_From Euphues to Sir Amyas Leigh_, _Kt._
This little controversy on the value of the herb tobacco passed between
the renowned Euphues and that early but assiduous smoker, Sir Amyas
Leigh, well known to readers of “Westward Ho.”
(He dissuadeth him from drinking the smoke of the Indian weed.)
SIR AMYAS,—Take it not unkindly that a traveller (though less wide a
wanderer than thou) dissuadeth thee from a new-found novelty—the wanton
misuse, or rather the misuseful wantonness, of the Indian herb. It is a
blind goose that knoweth not a fox from a fern-bush, and a strange
temerity that mistaketh smoke for provender. The sow, when she is sick,
eateth the sea-crab and is immediately recovered: why, then, should man,
being whole and sound, haste to that which maketh many sick? The lobster
flieth not in the air, nor doth the salamander wanton in the water;
wherefore, then, will man betake him for nourishment or solace to the
fire? Vesuvius bringeth not forth speech from his mouth, but man, like a
volcano, will utter smoke. There is great difference between the table
and the chimney; but thou art for making both alike. Though the Rose be
sweet, yet will it prove less fragrant if it be wreathed about the skunk;
and so an ill weed from the land where that beast hath its habitation
defileth a courteous knight. Consider, if this practice delights thee,
that the apples of Sodom are outwardly fair but inwardly full of ashes;
the box-tree is always green, but his seed is poison. Mithridate must be
taken inwardly, not spread on plasters. Of his nature smoke goeth upward
and outward; why wilt thou make it go inward and downward? The manners
of the Cannibal fit not the Englishman; and this thy poison is unlike
Love, which maimeth every part before it kill the Liver, whereas tobacco
doth vex the Liver before it harmeth any other part. Excuse this my
boldness, and forswear thy weed, an thou lovest