xotic novelty, considered our sage to be more precious than their
tea.

The first introduction of tea into Europe is not ascertained; according
to the common accounts it came into England from Holland, in 1666, when
Lord Arlington and Lord Ossory brought over a small quantity: the custom
of drinking tea became fashionable, and a pound weight sold then for
sixty shillings. This account, however, is by no means satisfactory. I
have heard of Oliver Cromwell's tea-pot in the possession of a
collector, and this will derange the chronology of those writers who are
perpetually copying the researches of others, without confirming or
correcting them.[184]

Amidst the rival contests of the Dutch and the English East India
Companies, the honour of introducing its use into Europe may be claimed
by both. Dr. Short conjectures that tea might have been known in England
as far back as the reign of James the First, for the first fleet set out
in 1600; but had the use of the shrub been known, the novelty had been
chronicled among our dramatic writers, whose works are the annals of our
prevalent tastes and humours. It is rather extraordinary that our East
India Company should not have discovered the use of this shrub in their
early adventures; yet it certainly was not known in England so late as
in 1641, for in a scarce "Treatise of Warm Beer," where the title
indicates the author's design to recommend hot in preference to cold
drinks, he refers to tea only by quoting the Jesuit Maffei's account,
that "they of China do for the most part drink the strained liquor of an
herb called _Chia_ hot." The word _Cha_ is the Portuguese term for tea
retained to this day, which they borrowed from the Japanese; while our
intercourse with the Chinese made us no doubt adopt their term _Theh_,
now prevalent throughout Europe, with the exception of the Portuguese.
The Chinese origin is still preserved in the term _Bohea_, tea which
comes from the country of _Vouhi_; and that of _Hyson_ was the name of
the most considerable Chinese then concerned in the trade.

The best account of the early use, and the prices of tea in England,
appears in the handbill of one who may be called our first _Tea-maker_.
This curious handbill bears no date, but as Hanway ascertained that the
price was sixty shillings in 1660, his bill must have been dispersed
about that period.

Thomas Garway, in Exchange-alley, tobacconist and coffee-man, was the
first who sold and retailed