Changes in Pronunciation

Tea was pronounced tay. In Pope’s “Rape of the Lock,” we have:

“And thou, great Anna, whom three realms obey,
Dost sometimes counsel take and sometimes tea” (tay).

Also, in the same poem:

“Soft yielding minds to water glide away,
And sip, with myths, their elemental tea (tay);”

a rhyme which cannot be accounted for by negligence in Pope, for Pope was never negligent in his rhymes.

A hundred and fifty years ago, are was pronounced air. Note, for example, the following couplet of George Withers:

“Shall my cheeks grow wan with care
’Cause another’s rosy are?” (air).