1892 Drinks of the world

DRINKS.

253

been in use any length of time in France before it would be drank, as a novelty, in England, and by the year 1660 it had become in such general use that it was made a vehicle for taxation, as we see by the 12 Chas. II., c. 23 : *' For every gallon of Chocolate, Sherbet, and Tea, made and sold, to be paid by the Makers thereof, Eightpence," and men were appointed to visit the coffee-houses twice daily to see the quan- tity brewed. But this was so inconvenient, that in 1688, after giving this scheme a good trial, the Act was repealed by I Will. & Mary, c. 40, and the duties on coffee, chocolate, and tea (for this latter i^. per lb.) were charged and collected at the Custom House, because ** It hath been found by experience, that the collecting of the duty arising to your Majesties by virtue of several Acts of Parliament, by way of excise, upon the liquors of Coffee, Chocolate and Tea, is not only very troublesome and unequal upon the retailers of those liquors, but requireth such attendance of officers, as makes the neat receipt very inconsiderable." In the British Museum is a broadside folio ad- vertisement, supposed to be about a.d, 1600, of a tobacconist, one Thomas Garway, who kept a coffee- house in Exchange Alley, known up till late years, when it has disappeared in the universal rage for improvements, as Garra way's Coffee House. It is as follows : " 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 and Seller and Retailer of TEA and COFFEE.