TOBACCO LEAVES 



Raleigh must have been the first man to 

 >smoke in London; and Ben Jonson one of 

 the first men, for his plays are full of 

 smoking, entire scenes being devoted to 

 it. Shakespeare never mentions tobacco 

 or smoking. That seems to be one of the 

 mysteries of that most mysterious of all 

 the men that ever lived ; for what else 

 escaped his falcon eye and magic pen in 

 the England of his time? How was it 

 possible for him to keep Trinidado, smok- 

 ing and smokers out of his comedies, which 

 were all written while his beard was young ? 

 What chances he had of making Sir John 

 Falstaff philosophically hold forth on the 

 virtues of tobacco and pipe ! In " Twelfth 

 Night," as it is played, Sir Toby Belch 

 and Sir Andrew Aguecheek smoke long 

 " churchwardens," and have a very funny 

 scene, in which Sir Andrew tries, while 

 drunk, to light his long pipe held by the 

 drunken Sir Toby; but it is not in the 

 54 



