Chapter 20

The annals of literature furnish abundant examples of authors, who, through wantonness, whimsicality, a desire to say something, where many could say nothing, and few could say much, or from some other impulse, (for which it were now unprofitable to search,) have adopted themes either insignificant in themselves, or repugnant to truth; subjects barren, or improbable, or laborious, or palpably absurd. Thus Homer has celebrated the battle of the Frogs and Mice; Virgil sung of Bees; Polycrates commended Tyranny; Phavorinus sets forth the praises of Injustice; and Cardan pronounced the eulogy of Nero. The Golden Ass of Apulcius is well known; Henry Cornelius Agrippa has employed his wit and learning on an elaborate "Digression in praise of the Asse." Other authors have discovered virtues and excellencies in this animal, though the generality of mankind have agreed in supposing it possessed nothing remarkable but dulness and obstinacy. Lucian exercised his genius on a fly; and Erasmus has dignified Folly in his _Encomium Moriae_, which, for the sake of the pun, he inscribed to Sir Thomas More. The subject of Michael Psellus is a Gnat; Antonius Majoragius took for his theme Clay; Julius Scaliger wrote concerning a Goose; Janus Dousa on a Shadow; and Heinsius (_horresco referens_) eulogized a Louse. This last animal elicited some fine moral verses from Burns; Libanus thought the Ox worthy of his pen; and Sextus Empiricus selected the faithful Dog. Addison composed the Battle of the Pigmies and Cranes; Rochester versified about Nothing; and Johannes Passeratius made a Latin poem on the same subject, which is quoted at full length by Dr. Johnson at the end of his Life of Rochester. The Jeffreidos were written to commemorate the perils to which Sir Jeoffrey Hudson was exposed; Sir William Jones thought Chess worthy of the epopee; and at the foot of this list of egregious triflers, we place Dr. Raphael Thorius, who wrote a much and often praised Latin poem on the Virtues of Tobacco.

Now, to most of our readers, this last theme would seem to offer fewer inducements to the poet's pen than any of those thus enumerated; and genius could scarcely have selected one, which seemed less ennobling in itself, or rather, which at once presented such palpable discouragements, from the coarse associations connected with it, and the cureless vulgarity and nauseousness with which the whole subject appears to be invested. In opposition to so many obstacles and dissuasives, this great man yielded to the impulse of his muse, and obtained an immortality to which no other action of his life would have entitled him. It is with unaffected regret that we are compelled to state, that, to procure a sight of this celebrated poem, we have ransacked our libraries without the least success. How painful is the reflection, that perhaps this work has never yet reached the United States! What a reproach to our republic, that a poem whose object was to celebrate the virtues of the most incomparable of all our native plants, should be totally unknown in that new world, with whose discovery it was nearly contemporaneous! But perhaps our Jeremiad may be premature; for in some obscure corner in Virginia, (the garden of this weed,) a copy of the poem may at this very moment exist, like unobtrusive merit, disregarded and despised. For the honour of our country, we hope this may prove true; since it may lessen the odium with which men habitually load poor republics, a name which has long been the by-word and synonime of ingratitude.

We are fully aware of the contemptuous manner in which Doctor Clarke speaks of this production, and its English translation by the Rev. W. Berwick, declaring them to be "of equal merit, and that they scarce deserve to be mentioned." But to the merit of this work we have testimony infinitely higher than the opinion of the Reverend Doctor. Thus, Howell, in his inimitable "Familiar Letters," a book which cannot be too highly commended, or too often read, says, "if you desire to read with pleasure all the virtues of this modern herb, you must read Dr. Thorius's Potologis, an accurate peece, couched in a strenuous heroic verse, and continuing its strength from first to last; insomuch that for the bignes it may be compared to any piece of antiquity, and in my opinion is beyond [Greek: Batzachomnomachia] or [Greek: Galeomnomachia]."[16] The learned Mr. Bayle speaks of the same production in very commendatory language.[17] Bayle tells an excellent story of Thorius, which, as it illustrates the character of the great tobacco poet, deserves to be read. He was extremely fond of his glass of wine, and had, beside, that hydrophobic distaste, which has been imagined essential to the true poet. Being one day seated at the dinner table, in company with the celebrated Peireskius, in the festivity of the occasion, he was urging the latter to quaff off a bumper of wine, and after the most importunate intreaties, Peireskius at last agreed to do it upon one condition, which was, that Thorius should immediately afterwards drink a bumper himself. No condition could be more acceptable, no penalty more easy; but what was the surprise and horror of Thorius, when his turn came, to find that he was called upon to drink a bumper, not of wine, but of water!--which insipid and unaccustomed beverage, after sundry efforts and awry faces, he contrived to get down, amidst 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 contradictory. The health of the poet it appears had suffered seriously from the immoderate use of tobacco, which had been in consequence interdicted by his physician. Compelled to surrender his favourite enjoyment, he vents his feelings in a very spirited "Farewell to Tobacco," which exhibits a singular mixture of opposite sentiments, and of violent struggles between his propensity to the habit and his acquiescence in the necessity which severs him from it, together with feeble attempts to curse that, without which, life to the unhappy poet seemed scarcely endurable.

"Stinking'st of the stinking kind, Filth of the mouth and fog of the mind, Africa that brags her foyson, Breeds no such prodigious poison, Henbane, nightshade, both together, Hemlock, aconite---- ----Nay, rather Plant divine, of rarest virtue; Blisters on the tongue would hurt you; 'Twas but in a sort I blamed thee, None e'er prospered who defamed thee."

But tobacco has had enemies of exalted station, whose persecution has been uniform, and whose hatred has been unmixed. Such was James the First of England, who is not less remarkable for his sagacity in discovering the gunpowder plot, and having supported the divine right of kings, than for having written a "Counterblaste to Tobacco."[19] But let the king speak for himself:--

"Tobacco," says he, "is the lively image and pattern of hell, for it hath, by allusion, all the parts and vices of the world whereby hell may be gained; to wit. 1. It is a smoke; so are all the vanities of this world. 2. It delighteth them that take it; so do all the pleasures of the world delight the men of the world. 3. It maketh men drunken and light in the head; so do all the vanities of the world, men are drunkards therewith. 4. He that taketh tobacco can not leave it; it doth bewitch him; even so the pleasures of the world make men loath to leave them; they are for the most part enchanted with them. And, farther, besides all this, it is like hell in the very substance of it, for it is a stinking loathsome thing, and so is hell."

The mythological fable which existed among the Indians as to the manner in which this plant was first bestowed upon mankind, is extremely whimsical, somewhat discreditable, and withal of such a nature as to preclude the propriety of our introducing it in this place to the acquaintance of our readers. But writers are not wanting who have carried the original of tobacco into the Grecian fabulous ages, and attributed to Bacchus the glory of having discovered and disclosed to mortals its virtues. Thorius, as Dr. Clarke tells us, very ominously ascribes the discovery and first use of this herb to Bacchus, Silenus, and the Satyrs, (drunkenness, gluttony, and lust,) and yet, continues the Doctor, with a sneer, this poem was written in praise of it. Mr. Lamb, in the poem before quoted, has the same thought, and he farther adds a belief, that the tobacco plant was the true Indian conquest for which the jolly god has been so celebrated. He moreover intimates, that the Thyrsus of that deity was afterwards ornamented with leaves of tobacco, instead of ivy. Even the name of the plant has been derived from Bacchus. This is particularly mentioned by Mr. Joseph Sylvester, quoted by Dr. Clarke, who wrote a poem on tobacco which he inscribed to Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. The title of this tirade is very quaint, viz. "Tobacco battered, and the Pipes shattered (about their Ears who idly idolize so base and barbarous a Weed; or at least-wise overlove so loathsome a Vanity) by a Volley of holy Shot from Mount Helicon."

"For even the derivation of the name Seems to allude and to include the same; Tobacco as [Greek: toBakcho] one would say To cup-god Bacchus dedicated ay."

Nor should all this appear so extraordinary, when we consider that Charlevoix, with the utmost seriousness, discusses the question, whether the calumet of the North American Indians was the same as the caduceus of Mercury.[20] It is however beyond all doubt, that tobacco has always been regarded by the Indians with religious veneration, and employed by them in all religious ceremonies. Mr. Stith informs us, that they thought this plant "of so great worth and virtue that the gods themselves were delighted with it; and therefore they sometimes made sacred fires, and instead of a sacrifice, threw in the dust of tobacco; and when they were caught in a tempest, they would sprinkle it into the air and water--upon all their new fishing nets they would cast some of it, and when they had escaped any remarkable danger, they would throw some of this dust into the air, with strange distorted gestures, sometimes striking the earth with their feet in a kind of time and measure, sometimes clapping their hands and throwing them up on high, looking towards the heavens, and uttering barbarous and dissonant words."[21]--Sir Hans Sloan tells us, also, that the Indians employ tobacco in all their enchantments, sorceries, and fortune-tellings; that their priests intoxicate themselves with the fumes, and in their ecstacies give forth ambiguous and oracular responses.[22]

A few words will now be devoted to the subject of the numerous names which have belonged to tobacco; many persons conceiving the title of any thing, to be of equal importance with the christening of a person; and surely where the etymology of a name of either person or thing can throw any light upon their respective histories, the time employed thereon can hardly be looked upon as either lost or misspent. But it unfortunately happens, as is almost always the case in regard to persons and things belonging to mythological eras, that the greatest confusion and perplexity exist in regard to the Indian titles which have been bestowed upon tobacco; and as we frankly confess ourselves utterly unversed in Occidental philology, we shall, with whatever reluctance, be obliged to omit even the mention of many appellations, whose true meaning and value have passed into obscurity, with the languages and nations from which such appellations were derived.[23]

Sir Hans Sloan informs us, that the name was originally picielt, and that tobacco was given it by the Spaniards.[24] Several authors say, that it was called by the inhabitants of the West India islands yoli--but that on the continent they gave it the name of paetum, peti, petunum, or petun.[25] Some say it was sent into Spain from Tabaco, a province of Yucatan, where it was first discovered, and from whence it takes its common name. Pourchot declares, that the Portuguese brought it into Europe from Tobago, an island in North America; but the island Tobago, says another, was never under the Portuguese dominion, and that it seems rather to have given its name to that island. The inhabitants of Hispaniola call it by the name cohiba, or pete be cenuc, and the instrument by which they smoke it tabaco, and hence, say they, it derived its name. Stith, in his History of Virginia, speaks of one Mr. Thomas Harriot,[26] a domestic of Sir Walter Ralegh, a man of learning, who was sent by Ralegh to Virginia chiefly to make observations, which were afterwards published. Now this Harriot, speaking of tobacco, says it was called, by the Indians of Virginia, uppowoc.[27] But the principal names by which this article is now known, either in common parlance or scientific discourse, are three, viz.--paetum, which seems to be its poetical title--tobacco, its vulgar and most intelligible name--and nicotiana, its scientific and botanical name; which latter we will explain more fully hereafter.[28]

The Abbot Nyssens thought it was the Devil who first introduced tobacco into Europe. We do not design to discuss so important a question, concerning which there must needs be a contrariety of opinions; but we cannot forbear to observe, that to give the Devil more than his due, is by no means new or uncommon in ecclesiastical inquiries. We have something parallel to this in the history of Hercules, though springing most probably from a very different source; for to him the ancients were wont to attribute any great action for which they could not find a certain author. We are informed that this plant was first seen smoked by the Spaniards, under Grijalva, in 1518. In 1519, the illustrious Cortez sent a specimen of it to his king, and this was the date of its introduction into Europe. Others say, one Roman Pane carried it into Spain. By the Cardinal Santa Croce it was conveyed to Italy. It should be observed, however, that the ancestors of the Cardinal already enjoyed the reputation of having brought into Italy the true cross, and the double glory which attaches to the Santa Croce family in consequence, is well described in the following Latin lines, taken from Bayle's Dictionary.[29] These verses are valuable in another respect, since they contain a full enumeration of the real or supposed virtues of the herb. They are also copied by the Reverend Dr. Clarke; and the English verses which accompany them, are by the Dr. attributed to M. de Maizeaux.--

"Nomine quae sanctae crucis herba vocatur ocellis Subvenit, et sanat plagas, et vulnera jungit, Discutit et strumas, cancrum, cancrosaque sanat Ulcera, et ambustis prodest, scabiemque repellit, Discutit et morbum cui cessit ab impete nomen, Calefacit, et siccat, stringit, mundatque, resolvit, Et dentium et ventris mulcet capitisque dolores; Subvenit antiquae tussi, stomachoque rigenti Renibus et spleni confert, ultroque, venena Dira sagittarum domat, ictibus omnibus atris Haec eadem prodest; gingivis proficit atque Conciliat somnum: nuda ossa carne revestit; Thoracis vitiis prodest, pulmonis itemque, Quae duo sic praestat, non ulla potentior herba. Hanc Sanctacrucius Prosper quum nuncius esset, Sedis Apostolicae Lusitanas missus in horas Huc adportavit Romanae ad commoda gentis, Ut proavi sanctae lignum crucis ante tulere Omnis Christiadum quo nunc respublica gaudet, Et Sanctae crucis illustris domus ipsa vocatur Corporis atque animae nostrae studiosa salutis."

We subjoin the following "faithful but inelegant translation," which is given by M. de Maizeaux in his translation of Bayle.

"The herb which borrows Santa Croce's name Sore eyes relieves, and healeth wounds; the same Discusses the king's evil, and removes Cancers and boils; a remedy it proves For burns and scalds, repels the nauseous itch, And straight recovers from convulsion fits. It cleanses, dries, binds up, and maketh warm; The head-ach, tooth-ach, colic, like a charm It easeth soon; an ancient cough relieves, And to the reins and milt, and stomach gives Quick riddance from the pains which each endures; Next the dire wounds of poisoned arrows cures; All bruises heals, and when the gums are sore, It makes them sound and healthy as before. Sleep it procures, our anxious sorrows lays, And with new flesh the naked bone arrays. No herb hath greater power to rectify All the disorders in the breast that lie Or in the lungs. Herb of immortal fame! Which hither first by Santa Croce came, When he (his time of nunciature expired) Back from the court of Portugal retired; Even as his predecessors great and good, Brought home the cross, whose consecrated wood All Christendom now with its presence blesses; And still the illustrious family possesses The name of Santa Croce, rightly given, Since they in all respects resembling Heaven, Procure as much as mortal men can do, The welfare of our souls and bodies too."

It is agreed on all hands, that tobacco was introduced into France by John Nicot, (whence it obtains its common name Nicotiana) Lord of Villemain and Master of Requests of the household of Francis the Second. He was born at Nismes, and was sent as embassador to the Court of Portugal in 1559, from whence, on his return, he brought to Paris this herb. From Nicot, it was also called the embassador's herb. The question, whether it was known in France before it was carried into England, was long agitated, and is perhaps not settled yet, since the precise epocha of its introduction into any particular country, cannot with absolute certainty be fixed. The French writers, generally, are of opinion that Sir Francis Drake conveyed it to England before Nicot made it known in France. Thevet, who has discussed the subject, is thought by them to have settled it in favour of the English. A French writer, Jean Liebault, says tobacco grew wild in France long before the discovery of the New World. Mr. Murray inclines to the belief, that tobacco existed in Europe before the discovery of America, but he thinks it proceeded from Asia.[30] Mr. Savary asserts, that among the Persians it was known at least five hundred years since, but that they obtained it from Egypt, and not from the East Indies, where its cultivation was but recent. But, what has not been said of this extraordinary plant? It has often been called a Nepenthe, and we are under belief that some have even imagined that the tobacco leaf forms a principal ingredient in the wondrous and potent mixture which Helen prepares for her guests in the fourth Odyssey.--

[Greek: "Phazmachon Nependes t' acholon te kakon epilethon apanton."]

"Of sovereign use to assuage The boiling bosom of tumultuous rage; To clear the cloudy front of wrinkled care, And dry the tearful sluices of despair."

In the same passage, Homer tells us that Helen learned the nature of drugs and herbs from the wife of Thone, King of Egypt. Now, by considering this latter fact, in conjunction with what is asserted by Mr. Savary, some verisimilitude seems to be imparted to the hypothesis of the tobacco plant having sprung originally from Egypt. We are not aware of any author (though we think it not improbable that such may exist) who has carried matters so far as to assert that tobacco was the tree of Paradise, "whose mortal taste brought death into the world,"--nor would this appear for a moment extravagant, if one only calls to mind the strange traditions which the Rabbinnical writers have handed down upon theological points of far more importance, or the equally absurd and monstrous notions which the modern history of sectarianism furnishes. From what has been said, however, it appears very clear, that Satan has had too much to do with tobacco. If it be verily the tree of knowledge, it must be admitted that he has preserved it with infinite care, as if grateful for the mighty mischief which was wrought in Eden, and as a fit instrument for those injuries in future to the human family, which so many authors assure us it is producing at the present day. How tobacco ever got to America is a difficulty of very little moment, when we remember that writers are not agreed in what manner America was even peopled. Even were we to admit that the aboriginal Americans were not descended from Adam and Eve, still if we concede that Satan has had the especial care of tobacco, we cannot be surprised at his finding the means, if he had the desire, of introducing it into America. We have before alluded to what the Abbot Nyssens says, and if in addition we call to mind what others have uttered about its diabolical nature, and that the American Indians were wont to propitiate the powers of darkness by making offerings to them of tobacco, we cannot help thinking that King James was nearer truth and propriety than he imagined, when he declared that if he were to invite the Devil to dine with him, he would be sure to provide three things,--1. a pig,--2. a poll of ling and mustard,--3. a pipe of tobacco for digestion.