July 15. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



49 



cient chimneypieces in Cawdor Castle there is a rude 

 carving in stone of a fox smoking a tobacco-pipe, with 

 the date 1510. As it is generally believed that to- 

 bacco was first introduced into this country by Sir 

 "Walter Raleigh, about the year 1585, it is singular to 

 find the common short tobacco-pipe thus represented 

 on a stone bearing date so much earlier. The Courier 

 says there can be no mistake as to the date or the 

 nature of the representation. The fox holds the 

 fragrant tube in his mouth, exactly as it is held by its 

 human admirers ; and the instrument is such as may 

 be seen every day with those \frho patronise the cutty 

 pipe." 



It wotild seem strange, unless the process of 

 " smoking something " had been familiar to our 

 ancestors, that the custom of "taking tobacco" 

 in public places should have become so exten- 

 sively prevalent at so short a period after its 

 introduction. Malone {History of the English 

 Stage) quotes from the Skialethia a collection of 

 epigrams and satires, 1598, and an epigram by 

 Sir John Davis of the same date, to show that the 

 playgoers of the time of Shakspeare were wont to 

 be attended at the theatres by pages, who fur- 

 nished them with pipes and tobacco, which were 

 smoked not only on the stage, where spectators 

 were then allowed to sit, but in other parts of the 

 house. Paul Hentzner was struck with the pre- 

 valence of this custom in England, which, how- 

 ever, was evidently new to him. Speaking of the 

 playhouse, he says : 



" Here, and everywhere else, the English are con- 

 stantly smoking of tobacco, and in this manner : they 

 have pipes on purpose made of clay, into the further 

 end of which they put the herb, so dry that it may be 

 rubbed into powder ; and putting fire to it, they draw 

 the smoke into their mouths, which they puff out 

 again through their nostrils, like funnels, along with 

 it plenty of phlegm, and defluxion of the head." — 

 Journey into England, 1598. 



We must not forget, however, that James]!., in 

 his Counterblaste, asks his subjects to consider 

 what " honours or policy can move them to 

 imitate the manners of such wild, godlesse, and 

 slavish people ? " and proceeds to say, " It is not 

 long since the first entry of this abuse amongst us 

 here (as this present age can very well remember 

 both the first author and forms of its intro- 

 duction)." It would seem, too, that the pheno- 

 menon (so aptly described by Virgil, who deserved 

 to be a smoker, — 



" Faucibus ingentem fumum, mirabile dictu 

 Evomit, involvitque domum caligine caeca.") 



which struck such terror into the mind of Sir 

 Walter Raleigh's servant, who thought his master 

 to be on fire, must have been altogether new to 

 that individual ; though now so universal that, as 

 is pleasantly remarked by Dr. Maginn (apud 

 Fraser, vol. iv. p. 435.), " The mode of expliffli- 



cating the smoke out of one's mouth is at present, 

 as it were, a shibboleth demonstrative of an En- 

 glish gentleman." 



But I must beg pardon for filling up your space 

 with pleasantry, to which a pleasant subject has 

 inadvertently led me, and conclude by remarking 

 that in market-places may not unfrequently be 

 seen a stall for the sale of herb tobacco. I be- 

 lieve that the blossom of coltsfoot is commonly 

 used in Its manufacture, but should really recom- 

 mend that experiment of such " vile mundungus " 

 be made in corpore vili, rather than a valued ecume, 

 as I can testify, ex. cred., that the bowl so used ia 

 polluted everlastingly. 



The author of The School of Recreation, 12mo., 

 1701, recommends for the cure of the wounds re- 

 ceived by cocks in fighting, to " Take the juice of 

 English tobacco, or mouse ear, and after you have 

 stirred it up with a little lint, bathe the place." 



So much for European smoking : when or how 

 did the nations of the East become acquainted 

 with this grand source of physical solace ? What 

 did they do before they smoked ? are they indebted 

 to Europe for this " bright occidental star," or is 

 tobacco indigenous to the coasts of Syria and the 

 hills of Laodicea, where the choicest in the world 

 is now produced? When we consider how en- 

 tirely the chibouque in Turkey, the hookah in 

 India, the sheesha in Egypt, and the nargilly in 

 Persia, is part and parcel of the orientalist, when 

 we take into consideration his superstitious re- 

 verence for custom, and his contempt for novelty 

 and innovation, we are almost led to suppose that 

 his use of tobacco is of immemorial antiquity. 

 This would seem, however, not to be the case, if 

 we are justified in drawing such an inference from 

 an observation of old Sandys, who complains of 

 the badness of the tobacco in the Levant, which 

 he ascribes to the circumstance that Turkey is 

 supplied with the refuse of the European markets: 



" They also," says he, " delight in tobacco, which 

 they take thorow reeds, which have joyned unto them 

 great heads of wood to contain it. I doubt not but 

 lately taught them, as brought them by the English ; 

 and were it not sometimes lookt into (for Marat Bassa 

 not long since commanded a pipe to be thrust thorow 

 the nose of a Turk, and so to be led in derision 

 thorow the city), no question but it would prove a 

 principal commodity. Nevertheless they will take it 

 in corners, and are so ignorant therein, that that which 

 in England is not saleable, doth pass here amongst them 

 for most excellent." — Sandys' Travels, Sfc, folio, 1673, 

 p,52. 



William Bates. 



Birmingham. 



If ]Mb. Rilet cares for clay pipes, not tobacco 

 ones, the oldest I have read of are those mentioned 

 by Wilson In the Pre-Historic Annals of Scot- 

 land, as having been found both in Ireland and 

 Scotland, similar in shape to the modern ones, but 



