PREFACE.
This is an age of anthologies. Collections of poetry covering a wide range of subjects have appeared of late, and seem to have met with favor and approval. Not to the busy man only, but to the student of literature such compilations are of value. It is sometimes objected that they tend to discourage wide reading and original research; but the overwhelming flood of books would seem to make them a necessity. Unless one has the rare gift of being able to sprint through a book, as Andrew Lang says Mr. Gladstone does, it is surely well to make use of the labors of the industrious compiler. Such collections are often the result of wide reading and patient labor. Frequently the larger part is made up of single poems, the happy and perhaps only inspiration of the writer, gleaned from the poet's corner of the newspaper or the pages of a magazine. This is specially true of the present compilation, the first on the subject aiming at anything like completeness. Brief collections of prose and poetry combined have already been published; but so much of value has been omitted that there seemed to be room for a better book. A vast amount has been written in praise of tobacco, much of it commonplace or lacking in poetic quality. While some of the verse here gathered is an obvious echo, or passes into unmistakable parody, it has been the aim of the compiler to maintain, as far as possible, a high standard and include only the best. From the days of Raleigh to the present time, literature abounds in allusions to tobacco. The Elizabethan writers constantly refer to it, often in praise though sometimes in condemnation. The incoming of the "Indian weed" created a great furore, and scarcely any other of the New World discoveries was talked about so much. Ben Jonson, Marlowe, Fletcher, Spenser, Dekker, and many other of the poets and dramatists of the time, make frequent reference to it; and no doubt at the Mermaid tavern, pipes and tobacco found a place beside the sack and ale. Singular to say, Shakespeare makes no reference to it; and only once in his essay "Of Plantations," as far as the compiler has been able to discover, does Bacon speak of it. Shakespeare's silence has been explained on the theory that he could not introduce any reference to the newly discovered plant without anachronism; but he did not often let a little thing of this kind stand in his way. It has been suggested, on the other hand, that he avoided all reference to it out of deference to King James I., who wrote the famous "Counterblast." Whichever theory is correct, the fact remains, and it may be an interesting contribution to the Bacon-Shakespeare controversy. Queen Elizabeth never showed any hostility to tobacco; but her successors, James I. and the two Charleses, and Cromwell were its bitter opponents. Notwithstanding its enemies, who just as fiercely opposed the introduction of tea and coffee, its use spread over Europe and the world, and prince and peasant alike yielded to its mild but irresistible sway. Poets and philosophers drew solace and inspiration from the pipe. Milton, Addison, Fielding, Hobbes, and Newton were all smokers. It is said Newton was smoking under a tree in his garden when the historic apple fell. Scott, Campbell, Byron, Hood, and Lamb all smoked, and Carlyle and Tennyson were rarely without a pipe in their mouths. The great novelists, Thackeray, Dickens, and Bulwer were famous smokers; and so were the great soldiers, Napoleon, Blücher, and Grant. While nearly all the poems here gathered together were written, and perhaps could only have been written, by smokers, several among the best are the work of authors who never use the weed,—one by a man, two or three by women. Among the more recent writers there has been no more devoted smoker than Mr. Lowell, as his recently published letters testify. Three of the most delightful poems in praise of smoking are his, and with Mr. Aldrich's charming "Latakia" are the gems of the collection. The compiler desires to express his grateful acknowledgments to friends who have permitted him to use their work and have otherwise aided him from time to time; and to the many unknown authors whose poems are here gathered, and whom it was quite impossible to reach; and to Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin, & Company, Harper & Brothers, The Bowen-Merrill Company, and the publishers of "Outlook," for their gracious permission to include copyrighted poems.
J.K.
BOSTON, July, 1894.
CONTENTS.
A.
PAGE
Acrostic J.H. [44]
Ad Nicotina E.N.S. [118]
Another Match Cope's Tobacco Plant [45]
Ashes De Witt Sterry [47]
B.
Bachelor's Invocation, A Pall Mall Gazette [182]
Bachelor's Views, A Tom Hall [177]
Bachelor's Soliloquy Cigar and Tobacco World [95]
Ballad of the Pipe, The Hermann Rave [69]
Ballade of Tobacco, The Brander Matthews [54]
Betrothed, The Rudyard Kipling [108]
Brief Puff of Smoke, A Selim [19]
C.
Cannon Song H.P. Peck [85]
Chibouque Francis S. Saltus [173]
Choosing a wife by a Pipe of Tobacco Gentleman's Magazine [48]
Cigar, The Thomas Hood [153]
Cigarette Rings J. Ashby-Sterry [147]
Cigars and Beer George Arnold [166]
Clouds Bauernfeld [52]
Confession of a Cigar Smoker Anon. [158]
D.
Discovery of Tobacco Cigar and Tobacco World [64]
Dreamer's Pipe, The New Orleans Times Democrat [96]
Duet, The Ella Wheeler Wilcox [174]
E.
Edifying Reflections of a Tobacco Smoker Translated from the German [58]
Effusion by a Cigar Smoker Horace Smith [167]
Encomium on Tobacco, An Anon. [36]
Epitaph Anon. [17]
F.
Farewell to Tobacco, A Charles Lamb [100]
Farmer's Pipe, The George Cooper [7]
Forsaken of all comforts Sir Robert Ayton [140]
Free Puff, A Arthur Irving Gray [121]
Friend of my youth Anon. [164]
G.
Geordie to his Tobacco Pipe George S. Phillips [25]
Glass is Good, A John O'Keefe [94]
Good Cigar, A Norris Bull [93]
H.
Happy Smoking Ground, The Richard Le Gallienne [145]
Her Brother's Cigarette Anon. [79]
He Respondeth Life [55]
How it Once Was New York Sun [78]
I.
If I were King W.E. Henley [171]
I like Cigars Ella Wheeler Wilcox [121]
In Favor of Tobacco Samuel Rowlands [52]
Ingin Summer Eva Wilder McGlasson [57]
Inscription for a Tobacco Jar Cope's Tobacco Plant [12]
In Rotten Row W.E. Henley [174]
In the ol' Tobacker Patch S.Q. Lapius [80]
In the smoke of my dear cigarito Camilla K. von K. [92]
Invocation to Tobacco Henry James Mellen [31]
In wreaths of Smoke Frank Newton Holman [46]
It may be Weeds Anon. [23]
K.
"Keats took Snuff" The Globe [68]
Knickerbocker Austin Dobson [63]
L.
Last Pipe, The London Spectator [12]
Latakia T.B. Aldrich [142]
Latest Comfort, The F.W. Littleton Hay [157]
Loss, A Judy [128]
Lost Lotus, The Anon. [60]
M.
Mæcenas Bids his Friend to Dine Anon. [81]
Meerschaum Wrongfellow [119]
Motto for a Tobacco Jar Anon. [12]
My After-Dinner Cloud Henry S. Leigh [143]
My Cigar Arthur W. Gundry [2]
My Cigarette Richard Barnard [52]
My Cigarette Charles F. Lummis [113]
My Cigarette Tom Hall [176]
My Friendly Pipe Detroit Tribune [94]
My Little Brown Pipe Amelia E. Barr [138]
My Meerschaum Pipe Johnson M. Mundy [123]
My Meerschaums Charles F. Lummis [131]
My Pipe German Smoking Song [7]
My Pipe and I Elton J. Buckley [106]
My Three Loves Henry S. Leigh [50]
O.
Ode of Thanks, A James Russell Lowell [33]
Ode to My Pipe Andrew Wynter [14]
Ode to Tobacco Daniel Webster [95]
Ode to Tobacco C.S. Calverly [134]
Old Clay Pipe, The A.B. Van Fleet [71]
Old Pipe of Mine John J. Gormley [83]
Old Sweetheart of Mine, An James Whitcomb Riley [165]
On a Broken Pipe Anon. [112]
On a Tobacco Jar Bernard Barker [38]
On Receipt of a Rare Pipe W.H.B. [135]
P.
Patriotic Smoker's Lament St. James Gazette [41]
Pernicious Weed William Cowper [73]
Pipe and Tobacco German Folk Song [156]
Pipe Critic, The Walter Littlefield [115]
Pipe of Tobacco, A John Usher [15]
Pipe of Tobacco, A Henry Fielding [163]
Pipes and Beer Edgar Fawcett [178]
Pipe you make Yourself, The Henry E. Brown [172]
Poet's Pipe, The Charles Baudelaire [2]
Pot and a Pipe of Tobacco, A Universal Songster [169]
S.
Scent of a good Cigar, The Kate A. Carrington [61]
Seasonable Sweets C. [23]
Sic Transit W.B. Anderson [108]
Sir Walter Raleigh! name of worth Anon. [158]
Smoke and Chess Samuel W. Duffield [10]
Smoke is the Food of Lovers Jacob Cats [51]
Smoker's Reverie, The Anon. [17]
Smoker's Calendar, The Anon. [159]
Smoke Traveller, The Irving Browne #74
Smoking Away Francis Miles Finch [98]
Smoking Song Anon. [77]
Smoking Spiritualized Ralph Erskine [148]
Song of the Smoke-Wreaths L.T.A. [9]
Song without a Name, A W. Lloyd [117]
Sublime Tobacco Lord Byron [97]
Sweet Smoking Pipe Anon. [146]
Symphony in Smoke, A Harper's Bazaar [22]
T.
Those Ashes R.K. Munkittrick [130]
Titlepage Dedication Anon. [44]
To an Old Pipe De Witt Sterry [43]
To a Pipe of Tobacco Gentleman's Magazine [91]
Tobacco George Wither [86]
Tobacco Thomas Jones [151]
Tobacco is an Indian Weed From "Pills to Purge Melancholy" [150]
Tobacco, some say Anon. [164]
To C.F. Bradford James Russell Lowell [5]
To My Cigar Charles Sprague [62]
To My Cigar Friedrich Marc [165]
To My Meerschaum P.D.R. [82]
Too Great a Sacrifice Anon. [90]
To see her Pipe Awry C.F. [55]
To the Rev. Mr. Newton William Cowper [126]
To the Tobacco Pipe The Meteor, London [39]
True Leucothoë, The Anon. [129]
'Twas off the Blue Canaries Joseph Warren Fabens [140]
Two other Hearts London Tobacco [73]
V.
Valentine, A Anon. [113]
Virginia's kingly Plant Anon. [87]
Virginia Tobacco Stanley Gregson [31]
W.
Warning, A Arthur Lovell [124]
What I Like H.L. [131]
Winter Evening Hymn to My Fire, A James Russell Lowell [105]
With Pipe and Book Richard Le Gallienne [1]