Literature.

Literature .

EEVIEWS . Tobacco : its llislon / and Associations . By F . AV . FAHIHOT . T , F . S . A . TOI' . ACCO grows in every region of the globe , from the equator to thc sixtieth degree of latitude , and it has been questioned , with considerable show of reason , that the custom of smoking was

originally confined to the Indians of the American continent . Certain it is , however , that the Europeans borrowed the custom from the red men of the forest , and despite the ridicule of the mob , the anathemas ofthe church ; and the laws of kings , has become universal . John Locke , the philosopher , tells us , " Bread or tobacco ina 3 ' be neglected , but reason at first recommends their trial , and

custom makes them pleasant . " And to quote what has been written against or in defence of it , would be to reproduce an entire library in itself , so that we shall mention but one or two facts connected with its histoiy . The first importation of tobacco into Europe was sent , in 1559 , into Spain and Portugal , by Hernandez de Toledo , from which it spread over Europeuntil it reached the high and mighty Prince

, James , the First king of England , and Sixth of Scotland , of that name , whose aversion to the weed caused this British Solomon to become a pamphleteer , and issue his work known as the C ' ounterblastc : or Misocapnus to Tobacco , in 1610 , in which be describes it

as " a custom loathsome to the C 3 'e , hateful to the nose , harmful to the brains , dangerous to the lungs , and in the . black stinking fume thereof nearest resembling thc horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless . " In answer to this production the Jesuits—perhaps through theological spite , and not from conviction—replied to King James by an And- Misocapnus , and they had rather the best ofthe argument . In 1 G 24 Urban VIII .

, published a decree of excommunication against all ivho took snuff in church . Ten years later , smoking ivas forbidden in Russia under the penalty of having the nose cut off . In 1 ( 153 , the council of the Canton of Appcnzel cited smokers before them , ivhom they punished , and ordered that all innkeepers should inform against those who smoked in their houses . In the police regulations of the Canton of Berne , made in 1661 , the series were divided

according to the Ten Commandments , and the prohibitions to be observed classed under each item ofthe decalogue , so that for some reason , it is impossible to say what , the laiv against smoking was included under the head of adultery ! These arc a few of the curiosities connected with this subject ; and now ive turn to Mr . Fairholt ' s book , who , with his usual turn at reproduction , has gone over thc older authors and cited most of the literature on tobacco . He gives us the following as the origin of the cigar : —

" The cigar is essentially the . same as smoked by the red man when first visited by Columbus . AVe may here describe an Indian mode of tobacco talcing , but which is evidently the origin of the cigar . It is told hy Lionel AA'afer , in his account of his ' Travels in the Isthmus of Darien iu 1 G 99 . " He says that ivhen the tobacco leaves are properly dried and cured , the natives ' laying two or three leaves upon one another ' , they roll up all together sieleivays into a long roll , yet leaving a little hollow . Hound tins they roll other leaves one after anotherin the same maimerbut

, , close and hard , till the roll is a . s big as one ' s ivrist , and two or three feet in length . Their way of smoking when thoy aro in company together is thus : —A boy lights one end of a roll , and burns it to a coal , wetting the part next it to keep it from wasting too fast . The end so lighted he puts into his mouth , and blows the smoke through the whole length of the roll into the face of every one of the company or council , though there be two or three hundred of them . Then they , sitting in their

usual posture upon forms , make ivith their hands held together , a kind of funnel round their mouths and noses ; into this thoy receive the smoke as it is blown upon them , snuffing it up greedily and strongly , as Ion " as ever they are able to hold their breath , and seeming to bless themselves , as it were , with the refreshment it gives them . ' lieutenant Five who commanded the American expedition to La Plata , speaks of the universal custom of smoking in Paraguay , and inviting visitors to join . The servants , as a matter of routine , bring in a ' small brass vessel , confeiv

taining a coals of fire , and a plate of cigars . This last hospitality is offered in every house , however humble its pretensions in other respectsand all mon , women , aud children—delicate refined girls , and yomi " masters who would not with us be promoted to the dignity of pantaloons —smoke with a gravity and gusto that is irresistibly ludicrous to a foreigner . My son sometimes accompanied me in these visits , anel ivas always greatly embarrassed by the pressing offer of cigars . I made his excuse by saying ' . Smoking- is a practice we consider injurious to children . ' Si

' , Senor , ' the Paraguayan would reply , ' Avith all other tobacco , but not with that of Paraguay . ' With both sexes tobacco is a constant passion . Snuff taking is a much move serious and solemn affair than

smoking , and , as usual , it ivas found a useful auxiliarj' to those ivho were desirous of ridding the world of their friends . Mr . Fairholt tells us : — " Scented snuffs were sometimes made tlie recipients of poison . In 15 * 12 the Duke cle Noailles presented tho Dauphiness of France with a box of Spanish snuff in which she delighted ; she kept it for a few days privately ; it was charged with poison , which she inhaled ; and five days

after tho present , died of it , complaining of sharp pain in the temples . This excited much attention , and great fears of ' accepting a pinch , ' on the one hand , or offering it on the other . It became a . general belief that such poisoned snuff was used in Spain , and by Spauish emissaries to clear away political opponents , and that the Jesuits also adopted it for poisoning their enemies . Hence ifc was termed ' Jesuits' snuff ' , ' and a great dread of it AA'as felt for a considerable time . One instance ofthe clangers inseparable from scented snuff is gii-en in an anecdote of the

Due cle Bourbon , grandson of the great Conde ; ivho took Santeuil , the poet , to a great entertainment , compelled bim to drink a large cjuaiitity of champagne , and ultimately poured his snuff box . filled with Spanish snuff , into his wine . This produced a violent fever , of which Santeuil died , amid excruciating agonies , within , fourteen hours after . " Some few facts on the popularity of snuff taking , and the means adopted to produce a love of it , may be found in the following extract : —

" In the Memoirs of Barre Charles Roberts , he says— ' AATien my father' was at Paris iu 1 / 74 , he was told by Count Clouarel . then an old man , that lie remembered a time when persons were stationed on the Pont Neuf at Paris , with boxes of snuff ' , which they offered to ' the passengers . This AA-as a scheme of the manufacturers to introduce it into general use . At the time this was tolcl my father , there AA-as no person iu France , of whatever age , rank , or sex , that did not take snuff . ' AVith our brothers of Scotland snuff has found much favour ; they are

so fir identified with its use , that a figure of a Highlander helping himself to a pinch was generally sculptured in wood , and placed as a ' sign' beside the snuff shop door's , until within the last thirty years , when such distinction ceased . These figures were sometimes the size of life , painted in natural colours , arrel placed at the door jamb . The Scots have well earned their distinction ; for , in Scotland alone , according to the computation of the late Iter . Dr . Chalmers , the people lay out six thousand pounds per year on snuff ; a reckoning probably within the mark . "

The foregoing extracts are ivell known incidents to every one who has . perused the subject ; but we now meet with a passage ivhich is perfectly new to us , and present it to our readers as nn example of what judicious management may do with an article that has become damaged , if not altogether useless . Mr . Fairholt tells us the following was the ori g in of " Lnnctyfoot : "" Tho high dried snuffs are favourites in AVales and Scotland . There

is a powerful snuff of this kind ivhich is said to have originated by accident iu Ireland . It is knoiA'n as Lundjifoot . or Irish Blackguard . The first name is from that ofthe maker-, Lundy Foot , who resided at the entrance of Essex-bridge , Dublin ; the second , from its being highly approved of by the lower clases of Irish , to whom it was given as spoiled material , or from the blackguard who had spoiled it . Tradition is not clear on this point . The popular story of its origin is , that it was the neglect of a man who had gone , to sleep while tho snufl ' ivas drying in

the kiln , that burnt thc snuff , and induced the proprietor to put it iu a tub at the door for all poor passers by to help themselves , and so rid him of his waste . Another version of the story is , that Foot bought a large quantity of tobacco from the ruins <> £ a tobacco warehouse in Dublin , and ground the charred material into snuff , which was sold very cheaply to the poorer classes of Irish , until its pungency and flavour became gradually known to the middle and upper classes , and similar snuff demanded . Foot never forgot the ivho helped to make his

poor , fortune ; and a keg of blackguard ivas always placed at his door fur all comers ; a custom continued by his descendants . " AA e recommend Mr . Fairholt's labours as a careful epitome of what has been Avritten on this subject 1 ) 3 ' all the former writers , ami among the quotations he has ' made will he found much to amuse and instruct all real loA'crs of tobacco .

NOTES ON LITERATURE , SCIENCE , AND ART . AVE understand that Aiessrs . Hurst and Blackett have in tho press a work AA-hich is likely to make a great sensation in the coming season . It is in the form of a tale on high clerical life , anel replete with romantic denouments . Its material are bond fide facts . If we aro ri ghtly informed , the author is a kind of srrrplieed Disraeli , a member' of tire

ecclesiastical parliament , who startles his reader's with as many astounding statements and disclosures as the member for Bucks . Some of the personages who are introduced into the tale may bo mentioned ; they are Archbishop AThateley , Neander , and Jfozzofanti , besides bishops aud dignitaries of the English , Irish , and Colonial branches of the church . From what we have been able to glean of the nature of this book , we should be tempted to style it an " Ecclesiastical Comiingsby . "