Chapter IX: 169

SOCIAL GOSSIP ABOUT THE WEED

George Wither’s song on tobacco-smoking—Undergoes numerous
alterations by later writers—Mr. Chappell, through Mr. Payne
Collier, traces the original song to Wither—Bishop Fletcher
succumbs to over-indulgence in the pipe—Rev. W. Bredon resorts
to the hemp cut off the ends of the church bell-ropes as a
substitute for tobacco—Raleigh carries the novelty to Court
and makes smoking popular—Merriment in the city over the
‘tobacconists’—Ben Jonson’s mention of smoking—‘Every Man
out of his Humour’—‘The Gipsies Metamorphosed’—‘Bartholomew
Faire’—Dekker’s ‘Gull’s Horn Book’—His ‘Satiromastix’—Women
smokers—The daughters of Louis XIV. smoke in their private
apartments—England’s paper warfare over the merits or
demerits of the weed—Joshua Sylvester supports the King’s
‘Counterblaste’—Heavy duty on tobacco and its ruinous cost
to the consumer—Peter Campbell’s will—Sir Edwin Sandys on
the sum paid for tobacco received from Spain—Dr. Everard
on the ‘Wonderful Vertues of Tobacco taken in a Pipe’—Dr.
Barclay’s Nepenthes—De Rochefort tells of smoking in rural
England—Mentions the case of a Spaniard using a bit of the
cable end in lieu of tobacco—Of smoking in bed—Mission’s
remarks about the effects of tobacco on Englishmen—His verses
in praise of smoking—Dr. Aldrich, Dean of Christchurch,
Oxford—His song on tobacco, to be smoked while singing—His
higher claims to admiration.