HELD UP TO RIDICULE. 99 



which is fostered in the Indies, and brought home by 

 Mariners and Traffiquers, is to be used." Bat not alone 

 were Poets and Dramatists inspired to sing in praise or dis- 

 praise of tobacco, Physicians and others helped to swell in 

 broadsides, pamphlets and chap-books, the loudest praises or 

 the most bitter denunciation of the weed. Taylor, the water 

 poet, who lost his occupation as bargeman when the coach 

 came into use, thought that the devil brought tobacco into 

 England in a coach. One of the first tracts wholly devoted 

 to tobacco is entitled Nash's " Lenten Stuffe." The work is 

 dedicated to Humphrey King, a tobacconist, and is full of 

 curious sayings in regard to the plant. Another work, 

 er. titled "Metamorphosis of Tobacco," and supposed to have 

 been written by Beaumont, made its appearance about this 

 time. Samuel Rowlands, the dramatist, wrote two works on 

 tobacco ; the first is entitled " Look to it, for I'll Stabbe Ye," 

 written in 1604 ; the other volume is a small quarto, bearing 

 this singular title: "A whole crew of Kind Gossips, all met 

 to be Merry." This is a satire on the time and manners of 

 the period, and is written in a coarse style worthy of the 

 author. In 1605 there appeared a little volume bearing for 

 its title, "Laugh and Lie Down, or the "World's Folly." 

 This work describes the fops and men of fashion of its time, 

 and shows how popular the custom of tobacco taking had 

 become. In 1609, in "The Gull's Home Book," a gallant is 

 described as follows : 



" Before the meate comes smoaking to the board our Gal- 

 lant must draw out his tobacco box, the ladle for the cold 

 snuff into his nostrils, the tongs and the priming iron. All 

 this artillery may be of gold or silver, if he can reach to the 

 price of it ; it will be a reasonable, useful pawn at all times 

 when the current of his money falles out to rune low. And 

 here you must observe to know in what state tobacco is in 

 town, better than the merchants, and to discourse of the 

 potecaries where it is to be sold as readily as the potecary 

 himself." 



One of the severest tirades against tobacco appeared in 

 1612, " The Curtain Drawer of the World." In speaking of 

 the users of the weed, and especially noblemen, he says : 



