ROYAL HATERS OF TOBACCO. 105 



The death of King James, followed by its occupancy of 

 the throne by his son Charles L, did not lessen the persecu- 

 tion against tobacco.* In 1625, the year of his accession, he 

 issued a proclamation against all tobaccos excepting only the 

 growth of Virginia and Somerites. Charles II. also prohib- 

 ited the cultivation of tobacco in England and Ireland, 

 attaching a penalty of 10 per rood. Fairholt, in alluding 

 to the Stuarts and Cromwell as persecutors of tobacco, says: 



" Cromwell disliked the plant, and ordered his troops to 

 trample down the crop wherever found." 



It is an historical fact that both James I. and the two 

 Charleses as well as Cromwell had the strongest dislike against 

 the Indian weed. 



With such powerful foes it seems hardly possible that the 

 custom should have increased to such an extent that when 

 William ascended the throne the custom was said to be 

 almost universal.f "Pipes grew larger and ruled by a 

 Dutchman, all England smoked in peace." From this time 

 forward the varieties used served only to increase the demand 

 for the tobacco of the colonies, and as its culture became 

 better understood the leaf grew in favor, until the demand 

 for it was greater than the production. 



During the reign of Anne, the custom of smoking appears 

 to have attained its greatest height in England ; the consump- 

 tion of tobacco was then proportion ably greater, considering 

 the population, than it is at the present time. Spooner, in 

 his " Looking-Glass for Smokers," 1703, says of the custom : 



" The sin of the kingdom in the intemperate use of tobacco, 

 swelleth and increaseth so daily, that I can compare it to 

 nothing but the waters of Noah, that swelPd fifteen cubits 

 above the highest mountains. So that if this practice shall 

 continue to increase as it doth, in an age or two it will be as 

 hard to find a family free, as it was so long time since one 

 that commonly took it." 



Tobacco has been able to survive such attacks as these nay, has raised up a host of 

 defenders ns well as opponents. The Polish Jesuits published a work entitled " Anti-Miso- 

 capnus," in answer to King James. In 1628. Raphael Thorius wrote a poem "Hymuua 

 JTob:ici." A hos*; of names appear in the field: Lesus, Brauui and Simon Pauli, Portal, Pia, 

 Vanquelln, Gardaune, Posselt, Reimann, and De Morveau. 



tsays an enthusiastic writer on tobacco, " Jf judged by the vicissitudes through which it 

 has traveled, it must indeed be acknowledged a hero among plants; and if human pity, 

 respect, or love should be given it for ' the dangers it has passed, ' the inspiration of Desde- 

 inonia's love for Othello, then might its most eloquent opponent be dumb, or yield it no 

 inconsiderable meed of homage." 



