my behaviour during the whole transaction, raised a very loud
laugh on all sides of me; but as I had escaped all suspicion of
being the author, I was very well satisfied, and applying myself to
my pipe and the _Postman_, took no further notice of anything that
passed about me.'"

* * * * *

The Smyrna Coffee-house in Pall Mall, was, in the reign of Queen
Anne, famous for "that cluster of wise-heads" found sitting every
evening from the left side of the fire to the door. The following
announcement in the _Tatler_, No. 78, is amusing: "This is to give
notice to all ingenious gentlemen in and about the cities of London
and Westminster, who have a mind to be instructed in the noble
sciences of music, poetry and politics, that they repair to the
Smyrna Coffee-house, in Pall Mall, betwixt the hours of eight and
ten at night, where they may be instructed gratis, with elaborate
essays 'by word of mouth', on all or any of the above-mentioned
arts."

* * * * *

St. James's Coffee-house was the famous Whig coffee-house from the
time of Queen Anne till late in the reign of George III. It was the
last house but one on the southwest corner of St. James's street,
and is thus mentioned in No. 1 of the _Tatler_: "Foreign and
Domestic News you will have from St. James's Coffee-house." It
occurs also in the passage quoted previously from the _Spectator_.
The St. James's was much frequented by Swift; letters for him were
left here. In his Journal to Stella he says: "I met Mr. Harley, and
he asked me how long I had learnt the trick of writing to myself?
He had seen your letter through the glass case at the Coffee-house,
and would swear it was my hand."

Elliott, who kept the coffee-house, was, on occasions, placed on a
friendly footing with his guests. Swift, in his Journal to Stella,
November 19, 1710, records an odd instance of this familiarity:
"This evening I christened our coffee-man Elliott's child; when the
rogue had a most noble supper, and Steele and I sat amongst some
scurvy company over a bowl of punch."

In the first advertisement of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's "Town
Eclogues," they are stated to have been read over at the St.
James's Coffee-house, when they were considered by