Portuguese snuff seemed to be in favor and was delicately perfumed. It was made from the fibres of the leaves, and was considered among many to be the finest kind of the "pungent dust." Some varieties of snuff were named after the scents employed in flavoring them. In France many kinds became popular from the fact of their use at court, and by the courtiers throughout the kingdom. Pope notes the use of the snuff-box by the fops and courtiers of his time in this manner:—
"Sir Plume of amber snuff-box justly vain,
And the nice conduct of a clouded cane;
With earnest eyes, and round, unthinking face,
He first the snuff-box open'd, then the case."
The mode of "tapping the box" before opening was characteristic of the beaux and fops of this period, and is commented on in a poem on snuff:—
"The lawyer so grave, when he opens his case,
In obscurity finds it is hid,
Till the bright glass of knowledge illumines his face,
As he gives the three taps on the lid."
Spain, Portugal, and France early in the Seventeenth Century became noted as the producers of the finest kinds of snuff. In Spain and Portugal it was the favorite mode of using tobacco, and rare kinds were compounded and sold at enormous prices. Its use in France by the fair sex is thus commented on by a French writer:—
Demi-journées.
"Everything in France depends upon la mode; and it has pleased la mode to patronize this disgusting custom, and carry about with them small boxes which they term demi-journées."
The most expensive materials were employed in the manufacture of snuff-boxes, such as agate, mosaics, and all kinds of rare wood, while many were of gold, studded with diamonds. Some kinds were made of China mounted in metal, and were very fanciful. In "Pandora's Box," a "Satyr against Snuff," 1719, may be found the following description of the snuff-boxes then in vogue: