ity, and the officers of his army, were vain, the king created a
royal monopoly in coffee, and forbade its roasting except in royal
roasting establishments. At the same time, he made exceptions in the
cases of the nobility, the clergy, and government officials; but
rejected all applications for coffee-roasting licenses from the common
people. His object, plainly, was to confine the use of the drink to the
elect. To these representatives of the cream of Prussian society, the
king issued special licenses permitting them to do their own roasting.
Of course, they purchased their supplies from the government; and as the
price was enormously increased, the sales yielded Frederick a handsome
income. Incidentally, the possession of a coffee-roasting license became
a kind of badge of membership in the upper class. The poorer classes
were forced to get their coffee by stealth; and, failing this, they fell
back upon numerous barley, wheat, corn, chicory, and dried-fig
substitutes, that soon appeared in great numbers.

This singular coffee ordinance was known as the "_Declaration du Roi
concernant la vente du cafe brule_", and was published January 21, 1781.

[Illustration: COFFEE HOUSE IN GERMANY--MIDDLE OF THE SEVENTEENTH
CENTURY]

After placing the coffee _regie_ (revenue) in the hands of a Frenchman,
Count de Lannay, so many deputies were required to make collections that
the administration of the law became a veritable persecution. Discharged
wounded soldiers were mostly employed, and their principal duty was to
spy upon the people day and night, following the smell of roasting
coffee whenever detected, in order to seek out those who might be found
without roasting permits. The spies were given one-fourth of the fine
collected. These deputies made themselves so great a nuisance, and
became so cordially disliked, that they were called "coffee-smellers" by
the indignant people.

Taking a leaf out of Frederick's book, the elector of Cologne,
Maximilian Frederick, bishop of Muenster, (Duchy of Westphalia) on
February 17, 1784, issued a manifesto which said:

To our great displeasure we have learned that in our Duchy of
Westphalia the misuse of the coffee beverage has become so extended
that to counteract the evil we command that four weeks after the
publication of this decree no one shall sell coffee roasted or not
roasted under a fine of one hundred dollars, or two years in
prison, for each offe