imitate them in walking naked as they doe in preferring glasses feathers and such toyes to golde and precious stones as they do yea why do we not denie God and adore the Deuill as they doe Now to the corrupted basenesse of the first vse of this Tobacco doeth very well agree the foolish and groundlesse first entry thereof into this Kingdome It is not so long since the first entry of this abuse amongst vs here as this present age cannot yet very well remember both the first Author and the forme of the first introduction of it amongst vs. It was neither brought in by King great Conquerour nor learned Doctor of Phisicke With the report of a great discouery for a Conquest some two or three Sauage mē were brought in together with this Sauage custome But the pitie is the poore wilde barbarous men died but that vile barbarous custome is yet aliue yea in fresh vigor so as it seemes a miracle to me how a custome springing from so vile a ground and brought in by a father so generally hated should be welcomed vpon so slender a warrant For if they that first put it in practise heere had remembred for what respect it was vsed by them from whence it came I am sure they would haue bene loath to haue taken so farre the imputation of that disease vpon them as they did by vsing the cure thereof For Sanis non est opus medico and counterpoisons are neuer vsed but where poyson is thought to precede But since it is true that diuers customes slightly grounded and with no better warrant entred in a Commonwealth may yet in the vse of them thereafter prooue both necessary and profitable it is therefore next to be examined if there be not a full Sympathie and true Proportion betweene the base ground and foolish entrie and the loathsome and hurtfull vse of this stinking Antidote I am now therefore heartily to pray you to consider first vpon what false and erroneous grounds you haue first built the generall good liking thereof and next what sinnes towards God and foolish vanities before the world you commit in the detestable vse of it As for these deceitfull grounds that haue specially mooued you to take a good and great conceit thereof I shall content my selfe to examine here onely foure of the principals of them two founded vpon the Theoricke of a deceiueable apparance of Reason and two of them vpon the mistaken Practicke of generall Experience First it is thought by you a sure Aphorisme in the Physickes That the braines of all men beeing naturally colde and wet all dry and hote things should be good for them of which nature this stinking suffumigation is and therefore of good vse to them Of this Argument both the Proposition and Assumption are false and so the Conclusion cannot but be voyd of it selfe For as to the Proposition That because the braines are colde and moist therefore things that are hote and drie are best for them it is an inept consequence For man beeing compounded of the foure Complexions whose fathers are the foure Elements although there be a mixture of them all in all the parts of his body yet must the diuers parts of our Microcosme or little world within our selues be diuersly more inclined some to one some to another complexion according to the diuersitie of their vses that of these discords a perfect harmonie may bee made vp for the maintenance of the whole body The application then of a thing of a contrary nature to any of these parts is to interrupt them of their due function and by consequence hurtfull to the health of the whole body As if a man because the Liuer is hote as the fountaine of blood and as it were and ouen to the stomacke would therfore apply and weare close vpon his Liuer and stomacke a cake of lead he might within a very short time I hope be susteined very good cheape at an Ordinarie beside the cleering of his conscience from that deadly sinne of gluttonie And as if because the Heart is full of vitall spirits and in perpetuall motion a man would therefore lay a heauy pound stone on his breast for staying and holding downe that wanton palpitation I doubt not but his breast would bee more bruised with the weight thereof then the heart would be comforted with such a disagreeable contrarious cure And euen so is it with the Braines For if a man because the Braines are cold and humide would therefore vse inwardly by smells or outwardly by application things of hot and drie qualite all the gaine that he could make thereof would onely be to put himselfe in a great forwardnesse for running mad by ouerwatching himselfe the coldnesse and moistnesse of our braine beeing the onely ordinarie meanes that procure our sleepe and rest Indeed I doe not denie but when it falls out that any of these or any part of our bodie growes to be distempered and to tend to an extremitie beyond the compasse of Natures temperate mixture that in that case cures of contrary qualities to the intemperate inclination of that part being wisely prepared and discreetely ministred may be both necessarie and helpefull for strengthning and assisting Nature in the expulsion of her enemies for this is the true definition of all profitable Physicke But first these Cures ought not to bee vsed but where there is neede of them the contrarie whereof is daily practised in this generall vse of Tobacco by all sorts and complexions of people And next I deny the Minor of this argument as I have already said in regard that this Tobacco is not simply of a dry hot qualitie but rather hath a certaine venemous facultie ioyned with the heate thereof which makes it haue an Antipathie against nature as by the hatefull smell thereof doeth well appeare For the Nose being the proper Organ and conuoy of the sense of smelling to the braines which are the onely fountaine of that sense doeth euer serue vs for an infallible witnesse whether that Odour which we smell be healthfull or hurtfull to the braine except when it fals out that the sense it selfe is corrupted and abused through some infirmitie and distemper in the braine And that the suffumigation thereof cannot haue a drying qualitie it needes to further probation then that it is a smoake all smoake and vapour being of it selfe humide as drawing neere to the nature of the ayre and easie to be resolued againe into water whereof there needes no other proofe but the Meteors which being bred of nothing else but of the vapours and exhalations sucked vp by the Sunne out of the earth the Sea and waters yet are the same smoakie vapours turned and transformed into Raynes Snowes Deawes hoare Frostes and such like waterie Meteors as by the contrarie the raynie cloudes are often transformed and euaporated in blustering winds The second Argument grounded on a show of reason is That this filthie smoake as well through the
A COVNTERBLASTE TO Tobacco ¶ Imprinted at London by R. B. Anno 1604. ¶ TO THE READER AS euery humane body deare Countrey men how wholesome soeuer is notwithstanding subiect or at least naturally inclined to some sorts of diseases or infirmities so is there no Common-wealth or Body-politicke how well gouerned or peaceable soeuer it bee that lackes the owne popular errors and naturally enclined corruptions and therefore is it no wonder although this our Countrey and Common-wealth though peaceable though wealthy though long flourishing in both be amongst the rest subiect to the owne naturall infirmities VVee are of all Nations the people most louing and most reuerently obedient to our Prince yet are wee as time hath often borne witnesse too easie to be seduced to make Rebellion vpon very slight grounds Our fortunate and oft prooued valour in warres abroad our heartie and reuerent obedience to our Princes at home hath bred vs a long and a thrice happy peace Our Peace hath bred wealth And Peace and wealth hath brought foorth a generall sluggishnesse which makes vs wallow in all sorts of idle delights and soft delicacies the first seedes of the subuersion of all great Monarchies Our Cleargie are become negligent and lazie our Nobilitie and Gentrie prodigall and solde to their priuate delights Our Lawyers couetous our Common-people prodigall and curious and generally all sorts of people more carefull for their priuat ends then for their mother the Common-wealth For remedie whereof it is the Kings part as the proper Phisician of his Politicke-body to purge it of all those diseases by Medicines meete for the same as by a certaine milde and yet iust forme of gouernment to maintaine the Publicke quietnesse and preuent all occasions of Commotion by the example of his owne Person and Court to make vs all ashamed of our sluggish delicacie and to stirre vs vp to the practise againe of all honest exercises and Martiall shadowes of VVarre As likewise by his and his Courts moderatenesse in Apparell to make vs ashamed of our prodigalitie By his quicke admonitions and carefull ouerseeing of the Cleargie to waken them vp againe to be more diligent in their Offices By the sharpe triall and seuere punishment of the partiall couetous and bribing Lawyers to reforme their corruptions And generally by the example of his owne Person and by the due execution of good Lawes to reforme and abolish piece and piece these old and euill grounded abuses For this will not bee Opus vnius diei but as euery one of these diseases must from the King receiue the owne cure proper for it so are there some sorts of abuses in Common-wealths that though they be of so base and contemptible a condition as they are too low for the Law to looke on and too meane for a King to interpone his authoritie or bend his eye vpon yet are they corruptions aswell as the greatest of them So is an Ant an Animal aswell as an Elephant so is a VVrenne Auis aswell as a Swanne and so is a small dint of the Toothake a disease aswell as the fearefull Plague is But for these base sorts of corruption in Common wealthes not onely the King or any inferior Magistrate but Quilibet e populo may serue to be a Phisician by discouering and impugning the error and by perswading reformation thereof And surely in my opinion there cannot be a more base and yet hurtfull corruption in a Countrey then is the vile vse or rather abuse of taking Tobacco in this Kingdome which hath mooued me shortly to discouer the abuses thereof in this following little Pamphlet If any thinke it a light Argument so is it but a toy that is bestowed vpon it And since the Subiect is but of Smoke I thinke the fume of an idle braine may serue for a sufficient battery against so fumous and feeble an enemy If my grounds be found true it is all I looke for but if they cary the force of perswasion with them it is all I can wish and more then I can expect My onely care is that you my deare Countrey-men may rightly conceiue euen by this smallest trifle of the sinceritie of my meaning in greater matters neuer to spare any paine that may tend to the procuring of your weale and prosperitie A Counterblaste to Tobacco THat the manifolde abuses of this vile custome of Tobacco taking may the better be espied it is fit that first you enter into consideration both of the first originall thereof and likewise of the reasons of the first entry thereof into this Countrey For certainely as such customes that haue their first institution either from a godly necessary or honorable ground and are first brought in by the meanes of some worthy vertuous and great Personage are euer and most iustly holden in great reuerent estimation and account by all wise vertuous and temperate spirits So should it by the contrary iustly bring a great disgrace into that sort of customes which hauing their originall from base corruption and barbarity doe in like sort make their first entry into a Countrey by an inconsiderate and childish affectation of Noueltie as is the true case of the first inuention of Tobacco taking and of the first entry thereof among vs. For Tobacco being a cōmon herbe which though vnder diuers names growes almost euery where was first found out by some of the barbarous Indians to be a Preseruatiue or Antidot against the Pockes a filthy disease whereunto these barbarous people are as all men know very much subiect what through the vncleanly and adust constitution of their bodies and what through the intemperate heate of their Climat so that as from them was first brought into Christendome that most detestable disease so from them likewise was brought this vse of Tobacco as a stinking and vnsauorie Antidot for so corrupted and execrable a Maladie the stinking Suffumigation whereof they yet vse against that disease making so one canker or venime to eate out another And now good Countrey men let vs I pray you consider what honour or policie can mooue vs to imitate the barbarous and beastly maners of the wilde godlesse and slauish Indians especially in so vile and stinking a custome Shall wee that disdaine to imitate the maners of our neighbour France hauing the stile of the first Christian Kingdom and that cannot endure the spirit of the Spaniards their King being now comparable in largenes of Dominions to the great Emperor of Turkie Shall wee I say that haue bene so long ciuill and wealthy in Peace famous and inuincible in Warre fortunate in both we that haue bene euer able to aide any of our neighbours but neuer deafed any of their eares with any of our supplications for assistance shall we I say without blushing abase our selues so farre as to imitate these beastly Indians slaues to the Spaniards refuse to the world and as yet aliens from the holy Couenant of God Why doe we not as well
that sort of disease and doe best agree with the nature of that infirme part which being abused to a disease of another nature would prooue as hurtfull for the one as helpfull for the other Yea not only will a skilfull and warie Phisician bee carefull to vse no cure but that which is fit for that sort of disease but he wil also consider all other circūstances and make the remedies sutable thereunto as the temperature of the clime where the Patient is the constitution of the Planets the time of the Moone the season of the yere the age complexion of the Patient the present state of his body in strength or weakenesse For one cure must not euer be vsed for the selfe-same disease but according to the varying of any of the foresaid circumstances that sort of remedie must be vsed which is fittest for the same Whear by the contrarie in this case such is the miraculous omnipotencie of our strong tasted Tobacco as it cures all sorts of diseases which neuer any drugge could do before in all persons and at all times It cures all maner of distillations either in the head or stomacke if you beleeue their Axiomes although in very deede it doe both corrupt the braine and by causing ouer quicke disgestion fill the stomacke full of crudities It cures the Gowt in the feet and which is miraculous in that very instant when the smoke thereof as light flies vp into the head the vertue thereof as heauie runs downe to the little toe It helpes all sorts of Agues It makes a man sober that was drunke It refreshes a weary man and yet makes a man hungry Being taken when they goe to bed it makes one sleepe soundly and yet being taken when a man is sleepie and drowsie it will as they say awake his braine and quicken his vnderstanding As for curing of the Pockes it serues for that vse but among the pockie Indian slaues Here in England it is refined and will not deigne to cure heere any other then cleanly and gentlemanly diseases O omnipotent power of Tobacco And if it could by the smoke thereof chace out deuils as the smoke of Tobias fish did which I am sure could smel no stronglier it would serue for a precious Relicke both for the superstitious Priests and the insolent Puritanes to cast out deuils withall Admitting then and not confessing that the vse thereof were healthfull for some sortes of diseases should it be vsed for all sicknesses should it be vsed by all men should it be vsed at al times yea should it be vsed by able yong strong healthful men Medicine hath that vertue that it neuer leaueth a man in that state wherin it findeth him it makes a sicke man whole but a whole man sicke And as Medicine helpes nature being taken at times of necessitie so being euer and continually vsed it doth but weaken wearie and weare nature What speake I of Medicine Nay let a man euery houre of the day or as oft as many in this countrey vse to take Tobacco let a man I say but take as oft the best sorts of nourishments in meate and drinke that can bee deuised hee shall with the continuall vse thereof weaken both his head and his stomacke all his members shall become feeble his spirits dull and in the end as a drousie lazie belly-god he shall euanish in a Lethargie And from this weakenesse it proceeds that many in this kingdome haue had such a continuall vse of taking this vnsauorie smoke as now they are not able to forbeare the same no more then an olde drunkard can abide to be long sober without falling into an vncurable weakenesse and euill constitution for their continuall custome hath made to them habitum alterā naturam so to those that from their birth haue bene continually nourished vpon poison and things venemous wholesome meates are onely poisonable Thus hauing as I truste sufficiently answered the most principall arguments that are vsed in defence of this vile custome it rests onely to informe you what sinnes and vanities you commit in the filthie abuse thereof First are you not guiltie of sinnefull and shamefull lust for lust may bee as well in any of the senses as in feeling that although you bee troubled with no disease but in perfect health yet can you neither be merry at an Ordinarie nor lasciuious in the Stewes if you lacke Tobacco to prouoke your appetite to any of those sorts of recreation lusting after it as the children of Israel did in the wildernesse after Quailes Secondly it is as you vse or rather abuse it a branche of the sinne of drunkennesse which is the roote of all sinnes for as the onely delight that drunkards take in Wine is in the strength of the taste the force of the fume thereof that mounts vp to the braine fot no drunkards loue any weake or sweete drinke so are not those I meane the strong heate and the fume the onely qualities that make Tobacco so delectable to all the louers of it And as no man likes strong headie drinke the first day because nemo repente fit turpissimus but by custome is piece and piece allured while in the ende a drunkard will haue as great a thirst to bee drunke as a sober man to quench his thirst with a draught when hee hath need of it So is not this the very case of all the great takers of Tobacco which therefore they themselues do attribute to a bewitching qualitie in it Thirdly is it not the greatest sinne of all that you the people of all sortes of this Kingdome who are created and ordeined by God to bestowe both your persons and goods for the maintenance both of the honour and safetie of your King and Common-wealth should disable your selues in both In your persons hauing by this continuall vile custome brought your selues to this shamefull imbecilitie that you are not able to ride or walke the iourney of a Iewes Sabboth but you must haue a reekie cole brought you from the next poore house to kindle your Tobacco with whereas he cannot be thought able for any seruice in the warres that cannot endure oftentimes the want of meate drinke and sleepe much more then must hee endure the want of Tobacco In the times of the many glorious and victorious battailes fought by this Nation there was no word of Tobacco but now if it were time of warres and that you were to make some sudden Caualcado vpon your enemies if any of you should seeke leisure to stay behinde his fellowe for taking of Tobacco for my part I should neuer bee sorie for any euill chance that might befall him To take a custome in any thing that cannot bee left againe is most harmefull to the people of any land Mollicies and delicacie were the wracke and ouerthrow first of the Persian and next of the Romane Empire And this very custome of taking Tobacco whereof our present purpose is is euen at this