All about coffee by William H. Ukers
chapter XXXII)]
731 words | Chapter 58
THE COCOA-TREE was originally a coffee house on the south side of Pall
Mall. When there grew up a need for "places of resort of a more elegant
and refined character," chocolate houses came into vogue, and the
COCOA-TREE was the most famous of these. It was converted into a club in
1746.
[Illustration: THE GRECIAN COFFEE HOUSE, DEVEREUX COURT
It was closed in 1843. From a drawing dated 1809]
WHITE'S chocolate house, established by Francis White about 1693 in St.
James's Street, originally open to any one as a coffee house, soon
became a private club, composed of "the most fashionable exquisites of
the town and court." In its coffee-house days, the entrance was
sixpence, as compared with the average penny fee of the other coffee
houses. Escott refers to WHITE'S as being "the one specimen of the class
to which it belongs, of a place at which, beneath almost the same roof,
and always bearing the same name, whether as coffee house or club, the
same class of persons has congregated during more than two hundred
years."
Among hundreds of other coffee houses that flourished during the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the following more notable ones are
deserving of mention:
[Illustration: DON SALTERO'S COFFEE HOUSE, CHEYNE WALK
From a steel engraving in the British Museum]
[Illustration: THE BRITISH COFFEE HOUSE
IN COCKSPUR STREET
From a print published in 1770]
BAKER'S, 58 'Change Alley, for nearly half a century noted for its chops
and steaks broiled in the coffee room and eaten hot from the gridiron;
the BALTIC, in Threadneedle Street, the rendezvous of brokers and
merchants connected with the Russian trade; the BEDFORD, "under the
Piazza, in Covent Garden," crowded every night with men of parts and
"signalized for many years as the emporium of wit, the seat of criticism
and the standard of taste"; the CHAPTER, in Paternoster Row, frequented
by Chatterton and Goldsmith; CHILD'S, in St. Paul's Churchyard, one of
the _Spectator's_ houses, and much frequented by the clergy and fellows
of the Royal Society; DICK'S, in Fleet Street, frequented by Cowper, and
the scene of Rousseau's comedietta, entitled _The Coffee House_; ST.
JAMES'S, in St. James's Street, frequented by Swift, Goldsmith, and
Garrick; JERUSALEM, in Cowper's Court, Cornhill, frequented by merchants
and captains connected with the commerce of China, India, and Australia;
JONATHAN'S, in 'Change Alley, described by the _Tatler_ as "the general
mart of stock jobbers"; the LONDON, in Ludgate Hill, noted for its
publishers' sales of stock and copyrights; MAN'S, in Scotland Yard,
which took its name from the proprietor, Alexander Man, and was
sometimes known as OLD MAN'S, or the ROYAL, to distinguish it from YOUNG
MAN'S, LITTLE MAN'S, NEW MAN'S, etc., minor establishments in the
neighborhood;[85] NANDO'S, in Fleet Street, the favorite haunt of Lord
Thurlow and many professional loungers, attracted by the fame of the
punch and the charms of the landlady; NEW ENGLAND AND NORTH AND SOUTH
AMERICAN, in Threadneedle Street, having on its subscription list
representatives of Barings, Rothschilds, and other wealthy
establishments; PEELE'S, in Fleet Street, having a portrait of Dr.
Johnson said to have been painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds; the PERCY, in
Oxford Street, the inspiration for the _Percy Anecdotes_; the PIAZZA, in
Covent Garden, where Macklin fitted up a large coffee room, or theater,
for oratory, and Fielding and Foote poked fun at him; the RAINBOW, in
Fleet Street, the second coffee house opened in London, having its token
money; the SMYRNA, in Pall Mall, a "place to talk politics," and
frequented by Prior and Swift; TOM KING'S, one of the old night houses
of Covent Garden Market, "well known to all gentlemen to whom beds are
unknown"; the TURK'S HEAD, 'Change Alley, which also had its tokens; the
TURK'S HEAD, in the Strand, which was a favorite supping house for Dr.
Johnson and Boswell; the FOLLY, a coffee house on a house-boat on the
Thames, which became quite notorious during Queen Anne's reign.
[Illustration: THE FRENCH COFFEE HOUSE IN LONDON, SECOND HALF OF THE
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
From the original water-color drawing by Thomas Rowlandson]
[Illustration]
[Illustration: RAMPONAUX' ROYAL DRUMMER, ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR OF THE
EARLY PARISIAN CAFÉS
Started originally as a tavern, this hostelry added coffee to its
cuisine and became famous in the reign of Louis XV The illustration is
from an early print used to advertise the "Royal Drummer's" attractions]
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