Although that which is excessive is not durable—conquerors are always cruel. They united themselves with the victors, who received some tints of civilization, and began to know the pleasures of civilized life.
* * * * * * *
About the seventeenth century, the Dutch imported coffee into Europe. Solyman Agu, a Turk, whom our great, great grandfathers well remember, sold the first cups in 1760. An American sold it in 1670, and dealt it out from a marble bar, as we see now.
The use of coffee then dates from the eighteenth century. Distillation, introduced by the crusades, remained arcana, with few adepts. About the commencement of the reign of Louis XIV, alambics became more common, but not until the time of Louis XV., did the drink become really popular.
About the same time the use of tobacco was introduced. So that sugar, coffee and tobacco, the three most important articles of luxury in Europe, are scarcely two centuries old.
[The translator here omits a whole Meditation. It would now be scarcely pleasant.]
MEDITATION XXVIII.
RESTAURATEURS.
A restaurateur is one, the business of whom is to offer a dinner always ready, and with prices to suit those that consume them.
Of all those who frequent restaurants, few persons cannot understand that a restorateur is not necessarily a man of genius.