England in the Days of Old Part 10

In the rules of Chigwell School, founded in 1629, only fourteen years after the visit of James to Cambridge, it is stated:--"The master must be a man of sound religion, neither Papist nor Puritan, of a grave behaviour, and sober and honest conversation, no tippler, or haunter of alehouses, and no puffer of tobacco."

We may come to the conclusion from the facts we have furnished, that if persons were not permitted to smoke in the street, it is quite certain they would not be allowed to do so in the house of prayer.

Preachers of all sections of the religious world delighted in a pinch of snuff. Sneezing was heard in the highest and humblest churches, and it even made St. Peter's at Rome echo. The practice so excited the ire of Pope Innocent the Twelfth that he made an effort in 1690 to stop it in his churches, and "solemnly excommunicated all who should dare to take snuff." Tyerman, in his "Life of Wesley," tells us the great trouble the famous preacher had with his early converts. "Many of them were absolutely enslaved to snuff; some drank drams, &c., to remedy such evils, the preachers were enjoined on no account to take snuff, or to drink drams themselves; and were to speak to any one they saw snuffing in sermon time, and to answer the pretence that drams cured the colic and helped digestion." Mr. Wesley cautioned a preacher going to Ireland against snuff, unless by order of a physician, declaring that no people were in such blind bondage to the silly, nasty, dirty custom as were the Irish. It is stated so far did Irishmen carry their love of snuffing, that it was customary, when a wake was on, to put a plate full of snuff upon the dead man's, or woman's stomach, from which each guest was expected to take a pinch upon being introduced to the corpse.

In the earlier days of snuff-taking, people generally ground their own snuff by rubbing roll tobacco across a small grater, usually fixed inside the snuff-box. We find in old-time writings many allusions to making snuff from roll tobacco. In course of time snuff was flavoured with rich essences, and scented snuffs found favour with the ladies. The man of refinement prided himself on his taste for perfumed powder. We find it stated in Fairholt's book on "Tobacco," that in the reign of William III.

the beaux carried canes with hollow heads, that they might the more conveniently inhale a few grains through the perforations, as they sauntered in the fashionable promenades. Women quickly followed the lead of men in snuffing, in spite of satire in the _Spectator_ and other papers of the period. The list of famous snuff-takers of the olden time is a long one, and only a few can be noticed here. Queen Charlotte heads the roll.

She was persistent in the practice, and her unfilial and rude sons called her "Old Snuff." Captain Gronow, when a boy at Eton, saw the Queen in company with the King taking an airing on the Terrace at Windsor, and relates "that her royal nose was covered with snuff both within and without." Mrs. Siddons, "the queen of tragedy," largely indulged in the use of snuff, both on and off the stage, even while taking her more important characters. Mrs. Jordan, another "stage star," a representative of the comic muse, obtained animation from frequent use of snuff. Mrs.

Unwin, the friend of Cowper, was extremely fond of it, and so was the poet, yet he was not a smoker. On snuff he wrote as follows:--

"The pungent, nose-refreshing weed, Which whether pulverised it gain A speedy pa.s.sage to the brain, Or whether touched with fire it rise In circling eddies to the skies, Does thought more quicken and refine Than all the breath of all the Nine."

Pope, in "The Rape of the Lock," refers to ladies with their snuff-boxes always handy, and the fair Belinda found hers particularly useful in the battle she waged:--

"See, fierce Belinda on the baron flies With more than usual lightning in her eyes; And this bred lord, with manly strength endued, She with one finger and a thumb subdued.

Just where the breath of life his nostrils drew A charge of snuff the wily virgin threw; The gnomes direct, to every atom just, The pungent grains of t.i.tillating dust.

Sudden with startling tears each eye o'erflows, And the high dome re-echoes to his nose."

Napoleon's legacy to the famous Lady Holland was a snuff-box, and Moore celebrated the gift in a verse written while he was in Paris in 1821:--

"Gift of the Hero, on his dying day, To her who pitying watch'd, for ever nigh; Oh, could he see the proud, the happy ray, This relic lights up in her generous eye, Sighing, he'd feel how easy 'tis to pay A friendship all his kingdoms could not buy."

Amongst ladies we have to include the charming Clarinda, a friend of Robert Burns, on whom he wrote when obliged to leave her:--

"She, the fair sun of all her s.e.x, Has blest my glorious day, And shall, a glimmering planet, fix My worship to its ray."

[Ill.u.s.tration: PARTAKING OF THE PUNGENT PINCH.]

She was much addicted to the use of snuff, more especially towards the closing years of her life, and to the last she was famous for her singular sprightliness in conversation. Dr. Deering wrote, about the end of the first half of the eighteenth century, a history of Nottingham, and in it he relates how ladies, enjoying their tea, between each dish regaled their nostrils with a pinch or two of snuff. The snuff-boxes carried by them were usually costly, and generally elegant in form. David Garrick gave his wife a gold snuff-box. George Barrington, the celebrated pickpocket and author, stole from Prince Orloff a snuff-box, set with brilliants, valued at 30,000. Barrington was transported to Botany Bay, and at the opening of Sydney Theatre, January 16, 1796, Young's tragedy, _The Revenge_, was performed by convicts, and a prologue from Barrington's pen contained this pa.s.sage:--

"From distant climes, o'er widespread seas, we come, Though not with much _eclat_, or beat of drum; True patriots we, for, be it understood, We left our country for our country's good.

No private views disgraced our generous zeal, What urged our travels was our country's weal; And none will doubt but that our emigration Has proved most useful to the British nation."

In the olden time it was customary for the English Court to present to an Amba.s.sador on his return home a gold snuff-box, and only in late years has this practice been discontinued. George IV. made a fraudulent display of snuff-taking; he carried an empty box, and pretended to draw from it pinches and apply them to his nose. The great Napoleon could not endure smoking, but filled his waistcoat pocket with snuff, and partook of prodigious quant.i.ties. Nelson enjoyed his snuff, and his snuff-box finds a place among his relics at Greenwich. Literary men and dramatists figure in imposing numbers amongst snuff-takers. Dryden enjoyed snuff, and did not object to share the luxury with others. A favourite haunt of his was Will's Coffee-house in Bow Street, Covent Garden, where he was met by the chief wits of the time. In the "London Spy," by Ned Wright, it is related that a parcel of raw, second-rate beaux and wits were conceited if they had but the honour to dip a finger and thumb into Mr. Dryden's snuff-box.

Addison, Bolingbroke, Congreve, Swift, and Pope were snuff-takers. Dr.

Samuel Johnson carried large supplies in his waistcoat pocket, and his friend Boswell thus praised it:--

"Oh snuff! our fashionable end and aim!

Strasburg, Rappee, Dutch, Scotch, Whate'er thy name; Powder celestial! quintescence divine!

New joys entrance my soul while thou art mine."

Arkbuckle, another Scottish poet, author of many humorous and witty poems, wrote in 1719 as follows:--

"Blest be his shade, may laurels ever bloom, And breathing sweets exhale around his tomb, Whose penetrating nostril taught mankind First how by snuff to rouse the sleeping mind."

The following lines are by Robert Leighton, a modern Scotch poet of recognised ability:--

THE SNUFFIE AULD MAN.

"By the cosie fireside, or the sun-ends o' gavels, The snuffie auld bodie is sure to be seen; Tap, tappin' his snuff-box, he snifters and sneevils, And smachers the snuff frae his mou' to his een.

Since tobacco cam' in, and the snuffin' began, The hasna been seen sic a snuffie auld man.

His haurins are dozen'd, his een sair bedizen'd, And red round the lids as the gills o' a fish; His face is a' bladdit, his sark-breest a' smaddit-- And snuffie a picture as ony could wish.

He maks a mere merter o' a' thing he does, Wi' snuff frae his fingers an' draps frae his nose.

And wow but his nose is a troublesome member-- Day and nicht, there's nae end to its snuffie desire; It's wide as the chimlie, it's red as an ember, And has to be fed like a dry-whinnie fire, It's a troublesome member, and gie's him nae peace, Even sleepin' or eatin' or sayin' the grace.

The kirk is disturbed wi' his hauchin and sneezin', The domime stoppit when leadin' the psalm; The minister, deav'd out o' logic and reason, Pours gall in the lugs that are gapin' for balm.

The auld folks look surly, the young chaps jocose, While the bodie himsel' is bambazed wi' his nose.

He scrimps the auld wife baith in garnal and caddy; He snuffs what wad keep her in comfort and ease; Rapee, Lundyfitt, Prince's Mixture, and Taddy, She looks upon them as the warst o' her faes.

And we'll ne'er see an end o' her Rooshian war While the auld carle's nose is upheld like a Czar."

Charles and Mary Lamb both enjoyed snuff, and doubtless felt its use a.s.sisted them in their literary labours. Here is a picture drawn by Mary of the pair as they were penning their "Tales from Shakespeare," sitting together at the same table. "Like a literary Darby and Joan," she says, "I taking snuff, and he groaning all the while, and saying he can make nothing of it, till he has finished, when he finds he has made something of it." Sterne was a snuff-taker, and when his wife was about to join him in Paris in 1762, he wrote a letter in which he said:--"You will find good tea upon the road from York to Dover; only bring a little to carry you from Calais to Paris. Give the custom-house officer what I told you. At Calais give more, if you have much Scotch snuff; but as tobacco is good here, you had best bring a Scotch mull and make it yourself; that is, order your valet to manufacture it, 'twill keep him out of mischief." In another letter he says:--"You must be cautious about Scotch snuff; take half a pound in your pocket, and make Lyd do the same." Sir Joshua Reynolds is described as taking snuff profusely. It is related that he powdered his waistcoat, let it fall in heaps upon the carpet, and even upon his palette, and it thus became mixed with his pigments and transferred to his pictures. Gibbon was a confirmed snuff-taker. In one of his letters he relates how he took snuff. "I drew my snuff-box," he said, "rapp'd it, took snuff twice, and continued my discourse, in my usual att.i.tude of my body bent forwards, and my forefinger stretched out."

Offering a pinch of snuff has always been regarded as a mark of civility, but there are some men who could not tolerate the practice. Frederick the Great, for example, disliked others to take snuff from his box. He was lying in the adjoining room to one where he had left his box, and his page helped himself to a pinch from it. He was detected, and Frederick said, "Put that box in your pocket; it is too small for both of us." George II.

liked to have his box for his own exclusive use, and when a gentleman at a masquerade helped himself to a pinch, the King in great anger threw away the box.

State Lotteries.

For more than two-and-a-half centuries state lotteries were popular in this country. They were imported into England from the continent; prior to being known here they were established in Italy, and most probably they came to us from that country.

An announcement of the first English lottery was made in 1566, and it stated that it would consist of forty-thousand lots or shares at ten shillings each. The prizes, many and valuable, included money, plate, and certain sorts of merchandise. The winner of the greatest and most excellent prize was ent.i.tled to receive "the value of five thousand poundes sterling, that is to say, three thousande poundes in ready money, seven hundred poundes in plate, gilte and white, and the reste in good tap.i.s.serie meete of hangings and other covertures, and certain sortes of good linen cloth." Tap.i.s.serie and good linen cloth figure in several of the prizes, or to give the spelling of the announcement, prices. A large number of small money prizes were offered, including ten thousand at fifteen shillings each, and nine thousand four hundred and eighteen at fourteen shillings each.

The object of the lottery was to raise money to repair the harbours and to carry out other useful works. Although the undertaking was for an excellent purpose, and the prizes tempting, the sale of the tickets was slow, and special inducements were made by Queen Elizabeth to persons taking shares. Persons who "adventured money in this lottery" might visit several of the more important towns in "the Realme of Englande, and Dublyn and Waterforde in the Realm of Irelande," and there remain for seven days without any molestation or arrest of them for any manner of offence saving treason, murder, pyracie, or any other felonie, or for breach of her Majesties peace during the time of her coming abiding or returne.

Doubtless these conditions would induce many to take shares. Public bodies as well as private persons invested money in lottery tickets. Not so much as a matter of choice as to comply with the urgent wishes of the queen and her advisers. The public had little taste for the lottery, but the leading people in the land were almost compelled to take shares, and the same may be said of chief cities and towns. In the city records of Winchester for example, under the year 1566, it is stated:--"Taken out of the Coffer the sum of 10 towards the next drawen of the lottery." On the 30th July, 1568, is another entry as follows:--"That 3 be taken out of the Coffers of the cytie and be put into the lottery, and so muche money as shall make up evyn lotts with those that are contrybuting of the cytie, so that it pa.s.sed not 10s."

The eventful day arrived after long waiting for commencing the drawing of the lottery. The place selected for the purpose was at the west door of St. Paul's Cathedral, London. Operations were commenced in 1569, on January 11th, and continued day and night until May 6th.

Some years pa.s.sed before another state lottery took place. It is believed that one noticed by Stow in his "Annales," occurring in 1585, was the second. "A lotterie," chronicles Stow, "for marvellous, rich, and beautiful armour was begunne to be drawne at London in S. Paules Churchyard, at the great West gate (a house of timber and board being there erected for that purpose) on S. Peter's Day in the morning, which lotteries continued in drawing day and night, for the s.p.a.ce of two or three dayes."

Our first two Stuart kings do not appear to have employed the lottery as a means of raising money. James I. granted a lotterie in favour of the colony of Virginia. The prizes consisted of pieces of plate. It was drawn in a house built for the purpose near the West end of St. Paul's. The drawing commenced on the 29th June, and was completed by 20th July, 1612.

It is said that a poor tailor won the first prize, viz. "foure thousand Crownes in fayre plate," and that it was conveyed to his humble home in a stately style. The lottery gave general satisfaction, it was plainly and honestly conducted, and knights, esquires and leading citizens were present to check any attempt at cheating. During the reign of Charles I., in 1630, the earliest lottery for sums of money took place.

The Puritans do not seem to have had any decided aversion to obtaining money by means of the lottery. During the Commonwealth it was resorted to for getting rid of forfeited Irish estates.

At the restoration the real gaming spirit commenced and caused much misery and ruin. The lottery sheet was set up in many public places, and the Crown received a large revenue from this source. The financial arrangement of a lottery was simple, the state offered a certain sum of money to be repaid by a larger. We learn from Chambers's "Book of Days," that "The government gave 10 in prizes for every share taken, on an average. A great many blanks, or of prizes under 10 left of course, a surplus for the creation of a few magnificent prizes wherewith to attract the unwary public." It was customary for city firms known as lottery-office-keepers to contract for the lottery, and they always paid more than 10 per share, usually 16 was paid, which left the government a handsome profit. The contractors disposed of the tickets to the public for 20 to 22 each. The shares were frequently divided by the contractors into halves, quarters, eights, and sixteenths, and this was done at advanced prices. It was out of the clients for aliquot parts that the lottery-office-keepers reaped a heavy harvest. They were men who understood the art of advertising, and used pictures, poetry, and prose in a most effective manner. Our own collections of lottery puffs is curious and interesting. Some very good examples are reproduced in "A History of English Lotteries," by John Ashton, and published by the Leadenhall Press, London, in 1893.

[Ill.u.s.tration: DRAWING A LOTTERY IN THE GUILDHALL, 1751]

It is related that one firm of lottery ticket contractors gave an old woman fifty pounds a year to join them as a nominal partner on account of her name being Goodluck.

We have stated that at the commencement of lotteries they were drawn near St. Paul's, subsequently the City Guildhall was the place, and later Cooper's Hall, Basinghall Street, was used for this purpose. Before the day appointed for the drawing of a lottery, public preparations had been made for it at Somerset House. Each lottery ticket had a counterpart and a counterfoil, and when the issue of the tickets was complete, an announcement was made, and a day fixed for the counterparts of the tickets to be sealed up in a box, and any ticket-holder might attend and see that his ticket was included with others in a box, and it was placed in a strong box and locked up with seven keys, then sealed with seven seals.

Two other boxes, locked and sealed as the one with tickets, contained the prize tickets and blanks. These were removed with ceremony to the place of drawing. Four prancing horses would draw, on their own sledges, the wheels of fortune, each of which were about six feet in diameter. By their side galloped a detachment of Horse Guards. Arrived at their destination, the great wheels were placed at each end of a long table, where the managers of the lottery took their seats. With care the tickets were emptied into the wheels, and finally they were set in motion. Near each wheel stood a boy, usually from the Blue-Coat School. Simultaneously the lads put into the wheels their hands, each drawing a paper out. These they hold up, and an officer, called the proclaimer, calls out in a loud voice the number, say sixty! another responds a prize or blank, as the case may be, and the drawing thus proceeds until it is finished, often a long and tedious piece of work. If even a blank is first drawn, the owner of the ticket received a prize of a thousand pounds, and a similar sum was won by the owner of the last ticket drawn. The boys were well rewarded for their trouble, and on the whole the lotteries appear to have been fairly conducted.