comed, with an unblushing face and open arms, the unbloody, blood-stained murderer of her husband. Well has it been said, "that in hatred, as in love, woman knows no measure."

Though equal pains her peace of mind destroy,

A husband's torments gave her spiteful joy."

I will give another case from the descriptive Pepys, in his own words : "Here Creed did tell us,” he says, the story of the duel last night in Covent Garden, between Sir H. Bellasis and Tom Porter. It is worth remembering the silliness of the quarrel, and is a kind of emblem of the general complexion of this whole kingdom. The two dined yesterday at Sir Robert Carr's, where, it appears, people do drink high, all that come. It happened that these two, the greatest friends in the world, were talking together; and Sir H. Bellasis talked a little louder than ordinary to Tom Porter, giving of him some advice. Some of the company, standing by, said,What, are they quarrelling, that they talk so high? Sir H. Bellasis, hearing it, said, 'No; I would have you know I never quarrel, but I strike; and take that as a rule of mine!' 'How!' said Tom Porter; 'strike! I would I could see the man in England that durst give me a blow!' With that, Sir H. Bellasis did give him a box of the ear, and so they were going to fight there, but were hindered. By and by Tom Porter went out, and, meeting Dryden the poet, told him the business, and that he was resolved to fight Sir H. Bellasis presently-for he knew that if they did not, they should be friends to-morrow, and then the blow would rest upon him, which he would prevent-and desired Dryden to let him have his boy to bring him notice which way Sir H. Bellasis goes. By and by he is informed that Sir H. Bellasis's coach was coming; so Tom Porter went down out of the coffee-house, where he stayed for the tidings, and stopped the coach, and bade Sir H. Bellasis come out. Why,' says Bellasis, 'you will not hurt me coming out, will you?' 'No,' said Tom Porter; so out he went, and both drew; and Bellasis, having drawn, flung away his scabbard. Tom Porter asked him whether he was ready; the other answering he was, they fell to fight, some of their acquaintances being by. They wounded one another, and Bellasis so much that it is feared he will die; and, finding himself severely wounded, he called to Tom Porter and kissed him, and bade him shift for himself; ' For,' said he, 'Tom, thou hast hurt me, but I will make shift to stand on my legs till thou mayest withdraw, and the world will not take notice of you, for I would not have thee troubled for what thou hast done.' And so, whether he did fly or not, I cannot tell; but Tom Porter showed Bellasis that he was wounded too, and

they are both very ill; but Bellasis to fear of life." He died ten days after, lamentably illustrating the following two lines:

"He strives for trifles, and for toys contends,

And then in earnest what he says defends."

There was also another singular duel, and with a very singular character-the celebrated dwarf, Jeffrey Hudson, who, when seven years old, was scarcely eighteen inches high. He was once served up to Charles I. in a cold pie.

In the civil wars this tiny man was a captain of horse, and, after that monarch's death, accompanied the queen to France. While there, he had the misfortune to get into a dispute with Mr. Crofts, a brother of Lord Crofts, who, accounting him an object, not of anger, but of contempt, accepted the chalenge to fight a duel, yet coming armed only with a squirt. This little creature was so enraged-for he came "big with daring determination," that a real duel ensued; and, the appointment being on horseback, with pistols, Jeffrey, with his first shot, killed his antagonist. He died in 1632, and was only three feet nine inches in height.

This little object felt in full force the dire effects of his pugnacity, so well expressed in the following lines on boxing, by Anstey :

"Now, fighting is itself an action
That gives both parties satisfaction;
A secret joy the bruiser knows,
In giving and receiving blows;
A nameless pleasure, only tasted

By those who've thoroughly been basted."

Lord Byron says: "Assassination is the origin of duelling and wild justice, as Lord Bacon calls it. It is the fount of the modern point of honour: is what the laws cannot or will not reach. Every man is liable to it more or less, according to circumstance or place."

These affairs were, until lately, settled with swords. The duels in which the brilliant Sheridan was engaged in 1772, in consequence of his marriage with Miss Linley, who, according to Bishop Jackson, of Exeter, "seemed to him the connecting link between woman and angel,”* were with swords, though they had pistols.

* Mrs. Sheridan's singing was so beautiful, it was likened to Egyptian enbalming, "extracting the brain through the ear."

"None knew her but to love her,
None named her but to praise."

147

TEA, COFFEE, AND CHOCOLATE.

"-Grin, and give ye, for the vine's pure blood,

A loathsome potion not yet understood

Syrop of soot, or essence of old shoes,

Dash't with diurnals and the books of news." 1663.

THESE articles, which now form so important a part of commerce, are all of modern introduction into Europe. Which of them were first introduced, or whether the English, Dutch, or Spaniards first introduced them, are questions difficult to solve.

They may be considered as novelties of the seventeenth century, and speedily engaged the pens of various writers, who seem to have been in great consternation on their account. Few articles have produced such great changes as these in the domestic family arrangement-such as the immense amount of money constantly in circulation in purchasing the articles to be consumed, and the various tackling to prepare them. The social tea-table is a marked feature of the present age, where fly the jokes and jibes of all parties, all ages, sexes, sizes, and conditions. Here may often be heard the counsels of wisdom, putting one in mind of the xxv. chap. of Proverbs, ver. 12: "As an ear-ring of gold and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear. But sometimes is it also the medium of scandal; which reminds one "that a froward man soweth strife, and a whisperer separateth chief friends."

"Again, some friend is a companion at thy table, but will not continue in the days of thy affliction." Eccles. 6: 10.

I have often thought that our tea-cups, saucers, dishes, and plates might easily be turned into the means of imparting much instruction, if a judicious selection of these divine maxims were imprinted on them; and thus might the art of lettering and gilding, in the language of Roscommon, " be mixed with profit and delight."

About

From D'Israeli and others I learn that John Bull's government soon turned tea, coffee, and chocolate to account, by enumerating them among other articles in the excise acts. 1660, every gallon of coffee paid four pence; every gallon of tea, chocolate, and sherbet, eight pence; and these sums were levied on the makers. Pepys, in his Diary, 25th September, 1661, writes: "I sent for a cup of tea, a Chinese drink I never drank before." Queen Catherine, according to Waller the poet, brought it into fashion in 1662. In 1664 the East India Company could only procure two pounds two ounces, at the cost of forty shillings the pound. In 1666 they paid fifty shillings per

pound for twenty-two pounds and three-quarters. In 1669 their own importation was one canister, of 1431⁄2 lbs., from Bantam: they had it only second hand for some time. After the revolution, tea became common. Thus "the progress of this famous plant has been somewhat like the progress of truth; suspected at first, though very palatable to those who had the courage to taste it; resisted, as it encroached; abused, as its popularity seemed to spread; and establishing its triumph at last in cheering the whole land, from the palace to the cottage, only by the slow and resistless efforts of time and its own virtues."*-Edinborough Review.

Thomas Garway, in Exchange-alley, Cornhill, tobacconist and coffee man, was the first who sold and retailed tea, recommending it for the cure of all disorders. The following is his shop-bill:

"Tea in England hath been sold, in the leaf, for six pounds, and sometimes for ten pounds, the pound weight; and, in respect of its former scarceness and dearness, it hath been only used as a regalia in high treatments and entertainments, and presents made thereof to princes and grandees, till the year 1657. The said Garway did purchase a quantity thereof, and first publicly sold the said tea in leaf or drink, made according to the directions of the most knowing merchants trading into those eastern countries. On the knowledge of the said Garway's continued care and industry in obtaining the best tea, and making drink thereof, very many noblemen, physicians, merchants, &c., have ever since sent to him for the said leaf, and daily resort to his house to drink thereof. He sells tea from 16s. to 50s. a pound." From the prices, it is supposed this bill was issued in 1660.

In the year 1652 an English Turkish merchant brought a Greek slave to London, who taught the art of roasting coffee, and put forth the following hand-bill:

"The vertue of the coffee drink, first publiquely made and sold in England by Pasqua Rosee, in St. Michael's-alley, Cornhill, at the sign of his own head."

In the "Women's petition against coffee," 1674, they complained that “it made men as unfruitful as the deserts whence that unhappy berry is said to be brought that the offspring of our mighty ancestors would dwindle into a succession of apes and pigmies; and, on a domestic message, husbands would stop by the way to drink a couple of cups of coffee."

The chocolate was brought from Mexico, where it was called chocollatti: it was a coarse mixture of ground cacao and Indian corn with rocou; but the Spaniards, liking its nourish

*It now takes sixty millions of pounds to supply Europe and America In 1700 the English had a factory at Chusan. App. xiv.

ment, improved it into a richer compound, with sugar, vanilla, and other aromatics.

These articles were the means of causing the resort of people to coffee-houses; and, when so met, in those exciting times of religious and political discussions, they soon attracted the notice of the government, as well as different party writers. In "A broad-side against coffee, or the marriage of the Turk," 1672, the writer notices this change in the manners:

"Confusion huddles all into one scene,

Like Noah's ark, the clean and the unclean;
For now, alas! the drench has credit got,
And he's no gentleman who drinks it not.

That such a dwarf should rise to such a stature!
But custom is but a remove from nature."

In 1675 Charles the II., by a proclamation, shut them all up for a time. A general discontent took place, and emboldened the merchants and retailers of coffee and tea to petition: permission was granted to open them to a certain period, under a severe admonition that the masters should prevent all scandalous papers, books, and libels being read in them, and hinder every person from spreading scandalous reports against the government. This would be a difficult matter for the masters to decide upon; for how could they determine what was scandalous, what book was fit to be read, and what political intelligence might be proper to communicate?

The Earl of Cork, in the following verse, could have told them

"There is a lust in man no charm can tame,
Of loudly publishing his neighbour's shame;
On eagle's wings immortal scandals fly,

While virtuous actions are but born to die." HORACE.

On the introduction of chocolate, Roger North thus complains: "The use of coffee-houses seems much improved by a new invention called chocolate-houses, for the benefit of rooks and culleys of quality, where gaming is added to all the rest, and the summons of w- seldom fail; as if the devil had erected a new university, and those were the colleges of its professors as well as his schools of divinity."

As coffee was sold in such small quantities as penny-worths, these places were called " penny universities."

At the close of the seventeenth century a house near the bottom of Fleet-street commenced selling saloop, which was nothing more than an infusion of sassafras served with milk and sugar it was a beverage pleasant to my taste. I have also seen it sold at the corners of streets. The use of it has declined, I