Suffer the little children to come to tobacco?

My, my, times have changed. I've just discovered that in the 18th century, a Catholic priest named Abbé Gabriel-Charles de Lattaignant wrote a popular song, "J'ai du bon tabac", "I have good tobacco," which French schoolchildren still sing today.

I have posted the original French, and a translation which is not exact, but which is taken the book Lyra Nicotiana, edited by William Sharp.

J'ai du bon tabac

(refrain)
J'ai du bon tabac dans ma tabatière,
J'ai du bon tabac, tu n'en auras pas.
J'en ai du fin et du bien râpé,
Mais ce n'est pas pour ton vilain nez !
J'ai du bon tabac dans ma tabatière,
J'ai du bon tabac, tu n'en auras pas.
(Fin du refrain)

Ce refrain connu que chantait mon père,
À ce seul couplet il était borné.
Moi, je me suis déterminé
À le grossir comme mon nez.
J'ai du bon tabac dans ma tabatière,
J'ai du bon tabac, tu n'en auras pas.
Un noble héritier de gentilhommière
Recueille, tout seul, un fief blasonné.

Il dit à son frère puîné Sois abbé, je suis ton aîné.
J'ai du bon tabac dans ma tabatière,
J'ai du bon tabac, tu n'en auras pas.
Un vieil usurier expert en affaire,
Auquel par besoin l'on est amené,
À l'emprunteur infortuné
Dit, après l'avoir ruiné
J'ai du bon tabac dans ma tabatière,
J'ai du bon tabac, tu n'en auras pas.

Juges, avocats, entr'ouvrant leur serre,
Au pauvre plaideur, par eux rançonné,
Après avoir pateliné,
Disent, le procès terminé
J'ai du bon tabac dans ma tabatière,
J'ai du bon tabac, tu n'en auras pas.
D'un gros financier la coquette flaire
Le beau bijou d'or de diamants orné.

Ce grigou, d'un air renfrogné,
Lui dit, malgré son joli nez
J'ai du bon tabac dans ma tabatière,
J'ai du bon tabac, tu n'en auras pas.
Neuperg, se croyant un foudre de guerre,
Est, par Frédéric, assez mal mené.
Le vainqueur qui l'a talonné
Dit à ce Hongrois étonné
J'ai du bon tabac dans ma tabatière,
J'ai du bon tabac, tu n'en auras pas.

 Tel qui veut nier l'esprit de Voltaire,
Est, pour le sentir, trop enchifrené.
Cet esprit est trop raffiné
Et lui passe devant le nez.
J'ai du bon tabac dans ma tabatière,
J'ai du bon tabac, tu n'en auras pas.

Par ce bon Monsieur de Clermont-Tonnerre,
Qui fut mécontent d'être chansonné ;
Menacé d'être bâtonné,
On lui dit, le coup détourné
J'ai du bon tabac dans ma tabatière,
J'ai du bon tabac, tu n'en auras pas.

Voilà dix couplets, cela ne fait guère
Pour un tel sujet bien assaisonné.
Mais j'ai peur qu'un priseur mal né
Ne chante en me riant au nez
J'ai du bon tabac dans ma tabatière,
J'ai du bon tabac, tu n'en auras pas.

I have  good tobacco, tobacco in my snuff-box,
 I have good tobacco, but ne'er a rap for thee;
Both fine and rappee, but don't suppose
That they are meant for your poor nose.
For I have good tobacco, tobacco in my snuff-box,
I have good tobacco, both powdered and rappee ;
I have good tobacco, tobacco in my snuff-box,
I have good tobacco, but deil a rap for thee!

English

I have Good Tobaco


This well-known song which my father sang
Had but one verse when I was young, B
ut I determine and propose
To make it as long as this my nose;
For I have good tobacco, tobacco in my snuff-box,
 I have good tobacco, but deil a rap for thee !

The eldest son of a baron great Inherited the whole estate ;
 Thus to his brother did he say :
"I am the elder — be an abbe!"
For I have good tobacco, tobacco in my snuff-box,
I have good tobacco, but deil a rap for thee!"

A usurer his job completed,
And not a drop is left to skim,
Says to the wretch whom he has cheated,
When he's completely finished him :
"I have good tobacco, tobacco in my snuff-box,
 I have good tobacco, but deil a rap for thee!"

Judges and lawyers with a client,
Whom they have flayed close as they can,
To him, no longer soft and pliant.
They cry, "Be out of this, my man!
For I have good tobacco, tobacco in my snuff-box,
I have good tobacco, but deil a rap for thee!"

An actress had a heart, and set it —
On a diamond brooch a banker wore;
He said, "Don't you wish that you may get it?
But then you won't — of that be sure!
For I have good tobacco, tobacco in my snuff-box,
I have good tobacco, both powdered and rappee
 I have good tobacco, tobacco in my snuff-box,
 I have good tobacco, and deil a rap for thee!"

Those who deny that Voltaire is clever,
Have too bad a cold in the head to smell ;
The perfume will escape them ever.
 Till the catarrh be cured and well;
For he has good tobacco, tobacco in his snuff-box,
He has finely scented, as I can smell and see ;
He has good tobacco, tobacco in his snuff-box,
But if not up to snuff, there's none of it for thee !

Behold eight verses which I offer,
Full many more on the theme might be ;
But I am afraid that some jolly snuffer
May cry aloud, while he laughs at me :
 "I have good tobacco, tobacco in my snuff-box,
I have good tobacco, both powdered and rappee
I have good tobacco, tobacco in my snuff-box,
Very good tobacco, but deil a rap for thee!"

(trans, by Charles Godfrey Leland)

Laird's Papal Faux Pas: Was it Black or White Smoke

Robert M. Gates tells of his most embarrassing moment when he traveled with Nixon and Kissinger and their retinue, including the Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird, to Italy to meet with Pope Paul VI.  

 

 Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird and 

General Creighton Abrams Lighting Cigars

An-Hoi Village, South Vietnam (1970)

Melvin Laird was a cigar aficionado, and it was his liking for cigars and his carelessness that caused this diplomatic faux pas.  I will let Gates's speech* do the talking:

Kissinger and Nixon decided that Laird shouldn't be invited to the meeting with the Pope, as a sort of Minister of War. 

And so, Nixon was in the next morning having his private audience with the Pope, and the rest of us were waiting outside. And who should come striding down the hall smoking an enormous cigar but Laird. He had clearly found out about the meeting, probably through good military intelligence.

And Kissinger was kind of beside himself, but he finally said, "Well, Mel, at least extinguish the cigar." So Laird stubbed out his cigar and put it in his pocket.

The American party a few minutes later went in to their general meeting with the Pope. The Pope was seated at a little table in front, Americans in two rows of high-backed chairs. Bacl row, Kissinger on the end; Laird next to him. A couple of minutes into the Pope's remarks, Kissinger heard this little patting sound, and he looked over, and there was a wisp of smoke coming out of Laird's pocket. The Secretary of State thought nothing of it. A couple of other minutes went by and the secretary heard this patting sound, slapping going on, and he looked over and smoke was billowing out of Laird's pocket. The Secretary of Defense was on fire.

The American party heard this slapping, and thought they were being queued to applaud. And so they did.

And Henry later told us, "God only knows what his Holiness thought, seeing the American secretary of defense immolating himself, and the entire American party applauding that fact."

Nixon with Melvin Laird

*Understanding the New US Defense Policy Through the Speeches of Robert M. Gates (Rockville, Md: Manor, 2008), 128.

Y-otoot 'U-may

There is substantial historical evidence that the Maya used tobacco.

For example Mayan hieroglphics which refer to tobacco have been translated.

Moreover, carvings of deities, kings, and shamans are often depicted smoking in Mayan art and iconography. Perhaps the most famous of these is the The God L, which may be the same as Bolon Yookte' K'uh, and a prince of Xibalbá, as well as a wealthy god of commerce and trade,is frequently seen smoking a cigar. For example, the God L is depicted smoking a cigar on a wall relief in the Mayan city of Palenque, Mexico. Similarly, the Madrid Codex contains multiple images of people smoking, including one of the God L.

Madrid Codex Showing God L Smoking a Cigar

Wall Relief from Palenque showing God L Smoking a Cigar

Recently, Dmitri Zagorevski, a scientist at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Jennifer Loughmiller-Newman, an anthropologist from the University at Albany, discovered physical evidence that the Mayans stored tobacco in vessels. These scientists tested the residue inside a number of Mayan vessels from the Kislak Collectionat the Library of Congress. They used gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) and liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LCMS). These highly precise but non-invasive methods can detect the presence of the specific substances even from minute samples. The report can be obtained here.

One of the vessels tested, a small 2.5-inch-by-2.5-inch clay flask made around 700 A.D. in Southern Campeche, Mexico, unquestionably showed nicotine, which is quite certain proof that the Mayans were cultivated and stored tobacco. This would suggest that the God L was indeed smoking cigars.

Zagorevski and Loughmiller-Newman’s analysis of the vessel found nicotine, an important component of tobacco in residues scraped from the container. Both techniques confirmed the presence of nicotine. In addition, three oxidation products of nicotine were also discovered. Nicotine oxidation occurs naturally as the nicotine in tobacco is exposed to air and bacteria. None of the nicotine byproducts associated with the smoking of tobacco were found in the vessel, indicating that the vessel housed unsmoked tobacco leaves (possibly powered [sic] tobacco) and was not used as an ash tray. No other evidence of nicotine has been found, at this time, in any of the other vessels in the collection.

Tobacco Vessel: Y-otoot 'U-may

The vesel is decorated with a hieroglyphic text that reads “y-otoot ‘u-may,” meaning “the home of [his/her/its] tobacco.” Given the presence of nicotine and the hieroglyphic text, it looks like what we may have here is an ancient form of humidor!

Primitivism and Cigars

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (1884-1976) was a German expressionist painter and printmaker. Karl Schmidt was born in Rottluff, today a district of Chemnitz, (Saxony), and in 1905 began to call himself Schmidt-Rottluff, in honor of his birthplace. He was a member of Die Brücke (the "Bridge"), a group of expressionist painters formed by four Judgendstil architecture students Schmidt-Rottluff, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Fritz Bleyl and Erich Heckel. The name was a reference to a quote from Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra: "What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end..." ( Was groß ist am Menschen, das ist, daß er eine Brücke und kein Zweck ist), Later members included Emil Nolde, Max Pechstein and Otto Mueller. The group had an interest in primitivist art, and had its first exhibition in 1905. In the Fall of 1911, Die Brücke moved to Berlin. The group eventually dissolved in 1913.

Die Brücke Group Members by Kirchner

(Schmidt-Rottluff is on right with glasses and goatee)

In 1937, the Nazis seized 608 of his paintings from museums and were classified as "degenerate art" ("Entartete Kunst"). After the war, in 1947, Schmidt-Rottluff was appointed a professor at the University of Arts in Berlin-Charlottenburg.

Schmidt-Rottluffwas a prolific printmaker. His oeuvre is graced with 300 woodcuts, 105 lithographs, 70 etchings, and 78 commercial prints described in the Rosa Schapire Catalogue raisonné.

He died in Berlin in 1976.

In this particular posting, we focus on a self-portrait, where Schmidt-Rottluff paints himself with a cigar.