Besides Meat, He Finds Very Good White Bread, Table-
Beer, &C.
Coffee-houses are almost as numerous as ale-houses, dispersed in
every part of the town, where they sell
Tea, coffee, chocolate,
drams, and in many of the great ones arrack and other punch, wine,
&c. These consist chiefly of one large common room, with good fires
in winter; and hither the middle sort of people chiefly resort, many
to breakfast, read the news, and talk politics; after which they
retire home: others, who are strangers in town, meet here about
noon, and appoint some tavern to dine at; and a great many attend at
the coffee-houses near the Exchange, the Inns of Court, and
Westminster, about their business. In the afternoon about four,
people resort to these places again, from whence they adjourn to the
tavern, the play, &c.; and some, when they have taken a handsome
dose, run to the coffee-house at midnight for a dish of coffee to
set them right; while others conclude the day here with drams, or a
bowl of punch.
There are but few cider-houses about London, though this be liquor
of English growth, because it is generally thought too cold for the
climate, and to elevate the spirits less than wine or strong beer.
The four grand distinctions of the people are these:- (1) The
nobility and gentry; (2) the merchants and first-rate tradesmen; (3)
the lawyers and physicians; and (4) inferior tradesmen, attorneys,
clerks, apprentices, coachmen, carmen, chairmen, watermen, porters,
and servants.
The first class may not only be divided into nobility and gentry,
but into either such as have dependence on the Court, or such as
have none. Those who have offices, places, or pensions from the
Court, or any expectations from thence, constantly attend the levees
of the prince and his ministers, which takes up the greatest part of
the little morning they have. At noon most of the nobility, and
such gentlemen as are members of the House of Commons, go down to
Westminster, and when the Houses do not sit late, return home to
dinner. Others that are not members of either House, and have no
particular business to attend, are found in the chocolate-houses
near the Court, or in the park, and many more do not stir from their
houses till after dinner. As to the ladies, who seldom rise till
about noon, the first part of their time is spent, after the duties
of the closet, either at the tea-table or in dressing, unless they
take a turn to Covent Garden or Ludgate Hill, and tumble over the
mercers' rich silks, or view some India or China trifle, some
prohibited manufacture, or foreign lace.
Thus, the business of the day being despatched before dinner, both
by the ladies and gentlemen, the evening is devoted to pleasure; all
the world get abroad in their gayest equipage between four and five
in the evening, some bound to the play, others to the opera, the
assembly, the masquerade, or music-meeting, to which they move in
such crowds that their coaches can scarce pass the streets.
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