ite moss
gathered on the neighboring moors, which they declared to be
much sweeter than tobacco, and to have been in use long
before the American weed was heard of; before Sir Walter
Raleigh wooed and won Elizabeth Throgmorton, or Sir Richard
Granville voyaged to Virginia with Masters Ralph Layne,
Thomas Candish, John Arundell, Master Stukely, Bremize,
Vincent, Heryot, and John Clarke; before Sir Francis Drake
made his first voyage, or the Spanish Armada was dreamed of;
before Sir John Hawkins, Captain Price, Coft, Keat or others
for whom the honor of the introduction of tobacco has been
claimed, drew breath--smoking was to some extent indulged in
by our forefathers and (still medicinally, of course) in
this country. In mediaeval times, when the Ceramic art was
but little practiced, and when all the domestic vessels that
were produced were of the rudest and coarsest character both
in material, form, and decoration, it is not to be expected
that pipes for the smoking of herbs would be manufactured as
a matter of sale, and those of the people who wished for
such an indulgence would naturally be thrown on their own
primitive resources such as I have described, for
instruments for the purpose.

"A portion of a very rude pipe-head, formed of common red
clay--a lump of clay moulded by hand, and ornamented with
small circles pressed into it as from the end of a
stick--has come under my notice, as have also others of an
equally primitive character, found in different parts of
this kingdom. These I have no hesitation in ascribing to a
pre-Raleigh period. It is not to these, however, but to the
small pipes formerly used in this kingdom for smoking
tobacco, and tobacco alone, that I wish to draw attention.
Most people, especially in the Midland and Northern counties
of England, as well as in Scotland and Ireland, will have
heard the name of Fairy Pipes applied to the small,
old-fashioned, and sometimes oddly-shaped tobacco pipes
which are not infrequently turned up in digging and plowing
and other operations. To these and the general forms of old
English pipes, I purpose confining myself in the present
article. Many years ago I collected together a large number
of these 'Fairy Pipes' from all parts of the kingdom. Since
then, my o