o4 
_ The Arabian author adds, that they 
found themselves so well by drinking co!- 
fee, that they entirely left off the ‘use of 
an infusion of a herb, called in their lan- 
guage cat, which possibly might be tea, 
though the Arabian author gives.us no 
particular reason to think so. 
Before this time coffee was scarcely 
known in Persia, and very littie used in 
Arabia, where the tree grew; but, accor- 
ding to Schehabeddin, it had been drank 
in ZEthiopia from time immemorial. 
Coffee being thus received at Aden, 
where it has continued in use ever since 
without mterruption, passed by degrees 
tomany neighbouring towns, and notlong 
after reached Mecca, where it was intro- 
duced as at Aden by the dervises, and 
for the same purposes of religion. 
The inhabitants of Mecca were at 
last so fond of this liquor, that without 
regarding the intention of the religious, 
and other studious persons, they at length 
drank it publicly in coffee-houses, where 
they assembled in crowds to pass the 
time agreeably, making that the pre- 
tence: here they played at chess, and 
such other kinds of games, and that even 
formoney. In these houses they amused 
themselves likewise with singing, dan- 
cing, and music, contrary to the man- 
ners of the rigid Mahometans, which 
afterwards was the occasion of some dis- 
turbances. From hence the custom ex- 
tended itself to many other towns of 
rabia, and particularly to Medina, and 
then to Grand Cairo in Egypt, where 
the dervises of Yemen, who lived ina 
district by themselves, drank coffee the 
nights they intended to spend in devo- 
tion. They kept it in a large red earthen 
vessel, and reeeived it respectfully from 
the hand of their superior, who poured 
it out into cups for them himself. He 
was soon imitated by many devout people 
of Cairo, and their example followed by 
the studious, and afterwards by so many 
people that coffee became as common 
a drink in that great city, as at Aden, 
Mecca, and Medina, and other cities of 
Arabia. 
But, at length, the rigid Mahometans 
began to disapprove the use of coffee, 
as occasioning frequent disorders, and 
.too nearly resembling wine in its effects ; 
the drinking of which is contrary to the 
tenets of their religion. Government 
was obliged to interfere, and at times re- 
strain the use of it. However, it had be- 
come so universally liked, that it was 
afterwards found necessary totake off all 
restraint for the future. 
History of Coffee, by the late Dr. Fothergill. 
[Feb. I, 
“ Coffee continued its progress through 
Syria, and was received at Damascus 
and Aleppo without opposition; and in 
the year 1554, under the reign of the 
great Soliman, one hundred years after 
its introduction by the mufti of Aden, 
it became known to the inhabitants of 
Constantinople ; when two private per- 
sons, whose names were Schems and He- 
kin, the one coming from Damascus, 
and the other from Aleppo, each opened 
a coffee-house in Constantinople, and 
sold coffee publicly in rooms fitted up in 
an elegant manner, which were presently 
frequented by men of learning, and par- 
ticularly poets, and other persons who 
came to amuse themselves with a game of 
chess or draughts, to make acquainance, 
or to pass away their time agreeably, 
at a smali expence. 
These houses and assemblies insen- 
bly became so much in vogue, that the 
were frequented by people of ail pro- 
fessions, and even the officers of the 
seraglio, the pachas, and persons of the 
first rank about the court. However, 
‘when they seemed to be the most firmly 
established, the imans, or officers of the 
mosques, complained loudly of their be- 
ing deserted, while the coffee-houses 
were full of company, the dervises and 
the religious orders murmured, and the 
preachers declaimed against them, assert- 
ing it was less sinto go toa tavern than 
to a coffee-house, ‘ 
After much wrangling, the devotees 
united their interests to obtain an authen- 
tic condemnation of coffee, and deter- 
mined to present to the mufti a petition _ 
for that purpose; in which they advan- 
ced that roasted coffee was a kind of 
coal, and that what had any relation to 
coal was forbidden by law. They de- 
sired him to determine on this matter 
according to the duty of his office, 
The chief of the law, without entering 
much into the question, gave such a de- 
cision as they wished for, and pronoun- 
ced thatthe drinking of coffee was con- 
trary to the law of Mahomet. 
So respectable is the authority of the 
mufti, that nobody dared to fiad fault 
with his sentence. Immediately all the 
coffee-houses were shut, and the officers 
of the police were commanded to prevent 
any one from drinking coffee. However, 
_ the habit was become so strong, and the 
use of it so generally agreeable, that the 
people contimued,notwithstanding all pro- 
hibition, to drink it in their own houses. 
The officers of the police,seeing they could 
not suppress the use of it, allowed of the 
s elling 
