Many an excellent cause has been lost through the want of sound arguments,
founded on a knowledge of the case, to support and place it in its proper
light. None, perhaps, more than _smoking_ and _snuff-taking_, the
propriety of which, in the upper orders of life, have been and are,
whether as regards their social or medicinal qualities, so frequently
called in question by their enemies. These, the author is sorry to say, by
the use of a few specious arguments, that chiefly pass current in refined
society--the ladies in particular--have, strongly aided by prejudice,
often made the defence succumb to the attack--an unpardonable weakness on
the part of a _consumer_ of the herb, who is naturally enough expected to
know the entire history of the favorite of his adoption. Unacquainted with
the excellence of his subject, its importance and consequence in ancient
and modern annals--its high worshippers and eulogists, medical, and
non-medical, with its many endearing and social virtues acknowledged over
the far greater part of the world; he, the Author asserts, unacquainted
with the above _data_ and references, opposes but a feeble barrier to the
sweeping and general assertions of his adversary.
In the above glorious cause (i. e. Anti-Smokers and Snuff-Takers v. Lovers
of the Herb) the Author himself holds a brief in the defence as counsel,
and flattering himself he has made himself fully master of the case, he
begs to impart it as a proper, if not an absolutely requisite
accompaniment to all lovers of the 'soothing leaf.' The prejudices against
smoking are numerous. Smoking that is called _unsocial_, the author
affirms to be the common source of harmony and comfort,--the badge of good
fellowship in almost every state, kingdom, and empire. Aye, from the
English settlers in the wildernesses of America, where the _Calumet_ or
Pipe of Peace is smoked by the natives, to the turbaned infidel of the
East--from the burning zone of Africa to the icy regions of the North. In
fact, in almost every clime and condition of society it is known as a
common sign, or freemasonry of friendly feeling and social intercourse. In
the East, the first act of hospitality is proffering the pipe with its
invariable accompaniment coffee, which is more or less observed under
various modifications over nearly the rest of the habitable world.
Smoking that is termed _low_ and _vulgar_ was, and is, an occasional
recreation with most of the crowned heads of Europe, among which may be
named his late Majesty, and their Royal Highnesses the Dukes of Sussex and
Cumberland--Ferdinand of Spain, and the Emperor Nicholas of
Germany--besides very many of the nobility of either empires and
kingdoms.
Smoking that is termed _idle_, is singularly popular with mechanics, the
most industrious classes of England.
Smoking that is said to be _dirty_ and _filthy_, is in the greatest
esteem, among the most moral and cleanly sect in Christianity--the Society
of Friends or Quakers.
Smoking that is affirmed to be _revolting_ and _disgusting_, is indulged
in by the most rigidly kept women in the world--those of Turkey, who
elevated in the dignity of the Haram, are taught to consider a whiff of
their lord's _chibouque_ a distinction. Then the ladies of both Old and
New Spain, who twining in the mazes of the giddy waltz, take the
_cigarros_ from their own pretty lips to transfer to those of their
favoured partners. If indeed, royalty be wanted in the female line, since
the good old times of Elizabeth, who can be so lamentably ignorant in the
annals of smoking, as not to know, that the late _Tumehemalee_, Queen
Consort of _Tirahee_, king of the Sandwich Islands, was dotingly fond of a
pipe--sensible woman and above all petty prejudices as she was, at our own
honoured court.
Now, in regard to snuff, that like smoking is so much abused, coming under
the bans of the ignorant and prejudiced, _beastly_ is the word commonly
given to its application, though used to the greatest excess in the famed
land of _politesse_--France. The most polished and fascinating address is
ever followed by the gracefully proffered snuff-box. What a vast deal does
it not speak at once in a man's favor, begetting instantly a friendly
sympathy in the head that gradually extends to the heart. What does not
MOLIERE, their favorite author say, in favor of the herb? for the benefit
of casuists we quote the sublime panegyric, which alone ought to confirm
the bold lovers of the pipe and box, and 'inspire and fire' the diffident
and wavering.
"Quoi que puisse dire Aristote, et toute la philosophie, il n'est rien
d'egal au tabac; c'est la passion des honnetes gens, et qui vit sans
tabac, n'est pas digne de vivre. Non seulement il rejouit et purge les
cerveaux humains, mais encore il instruit les ames a la vertu et l'on
apprend avec lui a devenir honnete homme. Ne voyez-vous pas bien, des
qu'on en prend, de quelle maniere obligeante on en use avec tout le monde,
et comme on est ravi d'en donner a droit et a gauche, par tout ou l'on se
trouve? On n'attend pas meme que l'on en demande, et l'on court au devant
du souhait des gens; tant il est vrai que le tabac inspire des sentimens
d'honneur et de vertu a tous ceux qui en prennent."
The pipe and the box are twin-brothers; they are the agents of friendship,
conviviality, and mirth; they succour the distressed, and heal the
afflicted; impartial and generous, they administer to all that sue for
comfort, and the spirits of peace advance at their call; they live in
charity with all men, unite them, and re-unite them, and they sympathise
all hearts, entwining them in a cheerful and lasting community of soul and
sentiment. The pipe and the box give a vigour to the mind, and a language
to its ideas. They give harmony a tone, and discord a silence. They
inspire the bold, and encourage the diffident. Yes! through their agency
alone, all these benefits are received and experienced. In short, they
express in one breath, superlative happiness. A few illustrations will
suffice:
A man in public company wishing to give utterance to some particular
opinion or sentiment, invariably finds the pipe or the pinch the best
prompter. A man wishing to be silent, in meditation finds the pipe his
excuser. A man in anger with himself, his family, or the public, the pipe
or the pinch will generally restore to kindness. A man desirous of meeting
a friend, need but give him a "pinch," and the heart is at once opened to
his reception. A man in misfortune, either in sickness or in
circumstances, will learn philosophy from the pipe, and count upon the
latter, at least, as his own: in this case, from both tobacco and snuff,
he borrows an independent vigour, and a cheerfulness that shines even in
the sadness of his heart. The impregnative spirit of tobacco will wind its
way to the most secret recesses of the brain, and impart to the
imagination a soft and gentle glow of heat, equally remote from the
dullness of fervor, and the madness of intoxication; for to these two
extremes, without the moderative medium of the pipe, an author's fancy
will alternately expand itself. To the man of letters, therefore, the pipe
is a sovereign remedy.
Amongst the incidental benefits of the pipe and box, may also be noticed
their great advantages in a converzatione; they smooth the arrogance of an
apostrophe, and soften the virulence of a negative, give strength to an
ejaculation, and confidence to a whisper. In short, they extract the
sting, and purify the spirit, which are too frequently inhering
concomitants, in the common associations of life.
In conclusion, fully impressed with the sovereign consequence of his
subject, the Author taketh his leave of the reader with the assurance, if
his labours meet their due object, _viz._ imparting of the entire History
of the much-aspersed, yet idolized herb, to its votaries, it will give him
infinite pleasure. Should he not be so fortunate in upholding by that
means,--
----the grand cause,
I smokes--I snuffs--I chaws,--
Philosophy still offers him consolation for the degeneracy of the times,
in a pinch of _Lundyfoot_, or the fumes of his Merschaum.
_Newington, Oct. 1831._