“We Humbly Pray, That you our Trusty Patrons would improve your Interest, that henceforth the Drinking COFFEE may on severe penalties be forbidden to all Persons under the Age of Threescore;”
The title of this document specifies that the perspective of the following writing is from the female point of view. A few lines in, it is included that that the legislative body of the “Worshipful Court of Female-Assistants” is the target of a petition filed out by several thousand civilian women. This complaint is revealed as being triggered by the negative effects resulting from the consumption of the beverage of coffee. Men are blamed (in later portions of the text) as being severely affected to the extent that they are unable to even work; to the point where some are described as just lying around lazily and asleep half the time when they are expected to be up and about tending to whatever is in need.
Towards the second to last page, there is even the accusation that it strips them of their masculinity behavior-wise and that things aren’t as they were and have been before. There are direct accusations by wives of their men spending their time gathering at these coffee house and being drunk up to three different times a day. Referring back to the quote, this is enough to convince the writer that an age limit must be placed on those allowed to consume the beverage.
I find it a little funny how mixed peoples opinions on coffee are. We see some people praise coffee, we see some people who really dislike coffee (and coffee houses), and we see some people with mixed opinions. The fact that coffee effects the way someone supports a family is also a strange one. Most people would not blame coffee as the reason that their husband is not able to support them, but clearly it is. Coffee became an obsession to some of these men to a point where they would be too lazy to work (funny how different it is nowadays) and would just be sleeping half the time. An age limit most certainly must be placed for those who want to drink coffee.