ng face,
He first the snuff-box open'd, then the case."

The mode of "tapping the box" before opening was characteristic of the
beaux and fops of this period, and is commented on in a poem on
snuff:--

"The lawyer so grave, when he opens his case,
In obscurity finds it is hid,
Till the bright glass of knowledge illumines his face,
As he gives the three taps on the lid."

Spain, Portugal, and France early in the Seventeenth Century became
noted as the producers of the finest kinds of snuff. In Spain and
Portugal it was the favorite mode of using tobacco, and rare kinds
were compounded and sold at enormous prices. Its use in France by the
fair sex is thus commented on by a French writer:--

[Illustration: Demi-journees.]

"Everything in France depends upon _la mode_; and it has
pleased _la mode_ to patronize this disgusting custom, and
carry about with them small boxes which they term
_demi-journees_."

The most expensive materials were employed in the manufacture of
snuff-boxes, such as agate, mosaics, and all kinds of rare wood, while
many were of gold, studded with diamonds. Some kinds were made of
China mounted in metal, and were very fanciful. In "Pandora's Box," a
"Satyr against Snuff," 1719, may be found the following description of
the snuff-boxes then in vogue:

"For females fair, and formal fops to please,
The mines are robb'd of ore, of shells the seas,
With all that mother-earth and beast afford
To man, unworthy now, tho' once their lord:
Which wrought into a box, with all the show
Of art the greatest artist can bestow;
Charming in shape, with polished rays of light,
A joint so fine it shuns the sharpest sight;
Must still be graced with all the radiant gems
And precious stones that e'er arrived in Thames.
Within the lid the painter plays his part,
And with his pencil proves his matchless art;
There drawn to life some spark or mistress dwells,
Like hermits chaste and constant to their cells."

Some of the more highly perfumed snuffs sold for thirty shillings a
pound, while the cheaper kinds, such as English Rappee and John's
Lane, could be bought for two or three shillings per pound. There are
at least two hundred kinds of snuff well known in commerce. The Scotch
and Irish snuffs are for the most part made from the midribs; the
Strasburgh, French, Spanish, and Russian snuffs from the soft parts of
the leaves. An English writer gives