INTRODUCTORY. 13 



be strong and hot, with little milk and sugar. It has been drunk 

 after this mode in some parts of Europe, but the public have 

 nowhere, we believe, adopted it. The favorite way of taking 

 it as a meal, abroad, is with a great superfluity of milk very 

 properly called, in France, cafe-au-lait (coffee to the milk). 

 One of the pleasures we receive in drinking coffee is that, 

 being the universal drink in the East, it reminds of that region 

 of the ( Arabian Nights,' as smoking does for the same reason ; 

 though neither of these refreshments, which are identified with 

 Oriental manners, is to be found in that enchanting work. 

 They had not been discovered when it was written ; the drink 

 then was sherbet. One can hardly fancy what a Turk or a 

 Persian could have done without coffee and a pipe, any more 

 than the English ladies and gentlemen, before the civil wars, 

 without tea for breakfast." 



Thus much, then, may suffice as our " apology " for propos- 

 ing to the reader to accompany us in our rapid survey of the 

 career of coffee over the globe, since its first discovery. What 

 we have here gleaned from a great variety of sources concern- 

 ing the fragrant berry, has been to the compiler by no means a 

 theme devoid of interest ; but should the reader not be of the 

 same opinion, it may not be inappropriate to suggest that, 

 before committing to him the results of our researches, he 

 should fortify himself with a cup of the inspiring beverage, 

 and thus be put into true sympathy with the subject. 



