Montesinos.—­And yet in that age you profited slowly by the commodities which the eastern and western parts of the world afforded.  Gold, pearls, and spices were your first imports.  For the honour of science and of humanity, medicinal plants were soon sought for.  But two centuries elapsed before tea and potatoes—­the most valuable products of the East and West—­which have contributed far more to the general good than all their spices and gems and precious metals—­came into common use; nor have they yet been generally adopted on the Continent, while tobacco found its way to Europe a hundred years earlier; and its filthy abuse, though here happily less than in former times, prevails everywhere.

Sir Thomas More.—­Pro pudor!  There is a snuff-box on the mantelpiece—­and thou revilest tobacco!

Montesinos.—­Distinguish, I pray you, gentle ghost!  I condemn the abuse of tobacco as filthy, implying in those words that it has its allowable and proper use.  To smoke, is, in certain circumstances, a wholesome practice; it may be regarded with a moral complacency as the poor man’s luxury, and with liking by any one who follows a lighted pipe in the open air.  But whatever may be pleaded for its soothing and intellectualising effects, the odour within doors of a defunct pipe is such an abomination, that I join in anathematising it with James, the best-natured of kings, and Joshua Sylvester, the most voluble of poets.

Sir Thomas More.—­Thou hast written verses praise of snuff!

Montesinos.—­And if thy nose, sir Spirit, were anything more than the ghost of an olfactor, I would offer it a propitiatory pinch, that you might the more feelingly understand the merit of the said verses, and admire them accordingly.  But I am no more to be deemed a snuff-taker because I carry a snuff-box when travelling, and keep one at hand for occasional use, than I am to be reckoned a casuist or a pupil of the Jesuits because the “Moral Philosophy” of Escobar and the “Spiritual Exercises” of St. Ignatius Loyola are on my shelves.  Thank Heaven, I bear about with me no habits which I cannot lay aside as easily as my clothes.

The age is past in which travellers could add much to the improvement, the comfort, or the embellishment of this country by imparting anything which they have newly observed in foreign parts.  We have happily more to communicate now than to receive.  Yet when I tell you that since the commencement of the present century there have been every year, upon an average, more than a hundred and fifty plants which were previously unknown here introduced into the nurseries and market-gardens about London, you will acknowledge that in this branch at least, a constant desire is shown of enriching ourselves with the produce of other hands.

Sir Thomas More.—­Philosophers of old travelled to observe the manners of men and study their institutions.  I know not whether they found more pleasure in the study, or derived more advantages from it, than the adventurers reap who, in these latter times, have crossed the seas and exposed themselves to dangers of every kind, for the purpose of extending the catalogue of plants.