Scenes of commerce, by land and sea, or, "Where does it come from?" answered / upon a plan arranged by the Rev. Isaac Taylor.

  • Isaac Taylor
Date:
1839
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Scenes of commerce, by land and sea, or, "Where does it come from?" answered / upon a plan arranged by the Rev. Isaac Taylor. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    much surprised at seeing a building seven hundred and sixty-two feet in length, and. one hundred and sixty feet in width, filled with hogsheads containing an article, of which, though they had heard, they knew so little, that they could scarcely believe it could ever be all wanted. And, notwithstanding all Mr. Silverkey’s assurances that the warehouses would shortly be emptied, and filled again on the next arrivals from the plantations, their incredulity was such, that the father, on their return to the hotel, deemed it necessary to make tobacco a sub¬ ject of conversation, to give them some idea of its extensive use, and its value as an article of com¬ merce. TOBACCO. 6( Tobacco is an American herb; our first know¬ ledge of it was through the Spaniards, about the year 1560, which, as you are aware, was in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth’s reign. They brought it from Tobasco, a small province of Mexico, and from that circumstance it derives its European name. Sir Walter Ralegh introduced the use of it into Bri¬ tain ; and a pleasant story is told, that, having sent his servant to draw a jug of ale, he, in the interim, lighted his pipe of tobacco ; and the servant return¬ ing, and seeing smoke issue from his masters mouth, threw the ale over him, not doubting but his head must be on fire ! This same Sir Walter Ralegh, in ]584, obtained of his royal mistress a charter, for colonizing a part of North America, which he called Virginia, in her honour, as a virgin queen. Here tobacco was extensively cultivated, and the best sort still bears the name of the colony, which