midst peals of laughter from his hilarious and learned friends.

We classed Thorius's poem among the extravagant vagaries of genius; but
the more we reflect upon the subject matter of this poem, the more the
conviction fastens upon our minds, that it is by no means a trivial or
undignified topic; that considered in what light it may, tobacco must be
regarded as the most astonishing of the productions of nature, since,
although unsightly, offensive, and, perhaps, in every way pernicious, it
has, in the short period of about three centuries, subdued not one
particular nation, but the whole world, Christian and Pagan, into a
bondage more abject and irremediable than was ever known to tyranny or
superstition. Kings have forbidden it; popes have anathematized it; and
physicians have warned against it. Even ministers of the gospel have
lifted up their voices, and thundered their denunciations from the
pulpit; but all has been in vain; its use has increased, is increasing,
and will increase, as long as the earth continues to yield this
miraculous vegetable to the unnatural appetite of man.

That what is persecuted should thrive the more in consequence of
persecution, can excite no surprise in any one at all skilled in the
history of human nature; but this is altogether inadequate to account
for that preternatural eagerness with which men seek after this
wonderful plant. In fact, there appears to be some occult charm
connected with it--some invisible spirit, which, be it angel, or be it
devil, has never yet been, and perhaps never will be, satisfactorily
explained. To those who have never revelled in this habit, and
consequently can neither comprehend its nature or strength, the
hyperbolical language which most authors use when they speak of tobacco,
must appear, in an eminent degree, burlesque and overstrained.
"Tobacco," says the Anatomist of Melancholy, "divine, rare,
superexcellent tobacco, which goes far beyond all their panaceas,
potable gold, and philosophers' stones, a soveraign remedy to all
diseases--A good vomit, I confess, a vertuous herb, if it be well
qualified, opportunely taken, and medicinally used; but as it is
commonly abused by most men, which take it as tinkers do ale, 'tis a
plague, a mischief, a violent purger of goods, lands, and health;
hellish, devilish, and damned tobacco; the ruine and overthrow of body
and soul."[18] So in his valedictory to tobacco, Mr. Lamb is not less
extravagant and contradicto