CHAPTER II 



THE TRIAL OF TOBACCO 



Tobacco first used by adventurers in privation — Raleigh the 

 godfather of smoking— Elizabeth and tobacco — Raleigh 

 persecuted by James I. for his introduction of tobacco — 

 Introduced into England as a medicine — Some prescrip- 

 tions — Its popularity excited opposition — Measures against 

 smoking — Tobacco duty raised 4,000 per cent, by James I. 

 — Culture in England forbidden — Tobacco discussed in 

 Parliament — Monopoly of sale — Prohibited in France by 

 Louis XIIL— Pope Urban VIII.'s Bull against it— Its per- 

 secution everywhere — Austria — Tobacco carried into the 

 East — Banned by the Greek Church — Prohibited in Russia 

 and Turkey on pain of death — Swiss law against smoking. 



' Who,' asked Sir Kenelm Digby, in his ' Observa- 

 tions upon Religio Medici,' ' was ever delighted w^ith 

 tobacco the first time he took it? And who could 

 willingly be without it after he was a while habituated 

 to the use of it ?' 



In nothing is the subtle charm of smoking more 

 clearly shown than in its primitive repulsiveness and 

 subsequent delight to man. History records no other 

 such conquest as that obtained by tobacco over the 

 whole world. In less than a century the strange, 

 amazing practice of the inhabitants of America 

 became universal. The Old World discovered and 



