Nor, on mature consideration of the vast chaos of materials wherefrom this our regular creation is to be formed, have we been able to think of any more fitting or auspicious commencement, than a brief account of the most elaborate and comprehensive poem to which the Nicotian phantasy hath as yet given birth-we mean the hymnus tabaci, in two books, of the illustrious Dutch bard Raphael Thorius, master of arts.

This great work is composed in imi

tation of that of Lucretius "de rerum naturâ," and is indeed entitled, in addition to what we have already said"de Pato seu tobaco." The style of versification, however, which Thorius has adopted is more rich, in general, than that of the Roman-not indeed that the Batavian ever rises above the more splendid passages of his predecessor, but that throughout he seems to be more studious of maintaining an elevated and etherial spirit in his diction. Nothing can be finer than the commencement, in which he invokes (Pieridum loco) a certain celebrated smoking knight of Amsterdam, by name Paddæus, or Van Paddy.

"Innocuous calices, et amicam vatibus herbam,

Vimque datam folio, et læti miracula fumi Aggredior. Tu qui censu decoratus Equestri Virtutem titulis, titulos virtutibus ornas, Antiquum et Phoebi nato promittis hon

The poet next proceeds to the Muso of his subject, the legend of Tobacco. Bacchus, it seems, in his progress of triumphant warfare through the Mahratta country, was, on one occasion, reduced to great distress by a scarcity of wine. Without this neither he, nor Silenus, nor the Satyrs, nor the Bacchantes could, with the least vigour or comfort, pursue the tenor of their march. An old grenadier Satyr, who had served many campaigns in the woods of that quarter, recommends tobacco as a substitute, but he appears to have been very little qualified for the office he had undertaken, for both he and his companions begin with eating the leaf. The con

sequences are depicted by the Dutch Lucretius in these affecting lines. "Nec mora: quis patulis lateat sub frondibus error,

Eventus docuit: totis (mirabile) castris Evomitur, caditurque velut cum gurgite pleno

Ingruit admissi miranda potentia Bacchi; Volvitur in gyrum tellus, cœlumque videtur Nubibus adductis surgenti occurrere terræ : Tum sopor obrepit somnique invicta cupide Germanam dubia præsagit imagine mortem;

Capripedes mediis diffusos stertere arenis.

Cernere crat, disiecta solo deffessa furentum Membra Mimallonidum devota jacere sepulcro."

Silenus, who acts in this poem the place of Nestor in the Iliad, at once comprehends the nature of the blunder which had been committed, and he delivers the result of his reflections as follows:

Accipite; arentes prolixa uredine frondes
Comminui manibus jubeo, cannaque reponi,
Protinus educto radiis solaribus igne
Contingi, et positis adversa parte labellis
Exsucti calidas nubes adducere fumi,
Ocyus ut possint cerebri pervadere flexus,
Vinosisque leves recreare vaporibus auras.”

Still, however, the spirit of blundering continues. The Satyrs procure pipes as he directs, and they cut their tobacco into shag, for the purpose of filling the bowls, but it never occurs to them to light the pipes, and they continue, for some time, to occupy themselves in the very unpleasant work of sucking the more minute shreds of the Oroonoko through the narrow thoroughfare of their tubes.

Pars stricto ore trahit (risumque soɗalibus "Pars tubulos arsuro pulvere complet,

affert)

Pulvereum flumen, tussesque inducit iniquas. Ipse pater fremitus vana et conamina risit.”

Next morning they are disturbed by an assault of the enemy. Thorius does not tell very exactly who they were, or in what force they came, but Silenus no sooner sees them coming down the hill, than he issues a general order for every man to light his pipe, and so armed, he very boldly draws them beyond the lines, and advances to meet the foe. The horror which was felt by the Mexicans, the first time they saw Cortes and Pizarro on horseback, appears to have been inferior to what the enemies of Bacchus on this occasion experienced. The narrative is in very splendid style. "Erea siștra manu quatiunt, et tympana pulsant,

Vino acuunt iras resides, haustoque Tobaco Excludunt lethi faciem, suaque agmina cir

armis,

Quam dare victoris mallet clementia, vitam; Pars orat veniam, parere et jussa modestis Imperiis patiente jugum cervice capessit;

After they discover the cause of their alarm, they feel considerably ashamed of themselves; but the mild and benignant conduct of their conquerors soon effectually reconciles them to their fate. Victors and vanquished sit down together in amity, and by way of putting the last touch to the tenderness of the scene, the poet represents them as exchanging pipes with each other-a truly Bata vian token of affection.

Sed pudet erroris, stulta et formidine tactos Extimuisse piget vani sufflamina fumi; Libertate dolent serva; solatur at illos Indulgentis heri condița lepore potestas,

VOL V:

Et victoris amor: simili discrimine victos Victoresque videt bellis utrinque remissis Una dies miscere epulas, Bacchumque ciere, Et simul alternis fumum potare cicutis; Mirantur bona nata domi, nec nota queruntur,

Et nebulas animi jucundis nubibus arcent."

After the historical part of the subject has been thus felicitously brought to its close, the poet proceeds to take a philosophical view of the component parts of the herb, and to speculate, in a highly dignified manner, on the rationale or rather the medicale of its effects. He sets out with the following fine apostrophe, in which it is. easy to see, that he derives his information from experience. "Planta beata! decus terrarum, munus Olympi!

Non tantum agricolis duro lassata labore Membra levas, minuis victus absentis amoFundis et absque cibo sparsas in corpora

rem,

vires;

Sed radium specimenque Dei sapientibus ipsis Ingenium illustras, si quando aut multa

tenebras

Colligit ingluvies cerebro, aut molimine longo

Intellectus hiat, rerum neque concipit umbras,

Conceptas ve tenet, vel cæca oblivia regnant; Ut semel irrepsit blando lux indita fumo, Aufugiunt nubes atræ, curæque tenaces. Vis micat inventrix, dempto velut obice veli Tota oculis animi patet ampli machina mundi,

Eternæ species Naturæ ex ordine nexæ Succedunt, redeuntque suis simulacra fi, guris."

He then introduces, with much propriety, a description of the hesitation and embarrassment felt by some young "black barrow-tram" of the Dutch Kerk, and of the delightful effects of a few whiffs of the pipe taken in that disagreeable predicament. This, it is obvious, must have been some severe personal allusion in the days of Thorius; but alas! Preacher and pipe are alike forgotten in ours. "O quoties visus magna spectante coronâ Orator populi cupidas dicturus ad aures Confudisse locis, lingua et siluisse rigenti, Contremuisse metu, docti sermonis acervos Quum memor ex tantis opibus sopita facultas Nil daret in vocem, sed res et verba negaret, Si modo vel micam generosa è stirpe vorasset Fumanti tubulo, accenso seu lumine, sensim Res reperisse suas, prendisse fugacia verba, Thesaurosque animi populo exposuisse stu penti !"

In the second book, our poet treats at great length of the grave question G

-what sort of persons ought to smoke tobacco-fat or lean, sanguine or adust, &c. &c. and he determines, apparently with much propriety, that those who have most moisture to spare ought to be the most diligent consumers of a commodity which has so strong a tendency to exhaust the salivatory organs. With equal good sense and good feeling Raphael decides, that nobody should smoke, merely because pipes are introducedas it would appear a very common manifestation of the mauvaise honte of young inexperienced Dutchmen. "Sunt qui fumum ideo, ut potent tuntummodo, potant,

Urbanos inter ne non habeantur amœni, Prosit ne an noceat sibi sus deque ferentes:

Rusticus ille, malusque pudor: nam vel ju

vat haustus,

Vel lædit. te ipsum noscas, et idonea fumo Corpora, ne sero tandem tua damna queraris." The following hints ought not to be lost upon the frequenters of Ben Waters, and with them we conclude our extracts from this illustrious poet:

Si cui grande caput prostanti fronte rotundum,

Lati humeri, pectus patulum, torosaque membra,

Sub cute obesa caro, pituitaque multa palato, Is bibat impune, et repetito indulgeat

haustu,

pressa,

orem.

membra."

A Farewell to Tobacco.
"May the Babylonish curse
Strait confound my stammering verse,
If I can a passage see
In this word perplexity,
Or a fit expression find,
Or a language to my mind,
(Still the phrase is wide or scant)
To take leave of thee, GREAT PLANT!
Or in any terms relate

Half my love, or half my hate:
For I hate, yet love, thee so,
That, whichever thing I shew,

The plain truth will seem to be
A constrain'd hyperbole,
And the passion to proceed
More from a mistress than a weed.

"Sooty retainer to the vine,
Bacchus' black servant, negro fine;
Sorcerer, that mak'st us dote upon
Thy begrimed complexion,
And, for thy pernicious sake,
More and greater oaths to break
Than reclaimed lovers take

Gainst women: thou thy siege dost lay
Much too in the female way,
While thou suck'st the lab'ring breath
Faster than kisses or than death.

"Thou in such a cloud dost bind us,
That our worst foes cannot find us,
And ill fortune, that would thwart us,
Shoots at rovers, shooting at us;
While each man, thro' thy height'ning

steam,

Does like a smoking Etna seem,
And all about us does express
(Fancy and wit in richest dress)
A Sicilian fruitfulness.

"Thou through such a mist doth shew us,
That our best friends do not know us,
And, for those allowed features,

Due to reasonable creatures,
Liken'st us to Chimeras,
Monsters that, who see us, fear us;
Worse than Cerberus or Geryon,
Or, who first lov'd a cloud, Ixion.
"Bacchus we know, and we allow
His tipsy rites. But what art thou,
That but by reflex can'st shew
What his deity can do,
As the false Egyptian spell
Aped the true Hebrew miracle?
Some few vapours thou may'st raise,
The weak brain may serve to amaze,
But to the reins and nobler heart
Can'st nor life nor heat impart.
Brother of Bacchus, later born,
The old world was sure forlorn,

Wanting thee, that aidest more
The god's victories than before
All his panthers, and the brawls
Of his piping Bacchanals.
These, as stale, we disallow,

Or judge of thee meant: only thou
His true Indian conquest art;
And, for ivy round his dart,
The reformed god now weaves
A finer thyrsus of thy leaves.

"Scent to match thy rich perfume
Chemic art did ne'er presume
Through her quaint alembic strain,
None so sov'reign to the brain.
Nature, that did in thee excel,
- Fram'd again no second smell.
. Roses, violets, but toys
For the smaller sort of boys,
Or for greener damsels meant ;
Thou art the only manly scent.
"Stinking'st of the stinking kind,
Filth of the mouth and fog of the mind,
Africa, that brags her foyson,
Breeds no such prodigious poison,
Henbane, nightshade, both together,
Hemlock, aconite-

"Nay, rather,
Plant divine, of rarest virtue;
Blisters on the tongue would hurt you.
"Twas but in a sort I blam'd thee;
None e'er prosper'd who defam'd thee;
Irony all, and feign'd abuse,
Such as perplext lovers use,
At a need, when, in despair,
To paint forth their fairest fair,
Or in part but to express
That exceeding comeliness
Which their fancies doth so strike,
They borrow language of dislike;
And, instead of Dearest Miss,
Jewel, Honey, Sweetheart, Bliss,
And those forms of old admiring,
Call her Cockatrice and Siren,
Basilisk, and all that's evil,
Witch, Hyena, Mermaid, Devil,
Ethiop, Wench, and Blackamoor,
Monkey, Ape, and twenty more;
Friendly Trait'ress, loving Foe,-
Not that she is truly so,
But no other way they know
A contentment to express,
Borders so upon excess,
That they do not rightly wot
Whether it be pain or not.

"Or, as men, constrain❜d to part
With what's nearest to their heart,
While their sorrow's at the height,
Lose discrimination quite,

And their hasty wrath let fall,
To appease their frantic gall,
On the darling thing whatever,
Whence they feel it death to sever,
Though it be, as they, perforce,
Guiltless of the sad divorce.

"For I must (nor let it grieve thee,
Friendliest of plants, that I must) leave thee.
For thy sake, TOBACCO, I,
Would do any thing but die,
And but seek to extend my days
Long enough to sing thy praise.
But, as she, who once hath been
A king's consort, is a queen
Ever after, nor will bate
Any title of her state,
Though a widow, or divorced,
So I, from thy converse forced,
The old name and style retain,
A right Katherine of Spain;
And a seat, too, 'mongst the joys
Of the blest Tobacco Boys;
Where, though I, by sour physician,
Am debarr'd the full fruition
Of thy favours, I may catch
Some collateral sweets, and snatch
Sidelong odours, that give life
Like glances from a neighbour's wife;
And still live in the by-places
And the suburbs of thy graces;
And in thy borders take delight,
An unconquer'd Canaanite.

In our next paper of this series, we shall consider, at some length, the effects which have probably been produced on the literati and churchmen of England by the disuse of the Tobacco Pipe; illustrating the subject by copious quotations from a curious MS. collection of Oxford jeux-d'esprit, which we were so fortunate as to pick up at Mr John Ballantyne's a few weeks ago; and concluding the whole with an original ode of Mr Odoherty, composed in the Cheshire Cheese Tavern, Fleet Street, in the year 1814, and addressed, as might well befit its theme, to no less a personage than that prince of puffers-Field Marshal Blucher. We shall also insert "An Elegy inscribed to Miss Foreman, by William Wastle, Esq." and "Lines written on seeing a spark fall from Mr Hogg's pipe, by R. P. Gillies, Esq.