fresh lighted my pipe and watched the proceedings, almost as much interested as the father of the bride, in the dances and games that ensued. The father of the future bridegroom brought out his two unmarried daughters, and, flinging his arms round their shoulders, performed a species of patriarchal dance to the loud music of the villagers, and the enthusiasm of all the spectators; whilst wildlooking Arabs unsheathed their swords, and capered about round and round the group, like so many cannibals rejoicing over their pinioned victims. The two jars of wine promised by the young Bedouin to his aiders and abettors in stealing the tent, were duly forthcoming and drained, and then a further supply was produced by the sheik himself. Ah! that was a sad day for domestic poultry and sheep and goats, a very sad day indeed! for they were slaughtered and roasted wholesale, being stuffed with almonds and raisins and rice, and devoured by a hungry multitude, such as had seldom assembled in those plains. The sun set upon the feasting and rejoicing of the Bedouins. The affianced bride was taken away to a bath-tent separated from the encampment, and pitched upon the banks of a neighbouring rivulet; here they dyed her nails and her hair a hideous red colour, and they perfumed her garments with many-scented oils and essences. Then they led her back to her father's tent again, where, retreating under a temporary veil, she was doomed to seclusion for a whole fortnight's time: after that she was to be married, and of course the sheik asked me to come to the wedding, which I promised to do, provided no more tents were to be stolen or let fall upon our heads. The moon shone brilliantly upon the revelry of the villagers, as the sheik and I mounted and quitted the encampment for Antioch, where we arrived just as day was breaking the following morning. What happened at the Bedouin's wedding I hope at some future time to relate, for the present I think it is quite sufficient to remain twenty-four hours with a Bedouin. TOBACCO.—No. III. THE MORAL AND SOCIAL EFFECTS OF TOBACCO. IN speaking on this branch of the subject, we are aware that we are about to run counter to the opinions and prejudices of a large portion of mankind, who maintain that the pipe and the snuff-box are not only harmless appendages, but that the former is a sedative and incentive to reflection, and the latter useful in enabling a person to collect his ideas, as well as an excellent medium of introduction between strangers. Their praises have been sung by poets, and said by philosophers and divines, in no measured terms. Such elegant sentiments as the following seem to give a sanction to both, as promotive of moral reflections : "When smoke arises from my pipe, Thus to myself I say, Why should I anxious be for life, Our social snuff-boxes convey As if they silently should say, ‘Let's mingle dust to dust!”” The enjoyment of the "social circle," meeting at taverns and other places of public resort, for the purpose of smoking, will be urged in proof of the beneficial influence of the pipe, as a promoter of conviviality and good fellowship. Young men feel sociable, when they "get together" to enjoy a cigar. It seems a bond of union, a kind of freemasonry of brotherhood, the want of which they would be at a loss to supply. Old men, who have for years "smoked their evening pipe and drank their glass" at the club, would feel like fish out of water, were they to abandon the habit: they feel so much at home, and so sociable with their old companions. The toil-worn labourer, and the anxious tradesman, when the business of the day is over, do so much enjoy their pipes, and seem so comfortable with them, that their good wives, inured to the endurance of the filthy habit, feel it their duty to promote the comfort of their spouses at the expense of their own. Alas! that the enjoyment of so many millions of rational beings should depend upon the constant use of a poisonous, stinking weed; upon the habitual, daily, hourly use of what is, at best, a dangerous medicine, when taken or used only occasionally, but, when for a continuance, certainly injurious to all, dangerous to the majority, and fatal to many, whilst not one in a thousand derive any benefit whatsoever from it. But we have heavy charges of a moral and social nature to bring against the use of tobacco, which we consider as an incentive to drunken habits; as a waster of time; as a waster of money; as opposed to good manners; as injurious to domestic comfort. That smoking and chewing incite to habits of intemperance, even when they do not make a man a confirmed drunkard (which they frequently do), is but their natural effect. Anything that dries up, or produces too copious an evacuation of the juices of the head and stomach, renders a more than ordinary supply of liquids necessary. No smoker or chewer will deny that such is the effect of tobacco. Even if there were nothing peculiarly hot and drying in the plant itself to exhaust the natural juices of the body, the smoke alone, in the one case, being continually drawn into the mouth and throat, and the unnatural stimulus of the saliva in the other, must have the effect of producing a droughty sensation. But when to these simple causes are added the acrid and caustic properties of the plant, which are inhaled or sucked in at every whiff, and to get rid of which a continual artificial flow of the saliva is stimulated, a copious supply of moisture of some kind, becomes an absolute necessity, in order to make up the deficiency, and restore the balance of the animal functions. Now, there are only two ways in which a tobacco-taker can avoid acquiring the habit of drinking, namely, by smoking a dry pipe, or drinking water with it. As to the first, it certainly is possible, but the consequences would as surely be even more injurious to the health. For the juices of the body, if drained off by smoking or chewing, must either be reinstated in some form, or dyspepsia, scurvy, or other chronic disorders will be superinduced; and with regard to drinking water with tobacco, we have known only one person who practised it: whether he still continues to do so, or finds that the pipe requires a stronger stimulant, we cannot say; but he has frequently expressed regret at having commenced smoking, his health having suffered from it, and yet he has not resolution enough to give it up. But how many thousands have insensibly been drawn into the vortex of intemperance by the habit of smoking and chewing! What wretchedness and misery, what disease and poverty, have these detestable practices inflicted upon individuals and families? What ruin to mind, body, and estate, have the "social pipe" and the quid been productive of to myriads, who might, but for them, have led lives of comfort and respectability, but who appear to be lost for ever, both in respect to the present world and that to come! The waste of time involved in these habits is no inconsiderable item in the life of a man; and to those who know the value of time, its dissipation by the pipe will be a serious affair. Nor is it less wasted by the snuff-box. Earl Stanhope estimates, that an inveterate snuff-taker wastes ten per cent. of his time in the habit; and that the time and money thus spent would furnish a fund sufficient to pay the national debt.* How many hours are wasted in the course of the week in these sensual indulgences that might be well employed in the acquisition of knowledge, the promotion of philanthropic objects, or in important personal concerns. The waste of money in the consumption of this weed is also enormous. Thirty-two million pounds is about the quantity that passed the Customs in 1853, involving an expenditure to the consumers of at least eight millions sterling. But if we add to this, the quantity smuggled into the country, the adulteration and consequent increase of manufactured tobacco and snuff, and especially the moisture which is necessarily added to all tobacco used for smoking and quidding, we may safely assert, that sixteen millions is nearer (although probably still below) the entire annual outlay of the United Kingdom for this detestable plant, a sum truly astonishing when we consider that not one single benefit, but, on the contrary, an enormous amount of evil arises from it. We must, however, analyze more closely this expenditure, in order to obtain an adequate idea of the injury inflicted by it upon society. We have but little to say to men of fortune who waste their time and their money in these ignoble pursuits. However extravagant may be their habits, if they choose to injure their health, debase their manners, waste their time, and lavish their wealth by hundreds and thousands on these filthy customs, we admit that they have a legal right to do so. We have heard of noble lords spending 12007. a-year upon cigars alone; and George IV.'s expenditure for tobacco and snuff, and the appendages thereof, was too princely to be estimated. May God forgive them, and all such, for the waste and abuse of the gifts of His providence, intrusted to them for far different purposes, and for which they will be called to give a strict account hereafter. It was an excellent, though probably unconscious reproof, given to a peer by a Taheitean, who was brought over to this country by Captain Furneaux: his lordship condescendingly offered the savage a pinch of snuff, and received the unsophisticated reply, "No, thank you, my lord, my nose is not hungry." * Some years ago the writer of this paper went to Dublin to establish a business in which he employed several men. Finding that all the workmen were smokers at their work, and that much time was lost in replenishing and lighting the pipe, which frequently led to gossiping over it, he at once made a rule, that if any of them were found smoking during the hours of labour, they would be discharged. Only one broke the rule, who, being detected smoking among the straw in the stable, in a state of intoxication, was at once turned away. The middle-classes have far less excuse for squandering time and money in these indulgences. Admitting that their resources are not materially affected by it, the sum, if saved, would be far from inconsiderable, if suffered to accumulate. Three or four cigars a-day will cost from 10 to 157. a-year; and few smokers stop at that number. Add to these, the other expenses necessarily attending the habit, and the drinking which accompanies the pipe, and we believe that few confirmed smokers would get off with a less outlay than from 25l. to 307. per annum. This sum, in ten years, would purchase a house that would add an equal sum to their yearly income, besides being something to fall back upon in case of a reverse of any kind. Consider, too, what benefit you might confer on others with the money you thus throw away. "It is more blessed to give than to receive," says an apostle. But your habit of self-indulgence, not only lessens your means but weakens your principle of benevolence; for it is a well-established fact, that selfishness is the necessary result of self-indulgence, and the more we spend upon our own vices and luxuries, the less do we feel disposed to contribute to the necessities of others, and to those general claims of benevolence which it is the duty of all to attend to. We are commanded to look not on our own things only, but also on the things of others, and we cannot evade the precept, without involving ourselves in guilt. But what with regard to health? we have never questioned a smoker on this point, who could say that the practice did him good, and very few, indeed, who did not confess that it did them harm. Now, the health of a man in the middle rank of society is most commonly his wealth, his fortune, his income; if he lose that, in nineteen cases out of twenty he loses all, and his prosperity is at an end; and yet even this blessing is risked, and in thousands of cases sacrificed, for the sake of a practice from which no benefit is ever derived, but which at best can be looked upon as low, degrading, and selfish. As to the effect upon the lower ranks of society, of the use of tobacco, there can be but one opinion about it with rational and unprejudiced persons. And although, in some respects, we can less wonder at their practising a vulgar and debasing habit, from their greater ignorance of its effects, and less sensibility in respect to the decencies of life, still, when it is considered that every working man either has a wife and family, or looks forward to having them, there is but little excuse for their acquiring a habit, which involves an outlay of considerable comparative magnitude, VOL. II. F |