COWPER AND TOBACCO SMOKING.
The following genial and characteristic letter from the poet, having escaped the research of the Rev. T. S. Grimshaw, may be thought worthy of transference from the scarce and ephemeral brochure in which it has, as far as I am aware, alone appeared, to your more permanent and attainable repertory. The little work alluded to is entitled Convivialia et Saltatoria, or a few Thoughts upon Feasting and Dancing, a poem in two parts, &c., by G. Orchestikos: London, printed for the author, 1800, pp. 62. At page 39 will be found
"Nicotiana: a Poetical Epistle in praise of Tobacco; intended as a refutation of the ill-founded remarks of William Cowper, Esq. respecting this plant, in his elegant poem on Conversation. By Phil. Nicot.
"The man I pity who abhors the fume
Of fine Virginia floating in his room;
For, truly may Tobacco be defined,
A Plant preserving Health and Peace of mind.
1800."
Next follows the poem, dedicated "To the Tobacconists in general of England and its colonies," and consisting of some 350 lines, concluding with the following:
"Now by way of a Postscript, for I cannot conclude
Without once more entreating, that you'll be so good
As to favour me with an Epistle, and soon,
Which in my estimation will be such a boon
That I'll carefully keep it; and dying, take care
To enjoin like Respect from my Son or my Heir;
And lest He should forget its great Value to ask,
Shall say,
It was wrote by the Hand, that first wrote out the Task:
No more I need mention, its Worth will appear,
And be kept as a Relic I justly hold dear."
Next comes the poet's kindly response:
"Dear Sir,
"It is not in my power to send you an epistle that will entitle itself to any of the honours which you are so good as to promise to one from me. My time is not my own, but is partly engaged in attendance on a dear friend, who has long been in a very helpless state, and partly to the performance of what I owe to the public, a new edition of my Homer, and also of the poetical works of Milton.
"With these labours in hand, together with the common avocations incident to everybody, it is hardly possible that I should have opportunities for writing letters. In fact, I am in debt to most of my friends, and to many of them have been long in debt, whose claims upon me are founded in friendship of long standing. To this cause you will be so good as to ascribe it, that I have not sooner thanked you for your humorous and pleasant contest with me on the subject of Tobacco; a contest in which I have not, at present, leisure to exercise myself, otherwise I am hardy enough to flatter myself, that I could take off the force of some of your arguments.
"Should you execute your design of publishing what you have favoured me with a sight of, I heartily wish success to your muse militant, and that your reward may be—many a pleasant pipe supplied by the profits of your labours.
"Being in haste, I can add no more, except that I am, with respect, and a due sense of the honour you do me,
Your obliged, &c.,
William Cowper.
Weston-Underwood,
Oct. 4, 1793."
I hope that the above will be interesting to your Nicotian readers, and not trespass too far upon your valuable space.
William Bates.
Birmingham.
Snuff and Tobacco.—It is perhaps not generally known that the custom of taking snuff is of Irish origin. In a "Natural History of Tobacco," in the Harleian Misc., i. 535., we are told that—
"The Virginians were observed to have pipes of clay before ever the English came there; and from those barbarians we Europeans have borrowed our mode and fashion of smoking.... The Irishmen do most commonly powder their tobacco, and snuff it up their nostrils, which some of our Englishmen do, who often chew and swallow it."
That the clay pipe was the original smoking apparatus in England, is evident from the following lines in Skelton's Eleanor Rummin. After lamenting the knavery of that age compared with King Harry's time, he continues:
"Nor did that time know,
To puff and to blow,
In a peece of white clay,
As you do at this day,
With fier and coale,
And a leafe in a hole," &c.
These lines are from an edition of 1624, printed in the Harl. Misc., i. 415. Skelton died in 1529, and according to the generally received accounts, tobacco was not introduced into this country till 1565, or thereabouts; so the lines cannot be Skelton's. They are part of an introduction to the tale of Eleanor Rummin. Is the author known?
Erica.
Warwick.