OLIVES, ETC. DRUGS. TOBACCO. 467 



TOBACCO. The earliest entry of tobacco which I have 

 found is in 1633, though the year before tobacco-stalks are 

 purchased by the pound at a very low price by Lord Spencer. 

 I cannot guess what the purpose is for which they are 

 purchased, except it be for medicine, as they are found 

 associated with drugs. Of course every one knows that the 

 use of tobacco for smoking was much earlier than the date at 

 which I have found it, but my accounts are mainly of colleges, 

 in which the practice of smoking, at any rate at the college 

 expense, was a late innovation. 



There are two kinds of tobacco, Spanish and Virginia, the 

 former as a rule much dearer than the latter. In the first 

 entry, the article is at the dearest price which I have seen, 

 i2j. yi. the pound, when three pounds are bought by Caryll of 

 Halting. I find no other entry till 1649, when Master buys a 

 pound for 43., the origin not being given. In 1652 the same 

 person buys at Js., the tobacco being Spanish. In 1655 

 tobacco costs bd. an ounce, or 8s. the pound avoirdupois, at 

 Horstead Keynes, but the kind is not stated. In 1656 and 

 1657 Master buys Spanish tobacco at ioj., in 1658 at 9-y. $d., 

 and in 1662 at 8^., though the kind is not given. 



In 1670 tobacco is bought by Eton at $s. \\d. In 1674 a 

 roll of Spanish tobacco weighing twelve pounds is said to 

 have been bought by Masters for 15*. This is of course an 

 impossible price, and either some blunder has been made in 

 the account, or the purchaser must have evaded the duty and 

 bought it from a smuggler. 



In 1674 Pepys gives 8j. for Spanish, is. 6d. for best Vir- 

 ginia, and 5*. for a mixture of Virginia and Spanish. 



In 1681 Cambridge buys tobacco, no doubt colonial, at 

 2s. 6d. (Oxford, vol. vi. p. 606, at 3*. a pound). In 1684 'best 

 Virginia' is bought in London at is. 8d. In 1685 Spanish 

 costs 6s. 6d. a pound in London ; in 1686, 7^.; while in the same 

 year, tobacco, no doubt colonial, is bought in the Twineham 

 purchases at is. 6d. In 1687, in London, Spanish is at /J., 

 best Virginia at 2s. 6d. In 1688 I find the same price for 



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