"The custom of smoking is of much greater antiquity in Ireland than the introduction of tobacco into Europe. Smoking pipes made of bronze are frequently found in our Irish tumuli, or sepulchral mounds, of the most remote antiquity; and similar pipes, made of baked clay, are discovered daily in all parts of the island. A curious instance of the bathos in sculpture, which also illustrates the antiquity of this custom, occurs on the monument of Donogh O'Brien, king of Thomond, who was killed in 1267, and interred in the Abbey of Corcumrac, in the co. of Clare, of which his family were the founders. He is represented in the usual recumbent posture, with the short pipe or dudeen of the Irish in his mouth."
In the Anthologia Hibernica for May 1793, vol. i. p. 352., we have some remarks on the antiquity of smoking "among the German and Northern nations," who, the writer says, "were clearly acquainted with, and cultivated tobacco, which they smoked through wooden and earthen tubes." He refers to Herod. lib. i. sec. 36.; Strabo, lib. vii. 296.; Pomp. Mela 2, and Solinus, c. 15.
Wherever we go, we see smoking so universal a practice, and people "taking to it so naturally," that we are inclined to believe that it was always so; that our first father enjoyed a quiet puff now and then; (that, like a poet, man "nascitur non fit" a smoker); and that the soothing power of this narcotic tranquillised the soul of the aquatic patriarch, disturbed by the roar of billows and the convulsions of nature, and diffused its peaceful influence over the inmates of the ark. Yes, we are tempted to spurn the question, When and where was smoking introduced? as being equal to When and where was man introduced? Yet, as some do not consider man as a smoking animal "de natu et ab initio," the question may provoke some interesting replies from your learned correspondents.
Jarltzberg.
SIR GREGORY NORTON, BART.
I am desirous to be informed of the date and particulars of the above baronetcy having been created. In The Mystery of the good old Cause briefly unfolded (1660), it is stated, at p. 26., that Sir Gregory Norton, Bart. (one of the king's judges), had Richmond House, situated in the Old Park, and much of the king's goods, for an inconsiderable value. Sir Gregory Norton has a place also in The Loyal Martyrology of Winstanley (1665), p. 130.; and also in History of the King-killers (1719), part 6. p. 75. It is unnecessary to refer to Noble's Regicides, he having simply copied the two preceding works. Sir Gregory died before the Restoration, in 1652, and escaped the vindictive executions which ensued, and was buried at Richmond in Surrey. There was a Sir Richard Norton, Bart., of Rotherfield, Hants (Query Rotherfield, Sussex, near Tunbridge Wells), who is mentioned by Sylvanus Morgan in his Sphere of Gentry; but he does not record a Sir Gregory. Nor does the latter occur in a perfect collection of the knights made by King James I., by J.P. (Query John Philipot?), London, Humphrey Moseley, 1660, 8vo. I have examined all the various works on extinct and dormant baronetcies ineffectually. In the Mercurius Publicus of Thursday, 28th June, 1660, it appears that on the preceding Saturday the House of Commons settled the manor of Richmond, with house and materials, purchased by Sir Gregory Norton, Bart., on the queen (Henrietta Maria) as part of her jointure.
D.N.