pe | From my Port Folia. 
its ufe utterly inconfiftent with all decen- 
cy and cleanlinefs: Tr 3 
There is fomething ludicrous and 
firangely incongruous in the idea of a 
great monarch publifhing a philippic 
againft fo trivial a thing as TOBACCO, 
But James’s intentions were; in, this in- 
ftance, certainly good; and his argu- 
ments are far from bad. . Where he only 
mufters prejudice againft prejudice, the 
king’s prejudices appear .to be more 
nearly allied to found reafon than thofe 
which he ftrives to explode. ‘The truth 
is, that TOBACCO had been fuddenly re- 
ceived into exceflive and univerfal ufe, 
429 
ers. ProressoR LicHTENSTEIN, of 
Hamburgh, pointed it out to Mr. Hrr- 
BERT CROFT, who, unfortunately for 
Englifh literature, is, with his digticn- 
ary, atthat place. I fhall tranferibe the 
paflage in queftion, for the fake of an 
obfervation which it will produce. 
_ And Antiochus faid to his. gene= 
rals, do you not know, and are you not 
informed, that the people of the Jews, 
which are in Jermialem amongit us,--- 
they do not fear our religion, nor obferve : 
our cuftoms, nor approach to them; and 
they neglect the laws of the king, for to 
obferve their own laws. They alfo wait 
with fuch a.fond afeription to it, of for the time of the extirpation of kings, go- 
imaginary Virtues, as could not but dif- 
guit the wife; and that James; although 
probably wrong tn denymg ail virtues to 
this herb, was certainly right m oppofing 
. the notion ef its being an int¢omparable 
panacea. His majelty’s ftyle is, in this 
little piece, fufficiently corrects lively, 
and flowing: there is a vein of good fenfe, 
wit, and eloquence, which runs through 
the whole; ‘but, there is, likewife---to 
wfe a miner’s term---a gazgue of abfur- 
dities: and James feems, as it were, in 
every fentence, to fay to his readers, 
“ How qorderfully wife and condefcend- 
ing Ibe!” 
He incidentally introduces fome curi- 
ous faéts, and feveral diverting expref- 
fions. He relates that it was common 
for young ladies to entertain their lovers 
with-a pipe of TOBACCO. Some gen- 
tlemén “or his court, he tells us, were 
accuftomed to waite no lefs than three or 
four hundred pounds a year, upon this 
fingle luxury. He fays tco, that it was 
ufed asa powerful cphrodifiac. He par- 
ticularly deplores the cafe of delicate, 
«wholejome, clean -complexioned wives, 
whoie hufbands were not afhamed to 
pollute them with the perpetual, linking 
torment of TOBACCO-fmoke. The con- 
cluding fentence of this difcourfe, . is 
certainly a laughable one. The ufe 
of TOBACCO, fays he, ‘is---< a cufiom 
lathjome to the eye, hateful to the nofe, 
harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, 
and in the black fiinking fume thereof, near- 
e/? refembling the horrid Stysian fmoke of 
the pit that is bottomlefs : 

A Brericat FracMmenr. 
; the day, may be placed the diico- 
very of a fragment of the firft book of 
Maccabees, which does not appear‘in the 
rabbinic tranflation, and which is now 
only foundia fome Jewith book of -pray- - 
A\ MONG the literary curiofities of 
vernors, and lieutenants ;-they fay, how 
long foall our king reign. over us? For we 
will reign, ourfelves, over the feaand the 
continent, and the whole world fhall be 
given in our hands. : 
‘© Tt would not be reafonable for the 
king to allow that fuch men and principles 
fhould be fpread over the furface of the 
earth. Now, let us go and attack them, 
and. defiroy the confiiiution, which they 
have given to themfelves, the fabbath, 
and the new months, and the circumci- 
fion---”" skint 
This paffage is, no doubt, at the pre= 
fent moment, of a very ftriking natures 
and the application is obvious, as de- 
{criptive of the French nation, and their 
ambitious projects. A learned friend is 
almeft inclined to callit aprophecy: But, 
without the flichteft fufpicion of its au- 
‘thenticity, (fince indeed it comes on the 
bef autherity) there is nothing but what 
is moft natural in the fentiment. The 
ancient Hebrews. were always republi- 
cans, and the genius of their conftitution 
was the pureft democracy. Even when 
they once called fo loudly for aking, it 
was confidered by their prophets as a 
proof of their reftlefs and intraétable cha- . 
racter. But itis not for this reflection 
that I have pointed out this curious frag- 
ment. 
What I have to obferve, isthis. We 
have of late been frequently furprifed by 
fimilar extracts ; and the very fentiments, 
even of obfcure individuals; have been 
quoted, as or ‘¢ the prophetic’ ftrain.” 
The truth will, however, be fimply this. 
Society, like Nature herfelf, has certain 
ftages: and men in parallel jituaiions, mutt 
evidently a& and thine alike... Lhe cit- 
cle of human events is not vaft; and in 
its rotatory. motion. it mui happen, tliat _ 
the fame potat will, againand again, be 
uppermolt,. That femblance of novelty, 
whidh the face of things..wears to the 
S2 bulk 
