EARLY USE. 37 



cocoa was offered to distinguished person- 

 ages in a tortoise shell, highly polished and 

 ornamented with gold arabesques. And it 

 was very probably in this manner that Fer- 

 nando Cortez drank his first chocolate." 



The Spaniards thus early acquired a 

 knowledge of the fruit and of the manner 

 of preparing it, which they kept secret for 

 many years, selling it very profitably as 

 chocollat to the wealthy and luxurious 

 classes of Europe. But it was, as already 

 stated, an expensive preparation, and did 

 not come into use until long after the public 

 coffee-houses of London were established. 



Says Brillat-Savarin, in his famous u Phys- 

 iologic du Gout," " Chocolate Came over 

 the mountains [from Spain to France] with 

 Anne of Austria, daughter of Philip III,, 

 and Queen of Louis XIII. The Spanish 

 monks also spread the knowledge of it by 

 the presents they made to their brothers in 

 France. The various ambassadors of Spain 



