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_From Sir Amyas Leigh to Euphues_.
Whereas thou bringest in a rabble of reasons to convince me, I will
answer thee in thine own kind. Thou art like those that proffer a man
physic before he be sick, and, because his pleasure is not theirs, call
him foolish that is but early advised. Nature maketh nothing without an
end: the eye to see with, the ear to hear, the herb tobacco to be smoked.
As wine strengtheneth and meat maketh full, tobacco maketh the heart at
rest. Helen gave Nepenthe to them that sorrowed, and Heaven hath made
this weed for such as lack comfort. Tobacco is the hungry man’s food,
the wakeful man’s sleep, the weary man’s rest, the old man’s defence
against melancholy, the busy man’s repose, the talkative man’s muzzle,
the lonely man’s companion. Indeed, there was nothing but this one thing
wanting to man, of those that earth can give; wherefore, having found it,
let him so use as not abusing it, as now I am about doing.—Thy servant,