The earliest account we have of coffee in said to be taken from an Arabian MS. in the Bibliothèque du Roi in Paris. under the necessity of working in the night, and such as were obliged to travel late after sun-set. 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 Æthiopia from time immemorial. Coffee being thus received at Aden, where it has continued in use ever since without interruption, passed by degrees to many neighbouring 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. 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 | Constantinople, when two private persons of in that liquor; such as relieving the headach, 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 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 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 frade 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 neighbourhood 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 into 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 sedition. The first European author who has made any mention of coffee is Rauwolfus, who was in the Levant in 1573. DR. DRYASDUST. Sir, - Do you or any of your readers know anything of the family of that celebrated antiquary, and do you think it probable that he was descended from, or connected with, the author of a work which I met with some time ago, intituled "Wit Revived, or A new and excellent way of Divertisement, digested into most ingenious Questions and Answers. By ASDRYASDUST TOSSOFFACAN. London: Printed for T. E. and are to be sold by most Booksellers. MDCLXXIV." 12mo. I do not know anything of the author's character, but he appears to have been a right-minded man, in so far as he (like yourself) expected to find "wit revived" by its digestion into "most ingenious questions and answers;" though his notion that asking and answering questions was a new way of divertisement, seems to indicate an imperfect knowledge of the nature and history of mankind; but my query is simply genealogical. H. F. W. MACAULAY'S "YOUNG LEVITE." Sir, The following passage from the Anatomy of Melancholy, published 1651, struck me as a curious corroboration of the passage in Mr. Macaulay's History which describes the "young Levite's" position in society during the seventeenth century; and as chance lately threw in my way the work from which Burton took his illustration, I take the liberty of submitting Notes of both for your examination. "If he be a trencher chaplain in a gentleman's house (as it befel Euphormio), after some seven years' service he may perchance have a living to the halves, or some small rectory, with the mother of the maids at length, a poor kinswoman, or a crackt chambermaid, to have and to hold during the time of his life." Burton, Anat. of Mel. part i. sect. 2. mem. 3. subsect. 15. Burton is here referring to the Euphormionis Lusinini Satyricon, published anno 1617. It professes to be a satire, or rather a FURIOUS INVECTIVE, on the corrupt manners of the times, and is in four parts: the 1st is dedi. cated to King James I.; the 2nd to Robert Cecil; the 3rd to Charles Emanuel of Savoy; the 4th to Louis XIII., King of France. The use that Burton makes of the name of Euphormio is any thing but happy. He was not a "trencher chaplain" but the slave of a rich debauchee, Callion, sent in company with another slave, Percas, to carry some all-potent nostrum to Fibullius, a friend of Callion, who Euwas suffering from an attack of stone. phormio cures Fibullius, not by the drug with which he was armed, but by a herb, which he sought for and found on a mountain. Fibullius, to reward his benefactor, offers him as a wife a most beautiful girl, whom he introduces to him privately while in his sick room. Euphormio looks with no little suspicion on the offer; but, after a few excuses, which are form me whether the personages mentioned in the Euphorm. Lus. Satyricon, such as Callion, Percas, Fibullius, &c., are real characters or not? as, in the former case, I am inclined to think that the work might throw some interesting lights on the private manners and characters of some of the courtiers of the day. "No scandal against any of the maids of honour" - of course. The phrase "To the halves" (in the quotation from Burton) means, inadequate, insufficient; we still talk of "half and half" measures. Montanus inveighs against such "perturbations, that purge to the halves, tire nature, and molest the body to no purpose." - Burton, Anat. of Mel., part. ii. sect. 2. mem. 4. subsect. 6. MELANION. [The work referred to by our correspondent was written by Barclay, better known as the author of the Argenis. The First Part of the Satyricon, dedicated to James the First, was published, London, 12mo. 1603; and with the addition of the 2nd Part, Paris, 1605. The best edition of the work (which, really in two parts, is made, by the addition of the Apologia Euphormionis, &c. sometimes into five) is said to be the Elzevir 12mo., 1637. There are two editions of it cum notis variorum, Leyden, 1667 and 1669, 8vo., in two volumes. Of some of the editions (as that of 1623, overruled by Fibullius, accepts the lady as | 12mo.) it is said, "adjecta Clavi sive obscurorum his betrothed, "seals the bargain with a holy et quasi ænigmaticorum nominum, in hoc Opere passim occurrentium, dilucida explicatione." The Satyricon was twice translated into French; and its literary history, and that of the Censura Euphormionis, and other tracts, which it called forth, might furnish a curious and amusing paper.] SERMONES SANCTI CAROLI BORROMEI. Sir, I have been wanting to get a sight of the following work, "Sermones Sancti Caroli Borromæi, Archiepisc. Mediol. Edidit. J. A. Saxius. 5 Tom. Mediol. 1747." Can I learn through your columns whether the work is any where accessible in London? I sought | for it in vain at the British Museum a twelvemonth ago; nor, though then placed in their list of Libri desiderati, has it yet been procured. C. F. SECRETAN. LUTHER AND ERASMUS. Mr. Editor, -The following lines, written in a hand of the early part of the seventeenth century, occur on the fly-leaf of a copy of the Translation of Luther on the Galatians, edit. "Parum Lutherus ac Erasmus differunt TOWER ROYAL ROTERODAMUS. CONSTITUTION HILL Odes; The Legends of Robert Duke of Normandie, Matilda, Pierce Gaveston, and Great Cromwell; The Owle; and Pastorals, containing Eglogues, with the Man in the Moone." They may be of use to some future editor of Drayton, an author now undeservedly neglected, whose Nymphidia alone might tempt the tasteful publisher of the "Aldine Poets" to include a selection, at least, of his poems in that beautiful series : "The works of Michael Drayton, Esq., were reprinted in folio, 1748. The title-page 'promises all the writings of that celebrated author, but his COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE'S LETTER-TENNI- | Pastorals (p. 433. &c., first published imperfectly SON'S FUNERAL SERMON ON NELL GWYNNE. Sir, I should be glad to obtain answers to any or all of the following Queries: 1. What is the origin of the name TOWER ROYAL, as applied to a London locality, and when did our kings (if they ever inhabited it) cease to inhabit it? 2. When was CONSTITUTION HILL first so called, and why? 3. Is there any contemporary copy of the celebrated letter said to have been written by Anne Pembroke, Dorset and Montgomery, to Sir Joseph Williamson? It first appeared in The World. 4. Does a copy exist in MS., or in print, of the sermon which Archbishop Tennison preached at the funeral of Neil Gwynne? in 4to. 1593) and many other of his most considerable compositions (Odes, the Owle, &c., see the Appendix), are not so much as spoken of. See his article in the Biog. Brit. by Mr. Oldys, curiously and accurately written. "Another edition (which is called the best) was printed in 4 vols. 8vo. 1753. Robson, 1765. "A Poem Triumphant, composed for the Society of the Goldsmiths of London, by M. Drayton. 4to. 1604. Harl. Cat. v. 3. p. 357. "Charles Coffey was the editor of the folio edit. 1748 he had a large subscription for it, but died before the publication; and it was afterward printed for the benefit of his widow. See Mottley, p. 201. "The print of Drayton at the back of the titlepage, is marked in Thane's Catalogue, 1774, 7s. 6d. "N.B. The copy of the Barons' Warres in this edition differs in almost every line from that in the 8vo. edit. 1610. "It was printed under the title of Mortimeriados, in 7 line stanzaes. "Matilda was first printed 1594, 4to., by Val. Simmes. Gaveston appears by the Pref. to have been publish't before. Almost every line in the old 4to. of Matilda differs from the copy in this edit. A stanza celebrating Shakespeare's Lucrece is omitted in the later edition. "Idea. The Shepherd's Garland. Fashion'd in 9 Eglogs. Rowland's sacrifice to the 9 Muses, 4to. 1593. But they are printed in this Edition very different from the present Pastorals. "A sonnet of Drayton's prefixed to the 2nd Part of Munday's Primaleon of Greece, B. L. 4to. 1619." [The stanza in Matilda, celebrating Shakspere's Lucrece, to which Dr. Farmer alludes, is thus quoted by Mr. Collier in his edition of Shakspere (viii. p. 411.): "Lucrece, of whom proud Rome hath boasted long, 1 1 Acting her passions on our stately stage: who remarks upon it as follows: "A difficulty here may arise out of the fifth line, as if Drayton was referring to a play upon the story of Lucrece, and it is very possible that one was then in existence. Thomas Heywood's tragedy, 'The Rape of Lucrece,' did not appear in print until 1608, and he could hardly have been old enough to have been the author of such a drama in 1594; he may, nevertheless, have availed himself of an elder play, and, according to the practice of the time, he may have felt warranted in publishing it as his own. It is likely, however, that Drayton's expressions are not to be taken literally; and that his meaning merely was, that the story of Lucrece had lately been revived, and brought upon the stage of the world: if this opinion be correct, the stanza we have quoted above contains a clear allusion to Shakspeare's 'Lucrece;' and a question then presents itself, why Drayton entirely omitted it in the after-impression of his 'Matilda.' He was a poet who, as we have shown in the Introduction to 'Julius Cæsar' (vol. viii. p. 4.), was in the habit of making extensive alterations in his productions, as they were severally reprinted, and the suppression of this stanza may have proceeded from many other causes than repentance of the praise he had bestowed upon a rival."] BODENHAM, OR LING'S POLITEUPHUIA. Sir, - The following is an extract from a Catalogue of Books for sale, issued by Mr. Asher, of Berlin, in 1844: "BODENHAM? (LING?), Politeuphuia. Wits common wealth; original wrapper, vellum. VERY RARE. "80 fr. 8vo. London, for Nicholas Ling, 1597. "This book, being a methodicall collection of the most choice and select admonitions and sentences, compendiously drawn from infinite varietie,' is quoted by Lowndes under Bodenham, as first printed in 1598; the Epistle dedicatory however of the present copy is signed: N. Ling,' and addressed to his very good friend Maister I. B.,' so that Ling appears to have been the author, and this an edition unknown to Lowndes or any other bibliographer." This seems to settle one point, perhaps a not very important one, in our literary history; and as such may deserve a place among your "NOTES." BOOKWORM. COLLEY CIBBER'S APOLOGY. Mr. Editor, No doubt most of your readers are well acquainted with Colley Cibber's Apology for his Life, &c., first printed, I believe, in 1740, 4to, with a portrait of himself, painted by Vanloo, and engraved by Vandergucht. Chapters IV. and V. contain the celebrated characters he drew of the principal performers, male and female, in, and just before, his time, viz. Betterton, Montfort, Kynaston, &c.; Mrs. Betterton, Mrs. Barry, Mrs. Bracegirdle, &c. Upon these characters I have two questions to put, which I hope some of your contributors may be able to answer. The first is, "Were these characters of actors reprinted in the same words, and without additions, in the subsequent impressions of Cibber's Apology in 8vo?" Secondly, "Had they ever appeared in any shape before they were inserted in the copy of Cibber's Apology now before me, in 1740, 4to?" To this may be added, if convenient, some account of the work in which these fine criticisms originally appeared, supposing they did not first come out in the Apology. I am especially interested in the history of the Stage about the period when the publication of these characters formed an epoch. I am, Mr. Editor, yours, DRAMATICUS. A MAIDEN ASSIZE - WHITE GLOVES. Mr. Editor, - I forward for insertion in your new publication the following "NOTE,” taken from the Times of the 20th of August, 1847: "A FORTUNATE COUNTY. - In consequence of there being no prisoners, nor business of any kind to transact at the last assizes for the county of Radnor, the high sheriff, Mr. Henry Miles, had to present the judge, Mr. Justice Cresswell, with a pair of white kid gloves, embroidered in gold, and which have been forwarded to his lordship; a similar event has not taken place for a considerable number of years in that county. His lordship remarked that it was the first time it had occurred to him since he had been on the Bench." And I beg to append it as a "Query," which I shall gladly see answered by any of your correspondents, or my professional brethren, "What is the origin of this singular custom, and what is the earliest instance of it on record?" A LIMB OF THE LAW. |