But even so early as 1639, Thomas Bancroft had printed, (written thirteen years before) in his First Booke of Epigrammes, the following,
ON TOBACCO TAKING.
The Old Germans, that their Divinations made
From Asses heads upon hot embers laid,
Saw they but now what frequent fumes arise
From such dull heads, what could they prophetize
But speedy firing of this worldly frame,
That seemes to stinke for feare of such a flame.
(Two Bookes of Epigrammes, No. 183, sign. E 3.)
We need merely refer to other Epigrams On Tobacco, as “Time’s great consumer, cause of idlenesse,” and “Nature’s Idea,” &c., in Wit’s Recreations, 1640-5, because they are accessible in the recent Reprint (would that it, Wit Restored and Musarum Deliciæ had been carefully edited, as they deserved and needed to be; but even the literal reprint of different issues jumbled together pell-mell is of temporary service): see vol. ii., pp. 45, 38; and 96, 97, 139, 161, 227, 271. Also p. 430, for the “Tryumph of Tobacco over Sack and Ale,” attributed to F. Beaumont, (if so, then before 1616) telling