272 The Soverane Herbe 



aggravating his natural carelessness. Goldsmith, 

 Garrick, Reynolds, and all that coterie took snuff. 

 Reynolds used it so profusely that it became mixed 

 with his paint : 



' When they talked of their Raphaels, Correggios and stuff. 

 He shifted his trumpet and only took snuff.' 



Gibbon refreshed himself with the pungent powder ; 

 Colman described him as 



' Like an erect black tadpole taking snuff;' 



and he himself writes : ' I drew my snuff-box, rapp'd 

 it, took snuff twice, and continued my discourse in 

 my usual attitude of my body bent forward and my 

 forefinger stretched out.' 



Cowper abhorred smoking, but sang that snuff 



' Does thought more quicken and refine 

 Than all breath of all the Nine.' 



Sheridan was another snuff-taker. Coleridge used 

 to buy ' Irish Blackguard ' by the pound. Mrs. 

 Siddons and Mrs. Jordan, Kemble and Kean, re- 

 freshed themselves with it on the stage. 



When Frederick the Great was not smoking 

 tobacco he was snuffing it. A box of it was kept 

 on the mantelpiece of every room frequented by 

 him. His waistcoats were also furnished with a 

 capacious leather-lined pocket for snuff, that he 

 might never be without his beloved pinch. By this 

 means also he kept his snuff to himself Once 

 detecting a page taking a pinch from the royal box, 

 he commanded him to ' Put that box in your pocket ; 

 it is too small for both of us.' 



