Chapter XXXII: A History of Coffee in Literature (5)

It was at the Grecian that Fleetwood Shephard told this memorable
story to Dr. Tancred Robinson, who gave Richardson permission to
repeat it. "The Earle of Dorset was in Little Britain, beating
about for books to his taste: there was 'Paradise Lost'. He was
surprised with some passages he struck upon, dipping here and there
and bought it; the bookseller begged him to speak in his favour, if
he liked it, for they lay on his hands as waste paper.... Shephard
was present. My Lord took it home, read it, and sent it to Dryden,
who in a short time returned it. 'This man,' says Dryden, 'cuts us
all out, and the ancients, too!'"

* * * * *

George's Coffee-house, No. 213, Strand, near Temple Bar, was a
noted resort in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. When it
was a coffee-house, one day, there came in Sir James Lowther, who
after changing a piece of silver with the coffee-woman, and paying
twopence for his dish of coffee, was helped into his chariot, for
he was very lame and infirm, and went home: some little time
afterwards, he returned to the same coffee-house, on purpose to
acquaint the woman who kept it, that she had given him a bad
half-penny, and demanded another in exchange for it. Sir James had
about £40,000 per annum.

Shenstone, who found "the warmest welcome at an inn," found
George's to be economical. "What do you think," he writes, "must be
my expense, who love to pry into everything of the kind? Why, truly
one shilling. My company goes to George's Coffee-house, where, for
that small subscription I read all pamphlets under a three
shillings' dimension; and indeed, any larger would not be fit for
coffee-house perusal." Shenstone relates that Lord Oxford was at
George's, when the mob, that were carrying his Lordship in effigy,
came into the box where he was, to beg money of him, amongst
others; this story Horace Walpole contradicts, adding that he
supposes Shenstone thought that after Lord Oxford quitted his place
he went to the coffee-house to learn news.

Arthur Murphy frequented George's, "where the town wits met every
evening." Lloyd, the law-student, sings:

By law let others toil to gain renown! Florio's a gentleman, a man o' the town.

He nor courts clients, or the law regarding, Hurries from Nando's down to Covent Garden. Yet, he's a scholar; mark him in the pit, With critic catcall sound the stops of wit! Supreme at George's, he harangues the throng, Censor of style, from tragedy to song.

* * * * *

The Percy Coffee-house, Rathbone-place, Oxford-street, no longer
exists; but it will be kept in recollection for its having given
name to one of the most popular publications of its class, namely,
the "Percy Anecdotes," by Sholto and Reuben Percy, Brothers of the
Benedictine Monastery of Mont Benger, in forty-four parts,
commencing in 1820. So said the title pages, but the names and the
locality were _supposé_. Reuben Percy was Thomas Byerly, who died
in 1824; he was the brother of Sir John Byerley, and the first
editor of the _Mirror_, commenced by John Limbird, in 1822. Sholto
Percy was Joseph Clinton Robertson, who died in 1852; he was the
projector of the _Mechanics' Magazine_, which he edited from its
commencement to his death. The name of the collection of Anecdotes
was not taken, as at the time supposed, from the popularity of the
"Percy Reliques," but from the Percy Coffee-house, where Byerley
and Robertson were accustomed to meet to talk over their joint
work. The _idea_ was, however, claimed by Sir Richard Phillips, who
stoutly maintained that it originated in a suggestion made by him
to Dr. Tilloch and Mr. Mayne, to cut the anecdotes from the many
years' files of the _Star_ newspaper, of which Dr. Tilloch was the
editor; and Mr. Byerley assistant editor; and to the latter
overhearing the suggestion, Sir Richard contested, might the "Percy
Anecdotes" be traced. They were very successful, and a large sum
was realised by the work.

* * * * *

Peele's Coffee-house, Nos. 177 and 178, Fleet-street, east corner
of Fetter-lane, was one of the coffee-houses of the Johnsonian
period; and here was long preserved a portrait of Dr. Johnson, on
the keystone of a chimney-piece, stated to have been painted by Sir
Joshua Reynolds. Peele's was noted for files of newspapers from
these dates: _Gazette_, 1759; _Times_, 1780; _Morning Chronicle_,
1773; _Morning Post_, 1773; _Morning Herald_, 1784; _Morning
Advertiser_, 1794; and the evening papers from their commencement.
The house is now a tavern.

_Coffee Literature and Ideals_

The bibliography at the end of this work will serve to indicate the nature and extent of the general literature of coffee. Not that it is complete or nearly so; it would require twice the space to include mention of all the fugitive bits of verse, essays, and miscellaneous writings in newspapers, and periodicals, dealing with the poetry and romance, history, chemistry, and physiological effects of coffee. Only the early works, and the more notable contributions of the last three centuries, are included in the bibliography; but there is sufficient to enable the student to analyze the lines of general progress.

A study of the literature of coffee shows that the French really internationalized the beverage. The English and Italians followed. With the advent of the newspaper press, coffee literature began to suffer from its competition.

The complexities of modern life suggest that coffee drinking in perfection, the esthetics, and a new literature of coffee may once more become the pleasure of a small caste. Are the real pleasures of life, the things truly worth while, only to the swift--the most efficient? Who shall say? Are not some of us, particularly in America, rather prone to glorify the gospel of work to such an extent that we are in danger of losing the ability to understand or to enjoy anything else?

Granted that this is so, coffee, already recognized as the most grateful lubricant known to the human machine, is destined to play another part of increasing importance in our national life as a kind of national shock-absorber as well. But its rôle is something more than this, surely. When life is drab, it takes away its grayness. When life is sad, it brings us solace. When life is dull, it brings us new inspiration. When we are a-weary, it brings us comfort and good cheer.

The lure of coffee lies in its appeal to our finer sensibilities; and signs are not wanting that that pursuit of the long, sweet happiness that every one is seeking will lead some of us (even in big bustling America) into footpaths that end in places where coffee will offer much of its pristine inspiration and charm. It probably will not be a coffee house anything like that of the long ago, but perhaps it will be a kind of modernized coffee club. Why not?

After the etching by J. Beauvarlet from a painting by Adriaen Van Ostade (1610-1675), which is said to be the earliest picture of a coffee house in western Europe]