ages, and draw off humours; but its
virtues may be more justly attributed to its _condensing_ the
spirits."[43] "It is a good companion," says Howell, "to one that
converseth with dead men, for if one hath bin poring long upon a book,
or is toiled with the pen, or stupified with study, it quickeneth him,
and dispels those clouds that usually oreset the brain. The smoke of it
is one of the wholesomest sents that is against all contagious airs, for
it oremasters all other smells; as _King James_ they say found true,
when being once a hunting, a showr of rain drave him into a pigsty for
shelter, where he caused a pipe full to be taken of purpose."[44] It
were easy to multiply quotations both in prose and verse, but it is to
the latter, most especially, that we must look for the most glowing
ascriptions--to poetry which has ever delighted.[45]

"To sing the praises of that glorious weed--
Dear to mankind, whate'er his race, his creed,
Condition, colour, dwelling, or degree!
From Zembla's snows to parched Arabia's sands,
Loved by all lips, and common to all hands!
Hail sole cosmopolite, tobacco, hail!
Shag, long-cut, short-cut, pig-tail, quid, or roll,
Dark Negrohead, or Orinooka pale,
In every form congenial to the soul."

Before we proceed to consider the use of tobacco as a habit, which
modern physicians are pleased to consider so pestiferous and baleful,
let us attend for a few moments to what has been said concerning its
culture and manufacture. Mr. Jefferson, in his Notes, says that its
culture is productive of infinite wretchedness; that it is found easier
to make 100 bushels of wheat than 1000 pounds of tobacco, and that they
are worth more when made.[46] Davies, in his History of the Carriby
Islands, after giving an account of the culture and preparation of
tobacco, adds, "that if the people of Europe who are so fond of it, had
themselves seen the poor servants and slaves who are employed about this
painful work, exposed the greatest part of the day to the scorching heat
of the sun, and spending one half of the night in reducing it to that
posture wherein it is transported into Europe; no doubt they would have
a greater esteem for, and think much more precious that herb which is
procured with the sweat and labours of so many miserable creatures."[47]

Numerous medical writers, of the justest celebrity, have assured us,
that endless and dreadful evils are the portion of all who