Snuff in the book

In the book ‘The Heart of Midlothian’ by Walter Scott, we can see some statements: “To a very decent merchant, a cousin o’ my ain, a Mrs. Glass, sir, that sells snuff and tobacco, at the sign o’ the Thistle, somegate in the town.”; “O, my worthy snuff-merchant?I have always a chat with Mrs. Glass when I purchase my Scots high-dried.?”; “some of them I wadna trust wi’ six pennies-worth of black-rappee.”; ‘I hope the snuff continues to give your Grace satisfaction.’; “This did not quite satisfy the penetrating mistress of the Thistle. Searching as her own small rappee,” Very good!

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Good times!!! What do you think?

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Excellent!
I recovered the following from Wiki…what a brilliant pseudonym!

“The Heart of Midlothian is the seventh of Sir Walter Scott’s Waverley Novels. It was originally published in four volumes on 25 July 1818, under the title of Tales of My Landlord, 2nd series, and the author was given as Jedediah Cleishbotham, Schoolmaster and Parish-Clerk of Gandercleugh”

Yesterday I was near where he lived for a time in Galashiels which makes me wonder about his tobacconist?..there was A. A. Maclachlan & Son of Gala but also Compton’s of Galashiels, now a Canadian concern. I can’t say when either were open in Galashiels?, however Compton’s may have been 1920-1929 which would of course be too late

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‘Valiant’ stories…

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Rereading David Copperfield. Young Copperfield recounts in his conversation with Mr. Dick (chapter 14), “-its a mad world. Mad as Bedlam, boy!”, said Mr. Dick, taking snuff from a round box on the table and laughing heartily.

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David Copperfield again. Chapter 24. He has a dinner party. “…And madly took so much snuff out of Grainger’s box, that I was obliged to go into the pantry, and have a private fit of sneezing ten minutes long”

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reading “Snuff Yesterday and Today” by C.W. Shepherd

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And i am re-reading a Tale of Two Cities --here describing  the marquis after being rebuffed by monseigneur " With that, he shook the snuff from his fingers as if he had shaken the dust from his feet, and quietly walked down stairs. "

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I revive this topic to share some parts of a book which I have read some time ago. Sorry if it bothers someone.

I have come accross An Account of the Abipones, an Equestrian People of Paraguay, a book from 1784 by Jesuit Martin Dobrizhoffer. He wrote it in Latin and published it in three volumes. I cite the English translation edited by John Murray, Albermale Street, 1822. This edition was digitalized in 2015 and is currently available at An Account of the Abipones, Vol. I, by Martin Dobrizhoffer—A Project Gutenberg eBook .
There are several passages in which tobacco plays a part in the book. Here is the description of how snuff was made in Brazil (vol. I, p. 111):

In Brazil the Portugueze twist the tobacco leaf into ropes, which, prepared in different ways, are either used as snuff, or chewed or smoked. It is incredible how highly this Brazilian tobacco is extolled by medical men, and how eagerly it is sought by Europeans. The Spaniards themselves every year consume an astonishing quantity to provoke saliva. By the traffic in tobacco alone, many millions have been lost by the Spaniards to the Portugueze, the sole venders of an article in such demand. To restrain so great an annual exportation of money to foreigners, it was provided by the Catholic King Charles III. in the year 1765, that the Spanish and Indian Paraguayrians should henceforth prepare their tobacco in the manner of the Portugueze, as being no wise inferior to the Brazilian, and that it should be sold at the price fixed by the royal governours, the whole profits accruing to the royal treasury. The king’s order was universally, though unwillingly complied with, the new manufacture costing them much labour, with little or no gain to the labourers. I will give you an account of the whole process:—The tobacco leaves are accounted ripe when their ends turn yellow, and wither, and are plucked before noon, as being [112] moister at that time. They are then suspended from reeds that they may dry a little, and remain some hours under the shade of a roof. The stem which runs through the middle of the leaf is either beaten down with a bat or removed entirely. The leaves thus prepared are twisted into ropes, by means of a wheel, and then rolled upon a cylindrical piece of wood. This cylinder, with its tobacco, is placed under the shade of a roof in such a manner that it may receive the heat of the sun, and yet not be touched by any of its rays. The tobacco, thus compressed spirally upon the cylinder, exudes a black, glutinous juice, which falls drop by drop into a hide placed underneath. This juice flows daily through, and in like manner is daily poured again upon the folds; and when the whole mass is thoroughly penetrated by the liquor, it will be necessary to roll the spiral folds daily back again from one cylinder to another. By this method, the lowest part of the tobacco nearest the first cylinder is transferred on the next to the surface, imbibes the juice equally, blackens, and grows rich like lard. To effect this, the translation from one cylinder to another, and the sprinkling of the tobacco, must be diligently continued for many weeks. The sweetness of the smell will mark the completion of the process. To prevent its drying, it must be kept in [113] a moist place, apart from every thing which might taint it with any other smell. Tobacco prepared in this manner is chopped by the Portugueze into small pieces, which they roast in a new pot placed on the hot coals, and stirring them with a round stick, reduce them to the finest powder—the future delight of every nose in Portugal.

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Interesting. First I’ve heard of this method.

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Fumo de corda - rope tobacco. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0eEnRkly6h4&pp=ygUNZnVtbyBkZSBjb3JkYQ%3D%3D

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