2»d S. No 100., Nov. 28. '57.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



427 



In 1535, Oviedo entered fully upon the subject 

 of smoking, as I have stated ; and in 1553 Lopez 

 de Gomara alludes to the use of the weed in the 

 religious, magical, and medical ceremonies of the 

 Indians, in the shape of snuff, smoke, and even by 

 cheioing or eating the cohobba. 



In 1558, Andre Thevet, a French monk, pub- 

 lished his Singularitez de la France Antarctique, 

 anciennement nommee Amerique, and gave a minute 

 account of cigar-smoking in Brazil, far more pre- 

 cise and interesting than thait of Benzoni. 



These are the earliest notices of tobacco, down 

 to the year 1560, when Nicot drew attention to 

 the plant. Benzoni's book was published five 

 years afterwards, and he can only rank with Jean 

 De Lery, Monardes, and Hernandez in the ar- 

 chives of Tabacologia, as far as the " History and 

 Mystery of Tobacco " are concerned. 



This summary was suggested by a remark in 

 the Atheneeum, No. 1566, p. 1351., that Benzoni's 

 account of tobacco " is valuable as being probably 

 the very first ever given, his travels ranging be- 

 tween 1541 and 1551." Andrew Steinmetz. 



THE MIDDLE TEMPLE. 



Before all traces of collegiate character shall be 

 removed from the Inns of Court, more particu- 

 larly from that above mentioned, for whose wel- 

 fare I am especially bound to pray, I think it 

 may interest many of your readers to find in the 

 pages of " N. & Q." certain ancient customs enu- 

 merated which once prevailed in the Middle Tem- 

 ple, but which have one by one been abolished, 

 and are now fast passing away from the minds of 

 men, with the exception of some few, who, like 

 myself, look back regretfully to the time when 

 each ceased to exist, and another and another 

 link of the chain that bound and sustained "our 

 honourable society was snapped or relaxed. This 

 is not the place to discuss the expediency (alas, 

 for that word !) of these changes : I simply wish 

 that the fact of such customs having existed 

 should be recorded here as a matter of antiquarian 

 interest. 



Formerly, when the attendant placed the wine 

 upon the table, he mentioned one of the Masters 

 of the Bench, in whose name it was that day given. 

 The mess of four members before whom the 

 bottle was placed stood up, and bowed to him ; 

 the Bencher named also standing in his place on 

 the dais, and returning the salute. During the 

 oyster season it was customary to bring two bar- 

 rels of them into the Hall every Friday in Term, 

 an hour before that of dinner. Each was placed 

 on a separate table, with a certain allowance of 

 napkins and oyster knives ; when those who chose 

 helped themselves. When but one Bencher dined, 

 as was sometimes the case, he was wont, on leav- 



ing the Hall, to invite the Senior Bar Mess to 

 take wine and coSee with him in the Parliament 

 Chamber. That mess, to whom, as well as to the 

 second, two bottles of wine were, and still are, 

 allowed, usually presented their second bottle to 

 the mess next them ; and followed the invitation 

 of the Bencher. 



The Bidding Prayer was read in the Temple 

 Church. 



All these customs are now abolished. 



The Temple was guarded by a number of its 

 own servants, wearing its livery, by certain of 

 whom the hour was cried at night, and whose 

 duty it moreover was to ascend each staircase at 

 certain hours, to see that all was safe. Now, all 

 these servants have been discharged, and in their 

 place the Metropolitan Police introduced. This 

 last innovation has given great umbrage to most 

 of the members of the Inn, as it is clearly the 

 heaviest blow that has yet been directed at the 

 ancient rights and collegiate privacy of The House, 

 during those hours in particular when the public 

 were not indiscriminately admitted. I trust you 

 will give place to these remarks from one who is 

 much of a "laudator temporis acti" in matters 

 which concern " Domus ; " for which, albeit sorely ■ 

 changed, he still feels a filial regard. 



W. J. Bebnhabd Smith. 



Temple. 



THE STATE TRIALS. 



[The following suggestion thrown out by The AthencBum 

 reviewer of Foss's Lives of the Judges seems to us so im- 

 portant with reference to the trust which is to be placed 

 on what have hitherto been received as reliable docu- 

 ments, the State Trials, that we think it right to bring 

 it under the notice of our readers.] 



" Mr. Foss is fond of quoting the State Trials, 

 and he refers to them in unsuspecting good faith. 

 He treats them as though they consisted of a 

 series of entries binding on all writers — like the 

 Rolls of Parliament and the Registers of the 

 Privy Council. But surely an antiquary and a 

 lawyer so accomplished as the writer of these 

 Lives must be aware that the State Trials, taken 

 in the mass, are of no authority whatsoever. We 

 should, indeed, be very glad to hear of any one 

 who would conduct a critical inquiry into the 

 origin of the several reports which constitute these 

 Trials ; who would ascertain for us the names of 

 the writers, the circumstances under which they 

 were written, the present resting-places of the 

 original manuscripts (where these are known to 

 exist), and who would give us an account of such 

 other reports of the events described as remain 

 either in manuscript or in print, in public or pri- 

 vate depositaries. Some of these are in the British 

 Museum, some in the State Paper Office. Lambeth 

 may throw light on a few cases ; the Bodleian on 



