44 The Soverane Herbe 



airier moods. In Spain the cigar and cigarette pre- 

 vail as ever. Pipes are never seen in the Peninsula 

 even among the poorest beggars. The course of 

 smoking in Spain has always been smooth, for the 

 paternal Government possess a monopoly of tobacco, 

 and cigars and cigarettes from the factories in Cuba 

 and the Philippines were, until these colonies were 

 ceded to the United States, the only ones to be 

 bought. Smoking is incessant. In some districts 

 workmen are allowed fifteen minutes' leisure every 

 hour for smoking. The consumption is relatively 

 small, being only one pound of tobacco per head per 

 annum. 



In Italy cigarettes and cigars also hold the field. 

 Cigars, or what pass under this name, are given to the 

 soldiers as part of their daily rations. Italians may 

 well smoke, for to tobacco they owe their release 

 from Austrian rule. In 1848 the Italians protested 

 against the Austrian domination by renouncing 

 tobacco entirely, it being then, as now, a Government 

 monopoly. Its revenue thus reduced, in revenge the 

 Austrian Government supplied cigars gratis to the army 

 occupying Northern Italy. The soldiers converted 

 them into instruments of torture, tauntingly blowing 

 the smoke into the faces of Italians who had patrioti- 

 cally given up the fragrant herb. This conduct was 

 bitterly resented, and discontent ripening into action, 

 Milan, Venice, and then all Northern Italy, rose in 

 rebellion. Later the people of Southern Italy fol- 

 lowed this example, and not only abstained from 

 tobacco themselves, but in their patriotic zeal plucked 

 cigars from the mouths of all people smoking in the 



