Memd-we had out of ye country ye goose, ye duckes, ye capon py, y Cake and wardens, and ye venison; but that is allways pd for, though given. The above seems to have been a family dinner. THE POETS. This sonnet, by Leigh Hunt, appeared many years ago in the Examiner : Were I to name, out of the times gone by, The poets dearest to me, I should say, Spenser for luxury and sweet sylvan play, But which take with me could I take but one? Shakspeare, as long as I was unoppress'd With the world's weight, making sad thoughts intenser; But did I wish out of the common sun To lay a wounded heart in leafy rest, And dream of things far off and healing-Spenser. NOTES ON COFFEE. The earliest account we have of coffee is said to be taken from an Arabian MS. in the Bibliothèque du Roi in Paris. Schehabeddin Ben, an Arabian author of the ninth century of the Hegira, or fifteenth of the Christians, attributes to Gemaleddin, Mufti of Aden, a city of Arabia Felix, who was nearly his contemporary, the first introduction into that country of drinking coffee. He tells us that Gemaleddin, having occasion to travel into Persia, during his abode there saw some of his countrymen drinking coffee, which at that time he did not much attend to; but, on his return to Aden, finding himself indisposed, and remembering that he had seen his countrymen drinking coffee in Persia, in hopes of receiving some benefit from it, he determined to try it on himself; and, after making the experiment, not only recovered his health, but perceived other useful qualities in that liquor; such as relieving the headache, enlivening the spirits, and, without prejudice to the constitution, preventing drowsiness. This last quality he resolved to turn to the advantage of his profession; he took it himself, and recommended it to the Dervises, or religious Mahometans, to enable them to pass the night in prayer, and other exercises of their religion, with greater zeal and attention. The example and authority of the mufti gave reputation to coffee. Soon men of letters, and persons belonging to the law, adopted the use of it. These were followed by the tradesmen and artisans that were under the necessity of working in the night, and such as were obliged to travel late after sunset. At length the custom became general in Aden; and it was not only drunk in the night by those who were desirous of being kept awake, but in the day for the sake of its other agreeable qualities. Before this time coffee was scarce known in Persia, and very little used in Arabia, where the tree grew. But, according to Schehabeddin, it had been drunk in Ethiopia from time immemorial. Coffee being thus received at Aden, where it has continued in use ever since without interruption, passed by degrees to many neighboring towns; and not long after reached Mecca, where it was introduced as at Aden, by the Dervises, and for the same purposes of religion. The inhabitants of Mecca were at last so fond of this liquor, that, without regarding the intention of the religious and other studious persons, they at length drank it publicly in coffee-houses, where they assembled in crowds to pass the time agreeably, making that the pretence. From hence the custom extended itself to many other towns of Arabia, particularly to Medina, and then to Grand Cairo in Egypt, where the Dervises of Yemen, who lived in a district by themselves, drank coffee on the nights they intended to spend in devotion. Coffee continued its progress through Syria, and was received at Damascus and Aleppo without opposition; and in the year 1554, under the reign of Solyman, one hundred years after its introduction by the Mufti of Aden, became known to the inhabitants of Constantinople, when two private persons of the names of Schems and Hekin, the one coming from Damascus, and the other from Aleppo, opened coffee-houses. "It is not easy," says Ellis, "to determine at what time, or upon what occasion, the use of coffee passed from Constantinople to the western parts of Europe. It is, however, likely that the Venetians, upon account of the proximity of their dominions, and their great trade to the Levant, were the first acquainted with it; which appears from part of a letter wrote by Peter della Valle, a Venetian, in 1615, from Constantinople; in which he tells his friend, that, upon his return, he should bring with him some coffee, which he believed was a thing unknown in his country." Mr. Garland tells us he was informed by M. de la Croix, the King's interpreter, that M. Thevenot, who had travelled through the East, at his return in 1657, brought with him to Paris some coffee for his own use, and often treated his friends with it. It was known some years sooner at Marseilles; for, in 1644, some gentlemen who accompanied M. de la Haye to Constantinople, brought back with them, on their return, not only some coffee, but the proper vessels and apparatus for making it. However, until 1660, coffee was drunk only by such as had been accustomed to it in the Levant, and their friends; but that year some bales were imported from Egypt, which gave a great number of persons an opportunity of trying it, and contributed very much to bringing it into general use; and in 1661, a coffee-house was opened at Marseilles, in the neighborhood of the Exchange. Before 1669, coffee had not been seen at Paris, except at M. Thevenot's, and some of his friends; nor scarce heard of but from the account of travellers. In that year, Soliman Aga, ambassador from the Sultan Mahomet the Fourth, arrived, who, with his retinue, brought a considerable quantity of coffee with them, and made presents of it to persons both of the court and city, and is supposed to have established the custom of drinking it. Two years afterwards, an Armenian of the name of Pascal, set up a coffee-house, but meeting with little encouragement, left Paris and came to London. From Anderson's Chronological History of Commerce, it appears that the use of coffee was introduced into London some years earlier than in Paris. For in 1652, one Mr. Edwards, a Turkey merchant, brought home with him a Greek servant, whose name was Pasqua, who understood the roasting and making of coffee, till then unknown in England. This servant was the first who sold coffee, and kept a house for that purpose in George Yard, Lombard Street. The first mention of coffee in our statute books is anno 1660 (12 Car. II. c. 24), when a duty of 4d. was laid upon every gallon of coffee, made and sold, to be paid by the maker. The statute 15 Car. II. c. 11, § 15, an. 1663, directs that all coffee-houses should be licensed at the general quarter sessions of the peace for the county within which they are to be kept. In 1675 King Charles II. issued a proclamation to shut up the coffee-houses, but in a few days suspended the proclamation by a second. They were charged with being seminaries of sedi tion. The first European author who has made any mention of coffee is Rauwolfus, who was in the Levant in 1573. Anthony Wood, in his Diary, records, under the year 1654, that Coffey, which had been drank by some persons in Oxon. 1650, was this yeare publickly sold at or neare the Angel, within the Easte Gate of Oxon., as also chocolate, by an outlander or Jew. And in another place he says: |