8 TOBACCO : ITS HISTORY. 



thinkers, concluding that it was the " fire stolen 

 from the ethereal mansion," ascribed to its fur- 

 tive introduction all manner of ills that flesh is 

 heir to — macies et nova fehriiim cohors ; nay, the 

 very image of death by premature decay loomed 

 in the quivering smoke of the pipe, and horribly 

 grinned in its ashes — leti corripuit gradiim ! 

 Considering the dreadful evils which civilised 

 man inflicted upon the man of nature all over 

 America, perhaps it was by a sort of retribution 

 that this '' perilous stuff"" was permitted to be 

 sent by Hernandez de Toledo into Spain and Por- 

 tugal in 1559 — if persecution, pains, and penal- 

 ties be the instruments of Providence in the 

 hands of man ; but if millions after millions of 

 the human race then for the first time quaffed a 

 pleasure unfelt before — a passing solace to the 

 mind's unrest — a thrill of comfort, contentment, 

 and submission, whilst calmly inhaling its mys- 

 terious cloud amidst the stern realities of life — 

 and meanwhile a prophylactic against the for- 

 midable distempers so often decimating Europe 

 — then certainly was good returned to us for 

 evil wantonly inflicted. 



