the following account of some of
the well-known snuffs and the method of manufacturing:--

"For the famous fancy snuff known as Maroco, the recipe is
to take forty parts of French or St. Omer tobacco, with
twenty parts of fermented Virginia stalks in powder; the
whole to be ground and sifted. To this powder must be added
two pounds and a half of rose leaves in fine powder; and the
whole must be moistened with salt and water and thoroughly
incorporated. After that it must be 'worked up' with cream
and salts of tartar, and packed in lead to preserve its
delicate aroma. The celebrated 'gros grain Paris snuff' is
composed of equal parts of Amersfoort and James River
tobacco, and the scent is imported by a 'sauce,' among the
ingredients of which are salt, soda, tamarinds, red wine,
syrup, cognac, and cream of tartar."

The mode of manufacture of snuff now is far different than that
employed in the Seventeenth Century. Then the leaves were simply dried
and made fine by rubbing them together in the hands, or ground in some
rude mill; still later the tobacco was washed or cleansed in water,
dried, and then ground. Now, however, the tobacco undergoes quite a
process, and must be kept packed several months before it is ground
into snuff. One of the most celebrated manufacturers of snuff was
James Gillespie, of Edinburgh, who compounded the famous variety
bearing his name. The following account of him we take from "The
Tobacco Plant:"--

[Illustration: James Gillespie.]

"In the High Street of Edinburgh, a little east from the
place where formerly stood the Cross,--

"'Dun-Edin's Cross, a pillar'd stone,
Rose on a turret octagon,'

was situated the shop of James Gillespie, the celebrated
snuff manufacturer. The shop is still occupied by a
tobacconist, whose sign is the head of a typical negro, and
in one of the windows is exhibited the effigy of a
Highlander, who is evidently a competent judge of
'sneeshin.' Not much is known regarding the personal history
of James Gillespie, but it is understood that he was born
shortly after the Jacobite rebellion of 1715, at Roslin, a
picturesque village about six miles from Edinburgh. He
became a tobacconist in Edinburgh, along with his brother
John, and by the exercise of steady industry and frugality,
he was enabled to purchas