THE USE AND ABUSE OF TOBACCO 77 



curative powers were asserted in the complete removal of 

 the disease. Next came a gentleman from the fields, 

 craving the Lord Ambassador to cure him of a wound in 

 his leg, which for a space of two years had tortured him 

 and rendered the limb useless. Nicot, filled with generous 

 enthusiasm, readily acceded to his appeal, and lotions and 

 unguents were prepared for him, with instructions how to 

 apply them. In ten days' time he again presented himself, 

 and with overflowing gratitude declared that the ulcer had 

 disappeared, and that he had now perfect use of his leg. 

 Many other similar Noli me tangere cases and their 

 comfortable cure are recorded by Liebault and Monardes. 

 News of the potent influence of the weed, now commonly 

 called the Ambassador's herb, over bodily infirmity spread 

 with amazing rapidity, and out of every nook and corner of 

 the kingdom there flocked to the Ambassador sufferers of 

 all sorts and conditions, praying to be healed of their 

 Noli me tangeve. Nicot's garden was now a centre of 

 attraction for fashionable loungers : his house had already 

 become an infirmary ; and great was the rejoicing when the 

 maimed, the sick, and the wounded threw away their 

 crutches, sound of body and full of faith. From the 

 recital whereof it plainly appears that though names may 

 change, poor humanity remains pretty much what it was 

 in the beginning, and none wax so fat in fame or fortune 

 as those who minister to its weaknesses. 



But Nicot's work as a healer of the sick with the Indian 

 weed was not yet completed; there were patients at home 

 demanding his immediate attention. Hearing that Lady 

 Montague was dying at St. Germains of an ulcer ' bred in 

 the breast,' which of course was none other than our old 

 friend Noli me tangere in the form of cancer, and for 

 which no remedy could ever be found, though the Countess 



