Rainbow Coffee House
The Rainbow Coffee House was a famous coffee house located in London's Fleet Street.
It was opened by James Farr in 1657, becoming London's second coffee house.[1]
The Rainbow provided a meeting place for freemasons and French refugee Huguenots who established an information centre there.[2]
The Rainbow was also featured in the furor created by Titus Oates. He accused Sir Philip Lloyd of denying the existence of a popish plot there, finding witnesses from amongst the coffee drinkers to testify against him[3]
In 1719 John Woodward wrote a satire The Two Sosias: Or, the True Dr. Byfield at the Rainbow Coffee-House, to the Pretender in Jermyn-Street
Notable people associated with the Rainbow Coffee House
Many notable Huguenots were associated with the Rainbow Coffee House. However, there were also other German and English notable people.[4]
French exiles
- Paul Colomiès (1638–1692)
- César de Missy (1703–1775)
- John Theophilus Desaguliers (1683 – 1744)
- Pierre des Maizeaux (1673–1745)
- David Durand (1680 – 1763)
- Peter Anthony Motteux (1663 – 1718)
- Michel de La Roche (fl. 1710–1731)
- Voltaire (1694 – 1778)
Others
- Anthony Collins (1676 – 1729)
- David Hume (1711 – 1776)
- Richard Mead (1673 – 1754)
- Daniel Maichel (1693–1752)
- Thomas Sprat (1635 – 1713)
- John Toland (1670 – 1722)
References
- ^ J J O'Connor; & Robertson; E F. "London Coffee houses and mathematics". Retrieved August 15, 2012.
- ^ Koselleck, Reinhart (1988). Critique and Crisis. Oxford: Berg. p. 64. ISBN 085496 535 1.
- ^ Shelley, Henry C. "Coffee-houses of old London". Retrieved August 15, 2012.
- ^ Dunan-Page, Anne (2006). The Religious Culture of the Huguenots, 1660-1750. Ashgate. p. 166.