The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-08-25
TAKING SNUFF.
A CUSTOM ONCE GENERAL NOW
DYING OUT.
Distinguished People Who Were AID.
dictcd to Snuff-Taking-A Sena-
torial Snun.Box-A Dandy's
Stock Of Snuffs.

torial Snun.Box-A Dandy's
Stock Of Snuffs.
"Snuff.taking is not much INDUCED in
nowadays" said tobacconist to the Her.
aid scribe, 'though we keep snuff on
hand and have q fair custom for it. OuI
colored sisters buy it quite generally for
rubbing, and there are q good many
white women in Chicago who are vota.
ries of that habit. The principal snuff
takers are Old or elderly people, who
stick to the habits and fashions of thci..
youth. Some ofonr young swclls carry
snutf-box and take pinch by way OF
humorous bravado, but snuff.taking as a
fashion has long since passed away"
Time was when it was universal Gus
tom. Washington indu'ged his fine
Roman nose with the titillating pleasure.
Hamilton, who carried his nose in the
air, as the French say, took snuff. and
his rival, Burr, could give pinch OF
take pinch with a grace which was
peculiarly his own. jefferson snutfed
enormously, as his waistcoat and shirt
front showed. DR.. johnson and Freoer.
ick the Great were alike in one thing:
they could not bear snuff.box, but car
ried the article loose in the capacious
pockets of their waistcoats, thence car.
rying it in great palmfuls to their noses.
Henry Clay was noted for the grace
with which he could take pinch OF
snuff Once, in the midst of an argu-
ment be 'ore the Supreme Court Of the
United States, he noticed one of the
Judges producing his snuff-box. Step
ping up to the bench he took pinch
from the open box, and, after enjoying it
q moment, said: II perceive your Honor
sticks to the Scotch" then resumed his
argument. Choate once said, as reported
in Parker's "reminiscences, that lie had
seen Clay in the middle of speech in
the Senate completely fabbergasted for
want of pinch of snuff. He further
added that it was the only stimulus he
ever knew him to use. 1t is more Of
fancy than fashion r"ET; IN the United
States Senate. but number of our grave
aud reverend seigniors occasionally take
q pinch, and it is well known there IS q
Vice-Presidential snuf"box, free for all.
Napoleon was prodigious snuff-taker,
10 was Wellington. In fact, the habit
nas been confined to no country or c.ass.
High and low have partakcn habitually OF
The fragrant pinch. Pope and Swift, Ad-
olson, Bolingbroke and Congreve we've
all among its devotees, and So were their
footmen and kitchen maids. In Ireland
it was called sn1utchin, and so far did Pat
carry his love of it that it was the Gus
tom, when wake was on, to put plate
full of snuff upon the body Of the dead
man or woman, from which each guest
was expected to take pinch upon being
introduced to the corpse. An old Scotch
lady, of snuf-loving b. bits, provided IN
her will that instead of flowers her
body should be covered with the best
Scotch snuff. Six raen, the greatest
snuff takers in. the parish, were to carry
her to the grave. She selected half
dozen old maids to walk in procession,
and they were to be supplied with boxes
of snuff wherewith to refresh themselves
on the road. The thre shold of the house
where she died was to be strewn with
two bushels of snuff, and with every
legacy she bequeathed also one pound OF
the grand cordial of nature.
Beau Brummell and the Prince Regent
pridcd themselves on their snuff-boxes,
and upon the graceful manner with which
they could open the box with the left
hand only. One of the dandies OF the
time boosted of stock of snuffs worth
e3, 600, while his collection of boxes was
something wonderful-a different box
for every day in the year. The ingenu-
ity of maker and artist was taxed in de-
vising new forms and designs for snuff
boxes, and at one tims there was craze
for collecting them, Just as in our times
d lettant; collect old china, vases, and Or
chids. At fashionable dinner parties
after the removal of The cloth there was
often a good deal Of snuff gossip, and
boxes were handed around, and
pinches were interchanged.
At the coronation of George ~. the
coronation gifts were snuf-boxes, and
were given away to the value of $4,000,
or $40, 1000. From the time of Queen
Anne down to times quite recent the
masculine nose had no monopoly Of the
piouant powder. No one could be fine
lady without snuff-box.
She that with pure tobacco will not prime
Her nose can be no lady of the time,
wrote one of the WITS. Snuff was SOW
ereign remedy for fashionable feminine
ailments:
One piuch Of snuff relieved the vapored
head,
Removed the spleen, removed the qualrnish
fit,
And gave br:sker tone to female wit.
Garrick presented his wife with a gold
snuff-box. Queen Charlotte snuhed.
Charles Lamb did not object to his sister
following the mode, because he thought
it decent to see an old maid taking
snuff. So late as 1880 SNUFF was some
thing which almost every well-bred man
presented to every woman. But its ca
reer in the world of fashion sooa after
ceased - Chicd00 Herald.