"A coffee-house is a lay conventicle, good-fellowship turned puritan, ill-husbandry in masquerade, whither people come, after toping all day, to purchase, at the expense of their last penny, the repute of sober companions. [...] He that comes often, saves twopence a week in Gazettes, and has his news and his coffee for the same charge [...]; it is an exchange, where haberdashers of political small-wares meet, and mutually abuse each other, and the public, with bottomless stories, and heedless notions; the rendezvous of idle pamphlets, and persons more idly employed to read them; a high court of justice, where every little fellow in a camlet cloak takes upon him to transpose affairs both in church and state, to show reasons against acts of parliament, and condemn the decrees of general councils."
(Description of an English Coffee House, 1673)
4 comments:
For some reason, this post makes me deliriously happy. Maybe it's the extra jolt of caffeine, maybe it's that there is another person out there, somewhere, who loves that description of the English coffee house... whatever, it made my day! :o)
Me, too, Melissa. In fact, I am sitting in a coffee house condemning the decrees of the general councils this very minute.
We can haz report from AHA naow?
In fact, I am sitting in a coffee house condemning the decrees of the general councils this very minute
Damn straight! That pope ain't no Innocent! (and so forth)
P. S. this is really me but Blogger has `improved' its word verification without improving its OpenID support to keep up.
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