TOBACCO LEAVES 



This song was accompanied by a dance, 

 which brought out by gestures the force 

 of the puns in the second verse. Whyffler 

 (" whiffler " in Shakespeare) was a herald 

 who went in advance of stately proces- 

 sions, with trumpets (pipes), clubs, and 

 links (lanterns' fire), clearing the way 

 with loud " furie." 



The phrase to " drinke " tobacco, which 

 meant the same as to smoke tobacco, is 

 used in a poem of 1620, generally cred- 

 ited to George Wither. However, in 1631 

 appeared a poem called the " Soule's Sol- 

 ace, or Thirty and One Spiritual Em- 

 blems," by Thomas Jenner, which has the 

 same reading. In the original poem there 

 is an illustration accompanying it of a 

 bearded gentleman at a table smoking. 

 The words of the poem are: 



" The Indian weed, withered quite, 

 Green at noon, cut down at night, 



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