through this nether world-that, in all his avocations, he should bear in mind his suffering Saviour. Plodding his weary way, the broad plinth of the cheering Cross kindly offered him a resting-place, and did oft entice him to breathe, in lonely prayer, and unheeded but by his Maker, an Ave-Maria for the good, and the salvation, of his dear, and distant, friends.

The Papist may say as he please, but there is no doubt, that, in former ages, worship was paid to the Cross. In a well-written "Essay towards a History and Description of Ancient Stone Crosses," which appears in Mr. Britton's "Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain," vol. 1, are these appropriate remarks: "Many Catholics, forgetting that the stone Cross was merely a memento, or symbol, absolutely prostrated themselves before, and reverenced this inanimate block. Instead of elevating their thoughts to the omniscient Creator, they weakly paid homage to earthly particles; and, incapable of raising their minds to celestial contemplation, they most deplorably grovelled in the dark and contracted paths of human weakness, and superstitious folly. This we shall find exemplified in the following unequivocal fact. In an original instrument, dated 25th November, 1449, concerning the Church-yard of St. Mary Magdalen, in Milk-street, London, it is stated, that, in a piece of voide grounde,' lying on the west side of that street, there stode a Crosse of the height of a man or more; and that the same Crosse was worshipped by the parishens there, as Crosses be com'only worshipped in other chircheyardes.'"

Manifest as was the deplorable, the superstitious, and, I may add, the impious, adoration paid to the Cross, it is no wonder, that the ire of the Reformers was excited by the review of the extreme folly, and wickedness, into which they were plunged by the successive stages of enthusiasm, superstition, and irreligion-that, incited by the then recent laws against images, and pictures, in churches, they dealt destruction to the one by hard blows, and veiled the other from the human eye by the solution of lime-in plain language-by a coating of white-wash.

The covered Market-cross still exists in some few places in the county of Wilts-as Salisbury, Malmesbury, and Castlecombe. The Church-yard Cross, also, in some rare instances, escaped the fury of the Iconoclasts, and may yet be seen

at Cricklade St. Mary's, Great Bedwin, &c.; but the Crosses of the highway-side, in this county, are all destroyed. Their reliques are yet to be met with on the Salisbury Plains, and in other distant spots by the road-side. The plinths of one or two, with the squared perforations for the reception of the pedestals, are still in existence by the sides of the old road leading over the turf from Salisbury to Devizes, and such a plinth have I likewise seen near a similar road across the plains leading from Salisbury to Bath by the ancient camp called Yarnbury Castle. In some counties those highway Crosses may still be found, especially in that of Cornwall, where I have observed them to vary from the lowly Cross of not more than a foot or two in height, and surmounting the grassy mound, to that of its stately compeer of ten feet, or more, in height. Such a Cross, known by the name of the Four Hole Cross, stands on the moor by the road-side between Launceston and Bodmin. The hard nature of the material of the Cornish Crosses, which are of granite, and a popular superstition in their favour, have united in their pre

servation.

Salisbury

Now what shall I say of the Weeping-cross? was not alone favoured with such a peculiar Cross. It may be heard of at Shrewsbury, at Stafford, and other large, and ancient, places. Think you, gentle reader, that it was the penitential Cross, to which the priest did send the frail confessed to weep over, and bewail the sins, which bore hard on his mind? I trow not. No!-he would have bid the penitent to hie unto his closet, and to there lament, and in secret, save unto his God, to call for condonation for his past offences. Think you, that it was the Whipping-cross, where the convicted sinners before the temporal authorities were taken, in days of yore, for the purposes of castigation, and that its appellation has been corrupted to that of Weeping-cross? I trow not. No! the rulers of the city would never have moved the culprit to the distant Cross-they would have inflicted this chastening correction within the view of those, who should be warned by the salutary example of vengeance. It is very true, that the effect doth follow the cause-that weeping, for the most part, doth follow whipping; but, verily, I believe, that these crosses were raised for the former purpose alone. In those early days, the perils of the roads were great

-the ways were rough, and miry, and the travelling thereon was slow, and toilsome. They were also beset with the vile, and the wicked-with those, who lay in wait to rob, and plunder, and mayhap-to cut the throat of that unhappy wight, who might, perchaunce, adventure within their chosen limit. No wonder, therefore, that a journey to the far-famed, and great London Town should call forth the feeling sympathies of relations near, and dear; no wonder, that the loving wife-the doting mother-the betrothed fair-one-the fond children the kind sisters-should accompany the adventuresome husband-son-lover-father-or brother (for females did travel not in those dread days) even to the Weeping-cross, out of town, and there piously, and affectionately, did bid farewell," with many tears and sighs, to him, who was about to leave them in sadness, and uncertainty, as to his fate, and welfare. Gentle Reader! cannot you picture to yourself the interesting family group, kneeling around this Weeping-cross, repeating their Ave-Marias, and soliciting benedictions, and safety, for him, from whom they were about to depart, and to leave-perhaps for ever! But I must close this interesting -this heart-rending scene!

NOTE 7-(p. 341, note.)

"Tobacco." This plant was introduced from America in the 15th century, as is generally supposed by Sir Walter Raleigh. Some, however, hold, that Sir Francis Drake was the first importer; but, be this as it may, Sir Walter was, assuredly, the first smoker thereof.

Tobacco is of the tribe of plants, which, agreeing in general character, are included in the fifth class (Pentandria) of the Linnean System under the appropriate title of Luridæ, or lurid plants, being those, which, by their sombre, and lurid aspect, seem intended by Divine Providence to warn mankind against their too ready, and great, use; in fact, they are a poisonous tribe, and the expressed oil of tobacco is, as observed by Rousseau in his "Letters on the Elements of Botany"* "the strongest of the vegetable poisons." It has been proved, that a single drop of this oil, placed on the tongue of a cat, will destroy the animal in a minute.

Translated by Martyn.

King James, the First, was an irreconcileable enemy to this narcotic, and wrote a bitter diatribe against it, entitled "A Counterblast to Tobacco," the terms of which are such, that we cannot but wonder at their use by so pious a king.

I must confess, (with deference to many friends, who vary in opinion from me,) that I am decidedly hostile to the use of this herb, whether as smoked by the pipe, or as the cigar, or as snuffed up the nose in the state of an impalpable powder. I have already noticed the poisonous powers of this plant; and its smoke, conveyed to the lungs, and inward parts of the human frame, cannot but surely, however slowly, impart its deleterious quality, and hence arise dyspepsy, phthisis, &c. The too oft use of the pipe, or the cigar, may also, perchaunce, engender that little-desirable complaint-the cancer in the lip. The use of the pipe is, however, discarded in all good company, and that of the cigar is, also, fast declining in fashionable life.

I must now say a few words on the general practice of taking snuff, as the world terms it. By nature man is not a snuff-taker; it is a created habit-an artificial want, and it destroys his independence, since, in progress of time, it makes him the slave-of his nose ! It engenders that troublesome complaint the pica nasi-that irresistible craving, which can never be satisfied. It weakens the nasal membranes, insomuch, that powder of increased pungency becomes more and more requisite. It is asserted, that snuff acts medicinally— that it is a sternutatory, forsooth! I deny this-the habitual use of snuff destroys the nicer sensibilities of the nerves, since the professed snuff-taker is never a good sneezer. As tobacco may, possibly, engender the cancer in the lip, so may the use of snuff raise up the polypus of the nose-nay, I believe, that this practice, pursued to excess, may, through the influence of this poisonous powder on the brain, induce paralysis, or apoplexy.

There is another, and powerful, argument against the use of snuff. It injures the power of the smell. Providence has imparted, for the use of man, five senses for his advantage, and enjoyment, and yet he hesitates not to lessen, or to destroy, one of them. The human nostrils are guarded with vibrissæ— or slender hairs to prevent the intrusion of insects, or whatever may be noxious, and these ticklish porters are ever ready to perform their office, and to give warning of undue approaches; and yet man, erring man, will persist in volun

tarily snuffing up the nostril a brown, and poisonous, powder, with which he coats, and clogs, the olfactory nerves, and prevents the due performance of their office. What, then, avails to him the odoriferous flower? The perfumes of the violet, the rose, and the eglantine are as nought to him. He enjoys them not-he thus loses the blessings of his Creator; but, mayhap, this erring man will say, that, though he loses the pleasure of Nature's sweets, he avoids the stench of the villainous compounds of man-so far is true, but still the balance is immeasurably against him, for the one he may turn from—the other he may seek-he may hold-he may enjoy, and yet-he deprives himself of the power of enjoyment.

Man, frail, and thoughtless man, carefully guards his watch, the work of his fellow-man, (an ingenious, and complicated machine, it must be confessed,) from the influence of dust; and, when its works are injured by it, he taketh it again to him to be cleansed; and yet, "fearfully, and wonderfully made" as he is-himself a work of infinitely greater importance than a watch a work far more nice, and complicated, in its structure he does irrationally, yet voluntarily, impede, and injure, the action of its machinery, by breaking through the barriers of nature-by thrusting up the guarded nostril a pungent, and a poisonous, powder, calculated to lessen, and to destroy, that most pleasing faculty, the sense of smelling-calculated to generate disease-to blunt the reasoning powers, and, in its final issue, to induce paralysis, and apoplexy-even death itself.

In corroboration of the evils incident to the uses of tobacco and snuff, I beg leave to refer the reader to Ramazini.* This author in his work expatiates largely on the diseases of those, who are engaged in the manufacture of snuff, and even of the horses, which are employed in those mills; and I must, also, refer the reader to a recent pamphlet, by a Physician, entitled "The People Poisoned."

I will now close this note by saying a few words, historically, on the tobacco-pipe. On the first introduction of this noisome weed, silver, and other metal pipes were used; but these were found to be cleansed with difficulty. The white clay pipe was then resorted to, and this possessed the great advantage of some

* Ramazini was chief Professor of Physic at Padua. He wrote a work on the Diseases of Artificers and Tradesmen, which was translated by Dr. James, under the title of " Health Preserved."