32 THE ORIGINAL IMPORTER. 
Portugal, and who obtained while at Lisbon some tobacco 
seed froma Dutch merchant who had brought it from Florida,* 
Nicot returned to France in 1561, and presented the Queen, 
Catherine de Medicis, with a few leaves of the plant. 
As the history of Nicot is so intimately connected with 
that of the plant, a short sketch of this original importer will 
doubtless be interesting to all lovers of the weed :— 
“John Nicot, Sieur de Villemain, was born at Nismes in 
1530, and died at Paris in 1600. He was the son of a notary 
at Nismes, and started in life with a good education, but 
with no fortune. Finding that his native town offered no 
suitable or sufficient field for his energies, he went to Paris 
and strove hard to extend his studies as a scholar and his 
_ connections as an adventurer. He made the acquaintance of 
some courtiers, who felt or affected an interest in learning 
and in learned men. His manners were insinuating; his 
character was pliable. When presented at court he succeeded 
-in gaining the esteem and confidence of Henry IL, the hus- 
band of Catherine de Medicis. Francis IJ., the son of Henry 
IL, and the first husband of Mary Stuart, continued to Nicot 
the favor of which Henry II. had deemed him worthy, and 
sent him in 1560 as ambassador to Sebastian, King of Portu- 
gal. He was successful in his mission. But it was ncither 
his talents as a diplomatist, nor his remarkable mind, nor his 
solid erudition, which made Nicot immortal. It was by 
popularizing tobacco in France that he gained a lasting fame. 
“Tt is said that it was at Lisbon that Nicot became 
acquainted with the extraordinary properties of tobacco. 
But it is likewise stated with quite as much confidence, that 
a Flemish merchant, who had just returned from America, 
offered Nicot at Bordeaux, where they met, some seeds of 
the tobacco, telling him of their value. The seeds Nicot 
‘sent to Catherine de Medicis, and on arriving in Paris he 
-gave her some leaves of tobacco. Hence, when tobacco began 
to creep into use in France it was called Queen’s Herb or 
Medicean Herb.t The cultivation of tobacco, except as 4 
fancy plant, did not begin in France till 1626; and John 
*Parkinson in h 
thie eatneon An : 1s Herball (London, 1640] says:—“It is thought by some that John Nicot, 
pray ones oe other to the French Queene, and is called therefore herba Regina, and 
wh . 
iors of Brazile at “hich je probably because the Portugalls and uot the Spaniards were mas: 
; Sir John Nicot sent some seeds of it into France, to Kinz Francis II., the Queen Mother, 
eee Governor of Rochel, and several others of the French tore" . 
edited bbe Jacques Gohory, the author of the first book written on tobacao, proposed to 
the plant erinaine or Medicee, to record the name of Medicis and the medicinal virtues of 
3; but the name of Nicot supersede ay 
genus Nicotiana ory oot super peged these, and botanists have perpetuated it in the 
being agent in Portugall for the French King. sent this surt_of tobacco -. 
