TOBACCO IN EUROPE. (Continued.)
Neander in his work "Tobacologia," (1622) gives a list of the various
kinds of tobacco then used and where they were cultivated, among them
are the following well known now as standard varieties of tobacco:
Brazilian, St. Domingo, Orinoco, Virginia, and Trinidad tobacco.
Fairholt says of the latter that it was most popular in England and is
frequently named by early authors.[50] Tobacco when prepared for use
was made into long rolls or large balls which often answered for the
tobacconist's sign. What we now call cut tobacco was not as popular
then as roll. Smokers carried a roll of tobacco, a knife and tinder to
ignite their tobacco. At the close of the Sixteenth Century tobacco
was introduced into the East. In Persia and Turkey where at first its
use was opposed by the most cruel torture it gained at length the
sanction and approval of even the Sultan himself. Pallas gives the
following account in regard to its first introduction into Asia:
[Footnote 50: Neander says that Varinas tobacco was the
best.]
"In Asia, and especially in China, the use of tobacco for
smoking is more ancient than the discovery of the New World,
I too scarcely entertain a doubt. Among the Chinese, and
among the Mongol tribes who had the most intercourse with
them, the custom of smoking is so general, so frequent, and
become so indispensable a luxury; the tobacco purse affixed
to their belt, so necessary an article of dress; the form of
the pipes from which the Dutch seem to have taken the model
of theirs so original; and, lastly the preparation of the
yellow leaves, which are merely rubbed to pieces and then
put into the pipe, so peculiar, that we cannot possibly
derive all this from America by way of Europe; especially as
India, (where the habit of smoking is not so general,)
intervenes between Persia and China. May we not expect to
find traces of this custom in the first account of the
Voyages of the Portugese and Dutch to China? To investigate
this subject, I have indeed the inclination but not
sufficient leisure."
[Illustration: Tobacco and Theology.]
We find by research that smoking was the most general mode of using
tobacco in England when first introduced. In France the habit of
snuffing was the most popular mode and to this day the custom is more
general than elsewhere. In the days of the Regency snuff-taking had
attained more general popularity than any other mode of using the
plant leaves; the clergy were fond of the "dust" and carried the most
expensive snuff boxes, while many loved the pipe and indulged in
tobacco-smoking. The old vicar restored to his living enjoyed a pipe
when seated in his chair musing on the subject of his next Sunday's
discourse, "with a jug of sound old ale and a huge tome of sound old
divinity on the table before him, for the occasional refreshment as
well of the bodily as the spiritual man."
The cultivation of tobacco in Europe was begun in Spain and Portugal.
Its culture in these kingdoms as well as by their colonies brought to
the crown enormous revenues. In 1626, its culture began in France and
is still an important product. A little later it began to be
cultivated in Germany where it had already been used as a favorite
luxury. From this time its use and cultivation extended to various
parts of Europe. The Persecutors whether kings, popes, poets, or
courtiers at length gave up their opposition while many of them
joined in the use and spread of the custom. It has been said with much
truth:
"History proves that persecution never triumphs in its
attempted eradications. Tobacco was so generally liked that
no legislative measures could prevent its use."
At first the use of tobacco was confined to fops and the hangers on at
ale houses and taverns but afterwards by the "chief men of the realm."
Soon after the importation of the "durned weed" from Virginia the
tobacco muse gave forth many a lay concerning the custom. The
following verses describe the method of smoking then in vogue:
Nor did that time know
To puff and to blow
In a peece of white clay,
As they do at this day
With fier and coole,
And a leafe in a hole;
As my ghost hath late seen,
As I walked betwene
Westminister Hall
And the church of St. Paul,
And so thorow the citie
Where I saw and did pitty
My country men's cases,
With fiery-smoke faces,
Sucking and drinking
A filthie weede stinking,
Was ne'r known before
Till the devil and the More
In th' Indies did meete,
And each other there greete
With a health they desire,
Of stinke, smoke and fier.
But who e're doth abhorre it.
The citie smookes for it;
Now full of fier shop,
And fowle spitting chop,
So sneezing and coughing,
That my ghost fell to scoffing.
And to myself said:
Here's filthie fumes made;
Good phisicke of force
To cure a sicke horse.
The Puritans, from the first introduction of the plant, were sincere
haters of tobacco, not only in England but in America. Cromwell had as
strong a dislike of the plant as King James, and ordered the troopers
to destroy the crops by trampling them under foot. Hutton describes a
Puritan as one who
"Abhors a sattin suit, a velvet cloak,
And sayes tobacco is the Devill's smoke."
Probably no other plant has ever met with such powerful determined
opposition, both against its use and cultivation, as the tobacco
plant. It was strenuously opposed by all possible means, governmental,
legislative, and literary. When tea and coffee were first introduced
both were denounced in unmeasured terms, but the opposition was not so
bitter or as lasting.
The following verses bearing the _nom de plume_ of an "Old Salt,"
record much of the history of the plant:--
"Oh muse! grant me the power
(I have the will) to sing
How oft in lonely hour,
When storms would round me lower,
Tobacco's prov'd a King!
"Philanthropists, no doubt
With good intentions ripe,
Their dogmas may put out,
And arrogantly shout
The evils of the pipe.
"Kind moralists, with tracts,
Opinions fine may show:
Produce a thousand facts--
How ill tobacco acts
Man's system to o'erthrow.
"Learn'd doctors have employed
Much patience, time and skill,
To prove tobacco cloyed
With acrid alkaloid,
With power the nerves to kill!
"E'en Popes have curst the plant;
Kings bade its use to cease;
But all the Pontiff's rant
And Royal Jamie's cant
Ne'er made its use decrease.
"Teetotallers may stamp
And roar at pipes and beer;
But place them in a swamp,
When nights are dark and damp--
Their tune would change, I fear.
"No advocate am I
Of excess in one or t'other,
And ne'er essayed to try
In wine to drown a sigh,
Or a single care to smother.
"Yet, in moderation pure,
A glass is well enough;
But, a troubled heart to cure,
Kind feelings to insure,
Give me a cheerful puff.
"How oft a learn'd divine
His sermons will prepare,
Not by imbibing wine,
But, 'neath th' influence fine
Of a pipe of "baccy" rare!
"How many a pleasing scene,
How many a happy joke,
How many a satire keen,
Or problem sharp, has been
Evolved or born of smoke!
"How oft, amidst the jar
Of storms on ruin bent,
On ship-board, near or far,
To the drenched and shiv'ring tar
Tobacco's solace lent!
"Oh! tell me not 'tis bad,
Or that it shortens life.
Its charms can soothe the sad,
And make the wretched glad,
In trouble and in strife.
"Tis used in every clime,
By all men, high and low;
It is praised in prose and rhyme,
So let the kind herb grow!
"'Tis a friend to the distress'd,
'Tis a comforter in need;
It is social, soothing, blest;
It has fragrance, force, and zest;
Then hail the kingly weed!"
While Raleigh[51] and many of Elizabeth's courtiers indulged
frequently in a pipe, some have imagined that even Queen Bess herself
tested the rare virtues of tobacco. This is hardly based upon
sufficient proof to warrant a very strong belief in it; but the
following account of "How to weigh smoke" taken from _Tinsley's
Magazine_ shows that the Queen was acquainted at least with Raleigh's
use of the weed:
[Footnote 51: It is said that Raleigh in communicating
the art to his friends, gave smoking parties at his
house, where his guests were treated with nothing but a
pipe, a mug of ale, and a nutmeg. Says an English
writer: "From the anecdote related respecting the weight
of smoke, the vapor of the pipe certainly did not throw
a cloud over the brilliant wit of the unfortunate
Raleigh."]
"One day it happened that Queen Elizabeth, wandering about
the grounds and alleys at Hampton with a single maid of
honour, came upon Sir Walter Raleigh indulging in a pipe.
Smoking now is as common as eating and drinking, and to
smoke amongst ladies is a vulgarity. But not so then: it was
an accomplishment, it was a distinction; and one of the
feathers in Sir Walter's towering cap was his introduction
of tobacco. The all-accomplished hero rose and saluted the
Queen in his grand manner, and the Queen, who was in her
daintiest humour, gave him her white hand to kiss, and took
the seat he had left.
"Now, Sir Walter, I can puzzle you at last." "I suppose I
must not be so rude as to doubt your Majesty." "You are bold
enough for that, but your boldness will not help you, Sir
Walter, this time. You cannot tell me how much the smoke
from your pipe weighs." "Your Majesty is mistaken. I can
tell you to a nicety. Will your Majesty allow me to call
yonder page, and send for a pair of scales and weights?" "By
my honour," said the Queen, "were any other subject in our
realm to make request so absurd, we should very positively
deny it. But you are the wisest of our fools, and, though we
expect to see but little use made of these weights when
brought, your request shall be granted. And, supposing you
fail to weigh the smoke, what penalty will you pay?" "I will
be content," said Sir Walter, "to lose my head." "You may
chance to lose it on a graver count than this;" answered the
Queen. "If the head shall have done some slight service to
your Majesty and the realm," replied the courteous knight,
"thee will be well content nevertheless."
[Illustration: Weighing smoke.]
"But your Majesty will soon see that I fail not. First,
madam, I place this empty pipe in the scales, and I find
that it weighs exactly 2 ounces. I now fill it with tobacco,
and the weight is increased to 2-1/10th ounce. I must now
ask your Majesty to allow me to smoke the pipe out. I shall
then turn out the ashes, and place them together with the
pipe in the scale once more. The difference between the
weight of the pipe with the unsmoked tobacco, and weight of
the pipe with the ashes, will be the weight of the smoke."
"You are too clever for us, Sir Walter. We shall expect you
to-night at supper, and if the conversation grow dull, you
shall tell our courtiers the story of the pipe."
Many other anecdotes have been told of the adventures of Raleigh with
his pipe. One is that while taking a quiet smoke his servant entered
and becoming alarmed on seeing the smoke coming from his nose threw a
mug of ale in his face.
The same anecdote is also related of others including Tarlton. He
gives an account of it in his Jests 1611. It is told in this manner:
"Tarlton as other gentlemen used, at the first coming up of
tobacco, did take it more for fashion's sake than otherwise,
and being in a roome, sat betweene two men overcome with
wine, and they never seeing the like, wondered at it, and
seeing the vapour come out of Tarlton's nose, cryed out,
'Fire, fire!' and threw a cup of wine in Tarlton's face.
'Make no more stirre,' quoth Tarlton, 'the fire is quenched;
if the sheriffs come, it will turne a fine as the custom
is.' And drinking that againe, 'Fie,' says the other: 'what
a stinke it makes. I am almost poysoned.' 'If it offend,'
quoth Tarlton, 'let's every one take a little of the smell,
and so the savor, will quickly go;' but tobacco whiffes made
them leave him to pay all."
Rich gives the following account of a similar scene:--
"I remember a pretty jest of tobacco which was this: A
certain Welchman coming newly to London, and beholding one
to take tobacco, never seeing the like before, and not
knowing the manner of it, but perceiving him vent smoke so
fast, and supposing his inward parts to be on fire, cried
out, 'O Jhesu, Jhesu man, for the passion of Cod hold, for
by Cod's splud ty snowt's on fire,' and having a bowle of
beere in his hand, threw it at the other's face, to quench
his smoking nose."
The following anecdote is equally ludicrous. Before tobacco was much
known in Germany, some soldiers belonging to a cavalry regiment were
quartered in a German village. One of them, a trumpeter, happened to
be a negro. A peasant, who had never seen a black man before, and who
knew nothing about tobacco, watched, though at a safe distance, the
trumpeter, while the latter groomed and fed his horse. As soon as this
business was dispatched, the negro filled his pipe and began to smoke
it. Great had been the peasant's bewilderment before; great was his
terror now. The terror reached an intolerable point when the negro
took the pipe from his mouth, offered it to the peasant, and asked
him, in the best language he could command, to take a whiff. "No, no!"
cried the peasant, in exceeding alarm; "no, no! Mr. Devil; I do not
wish to eat fire."
Henry Fielding, in "The Grub Street Opera" written about a century
ago, has the following verses on Tobacco:--
"Let the learned talk of books,
The glutton of cooks,
The lover of Celia's soft smack--O!
No mortal can boast
So noble a toast,
As a pipe of accepted tobacco.
"Let the soldier for fame,
And a general's name,
In battle get many a thwack--O!
Let who will have most
Who will rule the rooste,
Give me but a pipe of tobacco.
"Tobacco gives wit
To the dullest old cit,
And makes him of politics crack--O!
The lawyers i' th' hall
Were not able to bawl,
Were it not for a whiff of tobacco.
"The man whose chief glory
Is telling a story,
Had never arrived at the smack--O!
Between every heying,
And as I was saying,
Did he not take a whiff of tobacco.
"The doctor who places
Much skill in grimaces,
And feels your pulse running tic tack--O!
Would you know his chief skill?
It is only to fill
And smoke a good pipe of tobacco.
"The courtiers alone
To this weed are not prone;
Would you know what 'tis makes them so slack--O?
'Twas because it inclined
To be honest the mind,
And therefore they banished tobacco."
One of the most curious pieces of verse ever written on tobacco is the
following by Southey, entitled "Elegy on a Quid of Tobacco:"--
"It lay before me on the close-grazed grass,
Beside my path, an old tobacco quid:
And shall I by the mute adviser pass
Without one serious thought? now Heaven forbid!
"Perhaps some idle drunkard threw thee there--
Some husband spendthrift of his weekly hire;
One who for wife and children takes no care,
But sits and tipples by the ale-house fire.
"Ah! luckless was the day he learned to chew!
Embryo of ills the quid that pleased him first;
Thirsty from that unhappy quid he grew,
Then to the ale-house went to quench his thirst.
"So great events from causes small arise--
The forest oak was once an acorn seed;
And many a wretch from drunkenness who dies,
Owes all his evils to the Indian weed.
"Let no temptation, mortal, ere come nigh!
Suspect some ambush in the parsley hid;
From the first kiss of love ye maidens fly,
Ye youths, avoid the first Tobacco-quid!
"Perhaps I wrong thee, O thou veteran chaw,
And better thoughts my musings should engage;
That thou wert rounded in some toothless jaw,
The joy, perhaps of solitary age.
"One who has suffered Fortune's hardest knocks,
Poor, and with none to tend on his gray hairs;
Yet has a friend in his Tobacco-box,
And, while he rolls his quid, forgets his cares.
"Even so it is with human happiness--
Each seeks his own according to his whim;
One toils for wealth, one Fame alone can bless,
One asks a quid--a quid is all to him.
"O, veteran chaw! thy fibres savory, strong,
While aught remained to chew, thy master chewed,
Then cast thee here, when all thy juice was gone,
Emblem of selfish man's ingratitude!
"O, happy man! O, cast-off quid! is he
Who, like as thou, has comforted the poor;
Happy his age who knows himself, like thee,
Thou didst thy duty--man can do no more."
Another well known song of the Seventeenth Century is entitled "The
Tryumph of Tobacco over Sack and Ale:"--
Nay, soft by your leaves,
Tobacco bereaves
You both of the garland; forbear it;
You are two to one,
Yet tobacco alone
Is like both to win it, and weare it.
Though many men crack,
Some of ale, some of sack,
And think they have reason to do it;
Tobacco hath more
That will never give o'er
The honor they do unto it.
Tobacco engages
Both sexes, all ages,
The poor as well as the wealthy;
From the court to the cottage,
From childhood to dotage,
Both those that are sick and the healthy.
It plainly appears
That in a few years
Tobacco more custom hath gained,
Than sack, or than ale,
Though they double the tale
Of the times, wherein they have reigned.
And worthily too,
For what they undo
Tobacco doth help to regaine,
On fairer conditions
Than many physitians,
Puts an end to much griefe and paine;
It helpeth digestion,
Of that there's no question,
The gout and the tooth-ache it easeth:
Be it early, or late,
'Tis never out of date,
He may-safely take it that pleaseth.
Tobacco prevents
Infection by scents,
That hurt the brain, and are heady.
An antidote is,
Before you're amisse,
As well as an after remedy.
The cold it doth heate,
Cools them that do sweate,
And them that are fat maketh lean:
The hungry doth feed,
And if there be need,
Spent spirits restoreth again.
The poets of old,
Many fables have told,
Of the gods and their symposia;
But tobacco alone,
Had they known it, had gone
For their nectar and ambrosia.
It is not the smack
Of ale or of sack,
That can with tobacco compare:
For taste and for smell,
It beares away the bell
From them both, wherever they are:
For all their bravado,
It is Trinidado,
That both their noses will wipe
Of the praises they desire,
Unless they conspire
To sing to the tune of his pipe.
The history of the rise and progress of tobacco in England, is one of
the most interesting features connected with the use and cultivation
of the plant. In Spain, Portugal, Germany and Holland the plant was
sustained and encouraged by the throne, and royalty was the strongest
and most devoted defender it had. It saw in the encouragement of its
use, an income of revenue and a source of profit far greater than that
received from any other product. Soon after its cultivation began in
France, Spain, and Portugal, the tobacco trade was farmed out.
From its first cultivation in these countries it has been a government
monopoly. In 1753, the King of Portugal farmed out the tobacco trade,
and from that time until now, the annual amount received has been one
of the principal sources of revenue to the crown. In France, as early
as 1674, a monopoly of the trade was granted to Jean Breton, for six
years, for the sum of 700,000 francs.
In 1720 the Indian Company paid for the privilege 1,500,000 francs per
annum; and in 1771 the price was increased to 25,000,000 francs.
Besides France there are thirteen other European states where the
tobacco trade is a government monopoly, namely, Austria, Spain,
Sicily, Sardinia, Poland, Papal States, Portugal, Tuscany, Modena,
Parma, San Marino, Lichtenstein.
From the first cultivation of the plant, its growers saw in the
tobacco trade a vast and constantly increasing source of wealth.
They doubtless in some measure comprehended the close relation
existing between it and commerce and realized how extensive would be
its use.
From the nature of the plant, it affords states and nations an
opportunity to engage either in its culture or commerce with the
prospect of the largest success. In this respect it is far different
from any other tropical plant, and unlike them is capable of being
cultivated in portions of the earth far remote from the tropics. In
Switzerland and in the Caucassias it attains to a considerable size,
but is nevertheless tobacco although it may possess but few of the
excellences of some varieties, still it affords some enjoyment to the
user, from the fact that it is the Indian weed. Fairholt speaking of
the tobacco trade says:
"The progress of the tobacco trade from the earliest
introduction of the plant into Europe until now, is
certainly one of the most curious that commerce presents.
That a plant originally smoked by a few savages, should
succeed in spite of the most stringent opposition in church
and state, to be the cherished luxury of the whole civilized
world; to increase with the increase of time, and to end in
causing so vast a trade, and so large an outlay of money; is
a statistical fact, without an equal parallel."
The tobacco plant notwithstanding its fascinating powers, has suffered
many romantic vicissitudes in its fame and character; having been
successively opposed and commended by physicians, condemned and
eulogized by priests, vilified and venerated by kings, and alternately
proscribed and protected by governments, this once insignificant
production of a little island or an obscure district, has succeeded in
diffusing itself throughout every clime, and--exhilarating and
enriching its thousands--has subjected the inhabitants of every
country to its dominion. And every where it is a source of comfort and
enjoyment; in the highest grades of civilized society, at the shrine
of fashion, in the depths of poverty, in the palace and in the
cottage, the fascinating influence of this singular plant demands an
equal tribute of devotion and attachment.