X PREFACE. 



marks as follows on Dr. Parr's habit of smok- 



" Mr. Pioderick now laments that he ever introduced the 

 pipe, from the excess in which Parr indulged in tobacco. 

 ... I am not convinced that this habit was productive of 

 bad consequence to his health, though it Avas often incon- 

 venient to his friends. Tobacco has been called the 

 anodyne of poverty, and the opium of the Western world. 

 To Parr, whose nerves were extremely irritable, and sensi- 

 bility immoderate, perhaps it was a necessary anodyne. 

 It calmed his spirits ; it assisted his private ruminations ; 

 it was his companion in anxiety ; it was his helpmate in 

 composition. Have not all seen him darkening the air 

 with its clouds, when his mind was labouring with 

 thought.?"* 



Now, Dr. Parr must have been rather more 

 than an inveterate smoker. Wolf states that 

 Dr. Parr used frequently to smoke as much as 

 twenty pipes of an evening : " er soil es manch- 

 raall an einem Abend, bis zu 20 pfeifen gebracht 

 haben." Dr. Johnston says that five pipes would 

 be nearer the mark ; but the worthy old divine is 

 represented in his portrait with an uncommonly 

 big clay-pipe in his hand — one of those pipes 

 yclept aldermen^ from their ventral capacity ; and 



* Memoirs of Dr. Parr, p. 815. 



