snuff-box, the contents of which were most liberally showered down
upon the company placed near him, and, between two pinches, he
informed us that he had formerly the pretension of taking the very
best snuff in France. He prepared it with his own hands, and spared
no pains in the important proceeding. When he emigrated to Rome he
carried with him two jars of the precious mixture. The future destiny
of the Abbe Maury was dependent on the pope, and he was a great
snuff-taker! "I presented myself several times (I quote his own
expressions) before his holiness, and took great care never to omit
displaying my snuff-box, which I opened and shut several times during
the interview, making as loud a noise as possible. This was all I
dared do,--respect forbade me making any advances toward his holiness
by offering directly a taste of the mixture of which I was so justly
proud. At length my perseverance met with its reward. One day I
managed skillfully to push the snuff-box beneath his hand, and, in the
heat of argument, he opened it mechanically, and took a pinch of snuff
therefrom. It was an awful moment, as you may imagine. I observed him
with the greatest attention, and immediately remarked the expression
of satisfaction and surprise which overspread his features as he
stretched forth his fingers to take another pinch. "_Donde vi viene
questo maraviglioso tobacco?_" I told him that I alone possessed the
mixture, and that I had only two jars left, or rather that I had no
more, as, of course, they now belonged to his holiness. I am inclined
to believe that this present was agreeable to him, as it was useful to
me." After the story the cardinal boasted to us of the extraordinary
frankness of his character. He had shown more of this than he had
intended in the tale he had been telling.

--Souvenirs de France et d'Italie dans les Années 1830, 1831 et 1832.