Pope sings in the _Rape of the Lock_, canto i.

"Soft yielding minds to water glide away,
And sip with nymphs their elemental tea."


And also in canto iii--

"Where thou great Anna, whom these realms obey,
Dost sometimes counsel take, and sometimes tea."


And finally in the Basset Table--

"Tell, tell your grief, attentive will I stay,
Though time is precious, and I want some tea."


_Shepherd_. A body might think frae thae rhymes, that Pop had been
an Eerishman.

* * * * *


"MERRY ENGLAND."


The people of England, we fear, have at last forfeited the proud title
of "merry," to distinguish them from other and less happy, because more
serious, nations; for now they sadden at amusement, and sicken and turn