"John Nicot, Sieur de Villemain, was born at Nismes in 1530, and died at Paris in 1600. He was the son of a notary at Nismes, and started in life with a good education, but with no fortune. Finding that his native town offered no suitable or sufficient field for his energies, he went to Paris and strove hard to extend his studies as a scholar and his connections as an adventurer. He made the acquaintance of some courtiers, who felt or affected an interest in learning and in learned men. His manners were insinuating; his character was pliable. When presented at court he succeeded in gaining the esteem and confidence of Henry II., the husband of Catherine de Medicis. Francis II., the son of Henry II., and the first husband of Mary Stuart, continued to Nicot the favor of which Henry II. had deemed him worthy, and sent him in 1560 as ambassador to Sebastian, King of Portugal. He was successful in his mission. But it was neither his talents as a diplomatist, nor his remarkable mind, nor his solid erudition, which made Nicot immortal. It was by popularizing tobacco in France that he gained a lasting fame. "It is said that it was at Lisbon that Nicot became acquainted with the extraordinary properties of tobacco. But it is likewise stated with quite as much confidence, that a Flemish merchant, who had just returned from America, offered Nicot at Bordeaux, where they met, some seeds of the tobacco, telling him of their value. The seeds Nicot sent to Catherine de Medicis, and on arriving in Paris he gave her some leaves of tobacco. Hence, when tobacco began to creep into use in France it was called Queen's Herb or Medicean Herb.[26] The cultivation of tobacco, except as a fancy plant, did not begin in France till 1626; and John Nicot could have had no presentiment of the agricultural, commercial, financial and social importance which tobacco was ultimately to assume. Nicot published two works. The first was an edition of the History of France or of the Franks, in Latin, written by a Monk called Aimonious, who lived in the tenth century. The second was a 'Treasury of the French Language, Ancient and Modern.'" [Footnote 26: "The Abbe Jacques Gohory, the author of the first book written on tobacao, proposed to call it Catherinaine or Medicee, to record the name of Medicis and the medicinal virtues of the plant; but the name of Nicot superseded these, and botanists have perpetuated it in the genus _Nicotiana_."--_Le Maout and Decaisne._] Stevens and Liebault in the "Country Farm"[27] give the following account of its early introduction into France and the wonderful cures produced by its use: [Footnote 27: London 1606.]