oward the
ground, keeping the mouth open, not mouthing any whit with
his tongue, except now and then to waken the medicament,
there shall flow such a flood of water from his brain and
his stomacke, and from all the parts of his body that it
shall be a wonder. This must he do fasting in the morning,
and if it be for preservation, and the body be very
cacochyme, or full of evil humors, he must take it once a
week, otherwise once a month. He gives the plant the name of
'Nepenthes,' and says of it, that 'it is worthy of a more
loftie name.'" He writes the following verse addressed to:

"THE ABUSERS OF TOBACCO."

"Why do you thus abuse this heavenly plant,
The hope of health, the fuel of our life?
Why do you waste it without fear of want,
Since fine and true tobacco is not ryfe?
Old Enclio won't foul water for to spair,
And stop the bellows not to waste the air."

He also alludes to the quality of tobacco and says: "The finest
Tobacco is that which pearceth quickly the odorat with a sharp
aromaticke smell, and tickleth the tongue with acrimonie, not
unpleasant to the taste, from whence that which draweth most water is
most veituous, whether the substance of it be chewed in the mouth, or
the smoke of it received."

He speaks of the countries in which the plant grows, and prefers the
tobacco grown in the New World as being superior to that grown in the
Old. In his opinion, "only that which is fostered in the Indies, and
brought home by Mariners and Traffiquers, is to be used." But not
alone were Poets and Dramatists inspired to sing in praise or
dispraise of tobacco, Physicians and others helped to swell in
broadsides, pamphlets and chap-books, the loudest praises or the most
bitter denunciation of the weed. Taylor, the water poet, who lost his
occupation as bargeman when the coach came into use, thought that the
devil brought tobacco into England in a coach. One of the first tracts
wholly devoted to tobacco is entitled Nash's "Lenten Stuffe." The work
is dedicated to Humphrey King, a tobacconist, and is full of curious
sayings in regard to the plant. Another work, entitled "Metamorphosis
of Tobacco," and supposed to have been written by Beaumont, made its
appearance about this time. Samuel Rowlands, the dramatist, wrote two
works on tobacco; the first is entitled "Look to it, for I'll Stabbe
Ye,"