270 The Soverane Herbe 



was greatly favoured by ladies, including Queen 

 Charlotte. 



' Lundyfoot,' or ' Irish Blackguard,' was a very 

 pungent snuff sold by Lundy Foot, of Dublin, its 

 alternative name being derived from its popularity 

 among the lower classes in Ireland. Its discovery 

 was by accident. According to one account the 

 maker carelessly burnt the snuff, and to prevent 

 an absolute waste gave it away to poor customers, 

 who speedily returned to buy a supply, so well did it 

 suit their tastes. The other story states that a tobacco 

 factory being burned down in Dublin, Foot purchased 

 the charred leaf and ground it into snuff, which he 

 disposed of very cheaply among the poor. Like 

 Oliver Twist, they came for more, and the upper 

 classes soon discovered its virtues likewise. From 

 this snuff Foot made his fortune. Quin suggested 

 as the motto for his carriage the Latin phrase. Quid 

 rides ? Similarly, when Gillespie, a noted seller of 

 snuff, retired and set up as a gentleman, Erskine 

 proposed as the motto for the arms of his carriage : 



' Who would have thought it, 

 That noses had bought it ? 



Snuff, of course, was opposed and condemned by 

 some physicians. Its use was declared to reduce the 

 brain to a sooty, dry condition, and to have increased 

 a hundredfold the death-rate from apoplexy and 

 cancer. 



On the other hand, medicated snuffs were largely 

 sold as cure-all-ills. Grimstone's ' Eye Snuff' was 

 most sovereign for clearing the head of all humours 



