152 ST NICOTINE 



amongst whose alluring leaves there lurked the ' lively im- 

 age and pattern of hell.' His Coutiterblaste to tobacco * 

 is of itself an historic monument to his genius, which pos- 

 terity does well to preserve that there may be something in 

 hand to attest the just appreciation of his * loving subjects ' 

 in early recognising in him a Solomon ! Though, to be sure, 

 some will have it that the irreverent Henri Quatre was the 

 first to see the fitness of the designation, Solomon, for the 

 son of Mary, Queen of Scots. And yet his astute minister, 

 the Due de Sully, professed to have discovered in the flicker- 

 ing illuminations of this northern light ' the wisest fool in 

 Christendom.' Historians who think it incumbent upon 

 them to explain every human phenomenon or prodigy, have 

 perplexed themselves with vain endeavours to unravel this 

 curious compound of Machiavellian craft, fussy self-conceit 

 and imbecility. Looking to his preternatural insight into 

 the uncanny domain of the Black Arts, his mental conflicts 

 with the de'il, witches and warlocks, and long nebbit things, 

 the problem his character presents might perhaps form a 

 fitting study for the modern school of psychology. 



With the beginning of the seventeenth century commenced 



* This work first appeared anonymously in 1604, and it is 

 doubtful if an original copy is extant. Dr. Richard Garnett 

 courteously informs the writer of these lines that there is not 

 one in the British Museum. Professor Arber, however, has pre- 

 served a copy of it in his English Reprints. Arber says, ' How 

 early its royal authorship was avowed I know not, but it was 

 generally known long before its insertion in the collected edition 

 of the King's works' in (1616). 



Since the above was written Mr. Thomas Arnold, of Hong- 

 Kong, has informed the author that he possesses a copy — the 

 only one extant — of the original edition, supplied to him by the 

 late Mr. Bernard Quaritch, of Piccadilly. 



