"VIGO SNUFF." 259 



tliey also obtained native snuff from the Havanna 

 destined for the Spanish market. This very large 

 quantity of snuff was sold at the principal seaports, 

 as " prizes," for the benefit of officers and crews, 

 with the usual carelessness of sailors in bargain- 

 ing with Jews and " Land sharks," to the quickest 

 purchasers ; and waggon loads were parted with at the 

 rate of four-pence per pound ! It was christened " Vigo 

 snuff;" and the popularity of the war, the name of the 

 snuff, and the novelty of excessive cheapness, com- 

 bined to induce a very general use of it.* 



Pope in his Rape of the Lock notes the use of the 

 Snuff-box as a luxurious appendage to the bon ton: — 



" Sir Plume of amber snuff-box justly vain, 

 And the nice conduct of a clouded cane ; 

 With earnest eyes, and round unthinking face, 

 He first the snuff-box open'd, then the case." 



This nobleman's habit of " tapping the box," in the 

 pauses of his speech, is very characteristic of the habit 

 of the beau snuff-taker, whose mental powers are 

 satirically hinted at by the poet's mention of " the lunar 

 sphere ; " where — 



' ' hero's wits are kept in ponderous vases, 



And beaux in snuff-boxes and tweezer cases." 



It is said of Prince Eugene in Pope's Key to the Lock 

 that " 'tis remarkable the General is a great taker of 

 Snuff as well as Towns." 



* One of the dealers of the day advertises "Fine Seville Snuff from the 

 Pearl Prize, sold by Jas. Healey at the Black boy, without Bishopsgate." 



s 2 



