February 6.
Collop Monday. See vol. i. p. 241.
The Season and Smoking.
At this time, Dr. Forster says that people should guard against colds, and, above all, against the contagion of typhus and other fevers, which are apt to prevail in the early spring. “Smoking tobacco,” he observes, “is a very salutary practice in general, as well as being a preventive against infection in particular. The German pipes are the best, and get better as they are used, particularly those made of merschaum, called Ecume de Mer. Next to these, the Turkey pipes, with long tubes, are to be recommended; but these are fitter for summer smoking, under the shade of trees, than for the fireside. The best tobacco is the Turkey, the Persian, and what is called Dutch canaster. Smoking is a custom which should be recommended in the close cottages of the poor, and in great populous towns liable to contagion.”
The Rule of Health.
Rise early, and, take exercise in plenty,
But always take it with your stomach empty.
After your meals sit still and rest awhile,
And with your pipe a careless hour beguile.
To rise at light or five, breakfast at nine,
Lounge till eleven, and at five to dine,
To drink and smoke till seven, the time of tea,
And then to dance or walk two hours away
Till ten o’clock,—good hour to go to nest,
Till the next cock shall wake you from your rest.
On the virtues of tobacco its users enhance with mighty eloquence, and puff it bravely.
In praise of Tobacco.
Much food doth gluttony procure to feed men fat like swine,
But he’s a frugal man indeed who on a leaf can dine.
He needs no napkin for his hands, his finger ends to wipe,
Who has his kitchen in a box, his roast-meat in a pipe.