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thumb The Café Procope, in ''rue de l'Ancienne Comédie'', 6th arrondissement, is called the oldest restaurant of Paris in continuous operation.〔(''Time'', "The Great Cafes of Paris" )〕 It was opened in 1686〔Bell, David A. "Culture and Religion." Old Regime France: 1648-1788. Ed. William Doyle. Oxford [u.a.: Oxford Univ., 2003. 78-104. Print.〕 by the Sicilian chef Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli, with a slyly subversive name adopted from the historian Procopius, whose ''Secret History'', the ''Anekdota'', long known of, had been discovered in the Vatican Library and published for the first time ever in 1623: it told the scandals of Emperor Justinian, his consort and his court.〔Whether or not the ''Procopio'' was an addition to his name, his son, naturalised as Michel Procope-Couteau (1684–1753), was a doctor of medicine, a Freemason by 1727, a writer, wit and bon vivant who became a librarian at the Faculty of Medicine late in life. (Gordon R. Silber, "In Search of Helvetius' Early Career as a Freemason" ''Eighteenth-Century Studies'' 15.4 (Summer 1982, pp. 421-441) pp 432ff.〕 == History == The Café Procope, in the street then known as ''rue des Fossés-Saint-Germain-des-Prés'', started as a café where gentlemen of fashion might drink coffee, the exotic beverage that had previously been served in taverns, or eat a sorbet, served up in porcelain cups by waiters in exotic "Armenian" garb.〔Joan DeJean, "The Essence of Style: How the French Invented High Fashion, Fine Food, Chic Cafes, Style, Sophistication, and Glamour" (Free Press, a division of Simon and Schuster, 2005).〕 The escorted ladies who appeared at the Café Procope in its earliest days soon disappeared. In 1689 the Comédie française was established across the street— hence the street's modern name— and the Procope became known as the "theatrical" café, and remained so: it was to the Procope on 18 December 1752 that Rousseau retired before the performance of his last play ''Narcisse'' had even finished, all too aware, now that he had seen it mounted, he said publicly, how boring it all was on the stage.〔E. P. Shaw, "The Chevalier de Mouhy's Newsletter of 20 December 1752" ''Modern Language Notes'' 70.2 (February 1955, pp. 114–116), p. 116.〕 It was the unexampled ''mix'' of habitués that surprised visitors, though no one remarked on the absence of women. Louis, chevalier de Mailly, in ''Les Entretiens des caffés'', 1702, remarked: Throughout the 18th century, the brasserie Procope was the meeting place of the intellectual establishment, and of the ''nouvellistes'' of the scandal-gossip trade, whose remarks at Procope were repeated in the police reports.〔A police spy reported in 1749 on one of these scurrilous writers, Mairobert, who later wrote a libellous "biography" of Mme du Barry: "speaking about the reorganization of the army, Mairobert said in the Café Procope that any soldier who had an opportunity should blast the court to hell, since its sole pleasure is in devouring the people and committing injustices" (quoted in Robert Darnton, "An Early Information Society: News and the Media in Eighteenth-Century Paris" ''The American Historical Review'' 105.1 (February 2000, pp. 1-35) p. 9 and note.〕 Not all the ''Encyclopédistes'' drank forty cups of coffee a day like Voltaire, who mixed his with chocolate, but they all met at Procope, as did Benjamin Franklin,〔On 15 June 1790, after the National Assembly had adjourned to mourn Benjamin Franklin's death, the "True Friends of Liberty" met at the Procope. M. de la Fite, a lawyer, conducted a memorial service in front of Franklin's portrait, which hung there, along with those of Voltaire and other notables (Daniel Jouve, Alice Jourve, and Alvin Grossma, ''Paris : Birthplace of the U.S.A.''); Gilbert Chinard, "The Apotheosis of Benjamin Franklin Paris, 1790-1791" ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society'' 99.6, (December 1955), p 443.〕 John Paul Jones and Thomas Jefferson. Alain-René Lesage described the hubbub at Procope in ''La Valise Trouvée'' (1772): "There is an ebb and flow of all conditions of men, nobles and cooks, wits and sots, pell mell, all chattering in full chorus to their heart's content."〔Arthur Morris, in ''Notes and Queries'' 16 August 1890:188.〕 Indicating an increasingly democratic mix. Writing a few years after the death of Voltaire, Louis-Sébastien Mercier〔.Mercier, ''Tableau de Paris'', VI:222, quoted in Georges May, "The Eighteenth Century" ''Yale French Studies'' No. 32, Paris in Literature (1964, pp. 29–39), p.31.〕 noted: During the Revolution, the Phrygian cap, soon to be the symbol of Liberty, was first displayed at the Procope; the Cordeliers, Robespierre, Danton and Marat all used the cafe as a meeting place. After the Restoration, another famous customer was Alexander von Humboldt, who lunched here during the 1820s every day from 11am to noon. The Procope retained its literary cachet: Alfred de Musset, George Sand, Gustave Planche, the philosopher Pierre Leroux, M. Coquille, editor of ''Le Monde'', Anatole France were all regulars. Under the Second Empire, August Jean-Marie Vermorel of ''Le Reforme'' or Léon Gambetta〔J. P. T. Bury, ''Gambetta and the National Defence: A Republican Dictatorship in France'' (New York) 1936.〕 would expound their plans for social reform. The Café Procope was refurbished in 1988 to 1989 in 18th-century style. It received Pompeian red walls, crystal chandeliers, 18th century oval portraits of famous people that have been patrons, and a tinkly piano. The waiters were dressed in quasi-revolutionary uniforms. File:Procopio dei Coltelli.jpg|Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli - founder File:Le Procope Cafe Procope.jpg|St. Germain des Prés - Cefé Le Procope File:Café Procope 2.jpg|Café Procope, photo of the entrance at ''Cours du commerce Saint-André'' File:Cafe Procope bar.jpg|Cafe Procope bar File:Le Procope sign.jpg|First public cafe in Paris File:Cafe Procope plaque.jpg|World's oldest cafe File:Ben Franklin plaque.jpg|Plaque commemorating Benjamin Franklin's preparation of a Franco-American alliance in the café File:Voltaires Desk at Le Procope.jpg|Voltaire's Desk 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Café Procope」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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