(He dissuadeth him from drinking the smoke of the Indian weed.)


Sir Amyas,--Take it not unkindly that a traveller (though less wide
a wanderer than thou) dissuadeth thee from a new-found novelty--the
wanton misuse, or rather the misuseful wantonness, of the Indian
herb. It is a blind goose that knoweth not a fox from a fern-bush,
and a strange temerity that mistaketh smoke for provender. The
sow, when she is sick, eateth the sea-crab and is immediately
recovered: why, then, should man, being whole and sound, haste to
that which maketh many sick? The lobster flieth not in the air,
nor doth the salamander wanton in the water; wherefore, then, will
man betake him for nourishment or solace to the fire? Vesuvius
bringeth not forth speech from his mouth, but man, like a volcano,
will utter smoke. There is great difference between the table and
the chimney; but thou art for making both alike. Though the Rose
be sweet, yet will it prove less fragrant if it be wreathed about
the skunk; and so an ill weed from the land where that beast hath
its habitation defileth a courteous knight. Consider, if this
practice delights thee, that the apples of Sodom are outwardly fair
but inwardly full of ashes; the box-tree is always green, but his
seed is poison. Mithridate must be taken inwardly, not spread on
plasters. Of his nature smoke goeth upward and outward; why wilt
thou make it go inward and downward? The manners of the Cannibal
fit not the Englishman; and this thy poison is unlike Love, which
maimeth every part before it kill the Liver, whereas tobacco doth
vex the Liver before it harmeth any other part. Excuse this my
boldness, and forswear thy weed, an thou lovest