A Counter-Blaste to Tobacco | Page 8

Tobacco. But herein is not
onely a great vanitie, but a great contempt of God's good giftes, that the
sweetenesse of mans breath, being a good gift of God, should be
willfully corrupted by this stinking smoke, wherein I must confesse, it
hath too strong a vertue: and so that which is an ornament of nature,

and can neither by any artifice be at the first acquired, nor once lost, be
recouered againe, shall be filthily corrupted with an incurable stinke,
which vile qualitie is as directly contrary to that wrong opinion which
is holden of the wholesomnesse thereof, as the venime of putrifaction is
contrary to the vertue Preseruatiue.
Moreouer, which is a great iniquitie, and against all humanitie, the
husband shall not bee ashamed, to reduce thereby his delicate,
wholesome, and cleane complexioned wife, to that extremetie, that
either shee must also corrupt her sweete breath therewith, or else
resolue to liue in a perpetuall stinking torment.
Haue you not reason then to bee ashamed, and to forbeare this filthie
noueltie, so basely grounded, so foolishly receiued and so grossely
mistaken in the right vse thereof? In your abuse thereof sinning against
God, harming yourselues both in persons and goods, and taking also
thereby the markes and notes of vanitie vpon you: by the custome
thereof making your selues to be wondered at by all forraine ciuil
Nations, and by all strangers that come among you, to be scorned and
contemned. A custome lothsome to the eye, hatefull to the Nose,
harmefull to the braine, dangerous to the Lungs, and in the blacke
stinking fume thereof, neerest resembling the horrible Stigian smoke of
the pit that is bottomelesse.
UNWIN BROTHERS, PRINTERS, LONDON AND CHILWORTH.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote A: This argument is merely that because an inferior race has
made a discovery, a superior one would be debasing itself by making
use of it.]
[Footnote B: By Sir Walter Raleigh, one of the greatest and most
learned men of the age, whose head the author cut off, partly influenced,
no doubt, by his detestation of tobacco. Smokers may therefore look
upon the author of the "History of the World" as the first martyr in their
cause.]

[Footnote C: A centenarian has recently died, the papers relate, who,
till within a few days of his death, was in perfect health, having been a
constant smoker, but was unfortunately induced by his friends to give
up the habit, from which moment he rapidly sank. Probably these
barbarians were affected in the same manner.]
[Footnote D: Had the royal pedant ever heard of locking the stable door
after the horse has been stolen?]
[Footnote E: The previous arguments can of course have no weight in
our day, but this tendency to imitate others is as true now as then.
Evidently, if the Darwinian theory holds good, a matter of three
centuries is not sufficient to cause any perceptible diminution in the
strength of original instinct inherited from the ape.]
[Footnote F: Time has taken upon itself to upset this argument; for
though the novelty may certainly be said to have worn off, the habit
itself is more firmly rooted than ever.]
[Footnote G: This shows that so late as the 17th century the influence
of the planets on the body was an article of firm belief, even amongst
the learned. The following recipes may be of interest to the reader.
They are taken from a manuscript volume which belonged to and was
probably written by Sir John Floyer, physician to King Charles II., who
practised at Lichfield, in the Cathedral library of which city the volume
now is:--"An antidote to ye plague: take a cock chicken and pull off ye
feathers from ye tayle till ye rump bee bare; you hold ye bare of ye
same upon ye sore, and ye chicken will gape and labour for life, and in
ye end will dye. Then take another and do ye like, and so another still
as they dye, till one lives, for then ye venome is drawne out. The last
chicken will live and ye patient will mend very speedily."
"Madness in a dog: 'Pega, Tega, Sega, Docemena Mega.' These words
written, and ye paper rowl'd up and given to a dog, or anything that is
mad, cure him."]
[Footnote H: Or Camisado. A night attack on horseback, wherein the
attacking party put their shirts on over their armour, in order to

recognise each other in the darkness. Charles II. attempted a Camisado
at Worcester, which did not succeed, owing to treachery.]
[Footnote I: Our royal author would no doubt have been astonished to
see English officers smoking on the field of battle, which I am told is
now a common occurrence.]
[Footnote J: It was not dreamt of in James's philosophy, that the price
of