154 The Soverane Herbe 



has decidedly diminished. If they do not heat so 

 rapidly, their absorption is very defective, and they 

 always look dirty.' The last quarter of the century 

 has seen a complete change of attitude with regard 

 to pipes. The briar is omnipresent and omnipotent ; 

 it is practically indestructible, and in appearance is 

 equally superior to the clay, which with the meer- 

 schaum is essentially a reclusive and philosophical 

 pipe, unfitted for the rush and strain of modern life. 

 The introduction of the neat, workaday briar has 

 contributed in no small degree to the renaissance of 

 smoking. 



Rare as is pipe-smoking in France now, it was 

 popular a century ago. When the French adopted 

 the clay pipes of England they beautified them. 

 Some beautiful pipes carved with figures of men 

 and beasts were made at Sevres. Even more than 

 in England the clay pipe of France, with its de- 

 corated bowl, reflected the flowing tide of men and 

 aff^airs. The pipe of the Revolution was draped 

 with the tricolour, and Liberty, lying along the stem, 

 supported the bowl and a wreath of immortelles with 

 the motto, ' Morte pour la Patrie.' The Napoleons 

 likewise adorned pipes ; ' Libert^, Egalitd, Fra- 

 ternity ' (true smoking watchword), likewise inspired 

 the smoker with Utopian dreams. The literary 

 inclined smoked from the counterfeit head of Victor 

 Hugo. The patriotic Italian puffed from a pipe the 

 bowl of which was supported by a Roman soldier 

 trampling upon the Austrian eagle. Pipes were 

 likewise decorated with symbolical figures and 

 mementoes of the chase, the theatre, and the ale- 



