Character of a Coffee-House (1673) [ ]
… As you have a hodge-podge of Drinks, such too is your Company, for each man seems a Leveller, and ranks and files himself as he lists, without regard to degrees or order; so that oft you may see a silly Fop, and a worshipful Justice, a … and a Canting Mountebank; all blended together, to compose an Oglio of Impertinence. If any Pragmatick, to shew himself witty or eloquent, begin to talk high, presently the further Tables are abandon'd, and all the rest flock round … water than the Bear-garden, or Cuckolds-Haven, yet having pyrated the names of Ships and Captains, he perswades you himself was present, and performed Miracles; that he waded Knee-deep in blood on the upper Deck, and never thought serenade …
Coffeehouses
Anthology