but the ordinary
beverages drunk in the British isles, may be divided into three
classes:--1. Beverages of the simplest kind not fermented. 2. Beverages,
consisting of water, containing a considerable quantity of carbonic
acid. 3. Beverages composed partly of fermented liquors. Of the first
class may be mentioned,--water, toast-and-water, barley-water, eau
sucre, lait sucre, cheese and milk whey, milk-and-water, lemonade,
orangeade, sherbet, apple and pear juice, capillaire, vinegar-and-water,
raspberry vinegar and water.

1790. Of the common class of beverages, consisting of water impregnated
with carbonic acid gas, we may name soda-water, single and double,
ordinary effervescing draughts, and ginger-beer.

1791. The beverages composed partly of fermented liquors, are hot spiced
wines, bishop, egg-flip, egg-hot, ale posset, sack posset, punch, and
spirits-and-water.

1792. We will, however, forthwith treat on the most popular of our
beverages, beginning with the one which makes "the cup that cheers but
not inebriates."

1793. The beverage called tea has now become almost a necessary of life.
Previous to the middle of the 17th century it was not used in England,
and it was wholly unknown to the Greeks and Romans. Pepys says, in his
Diary,--"September 25th, 1661.--I sent for a cup of tea (a China drink),
of which I had never drunk before." Two years later it was so rare a
commodity in England, that the English East-India Company bought 2 lbs.
2 oz. of it, as a present for his majesty. In 1666 it was sold in London
for sixty shillings a pound. From that date the consumption has gone on
increasing from 5,000 lbs. to 50,000,000 lbs.

1794. Linnaeus was induced to think that there were two species of
tea-plant, one of which produced the black, and the other the green
teas; but later observations do not confirm this. When the leaves of
black and green tea are expanded by hot water, and examined by the
botanist, though a difference of character is perceived, yet this is not
sufficient to authorize considering them as distinct species. The
tea-tree flourishes best in temperate regions; in China it is
indigenous. The part of China where the best tea is cultivated, is
called by us the "tea country." The cultivation of the plant requires
great care. It is raised chiefly on the sides of hills; and, in order to
increase the quantity and improve the quality of the leaves, the shrub
is pruned, so as not to exceed the height of f