rmly
intrenched as the national drink of the English people.

A movement in 1873 to revive the coffee house in the form of a coffee
"palace," designed to replace the public house as a place of resort for
working men, caused the Edinburgh Castle to be opened in London. The
movement attained considerable success throughout the British Isles, and
even spread to the United States.

_Evolution of the Club_

Every profession, trade, class, and party had its favorite coffee house.
"The bitter black drink called coffee," as Mr. Pepys described the
beverage, brought together all sorts and conditions of men; and out of
their mixed association there developed groups of patrons favoring
particular houses and giving them character. It is easy to trace the
transition of the group into a clique that later became a club,
continuing for a time to meet at the coffee house or the chocolate
house, but eventually demanding a house of its own.

_Decline and Fall of the Coffee House_

Starting as a forum for the commoner, "the coffee house soon became the
plaything of the leisure class; and when the club was evolved, the
coffee house began to retrograde to the level of the tavern. And so the
eighteenth century, which saw the coffee house at the height of its
power and popularity, witnessed also its decline and fall. It is said
there were as many clubs at the end of the century as there were coffee
houses at the beginning."

For a time, when the habit of reading newspapers descended the social
ladder, the coffee house acquired a new lease of life. Sir Walter Besant
observes:

They were then frequented by men who came, not to talk, but to
read; the smaller tradesmen and the better class of mechanic now
came to the coffee-house, called for a cup of coffee, and with it
the daily paper, which they could not afford to take in. Every
coffee-house took three or four papers; there seems to have been in
this latter phase of the once social institution no general
conversation. The coffee-house as a place of resort and
conversation gradually declined; one can hardly say why, except
that all human institutions do decay. Perhaps manners declined; the
leaders in literature ceased to be seen there; the city clerk began
to crowd in; the tavern and the club drew men from the
coffee-house.

A few houses survived until the early years of the nineteenth century,
but the social side had dis