increase of snuff shops, within our own memory, is extraordinary. London contains, we believe, no less than one thousand dealers in tobacco in all its varieties.

The carved figure of a Highlander, varying from the size of life to that of a doll, seems to have usurped the place of the Black Boy, once the chosen insignia of tobacconists. These Scotch

gentlemen are usually clad en militaire, some of them decorated with the cross of St. Andrew ; their scarlet and gold, their kilt and phillibeg, are certainly more pleasing to the eye than the naked figure of a nigger, particularly if the sculptor has done justice to the flat nose, thick lips, and mis-shapen feet, which are essential for a faithful representation of a native of the coast of Guinea.

There is to be seen at a tobacconist's door, near the top of Sloane Street, the effigy of a female; but alas, we lament to state, that instead of following the example of "bonny bra' John Highlandman," the lady has a pipe in her mouth; had it been a cigar, it might be mistaken for the portrait of a certain popular actress.

We once saw at Bridgewater a tobacconist's sign, of which we give a fac simile.

The couplet beneath described the varied yet congenial employments.

"We three are engaged all in the same cause,
'I snuffs,' I smokes,' and 'I chaws.'

The papers in which snuffs were folded used to be adorned with grotesque heads, chiefly African; and sometimes with your ounce, you got into the bargain a Billy Black riddle, not more applicable to the packet's contents than the following:

"There is a word of plural number,

Foe to peace and gentle slumber;
But if you add an S to this,
Strange is the metamorphosis;
Plural is plural then no more,

And sweet what bitter was before."

Whoever caused this to be printed on the said paper, candidly avowed that there are other cures

for cares besides snuff, but seemed to imply that he did not think an occasional pinch rendered a man an unworthy candidate for affection's pure

caress.

Now and then, however, the charades were more appropriate; for example:

"When what is wicked wastes in blackening flame,

We feel reminded of a favourite name;

When Spring lends rainbow hues to manhood's frame,
The act describes a shrine to hold the same.
What deed, what title mean I, friend? disclose!
And I, as a reward, will pinch thy nose."

But intellect and refinement, no longer satisfied with marching, now progress at railroad speed. The vendors of tobacco get it puffed by persons of learning and of genius. Some of the original Divan's papers are brief essays, of the highest character, replete with wit and sentiment.

“We could, an if we would,” name four celebrated authors (three of them poets, one a lady), whose talents have been exerted in this cause. They are all individuals whose worth, still more than their cleverness, might dignify any habit which they countenance.

Snuff Boxes.

INAPPROPRIATE RECEPTACLES-FRENCH TASTE-CHINESE FOX HUNT-LAURENCE KIRK-JAMES SANDY-CUMNOC -CURIOUS BOXES-SARCOPHAGUS-ROBERT BURNSWILLIAM PITT DUKE OF GLOUCESTER NAPOLEON AND LOUIS XVIII.-GOLD WICKER DIAMONDS - HOBOX

GARTH-MULBERRY

TREE-PLATOFF-MOORISH

-NELSON'S COFFIN-BARK BOXES-MARIA FOOTE-
DIPLOMATIC BOXES-EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA-NINETY-
SECOND MULL-SONG.

ALL real devotees to any pursuit insist on it in its simplicity, as did Mrs. Battle, about cards; a true mourner likes not Pére la Chaise; a fond bridegroom avoids a public wedding. We eschew fanciful boxes be they rich, let them evince fine taste, but distort not the shape; nooks and crannies are cruelly provoking to the fingers, if you come to the last pinch. Well has it been said :

"A Scotch mull is an enormity: the well educated nose will be driven to the brink of starvation, ere it will seek relief from a Caledonian asylum."

Bible boxes are profane inventions.

Shells

and boats, too, bring tar and fish to the mind'sShoes-Bah! Toads, coiled snakes, and

nose.

coffins-worse!

A top lined with mirror betrays unmanly coxcombry. Musical boxes ought never to hold snuff; its subtle grains may choke the machinery, whose airs pay an ill compliment to our subject. He who can only take snuff "to the tune," don't deserve any.

Even pictures on lids should be appropriate. Heads of Drake, Columbus, Raleigh, are "more germain to the matter" than Duck shooting, Venus' doves, Sir Walter Scott. As we would have no gloomy, no terrible images associated with snuff, so we would equally exclude from its presence all that is gross in comedy.

"A bit of innocent DIRT," as it is called, cannot be more out of place than when suggesting its "unsavoury similes" to one who would fain be led by the nose to unqualified delights.

Classic pictures, as ornaments to boxes, are quite admissible. There is nothing indecorous in Art's nudities, per se. We only object to what can scarcely be termed a misuse of Art; for the subjects, at which we hint, are usually as ill exe