ABSTRACT

A mock trial report detailing a fictional case brought by the purveyors of traditional English beverages against the coffee-man, who they accuse of being an interloper on their trade, a harmful innovation, and the cause of the corruption of morals in the city. The satire offers a consistent and extended imitation of a legal report, making entertaining use of legal diction and forms of writing, including a copy of an indictment and a judicial sentence. The tract’s comedy derives from the ridiculous contrast between the associations of authority pertaining to these legal forms of writing and the often vulgar and obscene language of the protagonists.