_troublesomeness_ of your situation, it is childish and unmanly not to
disclose it. The frankness with which I have dealt towards you
entitles me to expect that you should have done so.
"But I have no reason to believe this to be the case; and attributing
your letter to a disorder which I know ought not to be indulged, I
prescribe that thou shalt keep thine appointment at the Piazza
Coffee-house, to-morrow at five, and, taking four bottles of claret
instead of three, to which in sound health you might stint yourself,
forget that you ever wrote the letter, as I shall that I ever received
it.
"R. B. SHERIDAN."
The Piazza façade, and interior, were of Gothic design. The house has
been taken down, and in its place was built the Floral Hall, after the
Crystal Palace model.
THE CHAPTER COFFEE-HOUSE.
In our first volume, pp. 179-186, we described this as a literary
place of resort in Paternoster Row, more especially in connection
with the Wittinagemot of the last century.
A very interesting account of the Chapter, at a later period, (1848,)
is given by Mrs. Gaskell. The Coffee-house is thus described:--
"Paternoster Row was for many years sacred to publishers. It is a
narrow flagged street, lying under the shadow of St. Paul's; at each
end there are posts placed, so as to prevent the passage of carriages,
and thus preserve a solemn silence for the deliberations of the
'fathers of the Row.' The dull warehouses on each side are mostly
occupied at present by wholesale stationers; if they be publishers'
shops, they show no attractive front to the dark and narrow street.
Halfway up on the left-hand side is the Chapter Coffee-house. I
visited it last June. It was then unoccupied; it had the appearance of
a dwelling-house two hundred years old or so, such as one sometimes
sees in ancient country towns; the ceilings of the small rooms were
low, and had heavy beams running across them; the walls were
wainscoted breast-high; the staircase was shallow, broad, and dark,
taking up much space in the centre of the house. This then was the
Chapter Coffee-house, which, a century ago, was the resort of all the
booksellers and publishers, and where the literary hacks, the critics,
and even the wits used to go in search of ideas or employment. This
was the place about which Chatterton wrote, in those delusive letters
he sent to his mother at Bristol, while he was starving in London.
"Years later it became the tavern frequented by university men, and
country clergymen, who were up in London for a few days, and, having
no private friends or access into society, were glad to learn what was
going on in the world of letters, from the conversation which they
were sure to hear in the coffee-room. It was a place solely frequented
by men; I believe there was but one female servant in the house. Few
people slept there: some of the stated meetings of the trade were held
in it, as they had been for more than a century; and occasionally
country booksellers, with now and then a clergyman, resorted to it. In
the long, low, dingy room upstairs, the meetings of the trade were
held. The high narrow windows looked into the gloomy Row; nothing of
motion or of change could be seen in the grim dark houses opposite, so
near and close, although the whole breadth of the Row was between. The
mighty roar of London was round, like the sound of an unseen ocean,
yet every foot-fall on the pavement below might be heard distinctly,
in that unfrequented street."
Goldsmith frequented the Chapter, and always occupied one place,
which, for many years after was the seat of literary honour there.
There are Leather Tokens of the Chapter Coffee-house in existence.
CHILD'S COFFEE-HOUSE,
In St. Paul's Churchyard, was one of the _Spectator's_ houses.
"Sometimes," he says, "I smoke a pipe at Child's, and whilst I seem
attentive to nothing but the _Postman_, overhear the conversation of
every table in the room." It was much frequented by the clergy; for
the _Spectator_, No. 609, notices the mistake of a country gentleman
in taking all persons in scarfs for Doctors of Divinity, since only a
scarf of the first magnitude entitles him to "the appellation of
Doctor from his landlady and the _Boy at Child's_."
Child's was the resort of Dr. Mead, and other professional men of
eminence. The Fellows of the Royal Society came here. Whiston relates
that Sir Hans Sloane, Dr. Halley, and he were once at Child's, when
Dr. H., asked him, W., why he was not a member of the Royal Society?
Whiston answered, because they durst not choose a heretic. Upon which
Dr. H. said, if Sir Hans Sloane would propose him, W., he, Dr. H.,
would second it, which was done accordingly.
The propinquity of Child's to the Cathedral and Doctors' Commons, made
it the resort of the clergy, and ecclesiastical loungers. In one
respect, Child's was superseded by the Chapter, in Paternoster Row.
LONDON COFFEE-HOUSE.
This Coffee-house was established previous to the year 1731, for we
find of it the following advertisement:--
"May, 1731.
"Whereas, it is customary for Coffee-houses and other Public-houses,
to take 8_s._ for a quart of Arrack, and 6_s._ for a quart of Brandy
or Rum, made into Punch:
"This is to give Notice,
"That James Ashley has opened, on Ludgate Hill, the London
Coffee-house, Punch-house, Dorchester Beer and Welsh Ale Warehouse,
where the finest and best old Arrack, Rum, and French Brandy is made
into Punch, with the other of the finest ingredients--viz., A quart
of Arrack made into Punch for six shillings; and so in proportion to
the smallest quantity, which is half-a-quartern for fourpence
halfpenny. A quart of Rum or Brandy made into Punch for four
shillings; and so in proportion to the smallest quantity, which is
half-a-quartern for fourpence halfpenny; and gentlemen may have it as
soon made as a gill of Wine can be drawn."
The premises occupy a Roman site; for, in 1800, in the rear of the
house, in a bastion of the City Wall, was found a sepulchral monument,
dedicated to Claudina Martina by her husband, a provincial Roman
soldier; here also were found a fragment of a statue of Hercules, and
a female head. In front of the Coffee-house, immediately west of St.
Martin's church, stood Ludgate.
The London Coffee-house (now a tavern) is noted for its publishers'
sales of stock and copyrights. It was within the rules of the Fleet
prison: and in the Coffee-house are "locked up" for the night such
juries from the Old Bailey Sessions, as cannot agree upon verdicts.
The house was long kept by the grandfather and father of Mr. John
Leech, the celebrated artist.
A singular incident occurred at the London Coffee-house, many years
since: Mr. Brayley, the topographer, was present at a party here, when
Mr. Broadhurst, the famous tenor, by singing a high note, caused a
wine-glass on the table to break, the bowl being separated from the
stem.
At the bar of the London Coffee-house was sold Rowley's British
Cephalic Snuff.
TURK'S HEAD COFFEE HOUSE
IN CHANGE ALLEY.
From _The Kingdom's Intelligencer_, a weekly paper, published by
authority, in 1662, we learn that there had just been opened a "new
Coffee-house," with the sign of the Turk's Head, where was sold by
retail "the right Coffee-powder," from 4_s._ to 6_s._ 8_d._ per pound;
that pounded in a mortar, 2_s._; East India berry, 1_s._ 6_d._; and
the right Turkie berry, well garbled, at 3_s._ "The ungarbled for
lesse, with directions how to use the same." Also Chocolate at 2_s._
6_d._ per pound; the perfumed from 4_s._ to 10_s._; "also, Sherbets
made in Turkie, of lemons, roses, and violets perfumed; and Tea, or
Chaa, according to its goodness. The house seal was Morat the Great.
Gentlemen customers and acquaintances are (the next New Year's Day)
invited to the sign of the Great Turk at this new Coffee-house, where
Coffee will be on free cost." The sign was also Morat the Great. Morat
figures as a tyrant in Dryden's _Aurung Zebe_. There is a token of
this house, with the Sultan's head, in the Beaufoy collection.
Another token, in the same collection, is of unusual excellence,
probably by John Roettier. It has on the obverse, Morat ye Great Men
did mee call,--Sultan's head; reverse, Where eare I came I conquered
all.--In the field, Coffee, Tobacco, Sherbet, Tea, Chocolat, Retail in
Exchange Alee. "The word Tea," says Mr. Burn, "occurs on no other
tokens than those issued from 'the Great Turk' Coffee-house, in
Exchange-Alley;" in one of its advertisements, 1662, tea is from
6_s._ to 60_s._ a pound.
Competition arose. One Constantine Jennings in Threadneedle-street,
over against St. Christopher's Church, advertised that coffee,
chocolate, sherbet, and tea, the right Turkey berry, may be had as
cheap and as good of him as is any where to be had for money; and that
people may there be taught to prepare the said liquors gratis.
Pepys, in his _Diary_, tells, Sept. 25, 1669, of his sending for "a
cup of Tea, a China Drink, he had not before tasted." Henry Bennet,
Earl of Arlington, about 1666, introduced tea at Court. And, in his
Sir Charles Sedley's _Mulberry Garden_, we are told that "he who
wished to be considered a man of fashion always drank wine-and-water
at dinner, and a dish of tea afterwards." These details are condensed
from Mr. Burn's excellent _Beaufoy Catalogue_. 2nd edition, 1855.
In Gerard-street, Soho, also, was another Turk's Head Coffee-house,
where was held a Turk's Head Society; in 1777, we find Gibbon writing
to Garrick: "At this time of year, (Aug. 14,) the Society of the
Turk's Head can no longer be addressed as a corporate body, and most
of the individual members are probably dispersed: Adam Smith in
Scotland; Burke in the shades of Beaconsfield; Fox, the Lord or the
devil knows where."
This place was a kind of head-quarters for the Loyal Association
during the Rebellion of 1745.
Here was founded "The Literary Club," already described in Vol. I.,
pp. 204-219.
In 1753, several Artists met at the Turk's Head, and from thence,
their Secretary, Mr. F. M. Newton, dated a printed letter to the
Artists to form a select body for the Protection and Encouragement of
Art. Another Society of Artists met in Peter's-court, St.
Martin's-lane, from the year 1739 to 1769. After continued squabbles,
which lasted for many years, the principal Artists met together at the
Turk's Head, where many others having joined them, they petitioned the
King (George III.) to become patron of a Royal Academy of Art. His
Majesty consented; and the new Society took a room in Pall Mall,
opposite to Market-lane, where they remained until the King, in the
year 1771, granted them apartments in Old Somerset House.--_J. T.
Smith._
The Turk's Head Coffee-house, No. 142, in the Strand, was a favourite
supping-house with Dr. Johnson and Boswell, in whose Life of Johnson
are several entries, commencing with 1763--"At night, Mr. Johnson and
I supped in a private room at the Turk's Head Coffee-house, in the
Strand; 'I encourage this house,' said he, 'for the mistress of it is
a good civil woman, and has not much business.'" Another entry is--"We
concluded the day at the Turk's Head Coffee-house very socially." And,
August 3, 1673--"We had our last social meeting at the Turk's Head
Coffee-house, before my setting out for foreign parts."
The name was afterwards changed to "The Turk's Head, Canada and Bath
Coffee-house," and was a well frequented tavern and hotel: it was
taken down, and a very handsome lofty house erected upon the site, at
the cost of, we believe, eight thousand pounds; it was opened as a
tavern and hotel, but did not long continue.
At the Turk's Head, or Miles's Coffee-house, New Palace-yard,
Westminster, the noted Rota Club met, founded by Harrington, in 1659:
where was a large oval table, with a passage in the middle, for Miles
to deliver his coffee. (See _Clubs_, Vol. I., pp. 15, 16).
SQUIRE'S COFFEE-HOUSE.
In Fulwood's (_vulgo_ Fuller's) Rents, in Holborn, nearly opposite
Chancery-lane, in the reign of James I., lived Christopher Fulwood, in
a mansion of some pretension, of which an existing house of the period
is said to be the remains. "Some will have it," says Hatton, 1708,
"that it is called from being a _woody_ place before there were
buildings here; but its being called Fullwood's Rents (as it is in
deeds and leases), shows it to be the rents of one called Fullwood,
the owner or builder thereof." Strype describes the Rents, or court,
as running up to Gray's-Inn, "into which it has an entrance through
the gate; a place of good resort, and taken up by coffee-houses,
ale-houses, and houses of entertainment, by reason of its vicinity to
Gray's-Inn. On the east side is a handsome open place, with a handsome
freestone pavement, and better built, and inhabited by private
house-keepers. At the upper end of this court is a passage into the
Castle Tavern, a house of considerable trade, as is the Golden Griffin
Tavern, on the West side."
Here was John's, one of the earliest Coffee-houses; and adjoining
Gray's-Inn gate is a deep-coloured red-brick house, once Squire's
Coffee-house, kept by Squire, "a noted man in Fuller's Rents," who
died in 1717. The house is very roomy; it has been handsome, and has
a wide staircase. Squire's was one of the receiving-houses of the
_Spectator_: in No. 269, January 8, 1711-1712, he 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 nobody 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.
Gray's-Inn Walks, to which the Rents led, across Field-court, were
then a fashionable promenade; and here Sir Roger could "clear his
pipes in good air;" for scarcely a house intervened thence to
Hampstead. Though Ned Ward, in his _London Spy_, says--"I found none
but a parcel of superannuated debauchees, huddled up in cloaks, frieze
coats, and wadded gowns, to protect their old carcases from the
sharpness of Hampstead air; creeping up and down in pairs and leashes
no faster than the hand of a dial, or a county convict going to
execution: some talking of law, some of religion, and some of
politics. After I had walked two or three times round, I sat myself
down in the upper walk, where just before me, on a stone pedestal, we
fixed an old rusty horizontal dial, with the gnomon broke short off."
Round the sun-dial, seats were arranged in a semicircle.
Gray's-Inn Gardens were resorted to by dangerous classes. Expert
pickpockets and plausible ring-droppers found easy prey there on
crowded days; and in old plays the Gardens are repeatedly mentioned as
a place of negotiation for clandestine lovers, which led to the walks
being closed, except at stated hours.
Returning to Fulwood's Rents, we may here describe another of its
attractions, the Tavern and punch-house, within one door of
Gray's-Inn, apparently the King's Head. From some time before 1699,
until his death in 1731, Ward kept this house, which he thus
commemorates, or, in another word, puffs, in his _London Spy_: being a
vintner himself, we may rest assured that he would have penned this in
praise of no other than himself:
"To speak but the truth of my honest friend Ned,
The best of all vintners that ever God made;
He's free of the beef, and as free of his bread,
And washes both down with his glass of rare red,
That tops all the town, and commands a good trade;
Such wine as will cheer up the drooping King's head,
And brisk up the soul, though our body's half dead;
He scorns to draw bad, as he hopes to be paid;
And now his name's up, he may e'en lie abed;
For he'll get an estate--there's no more to be said."
We ought to have remarked, that the ox was roasted, cut up, and
distributed gratis; a piece of generosity which, by a poetic fiction,
is supposed to have inspired the above limping balderdash.
SLAUGHTER'S COFFEE-HOUSE.
This Coffee-house, famous as the resort of painters and sculptors, in
the last century, was situated at the upper end of the west side of
St. Martin's-lane, three doors from Newport-street. Its first landlord
was Thomas Slaughter, 1692. Mr. Cunningham tells us that a second
Slaughter's (New Slaughter's), was established in the same street
about 1760, when the original establishment adopted the name of "Old
Slaughter's," by which designation it was known till within a few
years of the final demolition of the house to make way for the new
avenue between Long-acre and Leicester-square, formed 1843-44. For
many years previous to the streets of London being completely paved,
"Slaughter's" was called "The Coffee-house on the Pavement." In like
manner, "The Pavement," Moor fields, received its distinctive name.
Besides being the resort of artists, Old Slaughter's was the house of
call for Frenchmen.
St. Martin's-lane was long one of the head-quarters of the artists of
the last century. "In the time of Benjamin West," says J. T. Smith,
"and before the formation of the Royal Academy, Greek-street, St.
Martin's-lane, and Gerard-street, was their colony. Old Slaughter's
Coffee-house, in St. Martin's-lane, was their grand resort in the
evenings, and Hogarth was a constant visitor." He lived at the Golden
Head, on the eastern side of Leicester Fields, in the northern half
of the Sabloniere Hotel. The head he cut out himself from pieces of
cork, glued and bound together; it was placed over the street-door. At
this time, young Benjamin West was living in chambers, in
Bedford-street, Covent Garden, and had there set up his easel; he was
married, in 1765, at St. Martin's Church. Roubiliac was often to be
found at Slaughter's in early life; probably before he gained the
patronage of Sir Edward Walpole, through finding and returning to the
baronet the pocket-book of bank-notes, which the young maker of
monuments had picked up in Vauxhall Gardens. Sir Edward, to remunerate
his integrity, and his skill, of which he showed specimens, promised
to patronize Roubiliac through life, and he faithfully performed this
promise. Young Gainsborough, who spent three years amid the works of
the painters in St. Martin's-lane, Hayman, and Cipriani, who were all
eminently convivial, were, in all probability, frequenters of
Slaughter's. Smith tells us that Quin and Hayman were inseparable
friends, and so convivial, that they seldom parted till daylight.
Mr. Cunningham relates that here, "in early life, Wilkie would enjoy a
small dinner at a small cost. I have been told by an old frequenter of
the house, that Wilkie was always the last dropper-in for a dinner,
and that he was never seen to dine in the house by daylight. The truth
is, he slaved at his art at home till the last glimpse of daylight had
disappeared."
Haydon was accustomed in the early days of his fitful career, to dine
here with Wilkie. In his _Autobiography_, in the year 1808, Haydon
writes: "This period of our lives was one of great happiness: painting
all day, then dining at the Old Slaughter Chop-house, then going to
the Academy until eight, to fill up the evening, then going home to
tea--that blessing of a studious man--talking over our respective
exploits, what he [Wilkie] had been doing, and what I had done, and
then, frequently to relieve our minds fatigued by their eight and
twelve hours' work, giving vent to the most extraordinary absurdities.
Often have we made rhymes on odd names, and shouted with laughter at
each new line that was added. Sometimes lazily inclined after a good
dinner, we have lounged about, near Drury-lane or Covent Garden,
hesitating whether to go in, and often have I (knowing first that
there was nothing I wished to see) assumed a virtue I did not possess,
and pretending moral superiority, preached to Wilkie on the weakness
of not resisting such temptations for the sake of our art and our
duty, and marched him off to his studies, when he was longing to see
Mother Goose."
J. T. Smith has narrated some fifteen pages of characteristic
anecdotes of the artistic visitors of Old Slaughter's, which he refers
to as "formerly the rendezvous of Pope, Dryden, and other wits, and
much frequented by several eminently clever men of his day."
Thither came Ware, the architect, who, when a little sickly boy, was
apprenticed to a chimney-sweeper, and was seen chalking the
street-front of Whitehall, by a gentleman, who purchased the remainder
of the boy's time; gave him an excellent education; then sent him to
Italy, and, upon his return, employed him, and introduced him to his
friends as an architect. Ware was heard to tell this story, while he
was sitting to Roubiliac for his bust. Ware built Chesterfield House
and several other noble mansions, and compiled a Palladio, in folio:
he retained the soot in his skin to the day of his death. He was very
intimate with Roubiliac, who was an opposite eastern neighbour of Old
Slaughter's. Another architect, Gwynn, who competed with Mylne for
designing and building Blackfriars Bridge, was also a frequent visitor
at Old Slaughter's, as was Gravelot, who kept a drawing-school in the
Strand, nearly opposite to Southampton-street.
Hudson, who painted the Dilettanti portraits; M'Ardell, the
mezzotinto-scraper; and Luke Sullivan, the engraver of Hogarth's March
to Finchley, also frequented Old Slaughter's; likewise Theodore
Gardell, the portrait painter, who was executed for the murder of his
landlady; and Old Moser, keeper of the Drawing Academy in
Peter's-court. Richard Wilson, the landscape painter, was not a
regular customer here: his favourite house was the Constitution,
Bedford-street, Covent Garden, where he could indulge in a pot of
porter more freely, and enjoy the fun of Mortimer, the painter.
Parry, the Welsh harper, though totally blind, was one of the first
draught-players in England, and occasionally played with the
frequenters of Old Slaughter's; and here, in consequence of a bet,
Roubiliac introduced Nathaniel Smith (father of John Thomas), to play
at draughts with Parry; the game lasted about half an hour: Parry was
much agitated, and Smith proposed to give in; but as there were bets
depending, it was played out, and Smith won. This victory brought
Smith numerous challenges; and the dons of the Barn, a public-house,
in St. Martin's-lane, nearly opposite the church, invited him to
become a member; but Smith declined. The Barn, for many years, was
frequented by all the noted players of chess and draughts; and it was
there that they often decided games of the first importance, played
between persons of the highest rank, living in different parts of the
world.
T. Rawle,[26] the inseparable companion of Captain Grose, the
antiquary, came often to Slaughter's.
It was long asserted of Slaughter's Coffee-house that there never had
been a person of that name as master of the house, but that it was
named from its having been opened for the use of the men who
slaughtered the cattle for the butchers of Newport Market, in an open
space then adjoining. "This," says J. T. Smith, "may be the fact, if
we believe that coffee was taken as refreshment by slaughtermen,
instead of purl or porter; or that it was so called by the
neighbouring butchers in derision of the numerous and fashionable
Coffee-houses of the day; as, for instance, 'The Old Man's
Coffee-house,' and 'The Young Man's Coffee-house.' Be that as it may,
in my father's time, and also within memory of the most aged people,
this Coffee-house was called '_Old_ Slaughter's,' and not The
Slaughter, or The Slaughterer's Coffee-house."