Among other offensive habits, "The Tatler" discountenances the custom of taking snuff, then common among ladies. "I have been these three years persuading Sagissa[8] to leave it off; but she talks so much, and is so learned, that she is above contradiction. However, an accident brought that about, which all my eloquence could never accomplish. She had a very pretty fellow in her closet, who ran thither to avoid some company that came to visit her; she made an excuse to go to him for some implement they were talking of. Her eager gallant snatched a kiss; but being unused to snuff, some grains from off her upper lip made him sneeze aloud, which alarmed her visitors, and has made a discovery." [It is impossible to say what effect this ridicule produced upon the snuff-taking public, but the custom gradually declined. A hundred years later, James Beresford, a fellow of Merton, places among the "Miseries of Human Life," the "Leaving off Snuff at the request of your Angel," and writes the following touching farewell.] "Box thou art closed, and snuff is but a name! It is decreed my nose shall feast no more! To me no more shall come--whence dost it come?-- The precious pulvil from Hibernia's shore! "Virginia, barren be thy teeming soil, Or may the swallowing earthquake gulf thy fields! Fribourg and Pontet! cease your trading toil, Or bankruptcy be all the fruit it yields! "And artists! frame no more in tin or gold, Horn, paper, silver, coal or skin, the chest, Foredoomed in small circumference to hold The titillating treasures of the West!" The fellows of Merton seem to have discovered some hidden efficacy in snuff. "Who doth not know what logic lies concealed, Where diving finger meets with diving thumb? Who hath not seen the opponent fly the field, Unhurt by argument, by snuff struck dumb? "The box drawn forth from its profoundest bed, The slow-repeated tap, with frowning brows. The brandished pinch, the fingers widely spread, The arm tossed round, returning to the nose. "Who can withstand a battery so strong? Wit, reason, learning, what are ye to these? Or who would toil through folios thick and long, When wisdom may be purchased with a sneeze? "Shall I, then, climb where Alps on Alps arise? No; snuff and science are to me a dream, But hold my soul! for that way madness lies, Love's in the scale, tobacco kicks the beam." CHAPTER V. Spectator--The Rebus--Injurious Wit--The Everlasting Club--The Lovers' Club--Castles in the Air--The Guardian--Contributions by Pope--"The Agreeable Companion"--The Wonderful Magazine--Joe Miller--Pivot Humour.