A FOREIGN Weed, which has made so many Englishmen, especially of the common sort, become its slaves, must not be omitted in our catalogue of Popular Antiquities. It is said to have been first brought into England by Captain R. Greenfield and Sir Francis Drake about the year 1586, during the reign of Elizabeth. (a)

A pleasant kind of tale, but for one item of the veracity of which I will not vouch, is given in the Athenian Oracle by way of accounting for the frequent use and continuance of taking it. "When the Christians first discovered America, the Devil was afraid of losing his hold of the people there by the appearance of Christianity. He is reported to have told some Indians of his acquaintance that he had found a way to be revenged upon the Christians for beating up his quarters, for he would teach them to take Tobacco, to which, when they had once tasted it, they should become perpetual slaves."

Alehouses are at present licensed to deal in tobacco but it was not so from the beginning; for so great an incentive was it thought to drunkenness, that it was strictly forbidden to be taken in any alehouse in the time of James the First.

There is a curious Collection of Proclamations, Prints, &c. in the Archives of the Society of Antiquaries of London. In vol. viii. lettered on the back "Miscel. K. James I." is an alehouse licence granted by six Kentish justices of the peace, at the bottom of which the following item occurs, among other directions to the inn-holder:

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Item, you shall not utter, nor willingly suffer to be utter'd, drunke, or taken, any tobacco within your house, cellar, or other place thereunto belonging."

The following ironical encomium on, and serious invective against tobacco, occurs in Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, 4to. Oxford, 1621, page 452: "Tobacco, divine, rare,

(a) See Hora Nicotianæ, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, vol. iv. p. 47; v. p. 205.

a

super excellent tobacco, which goes farre beyond all their panaceas, potable gold, and philosopher's stones, a sovereign remedy to all diseases. A good vomit, I confesse, a vertuous herbe, if it be well qualified, opportunely taken, and medicinally used; but as it is commonly used by most men, which take it as tinkers do ale, 'tis a plague, a mischiefe, a violent purger of goods, lands, health, hellish, devilish, and damnd tobacco, the ruine and overthrow of body and soule."

In the Apophthegms of King James, &c. 12mo. Lond. 1658, p. 4, I read as follows: "His Majesty professed that were he to invite the Devil to a dinner, he should have these three dishes 1. a pig; 2. a poll of Ling and mustard; and 3. a pipe of tobacco for digesture."

:

The following quaint thought is found in an old Collection of Epigrams:

"121. A Tobacconist.
"All dainty meats I do defie,

Which feed men fat as swine:
He is a frugal man indeed

That on a leaf can dine.
He needs no napkin for his hands
His fingers' ends to wipe,
That keeps his kitchen in a box,

And roast meat in a pipe."

In the Hymnus Tabaci by Raphael Thorius, made English by Peter Hausted, Master of Arts, Camb. 8vo. Lond. 1651, we meet with the strongest invective against tobacco: "Let it be damn'd to hell, and call'd from thence

Proserpine's wine, the Furies' frankincense,
The devil's addle eggs, or else to these
A sacrifice grim Pluto to appease,

A deadly weed, which its beginning had
From the foam of Cerberus, when the cur

was mad."

Our British Solomon, James the First, who was a great opponent of the Devil, and even wrote a book against witchcraft, made a formidable attack also upon this "Invention of Satan," in a learned performance, which he

called a "Counterblaste to Tobacco." (1) It is printed in the edition of his works by Barker and Bill, London, 1616.

He concludes this Bitter Blast (2) of his, his sulphureous invective against this transmarine weed, with the following peroration: "Have you not reason then to be ashamed and to forbear this filthy novelty, so basely grounded, so foolishly received, and so grossly mistaken in the right use thereof! In your abuse thereof sinning against God, harming yourselves, both in persons and goods, and taking also thereby (look to it, ye that take snuff in profusion!) the marks and notes of vanity upon you; by the custom thereof making yourselves to be wondered at by all foreign civil nations, and by all strangers that come among you, to

be scorned and contemned; a custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black stinking fume thereof, nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless."

If even this small specimen of our learned monarch's oratory, which seems well adapted to the understanding of old women, does not prevail upon them all to break in pieces their tobacco pipes and forego smoking, it will perhaps be impossible to say what can.

The subject, as his Majesty well observes, is Smoke, and no doubt many of his readers will think the arguments of our royal author no more than the Fumes of an idle brain, and it may be added too, of an empty head!

(1) His Majesty in the course of his work informs us, "that some of the gentry of the land bestowed (at that time) three, some four hundred pounds a yeere upon this precious stink!" An incredible sum, especially when we consider the value of money in his time. They could not surely have been Sterling, but Scottish pounds.

The following extraordinary account of a Buckinghamshire parson who abandoned himself to the use of tobacco is worth quoting. It may be found in Lilly's History of his Life and Times, p. 44:

"In this year also, William Breedon, parson or vicar of Thornton in Bucks, was living, a profound divine, but absolutely the most polite person for nativities in that age, strictly adhering to Ptolemy, which he well understood; he had a hand in composing Sir Christopher Heydon's Defence of Judicial Astrology, being at that time his chaplain; he was so given over to tobacco and drink, that when he had no tobacco (and I suppose too much drink) he would cut the bellropes and smoke them!"

(2) How widely different the strains of the subsequent Parody on the style of Ambrose Phillips!

"Little tube of mighty pow'r,
Charmer of an idle hour,
Object of my warm desire,
Lip of wax and eye of fire:
And thy snowy taper waist,
With my finger gently brac'd;
And thy pretty swelling crest,
With my little stopper prest," &c.

The following is in imitation of Dr. Young: "Critics avaunt, Tobacco is my theme;

Tremble like hornets at the blasting steam. And you, court insects, flutter not too near Its light, nor buzz within the scorching sphere.

Pollio, with flame like thine my verse inspire,

So shall the muse from smoke elicit fire. Coxcombs prefer the tickling sting of snuff; Yet all their claim to wisdom is-a puff. Lord Foplin smokes not-for his teeth afraid;

Sir Tawdry smokes not-for he wears brocade.

Ladies, when pipes are brought, affect to swoon;

They love no smoke, except the smoke of town;

In "The London Medley," Svo. 1731, p. 8, I find the following panegyric on tobacco:

'Hail, Indian plant, to ancient times unknown,

A modern truly thou, of all our own;
If through the tube thy virtues be convey'd,
The old man's solace, and the student's aid!
Thou dear concomitant of nappy ale,
Thou sweet prolonger of a harmless tale;
Or if, when pulveriz'd in smart rappee,
Thou'lt reach Sir Fopling's brain, if brain
there be;

He shines in dedications, poems, plays,
Soars in Pindaricks, and asserts the bays;
Thus dost thou every taste and genius hit,
In smoak, thou'rt wisdom; and in snuff,
thou'rt wit."

THE custom of giving names to Wells and Fountains is of the most remote antiquity. In giving particular names to inanimate things it is obviously the principal intention to secure or distinguish the property of them. A Well was a most valuable treasure in those dry and parched countries which composed the scene of the patriarchal history, and therefore we find in one of the earliest of writings, the Book of Genesis, that it was a frequent subject of contention. (a)

and St. Clement's Well, are of most note, and frequented above the rest, when scholars and the youth of the city take the air abroad in the summer evenings." (3)

We find the superstitious adoration of fountains, a not unpleasing species of idolatry in sultry weather, is forbidden so early as in the sixteenth of the canons made in the reign of King Edgar, A. D. 960: (4) as also in the canons of St. Anselm made in the year of Christ 1102. (5)

In the Papal times there was a custom in this country, if a Well had an awful situation, if its waters were bright and clear, or if it was considered as having a medicinal quality, to dedicate it to some saint, (1) by honouring it with his name. (2)

Fitzstephen, Monk of Canterbury, in his description of the ancient city of London, has the following passage on this subject. "There are on the north part of London principal fountains of water, sweet, wholesome, and clear, streaming from among the glistering pebble stones. In this number Holy Well, Clerkenwell,

(a) See Genesis, xxi. 31; also xxvi.

This superstition appears to have been very prevalent in this island till the age before the Reformation, and is not even yet entirely extinguished among the Roman Catholics and the common people. (*)

Various rites appear to have been performed on Holy Thursday at Wells, in different parts of the kingdom; such as decorating them with boughs of trees, garlands of tulips, and other flowers, placed in various fancied devices.

In some places indeed it was the custom, after prayers for the day at the church, for the clergyman and singers even to pray and sing psalms at the wells. (7)

The leaving of rags at wells was a singular species of popular superstition. (8) Bishop Hall, in his Triumphs of Rome, ridicules a superstitious prayer of the Popish Church for the blessing of clouts in the way of cure of diseases. Can it have originated thence? This absurd custom is not extinct even at this day: I have formerly frequently observed shreds or bits of rag upon the bushes that overhang a well in the road to Benton, a village in the vicinity of Newcastle upon Tyne, which, from that circumstance, is now or was very lately called the Rag-Well. This name is undoubtedly of long standing: probably it has been visited for some disease or other, and these rag-offerings are the reliques of the then prevailing popular superstition. (9) It is not far from another holy spring at Jesmond, at the distance of about a mile from Newcastle. Pilgrimages to this well and chapel at Jesmond were so frequent, that one of the principal streets of the great commercial town

aforesaid is supposed to have had its name partly from having an inn in it, to which the pilgrims that flocked thither for the benefit of the supposed holy water used to resort. (1") See my History of Newcastle upon Tyne. (1)

The custom of affixing ladles of iron, &c. by a chain, to wells, is of great antiquity. Mr. Strutt, in his Anglo-Saxon Æra, tells us, that Edwine caused ladles or cups of brass to be fastened to the clear springs and wells, for the refreshment of the passengers. Venerable Bede is his authority. The passage is as follows: "Tantum quoque Rex idem utilitati suæ gentis consuluit, ut plerisque in locis ubi Fontes lucidos juxta publicos viarum transitus conspexit, ibi ob refrigerium viantium erectis stipitibus et æreos caucos suspendi juberet, neque hos quisquam nisi ad usum necessarium contingere præ magnitudine vel timoris ejus auderet, vel amoris vellet." (a)

(a) Bedæ Eccles. Hist. lib. ii. cap. 16.

(1) Bourne, in his Antiquitates Vulgares, chap. viii. enumerates "St. John's, St. Mary Magdalen's, St. Mary's Well," &c. To these may be added many others. Thus, in "The Muses Threnodie," St. Conil's Well in Scotland. "This well, dedicated to St. Conwall, whose anniversary was celebrated on the 18th of May, is near to Ruthven Castle, or Hunting Tower. It is sufficient to serve the town of Perth with pure, wholesome water, if it were brought down by pipes. In the days of superstition this well was much resorted to." p. 175, note.

In the Travels of Tom Thumb, p. 35, we read : "A man would be inexcusable that should come into North Wales and not visit Holywell or St. Winifride's Well, and hear attentively all the stories that are told about it. It is indeed a natural wonder, though we believe nothing of the virgin and her rape: for I never felt a colder spring nor saw any one that affords such a quantity of water. It forms alone a considerable brook which is immediately able to drive a mill."

Mr. Pennant in his account of this well says, "After the death of that saint, the waters were almost as sanative as those of the Pool of Bethesda all infirmities incident to the human body met with relief: the votive crutches, the barrows, and other proofs of cures, to this moment remain as evidences pendent over the well. The resort of pilgrims of late years to these fontanalia has considerably decreased. In the summer, still, a few are to be seen in the water in deep devotion up to their chins for hours, sending up their prayers or performing a number of evolutions round the polygonal well, or threading the arch between well and well a prescribed number of times."

In the History of Whiteford Parish, p. 223, he adds, "The bathing well is an oblong, 38 feet by 16, with steps for the descent of the fair sex, or of invalids. Near the steps, two feet beneath the water, is a large stone, called the wishing-stone. It receives many a kiss from the faithful, who are supposed never to fail in experiencing the completion of their

desires, provided the wish is delivered with full devotion and confidence.

"On the outside of the great well, close to the road, is a small spring, once famed for the cure of weak eyes. The patient made an offering to the nymph of the spring, of a crooked pin, and sent up at the same time a certain ejaculation, by way of charm: but the charm is forgotten, and the efficacy of the waters lost. The well is common."

Lilly, in the History of his Life and Times, p. 32, relates that in 1635 Sir George Peckham, Knt. died in St. Winifred's Well, "having continued so long mumbling his pater nosters and Sancta Winifreda ora pro me, that the cold struck into his body, and after his coming forth of that well he never spoke more."(a)

For a notice of St. Cuthbert's well at Eden Hall, in Cumberland, see the account of FAIRIES.

In the Statistical Account of Scotland, vol. xv. (8vo. Edinb. 1795) p. 613, Avoch parish, county of Ross, we read of "a well called Craiguck, issuing from a rock near the shore of Bennetsfield, resorted to in the month of May by whimsical or superstitious persons, who, after drinking, commonly leave some threads or rags tied to a bush in the neighbourhood."

(2) Bourne's Antiq. Vulg. ut supra.

I

found on a visit to the source of the New River between Hertford and Ware, in August, 1793, an old stone inscribed "Chadwell," a corruption, no doubt, of St. Chad's Well. So copious a spring could not fail of attracting the notice of the inhabitants in the earliest times, who accordingly dedicated it to St. Chad, never once dreaming perhaps that in succeeding ages it should be converted to so beneficial a purpose as to supply more than half the capital of England with one of the most indispensable necessaries of human life.

In the antiquities of Heathen Rome Fonti

(a) An account of a Miracle pretended to have been recently wrought at this well will be found in a pamphlet entitled "Authentic Documents relative to the miraculous Cure of Winefrid White, of Wolverhampton, at St. Winefrid's Well, alias Holywell, in Flintshire, on the 28th of June, 1805: with Observations thereon, by the R. R. JM, D.D. V.A. F.S.A. Lond. and C. Acad. Rome," 3d edit. 8vo. Lond. 1806.

VOL. II.

nalia was a religious feast, celebrated on the 13th of October, in honour of the nymphs of wells and fountains. The ceremony consisted in throwing nosegays into the fountains, and putting crowns of flowers upon the wells.

Alexander Ross, in his appendix to the Arcana Microcosmi, p. 220, tells us that "Camerarius, out of Dietmarus and Erasmus Stella, writes of a certain fountain near the river Albis or Elbe in Germany, which presageth wars by turning red and bloody-coloured, of another which portendeth death, if the water, which before was limpid, becomes troubled and thick, so caused by an unknown worm." This brings to my remembrance a superstitious notion I have heard of in Northumberland, that, when the Earl of Derwentwater was beheaded, the brook that runs past his seat at Dilston Hall flowed with blood.

Concerning Fountain Superstitions, see the authorities quoted by Ihre in his Gloss. SuioGoth. tom. i. p. 1042, v. OFFEKÆLLA. See also Lindebrogii Codex Legum Antiquorum, p. 1402, and Hearne's pref. to Rob. Glouc. p. 47.

In Muratori, Antiq. Italicæ Medii Ævi, tom. v. fol. Mil. 1741, p. 66, c. Diss. de Superstitionum semine in obscuris Italiæ sæculis, we read: "Sub Regibus Langobardis eo audacia processerat inconsulta rudis Popelli credulitas, ut Arbores quasdam (Sanctivas appellabant) summa in veneratione haberent, veluti sacras, neque ab iis tantum exscindendis aut tondendis abstinerent, sed etiam iis adorationis signa exhiberent. Idem quoque FONTIBUS nonnullis præstabant. Deum-ne, ejusque Sanctos, an Dæmones, ibi colerent, exploratum minime est. Quum tamen ejusmodi superstitiosi cultus Pagania interdum appellentur ab antiquis, idcirco par est credere Paganismi reliquias fuisse."

Dallaway, in his "Constantinople Ancient and Modern," 4to. Lond. 1797, p. 144, speaking of the Bosphorus, tells us: "Frequent fountains are seen on the shore, of the purest water, to which is attached one of the strongest and most ancient superstitions of the Greek church. They are called 'ayasmà;' and to repeat certain prayers at stated seasons, and to drink deeply of them, is held to be a most salutary act of their religion."

(3) Stow's "Survey of London," edit. 1633,

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