t called for, because society itself was the
arena of conversation. In this country, on the other hand, a man could
only chat when at his ease; could only be at his ease among those who
agreed with him on the main points of religion and politics, and even
then wanted the aid of a bottle to make him comfortable. Our want of
sociability was the cause of our clubbing, and therefore the word 'club'
is purely English.

This was never so much the case as after the Restoration. Religion and
politics never ran higher than when a monarch, who is said to have died
a papist because he had no religion at all during his life, was brought
back to supplant a furious puritanical Protectorate. Then, indeed, it
was difficult for men of opposite parties to meet without bickering; and
society demanded separate meeting-places for those who differed. The
origin of clubs in this country is to be traced to two causes--the
vehemence of religious and political partisanship, and the establishment
of coffee-houses. These certainly gave the first idea of clubbery. The
taverns which preceded them had given the English a zest for public life
in a small way. 'The Mermaid' was, virtually, a club of wits long before
the first real club was opened, and, like the clubs of the eighteenth
century, it had its presiding geniuses in Shakespeare and Rare Ben.

The coffee-houses introduced somewhat more refinement and less
exclusiveness. The oldest of these was the 'Grecian.' 'One Constantine,
a Grecian,' advertised in 'The Intelligencer' of January 23rd, 1664-5,
that 'the right coffee bery or chocolate,' might be had of him 'as cheap
and as good as is anywhere to be had for money,' and soon after began to
sell the said 'coffee bery' in small cups at his own establishment in
Devereux Court, Strand. Some two years later we have news of 'Will's,'
the most famous, perhaps, of the coffee-houses. Here Dryden held forth
with pedantic vanity: and here was laid the first germ of that critical
acumen which has since become a distinguishing feature in English
literature. Then, in the City, one Garraway, of Exchange Alley, first
sold 'tea in leaf and drink, made according to the directions of the
most knowing, and travellers into those eastern countries;' and thus
established the well-known 'Garraway's,' whither, in Defoe's day,
'foreign banquiers' and even ministers resorted, to drink the said
beverage. 'Robin's,' 'Jonathan's,' and many another, were all opened
about thi