1859.] REVIEWS, 311 



box, which ever and anon he plied to his nose, etc., and talked 

 of " parmaceti for an inward bruise." This box might have been 

 a snufF-box, made according to the older fashion, to feed the nose 

 with its contents; but Mr. Fairholt does not notice it. 



Tobacco in the beginning of the seventeenth century was an 

 expensive luxury, and Aubry says, "in his early days it was 

 sold for its weight in silver, and in 1610 the customes of it are 

 the greatest his Majesty hath." 



Adulteration of the weed began very early in England ; and 

 Ben Jonson in his ' Bartholomew Fair ' speaks of Coltsfoot 

 being mixed with it to eke it out, and the adulterative mixture 

 named by him in the ^ Alchemist^ (1610) is disgusting. 



According to a calculation made by Barnaby Rich, in his 

 ' Honestie of the Age,^ 1614, " he makes £319,375 a year, summa 

 totalis, all spent in smoke." And according to him the three 

 great companies for gain were ale-houses, tobacco-houses, and 

 brothel-houses. These three sister vices have kept hand-in-hand 

 ever since. 



Then follows an account of the persecution of persons for taking 

 tobacco and snuff in the early part of the seventeenth century, 

 including the violent attack of King James I, in his ' Counter- 

 blast;' some laudatory songs; Puritanic smokers; military 

 smokers; prevalence of smoking during the Great Plague of 

 London in 1665, at that time considered a preventive of infec- 

 tion, and used accordingly. 



We have heard it seriously stated by some of our eminent 

 physicians that tobacco is not an antidote against infection. We 

 have read a great deal about its antidotal properties during the 

 Plague of London, but remember not to have heard that it has 

 been equally efficacious during the plagues in Turkey, etc. 



This chapter concludes with an account of coins of tobacco- 

 nists, tobacco-papersof celebrated smokers, distinguished smokers, 

 and the consolations of a pipe. 



The fourth chapter is interesting to those who desire to know 

 the history of pipes and their manufacture, and much use is 

 made of the information supplied to the author by the late 

 Thomas Crofton Croker, Esq., who possessed a large collection 

 of antique pipes. The history of ornamental and figure pipes is 

 interesting to the lovers of art-design ; these pipes are, in the 

 present age, numerous, the artist and the manufacturer doing 



