The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-04-02
The n Herb.

u0 HWY UsTbU
Smoking was least fashionable in
the eighteenth century. EARLY In
the nineteenth century" says q. l..
APPERsoS. /. 3. o.. in the preface to his
Social History OF smoking tPutnams),
tobacco smoking had reached Its
nadir from the social point Of view."
Then the cigar came to confer the
sanction Of elegance upon what. in the
days of the pipe. had degenerated to a
vulgar practice. "Hedged about by a
host OF restrictions and conventions"
as the twentieth century advanced
the triumphant progress OF tobacco
became more and more marked" The
introduction Of the paper cigarette
completed the work begun by the
cigar: barriers and prejudices crum-
bled and disappeared with increasing
rapidity. until at the present day to-
bacco smoking in England"-this is
an exclusively English book-"is more
general. more continuous and more
free from conventional restrictions"
than at any time since its first 1ne
frenzy early In the seventeenth CEN
fury. To-day no doubt astronomers
OF the far planets are studying the
cnveloping haze Of earth. perhaps
they can even smell us across the
CULTS OF space.
Mi. Apperson gives credit 20 Fair
holt. 1859. and Steinme,z. 3 as au-
thori,ies "stiIl valuable" But he avs:
Hitherto no one has told the story
of the fluctuations OF fashion in re-
spect Of the practice OF smoking" Is
IL even so? AT any rate. the author.
! discardinr much Of thesc two records
means 70 confine himself IN "the
fluctuations Of fashion in respect Of
the practice Of smoking, from tho DAYS
~, Sir va,,or % ,h. doy. -, ~.
80 -. .,.. .- -
the attitude Of society toward smok-
nr" 7, would have beon interesting
10 compile an anthology OF smoke in
tho poe,s and noyelists. The hook IL a
bright. entertaining sketch Of the So
ola, yicissitudes Of tho healing herb
which is food To the empty. drink to
the dry. in~spiration To the ambitious
a comforter in sorrow. a prop in dis
tress. tho sustainer ~ manly courage.
the seed Of hone and the symbol Of
comfortable w%orIdl,ness.
Mr. ANDERSON begins with the intro.
duc,ion Of the weed into England: ne
follows tobacco through its swift and
Justly deserved triumph. the appear.
ance OF a school Of professors of smok-
ing. the indulgence Of the venial habit
nv Cavalier and Roundhead: the era
OF blasts and co~unterblasts, the de.
cline. the revival. 10 "Smoking by
Women and Smoking in Church" and
a st,dy Of tobacconists' siRns.
About 174O Isaac Hawkins Browne
wrote the couplet.
.,t., ubs, n,,.. ar. h-ou,h, Aztec, 70
swoon:
They love no smoke. except the smoke OF
Town.
In those days town" rhymed prop
erly with "swoon": those were the
d.ys when gallants drank the ladies'
"tay." az Pope doth celebrate. There
was a touch Of the Irish in all the
world. and the world was happier.
The rhymos,er had sarcasm: feminine
d~is,astc for the herb is af-
fcctotion. Not AZ hanging in the lace
curtains. but in it's crisp freshness. the
ladies' love the aromatic fumes. John
Aubrey tells how Raleigh. standing
IN n stard at Sir II. Poyntz's parke at
Acton ,onke n nine Of tobacco which
made the ladies' quit IL till he had
dome, In Eliz, bethan and .Jacobean
DAYS the gallant made a practice Of
smoking in his Iady's presence
Tyrannv. or mere masculine vanity?
Queen Elizabeth. they saw. once
smoked. She did not like IL. Some Of
tho courtiers thought that Sir Walter.
who stirred her Ia mischief. had
noisoned the weed. Recovering. the
~nueen made her maids "snoke n whole
nine out among them" The aides
came tn love #. so that "they would
no, scruple Ia take a nine sometimes
v,rv sociah,y, King lanes pointed
ont that the husband nv his indul-
pencc nigh, reduce thereby his deli.
,,t, wholesome and c,eane COM
nioxior,d wife IN that extremitie. that
either shee must corrupt her sweete
health Herewith. or else resolve TO
rve IN n,rnetuall sinking torment"
Ron Jousop and other dra matists give
hints. Joshua sylvester. who hated
\icotj, sru,tered "Fooles OF All Sexes
haunt it."
Mistress Elizabeth Savage did in
lGo, yi.i, George Thresher's "Shonp
in Romfnrd" and there indulge nc.
cnrdipr ia the records in a libel ac-
tiou. in .~stronge drinke and tobacco"
., ..I.z ,,,-