Читать книгу Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce - E. R. Billings - Страница 19

"The Indian weed, withered quite,

Greene at noone, cut down at night,

Shows thy decay; all flesh is hay;

Thus thinke, then drinke Tobacco.

The Pipe that is so lily-white,

Show thee to be a mortal wight,

And even such, gone with a touch,

Thus thinke, then drinke Tobacco.

And when the smoake ascends on high,

Thinke thou beholdst the vanity

Of worldly stuffe, gone with a puffe,

Thus thinke, then drinke Tobacco.

And when the Pipe grows foul within,

Thinke on thy soul defiled with sin,

And then the fire it doth require;

Thus thinke, then drinke Tobacco.

The ashes that are left behind,

May serve to put thee still in mind,

That unto dust return thou must;

Thus thinke, then drinke Tobacco."

Buttes, in a little volume entitled "Dyets Dry Dinner," (1599) says that

"Tobacco was translated out of India in the seede or roote; native or sative in our own fruitfullest soils. It cureth any griefe, dolour, imposture, or obstruction proceeding of colde or winde, especially in the head or breast. The fume taken in a pipe is good against Rumes, ache in the head, stomacke, lungs, breast; also in want of meate, drinke, sleepe, or rest."

The introduction of tobacco from the colony of Virginia was followed soon after by a reduction of price that led to more frequent use among the poorer classes, such as grooms and hangers on at taverns and ale-houses, who are alluded to in Rich's "Honestie of this Age":

"There is not so base a groome that comes into an ale-house to call for his pott, but he must have his pipe of tobacco; for it is a commodity that is nowe as vendible in every tavern, wine and ale-house, as eyther wine, ale or beare; and for apothecaerie's shops, grocer's shops, chandler's shops, they are never without company, that from morning till night, are still taking of tobacco. What a number are there besides, that doe keepe houses, set open shoppes, that have no other trade to live by, but by selling of tobacco. I have heard it told, that now very lately there hath been a catalogue of all those new erected houses that have sett up that trade of selling tobacco in London, and neare about London; and if a man may believe what is confidently reported, there are found to be upwards of seven thousand of houses that doth live by that trade.

Old London Ale-house.

"If it be true that there be seven thousand shops in and about London, that doth vend tobacco, as it is credibly reported that there be over and above that number, it may well be supposed to be but an ill customed shop, that taketh not five shillings a day, one day with another throughout the whole year; or, if one doth take lesse, two other may take more; but let us make our account, but after two shillings sixpence a day, for he that taketh lesse than that would be ill able to pay his rent, or to keepe open his shop windows; neither would tobacco houses make such a muster as they do, and that almost in every lane, and in every by-corner round about London."

"A Tobacco seller is described after this manner by Blount in a volume "Micro-Cosmographie; Or A Piece of the World discovered; in Essays and Characters" (1628).

"A tobacco seller is the only man that finds good in it which others brag of, but doe not, for it is meate, drinke, and clothes to him. No man opens his ware with greater seriousness, or challenges your judgment more in the operation. His Shop is the Randenvous of spitting, where men dialogue with their noses, and their conversation is smoke. It is the place only where Spain is commended, and preferred before England itself.

"He should be well experienced in the World; for he has daily tryall as men's nostrils, and none is better acquainted with humour. His is the piecing commonly of some other trade, which is bawd to his Tobacco, and that to his wife, which is the flame that follows the smoke."

Early in the Seventeenth Century began the persecution by royal haters of the plant, others, however, had denounced the weed and its use and users, but venting nothing more than a tirade of words against it, had but little effect in breaking up the trade or the custom.[44] James I. sent forth his famous "Counterblast" and in the strongest manner condemned its use. A portion of it reads thus:

"Surely smoke becomes a kitchen fane better than a dining chamber: and yet it makes a kitchen oftentimes in the inward parts of men, soyling and injecting with an unctuous oyly kind of roote as hath been found in some great tobacco takers, that after death were opened. A custom loathsome to the eye, harmful to the braine, dangerous to the lungs, and the black stinking fume thereof, nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless."[45]

Quaint old Burton in his "Anatomy of Melancholy," recognizes the virtues of the plant while he anathematizes its abuse. He says:—

"Tobacco, divine, rare, superexcellent tobacco, which goes far beyond all their panacetas, potable gold, and philosophers' stones, a soveraign remedy to all diseases. A good vomit, I confesse, a vertuous herb, if it be well qualified, opportunely taken, and medicinally used; but, as it is commonly abused by most men, which take it as tinkers do ale, 'tis a plague, a mischief, a violent purger of goods, lands, health, hellish, divelish and damned tobacco, the ruine and overthrow of body and soul."

The duty on importation had been only twopence per pound, a moderate sum in view of the prices realized by the sale of it.

The King now increased it to the enormous sum of two shilling and ten pence. James termed the custom of using tobacco an "evil vanitie" impairing "the health of a great number of people their bodies weakened and made unfit for labor, and the estates of many mean persons so decayed and consumed, as they are thereby driven to unthriftie shifts only to maintain their gluttonous exercise thereof."[46] Brodigan says of the "Counterblast:"

"However absurd his reasoning may appear, it unfortunately happened that he possessed the power to reduce his aversion to practice, and he may be considered as the author of that unwarrantable persecution of the tobacco plant, which under varying circumstances, has been injudiciously continued to the present time."

Other royal haters of the plant issued the most strenous laws[47] and affixed penalties of the severest kind, of these may be mentioned the King of Persia, Amuroth IV. of Turkey, the Emperor Jehan-Gee and Popes Urban VIII. and Innocent XII., the last of whom showed his dislike to many other customs beside that of tobacco taking.

One of the edicts which he issued was against the taking of snuff in St. Peters, at Rome; this was in 1690; it was, however, revoked by Pope Benedict XIV., who himself had acquired the indulgence.

Punishment for Snuff Taking.

Early in the Seventeenth Century tobacco found its way to Constantinople. To punish the habit, a Turk was seized and a pipe transfixed through his nose.

The death of King James, followed by its occupancy of the throne by his son Charles I., did not lessen the persecution against tobacco.[48] In 1625, the year of his accession, he issued a proclamation against all tobaccos excepting only the growth of Virginia and Somerites. Charles II. also prohibited the cultivation of tobacco in England and Ireland, attaching a penalty of 10£ per rood. Fairholt, in alluding to the Stuarts and Cromwell as persecutors of tobacco, says:

"Cromwell disliked the plant, and ordered his troops to trample down the crop wherever found."

It is an historical fact that both James I. and the two Charleses as well as Cromwell had the strongest dislike against the Indian weed.

With such powerful foes it seems hardly possible that the custom should have increased to such an extent that when William ascended the throne the custom was said to be almost universal.[49] "Pipes grew larger and ruled by a Dutchman, all England smoked in peace." From this time forward the varieties used served only to increase the demand for the tobacco of the colonies, and as its culture became better understood the leaf grew in favor, until the demand for it was greater than the production.

During the reign of Anne, the custom of smoking appears to have attained its greatest height in England; the consumption of tobacco was then proportionally greater, considering the population, than it is at the present time. Spooner, in his "Looking-Glass for Smokers," 1703, says of the custom:

"The sin of the kingdom in the intemperate use of tobacco, swelleth and increaseth so daily, that I can compare it to nothing but the waters of Noah, that swell'd fifteen cubits above the highest mountains. So that if this practice shall continue to increase as it doth, in an age or two it will be as hard to find a family free, as it was so long time since one that commonly took it."

When tobacco was first introduced into England its sale was confined to apothecaries, but afterwards it was dealt in by tobacconists, who sold other goods besides tobacco.

About the middle of the Seventeenth Century the culture of tobacco commenced in England; it continued, however, only for a short time, for the rump parliament in 1652 prohibited the planting of it, and two years later Cromwell and his council appointed commissioners for strictly putting this act in execution: and in 1660 it was legally enacted, that from the first of January, 1660–1, no person whatever should sow or plant any tobacco in England, under certain penalties.

In England drinking or smoking tobacco seems to have met with more success (as a mode of use) rather than chewing (now so popular). It was principally confined to the lower classes, and was common among soldiers and sailors. When used by gentlemen it was common to carry a silver basin to spit in.

Silver Spittoons.

The habit of smoking or using tobacco in any form was then more constant than now, and its use was common in almost all places of public gathering. It was the custom to smoke in theatres; stools being provided for those who paid for their use and the privilege of smoking on the stage. Tobacco was also sold at some of the play-houses, and proved a source of profit, doubtless, beyond even the representation of the plays. We should infer also from some of the early stage plays, that the "players" used the weed even when acting their parts. Rowlands gives the following poem on tobacco in his "Knave of Clubs," 1611:—

"Who durst dispraise tobacco whilst the smoke is in my nose,

Or say, but fah! my pipe doth smell, I would I knew but those

Durst offer such indignity to that which I prefer.

For all the brood of blackamoors will swear I do not err,

In taking this same worthy whif with valiant cavalier,

But that will make his nostrils smoke, at cupps of wine or beer.

When as my purse can not afford my stomach flesh or fish,

I sop with smoke, and feed as well and fat as one can wish.

Come into any company, though not a cross you have,

Yet offer them tobacco, and their liquor you shall have.

They say old hospitalitie kept chimnies smoking still;

Now what your chimnies want of that, our smoking noses will.

Much vituals serves for gluttony, to fatten men like swine,

But he's a frugal man indeed that with a leaf can dine,

And needs no napkins for his hands, his fingers' ends to wipe,

But keeps his kitchen in a box, and roast meat in a pipe.

This is the way to help down years, a meal a day's enough:

Take out tobacco for the rest, by pipe, or else by snuff,

And you shall find it physical; a corpulent, fat man,

Within a year shall shrink so small that one his guts shall span.

It's full of physic's rare effects, it worketh sundry ways,

The leaf green, dried, steept, burnt to dust, have each their several praise,

It makes some sober that are drunk, some drunk of sober sense.

And all the moisture hurts the brain, it fetches smoking thence.

All the four elements unite when you tobacco take.

For earth and water, air and fire, do a conjunction make.

The pipe is earth, the fire's therein, the air the breathing smoke;

Good liquor must be present too, for fear I chance to choke.

Here, gentlemen, a health to all, 'Tis passing good and strong.

I would speak more, but for the pipe I cannot stay so long."

The Negro Image.

In 1602 appeared a sweeping tirade entitled, "Work for Chimney Sweepers, or a Warning against Tobacconists." It abounds with threats against all who indulge in tobacco. The most singular work, however, appeared in 1616, bearing the following singular title: "The Smoking Age, or the Man in the Mist; with the Life and Death of Tobacco. Dedicated to Captain Whiffe, Captain Pipe, and Captain Snuffe." A frontispiece is given representing a tobacconist's shop with shelves, counters, pipes and tobacco; a carved figure of a negro stands upon the counter, which shows how soon such figures were used by dealers in pipes and tobacco. The title-page contains the following epigram:

"This some affirme, yet yield I not to that,

'Twill make a fat man lean, a lean man fat;

But this I'm sure (howse'ere it be they meane)

That many whiffes will make a fat man lean."

The following effusion resembles many of the verses of the day on the fruitful subject:

"Tobacco's an outlandish weed,

Doth in the land strange wonders breed,

It taints the breath, the blood it dries,

It burns the head, it blinds the eyes;

It dries the lungs, scourgeth the lights,

It numbs the soul, it dulls the sprites;

It brings a man into a maze,

And makes him sit for other's gaze;

It makes a man, it mars a purse,

A lean one fat, a fat one worse;

A sound man sick, a sick man sound,

A bound man loose, a loose man bound;

A white man black, a black man white,

A night a day, a day a night;

The wise a fool, the foolish wise,

A sober man in drunkard's guise;

A drunkard with a drought or twain,

A sober man it makes again;

A full man empty, and an empty full,

A gentleman a foolish gull;

It turns the brain like cat in pan,

And makes a Jack a gentleman."

The well-known song of "Tobacco is an Indian Weed," was written most probably the last half of the Seventeenth Century, Fairholt gives the best copy we have seen of it. It is taken from the first volume of "Pills to Purge Melancholy," and reads thus:

"Tobacco's but an Indian weed,

Grows green at morn, cut down at eve,

It shows our decay, we are but clay;

Think of this when you smoke tobacco.

"The pipe, that is so lily white,

Wherein so many take delight,

Is broke with a touch—man's life is such;

Think of this when you smoke tobacco.

"The pipe, that is so foul within,

Shews how man's soul is stained with sin,

And then the fire it doth require;

Think of this when you smoke tobacco.

"The ashes that are left behind

Do serve to put us all in mind

That unto dust return we must;

Think of this when you smoke tobacco.

"The smoke, that does so high ascend,

Shews us man's life must have an end,

The Vapor's gone—man's life is done;

Think of this when you smoke tobacco."

One of the strongest objections against the use of the "Indian novelty" was its ruinous cost at this period. During the reign of James The First and Charles The Second, Spanish tobacco sold at from ten to eighteen shillings per pound while Virginia tobacco sold for a time for three shillings. In no age and by no race excepting perhaps the Indians was the habit so universal or carried to such a length as in the Seventeenth Century—its supposed virtues as a medicine induced many to inhale the smoke constantly. This was one reason why tobacco was condemned by so many of the writers and playwrights of the day yet many of them used the weed in some form from Ben Johnson to Cibber the one fond of his pipe the other of his snuff.

In 1639 Venner published a volume entitled "A Treatise" concerning the taking of the fume of tobacco. His advice is "to take it moderately and at fixed times." Many of the clergy were devoted adherents of the pipe. Lilly says of its use among them:

"In this year Bredon vicar of Thornton a profound divine, but absolutely the most polite person for nativities in that age, strictly adhering to Ptolemy, which he well understood; he had a hand in composing Sir Christopher Heydon's defence of judicial astrology, being that time his chaplain; he was so given over to tobacco and drink, that when he had no tobacco, he would cut the bell-ropes and smoke them."[Back to Contents]