Club Life of London, Vol. 2 (of 2): With Anecdotes of the Clubs, Coffee-Houses and Taverns of the Metropolis During the 17th, 18th, and 19th CenturiesTimbs, John
History
Club Life of London, Vol. 2 (of 2): With Anecdotes of the Clubs, Coffee-Houses and Taverns of the Metropolis During the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries
Timbs, John
Clubs -- England -- London; Literary landmarks -- England -- London; London (England) -- Social life and customs
"'Come,' says my friend, 'let us step into this coffee-house here; as
you are a stranger in the town, it will afford you some diversion.'
Accordingly in we went, where a parcel of muddling muckworms were as
busy as so many rats in an old cheese-loft; some going, some coming,
some scribbling, some talking, some drinking, some smoking, others
jangling; and the whole room stinking of tobacco, like a Dutch scoot
[schuyt], or a boatswain's cabin. The walls were hung round with gilt
frames, as a farrier's shop with horse-shoes; which contained
abundance of rarities, viz., Nectar and Ambrosia, May-dew, Golden
Elixirs, Popular Pills, Liquid Snuff, Beautifying Waters, Dentifrices,
Drops, and Lozenges; all as infallible as the Pope, 'Where every one
(as the famous Saffolde has it) above the rest, Deservedly has gain'd
the name of best:' every medicine being so catholic, it pretends to
nothing less than universality. So that, had not my friend told me
'twas a coffee-house, I should have taken it for Quacks' Hall, or the
parlour of some eminent mountebank. We each of us stuck in our mouths
a pipe of sotweed, and now began to look about us."
A description of Man's Coffee-house, situate in Scotland-yard, near
the water-side, is an excellent picture of a fashionable coffee-house
of the day. It took its name from the proprietor, Alexander Man, and
was sometimes known as Old Man's, or the Royal Coffee-house, to
distinguish it from Young Man's and Little Man's minor establishments
in the neighbourhood:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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