Those Authors, who have called _Tobacco_ _Herba rixosa_, the Strife-producing Herb, and _Herba insana_, the Plant which excites Madness, seem not to have been very much in the wrong; for what is more frequent than for People of all Denominations to spend the whole of the Day smoaking _Tobacco_ in Ale-Houses and Taverns? Nay, so fond are young and old Men of _Tobacco_, that the Father forgets the Interests of the Son, and the Son those of the Father for its Sake. Thus some Men use large Quantities of _Tobacco_, whilst, perhaps, their Families are starving at Home: Whereas some Children spend upon _Tobacco_ what their industrious Parents had, with Toil and Care, amassed for their Use. Nay, such is the Madness of some _Europeans_, that they will, for a Trifle, dispose of their Goods, in order to gratify themselves with _Tobacco_.
King _James_ the Sixth of _England_ tells us, "that, among the _Americans_, a Servant addicted to the Smoaking of _Tobacco_, can hardly find a Purchaser; so odious is that Custom to the Authors of it themselves." We _Europeans_, however, are so infatuated and hood-winked, as yearly to sail to _America_, spare no Expences, and expose ourselves not only to Storms and Tempests, but also to Sickness and Death, for the Sake of _Tobacco_; and it is certain, that our Men, on their Return from _America_, spread through all _Europe_ the _Neapolitan_ Disease, which, as _Fiorovanta_ thinks, was endemial to the _Americans_, on Account of their eating human Flesh. This, to use the Phrase of _Agrippa, de Vanitat. Scientiarum_, Cap. 84. _is to purchase Death at a great Price_. The _Indians_ and _Barbarians_ have such an Aversion to the Abuse of _Tobacco_, that they severely chastise the _Ethiopians_ and Slaves for it, and burn their _Tobacco_; probably, because they suspect that it renders them valetudinary, and disables them to work; in which Situation they are a Burthen upon their Masters. According to _Viganenus_, in _Lib. de Ritibus Moribusq_; _Turcarum_; and _Johannes Chrysostomus Magnenus_, in _Exercitat. de Tabac. Exercit._ 6. §. 10. _Amureth_, the 4th Emperor of the _Turks_, by an Edict, prohibited the Use of _Tobacco_, under Pain of Death, lest, by the Abuse of it, his Subjects should become effeminate, feeble, and barren. According to _Adamus Olearius_, in _Lib. 3. Cap. 6._ the Emperor of _Muscovy_, in 1634, by an Edict prohibited the Importation of _Tobacco_ and _Snuff_ into his Territories, under the Penalty of being beat with Rods, and having the Nostrils slit in Case of Disobedience: And the same Author says, he saw some who had these Marks of Infamy inflicted upon them. In _Lib. 5. Cap. 31._ he also tells us, that _Schach Abas_, the _Persian_ Monarch, prohibited all Use of _Tobacco_ in that Army, which he raised against _Tameran Chan_ under the Penalty of the Offender's having his Nose and Lips cut off; nay, he was so rigid, or rather cruel in his Discipline, that when a certain _Persian_, ignorant of the Edict, came into his Camp with some _Tobacco_ to sell, he ordered both him and his Commodities to be thrown into one Funeral Pile and burnt.