SNUFF-TAKING

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 22, 26 January 1924, Page 15

SNUFF-TAKING

In Scotland in the 18th century snufftaking was almost universal. The custom was introduced from France, where it was then fashionable among both sexes. Dr. Johnson, speaking of , a Highland woman whose cottage he .once visited near Fort Augustus,, remarks: "We gave her a shilling, and she begged enuff, for snuff is the luxury of a Highland cottage." In some parts of; the Northern Highland one can still see on the Sabbath the snuff mull being passed round slyly by one farmer to another in the church. There is at least one bank counter in Edinburgh where a snuffbox lies convenient'to the hands of customers. The practice of snuffing is, however, fast dying out, says the "Pall Mall Gazette." Some noblemen and others have wonderful collections of snuff mulls (boxes). One or two of the Highland'regiments have still a curled horn snuff mull, superbly mounted in silver, which they hand round after dinner at the officers' mess.