Wesley Corpus

I could not imagine what should occasion the shaking of my hand; till I observed it was always worst after breakfast; and that if I intermitted drinking tea for two or three days, it did not shake at all. Upon inquiry, I found tea had the same effect upon others also of my acquaintance; and therefore saw that this was one of its natural effects, (as several Physicians have often remarked,) especially when it is largely and fre quently drank; and most of all on persons of weak nerves. Upon "--~" -- LETTER. To A FRIEND CONCERNING TEA. 505 this I lessened the quantity, drank it weaker, and added more milk and sugar. But still for above six-and-twenty years I was more or less subject to the same disorder. 4. July was two years I began to observe that abundance of the people of London, with whom I conversed, laboured under the same, and many other, paralytic disorders, and that in a much higher degree; insomuch that some of their nerves were quite unstrung; their bodily strength quite decayed, and they could not go through their daily labour. I inquired, “Are you not a hard drinker?” and was answered by one and another, and another, “No, indeed, Sir, not I; I drink scarce anything but a little tea, morning and night.” I immediately remembered my own case; and, after weighing the matter throughly, easily gathered from many concurring circumstances, that it was the same case with them. 5. I considered, “What an advantage would it be to these poor enfeebled people, if they would leave off what so manifestly impairs their health, and thereby hurts their business also ! Is there nothing equally cheap which they could use? Yes, surely; and cheaper too. If they used English herbs in its stead, (which would cost either nothing, or what is next to nothing,) with the same bread, butter, and milk, they would save just the price of the tea. And hereby they might not only lessen their pain, but in some degree their poverty too; for they would be able to work (as well as to save) considerably more than they can do now. And by this means, if they are in debt, they might be more just, paying away what they either earned or saved.