fflSTOKV OF THK USE OF COCOA. 47 



and George I. \st ic- so highly cstccnKHl by courlic^rs, by lonh 

 and ladies and fine gentlemen in the polite world, the learned 

 physicians extolled its medicinal virtues. " In the "Voyage of Don 

 Gonzales to I'^nghuul and Scotland," in 1733. he says: "Others 

 that are not members of either House (of Parliament) are found in 

 the Chocolate-Houses near the Court, or in the Park. ' 



The celebrated Tory "Chocolate House " of Queen Anne's 

 reign was converted into a club, probably before 1746, and became 

 the head-quarters of the Jacobite part\ . It came to be as generally 

 understood that Literature had fi.xed her social head-quarters here, 

 as that politics reigned supreme at " The Cocoa Tree." This 

 was one of the clubs to which Lord Byron belonged, and it was at 

 (iarrick's funeral that it received the name of the Literary Club. 



Cocoa was much esteemed as a beverage in this country during 

 the r(;ign of Charles II., and at that period Or. Siubbe {)ublished 

 a book entitled "The Indian Nectar, or a Di.scourse concerning 

 Chocolate, S:c.," in which the author gives a history of that article, 

 with many curious notions respecting its "secret virtue, " and recom- 

 mends his readers to buy it of one Mortimer, "an honest though 

 poor man, " who lived in Last Smithfield. and sold the best kind 

 at 6s. S(\. per lb., and commoner sorts at about half the price. It 

 was not until the close of the si.xteenth century that Cocoa or 

 Chocolate was generally used in this country, and when w<' take 

 into account the indifferent means for preparation ami the 

 ailulterated condition of the article, we can hardly be surprised that 

 it did not come into gi-neral favour with the public. 



