BY ISAAC HAWKINS BROWN, ESQ.

Pretty tube of mighty power!
Charmer of an idle hour;
Object of my hot desire,
Lip of wax and eye of fire;
And thy snowy taper waist,
With my fingers gently brac’d;
And thy lovely swelling crest,
With my bended stopper prest;
And the sweetest bliss of blisses,
Breathing from thy balmy kisses;
Happy thrice and thrice agen—
Happiest he of happy men!

Who, when again the night returns,
When again the taper burns;
When again the crickets gay,
Little crickets full of play;
Can afford his tube to feed,
With the fragrant Indian weed;
Pleasure for a nose divine,
Incense of the god of wine!
Happy thrice and thrice agen—
Happiest he of happy men!

MY LAST CIGAR.

The mighty Thebes, and Babylon the great,
Imperial Rome, in turn, have bowed to fate;
So this great world, and each ‘particular star’,
Must all burn out, like you, my last cigar:
A puff—a transient fire, that ends in smoke,
And all that’s given to man—that bitter joke—
Youth, Hope, and Love, three whiffs of passing zest,
Then come the ashes, and the long, long, rest.

A REVIEW OF THE LAWS AND REGULATIONS CONCERNING TOBACCO.

During the reign of Elizabeth, a facility had been afforded to the dissemination of tobacco, that was soon destined to receive a check, on the accession of her successor, James the First, to the throne. This arose from a prejudice, that, with many others, rendered this weak and vacillating monarch remarkable. Whether it arose, as many have supposed, from his dislike to Sir Walter Raleigh, so despicably and cruelly shown, and that the source of his peculiar feelings turned with bitterness to the plant of that great man’s adoption, can only be left to the imagination to decide; but that he exerted all the powers of his mind for its entire suppression, is certain.

In the first place, the importation duty had been, up to this period, but 2d. per lb., and this, by the first law James passed, was increased to 6s. 10d., thus adding the comparatively enormous sum of 6s. 8d. to the previously existing trifle. In consequence of this, nearly a stagnation of the trade took place; and Stith informs us, that so low was it reduced in 1611, that only 142,085 lbs. weight were imported from Virginia, not amounting to one-sixth of the previous annual supply.

One of two things now only remained to be done, as the traders could have no interest to gratify in shipping it under the existing law; they were either compelled to give it up or cultivate it at home. The latter alternative was adopted, and till the year 1620, the tobacco-plant was cultivated to a very considerable extent. But the obduracy of its royal enemy was not to be so eluded, an act was passed especially prohibiting its culture at home. The crisis of the plant’s fate seemed now to approach. Determining on the other hand, not to forfeit an indulgence, that habit in a great degree had made necessary, it was examined and found in the reading of the act made in 1604, that though it particularly provided 6s. 10d. duty should be levied on all tobacco from Virginia, no mention was made of its importation from any other colony.