1665. It was a ten-page pamphlet, and proved to be excellent propaganda

for coffee. It is so well done, and contains so much local color, that it is reproduced here, the text Museum. The title page reads: The CHARACTER OF A COFFEE-HOUSE wherein Is contained a Description of the Persons usually frequenting it, with their Discourse and Humors, As Also The Admirable Vertues of COFFEE By an Eye and Ear Witness _When Coffee once was vended here, The Alc'ron shortly did appear, For our Reformers were such Widgeons. New Liquors brought in new Religions._ Printed in the Year, 1665. The text and the arrangement of the body of the pamphlet are as follows: THE CHARACTER OF A COFFEE-HOUSE THE DERIVATION OF A COFFEE-HOUSE A _Coffee-house_, the learned hold It is a place where _Coffee's_ sold; This derivation cannot fail us, For where _Ale's_ vended, that's an _Ale-house_. This being granted to be true, 'Tis meet that next the _Signs_ we shew Both _where_ and _how_ to find this house Where men such _cordial broth_ carowse. And if _Culpepper_ woon some glory In turning the _Dispensatory_ From _Latin_ into _English_; then Why should not all good _English men_ Give him much thanks who shews a _cure_ For all diseases men endure? SIGNS: HOW TO FIND IT OUT As you along the streets do trudge, To take the pains you must not grudge, To view the Posts or Broomsticks where The Signs of _Liquors_ hanged are. And if you see the great _Morat_ With Shash on's head instead of hat, Or any _Sultan_ in his dress, Or picture of a _Sultaness_, Or _John's_ admir'd curled pate, Or th' great _Mogul_ in's Chair of State, Or _Constantine_ the _Grecian_, Who fourteen years was th' onely man That made _Coffee_ for th' great _Bashaw_, Although the man he never saw; Or if you see a _Coffee_-cup Fil'd from a Turkish pot, hung up Within the clouds, and round it _Pipes_, _Wax Candles_, _Stoppers_, these are types And certain signs (with many more Would be too long to write them 'ore,) Which plainly do Spectators tell That in that house they _Coffee_ sell. Some wiser than the rest (no doubt,) Say they can by the smell find't out; In at a door (say they,) but thrust Your Nose, and if you scent _burnt Crust_, Be sure there's _Coffee_ sold that's good, For so by most 'tis understood. Now being enter'd, there's no needing Of complements or gentile breeding, For you may seat you any where, There's no respect of persons there; Then comes the _Coffee-man_ to greet you, With welcome Sir, let me entreat you, To tell me what you'l please to have, For I'm your humble, humble slave; But if you ask, what good does Coffee? He'l answer, Sir, don't think I scoff yee, If I affirm there's no disease Men have that drink it but find ease. THE VERTUES OF COFFEE Look, there's a man who takes the steem In at his Nose, has an extreme _Worm_ in his pate, and giddiness, Ask him and he will say no less. There sitteth one whose Droptick belly Was hard as flint, now's soft as jelly. There stands another holds his head 'Ore th' _Coffee_-pot, was almost dead Even now with Rhume; ask him hee'l say That all his Rhum's now past away. See, there's a man sits now demure And sober, was within this hour Quite drunk, and comes here frequently, For 'tis his daily Malady, More, it has such reviving power 'Twill keep a man awake an houre, Nay, make his eyes wide open stare Both Sermon time and all the prayer. Sir, should I tell you all the rest O' th' cures 't has done, two hours at least In numb'ring them I needs must spend, Scarce able then to make an end. Besides these vertues that's therein. For any kind of _Medicine_, The _Commonwealth-Kingdom_ I'd say, Has mighty reason for to pray That still _Arabia_ may produce Enough of Berry for it's use: For't has such strange magnetick force, That it draws after't great concourse Of all degrees of persons, even From high to low, from morn till even; Especially the _sober Party_, And News-mongers do drink't most hearty Here you'r not thrust into a _Box_ As _Taverns_ do to catch the _Fox_, But as from th' top of _Pauls_ high steeple, Th' whole _City's_ view'd, even so all _people_ May here be seen; no secrets are At th' _Court_ for _Peace_, or th' _Camp_ for _War_, But straight they'r here disclos'd and known; Men in this Age so wise are grown. Now (Sir) what profit may accrew By this, to all good men, judge you. With that he's loudly call'd upon For _Coffee_, and then whip he's gone. THE COMPANY Here at a Table sits (perplext) A griping _Usurer_, and next To him a gallant _Furioso_, Then nigh to him a _Virtuoso_; A _Player_ then (full fine) sits down, And close to him a _Country Clown_. O' th' other side sits some _Pragmatick_, And next to him some sly _Phanatick_. THE SEVERAL LIQUORS The gallant he for _Tea_ doth call, The _Usurer_ for nought at all. The _Pragmatick_ he doth intreat That they will fill him some _Beau-cheat_, The _Virtuoso_ he cries hand me Some _Coffee_ mixt with _Sugar-candy_. _Phanaticus_ (at last) says come, Bring me some _Aromaticum_. The _Player_ bawls for _Chocolate_, All which the _Bumpkin_ wond'ring at, Cries, ho, my _Masters_, what d' ye speak, D' ye call for drink in Heathen Greek? Give me some good old _Ale_ or _Beer_, Or else I will not drink, I swear. Then having charg'd their _Pipes_ around. THEIR DISCOURSE They silence break; First the profound And sage _Phanatique_, Sirs what news? Troth says the _Us'rer_ I ne'r use To tip my tongue with such discourse, 'Twere news to know how to disburse A summ of mony (makes me sad) To get ought by't, times are so bad. The other answers, truly Sir You speak but truth, for I'le aver They ne'r were worse; did you not hear What _prodigies_ did late appear At _Norwich, Ipswich, Grantham, Gotam_? And though prophane ones do not not'em, Yet we--Here th' _Virtuoso_ stops The current of his speech, with hopes Quoth he, you will not tak'd amiss, I say all's lies that's news like this, For I have Factors all about The Realm, so that no _Stars_ peep out That are unusual, much less these Strange and unheard-of _prodigies_ You would relate, but they are tost To me in letters by first Post. At which the _Furioso_ swears Such chat as this offends his ears It rather doth become this Age To talk of bloodshed, fury, rage, And t' drink stout healths in brim-fill'd _Nogans_. To th' downfall of the _Hogan Mogans_. With that the _Player_ doffs his Bonnet, And tunes his voice as if a Sonnet Were to be sung; then gently says, O what delight there is in _Plays_! Sure if we were but all in _Peace_, This noise of _Wars_ and _News_ would cease; All sorts of people then would club Their pence to see a Play that's good. You'l wonder all this while (perhaps) The _Curioso_ holds his chaps. But he doth in his thoughts devise, How to the rest he may seem wise; Yet able longer not to hold, His tedious tale too must be told, And thus begins, Sirs unto me It reason seems that liberty Of speech and words should be allow'd Where men of differing judgements croud, And that's a _Coffee-house_, for where Should men discourse so free as there? _Coffee_ and _Commonwealth_ begin Both with one letter, both came in Together for a _Reformation_, To make's a free and sober _Nation_. But now--With that _Phanaticus_ Gives him a nod, and speaks him thus, Hold brother, I know your intent, That's no dispute convenient For this same place, truths seldome find Acceptance here, they'r more confin'd To _Taverns_ and to _Ale-house_ liquor, Where men do vent their minds more quicker If that may for a truth but pass What's said, _In vino veritas_. With that up starts the _Country Clown_, And stares about with threatening frown. As if he would even eat them all up. Then bids the boy run quick and call up, A _Constable_, for he has reason To fear their Latin may be _treason_ But straight they all call what's to pay, Lay't down, and march each several way. THE COMPANY At th' other table sits a Knight, And here _a grave old man_ ore right Against his _worship_, then perhaps That _by_ and _by_ a _Drawer_ claps His bum close by them, there down squats _A dealer in old shoes and hats_; And here withouten any panick Fear, dread or care a bold _Mechanick_. HEIR DISCOURSE The _Knight_ (because he's so) he prates Of matters far beyond their pates. _The grave old man_ he makes a bustle, And his wise sentence in must justle. Up starts th' _Apprentice boy_ and he Says boldly so and so't must be. _The dealer in old shoes to_ utter His saying too makes no small sputter. Then comes the pert _mechanick blade_, And contradicts what all have said. * * * * * There by the fier-side doth sit, One freezing in an _Ague_ fit. Another poking in't with th' tongs, Still ready to cough up his lungs Here sitteth one that's melancolick, And there one singing in a frolick. Each one hath such a prety gesture, At Smithfield fair would yield a tester. Boy reach a pipe cries he that shakes, The songster no Tobacco takes, Says he who coughs, nor do I smoak, Then _Monsieur Mopus_ turns his cloak Off from his face, and with a grave Majestick beck his pipe doth crave. They load their guns and fall a smoaking Whilst he who coughs sits by a choaking, Till he no longer can abide. And so removes from th' fier side. Now all this while none calls to drink, Which makes the _Coffee boy_ to think Much they his pots should so enclose, He cannot pass but tread on toes. With that as he the _Nectar_ fills From pot to pot, some on't he spills Upon the _Songster_. Oh cries he. Pox, what dost do? thou'st burnt my knee; No says the boy, (to make a bald And blind excuse.) _Sir 'twill not scald_. With that the man lends him a cuff O' th' ear, and whips away in snuff. The other two, their pipes being out, Says _Monsieur Mopus_ I much doubt My friend I wait for will not come, But if he do, say I'm gone home. Then says the _Aguish man_ I must come According to my wonted custome, To give ye' a visit, although now I dare not drink, and so _adieu_. The boy replies, O Sir, however You'r very welcome, we do never Our _Candles_, _Pipes_ or _Fier_ grutch To daily customers and such, They'r _Company_ (without expence,) For that's sufficient recompence. Here at a table all alone, Sits (studying) _a spruce youngster_, (one Who doth conceipt himself fully witty, And's counted _one o' th' wits o' th' City_,) Till by him (with a stately grace,) A Spanish _Don_ himself doth place. Then (cap in hand) a brisk _Monsieur_ He takes his seat, and crowds as near As possibly that he can come. Then next a _Dutchman_ takes his room. The Wits glib tongue begins to chatter, Though't utters more of noise than matter, Yet 'cause they seem to mind his words, His lungs more battle still affords At last says he to _Don_, I trow You understand me? _Sennor no_ Says th' other. Here the Wit doth pause A little while, then opes his jaws, And says to _Monsieur_, you enjoy Our tongue I hope? _Non par ma foy_, Replies the _Frenchman_: nor you, Sir? Says he to th' _Dutchman, Neen mynheer_, With that he's gone, and cries, why sho'd He stay where _wit's_ not understood? There in a place of his own chusing (Alone) some _lover_ sits a musing, With arms across, and's eyes up lift, As if he were of sence bereft. Till sometimes to himself he's speaking, Then sighs as if his heart were breaking. Here in a corner sits a _Phrantick_, And there stands by a frisking Antick, Of all sorts some and all conditions Even _Vintners_, _Surgeons_ and _Physicians_. The _blind_, the _deaf_, and _aged cripple_ Do here resort and Coffee tipple. Now here (perhaps) you may expect My _Muse_ some trophies should erect In high flown verse, for to set forth The _noble praises_ of its _worth_. Truth is, _old Poets_ beat their brains To find out high and lofty strains To praise the (now too frequent) use Of the bewitching _grapes strong juice_, Some have strain'd hard for to exalt The _liquor_ of our _English Mault_ Nay _Don_ has almost crackt his _nodle_ Enough t'applaud his _Caaco Caudle_. The _Germans Mum_, _Teag's Usquebagh_, (Made him so well defend _Tredagh_,) _Metheglin_, which the _Brittains_ tope, Hot _Brandy_ wine, the _Hogans_ hope. Stout _Meade_ which makes the _Russ_ to laugh, Spic'd _Punch_ (in bowls) the _Indians quaff_. All these have had their pens to raise Them _Monuments_ of lasting praise, Onely poor _Coffee_ seems to me No subject fit for _Poetry_ At least 'tis one that none of mine is, So I do wave 't, and here write-- FINIS. [Illustration: A BROAD-SIDE OF 1667] _News from the Coffe House; in which is shewn their several sorts of Passions_ appeared in 1667. It was reprinted in 1672 as _The Coffee House or News-mongers' Hall_. Several stanzas from these broadsides have been much quoted. They serve to throw additional light upon the manners of the time, and upon the kind of conversation met with in any well frequented coffee house of the seventeenth century, particularly under the Stuarts. They are finely descriptive of the company characteristics of the early coffee houses. The fifth stanza of the edition of 1667, inimical to the French, was omitted when the broadside was amended and reprinted in 1672, the year that England joined with France and again declared war on the Dutch. The following verses with explanatory notes are from Timbs: NEWS FROM THE COFFE HOUSE You that delight in Wit and Mirth, And long to hear such News, As comes from all Parts of the _Earth_, _Dutch_, _Danes_, and _Turks_, and _Jews_, I'le send yee to a Rendezvouz, Where it is smoaking new; Go hear it at a _Coffe-house_, _It cannot but be true_. There Battles and Sea-Fights are Fought, And bloudy Plots display'd; They know more Things then ere was thought Or ever was betray'd: No Money in the Minting-house Is halfe so Bright and New; And comming from a _Coffe-house_ _It cannot but be true_. Before the _Navyes_ fall to Work, They know who shall be Winner; They there can tell ye what the _Turk_ Last _Sunday_ had to Dinner; Who last did Cut _Du Ruitters_[75] Corns, Amongst his jovial Crew; Or Who first gave the _Devil_ Horns, _Which cannot but be true_. A _Fisherman_ did boldly tell, And strongly did avouch, He Caught a Shoal of Mackarel, That Parley'd all in _Dutch_, And cry'd out _Yaw, yaw, yaw Myne Here_; But as the Draught they Drew They Stunck for fear, that _Monck[76] was there_, _Which cannot but be true_. * * * * * There's nothing done in all the World, From _Monarch_ to the _Mouse_ But every Day or Night 'tis hurld Into the _Coffe-house_. What _Lillie_[77] or what _Booker_[78] can By Art, not bring about, At _Coffe-house_ you'l find a Man, _Can quickly find it out_. They know who shall in Times to come, Be either made, or undone, From great _St. Peters street_ in _Rome_, To _Turnbull-street_[79] in _London_; * * * * * They know all that is Good, or Hurt, To Dam ye, or to Save ye; There is the _Colledge_, and the _Court_, The _Country_, _Camp_ and _Navie_; So great a _Universitie_, I think there ne're was any; In which you may a Schoolar be For spending of a Penny. * * * * * Here Men do talk of every Thing, With large and liberal Lungs, Like Women at a Gossiping, With double tyre of Tongues; They'l give a Broad-side presently, Soon as you are in view, With Stories that, you'l wonder at, Which they will swear are true. The Drinking there of _Chockalat_, Can make a _Fool_ a _Sophie_: 'Tis thought the _Turkish Mahomet_ Was first Inspir'd with _Coffe_, By which his Powers did Over-flow The Land of _Palestine_: Then let us to, the _Coffe-house_ go, 'Tis Cheaper farr then Wine. You shall know there, what Fashions are; How Perrywiggs are Curl'd; And for a Penny you shall heare, All Novells in the World. Both Old and Young, and Great and Small, And Rich, and Poore, you'l see; Therefore let's to the _Coffe_ All, Come All away with Mee. FINIS. Robert Morton made a contribution to the controversy in _Lines Appended to the Nature, Quality and Most Excellent Vertues of Coffee_ in 1670. There was published in 1672 _A Broad-side Against Coffee, or the Marriage of the Turk_, verses that attained considerable fame because of their picturesque invective. They also stressed the fact that Pasqua Rosées partner was a coachman, and imitated the broken English of the Ragusan youth: A BROAD-SIDE AGAINST COFFEE; OR, THE MARRIAGE OF THE TURK _Coffee_, a kind of _Turkish Renegade_, Has late a match with _Christian water_ made; At first between them happen'd a Demur, Yet joyn'd they were, but not without great _stir_; * * * * * _Coffee_ was cold as _Earth, Water_ as _Thames_, And stood in need of recommending Flames; * * * * * _Coffee_ so brown as berry does appear, Too swarthy for a Nymph so fair, so clear: * * * * * A Coachman was the first (here) _Coffee_ made, And ever since the rest _drive on_ the trade; _Me no good Engalash_! and sure enough, He plaid the Quack to salve his Stygian stuff; _Ver boon for de stomach, de Cough, de Ptisick_ And I believe him, for it looks like Physick. _Coffee_ a crust is charkt into a coal, The smell and taste of the Mock _China_ bowl; Where huff and puff, they labour out their lungs, Lest _Dives_-like they should bewail their tongues. And yet they tell ye that it will not burn, Though on the Jury Blisters you return; Whose furious heat does make the water rise, And still through the Alembicks of your eyes. Dread and desire, ye fall to't snap by snap, As hungry Dogs do scalding porrige lap, But to cure Drunkards it has got great Fame; _Posset_ or _Porrige_, will't not do the same? Confusion huddles all into one Scene, Like _Noah's_ Ark, the clean and the unclean. But now, alas! the Drench has credit got, And he's no Gentleman that drinks it not; That such a _Dwarf_ should rise to such a stature! But Custom is but a remove from Nature. A _little_ Dish, and a _large_ Coffee-house, What is it, but a _Mountain_ and a _Mouse_? * * * * * _Mens humana novitatis avidissima._ [Illustration: A BROAD-SIDE OF 1670] And so it came to pass that coffee history repeated itself in England. Many good people became convinced that coffee was a dangerous drink. The tirades against the beverage in that far-off time sound not unlike the advertising patter employed by some of our present-day coffee-substitute manufacturers. It was even ridiculed by being referred to as "ninny broth" and "Turkey gruel." [Illustration: A BROAD-SIDE OF 1672] _A brief description of the excellent vertues of that sober and wholesome drink called coffee_ appeared in 1674 and proved an able and dignified answer to the attacks that had preceded it. That same year, for the first time in history, the sexes divided in a coffee controversy, and there was issued _The Women's Petition against Coffee, representing to public consideration the grand inconveniences accruing to their sex from the excessive use of the drying and enfeebling Liquor_, in which the ladies, who had not been accorded the freedom of the coffee houses in England, as was the custom in France, Germany, Italy, and other countries on the Continent, complained that coffee made men as "unfruitful as the deserts where that unhappy berry is said to be bought." Besides the more serious complaint that the whole race was in danger of extinction, it was urged that "on a domestic message a husband would stop by the way to drink a couple of cups of coffee." This pamphlet is believed to have precipitated the attempt at suppression by the crown the following year, despite the prompt appearing, in 1674, of _The Men's Answer to the Women's Petition Against Coffee, vindicating ... their liquor, from the undeserved aspersion lately cast upon them, in their scandalous pamphlet_. The 1674 broadside in defense of coffee was the first to be illustrated; and for all its air of pretentious grandeur and occasional bathos, it was not a bad rhyming advertisement for the persecuted drink. It was printed for Paul Greenwood and sold "at the sign of the coffee mill and tobacco-roll in Cloath-fair near West-Smithfield, who selleth the best Arabian coffee powder and chocolate in cake or roll, after the Spanish fashion, etc." The following extracts will serve to illustrate its epic character: When the sweet Poison of the Treacherous Grape, Had Acted on the world a General Rape; Drowning our very Reason and our Souls In such deep Seas of large o'reflowing Bowls. * * * * * When Foggy Ale, leavying up mighty Trains Of muddy Vapours, had besieg'd our Brains; * * * * * Then Heaven in Pity, to Effect our Cure. * * * * * First sent amongst us this _All-healing-Berry_, At once to make us both _Sober_ and _Merry_. _Arabian_ Coffee, a Rich Cordial To Purse and Person Beneficial, Which of so many Vertues doth partake, Its Country's called Felix for its sake. From the Rich Chambers of the Rising Sun, Where Arts, and all good Fashions first begun, Where Earth with choicest Rarities is blest, And dying _Phoenix_ builds Her wondrous Nest: COFFEE arrives, that Grave and wholesome Liquor, That heals the Stomack, makes the Genius quicker, Relieves the Memory, Revives the Sad. * * * * * Do but this Rare ARABIAN Cordial Use, And thou may'st all the Doctors Slops Refuse. Hush then, dull QUACKS, your Mountebanking cease, COFFEE'S a speedier Cure for each Disease; How great its Vertues are, we hence may think, The Worlds third Part makes it their common Drink: In Breif, all you who Healths Rich Treasures Prize, And Court not Ruby Noses, or blear'd Eyes, But own Sobriety to be your Drift. And Love at once good Company and Thrift; To Wine no more make Wit and Coyn a Trophy, But come each Night and Frollique here in Coffee. [Illustration: A BROAD-SIDE OF 1674 The first one to be illustrated] An eight-page folio, the last argument to be issued in defense of coffee before Charles II sought to follow in the footsteps of Kair Bey and Kuprili, was issued in the early part of 1675. It was entitled _Coffee Houses Vindicated. In answer to the late published Character of a Coffee House. Asserting from Reason, Experience and good Authors the Excellent Use and physical Virtues of that Liquor ... With the Grand Convenience of such civil Places of Resort and ingenious Conversation_. The advantage of a coffee house compared with a "publick-house" is thus set forth: First, In regard of easy expense. Being to wait for or meet a friend, a tavern-reckoning soon breeds a purse-consumption: in an ale house, you must gorge yourself with pot after pot.... But here, for a penny or two, you may spend two or three hours, have the shelter of a house, the warmth of a fire, the diversion of company; and conveniency, if you please, of taking a pipe of tobacco; and all this without any grumbling or repining. Secondly. For sobriety. It is grown, by the ill influences of I know not what hydropick stars, almost a general custom amongst us, that no bargain can be drove, or business concluded between man and man, but it must be transacted at some publick-house ... where continual sippings ... would be apt to fly up into their brains, and render them drowsy and indisposed ... whereas, having now the opportunity of a coffee-house, they repair thither, take each man a dish or two (so far from causing, that it cures any dizziness, or disturbant fumes): and so, dispatching their business, go out more sprightly about their affairs, than before.... Lastly, For diversion ... where can young gentlemen, or shop-keepers, more innocently and advantageously spend an hour or two in the evening than at a coffee-house? Where they shall be sure to meet company, and, by the custom of the house, not such as at other places stingy and reserved to themselves, but free and communicative, where every man may modestly begin his story, and propose to, or answer another, as he thinks fit.... So that, upon the whole matter, spight of the idle sarcasms and paltry reproaches thrown upon it, we may, with no less truth than plainness, give this brief character of a well-regulated coffee-house, (for our pen disdains to be an advocate for any sordid holes, that assume that name to cloke the practice of debauchery,) that it is the sanctuary of health, the nursery of temperance, the delight of frugality, and academy of civility, and free-school of ingenuity. _The Ale Wives' Complaint Against the Coffee-houses_, a dialogue between a victualer's wife and a coffee man, at difference about spiriting away each other's trade, also was issued in 1675. As early as 1666, and again in 1672, we find the government planning to strike a blow at the coffee houses. By the year 1675, these "seminaries of sedition" were much frequented by persons of rank and substance, who, "suitable to our native genius," says Anderson,[80] "used great freedom therein with respect to the courts' proceedings in these and like points, so contrary to the voice of the people." In 1672, Charles II, seemingly eager to emulate the Oriental intolerants that preceded him, determined to try his hand at suppression. "Having been informed of the great inconveniences arising from the great number of persons that resort to coffee-houses," the king "desired the Lord Keeper and the Judges to give their opinion in writing as to how far he might lawfully proceed against them." Roger North in his _Examen_ gives the full story; and D'Israeli, commenting on it, says, "it was not done without some apparent respect for the British constitution." The courts affected not to act against the law, and the judges were summoned to a consultation; but the five who met could not agree in opinion. Sir William Coventry spoke against the proposed measure. He pointed out that the government obtained considerable revenue from coffee, that the king himself owed to these seemingly obnoxious places no small debt of gratitude in the matter of his own restoration; for they had been permitted in Cromwell's time, when the king's friends had used more liberty of speech than "they dared to do in any other." He urged, also, that it might be rash to issue a command so likely to be disobeyed. At last, being hard pressed for a reply, the judges gave such a halting opinion in favor of the king's policy as to remind us of the reluctant verdict wrung from the physicians and lawyers of Mecca on the occasion of coffee's first persecution.[81] "The English lawyers, in language which, for its civility and indefiniteness," says Robinson, "would have been the envy of their Eastern brethren," declared that: Retailing coffee _might_ be an innocent trade, as it _might_ be exercised; but as it is used at present, in the nature of a common assembly, to discourse of matters of State, news and _great Persons_, as they are Nurseries of Idleness and Pragmaticalness, and hinder the expence of our native Provisions, they _might_ be thought common nuisances. An attempt was made to mold public opinion to a favorable consideration of the attempt at suppression in _The Grand Concern of England explained_, which was good propaganda for his majesty's enterprise, but utterly failed to carry conviction to the lovers of liberty. After much backing and filling, the king, on December 23, 1675, issued a proclamation which in its title frankly stated its object--"for the suppression of coffee houses." It is here given in a somewhat condensed form: BY THE KING: A PROCLAMATION FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF COFFEE HOUSES _Charles R._ Whereas it is most apparent that the multitude of Coffee Houses of late years set up and kept within this kingdom, the dominion of Wales, and town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and the great resort of Idle and disaffected persons to them, have produced very evil and dangerous effects; as well for that many tradesmen and others, do herein mispend much of their time, which might and probably would be employed in and about their Lawful Calling and Affairs; but also, for that in such houses ... divers false, malitious and scandalous reports are devised and spread abroad to the Defamation of his Majestie's Government, and to the Disturbance of the Peace and Quiet of the Realm; his Majesty hath thought fit and necessary, that the said Coffee Houses be (for the future) Put down, and suppressed, and doth ... strictly charge and command all manner of persons, That they or any of them do not presume from and after the Tenth Day of January next ensuing, to keep any Public Coffee House, or to utter or sell by retail, in his, her or their house or houses (to be spent or consumed within the same) any Coffee, Chocolet, Sherbett or Tea, as they will answer the contrary at their utmost perils ... (all licenses to be revoked). Given at our Court at Whitehall, this third-and-twentieth day of Dec., 1675, in the seven-and-twentieth year of our Reign. GOD SAVE THE KING. And then a remarkable thing happened. It is not usual for a royal proclamation issued on the 29th of one month to be recalled on the 8th day of the next; but this is the record established by Charles II. The proclamation was made on December 23, 1675, and issued December 29,