The prohibition, in the regulation quoted, of smoking in St. Mary’s Church, referred, it may be noted, to the Act which was held therein.  Candidates for degrees, or graduates to display their proficiency, publicly maintained theses; and this performance was termed keeping or holding an Act.

It is, of course, conceivable that the prohibition, so far as the church and Trinity College Hall were concerned, was against the taking of snuff rather than against smoking; but the phrase “to take tobacco” was at that time quite commonly applied to smoking, and, considering the extraordinary and immoderate use of tobacco soon after its introduction, it is not in the least incredible that pipes were lighted, at least occasionally, even in sacred buildings.

Sometimes tobacco was used in church for disinfecting or deodorizing purposes.  The churchwardens’ accounts of St. Peter’s, Barnstaple, for 1741 contain the entry:  “Pd. for Tobacco and Frankincense burnt in the Church 2s. 6d.”  Sprigs of juniper, pitch, and “sweete wood,” in combination with incense, were often used for the same purpose.

Smoking, it may safely be asserted, was never practised commonly in English churches.  Even in our own day people have been observed smoking—­not during service time, but in passing through the building—­in church in some of the South American States, and nearer home in Holland; but in England such desecration has been occasional only, and quite exceptional.

One need not be much surprised at any instance of lack of reverence in English churches during the eighteenth century, and a few instances can be given of church smoking in that era.

Blackburn, Archbishop of York, was a great smoker.  On one occasion he was at St. Mary’s Church, Nottingham, for a confirmation.  The story of what happened was told long afterwards in a letter written in December 1773 by John Disney, rector of Swinderby, Lincolnshire, the grandson of the Mr. Disney who at the time of the Archbishop’s visit to St. Mary’s was incumbent of that church.  This letter was addressed to James Granger, and was published in Granger’s correspondence.  “The anecdote which you mention,” wrote the Mr. Disney of Swinderby, “is, I believe, unquestionably true.  The affair happened in St. Mary’s Church at Nottingham, when Archbishop Blackbourn (of York) was there on a visitation.  The Archbishop had ordered some of the apparitors, or other attendants, to bring him pipes and tobacco, and some liquor into the vestry for his refreshment after the fatigue of confirmation.  And this coming to Mr. Disney’s ears, he forbad them being brought thither, and with a becoming spirit remonstrated with the Archbishop upon the impropriety of his conduct, at the same time telling his Grace that his vestry should not be converted into a smoking-room.”

Another eighteenth-century clerical worthy, the famous Dr. Parr, an inveterate smoker, was accustomed to do what Mr. Disney prevented Archbishop Blackburn from doing—­he smoked in his vestry at Hatton.  This he did before the sermon, while the congregation were singing a hymn, and apparently both parties were pleased, for Parr would say:  “My people like long hymns; but I prefer a long clay.”