696 MEALS MEDICINAL. 
and telle tayles, and synge songs wh’ they telle not, nor synge 
not unto wyves, or bysshopes.” In Shakespeare’s day the 
leading tobacconists taught pupils how to smoke. Durmg the 
year 1614 there were seven thousand Tobacco shops in, and near 
London alone. The fragrant weed was often adulterated with 
lees of sack, and oil, whilst kept moist by burying it in gravel 
when wrapped up in greasy leather. To learn how to blow out 
the smoke in balls, and rings, was indispensable to all men of 
fashion. Some pupils would brag of being able to take three 
whiffs, drink three cups of Canary, and then take horse so as 
to evolve the smoke, one whiff at Hounslow, the second at 
Staines, and the third at Bagshot. John Milton was a lover 
of choice Tobacco, smoking a pipe thereof at night after a frugal 
supper of bread, and olives, with a draught of pure spring-water ; 
about which fare there clings a flavour of the happy days he 
had passed with a refined literary circle in Italy. It was the 
devout wish of Charles Lamb, “ May my last breath be drawn 
through a pipe, and exhaled with a pun!” But actually, 
at the end, according to Edward Fitzgerald, in a letter to 
Pollock (May, 1842), “ There was poor Charley Lamb, crazy, 
drunk, and making puns all his life, dying with a vision of 
roast turkey in his head.” 
“ Coltsfoot ” Tobacco is smoked by rustics in some English 
country places. This is a coarse powder formed from the leaves 
of the common Coltsfoot (Lussilago farfara). Smoking it will 
certainly relieve the difficult breathing of old bronchitis, 
Likewise, the leaves of the Mullein, or Hedge-taper (Verbascum 
thapsus), are highly esteemed for smoking, particularly in Ireland, 
against the troublesome cough of consumptive disease, whilst 
the whole plant, boiled in milk, and strained, is given as a 
curative drink. This Mullein bears also the title “ Bullocks’ 
Lung-wort,” because of its Supposed remedial virtues in lung 
diseases of the said animal. The leaves contain mucilage, 
with a yellowish volatile oil, a fatty substance, and sugar, 
together with some colouring matter ; they are large, and woolly. 
If smoked in an ordinary tobacco pipe, these dried leaves will 
completely control the hacking cough of consumption. Through- 
out most parts of Ireland, the Mullein is cultivated because of 
a steady demand for the herb by sufferers from this disease. 
Constantly, in the Irish newspapers, there are advertisements 
- offering it for sale, and its leaves can be had from all the local 
