——:o:——
THE INDIAN WEED.
Many versions exist of the following very old song, and the history of it is somewhat contradictory and confusing. It has been ascribed to George Wither (1588-1667), and was originally published in 1631, in a volume entitled The Soules Solace, by Thomas Jenner. Another version was printed in 1672 in “Two Broadsides against Tobacco.”
One version commenced with the following stanza:
Why should we so much despise
So good and sweet an exercise
As, early and late, to meditate?
Thus think, and drink tobacco.[26]
The most usually accepted version runs as follows:—
The Indian weed withered quite,