364 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[g-^S. N»71., May9. '57. 



•'Choice Observables," at the British Museum, 

 written in 1662 or 1663, occurs the following : 



« Tobacco is a plant that groweth plentifully in Peru, 

 and is a Drug which in some respect, being moderately 

 taken, may be serviceable for Physick : yet immoderate, 

 vain and fantastic abuse thereof impairs the inward parts, 

 corrupts the naturall sweetnes of the breath, and stupefies 

 the brain. The '2 chief virtues ascribed to it are That it 

 is good against that loathsome diseas the * * * ♦ » * * *, 

 and that it voids Rhewme : for the first, like enough it is 

 that so unclean a disease may be fitted with so unwhole- 

 some a medicine ; for the second good quality attributed 

 to it, is a thing that consists more in opinion than truth : 

 the rhewme which it voideth being only that which itself 

 engendereth, and it may as well be concluded that Bottle- 

 ale breaks wind, for that effect doth follow the drinking 

 of it, though indeed it is only the same wind which itself 

 conveyed into the stomach. 



" But Tobacco is by few taken now as medicinall; it is 

 grown a good-fellow, and fallen from a Phisitian to a 

 Compliment. It was first brought into England by the 

 Mariners of Sr. Fran. Drake in the year 1585. It may be 

 as an Antidote for the immoderate use of drinking, which 

 the English soldiers brought with them 3 years before 

 from the Low Countries, before which time, of all the 

 Northern people, the English were deemed most free from 

 that vice, wherein it is to be feared they have now out- 

 gone their Teachers the Dutch." 



Mr. Bates alludes to the " Metamorphosis of 

 Tobacco^'' which he ascribes to John Beaumont. 

 I shall be glad to know on what authority. The 

 poem is anonymous : indeed one of the speakers 

 m Collier's Decameron^ ii. p. 192., expressly says : 

 " It is a matter of serious regret to find so good a 

 poem without being able to discover the author." 

 The same authority states that the "metamor- 

 phosis is that of a young and beautiful nymph 

 into this virtuous plant," as given by Me. Bates : 

 but this is only another " legend," as it were, 

 which this admirable poet introduces with the 

 words : 



" Others doe tell a long and serious tale 

 Of a faire Nymph," &c. 



I shall be able to show the poet's reason for in- 

 troducing this legend, new version, or other aspect 

 of the weed. Collier evidently did not see the 

 poet's object, and therefore pronounces this " the 

 poorest part of the production." In my opinion, 

 it was absolutely necessary to give completeness 

 to this magnificent poem. 



The creation of the Indian Weed — " Marrow 

 of the world, starre of the West," &c., is effected 

 pretty much in the natural way — the term " me- 

 tamorphosis " being a title applied to the imagina- 

 tive handling of the subject, rather than capable 

 of exact application. Next week I shall send you 

 an account of this very beautiful poem, with ex- 

 tracts ; contenting myself on the present occasion 

 with 



" The Creation of Tobacco. 

 " Scarce had she [Earth] spolce but by unite consent, 



It was allowed by every element ; 



Each mountain nodded and each river sleeke 



Approv'd the sentence with a dimpled cheeke. 



The icy-waves were all with Christall fraught : 



The Magellanick sea her unions Brought : 



Tagus with golden gifts doth proudly rise, 



And doth the famous Indian rills despise : 



Eridanus his pearl'd Electrum gave : 



Euripus the sweet fluxure of his wave : 



From British seas doth wholesome Corall come : 



The Danish gulphe doth send her Succinum ; 



And each this hoped embryon dignifies 



With offring of a sev'rall sacrifice. 



The Earth herself did procreate 



This herbe composed in despite of fate. 



And charged ev'ry country and each hill 



A speciall power into this leafe distill, 



Which thus adorn'd, by holy fire inflam'd 



Sweete life and breath within that carkasse fram'd : 



And had not Tellus temper'd too much mud. 



Too much terrene corruption in the bud, 



The man that tasted it should never die, 



But stand in records of eternitie." 



The " occasion " of the poem is the lamentation 

 of Earth or Pandora, at the cruel fate of Prome- 

 theus, whom she resolves to compensate to the best 

 of her power, and " seat her darling in the starrie 

 skies." Andrew Steinmetz. 



CELTS AND HINDUS. 



Antiquaries have often amused themselves with 

 the endeavour to discover likenesses between the 

 customs and superstitions of the native Irish and 

 of the Hindiis. Nor are there wanting those who 

 entertain a serious conviction that the Celtic ele- 

 ment of our population is a runnel from the great 

 stream of emigration, which, in primaeval times, 

 has flowed westward from the central plains of 

 India. The inquiry, thus hinted at, has had much 

 ridicule cast upon it by the injudicious and igno- 

 rant guesses and rash assumptions of sciolists : its 

 importance, however, is not to be denied, and the 

 results of its prosecution by well-qualified philo- 

 logists and ethnological students cannot fail to be 

 productive of most valuable results. 



Many have been the subjects elucidated in the 

 pages of " N. & Q.," and nowhere can be found a 

 more fitting medium for the discussion of this 

 question — a question which, be it observed, com- 

 prises within its limits the true original of the 

 Celtic element which pervades the population of 

 England, France, and other countries, as well as 

 that of Ireland. May we not hope, then, that 

 some of those eminent philological and ethnolo- 

 gical scholars, who have made the pages of " N. 

 & Q." the medium of their inquiries, will turn their 

 attention to this question; and thereby throw 

 light on a branch of study in which many, who, 

 like myself, feel disqualified to conduct the in- 

 quiry, nevertheless feel a deep and lasting in- 

 terest ? 



Although, therefore, not daring to venture on 

 the, except to a few, bewildering path of com- 

 parative philology, I may be allowed to contribute 



