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 health does 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.