go The Soverane Herbe 



the Army, which is not only in itself a species of 

 intoxication occasioned by the fumes of tobacco, but 

 undoubtedly occasions drinking and tippling by those 

 who acquire the habit ; and he entreats the officers 

 commanding regiments to prevent smoking in the 

 mess-rooms of their several regiments and in the 

 adjoining apartments, and to discourage the practice 

 among the officers of junior rank in the regiments.' 



The condemnation and stigma under which smok- 

 ing lay fifty years ago is clearly and somewhat 

 amusingly revealed in this appealing command of the 

 Iron Duke. Snuff was going out of fashion and 

 smoking rapidly regaining its old-time ascendancy. 

 The Crimean War, with its association with the East 

 and its atmosphere of tobacco, and the hardships of 

 the campaign itself, increased the practice and popu- 

 larity in the Army. From their allies, the Turks and 

 French, English officers — smoking had never lost its 

 popularity among the people, for they are freed from 

 Fashion's dictates — learned to puff the fragrant weed, 

 and to find in it the best comfort and anodyne for the 

 hardships of war and the privations of the Crimean 

 winter. On their return home English officers 

 brought with them the cigarette and an ardent appre- 

 ciation of the divine herb. What had been their best 

 friend in adversity they found rendered prosperity 

 still more happy, while the cigarette provided them 

 with a novel and elegant smoke, against which could 

 not be urged the clumsiness and vulgarity of the pipe. 

 The gilded youth and men about town copied the 

 manners of the heroes of the day, the Crimean 

 officers, both by smoking and by cultivating beards. 



