Tea at Trianon: Of Snuff and Snuff Boxes

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, May 1, 2017

Of Snuff and Snuff Boxes

From Geri Walton:

Snuff is a pulverized form of tobacco and was created from either the tobacco leaves alone, the leaves and stalk, or just from the stalk. It also required more care to produce than tobacco. For instance, Scott and Irish snuff was achieved using a “liquoring,” process that added water. Although the types of snuff were endless, snuff could be broken into three grades: granulated, impalpable powder, and coarse or bran that was achieved by sifting the impalpable powder. There were also several kinds: High dried (dried to acquire a slight flavor of scorching) and rappee (chiefly from the leaves and in two kinds, brown or black, with the black produced by wetting). Snuff could also be scented, which was claimed to help impart the flavor.

Different people, preferred different types of snuff. For example, Scotch snuff was preferred by females. One writer noted, “with a certain class of old maids, Scotch snuff divides their time and affections with their cats and their parrots.” Those who didn’t like snuff but indulged in it “for the mere sake of ostentation,” were claimed to love scented snuff, and men were noted to prefer rappee snuff. The names for snuff were acquired in different ways. Sometimes the name came from places where it was manufactured. Other times the name was linked to the shop owners who sold it, or to “men of rank and fortune, persons known as great consumers of snuff, [such as] poets, painters, and warriors.” (Read more.)

Here is an article on snuff from the Louvre. Share