PRINTED FOR RICHARD PHILLIPS, No. 6, BRIDGE-STREET; (Price Twelve Shillings half-bound.) Printed by J. ADLARD, Duke-street, Smithfield. On the 30th of July was published, the SUPPLEMENTARY NUMBER to our Twenty-fifth Volume, containing HALF-YEARLY RETROSPECTS of DOMESTIC and FRENCH LITERATURE, ACCOUNT of the PICTURES in the MARQUIS of STAFFORD'S GALLERY, with copious INDEXES, TITLE, &c. THE MONTHLY MAGAZINE. No. 174.] AUGUST 1, 1808. [1 of VOL. 26. "As long as thofe who write ale ambitious of making Converrs, and of giving to their Opinions a Maximum of * Influence at Celebrity, the mot extensively circulated Mifcellany will repay with the greated Effect the "Curiosity of those who read either for Amusement or Inftruction." JOHNSON, ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. For the Monthly Magazine. "Plantæ numerosissime quibus obvestit globum terraqueum Deus optimus maximus, "Sunt totidem documenta infinitæ sapientiæ, nate in gloriam sui creatoris, et in commodum hominis, cujus est eas intueri." Amen. Acad. v. 6. p. 40. 66 WRITER under the signature of AE. N. in your Magazine of May last, p. 305, on the subject of Tea, opens his essay by disclaiming the traffic with China, under the enlightened ideas of the commercial part of the community;" and with this impression expresses his wonder that this plant has never been cultivated in some of our numerous settlements in the latitude of China;" and asks, “why, then, among the many speculations of the present age, is not this attempted?" He concludes with inquiries, whether the Europeans are possessed of the genuine tea-tree, and whether it is cultivated with success in any country except China?" In your magazine for July, page 518, a writer, subscribing Phytophilus, resumes the subject in answer to E. N. and affords ample evidence that this vegetable grows in many gardens in England, and asserts that its more "extensive cultivation is encouraged in the West Indies, and particularly in Jamaica, by the offer of preraiums." He then exhibits many substitutes for exotic tea; and, after some remarks on the influence of fashion, predicts that this prevalent one of drinking tea will cease, and concludes that "the great Tchien Long may then chaunt his Mooley-wha, till he is weary, before a British keel cut the Pekaing in quest of it." When I first perused E. N.'s letter, I entertained a hope, that, on a subject so interesting as tea, in diet, morals and commerce, some of your correspondents would have calmly considered it, and elucidated it by a clear historical and commercial history. MONTHLY MAG. No. 174. But whatever may be ascribed to the communication of Phytophilus, I presume to think, that the subject is not exhausted. With respect to the opinions of both the writers I have alluded to, of the commercial disadvantages of the tea-trade with China, I totally differ: but I shall defer its discussion till the conclusion of this essay. In the mean time, I hope you will not deem me tedious, in treading in some degree on the same ground with Phytophilus, in tracing the first introduc tion of the tea-plant into England. The Europeans were long anxious to procure this exotic; and the Chinese who were dexterous in deception, employed various means of imposition, as Mocquet* exemplifies, and Osbeckt confirms, which might have contributed to the mistake of Dr. Hill, and from him adopted by Linné, who described the Green and Bohea-teas as two distinct species. Kæmpfer,§ however, who embraced this opinion, has certainly depicted and very accurately described this genuine exotic. 264, which is truly diverting, in the imposi tion of a factitious duck. Voyages and Travels, an. 1606, 1. 4, p. Voyage to China, 1. 2. p. 17. respecting the Tsubakki. Two specimens of this plant were introduced into the physic garden at Upsal. About the year 1755, they were brought over by M. Lagerstrom, a director of the Swedish East India company, under the supposition of being tea-plants, till they appeared in blossom, when they proved to be the species of Tsubakki, called by Linnè, Ca mellia. Spe. Pl. p. 982. This celebrated na turalist says, "that the leaves of his Camellia are so like the true tea-tree, that they might deceive a skilful botanist," Hill, Exot. t. 22. Amenit. Acad. Upsal. v. 7. p. 248. Also Breyn. Exot. Plant. Cent. p. 111. Hist. de l'Academ. des Sciences, 1776, p. 52. This was confirmed to me by a letter I was honored with from Linnè himself, who, speaking of the British nation for science, defines it, the punctum vitæ in vitelļu orbis. § Ameait, Exot, p. 697. B I readily I readily confirm Phytophilus' information of John Ellis, Esq. having possessed the first tea-plant in Europe; and the history of this acquisition is curous. Prior to the year 1768, I was intimately acquainted with him, and attended many of his ingenious experiments on Animalcule. He informed me that he sowed several tea-seeds, sent to him in a cauister, in pots, which he placed in the opening or garden of his lodging in (I think) Gray's inu. One plant only was raised, which he presented to Kew Garden, so that the first tea-plant that vegetated in Europe, was raised in the center of London! About this time, if I mistake not, the late Duke of Northumberland received a plant from China, which was the first that flowered here, at his seat at Sionhouse. From this plant Millert engraved his Icon, which embellished his grand illustration of the Sexual System of Linné, since imitated by Dr. Thornton: but the Jargest tea-plant which flowered soon af ter this period was at Upton, the seat of Dr. Fothergill. I measured it a yard and half high; it was planted in the open air, and matted in the winter: it did not long survive its original proprietor. Pigou, Esq. Asiatic Register for 1802, page 1, of Miscellaneous Tracts, possess considerable information on this oriental vegetable. The last is particularly minute respecting the varieties of commercial teas, places of growth in China, and methods of preparation; different in many respects fioin every other author. Many writers on tea, particularly the early ones, either pretended to have discovered it, or proposed substitutes for it. Simon Pauli, an eminent physician at Copenhagen, was the first who assumed the discovery of tea in Europe, in the Myrica Gale, who was afterwards refuted by Dr. Mentzel of Berlin, in consequence of specimens received from the Father East Indies by Dr. Cleyer.‡ Labats next thought he had discovered the tea-tree in Martinico, in a species of As a substitute for tea, Lysimachia. Lochners particularly recommended veronica, besides which sage,¶ myrtle,** wild betony, †† sloe, agrimony, The tea-plant is indigenous in China and Japan; and some authors add also Siam. Percival in his account of the island of Ceylon ob serves that he was informed by an officer in the 80th regiment, of his having found the genuine tea-plant in this island; but I doubt the information. Compare Mason's Costume of China. On the subject of tea-plants in England, I would add nothing further, than to thank Phytophilus for his information respecting the plants cultivated in the + Linné Syst, Natur. v. 3. p. 651. Wilhel. environs of London; except that of reSeyl. Epist apud Simon. Pauli Comment. Hudferring him to a useful paper by Sir Joson's A. Ang. p. 368. seph Banks, in the Memoirs of the Horticultural Society, on the means of initiating exotics to the climate of England, a subject, which I noticed nearly forty years This great naturalist, with Dr. Fothergill and Peter Collinson, to whom might be added Sir William Watson and Franklin, formed the great school of Naturalists after the decease of Sir Hans Sloane. Are there any memoirs of John Ellis? I fear that this ingenious naturalist has not yet found a biographer. His works on Corals and Corallines place him high in the ranks of science. Miller, or Miller, drew the Hortus I think this colUpton. of Fothergill. lection was sold to the Empress of Russia for 1,5001. Acta Haffniensia and Ephemer. Dec. 11. Ann. iv. § Nouveau Voyage aux Iles de l'Ame rique, Paris 1721. De novis Theæ et Coffee Succedaneis, 4to Hall. 1717. Veronica officinalis, Flor. Suec. p. 12. Veronic. Chamed. Fl. Suec. p. 18. Pechlin Theophilus Bibaculus, Francfort, 1684. Francus de Veronica; Cobourg, 1690, 12mo. 1700. Paris, sub titulo, le Thè de 1'Europe, 1704, and 1707, 12mo. Fred. Hoffm. de infusi Veronicæ efficacia præferenda herbæ Theæ, 4to all. 1694. Fr. Afforry & jos. de Tournefort, Ergo potus ex salvia salubris, 1659. Wedel, de Salvia, 4to. 1707. Jena, Paulini Nobilis Salvia, Aug. Vindel. 1688. 8vo. ** Simon Pauli de Abusu There; Strasburg, 1665. Lond. 1746. + Hence the Italian proverb Vende la tonica, &. compra la Betonica. Withering. Act of Parliament, 17 Geo, iii. ch. 29. on Act. 4. Geo. 2. $$ Joseph Seres, Lettera sopra la bevanda, &c. Veron. 1730 Thomasius, Thea ex Rosa, in Cent. iii, Nat. Curios. p. 199. Also Cent. vii. Obs. 15. auctore Fischer. |