Note Back to Main Text — Chapter VIII

Says an English writer "Between 1660 and 1700, the custom of taking snuff, though it was disliked by Louis XIV., was almost as prevalent in France as it is at the present time. In this instance, the example of the monarch was disregarded; tobac en poudre or tobac rape[58] as snuff was sometimes called found favor in the noses of the French people; and all men of fashion prided themselves on carrying a handsome snuff-box. Ladies also took snuff; and the belle whose grace and propriety of demeanour were themes of general admiration, thought it not unbecoming to take a pinch at dinner, or to blow her pretty nose in her embroidered mouchoir with the sound of a trombone. Louis endeavored to discourage the use of snuff and his valets-de-chambre were obliged to renounce it when they were appointed to their office. One of these gentlemen, the Duc d'Harcourt, was supposed to have died of apoplexy in consequence of having, in order to please the king, totally discontinued the habit which he had before indulged to excess."