the court circle they were accustomed to celebrate a species of orgie in their own apartments, after supper.’ But after all were they not Eve’s daughters—what else could be expected? In England the paper warfare over the merit or demerit of the ‘Indian’s weed,’ signalized by King James, lasted well through two centuries. Beginning with some slight skirmishing, as in _Work for Chimney Sweepers_ we come to a doughty champion of the royal cause in the person of ‘Josuah Sylvester, Gent:’ he who with quixotic valour sent forth a ‘Volley of Holy Shot Thundered from Mount Helicon.’ In dedicatory lines addressed to George, Duke of Buckingham, he invokes the aid of the royal favourite to enable him to overthrow the … Proud oppression Of th’ Infidel, usurping faith’s possession, That Indian tyrant, England’s only shame Thousands of ours he here hath captive taken, Of all degrees kept under slavish yoke Their God, their good, King, country, friends, forsaken, To follow follie, and to feed on smoke. Scanning the horizon he discovers Satan, enraged, working in short circuit two smoky engines—‘guns and tobocco pipes vented from the infernal pit.’ In this turgid style he pours out his puerile conceits much in the manner of his royal patron, whose good opinion he won so fully that James made him his Court poet. The levy of a duty on tobacco so excessive as that which King James imposed namely, six shillings and tenpence—equivalent to about thirty shillings of our present money—upon every pound weight imported or grown in the country, coupled with great extravagance in its use brought ruin to many families, just as does over-indulgence in strong drink to those who are not satisfied with the moderation which reason dictates. In the case of tobacco the ruin was in money, whereas with alcohol in excess ruin comes to body and mind as well as purse. Our excellent guide along the by-paths of literature, John Aubrey, from whom we have gleaned many things respecting the use of tobacco, says, ‘In my early days (temp. Charles the First) tobacco was sold for its weight in silver.’ And in the family account-books of well-to-do people that have come to light we get occasional glimpses of its cost. A book of household expenses kept by Sir Henry Oglander, of Nunwell, in the Isle of Wight (1626), contains an entry of five shillings paid for eight ounces of tobacco. The price varies on different dates, according to the quality of the weed. Virginian seems to have been the favourite growth, though Spanish is the more frequently mentioned. A worthy old gentleman named Peter Campbell, living in Derbyshire, was so incensed against the smoking habit that in his Will, making over his household goods to his eldest son, Roger, he inserted a special clause to the effect that if at any time either his brothers or his sisters ‘fynd him smoking of tobacco he shall forfeit all