century there were
more than 800. By 1843 the number had increased to more than 3000.

_The Development of the Cafes_

Coffee's vogue spread rapidly, and many cabarets and famous eating
houses began to add it to their menus. Among these was the Tour d'Argent
(silver tower), which had been opened on the Quai de la Tournelle in
1582, and speedily became Paris's most fashionable restaurant. It still
is one of the chief attractions for the epicure, retaining the
reputation for its cooking that drew a host of world leaders, from
Napoleon to Edward VII, to its quaint interior.

[Illustration: THE CAFE DE PROCOPE IN 1743

From an engraving by Bosredon]

Another tavern that took up coffee after Procope, was the Royal
Drummer, which Jean Ramponaux established at the Courtille des
Porcherons and which followed Magny's. His hostelry rightly belongs to
the tavern class, although coffee had a prominent place on its menu. It
became notorious for excesses and low-class vices during the reign of
Louis XV, who was a frequent visitor. Low and high were to be found in
Ramponaux's cellar, particularly when some especially wild revelry was
in prospect. Marie Antoinette once declared she had her most enjoyable
time at a wild _farandole_ in the Royal Drummer. Ramponaux was taken to
its heart by fashionable Paris; and his name was used as a trade mark on
furniture, clothes, and foods.

[Illustration: THE CASHIER'S COUNTER IN A PARIS COFFEE HOUSE OF 1782

From a drawing by Retif de la Bretonne]

The popularity of Ramponaux's Royal Drummer is attested by an
inscription on an early print showing the interior of the cafe.
Translated, it reads:

The pleasures of ease untroubled to taste,
The leisure of home to enjoy without haste,
Perhaps a few hours at Magny's to waste,
Ah, that was the old-fashioned way!
Today all our laborers, everyone knows,
Go running away ere the working hours close,
And why? They must be at Monsieur Ramponaux'!
Behold, the new style of cafe!

When coffee houses began to crop up rapidly in Paris, the majority
centered in the Palais Royal, "that garden spot of beauty, enclosed on
three sides by three tiers of galleries," which Richelieu had erected in
1636, under the name of Palais Cardinal, in the reign of Louis XIII. It
became known as the Palais Royal in 1643; and soon after the opening of
the Cafe de Procope, it began to blossom out with many attractive coffee
stalls, or rooms, sprinkled a