1892 Drinks of the world

DRINKS.

268

of Hanway's Essay, and demolished it. Johnson cer- tainly was an immoderate and enthusiastic tea drinker, and somewhat a tyrant over it, as Mrs. Piozzi rather ruefully relates. " By this pathetic manner, which no one ever possessed in so eminent a degree, he used to shock me from quitting his company, till I hurt my own health not a little by sitting up with him, when an easy matter to oblige him even by compliance, for he always main- tained that no one forebore their own gratifications for the sake of pleasing another ; and if one did sit up, it was, probably, to amuse one's self. Some right, how- ever, he certainly had to say so, as he made his com- pany exceedingly entertaining, when he had once forced one, by his vehement lamentations and piercing reproofs, not to leave the room, but to sit quietly, and make tea for him, as I often did in London till four o'clock in the morning." When dining one day with William Scibtt (after- wards Lord Stowell), Johnson told a little story of Garrick and his tea drinking. " I remember drinking tea with him long ago, when Peg Woffington made it, and he grumbled at her for making it too strong." But the names of worthy and eminertt tea drinkers are legion, and its virtues are so patent that even our Legislators have a room set apart in the Houses of Parliament for the discussion of it and other matters. One or two words only, before concluding the sub- ject of tea, and those are to show how to make a good cup of tea. The teapot should be thoroughly warmed, and the 1 was myself far from well ; nor was it