"Look back, my fair one, look," said I, "Thyself in this wild scene descry; easy, sprightly, and apparently without care, he condemns his effusions of gallantry as wholly void of tenderness, nature, and When thou art in good humour passion; as exhibiting the cold ness of Cowley without his wit; drest, And gentle reason rules thy the dulness of a versifier, re breast, The sun upon the calmest sea Appears not half so bright as thee. solved, at all events, to write something, and striving to be amorous by dint of study. HENRY AND EMMA, so gene But when vain doubt and ground- rally read, and, with a few ex ceptions, so universally admired, the same writer condemns as dull and tedious, and the composition of one who does not talk like a man of this world. Did the learned writer consider Emma's being fond of a bad man, as a proof of Prior's ignorance of the world? Is such an incident, or is it not supported by every day's experience, in similar cases? Besides, Henry might have been a fugitive, driven cution, without exhibiting any While fate and love both drive from his home by political perseme back : WRETCHED WHEN FROM THEE, actual depravity of morals, or de ought to have been excepted from the heavy censure of our acute, and, in general, justly-, deciding critic. I appeal to my readers, whether it is not, in every respect, the reverse of Dr. Johnson's description. I conclude with a word on "the wisdom of Prior as a statesman." If by wisdom our great moralist meant, in this instance, a prompt and submissive obedience to those who employed him, Prior indeed was wise. But as an ambassador, highly and confidentially employed in making peace with France, when her power might and ought to have been eternally and irrecoverably crushed, I consider Prior either short-sighted as a politician, or agreeing to measures derogatory to the glory and interest of his country, from a fear of being dismissed from a lucrative post; in either case, Dr. Johnson's praise is misapplied. When made acquainted with the articles of the treaty, he afterwards negociated. Had he told the Lord Treasurer, that the business he employed him in was neither creditable to himself nor honourable to his country, dismission would, in all probability, have followed; yet, although deprived of dignity and emolument, Prior might have retired to his college fellowship with a reputa tion which no diplomatic envoy ever enjoyed, and for which he might have been envied by kings. TOBACCO, petun, and used by them, pre- These good, bad, or imaginary effects, were produced by burning the leaves, over which the person, who wished for supernatural intelligence, holding his head, inhaled the ascending smoke. The dexterous tobacconist of civilized Europe, catching the idea, and improving on it, dries the leaves by a scientific and elaborate process, which provides employment for thousands; it is then placed in a pipe, set on fire, and the vapour conveyed, through a well-manufactured tube, to the operator's mouth, from from which he discharges volumes of smoke. Concerning this singular, and to the man who first practised and first beheld it, this perilous and surprising operation, an anecdote is related of a domestic of Sir Walter Raleigh's, which I shall presently relate. The smoker, in the mean time, engaged in a placid, sedentary, and with proper accompaniments and fit posture, a somewhat dignified magisterial occupation, forgets his cares, lulls his mind into calm oblivion of all his cares, and communicates a new relish to the li quor he drinks. Not satisfied with this transitory enjoyment of a favourite vegetable, others make it the permanent and unsavoury companion of their palate, which he who first essayed must have possessed the firmness of a stoic, and the stomach of an ostrich or a horse. A third class of these multipliers of pleasure, more refined, and fancying themselves more cleanly, replenish the most prominent part of their face with pinches of this peculiar plant, after it has undergone another long and tedious process, and been reduced to an impalpable powder. To these, and other useful and medical purposes, do we apply this plant, so wonder ful in every point of view, whether considered as an instrument of commerce, a colonial produce or a productive source of national revenue, of general and individual labour. Under the title snuff, in one of my former volumes, part of the laughable mock-heroic poem of a modern writer has been given, cloathed, as indeed it required, in its original Latin. In the article Sheridan, part of that ingenious senator's speech, in one of the numerous debates on Mr. Pitt's tobacco bill, is introduced it set the house in a roar of uncontrolable laughter; but in spite of wit, humour, and misrepresentation, the act passed, and made an addition of one hundred thousand pounds a year to the public revenue, which, in this branch of it, had been grossly and notoriously injured. Previously to this salutary enactment, so violently opposed, and against which the editor, like a blockhead, and misled by misrepresentation, joined in full cry, the excise laws had been perpetually evaded, and the King's officers, almost in every instance, imposed on or defied. Much has been said and written against tobacco, on the score of uncleanlyness, and its pernicious effects on the teeth, the stomach, complexion, and gene ral health; that, as a producer of thirst, it encourages a habit of drinking in the lower classes of society, particularly unfortunate, and generally leading to idleness, vice, and rags. The use of it has also been called unnatural, because the various arts of smoking, chewing, and snuff-taking, are always attended with considerable pain and difficulty at their first commencement, and, by some, can never be attained. The following exaggerated picture of a smoker and chewer has been given by a modern writer. "His tongue is foul, his breath pestilently offensive, his smell and taste gone for ever; his face is carbuncled, his habit cachectic, his liver dry, and appetite decayed; the women loath him; for his mouth like an illtapped ale barrel is perpetually dribbling; so that she whom he kisses must taste him." King James the First is said to have been violently prejudiced and to have written against what he called a filthy Indian weed; and Stowe imitating the court language, terms it a stinking production, used to God's dishonour; concerning which, at its first introducement, all men wondered what it meant." But if we may believe a modern poet, his majesty altered his opinion, at the suggestion of one of his secretaries of state. Cecil did plainly make appear It brought ten thousand pounds a year. This assertion of the man of verse I doubt at so early a period after its introduction into England, which was only a few years before, by the seamen of Sir Francis Drake. But the general use of tobacco in this kingdom was established by Sir Walter Raleigh; who has been called the king of smokers. On this subject, the following anecdote of a domestic of that meritorious but unfortunate knight has been fabricated. Before smoking became general, Sir Walter occasionally enjoyed a pipe in his closet; but on a certain occasion, having ordered a servant to bring a jug of ale, he inadvertently forgot to lay the pipe aside, when the serving-man entered, who terrified at seeing smoke issue as he thought from the mouth, nose, and eyes of his master, in the agitation of terror, and scarcely knowing what he did, threw the liquor in his face, and ran furiously down stairs, crying fire as he went, and observing to his fellow servants, Sir Walter has studied till his brains are on fire; for I saw the smoke coming out of his nose and mouth." The The French deduce their first possession of this commodity to Monsieur Nicot; from whom its Latin name nicotrana is derived; they further add, that he was a merchant of the island of Tobago, where this large rank plant thrives luxuriantly and thus they account for its English name. The following prohibitory injunction occurs in the will of Peter Campbell, a gentleman of Derbyshire, dated October the 20th, 1616. "Now for all such of my household goods, at Darley, whereof an inventory must be taken, by my executor, my will is, that my son Roger shall have them, on this express condition, that if at any time hereafter he shall be found taking of tobacco, sufficient proof thereof being made to the satisfaction of my executor, Roger shall forfeit the said goods, and they shall on such forfeiture become the property of and be equally divided between his brothers and sisters." But in spite of the opposition of prejudice, the ties of interest, the calls of health, and its inconsistency with decorous manners and a correct taste, the use of this extraordinary Indian vegetable is general in all ages, ranks and sexes, not only on the con tinent and in the islands of Europe, but in Turkey, Russia, Siberia, Tartary, China, Japan, Hindostan, Persia, Africa and America. The Chinese, apparently determined in every instance to perplex or set at defiance European chronology, that singular people insist that the smoking and chewing of tobacco has been common in that vast empire for more than six hundred years. But although its general and indiscriminate use has been condemned by medical men, particularly in thin, hectic, irritable and feverish habits, "considerable advantage is said to have been derived from it in corpulent, phlegmatic, gross habits, in persons of pendulous forms, great eaters and foul feeders, and in asthmatic affections originating from infarctions of the lungs; in nervous pains of the head, and in certain tooth-aches, where the miserable patient has had half his teeth drawn, without effect, snuff-taking has produced wonderful relief.” With respect to the last mentioned custom, persons who have long adopted it will do well to be cautious in desisting from its use abruptly, as some have imprudently done, and have by this means produced irrecoverable blindness. Few |