The Social History of SmokingApperson, George Latimer
History
The Social History of Smoking
Apperson, George Latimer
Smoking
The most famous of country clergymen of the early Georgian period is,
of course, Fielding's lovable and immortal Parson Adams. Throughout
"Joseph Andrews" the parson smokes at every opportunity. At his first
appearance on the scene, in the inn kitchen, he calls for a pipe of
tobacco before taking his place at the fireside. The next morning,
when he fails to obtain a desired loan from the landlord, Adams,
extremely dejected at his disappointment, immediately applies to his
pipe, "his constant friend and comfort in his affliction," and leans
over the rails of the gallery overlooking the inn-yard, devoting
himself to meditation, "assisted by the inspiring fumes of tobacco."
Later on, in the parlour of the country Justice of the Peace, who
condemned his prisoners before he had taken the depositions of the
witnesses against them, and who, by the way, also lit his pipe while
his clerk performed this necessary duty, Adams, when his character has
been cleared, sits down with the company and takes a cheerful glass
and applies himself vigorously to smoking. A few hours later, when the
parson, Fanny, and their guide are driven by a storm of rain to take
shelter in a wayside ale-house, Adams "immediately procured himself a
good fire, a toast and ale, and a pipe, and began to smoke with great
content, utterly forgetting everything that had happened." In the same
inn, after Mrs. Slipslop has appeared and disappeared, Adams smokes
three pipes and takes "a comfortable nap in a great chair," so leaving
the lovers, Joseph and Fanny, to enjoy a delightful time together.
At another inn a country squire is discovered smoking his pipe by the
door and the parson promptly joins him. Again, he smokes before he
goes to bed, and before he breakfasts the next morning; and when he
goes into the inn garden with the host who is willing to trust him,
both host and parson light their pipes before beginning to gossip.
Farther on, when the hospitable Mr. Wilson takes the weary wayfarers
in, Parson Adams loses no time in filling himself with ale, as
Fielding puts it, and lighting his pipe. The menfolk--Wilson, Adams
and Joseph--have to spend the night seated round the fire, but
apparently Adams is the only one who seeks the solace of tobacco. It
is significant that Wilson, in telling the story of his dissipated
early life, classes smoking with "singing, holloaing, wrangling,
drinking, toasting," and other diversions of "jolly companions."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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