The Puritans, from the first introduction of the plant, were sincere haters of tobacco, not only in England but in America. Cromwell had as strong a dislike of the plant as King James, and ordered the troopers to destroy the crops by trampling them under foot. Hutton describes a Puritan as one who "Abhors a sattin suit, a velvet cloak, And sayes tobacco is the Devill's smoke." Probably no other plant has ever met with such powerful determined opposition, both against its use and cultivation, as the tobacco plant. It was strenuously opposed by all possible means, governmental, legislative, and literary. When tea and coffee were first introduced both were denounced in unmeasured terms, but the opposition was not so bitter or as lasting. The following verses bearing the _nom de plume_ of an "Old Salt," record much of the history of the plant:-- "Oh muse! grant me the power (I have the will) to sing How oft in lonely hour, When storms would round me lower, Tobacco's prov'd a King! "Philanthropists, no doubt With good intentions ripe, Their dogmas may put out, And arrogantly shout The evils of the pipe. "Kind moralists, with tracts, Opinions fine may show: Produce a thousand facts-- How ill tobacco acts Man's system to o'erthrow. "Learn'd doctors have employed Much patience, time and skill, To prove tobacco cloyed With acrid alkaloid, With power the nerves to kill! "E'en Popes have curst the plant; Kings bade its use to cease; But all the Pontiff's rant And Royal Jamie's cant Ne'er made its use decrease. "Teetotallers may stamp And roar at pipes and beer; But place them in a swamp, When nights are dark and damp-- Their tune would change, I fear. "No advocate am I Of excess in one or t'other, And ne'er essayed to try In wine to drown a sigh, Or a single care to smother. "Yet, in moderation pure, A glass is well enough; But, a troubled heart to cure, Kind feelings to insure, Give me a cheerful puff. "How oft a learn'd divine His sermons will prepare, Not by imbibing wine, But, 'neath th' influence fine Of a pipe of "baccy" rare! "How many a pleasing scene, How many a happy joke, How many a satire keen, Or problem sharp, has been Evolved or born of smoke! "How oft, amidst the jar Of storms on ruin bent, On ship-board, near or far, To the drenched and shiv'ring tar Tobacco's solace lent! "Oh! tell me not 'tis bad, Or that it shortens life. Its charms can soothe the sad, And make the wretched glad, In trouble and in strife. "Tis used in every clime, By all men, high and low; It is praised in prose and rhyme, So let the kind herb grow!