222 SNUFFBOXES. 



41 Sir Plume of amber snuff-box justly vain, 

 And the nice conduct of a clouded cane ; 

 With earnest eyes, and round, unthinking face, 

 He first the snuff-box open'd, then the case." 



The mode of " tapping the box " before opening was char- 

 acteristic of the beaux and fops of this period, and is com- 

 mented on in a poem on snuff : 



" The lawyer so grave, when he opens his case, 



In obscurity finds it is hid, 



Till the bright glass of knowledge illumines his face, 

 As he gives the three taps on the lid." 



Spain, Portugal, and France early in the Seventeenth 

 Century became noted as the producers of the finest kinds 

 of snuff. In Spain and Portugal it was the favorite mode of 

 using tobacco, and rare kinds were compounded and sold at 

 enormous prices. Its use in France by the fair sex is thus 

 commented on by a French writer : 



"Everything in France depends upon la mode ; and it has 



DEMI-JOURNES. 



pleased la mode to patronize this disgusting custom, and 

 carry about with them small boxes which they term demi- 

 journees" 



The most expensive materials were employed in the manu- 

 facture of snuff-boxes, such as agate, mosaics, and all kinds 

 of rare wood, while many were of gold, studded with 

 diamonds. Some kinds were made of China mounted in 

 metal, and were very fanciful. In "Pandora's Box," a 

 "Satyr against Snuff," 1719, may be found the following 

 description of the snuff-boxes then in vogue : 



