Character of a Coffee-House (1673) [ ]
… a three peny Ordinary they give in Broth to your Chop of Mutton; 'tis an Exchange where Haberdashers of Political small wares meet, and mutually abuse each other, and the Publique, with bottomless stories, and headless notions; the … Conduct of some Eminent Officers, (that perhaps he never saw) and protests, had they taken his advice at the Councel of War, not a Sail had escap'd us. He is no sooner out of breath, but another begins a Lecture on the Gazet, where finding … it a Musick Room, at others a pair of Tables and draught b•ard, a smal gaming house; on a sudden it turns Exchange, or a Warehouse for all sorts of Commodities, where fools are drawn in by inch of Candle, as we betray and carch Larks with a …
Coffeehouses
Anthology