O TH MAS TWINING . The "o er of the i i und Ho use of Tw n ng. [ 1675—1741] After the or iginal picture by Hogarth . T H E I W I ‘NI NGS IN T H R EE CENT U RI ES . PM . h R T wmmc Co Ltd T ea ; , ( cn mo -H n t c f m i : mi y). an the m : m cdebm ic n d the bW ury of t he fim m T H E T W I N I N GS I N T H R EE CENT U R I ES . ’ ’ 6 5a Qtnnats of a (g reat Eamon z ea fi ouse - 1710 1910 . W i h P r its and I llustr ti ns t o tra a o . P e b . W I N d T T I NG Co . Lt ea ublish d y R , . ( m en to M t n of His ajes y) , o the occasion the cel ebration of the bicentenary of the first estab lishment of their business by T homas T wining at of G L St e ye sign ye olden yon in ye rand . ' — N h C O PYR I G H T E T R ED AT S u n omzns H ALL . Tbe Twining ; in Tkree Centurie: "is in the eternal fitness of things tha t the bicentenary of the birth of the great lexicog ra her “ p who confessed himself a hardened, a sh meless tea drinker , whose kettle had ” scarcely time to cool , should be almost immediately followed by the two - hundredth anniversary of Thomas Twining ’s trans ’ ” formation of “ Tom s Coffee House (the of Akenside trysting place Pope , and Birch) into an emporium for the sale and c on sumption of what was still timidly spoken “ of as the new China herb . Tha t “ excellent , and by all Physicians approved, China drink ’ ’ Chineans ‘ T scha ‘ called by the , by other nations Tay “ ’ s n - f alia Tee , had been sold at the Sulta e s Head Cof ee House near the Royal Exchange in the year succee ding the n - Restoration ; Edmu d Waller, the courtier poet, had inter “ mingled his praises of Catherine of Braganza ( the best of “ queens ) with that of Tea ( the best of andSamuel Pepys had greatl y commended “ the China drink which he ” had never before tasted ; but at the beginning of Queen ’ s s Anne s reign , the dawn of what Lord Tennyson describe a The teacup times of hood and h0 0 p And when the patch was worn , the coffee - houses and the tea - houses of the metropolis were still in the proportion of something like three thousand to three . The accession of a Queen who loved tea (she called it e tay just as ardently as her sister hat d it , and the setting ” up of the sign of the “ Golden Lyon by Thomas Twining 1 1 0 early in 7 , combined to bring about a sudden revolution DR I N"ER I N 1 7 A TEA 71 . ro the Me ot t of J . Gree w H m i ood after N. F zz n n on e. ' ( ortra t of the Pa ter s D a t r A p i in ugh e . ) TE A N"IN P O DRI G AT THE ANTHE N , O ""O R D S TREET . [ 1792] Me ot t H re after war s. the From zz in by umph y . Ed d f in public eeling . Pope , who made tea rhyme with obey, saluted Her Maj esty in the oft - quoted lines N N " Here , thou , great A A Whom three realms obey, — ” Dost sometimes counsel take and sometimes tea, 1 1 while Nahum Tate , the Poet Laureate of 7 5, wrote Thus our tea conversations we employ Where with delight, instruction we enjoy uaffin of or Q g , without the waste time wealth , The sovereign drink of pleasure and of health . In 1 7 1 1 Queen Anne appointed Thomas Twining her “ of purveyor teas, and the distinction has been continued of by her successors ever since, the records the accounts of eight sovereigns forming an interesting department of “ the Golden Lyon archives . From the day Thomas Twining opened his doors the popularity of “ the grand elixir amongst all conditions of men and women increased of by leaps and bounds , and in the person Peter Motteux , “ the once despised China drink discovered a versifier wholly devoted to the laudation of what was now a a . roy l beverage According to Motteux , a fierce contest took place amongst the gods as to the merits of the ” ” e d coction , which found an eloquent champion in modest Hebe ; Bacchus made a good fight for the j uice of the “ ’ forc d k n grape , but , dran sober tea at last while listeni g to his condemnation ’ a ‘ " Immort ls , hear , said jove, and cease to jar Tea must succeed to wine as peace to war Nor by the grape let men be set at odds , ’ a . But sh re in tea, the nectar of the gods U p to the end of the first decade of the eighteenth ’ a ff T om century the riv l co ee houses , and the “ ” Grecian , drew crowds to Devereux Court, while close “ ’ was by George s (only a little less fashionable) , where Shenstone could read all the lesser pamphlets of the day for . a shilling subscription Addison , Steele , Goldsmith and ” habitués . Newton were all of the Grecian The first of them , of at any rate , must have bestowed some his patronage ’ ” of on Twining, Tom s , under the new order of things , for “ ” in a number of The Freeholder in 1 7 1 5 he writes of “ of - a lady who had a design keeping an open tea table, where every man shall be welcome that is a friend to ” of King George . During the reign the first two Hano verian monarchs the bold venture of Thomas Twining ’ prospered exceedingly . Altho tea cost from twenty to i . a thirty sh llings a pound , Mr Edw rd Walford writes , great ladies used to flock to Twining’s house in Devereux Court (then , as now, the premises occupied by the premier English tea - house cover the whole space lying between old- the Strand and the shady world quadrangle , on the ‘ 1 6 6 walls of which the words This is Deveraux Courte , 7 can still be read) in order to sip the enlivening beverage in very small china cups, for which they paid their shillings , much as nowadays (Walford wrote in the eighteen seventies they sit in their carriages eating ices at the door ’ ” of Gunter s in Berkeley Square on hot days in June . A curious illustrated broadside of about 1 740 has come into the writer’s possession which depicts the scene at Twining ' s ’ Motteux s very happily . In the accompanying verses Peter “ ” nectar of the gods is first associated with feminine tittle - tattle The Smell how fragrant and the Form how nice ’ ’ Tis good in ev ry Thing , but in the Price . U nnumbered Sums the wearied Merchants get, ’ And Husbands tremble at th approaching Fleet ; ’ I wist not what its name in H ea v n may be ' f To us below tis known by that o TEA . Ladies of all Degrees at this repast For all Degrees of Mischief have a Taste . The half century which followed the setting up of the sign of the Golden Lyon in the Strand was an epoch in which the tea - garden played almost as important a part as the - f tea house . One o these popular places of amusement and . of refreshment , Mr Boulton tells us , occupied the very site ’ the present underground railway station at King s Cross , while others flourished on the spot which is now a very wilderness of railway bridges and shunting grounds behind i on the great termini in the Euston Road . As t me went the tea - gardens spread over a tract of country which one on included Bayswater on hand and Stepney the other, out n stretched to Kilbur , Belsize , Hampstead , Hornsey and s i and Dalston , studded generou ly the whole distr ct so 8 1 IN 750. M. R J O "I RS DR . OHNS N TA NG TEA WITH TH ALE - BOR U CI R . 1770 80 . IN THE O GH , 10 included with those popular resorts, the names of whose or springs , proprietors attractions are yet preserved in the names of the streets which to - day cover the scenes of their ancient delights . The glories of Islington Spa or New Tunbridge Wells were only completely extinguished in the reign of Queen Victoria, although Ned Ward had extolled its lime avenues , - its . tea house , its dancing saloon and its gaming tables In 1 733 the Princesses Caroline and Amelia were often to be seen at Islington Spa, and they occasionally graced with - Ba ni e their presence the tea tables of g gg Wells , situate a of little to the north the Clerkenwell Police Court, and famous in the days of Thomas Twining for its early breakfasts , at which tea, bread and butter and cakes made on the premises were consumed in enormous quantities . 1 88 In February, 7 , Robert Sayer published a delightful B ni print of a scene at ag gg e Wells Gardens . Beneath it ran the lines All innocent within the shade you see This little Party sip salubrious Tea, Soft Tittle - Tattle rises from the stream ’ S weeten d each word with Sugar and with Cream .