All About Coffee Part 19

In rebuilding the Exchange there were provided the Subscribers' or Underwriters' room, the Merchants' room, and the Captains' room. _The City_, second edition, 1848, contains the following description of this most famous rendezvous of eminent merchants, shipowners, underwriters, insurance, stock and exchange brokers:

Here is obtained the earliest news of the arrival and sailing of vessels, losses at sea, captures, recaptures, engagements and other shipping intelligence; and proprietors of ships and freights are insured by the underwriters. The rooms are in the Venetian style with Roman enrichments. At the entrance of the room are exhibited the Shipping Lists, received from Lloyd's agents at home and abroad, and affording particulars of departures or arrivals of vessels, wrecks, salvage, or sale of property saved, etc. To the right and left are "Lloyd's Books," two enormous ledgers. Right hand, ships "spoken with" or arrived at their destined ports; left hand, records of wrecks, fires or severe collisions, written in a fine Roman hand in "double lines." To a.s.sist the underwriters in their calculations, at the end of the room is an Anemometer, which registers the state of the wind day and night; attached is a rain gauge.

THE BRITISH, c.o.c.kspur Street, "long a house of call for Scotchmen," was fortunate in its landladies. In 1759 it was kept by the sister of Bishop Douglas, so well known for his works against Lauder and Bower, which may explain its Scottish fame. At another period it was kept by Mrs.

Anderson, described in Mackenzie's _Life of Home_ as "a woman of uncommon talents and the most agreeable conversation."

DON SALTERO'S, 18 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, was opened by a barber named Salter in 1695. Sir Hans Sloane contributed of his own collection some of the refuse gimcracks that were to be found in Salter's "museum."

Vice-Admiral Munden, who had been long on the coast of Spain, where he had acquired a fondness for Spanish t.i.tles, named the keeper of the house Don Saltero, and his coffee house and museum DON SALTERO'S.

SQUIRE'S was in Fulwood's Rents, Holburn, running up to Gray's Inn. It was one of the receiving houses of the _Spectator_. In No. 269 the _Spectator_ accepts Sir Roger de Coverley's invitation to "smoke a pipe with him over a dish of coffee at Squire's. As I love the old man, I take delight in complying with everything that is agreeable to him, and accordingly waited on him to the coffee-house, where his venerable figure drew upon us the eyes of the whole room. He had no sooner seated himself at the upper end of the high table, but he called for a clean pipe, a paper of tobacco, a dish of coffee, a wax candle and the 'Supplement' (a periodical paper of that time), with such an air of cheerfulness and good humour, that all the boys in the coffee room (who seemed to take pleasure in serving him) were at once employed on his several errands, insomuch that n.o.body else could come at a dish of tea until the Knight had got all his conveniences about him." Such was the coffee room in the _Spectator's_ day.

[Ill.u.s.tration: INTERIOR OF d.i.c.k'S COFFEE HOUSE

From the frontispiece to "The Coffee House--a dramatick Piece" (see chapter x.x.xII)]

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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 cla.s.s 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 cla.s.s 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:

[Ill.u.s.tration: DON SALTERO'S COFFEE HOUSE, CHEYNE WALK

From a steel engraving in the British Museum]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE BRITISH COFFEE HOUSE

IN c.o.c.kSPUR 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; d.i.c.k'S, in Fleet Street, frequented by Cowper, and the scene of Rousseau's comedietta, ent.i.tled _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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE FRENCH COFFEE HOUSE IN LONDON, SECOND HALF OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

From the original water-color drawing by Thomas Rowlandson]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration: RAMPONAUX' ROYAL DRUMMER, ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR OF THE EARLY PARISIAN CAFeS

Started originally as a tavern, this hostelry added coffee to its cuisine and became famous in the reign of Louis XV The ill.u.s.tration is from an early print used to advertise the "Royal Drummer's" attractions]

CHAPTER XI

HISTORY OF THE EARLY PARISIAN COFFEE HOUSES

_The introduction of coffee into Paris by Thevenot in 1657--How Soliman Aga established the custom of coffee drinking at the court of Louis XIV--Opening the first coffee houses--How the French adaptation of the Oriental coffee house first appeared in the real French cafe of Francois Procope--The important part played by the coffee houses in the development of French literature and the stage--Their a.s.sociation with the Revolution and the founding of the Republic--Quaint customs and patrons--Historic Parisian cafes_

If we are to accept the authority of Jean La Roque, "before the year 1669 coffee had scarcely been seen in Paris, except at M. Thevenot's and at the homes of some of his friends. Nor had it been heard of except in the writings of travelers."

As noted in chapter V, Jean de Thevenot brought coffee into Paris in 1657. One account says that a decoction, supposed to have been coffee, was sold by a Levantine in the Pet.i.t Chatelet under the name of _cohove_ or _cahoue_ during the reign of Louis XIII, but this lacks confirmation.

Louis XIV is said to have been served with coffee for the first time in 1664.

Soon after the arrival, in July, 1669, of the Turkish amba.s.sador, Soliman Aga, it became noised abroad that he had brought with him for his own use, and that of his retinue, great quant.i.ties of coffee. He "treated several persons with it, both in the court and the city." At length "many accustomed themselves to it with sugar, and others who found benefit by it could not leave it off."

Within six months all Paris was talking of the sumptuous coffee functions of the amba.s.sador from Mohammed IV to the court of Louis XIV.

Isaac D'Israeli best describes them in his _Curiosities of Literature_:

On bended knee, the black slaves of the Amba.s.sador, arrayed in the most gorgeous Oriental costumes, served the choicest Mocha coffee in tiny cups of egg-sh.e.l.l porcelain, hot, strong and fragrant, poured out in saucers of gold and silver, placed on embroidered silk doylies fringed with gold bullion, to the grand dames, who fluttered their fans with many grimaces, bending their piquant faces--be-rouged, be-powdered and be-patched--over the new and steaming beverage.

It was in 1669 or 1672 that Madame de Sevigne (Marie de Rabutin-Chantal; 1626-96), the celebrated French letter-writer, is said to have made that famous prophecy, "There are two things Frenchmen will never swallow--coffee and Racine's poetry," sometimes abbreviated into, "Racine and coffee will pa.s.s." What Madame really said, according to one authority, was that Racine was writing for Champmesle, the actress, and not for posterity; again, of coffee she said, "_s'en degouterait comme; d'un indigne favori_" (People will become disgusted with it as with an unworthy favorite).

Larousse says the double judgment was wrongly attributed to Mme. de Sevigne. The celebrated aphorism, like many others, was forged later.

Mme. de Sevigne said, "Racine made his comedies for the Champmesle--not for the ages to come." This was in 1672. Four years later, she said to her daughter, "You have done well to quit coffee. Mlle. de Mere has also given it up."

[Ill.u.s.tration: COFFEE WAS FIRST SOLD AND SERVED PUBLICLY IN THE FAIR OF ST.-GERMAIN

From a Seventeenth-Century Print]

However it may have been, the amiable letter-writer was destined to live to see Frenchmen yielding at once to the lure of coffee and to the poetical artifices of the greatest dramatic craftsman of his day.

While it is recorded that coffee made slow progress with the court of Louis XIV, the next king, Louis XV, to please his mistress, du Barry, gave it a tremendous vogue. It is related that he spent $15,000 a year for coffee for his daughters.

Meanwhile, in 1672, one Pascal, an Armenian, first sold coffee publicly in Paris. Pascal, who, according to one account, was brought to Paris by Soliman Aga, offered the beverage for sale from a tent, which was also a kind of booth, in the fair of St.-Germain, supplemented by the service of Turkish waiter boys, who peddled it among the crowds from small cups on trays. The fair was held during the first two months of spring, in a large open plot just inside the walls of Paris and near the Latin Quarter. As Pascal's waiter boys circulated through the crowds on those chilly days the fragrant odor of freshly made coffee brought many ready sales of the steaming beverage; and soon visitors to the fair learned to look for the "little black" cupful of cheer, or _pet.i.t noir_, a name that still endures.

When the fair closed, Pascal opened a small coffee shop on the Quai de l'ecole, near the Pont Neuf; but his frequenters were of a type who preferred the beers and wines of the day, and coffee languished. Pascal continued, however, to send his waiter boys with their large coffee jugs, that were heated by lamps, through the streets of Paris and from door to door. Their cheery cry of "_cafe! cafe!_" became a welcome call to many a Parisian, who later missed his _pet.i.t noir_ when Pascal gave up and moved on to London, where coffee drinking was then in high favor.

[Ill.u.s.tration: STREET COFFEE VENDER OF PARIS--PERIOD, 1672 TO 1689--TWO SOUS PER DISH, SUGAR INCLUDED]

Lacking favor at court, coffee's progress was slow. The French smart set clung to its light wines and beers. In 1672, Maliban, another Armenian, opened a coffee house in the rue Bussy, next to the Metz tennis court near St.-Germain's abbey. He supplied tobacco also to his customers.

Later he went to Holland, leaving his servant and partner, Gregory, a Persian, in charge. Gregory moved to the rue Mazarine, to be near the Comedie Francaise. He was succeeded in the business by Makara, another Persian, who later returned to Ispahan, leaving the coffee house to one Le Gantois, of Liege.

About this period there was a cripple boy from Candia, known as le Candiot, who began to cry "coffee!" in the streets of Paris. He carried with him a coffee pot of generous size, a chafing-dish, cups, and all other implements necessary to his trade. He sold his coffee from door to door at two sous per dish, sugar included.