Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 1.djvu/370

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

. I. MAY 7,

some "old boy" will kindly tell us a little more about Stonyhurst cricket, and help to preserve it from oblivion.

PHILIP NORMAN.

UNIQUE COLLECTION OF WORKS ON TOBACCO.

IN the Reference Department of the Tod- morden Free Library there is an almost, if not quite unique collection of works on tobacco. It contains 144 books and pamphlets on this subject alone. Probably in the British Museum only is there a collection to equal, for variety and numbers, this at Tod- morden. There are all sizes of works, from tiny, daintily bound booklet to ponderous tome, though in the main the volumes are small. The subject of tobacco is treated from almost every conceivable standpoint, but, it must be stated, in the majority of instances writers vaunt loudly the praises of this popular weed. One writer gives an account of the manufacture of tobacco ; another con- siders it in connexion with alcohol ; whilst others look at it from a medical point of view, as, for instance, in a French production, 'De 1'Action du Tabac sur la SanteV The titles of one or two books will serve to in- dicate the widespread interest that has been taken in this custom of smoking and the study devoted to the question for several generations One book is entitled 'The Universal Soother'; another, bearing the date 1580, being a trans- lation from the Spanish, has the following quaint title, ' Joyfull Newes out of the Newe Founde Worlde, wherein is declared the Virtues of Diverse and Sundrie Herbes,' tobacco being included. A third, part of the title of which I quote, takes a very different view, 'Tobacco Battered and the Pipes Shattered (about their Ears that idly idolize so base and barbarous a weed), by a Volley of Holy Shot.' In ' Death in the Pipe ' there is sounded no uncertain note. A few writers take a middle course, and in a more impartial manner consider both the use and abuse of the weed. The more enthusiastic eulogize the habit, it would seem, in no stinted terms, soaring into the loftier regions of poetry, as apparently best fitted to express their fervid ideas. There are verses in humble Eng- lish lyrical form as well as sounding Latin hexameters, the latter being a favourite vehicle of utterance. There are likewise effusions in German and French, written in various metres. Indeed, the poetical works are rather numerous.

A distinguishing feature of this collection is that the list is not confined to the English

language. There are at least 16 works in Latin, 8 in French, 7 in German, 1 in Italian, 1 in Spanish, and 6 in Dutch, as I conjecture from the names of the towns where the books were printed, my studies not having included a knowledge of the last-named tongue. As regards the places of publication, some of the chief cities and towns of Europe are con- spicuous, Rome noticeably so.

The dates of publication of these books range, as nearly as can be ascertained, from 1580 to this decade of the nineteenth century. There is a German work bearing the date of 1592. Sixteen books were printed in the seventeenth century. A few are without dates.

One booklet must certainly not be over- looked j it is from the pen of King James I., and is entitled 'A Counter-Blaste to Tobacco.' The ' Counter-Blaste ' was first printed, with- out name, in quarto in 1616. There are two copies of this work, one being published in the "Bibliotheca Curiosa" series, a very daintily printed edition. But it must be dis- tinctly understood that these two copies are not the original editions. Later writers have not forgotten the royal author, as we find in 'A Dedication to Ye Memorie of King James the First's Counter-Blaste.' Coming to less august penmen, I may point out two works markedly in contrast, ' A Lyttel Parcell of Poems and Paradyes in Praise of Tobacco ' and ' Satyra contra Abusum Ta- bacco,' the latter containing the figure of a skeleton on the frontispiece, which, I suppose, is intended to indicate to how pitiful a con- dition smoking brings a man, and under the skeleton we read, "Latet anguis in herba." Which side in this tobacco question ' A Look- ing-Glass for Smokers ' (printed in 1703) takes I cannot say. Here and there a writer an- nounces his production with an alluring title, as may be instanced in 'The Fascinator' and 'The Holy Herb,' the latter in verse. Not the least curious is ' Cigars and Tobacco, Wine, and Women as they are.' A solitary work is from the pen of one of the fairer sex, ' A Woman on Tobacco.'

So important an article as the pipe has by no means been neglected. ' Smokiana ' treats of the pipes of all nations, including the Arctic regions. As regards these there is the following noteworthy information : "In this part of the world there is not much material for the making of pipes, for the only wood is generally brought up by the kindly Gulf Stream from the West Indies." ' Smokiana ' is not the only work on this sub- ject ; some of the books contain illustrations of pipes (queer-looking articles many of them)