simple and expeditious.

[87] Mr. Twining, an eminent tea-merchant, asserts, that "the leaves of
spurious tea are boiled in a copper, with copperas and sheep's
dung."--See Encyclop. Britan. vol. xviii. p. 331. 1797. See also the
History of the Tea Plant, p. 48; and p. 167 of this Treatise.

_Counterfeit Coffee._

The fraud of counterfeiting ground coffee by means of pigeon's beans and
pease, is another subject which, not long ago, arrested the attention of
the public: and from the numerous convictions of grocers prosecuted for
the offence, it is evident that this practice has been carried on for a
long time, and to a considerable extent.

The following statement exhibits some of the prosecutions, instituted by
the Solicitor of the Excise, against persons convicted of the fraud of
manufacturing spurious, and adulterating genuine coffee.

Alexander Brady, a grocer, (_See p. 182_) prosecuted and convicted of
selling _sham-coffee_, said, "I have sold it for twenty years." Some of
the persons prosecuted by the Solicitor of the Excise for this fraud, we
might, at first sight, be inclined to believe, were inconscious that the
adulterating of genuine coffee with spurious substances was illegal; but
this ignorance affords no excuse, as the Act of the 43 Geo. III. cap.
129, explicitly states: "If after the first day of September, 1803, any
burnt, scorched, or roasted pease, beans, or other grain, or vegetable
substance or substances prepared or manufactured for the purpose of
being in imitation of or in any respect to resemble coffee or cocoa, or
to serve as a substitute for coffee or cocoa, or alleged or pretended by
the possessor or vender thereof so to be, _shall be made_, or kept for
sale, or shall be _offered_ or _exposed to sale_, or shall be _found_ in
the custody or possession of any _dealer_ or dealers in or _seller_ or
sellers of _coffee_, or if any burnt, scorched, or roasted pease, beans,
or other grain, or vegetable substance or substances not being coffee,
shall be called by the preparer, manufacturer, possessor, or vender
thereof, by the name of _English_ or _British_ coffee, or _any other
name_ of coffee, or by the name of _American_ cocoa, or _English_ or
_British_ cocoa, or any other name of cocoa, the same respectively shall
be forfeited, together with the packages containing the same, and shall
and may be seized by any officer or officers of Excise; and the person
or persons preparing, manufacturin