Perhaps it will not be deemed foreign to an essay upon this subject, to take a concise view of the manners and dispositions of the Chinese, as we have done of their diseases. Those who are best acquainted with human nature seem to ascribe even to their food, and way of life, as well as to their climate and education, certain propensities at least to vice and virtue; and it may be of use to draw what light we can in these respects, from the character of a people, who have used the infusion of Tea for a long series of years.
They are in general described to be a people of moderate strength of body, not capable of much hard labour, rather feeble when compared with the inhabitants of some nations, excelling in some minute fabricks and manufactures, but exhibiting no proofs of elevated genius in architecture, either civil or military. They are said to be pusillanimous, cunning, extremely libidinous, and remarkable for dissimulation and selfishness[94], effeminate, revengeful, and dishonest[95].
It would be unjust to ascribe all these qualities to their manner of living: other causes have undoubtedly their share: but it may be suspected, that the manner of life, or kind of diet, that tends to debilitate, virtually contributes to the increase of the meaner qualities. When force of body is wanting, cunning often supplies its place; and if not regulated by other principles, it would discover its effects more universally; and thus will take place whether the debility is natural, or acquired by a diet that enfeebles the body. That there is a probity, fortitude, and generosity, in female minds, not inferior to the like qualities possessed by the other sex, is most certain; but that it is generally so may perhaps be doubted;
though bothNot equal, as their sex not equal seem’d;For contemplation he and valour form’d,For softness she, and sweet attractive grace[96].
though bothNot equal, as their sex not equal seem’d;For contemplation he and valour form’d,For softness she, and sweet attractive grace[96].
though both
Not equal, as their sex not equal seem’d;
For contemplation he and valour form’d,
For softness she, and sweet attractive grace[96].
Whether the present age exhibits as many instances of superior excellence as the preceding, is beyond my abilities to determine: that it is tarnished more than some others with one vice at least, is generally confessed; and it may, perhaps, be a problem not unworthy of consideration, whether the general use of Tea may not gradually increase the disposition. For whatever tends to debilitate, seems for the most part to augment corporeal sensibility. The same person, who in healthdoes not start at the firing of a cannon, shall be extremely disconcerted when sunk by disease to the border of effeminacy, at the sudden opening of a door. Desire is not always proportioned to bodily strength: it may sometimes be strongest when the corporeal strength is at the lowest ebb; it is often found so; and therefore another reason occurs, why the general use of Tea ought not to be considered as the most indifferent of all subjects.
From what has been said upon this subject, it will probably be admitted, that children and very young persons in general should be deterred from the use of this infusion. It weakens their stomachs, impairs the digestive powers, and favours the generation of many diseases. We seldom perceive the rudiments of scrophulous diseases so often any where as in the weak feeble offspring of the inhabitants of towns, and whose breakfast and supper often consist of the weak runnings of ordinary Tea, with its usual appurtenances. It ought by no means to be the common diet of boarding-schools; if it be allowed sometimes as a treat, the children should at the same time be informed, that the constant use of it would be injurious to their health, strength, and constitution in general.