According to Colsoni's 1693 guide to London (Le Guide de Londres) Ave Maria Lane was a gathering place for German expatriates ("... à l'Enseigne du Black-boy au Latin Coffee-house ...").[2]
↑E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
↑Colsoni, F (1951). Le Guide de Londres (in French) (Reprint of 1693 original in British Museum Libraryed.). Cambridge: London Topographical Society. p.26.