The
earliest extensive English-language account of tea?
From:
The
Modern Part of an Universal History, From the Earliest Account
of Time,
Compiled from Original Writers - Vol. VIII - The History of
China. S.
Richardson, London, 1759. (Contributors included George Sale,
George
Psalmanazar, Archibald Bower, George Shelvocke, John Campbell
and John
Swinton.)
De his, vid.
Magaillan, Careri, Martini, Le Compte, Nieuhoff, Du Halde,
& al. vid. &
Ten. Rhin. de frutice Tchia. Jacob. Breynius in hort.
Malabar.& al.
Footnote
(A) It is indeed
rather a wonder, all things rightly weighed, that it is not
attended with more
dangerous effects, considering that most people among us help
to corrupt and
adulterate it still more, in their constant use of it, either
by the immoderate
quantity of sugar they drink, and the pretended correctives
they mix with it, such
as chemical drops, saffron, spirituous liquors, etc. to say
nothing of their
irregular and indiscriminate use of it, without regard to
particular tempers
and constitutions; and, by some, both stronger, and in larger
quantities, than
even the Chinese do their pure and genuine sort. Hence we may
reasonably infer,
that those flatulencies, indigestions, vapours, colics,
lowness of spirits,
diabetes, and other disasters, which commonly attend it, may
be no less owing
to our indiscretion in using it, than to the cheats that are
practised in it.
See the next note.
[page 228]
It is certain
that no nation takes more care in cultivating their tea than
the Japaners, nor
is more honest in selling it pure and uncorrupt; neither do
any people drink it
more plentifully than the Dutch, yet so far are they from
feeling those inconveniencies
from it which most of ours do, that they reap the greatest
benefit from it; and
indeed, considering the dampness of their climate, and their
high and gross way
of feeding, it is to be questioned whether they could be so
healthy, and free
from diseases, as they are, without such a fine diluter, and
purifier of the
blood. But then it must be owned, on the other hand, that the
good effects they
receive from it are in part owing to their drinking it in its
genuine purity,
and without those correctives mentioned under the last note;
so that, without
running too far into panegyric in favour of that plant, we may
safely affirm,
that tea, duly cultivated and cured, and drunk moderately,
both as to quantity
and strength (B), and especially either without, or at least
with only a small
quantity of sugar, and without any additional correctives, is
a singular
diluter, and purifier of the blood, a strengthener of the
brain and stomach, a
promoter of digestion and
Footnote
(B) It is plain that
neither the Chinese, Japaners, nor any other eastern nation,
drink it either so
strong, or in such quantities, nor so hot, as we do in
England; but use it
rather as their common drink, and without any sugar, or other
sweetener. They
commonly keep, especially in large families, a boiler, or some
other vessel,
over a fire; and, whenever they are thirsty or faint, they put
a few leaves of
it in a bason, and pour the hot water upon it, and, as soon as
it is cool
enough to drink, swallow it down, and go about their business;
so that the custom
of sitting so long at the tea-table, as we do, is unknown unto
them, and is
only an idle, luxurious refinement (or rather abuse), we have
made upon their
way of using it.
We are likewise assured, that the
discovery of that infusion was originally owing to the
brackishness of their
water, especially in the lower provinces, where they were not
only very unpleasant,
but unwholesome to drink; till, after a multitude of
experiments tried, in
order to correct them, they tumbled upon this shrub, which not
only answered
the end, but was found to have several other qualities to
recommend the use of
it, such as those which we have particularly mentioned above;
upon which it
gradually became in great esteem and vogue all over the empire
(27).
(27) Martini, Le
Compte, Nieuhoff, Kaempfer, Du Halde, & al.
[page 229]
circulation, of
perspiration, and other secretions, a cleanser of the reins
and urethra, and a
great preservative against chronic diseases, as well as an
effectual, tho' slow,
remedy against them. The Chinese make no scruple to give it in
great quantities
in high fevers, colics, and other acute distempers. Neither
are those rare
virtues confined to its native soil, but extend their efficacy
to any other
country or climate, where it is used, particularly in England,
France, and
Holland. And thus much may suffice concerning the genuine
virtues of that
plant, could we have it as genuinely conveyed to us.
There is now a
great variety of teas in China, which, as it still increased
in the great
exports of it, hath obliged the natives to propagate the
growth of it in several
parts, where the soil or climate was more or less agreeable to
that shrub; for
most of their difference is owing to that, they being
originally derived from,
and are in all other respects, the same plant. Hence proceeds
that difference
of taste, flavour, colour, and other qualities, we find in
them; some being
very rough to the taste and stomach, and others as smooth;
some exhaling an
extraordinary fragrancy, and others having scarce any smell;
some being found
more balsamic, others more stomachic, diuretic, etc. than
others : and hence also
that variety of names they are called by, either from their
different
qualities, or the places they grow in. Thus the Songlo, which
is a most elegant
sort of green, and much esteemed and drunk by the richer sort,
hath its name
from a mountain in the province of Kyang-nan, which is quite
covered with it;
and the Vu-i, or, as we call it, Bohea, from the mountain of
Vu-i-soan, in the
province of Fo-kyen, where it grows in great quantities and is
excellent in its
kind (C).
Footnote
(C) So say Le Compte,
Du Halde, and others; but some are more inclined to think it
hath its name from
the dark-brown colour it bears, in which it differs from all
other sorts, both
in the leaf, and in its infusion. Nor is it a wonder that the
mountain
above-mentioned should produce such plenty of it, and of a
better sort than
common, seeing it is covered, we are told, with temples and
monasteries, and
inhabited by bonzas, who are fond of that excellent infusion,
and, having so
much time on their hands, may spend some part of it in
cultivating, and
bringing it to that perfection; unless we should rather chuse
to suppose them
to have been the inventors of this new way of cultivating;
concerning which, see
the next note.
[page 230]
for its medicinal
and other excellent qualities, particularly that of its
rectifying the blood,
recovering decayed constitutions, and being so friendly and
agreeable to the
weakest stomachs. Hence it is that they give it in large
quantities to sick
people, valetudinarians, and in all cases of an inward decay;
whilst those that
are in health forbear to drink of it in the winter, as being
apt to open the
pores too much, and to bring colds and coughs upon them; but
in summer indulge
themselves with it in large quantities, in order to supply
those liquids, which
are exhausted by perspiration, with its cherishing and
balsamic juices, to
which they mostly ascribe that fat corpulency which is so
common and admired
amongst them.
Whether this and the green tea
were originally different plants, or whether the same, only
differently
cultivated, is a question that hath for a long time exercised
the talents of
the curious, and is not as yet thoroughly agreed on. The
Chinese could easily
resolve it, if they pleased; but are too shy of the Europeans,
to give them any
the least light into it; so that we are wholly left to resolve
it from the best
observation we can make upon them. According to which, the
former hypothesis seems
the most probable, from the manifest difference not only of
their colour, taste,
flavour, etc. but much more from their different effects; the
one being rough,
and grating to the palate and stomach, even to the degree of
an emetic, if
taken too strong; the other smooth, pleasant, and healing, and
in no case offensive
to it : the one a stomachic, and strong diuretic; the other
rather a sweetener
and purger of the blood by gentle perspiration, and nourishing
and inriching it
by its balsamic quality : yet, after all, the latter notion
hath at length
prevailed; and this difference of their effects has been, with
no small
probability, supposed to proceed from the different times in
which the leaf is
gathered, viz. that of the bohea about a month or five weeks
earlier, whilst
the plant is in its full flow, and the leaves full of its
juice; whereas the
green, by being left so much longer on the tree, and that
sweet juice either dried
up or inspissated by the warmth of the sun, changes its colour
into a fine
green, and contracts that bitterness and roughness which we
find it to have.
What seems to confirm this hypothesis is, that the cultivating
the bohea in the
above-mentioned manner seems to be a discovery and improvement
of a century or
two's standing, before which they knew nothing of it : at
least it is plain,
from the account which Mr. Ten Rhine, who resided sometime in
Japan, and was
physician to the emperor about a century and half ago, hath
given of it, that
it was not then [page 231] known in Japan (D), though it hath
been since introduced
and cultivated there to a much greater perfection than any we
ever had from
China; so that it is supposed that this discovery, being then
but recent, had
not yet reached Japan when that celebrated botanist wrote his
account of the
tea of that country, which mentions no other but the various
sorts of green*.
We shall only add, that as none of their ancient herbals speak
of the Vu-i, or
Bohea, and some of the natives speak of it as a more modern
discovery, there is
reason to think it an improvement on that old sort; but
whether found out by study
or chance, we can no-where find. But it is agreed,
* Willielm Ten
Rhein. excerpt. de Observat. suis Japonic,
de frutice Tchia,
ad fin. et al. ab eo citat. in hort. Malabaric.
Footnote
(D) That learned
botanist tells us expressly, at the end of his description of
that plant, that
though he had heard of a certain sort of black or brown tea in
use among the Chinese,
yet he never saw any; only he had observed, that the coarser
the leaves of the
tea were, the more yellowish or reddish infusion they gave,
and the more disagreeable
to the palate, as well as to the eye; by which it is plain he
speaks only of
the coarser sort of green (28).
It is plain, moreover, to every
curious observer, that there is no difference of shape between
the leaves of
the green and bohea, except that the latter is somewhat more
roundish; but
whether the reason of that be, as some suppose, its being
gathered so much
earlier, and before it hath expanded itself to its full
length, we dare not
affirm, tho' we think it far from improbable. We are indeed
told by some
travellers who have been in China, and pretend to have been
particularly
curious in examining this point, that they had seen
plantations of both sorts,
and apart from each other, and never observed any thing like
both sorts of leaves
being gathered from the same tree, and at different times. But
admitting there
were nothing like that done now, it will not follow that it
was not so
formerly, and by way of trial, in order to discover the
difference of their
virtues; and that being afterwards fully satisfied, that those
leaves, which
were gathered earlier, had a more smooth and balsamic taste
and virtue, they
might not, by way of improvement, examine which trees, or what
climate and
grounds, produced the best bohea, and which the best green,
and so appropriate
them accordingly, and dispose them into different plantations;
only observing
the old method of stripping those of the former so much the
earlier in the
year, as they do to this day.
See the next
note.
(28) Martini, Le
Compte, Nieuhoff, Kaempfer, Du Halde, etc.
[page 232]
that the
different degrees of its goodness and fineness are owing to
the earliness of
the season in which it is gathered (E).
The Chinese not only use the infusion
of it by way of common or diet drink, but take it also in
powder, either in
water, or mixed with other ingredients, and made into a bolus
or electuary.
Their physical books ascribe almost as many virtues to it as
our quacks do to
their pretended panaceas. They prescribe it against the
tenesmus and
haemorrhages, against costiveness, pains of the head or heart,
lowness of spirits,
itching of the small-pox, impostumes in the head, reins,
bladder, etc. stoppage
of the menses, against coughs, phthisic, and other rheumatic
defluxions and
aches, and a number of other diseases; and, to conclude with
one of their most singular
prescriptions, they tell you that the Yu-chu, or finest tea,
powdered, and
mixed with an equal quantity of alum, and taken in a glass of
water, is a
remedy against all sorts of poisons.*
* See Du Halde,
vol. ii. p. 223.
Footnote
(E) This we have
confirmed by several hands, particularly from the account
which Mr. Cunningham,
physician to the English at Chusan, sent of it to the Royal
Society; wherein he
tells them, that the finest, or that which is called the first
bud, is gathered
in March; the Bing, or Imperial, in April or May; the Senglo,
or Green, in May
or June. To this in a great measure agrees Father Du Halde
(29); who adds only,
that that called the Imperial, or Mau-cha, is the leaf
gathered from the shrubs
newly planted, or, as the Chinese style it, the first points
of the leaves :
but this sort is so scarce and precious, that it is seldom
used but in presents,
or sent to the emperor.
The same almost may be said of
the flower of tea, which bears an excessive price, and is only
used by the
richer sort, and that chiefly on particular occasions as
feasts, marriages,
grand entertainments, etc. This last is indeed best when mixed
with the finest
leaves, otherwise it hardly colours the water, and rather
gives a fragrance
than a taste to it; and that is the reason why the Mau-cha, or
Imperial, is
preferred to it at court.
All that need be farther observed
on this head is, that what Mr. Cunningham, and others, call
the first, or
earliest bud, is indeed the finest of the bohea kind; but that
there are a
great many degrees below it of fineness or coarseness in the
leaves, according
as they are more or less blown and spread, and according to
the part of the
tree from which they are gathered; for, during all the time of
their being on
the tree, the leaves on the top are always the smallest and
finest, and consequently
the dearest, and grow proportionably larger and coarser the
nearer they come to
the bottom. The same may be said of the trees, that the older
they are, the coarser
their leaves (30).
(30) Vid. auct. sup.
citat.
[page 233]
Tea is propagated chiefly by sowing;
for that which grows wild and spontaneous is both raking, and
hath such a disagreeable
taste, that none but the poorer sort, who have not the nicest
palates, care to
use it. The time of sowing it is in the second moon of the
year; at which time,
having prepared their ground, they throw nine or ten seeds
into a hole, from which
sometimes only one or two, and sometimes more, shrubs will
spring; which, at a
proper season, are transplanted into another ground, which is
also prepared by
proper manuring. The plant is cultivated with great care; and
that which grows on
the lightest ground, and hath the greatest share of the south
sun, is reckoned
the finest, and thrives best. The shrub or plant hath been
variously described
by authors, some raising it to the height of a tall tree, and
others lowering
it beneath the degree of a common shrub. The truth is, that,
if it be left to
run up to its full height, some of them will shoot up above
that of our tallest
filberds, and, by that means, quite degenerate : but the
Chinese take care to
prevent it, by stinting them to that of six or seven feet.
They commonly transplant
them in regular rows upon little hills, and about three or
four feet from each
other. When they have once taken deep root, they will grow in
spite of rain, snow,
or any weather.
They have several ways of curing
and drying the leaves when stript, in order to make them fit
for use, which we
cannot dwell upon. The bohea is at first dried in the shade;
after which, the
leaves are again expanded by the steam of hot water, and
exposed to the warm sun,
or, if that fails, over a slow fire, in copper or earthen pans
well glazed,
till the heat hath crisped and contracted them into the small
compass they come
to us in. But those of the green sort being commonly less
juicy, are dried up
and crisped in the same manner as soon as gathered. As for
other niceties
relating to their management of that shrub, and its leaves, we
must refer our readers
to the more copious account given of them by the authors often
quoted. The
tea-root is commonly large and well-spread; but, if we may
believe Nieuhoff, is
only fit for burning, tho' the Chinese ascribe some great
virtues to it.
The tree commonly bears leaves
from the top to the bottom; but the nearer to the top, the
finer. The leaf is
oblong, and sharp at the end, and indented round like those of
our rose or sweetbrier;
and the flower not unlike that of the latter, only hath more
leaves; or,
according to others, is like that of the double jessamin, with
six upper and six
under leaves. The fruit or apple is of the bigness of a small
pippin, but more
finely flavoured; and hath a spicy taste, not unlike that of a
clove, the seed
is blackish, round, and of the [page 234] bigness of a small
hazel when green,
or of a large pea when dry. When put into one's mouth, it
yields at first a sweet,
but, being kept longer in it, a bitterish, taste. The Chinese
extract an oil
out of it, which they, especially in the province of Fo-kyen,
use as a kind of sauce
to their victuals. They likewise have a way of pickling the
fine green
tea-leaves, after they have been infused, and eat them with
their meat.