I must not forget to tell you that the parties have their different places, where, however, a stranger is always well received, but a Whig will no more go to the Cocoa Tree or Osinda’s than a Tory will be seen at the Coffee-houses of St James’s.* The Sets generally go to the British, and a mixture of all sorts to the Smyrna.*
Ordinaries* are not so common here as abroad, but there are good French ones in Suffolk Street. The general way here is to make a party at the Coffee-house to go to dine at the tavern, where we sit till six, when we go to the play, except you are invited to the table of some great man. After the play the best company generally go to Tom’s and Will’s Coffee-houses near adjoining, where there is playing at picquet and the best of conversation till midnight.
abridged
Abridged from ‘A Journey Through England’ (1714) by John Macky (?-1726).
* The Whigs and the Tories were the two Parliamentary parties of the day. Tories tended to be the landed gentry and senior clergy; the Whigs were more often City businessmen. The Cocoa Tree and Osinda’s were cafes serving hot chocolate. These chocolate and coffee houses were places to sit and read newspapers and discuss literature or current affairs with friends.
* A Set was a name for a group of fashionable people. The British Coffee-house stood at 27 Cockspur Street, London; the Smyrna Coffee-house was in Pall Mall, where the letter-writer was supposedly staying while in London.
* ‘Ordinaries’ was a term for meals provided at a fixed time and price at an inn, or for the inns which served them.