PUFFS. 125 



can't you let me alone ! Your coat-tail 

 has been on fire for the last ten minutes, 

 but I didn't bother you about it ! " 



TOBACCO AND THE PLAGUE. 



WHILE the Great Plague raged in Lon- 

 don, tobacco was recommended by the 

 faculty and generally taken as a prevent- 

 ive against infection. Pepys records the 

 following on the 7th of June, 1665 : " The 

 hottest day that ever I felt in my life. 

 This day, much against my will, I did in 

 Drury Lane see two or three houses 

 marked with a red cross upon the doors, 

 and ' Lord, have mercy upon us ! ' writ 

 there ; which was a sad sight to me, be- 

 ing the first of the kind, to my remem- 

 brance, I ever saw. It put me into an ill 

 conception of myself and my smell, so 

 that I was forced to buy some roll to- 

 bacco to smell and chew, which took away 

 the apprehension." 



Further, it was popularly reported that 

 no tobacconists or their households were 



