282 SNUFF AND SNUFF-BOXES. 



Gardens to properly storing them all. That room was 

 a curiosity in its way, with its rows of well-made 

 jars, and proper materials of all kinds for the due 

 admixture and management of the snuffs they con- 

 tained, under the able superintendance of a well- 

 informed man, who was the guardian angel thereof. 

 After the Earl's death, the collection was sold; and 

 prices that seem fabulous to the uninitiated, were rea- 

 lised for the finest sorts. 



It may almost be doubted whether smokers feel so 

 large an amount of gratification in their mode of 

 consuming tobacco, as the snuff-taker does. There 

 seems an extra amount of excitement and exhilaration 

 from its use. Smoking may, like angling, be " the con- 

 templative man's recreation ;" but snuffing seems to be 

 the joy of the more mercurial, hence its great popu- 

 larity in France, and with men of quick intellectual 

 capacity. The following clever lines To my Nose 

 convey a due sense of this pleasure : — 



Knows he that never took a pinch, 

 Nosey, the pleasure thence which flows 1 

 Knows he the titillating joys 

 Which my nose knows ? 



nose ! I am as proud of thee 

 As any mountain of its snows ; 



1 gaze on thee, and feel that pride 



A Roman knows ! * 



The high-dried snuffs are favourites in Wales and 

 Scotland. There is a powerfull snuff of this kind 

 which is said to have originated by accident in Ireland. 



* These stanzas first appeared in Miss Sheridan's annual Comic Offering 

 for 1834, and were written by the talented artist-author, Alfred Crow- 

 quill. 



