i8o ST NICOTINE 



practical work, however, thoughequally earnest, he is a 

 long way behind his contemporary, Dr. Gardiner, whose 

 Trial of Tobacco has already been noticed. 



By the middle of the seventeenth century, tobacco- 

 smoking had become a confirmed habit even in remote 

 rural districts, and was duly recognised and provided for by 

 every housewife. Monsieur Jorevin de Rochefort in his 

 travels in England (1672) tells a homely story of his sitting 

 down to supper with a friend in Worcester, where, on the 

 meal being finished, they set on the table half a dozen 

 pipes and a packet of tobacco for smoking. On inquiry 

 he was told that it was a common practice to smoke after 

 supper, indulged in by both men and women, who said 

 that without tobacco one cannot live in England, for the 

 smoke dissipates the evil humours of the brain. He goes 

 on to relate his further experience on the next day, 

 saying : 



' Whilst we were walking about the town he asked me if 

 it was the custom in France, as in England, for children on 

 setting out for school to carry in their satchel along with 

 their books a pipe of tobacco, which their mother had taken 

 care to fill early in the morning, in the belief that it would 

 serve them instead of breakfast.' Surely our French friend 

 was grossly imposed upon. No English mother would for 

 a moment entertain such a notion. We are next told that 

 at the accustomed hour every one laid aside his book to 

 light his pipe ; and that the master smoked with them and 

 taught the youngsters how to hold their pipes and draw in 

 the tobacco-smoke ; thus using them to the habit from 

 youth, believing it absolutely necessary for health's sake. 

 The story told him by his Worcester friend put him in 

 mind of a Spaniard whom he had met at the seaport of 

 Calabria. The man, not being able to procure tobacco, cut 



