A Treatise on Tobacco, Tea, Coffee, and Chocolate — John Shaqi
A Treatise on Tobacco, Tea, Coffee, and ChocolatePaulli, Simon
History
A Treatise on Tobacco, Tea, Coffee, and Chocolate
Paulli, Simon
Chocolate -- Early works to 1800; Coffee -- Early works to 1800; Tea -- Early works to 1800; Tobacco -- Early works to 1800
Those Authors, who have called _Tobacco_ _Herba rixosa_, the
Strife-producing Herb, and _Herba insana_, the Plant which excites
Madness, seem not to have been very much in the wrong; for what is more
frequent than for People of all Denominations to spend the whole of
the Day smoaking _Tobacco_ in Ale-Houses and Taverns? Nay, so fond are
young and old Men of _Tobacco_, that the Father forgets the Interests
of the Son, and the Son those of the Father for its Sake. Thus some
Men use large Quantities of _Tobacco_, whilst, perhaps, their Families
are starving at Home: Whereas some Children spend upon _Tobacco_ what
their industrious Parents had, with Toil and Care, amassed for their
Use. Nay, such is the Madness of some _Europeans_, that they will, for
a Trifle, dispose of their Goods, in order to gratify themselves with
_Tobacco_.
* * * * *
King _James_ the Sixth of _England_ tells us, "that, among the
_Americans_, a Servant addicted to the Smoaking of _Tobacco_, can
hardly find a Purchaser; so odious is that Custom to the Authors
of it themselves." We _Europeans_, however, are so infatuated and
hood-winked, as yearly to sail to _America_, spare no Expences, and
expose ourselves not only to Storms and Tempests, but also to Sickness
and Death, for the Sake of _Tobacco_; and it is certain, that our
Men, on their Return from _America_, spread through all _Europe_ the
_Neapolitan_ Disease, which, as _Fiorovanta_ thinks, was endemial to
the _Americans_, on Account of their eating human Flesh. This, to
use the Phrase of _Agrippa, de Vanitat. Scientiarum_, Cap. 84. _is
to purchase Death at a great Price_. The _Indians_ and _Barbarians_
have such an Aversion to the Abuse of _Tobacco_, that they severely
chastise the _Ethiopians_ and Slaves for it, and burn their _Tobacco_;
probably, because they suspect that it renders them valetudinary, and
disables them to work; in which Situation they are a Burthen upon their
Masters. According to _Viganenus_, in _Lib. de Ritibus Moribusq_;
_Turcarum_; and _Johannes Chrysostomus Magnenus_, in _Exercitat. de
Tabac. Exercit._ 6. §. 10. _Amureth_, the 4th Emperor of the _Turks_,
by an Edict, prohibited the Use of _Tobacco_, under Pain of Death,
lest, by the Abuse of it, his Subjects should become effeminate,
feeble, and barren. According to _Adamus Olearius_, in _Lib. 3. Cap.
6._ the Emperor of _Muscovy_, in 1634, by an Edict prohibited the
Importation of _Tobacco_ and _Snuff_ into his Territories, under the
Penalty of being beat with Rods, and having the Nostrils slit in Case
of Disobedience: And the same Author says, he saw some who had these
Marks of Infamy inflicted upon them. In _Lib. 5. Cap. 31._ he also
tells us, that _Schach Abas_, the _Persian_ Monarch, prohibited all
Use of _Tobacco_ in that Army, which he raised against _Tameran Chan_
under the Penalty of the Offender's having his Nose and Lips cut off;
nay, he was so rigid, or rather cruel in his Discipline, that when a
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