SOCIAL GOSSIP ABOUT THE WEED 177 



by-paths of literature, John Aubrey, from whom we have 

 gleaned many things respecting the use of tobacco, says, ' In 

 my early days (temp. Charles the First) tobacco was sold for 

 its weight in silver.' And in the family account-books of 

 well-to-do people that have come to light we get occasional 

 glimpses of its cost. A book of household expenses kept 

 by Sir Henry Oglander, of Nunwell, in the Isle of Wight 

 (1626), contains an entry of five shillings paid for eight 

 ounces of tobacco. The price varies on different dates, 

 according to the quality of the weed. Virginian seems to 

 have been the favourite growth, though Spanish is the more 

 frequently mentioned. A worthy old gentleman named 

 Peter Campbell, living in Derbyshire, was so incensed 

 against the smoking habit that in his Will, making over his 

 household goods to his eldest son, Roger, he inserted a 

 special clause to the effect that if at any time either his 

 brothers or his sisters * fynd him smoking of tobacco he 

 shall forfeit all or their full valew.' Roger, who loved his 

 pipe, would be lucky indeed if he escaped the watchful 

 eyes of his five brothers and three sisters. 



Sir Edwin Sandys, Member of Parliament for Pontefract, 

 (1620) grew alarmed at the prodigious quantity of tobacco 

 consumed in this country, and inquiring into the matter 

 found that Spain was sending to England tobacco to the 

 value of ;i 00,000 a year for which in payment 'we sent 

 our cloths and other merchandise. . . Nay, that sum 

 will not pay for all the tobacco we have from thence; 

 they have more from us every year: ^20,000. So that 

 there goes out of this kingdom as good as ^"120,000 for 

 tobacco every year ! ' He would have opened wide his 

 eyes with amazement if some genius had whispered in his 

 ear that under Edward VII. the duty alone on the quantity 

 consumed in these islands would amount to over 



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