TOBACCO. 287 



had not before known of it. This evil, like many others, 

 throve by persecution, until it became almost intolerable, 

 even ladies indulging in its use ; and the same untenable 

 arguments were adduced in its defence which in the present 

 day are in the mouth of every juvenile aspirant for the 

 manly power of smoking; the pipe and cigar having as- 

 sumed the place of the toga virilis. We have an amusing 

 proof of the favour it found with the fair sex in a letter 

 written in 1700, by the humorous writer Tom Brown. 



" To an Old Lady that smoked Tobacco. 



" Madam, — 



" Though the ill-natured world censures you for smok- 

 ing, yet I would advise you, Madam, not to part with so 

 innocent a diversion. In the first place it is healthful, 

 and, as Galen rightly observes, is a sovereign remedy for the 

 toothache, the constant persecutor of old ladies. Secondly, 

 tobacco, though it be a heathenish weed, it is a great help 

 to Christian meditations ; which is the reason, I suppose, 

 that recommends it to your parsons, who could no more 

 write a sermon without a pipe in their mouths than a con- 

 cordance in their hands; besides every pipe you break 

 may serve to put you in mind of mortality, and show you 



