ooked round on the party, my eyes dazzled by the
candles which had been lighted in the interim. By way of relieving my
embarrassment one of the gentlemen began the conversation with 'Have
you seen a paper to-day, Mr. Coleridge?' 'Sir,' I replied, rubbing my
eyes, 'I am far from convinced that a Christian is permitted to read
either newspapers or any other works of merely political and temporary
interest.' This remark, so ludicrously inapposite to, or rather,
incongruous with, the purpose for which I was known to have visited
Birmingham, and to assist me in which they were all met, produced an
involuntary and general burst of laughter; and seldom indeed have I
passed so many delightful hours as I enjoyed in that room from the
moment of that laugh till an early hour the next morning."

All's well that ends well; but one cannot help wondering what kind of
tobacco it was that the Birmingham tradesman used, a half pipeful of
which had such a deadly effect--but perhaps the effect was due to the
salt, not to the tobacco.

In the year after that which witnessed Coleridge's adventure, _i.e._
in 1796, a tobacco-box with a history was the subject of a legal
decision. This box, made of common horn and small enough to be
carried in the pocket, was bought for fourpence by an overseer of the
poor in the time of Queen Anne, and was presented by him in 1713 to
the Society of Past Overseers of the parish of St. Margaret,
Westminster. In 1720 the Society, in memory of the donor, ornamented
the lid with a silver rim; and at intervals thereafter additions were
made to an extraordinary extent to the box and its casings. Hogarth
engraved within the lid in 1746 a bust of the victor of Culloden.
Gradually the horn box was enshrined within one case after
another--usually silver lined with velvet--each case bearing inscribed
plates commemorating persons or events. A Past Overseer who detained
the box in 1793 had to give it back after three years of litigation. A
case of octagon shape records the triumph of Justice, and Lord
Chancellor Loughborough pronouncing his decree for the restitution of
the box on March 5, 1796. In later days many and various additions
have been made to the many coverings of the box, recording public
events of interest.

Notwithstanding the unfashionableness of tobacco, there were still
some noteworthy smokers to be found among the clergy. Dr. Sumner, head
master of Harrow, who died in 1771, was devoted to his pipe. The