264 A Series of Stanzas on Tobacco. SEPT. 



Doubtless, such odours most delicious are 



To votaries of heaven-born Poesy ; 

 But to my senses more congenial far 



(Howe'er degrading such confession be) 

 Th' aroma mounting from a mild cigar. 



Choose worthless llowers who will ; Havannah's weed for me ! 



No. III. 



On many a foreign shore, in many a scene 



Of beauty, wonder, peril, seldom prest 



By wanderers from the Islands of the West,- 

 The wayward footsteps of the bard have been : 

 The Soonder wastes, Napoleon's prison-isle, 



Where the young Ganges leaves his native snows, 



The woods and wilds where Irawady flows, 

 And where Caffraria's dingy damsels smile : 



Weary and faint my sinking soul the while, 



But for one loved companion of my toil : 

 TOBACCO ! in my joy thou didst not flatter; 



TOBACCO ! from my woes thou didst not flee ; 

 And Fortune to the winds her gifts may scatter, 



I shall not miss them so she leave me thee ! 



No. IV. 



Let Dantzick boast her matchless eau-de-vie ; 



Let gin, Schedam, immortalise thy name ; 



Rum and rum-shrub support Jamaica's fame; 

 Grog toddy punch whate'er the mixture be 

 Or naked dram, shall not be sung by me. 



I sing the praises of that glorious weed, 



Dear to mankind, whate'er his race, or creed, 

 Condition, colour, dwelling, or degree ! 



From Zembla's snows to parched Arabia's sands, 



Loved by all lips, and common to all hands ! 

 Hail, sole cosmopolite, TOBACCO, hail ! 



Shag, long-cut, short-cut, pig-tail, quid, or roll, 

 Dark Negrohead, or Orfnooko pale, 



In every form congenial to the soul ! 



R. M. 



