POLITICAL SNUFF-TAKING. 293 



from the ateliers of France and Holland, show more 

 ability than delicacy. Sometimes the French boxes 

 have been used politically; thus the Bonap artists during 

 the banishment of their chief to Elba, and while plot- 

 ting his return, filled their boxes with violet-scented 

 snuff, the violet being Napoleon's distinctive flower, 

 and when offering a pinch, would significantly inquire 

 " Do you love this perfume ? " Talleyrand argued that 

 snuff-taking was essential to all great politicians, as it 

 gave them time for thought in answering awkward 

 questions while pretending only to indulge in a pinch ; 

 or a proper management of the box, enabled them to 

 adapt themselves to many temporary necessities of 

 diplomacy.* 



Boxes are often constructed of "relics," or woods 

 which are associated with some great name, such as 

 Shakespeare's mulberry- tree,f Nelson's ship, or Wel- 

 lington's table. Of the first named so many were con- 

 structed, particularly after Garrick's jubilee, that it 

 rivalled the wood of the " true cross" in quantity, which 

 has been calculated to be sufficient for the construc- 



* The author of the Pinch of Snuff, 1840, says : "Of the importance 

 of snuff-boxes as a means of keeping up friendly relations with foreign 

 powers, we need only cpuote, from the account of sums expended at the 

 coronation of George IV., the following entry : — 



' ' Messrs. Rundell and Bridge, for snuff-boxes to £ s. d. 

 foreign ministers ..... 8205 15 5." 



+ The tree was cut down by the (Ir-) Reverend Francis Grastrell, to save 

 himself the trouble of showing it to strangers. He rented Shakespeare's 

 house (New Place) and grounds, and he ended by pulling the house down 

 in revenge for the taxation he paid during his absence from it. 



