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DRINKS.
feeding
on
the
blossoms
and
berries
of
a
tree
which he
had
never
before
noticed.
He
experimented
upon
himself
by
eating
them,
and
soon
became
as
jocund
as
his
goats,
so
much
so,
that
he
was
accused
of
having
partaken
of the
accursed
juice
of
the
grape.
But
he
soon
convinced
his
maligners
that
the
source
of
his
high
spirits
was
harmless,
and
they,
tasting,
became
converts,
and
the
berry
became
of
general
use.
From
Abyssinia,
the
use
of
coffee
spread
to
Persia
and
Arabia,
thence
to
Aden,
Mecca,
Cairo,
Damascus,
Aleppo
and
Constantinople,
whence
it
found
its
way
to
Venice
in
1615.
But
it
is
hard
to
say
exactly
when
its
use
was
introduced
into
England.
Robert
Burton
mentions
it
in
his
Anatomy
of
Melancholy,
but
not
in
the
1621
edition.
He
says,^
"The
Turks
have
a
drink
called
Coffee
(for
they
use
no
wine),
so
named
of
a
berry,
as
black
as
soot,
and
as
bitter
(like
that
black
drink
which
was
In
use
among
the
Lacedaemonians,
and
perhaps
the
same),
which
they
sip
still
of,
and
sup
as
warm
as
they can
suffer;
they
spend
much
time
fn
those
coffee
houses,
which
are
somewhat
like
our
alehouses
or
taverns,
and
there
they
sit,
chatting
and
drinking,
to
drive
away
the
time,
and
to
be
merry
together,
because
they
find
by
experience
that
kind
of
drink,
so
used,
helpeth
digestion,
and
procureth
alacrity."
Anthony
a
Wood
says
that
the
first
coffee-house
was
kept
in
1650
in
Oxford,
by
Jacobs,
a
Jew;
and
it
seems
generally
recognised
that
the
first
coffee-house
in
London
was
opened
In
St.
Michael's
Alley,
Corn-
^
Part
2,
Section
5.
—
Mem.
i,
Sub.
5.