The governor of the Bank of England and a junior clerk carry with them a chop to an humble tavern, and partake of the mid-day meal with equal humility; a director of the East India House and a draper's assistant eat their biscuit and take their glass of sherry at the bar; the owner of a hundred ships and the mate of a trader exchange the news of the day over the table of a dingy coffeehouse in a dusky alley off Cornhill.

The World of London, by John Murray, in Blackwoods Magazine, July  1841