inhabitants of New-York, My dear friends, and fellow citizens, You have lately been addressed by a writer, under the signature of Poplicola, whose abilities appear to me, to be much greater than either his integrity, or regard to truth ([New York, 1773]); Boston, December 1, 1773, At a meeting of the people of Boston, and the neighbouring towns, at Faneuil-Hall, in said Boston, on Monday the 29th of November 1773 ... and continued by adjournment to the next day, for the purpose of consulting, advising and determining upon the most proper and effectual method to prevent the unloading, receiving or vending the detestable tea sent out by the East-India Company ([Boston], 1773); Boston, December 2, 1773, Whereas it has been reported that a permit will be given by the Custom-House for landing the tea now on board a vessel laying in this harbour, commanded by Capt Hall... it was solemnly voted by the body of the people of this and the neighbourin towns assembled at the Old-South Meeting House on Tuesday the 30th day of November, that the said tea never should be landed in this province, or pay one farthing of duty ([Boston, 1773]); The Report of the Lords Committees, appointed by the House of Lords to enquire into the Proceedings in the Colony of Massachuset's Bay, in opposition to the Sovereignty of His Majesty ... over that Province [20 April, 1774] (London, 1774); Lee, Arthur, A True State of the Proceedings in the Parliament of Great Britain and in the Province of Massachusetts Bay Relative to the Giving and Granting the Money of the People of That Province, and of All America, in the House of Commons, in Which They Are Not Represented (London, 1774); Cartwright, John, American independence the interest and glory of Great Britain, or, arguments to prove, that not only in taxation, but in trade, manufactures, and government, the colonies are entitled to an entire independency on the British legislature, and that it can only be by a formal Declaration of these Rights, and forming thereupon a friendly League with them, that the true and lasting Welfare of both Countries can be promoted, In a Series of Letters to the Legislature, To which are added copious Notes, containing Reflections on the Boston and Quebec Acts, and a full Justification of the People of Boston, for destroying the British-Taxed Tea, submitted to the Judgment, not of those who have none but borrowed Party-Opinions, but of the Candid and Honest (London, 1774); An impartial history of the war in America, between Great Britain and her colonies, from its commencement to the end of the year 1779, Exhibiting a circumstantial, connected, and complete Account of the real Causes, Rise, and Progress of the War, interspersed with Anecdotes and Characters of the different Commanders, and Accounts of such Personages in Congress as have distinguished themselves during the Contest (London, 1780); Association for the Protection of Trade, against Smuggling of Tea, Coffee, Chocolate, Cocoa Nuts, &c The practice of smuggling and buying smuggled goods hath for some time past been so common, and the consequences thereof so injurious ... that ... Parliament did in the last session pass an Act ([London, 1780]) [Broadsheet]; Advice to the unwary: Or, an abstract, of certain penal laws now in force against smuggling in general, and the adulteration of tea, with some remarks, Very necessary to be read by all Persons, that they may not run themselves into Difficulties, or incur Penalties there from (London, 1780); Twining, Richard, the Elder, Observations on the tea and window Act, and on the tea trade (London, 1784); Tim Twisting to Dick Twining, or, a seaman to a teaman: being a plain dealer's answer to a tea dealer's letter (London, 1785); A narrative of the conduct of the tea-dealers, During the late Sale of Teas at the India House, By the committee of tea-dealers (London, 1785); Baring, Francis, Sir, The principle of the commutation-act established by facts (London, 1786); Thompson, Jona (Jonathan), The commutation-Act candidly considered, in its principles and operations: being an answer to, and confutation of a pamphlet, intitled, The principles of the commutation-act established by facts, By Frarcis [sic] Baring, Esq By a Northumberland gentleman (Newcastle, 1786); A Retrospect of the Boston Tea-Party, with a memoir of George R T Hewes a survivor of the little band of patriots who drowned the tea in Boston Harbor in 1773, By a citizen of New-York [James Hawkes] (New York, 1834)

Related titles

• British Pamphlets on the American Revolution, 1763–1785
• Eighteenth-Century Coffee-House Culture
• Public Drinking in the Early Modern World : Voices from the Tavern, 1500–1800
• The American Colonies and the British Empire, 1607–1783

Leaflets

• Tea and the Tea-Table: colour leaflet
• Tea and the Tea-Table: printable leaflet

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