The Tontine Coffee House

Long before the Revolution, there had been various societies in New York under such names as St. Andrew, St. George, St. David and St. John, all of which professed the most fervent loyalty to the King of Great Britain. This induced the projectors of a new society, composed of many who had belonged to the Sons of Liberty, of Stamp Act and Revolutionary times, to select for their patron saint a genuine American guardian, and thus was originated the Tammany Society, or Columbian Order, in May, 1789. At first, it was strictly a national and patriotic society, “to connect in indisoluable bonds of friendship American brethren of known attachment to the political rights of human nature and the liberties of the country,” and it remained so for many years.

Tammany, the celebrated chief of the Delawares, who has been described as a chief of great virtue, benevolence and love of country, to whose actual history has been added a great deal of legendary and mythical lore, was cannonized as a saint and adopted as their guardian spirit. The members of the society styled themselves the Sons of St. Tammany, and adopted aboriginal forms and customs as well as dress. This was not the first society that had claimed the patronage and adopted the name of that famous Indian saint, but the new organization proposed a wider scope and added to its title also that of “Columbian Order.” It was organized also as a contrast or offset to the aristocratic and anti-republican principles attributed to the Society of the Cincinnati, the membership of which was hereditary.

The birth of the new organization is set down as on May 12, 1789, which was spent in tents erected on the banks of the Hudson River, about two miles from the city, where a large number of members partook of an elegant entertainment, “served precisely at three o’clock; after which there was singing and smoking and universal expressions of brotherly love.” During the year 1789 its meetings were held at the tavern of Sam Fraunces.

In the year 1790, the 4th of July falling on Sunday, the anniversary of Independence was celebrated on the 5th. The Society of St. Tammany assembled early in the day, and, after a short address from the Grand Sachem, the Declaration of Independence was read. There was a grand military review. Colonel Bauman’s regiment of Artillery appeared in their usual style as veterans of the war. At one o’clock they fired a federal salute and a feu-de-joie on the Battery, after which they escorted the Society of the Cincinnati to St. Paul’s Church, where an elegant oration was delivered by Brockholst Livingston to a large audience, including the President and Vice-President of the United States, members of both Houses of Congress, and a brilliant assembly of ladies and gentlemen. The Society of the Cincinnati dined at Bardin’s, the City Tavern, and the Grand Sachem and Fathers of the Council of the Society of St. Tammany were honored with an invitation to dine with them. After dinner the usual thirteen toasts were drunk with all the hilarity and good humor customary on such occasions.

Shortly after this, a most interesting event occurred, which created considerable excitement among the people of New York and gave to the Tammany Society an opportunity to make an impression on the public mind not often presented, and which could not be neglected. Efforts had been made by the government of the United States to pacify the Creek Indians of the South and to make with them a treaty of peace and friendship. In March, 1790, Colonel Marinus Willett was sent out on this mission, and early in July news came that he was on his way to New York, accompanied by Colonel Alexander McGillivray, their half-breed chief, and about thirty warriors of the tribe, traveling northward at public expense and greeted at every stage of their journey by vast crowds of people. They arrived on the 21st of July. A boat was sent to Elizabethtown Point, under the direction of Major Stagg, to convey them to New York and the Tammany Society met in their Wigwam to make their preparations. This Wigwam, which they used as their headquarters for many years, was the old Exchange building at the foot of Broad Street. As the boat passed the Battery about two o’clock a Federal salute was fired and when the Indians landed at the Coffee House it was repeated. Here they were met by the Tammany Society, dressed in full Indian costume, which very much pleased McGillivray and his Indian warriors, and by General Malcolm with a military escort. They were conducted in procession to the house of General Knox, the Secretary of War, after which they had an audience with the President, who received them in a very handsome manner. They were also introduced to the Governor of the State, who gave them a friendly reception. They were then taken to the City Tavern where they dined in company with General Knox, the Senators and Representatives of Georgia, General Malcolm, the militia officers on duty, and the officers of the Saint Tammany Society. The Indians seemed greatly pleased with their friendly reception and a newspaper states that “the pleasure was considerably heightened by the conviviality and good humor which prevailed at the festive board.” The usual number of toasts were drunk after the dinner.

On the 2d of August the Indians were entertained by the Tammany Society with a grand banquet at their Great Wigwam in Broad Street, at which were present, the Governor of the State, the Chief Justice of the United States, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of War, the Mayor of the City and Colonel Willett. The richly ornamented Calumet of Peace was passed around and wine flowed freely. Colonel Willett had delivered his big talk and partaken of their black drink on his visit to them, and the Indians were now receiving a return of hospitality. Patriotic songs were sung by members of the society and the Indians danced. The Indian chief conferred on the grand sachem of Tammany the title of “Toliva Mico”—Chief of the White Town. The President of the United States was toasted as “The Beloved Chieftain of the Thirteen Fires.” The President’s last visit to Federal Hall was to sign a treaty with these Indians, which was attended with great ceremony. Tammany had taken the lead in all this Indian business and Tammany had made its mark.

TONTINE COFFEE HOUSE

In the year 1791 an association of merchants was organized for the purpose of constructing a more commodious Coffee House than the Merchants’ Coffee House, and to provide a business centre for the mercantile community. The company was formed on the Tontine principle of benefit to survivors, and the building they erected was called the Tontine Coffee House. Among the merchants who were interested in this enterprise were John Broome, John Watts, Gulian Verplanck, John Delafield and William Laight. On the 31st of January, 1792, these five merchants, as the first board of directors of the Tontine Association, purchased from Doctor Charles Arding and Abigail, his wife, the house and lot on the northwest corner of Wall and Water Streets, for £1,970. This was the house which had been known as the Merchants’ Coffee House from about 1740, when it was first opened by Daniel Bloom until 1772, when its business was carried by Mrs. Ferrari diagonally across the street, where it had since remained. It was sold in 1759, as related in a previous chapter, by Luke Roome, owner and landlord of the house, to Doctor Charles Arding, who had ever since been its owner. They had already purchased, December 1, 1791, for £2,510, the adjoining lot on Wall Street, and shortly after, for £1,000, they purchased the adjoining lot on Water Street. On the ground of these three lots the Tontine Coffee House was built. Thus the business originated on this spot was coming back to its old home.

In January, 1792, “the committee to superintend the business of the Tontine Coffee House Institution,” gave notice that they would pay a premium of ten guineas to the person who should hand in before the 20th of February next, the best plan for the proposed building, and a premium of five guineas for the second best plan. The objects to be considered in the plans were, “Solidity, Neatness and Useful Accommodation”; the building to be four stories high and to occupy a space of fifty feet by seventy. The plans in competition were to be sent to Mr. David Grim. A petition for the privilege of adding to the Tontine Coffee House a piazza to extend over the sidewalk, presented by John Watts and others in March, 1792, was refused, but, on May 11 permission was given for a piazza to extend six feet over the Wall Street sidewalk. The corner-stone of the building was laid with considerable ceremony on the 5th of June. The first landlord of the house, when completed, was John Hyde.

Just a year later, on Wednesday, June 5, 1793, one hundred and twenty gentlemen sat down to a dinner provided by Mr. Hyde at the Tontine Coffee House to celebrate the anniversary of the laying of the corner-stone of that building. After dinner when fifteen toasts had been drunk, the chairman offered an additional toast, which was: “Success to the Tontine Coffee House and may it long continue to reflect credit on the subscribers.”

During the French revolution the sympathies of the people of the United States were greatly excited, but many of those who wished success to France were filled with disgust and indignation at the behavior of the French Minister Genet, and of Bompard, the commander of the French ship, L’Ambuscade, who, after landing Genet at Charleston, South Carolina, made his way north to Philadelphia, boarding American ships on his way and seizing British merchantmen near the coast and even in the very bays of the United States. Bompard and his officers were received at Philadelphia with great enthusiasm. On the 12th of June, 1793, they arrived in New York. Instantly there was great excitement. Those friendly to them carried things to extremes. Opposed to them were the supporters of government and good order, joined to the strong English faction that had long prevailed. Two days after their arrival, the Cap of Liberty was set up in the Tontine Coffee House, according to one account, by “the friends of Liberty, Equality, and the Rights of Man, amid the acclamations of their fellow citizens, in defiance of all despotic tyrants. It was a beautiful crimson adorned with a white torsel and supported by a staff.” The cap, “Sacred to Liberty,” was declared to be under the protection of the old Whigs, and the aristocrats, as the opposite party was tauntingly called, were defied to take it down. This defiance brought forth a threat that it would be done, and, in expectation that its removal would be attempted, for several days, hundreds of people gathered in front of the house. No attempt, at that time, seems to have been made to remove the cap, and the excitement gradually subsided.

The Cap of Liberty remained undisturbed in its place for almost two years. A newspaper of May 19, 1795, states that “the Liberty Cap having been removed from the Barr of the Tontine Coffee House by some unknown person, the ceremony of its re-establishment in the Coffee House took place yesterday afternoon. A well designed, carved Liberty Cap, suspended on the point of an American Tomahawk, and the flags of the Republics of America and France, attached on each side, formed a handsome figure.” A large gathering of people attended “the consecration of the emblem of Liberty,” and the meeting was highly entertained by numerous patriotic songs. Voluntary detachments from several of the Uniform Companies joined in the celebration.

On the 22d of May, only four days after being placed in the Coffee House, the French flag was removed. An attempt was made to recover it and arrest the person who took it down. A boat was dispatched in pursuit of the person who was supposed to have taken it, but it returned without success. Colonel Walter Bicker, in behalf of a number of citizens of New York, offered a reward of one hundred and fifty dollars for the capture of the thief who stole the French flag from the Coffee House, with what result is unknown.

An English traveler, who visited New York in 1794, writes that: “The Tontine Tavern and Coffee House is a handsome, large brick building; you ascend six or eight steps under a portico, into a large public room, which is the Stock Exchange of New York, where all bargains are made. Here are two books kept, as at Lloyd’s, of every ship’s arrival and clearing out. This house was built for the accommodation of the merchants, by Tontine shares of two hundred pounds each. It is kept by Mr. Hyde, formerly a woolen draper in London. You can lodge and board there at a common table, and you pay ten shillings currency a day, whether you dine out or not.”

As stated above, the Tontine Coffee House had become the Stock Exchange of New York. In the first directory of the city, published in 1786, there is only one stock-broker, Archibald Blair. On January 9, 1786, Archibald Blair announced that he “has a Broker’s Office and Commission Store at 16 Little Queen Street, where he buys and sells all kinds of public and state securities, also old continental money. He has for sale Jamaica rum, loaf sugar, bar iron, lumber and dry goods.” A few years later several announcements of such brokers are found in the newspapers, among others the following which appeared in the Daily Advertiser of December 9, 1790.

The first evidence of an approach to anything like organization was an announcement made in the early part of March, 1792, that “The Stock Exchange Office” would be open at No. 22 Wall Street for the accommodation of dealers in stocks, in which public sales would be daily held at noon, as usual, in rotation. Soon after this, on Wednesday, March 21st, a meeting of merchants and dealers in stocks was held at Corre’s Hotel, when they came to a resolution that after the 21st of April next, they would not attend any sales of stocks at public auction. They appointed a committee “to provide a proper room for them to assemble in, and to report such regulations relative to the mode of transacting business as in their opinion may be proper.” This resulted in the first agreement of the dealers in securities, the oldest record in the archives of the New York Stock Exchange, dated May 17, 1792, fixing the rate of brokerage. It was signed by twenty-four brokers for the sale of public stocks. For some time the brokers do not appear to have had a settled place of meeting. Their favorite place was in the open air in the shadow of a large buttonwood tree, which stood on the north side of Wall Street, opposite the division line of Nos. 68 and 70. Here they met and transacted business something like our curb brokers of to-day, but in a much more leisurely way. When the Tontine Coffee House was completed in 1793, it became the Stock Exchange of New York and remained so for a great many years.

A stage coach line was opened to Boston in 1784 and to Albany the next year, when the Roger Morris House on the Kingsbridge road was opened by Talmadge Hall as a tavern for the accommodation of the stage coach passengers, and was probably the first stopping place going out. It continued to be kept as a tavern for many years after this and is said to have been a favorite place of resort for pleasure parties from the city. It became known as Calumet Hall. Its landlord in 1789 was Captain William Marriner. In October, 1789, President Washington visited, by appointment, the fruit gardens of Mr. Prince at Flushing, Long Island. He was taken over in his barge, accompanied by the Vice-President, the Governor of the State, Mr. Izard, Colonel Smith and Major Jackson. On their way back they visited the seat of Gouverneur Morris at Morrisania, and then went to Harlem, where they met Mrs. Washington, Mrs. Adams and Mrs. Smith, daughter of the Vice-President, dined at Marriner’s and came home in the evening. In July following a large party was formed to visit Fort Washington. Washington, in his diary, does not state that Mrs. Washington was of the party, but it is to be presumed that she was; the others, beside himself, were “the Vice-President, his Lady, Son and Mrs. Smith; the Secretaries of State, Treasury and War and the ladies of the two latter; with all the Gentlemen of my family, Mrs. Lear, and the two children.” This was a notable party. They dined at Marriner’s, who, no doubt, felt the importance of the occasion and exerted himself accordingly.

OLD SLEIGH

Marriner’s Tavern, the Roger Morris house, was situated at such a distance from the city, on the only road of any length on the island, as to make it a good objective point for pleasure parties. An English traveler who visited New York in 1796, writes: “The amusement of which they seem most passionately fond is that of riding on the snow in what you would call a sledge, drawn by two horses. It is astonishing to see how anxiously persons of all ages and both sexes look out for a good fall of snow, that they may enjoy their favorite amusement; and when the happy time comes, to see how eager they are to engage every sleigh that is to be had. Parties of twenty or thirty will sometimes go out of town in these vehicles towards evening, about six or eight miles, when, having sent for a fiddler, and danced till they are tired, they will return home again by moonlight or perhaps more often by daylight. Whilst the snow is on the ground no other carriages are made use of, either for pleasure or service.” Marriner’s house was well suited for just such parties of pleasure and we can easily imagine that the large octagonal room was about this time, of crisp winter nights, the scene of many a merry dance. The English traveler is supported in what he says by the announcement of Christopher Colles in a New York newspaper in January, 1789, that so long as the sleighing lasted he would continue his electrical experiments and exhibition of curiosities, at Halsey’s celebrated tavern in Harlem. It would seem from this that his lectures needed the incentive of a sleigh ride to make them more popular.

Captain Marriner was still keeping the house in the summer of 1794 when it was visited by an Englishman who thus writes about his visit to the place: “Whoever has a vacant day and fine weather, while at New York, let him go to Haarlem, eleven miles distant. There is a pleasant tavern on an eminence near the church; a branch of the sea, or Eastern River, runs close beneath you, where you may have excellent fishing. On the opposite side are two pleasant houses, belonging to Colonel Morris, and a Captain Lambert, an English gentleman, who retired hither after the war. Mr. Marriner, the landlord, is a very intelligent, well educated man; I fished with him for an hour and received a great deal of pleasure from his conversation.” * * * “He pressed me very much to stay at his house for a week, and I should pay what I pleased. On our return Mr. L—— and myself drank tea and coffee at Brannon’s Tea Garden. Here was a good greenhouse, with orange and lemon trees, a great quantity of geraniums, aloes and other curious shrubs and plants. Iced creams and iced liquors are much drank here during the hot weather by parties from New York.” Brannon’s Tea Garden was on the road leading to the village of Greenwich at the present junction of Hudson and Spring Streets, and had been there since previous to the Revolution.

Captain Marriner is said to have been eccentric, but whether this be so or not, he was undoubtedly a brave man and was engaged during the war in several daring adventures. He presented a picturesque character in the history of that period.

When Captain Marriner was held as a prisoner in the early part of the war, on his parole, quartered with Rem Van Pelt, of New Utrecht, Long Island, one day at Dr. Van Buren’s Tavern in Flatbush, his sarcastic wit brought on him abusive language from Major Sherbrook of the British army. When Marriner was exchanged, he determined to capture the Major and some others. For this purpose he repaired to New Jersey and procured a whale-boat, which he manned with a crew of twenty-two well armed volunteers, with whom he proceeded to New Utrecht, landing on the beach about half-past nine o’clock in the evening. Leaving two men in charge of the boat, with the rest he marched unmolested to Flatbush Church, where he divided his men into four squads, assigning a house to each party, who, provided with a heavy post, were to break in the door when they should hear Marriner strike. General Jeremiah Johnson, in his account of the affair states that Marriner captured the Major, whom he found hidden behind a large chimney in the garret, but the New York newspapers state that he carried back with him to New Jersey Major Montcrieffe and Mr. Theophylact Bache. On another visit to Long Island, Captain Marriner carried off Simon Cortelyou, of New Utrecht, in return for his uncivil conduct to the American prisoners. On a large rock in the North River, not far from the shore, stood a bath house surmounted by a flagstaff. Noting this, Marriner determined to give the English fresh cause for chagrin. He accordingly procured the new American flag which had just been adopted, and taking with him a few men, boldly rowed into the river one night and nailed it to the pole, where it was discovered early next morning. Sailors, sent to remove it, were obliged to cut away the pole, amid the jeers and protests of the boys gathered on the beach.

Marriner was keeping a tavern in New York City before the war. An important meeting was held at Marriner’s Tavern at the time of the election of delegates to the first Continental Congress, in 1774. After the war he returned to the same business, and in 1786 was the landlord of a house on the corner of John and Nassau Streets, where he offered to serve his customers “in the neatest and most elegant manner,” with oysters, cooked in a variety of ways, beef steaks, etc., with the very best of liquors. He, at one time kept the Ferry House at Harlem, and ran the ferry to Morrisania. In the early part of the nineteenth century Captain Benson built a large tavern at the junction of the Kingsbridge road with the road from Harlem, which was for some years conducted by Captain Marriner, who gained great celebrity for the excellent table he set, and for the stories of whale-boat exploits during the war, which he was never tired of relating.

When the St. Andrew’s Society celebrated their anniversary on November 30, 1790, at the City Tavern, they had as guests at their dinner, Governor Clinton, the Mayor of the City, General Horatio Gates and the principal officers of the other humane national societies of the city. In an account given of the dinner, it is stated that, “A few hours passed happily away, divided between the animating tale, the cheerful glass and the heart enlivening song.”

The annual election of officers of the Society of the Cincinnati was held on the 4th of July each year, after which there was a dinner, followed by toasts. For several year its meeting place was at CorrÉ’s Hotel in Broadway. Joseph CorrÉ, at one time landlord of the City Tavern, opened, in 1790, a house at No. 24 Broadway, which was for some years one of the best and most popular taverns or hotels in the city. Meetings of societies, concerts, balls and political meetings were held here.

On Monday, November 25, 1793, the tenth anniversary of the evacuation of New York by the British troops, was celebrated in the city with great enthusiasm. At sunrise a salute was fired from the Battery followed immediately by the ringing of all the bells in the city. This was repeated at noon, when the corporation, the officers of the militia, the French officers in town and many citizens waited on the Governor to congratulate him on the occasion. The militia officers then waited on the mayor of the city, the chief justice of the United States and the minister of the French Republic. The Ambuscade Frigate was elegantly decorated and at one o’clock fired a salute of twenty-one guns. The militia officers, honored with the company of the Governor, General Gates and a number of French officers, sat down to an elegant dinner prepared for them at the City Tavern, “where they spent the remainder of the day in great spirits and good fellowship.” Toasts were drunk under the discharge of artillery. The gentlemen of the corporation celebrated the day at the Tontine Coffee House, where an elegant dinner was served up by Mr. Hyde and patriotic toasts were drunk. The Society of Tammany also celebrated the day. At the tavern of Robert Hunter, in Wall Street, a dinner was served up to a number of citizens in celebration of the day, and the same was done in several other of the principal taverns of the city. The dinner on Evacuation Day at Bardin’s was one of the last notable dinners given in the old City Tavern. Preparations were being made to take it down and build on its site a fine hotel.

In 1793 the City Tavern was still owned by John Peter De Lancey, son of Lieutenant-Governor James De Lancey, who sold it to the Tontine Association, who, taking down the old house, built upon its site the City Hotel. In the deed of transfer, dated March 3, 1793, John Peter De Lancey and Elizabeth, his wife, for the consideration of six thousand pounds (£6,000), lawful money of the State of New York, convey the property to Philip Livingston, John Watts, Thomas Buchanan, Gulian Verplanck, James Watson, Moses Rogers, James Farquhar, Richard Harrison and Daniel Ludlow, all of the city and state of New York, in trust for all the subscribers to the New York Tontine Hotel and Assembly Room and their heirs, upon such terms, conditions and restrictions, and with such right of survivorship as may be hereafter agreed upon and settled by the majority of the said subscribers or their representatives.In November, 1793, Nicholas Cruger, chairman of the committee having the business in charge, gave notice that they would pay a premium of twenty guineas for the best plan of the building about to be erected, to be handed in before the first day of January next, requesting that the plans may not be signed, but designated by a private mark, accompanied by a letter to the chairman, with the same mark on the outside.

The new house which was erected in the early part of the year 1794 was called the Tontine Hotel, but it soon came to be more generally spoken of as the City Hotel. Robert Hunter, who had been keeping a tavern in Wall Street, became its first landlord. He was in possession of it and meetings were being held there in the early part of June, 1794. It was considered the largest and finest hotel then in the United States. It became the meeting place of societies and associations and of the City Assembly which continued to flourish as it had done for many years. On Friday, October 7, 1796, there was great rejoicing in the city over the French victories, news of which had just been received. The church bells were rung from twelve to one o’clock, “and in the evening, as it were by patriotic sympathy, a hall full of old Whigs and friends to the liberty of Man, assembled at Hunter’s Hotel, where a number of patriotic songs were sung, a cold collation was served up and sixteen toasts were given apropos of the news of the day.” The nineteenth anniversary of the signing of the treaty of alliance between France and the United States was celebrated on Monday, February 6, 1797, at Hunter’s Hotel by a numerous assembly of patriotic citizens. Hunter remained landlord of the City Hotel until 1799, when he was succeeded by John Lovett, under whose management the house became quite popular.

THE CITY HOTEL

Saturday, the 4th of July, 1795, the anniversary of our independence was celebrated in the city with more than usual attention, induced probably by the political excitement which then prevailed. The ringing of all the bells of the city with a Federal Salute from the Battery ushered in the day, which was repeated at noon and in the evening. There was a large procession, which about eleven o’clock moved from the Battery to the new Presbyterian Church where the Declaration of Independence was read by Edward Livingston and an elegant and patriotic discourse was delivered by the Rev. Mr. Miller. On returning to the Battery, where a feu-de-joie was fired the different societies that had taken part separated and at three o’clock sat down to entertainments prepared for them at different places in the city. After dinner, the Corporation, the Society of the Cincinnati, the Militia Officers, the Society of Tammany, the Mechanic and Democratic Societies and the Merchants at the Tontine Coffee House sent deputations to each other with congratulations upon the return of the day. The festivities closed with a beautiful display of fireworks under the direction of Colonel Bauman. The merchants, who celebrated the day by a dinner at the Tontine Coffee House were honored by the company of Governor Jay, Major-General Morris, Judge Iredell, Mr. Reed, Senator in Congress from South Carolina, Judge Hobart, Judge Lawrence, Colonel Hamilton, Mr. King, the Mayor of the City, Doctor Johnson, the Secretary of the State, the Attorney-General of the District, the Treasurer of the State, Captain Dennis, Captain Talbot, Captain Thomson. After the dinner toasts were drunk as usual.

For some years the Tammany Society had their anniversary dinners and their Fourth of July dinners at Bardin’s, the City Tavern. The Great Wigwam of the society was in the old Exchange in Broad Street, where it continued to be until the building was taken down in 1799. After this the Long Room of Abraham B. Martling’s Tavern on the corner of Nassau and George (now Spruce) Streets, where the American Tract Society Building now stands, became the wigwam of the society. During the period of political excitement, from 1793 to 1795 and later, the Tammany Society is said to have been opposed to radical measures, which might have involved us in European difficulties. A toast drunk at one of their festivals was, “The hawks of war—may they be harmless.” In 1795, during the excitement about the Jay treaty, the minority of the United States Senate who voted against it were toasted, thus showing that there was then in the society a strong anti-federal sentiment. On July 4, 1798, the Tammany Society met in their Great Wigwam in the evening, where a newspaper states “they partook of a collation and drank toasts which were in unison with their political opinions.” This was about the beginning of Tammany’s political career. The principles of Jefferson were in the ascendant; it had become a republican society. Martling’s Tavern was a low, wooden building, with a very rough exterior devoid of paint, having an entrance on Nassau Street. The Long Room was in the rear of the house, and its somewhat dilapidated appearance caused it to be called the “Pig Pen,” by those not friendly to Tammany. All the leading republicans of the day attended the meetings held here, and although the party was threatened by divisions of the Burrites, the Lewisites and the Clintonians, it was held together.

MARTLING’S TAVERN

During the French Revolution there were many Frenchmen who had been driven from France and had taken refuge in New York City. One of these was the famous gastronome, Anthelme BrillÂt-Savarin, author of La Physiologie du Gout, who tells us something of the way they enjoyed themselves while here. He says: “I sometimes passed the evening in a sort of cafÉ-taverne, kept by a Mr. Little, where he served in the morning turtle soup, and in the evening all the refreshments customary in the United States. I generally took with me Vicomte de la Massue and Jean Rodolphe Fehr, formerly a mercantile broker at Marseilles, both emigrÉs like myself. I treated them to welch-rabbit, which was washed down with ale or cider, and here we passed the evening talking over our misfortunes, our pleasures, and our hopes.”

Michael Little’s Tavern, or Porter House, as it was called, was at 56 Pine Street, a little below William Street, and it speaks well for the house that it should have been selected by BrillÂt-Savarin and his friends as a place for their suppers. BrillÂt-Savarin spent two years in New York, 1794-96, supporting himself by giving lessons in the French language and playing in the orchestra of the theater. He gives a very amusing account of a dinner party at Little’s place, of which he and his two friends formed a part. He had met there Mr. Wilkinson, an Englishman from Jamaica and his friend, whose name he never knew, whom he described as a very taciturn man, with a square face, keen eyes, and features as expressionless as those of a blind man, who appeared to notice everything but never spoke; only, when he heard a witty remark or merry joke, his face would expand, his eyes close, and opening a mouth as large as the bell of a trumpet, he would send forth a sound between a laugh and a howl called by the English, horse laugh; after which he would relapse into his habitual taciturnity. Mr. Wilkinson appeared to be about fifty years of age, with the manners and all the bearing of a gentleman (un homme comme il faut).

These two Englishmen, pleased with the society of BrillÂt-Savarin and his friends, had many times partaken of the frugal collation which was offered them, when, one evening, Wilkinson took BrillÂt-Savarin to one side and declared his intention of engaging all three of them to dine with him. The invitation was accepted and fixed for three o’clock in the afternoon of the third day after. As they were about to leave the waiter quietly told BrillÂt-Savarin that the Jamaicans had ordered a good dinner and had given directions that the wine and liquor be carefully prepared, because they regarded the invitation as a challenge or test of drinking powers, and that the man with the big mouth had said that he hoped to put the Frenchmen under the table.

For such a drinking bout BrillÂt-Savarin had no relish, but the Frenchmen could not now very well avoid it without being accused of being frightened by the Englishmen. Although aware of the danger, following the maxim of Marshal de Saxe, “As the wine was drawn they prepared to drink it.” (“Le vin etait tirÉ, nous nous preparÂmes À le boire.”)

BrillÂt-Savarin had no fear for himself, but he did not wish to see his two friends go down with the others; he wished to make it a national victory, and not an individual one. He, therefore, sent for his friends and gave them a lecture. He instructed them to restrain their appetites at the beginning so as to eat moderately with the wine throughout the whole dinner, to drink small draughts and even contrive to get rid of the wine sometimes without drinking it. They divided among them a quantity of bitter almonds, recommended for such an occasion.

At the appointed time they all met at Little’s Tavern, and soon after the dinner was served. It consisted of an enormous piece of roast beef, a turkey (dindon cuit dans son jus), vegetables, a salad and a tart (tarte aux comfitures). They drank after the French fashion, that is to say, the wine was served from the commencement. It was very good claret. Mr. Wilkinson did the honors of the table admirably. His friend appeared absorbed in his plate and said nothing.

BrillÂt-Savarin was charmed with his two friends. La Massue, although endowed with a sufficiently good appetite, was mincing his food like a delicate young lady, and Fehr was adroitly succeeding in passing glasses of wine into a beer pot at the end of the table. He himself was holding up well against the two Englishmen, and the more the dinner advanced the more confident he felt.

After the claret came Port, after Port, Madeira, at which they stuck for a long time. On the arrival of the dessert, composed of butter, cheese and nuts, was the time for toasts. They drank to the power of kings, the liberty of the people and the beauty of women; particularly to the health of Mr. Wilkinson’s daughter, Mariah, who, he assured his guests, was the most beautiful person in all the island of Jamaica.

After the wine came spirits—rum, brandy and whiskey—and with the spirits, songs. BrillÂt-Savarin avoided the spirits and called for punch. Little himself brought in a bowl of it, without doubt prepared in advance, sufficient for forty persons. No such vessel for drink was ever seen in France.

BrillÂt-Savarin says that he ate five or six slices of buttered toast (roties d’un beurre extremement frais) and felt his forces revived. He then took a survey of the situation, for he was becoming much concerned as to how it would all end. His two friends appeared quite fresh and drank as they picked the nuts. Wilkinson’s face was scarlet, his eyes were troubled and he appeared to be giving way. His friend said nothing, but his head smoked like a boiling caldron. The catastrophe was approaching.Suddenly Mr. Wilkinson started to his feet and began to sing Rule Britannia, but he could get no farther than these words; his strength failed him; he felt himself drop into his chair and from there rolled under the table (coula sous le table). His friend seeing him in this state, emitted one of his noisiest laughs, and stooping to assist him fell by his side.

BrillÂt-Savarin, viewing the scene with considerable satisfaction and relief, rang the bell, and when Little came up, after addressing him the conventional phrase, “See to it that these gentlemen are properly cared for,” with his friends drank with him their health in a parting glass of punch. The waiter, with his assistants, soon came in and bore away the vanquished, whom they carried out, according to the rule, feet foremost, which expression is used in English to designate those dead or drunk, Mr. Wilkinson still trying to sing Rule Britannia, his friend remaining absolutely motionless.

Next day seeing in the newspapers an account of what had happened, with the remark that the Englishmen were ill, BrillÂt-Savarin went to see them. He found the friend suffering from a severe attack of indigestion. Mr. Wilkinson was confined to his chair by the gout, brought on probably by his late dissipation. He seemed sensible to the attention and said to BrillÂt-Savarin, among other things: “Oh! dear sir, you are very good company, indeed, but too hard a drinker for us.”

ANTHELME BRILLAT-SAVARIN

BrillÂt-Savarin was a convivial soul, a lover of good cheer and openhanded hospitality. The time passed so pleasantly and he was so comfortable while in New York City, that on taking his departure for France, in 1796, he declared that all he asked of Heaven was, never to know greater sorrow in the Old World that he had known in the New. He settled in Paris, and after holding several offices under the Directory, became a judge in the Cour de Cassation, the French court of last resort, where he remained until his death, in 1826. While without special reputation as a jurist, as a judge and expounder of gastronomic excellence, his name has become immortalized.

On the 16th of December, 1796, “the young men of the city who were willing to contribute to the preservation of the Public Safety, at that critical juncture,” were invited to attend a meeting “at Mr. Little’s Porter House in Pine Street that evening at seven o’clock in order to form an association for that laudable purpose.” Soon after this Little moved to No. 42 Broad Street, the old Fraunces’ Tavern. At this place, on Wednesday, July 28, 1802, the two friends of De Witt Clinton and Colonel John Swartwout met to make arrangements for the duel which took place at Hoboken on Saturday, July 31st. A meeting of the gentlemen of the bar of the City of New York was held here February 11, 1802.

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