262 The Soverane Herbe 



Irish, however, took tobacco in ' powder or smutchin. 

 I believe,' wrote Howel in 1646, 'there is as much 

 taken this way in Ireland as there is in pipes in 

 England. One shall see the serving-maid upon the 

 washing-block and the swain upon the plough-share, 

 when they are tired with their labour, take out their 

 boxes of smutchin and draw into their nostrils with 

 a quill ; and it will beget new spirits in them and 

 fresh vigour to fall to their work again.' ' The Irish,' 

 says another writer, ' are altogether for snuff to purge 

 their brains.' A century later Wesley noted and 

 censured the general use of snuff in Ireland. 



The Scotch also preferred snuff to smoke, a taste 

 that still survives. So noted were the Scots for their 

 snuff-taking propensities, that when the rebellions of 

 171 5 and 1745 drew attention to Scotch manners, the 

 figure of a Highlander became the sign of a snuff- 

 shop. The cheapness of snuff compared with 

 smoking was probably no small recommendation to 

 the canny Scot. 



In England the Plague of 1665 first brought snuff 

 into prominence on account of its disinfectant proper- 

 ties. The Dutch era, inaugurated by the Revolu- 

 tion, further popularized it ; but the age of snuff did 

 not really commence until the reign of Queen Anne, 

 French ideas and manners, coming from Continental 

 travel, were then infecting English society. Among 

 these was the habit of snuff-taking, which took society 

 by storm, while smoking, having by this time pene- 

 trated to all classes, was tabooed by the beaux as 

 vulgar. 



Lillie, a perfumer of that time, in a book on the 



