Editing Jonas Hanway (section)

==Opposition to tea==
[[File:J. Hanway, An essay on tea; effects of tea Wellcome L0016394.jpg|thumb|The frontispiece to the ''Essay on Tea'' with a scene of "picturesque beggars drinking tea" outdoors.  Behind, Chinese tea chests are unloaded from a boat, passing a pub in ruins.<ref>Hillier, 77, illustrated as figure 33.</ref>]]

Hanway was a staunch opponent of tea drinking.<ref name="Hsia 1998">Hsia, Adrian. (1998). ''The Vision of China in the English Literature of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries''. Chinese University Press. pp. 276-277. {{ISBN|962-201-608-1}}</ref> In 1756, he authored ''An Essay on Tea'' which argued that tea was "pernicious to health, obstructing industry and impoverishing the nation". Hanway stated that tea drinking caused bad breath, ugliness and weakened the nerves. Hanway was concerned about the nation's economic loss from the tea trade with China. He believed that Britain's national wealth was being given to other countries instead of being used in preparing the nation's defence and that excessive tea drinking was weakening the British population.<ref>[https://www.johnsonsocietyoflondon.org/resources/New%20Ramblers/NR%201987-8.pdf ''Jonas Hanway: Philanthropist and Founder of the Marine Society'']. Journal of the Johnson Society of London, 1987.</ref>

The ''Essay'' said: "To what a ''height'' of folly must a nation be arrived, when the ''common people'' are not satisfied with ''wholesome food'' at ''home'', but must go to the remotest regions to satisfy a ''vicious palate''! There is a certain lane near ''Richmond'' where beggars are often seen, in the summer season, drinking their ''tea''. You may see ''labourers'' who are ''mending the roads'' drinking their tea; it is even drank in ''cinder-carts''; and what is no less absurd, sold out of cups to ''Hay-makers''.<ref>Quoted in Hillier, 77</ref>  

The frontispiece to the ''Essay'' showed a scene of "picturesque beggars drinking tea" outdoors.<ref>Hillier, 77, illustrated as figure 33.</ref>

In 1757, Samuel Johnson, a tea drinker, wrote an anonymous negative review of Hanway's essay for the ''Literary Magazine''.<ref>Murphy, Arthur. (1824). [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89002228823&view=1up&seq=343 ''The Works of Samuel Johnson'']. London: Thomas Tegg. pp. 333-348</ref> This led to a heated dispute between them.<ref name="Hsia 1998"/> Johnson's review was controversial as it criticised the [[Foundling Hospital]]. The governors of the hospital considered taking legal action against the publisher of the ''Literary Magazine''.<ref>Taylor, James Stephen. (1985). ''Jonas Hanway: Founder of the Marine Society''. Ashgate Publishing. p. 54. {{ISBN|978-0859677004}}</ref> However, the publishers of the magazine did not apologise or reveal Johnson's name but decided it was time for him to hand in his resignation as a reviewer.<ref>Hanley, Brian. (2001). ''Samuel Johnson as Book Reviewer''. University of Delaware Press. pp. 144-145. {{ISBN|0-87413-736-5}}</ref>

Johnson did not dispute some of Hanway's attack, saying: "I... shall therefore readily admit, that tea is a liquor not proper for the lower classes of the people, as it supplies no strength to labour, or relief to disease, but gratifies the taste without nourishing the body."<ref>Quoted in Hillier, 77</ref>