134 TOBACCO IN EUROPE. 



each other in decorated cards and shop-bills, employ- 

 ing the best available talent for the purpose. Hogarth, 

 in his early days, was much employed in designing and 

 engraving these bills, and Ireland has published fac- 

 similes of several, among the rest that of " Richard 

 Lee, at ye Golden Tobacco-roll, in Panton Street, near 

 Leicester fields," which is remarkable for the general 

 resemblance the design upon it bears to one of the 

 best pictures executed in after years by the artist ; his 

 Modern Midnight Conversation. 



"We may here most conveniently introduce a few no- 

 tices of the old tobacconists, their " manners and cus- 

 toms " in business, and the minor details of their shops. 

 The Signs of tobacconists' shops in the last century, 

 usually consisted of a large wooden figure of a black 

 Indian, decorated with a crown of tobacco-leaves, and 

 "a kilt" of the same material. He was usually placed 

 at the side of the door, above which hung three rolls of 

 tobacco, also cut in wood; and they were never absent, 

 as the sign of the tobacco-shop, however humble its 

 owner might be, and unable to afford that higher piece 

 of art, the blackamoor. 

 ^-^ s * aSS WjTjT i=;sii «^p A curious tobacconist's sign 



j*W$\ m-^^d^^ti * s en g rave d hi an amusing little 

 ^<*£|^ Oplf volume published in 1840;* 

 ^K^T^ consisting of three hands con- 



joined to one arm. The first 

 holding snuff on the thumb, the second a pipe, 



* It is entitled A Pinch of Snuff, and -was published anonymously. 



