240 The Soverane Herbe 



her hand to imprint a chaste kiss on it, but only to 

 use the forefinger as a tobacco-stopper to press down 

 the ashes in his half-smoked pipe ! Thus, if history 

 lies not, was it that Sir Isaac Newton was wedded 

 only to Science. 



Smoking is as conducive to good government as 

 sound logic. James I. transmitted his hatred of 

 tobacco to his descendants. Neither of the Jameses 

 nor of the Charleses knew the wisdom-giving practice 

 of smoking. Under their tobaccoless tyranny 

 England was ill-at-ease, beheading Charles I. and 

 flinging out James II. William III., an honest 

 smoker, was the one who set the country to rights 

 again. 



Cromwell, the typical Englishman, knew the virtues 

 of tobacco, especially in the consideration of weighty 

 questions. When he was offered the kingship, and 

 dallied and played with the attractive offer, he 

 frequently discussed the question for three or four 

 hours with Lord Boghil, Bulstrode Whitlocke, Sir 

 Charles Cameron, and Thurloe. ' He commonly,' 

 says a contemporary biography, ' called for tobacco, 

 pipes and a candle, and would now and then take 

 tobacco himself.' If Cromwell had not smoked, and 

 had accepted the crown, to-day we might be ruled by 

 the House of Cromwell. What an influence that pipe 

 may have exerted upon Old Noll and all history ! 

 General Monk, who brought back King Charles, was 

 a notable smoker. 



Milton loved his pipe next to his organ. Even 

 when blind he continued to smoke — a most remark- 

 able thing. But in those days the smoke was ex- 



