What do you think?
Rate this book
A Counter-Blaste to Tobacco
Anti-smoking campaigns are not new to the 20th century. King James was preaching against tobacco in the 17th century. James was King of Great Britain. He was James IV of Scotland, James1 of England and king of Ireland. James was born in 1566 and was credited with being a wise scholar. His epithet read "the wisest fool in Christendom." A Counter-Blaste to Tobacco was written in 1604. James spoke out against tobacco especially smoking. In A Counter-Blaste to Tobacco, James blames the "Indians" for bringing tobacco to Europe, he complains about passive smoking, warns his readers about possible lung damage, and finds the odor offensive. James wrote "Have you not reason then to bee ashamed, and to forbeare this filthie noveltie, so basely grounded, so foolishly received and so grossely mistaken in the right use thereof? In your abuse thereof sinning against God, harming your selves both in persons and goods, and raking also thereby the markes and notes of vanitie upon you: by the custome thereof making your selves to be wondered at by all forraine civil Nations, and by all strangers that come among you, to be scorned and contemned. A custome lothsome to the eye, hatefull to the Nose, harmefull to the braine, dangerous to the Lungs, and in the blacke stinking fume thereof, neerest resembling the horrible Stigian smoke of the pit that is bottomelesse."
- GenresHistory
48 pages, Paperback
First published November 5, 2005
1 person is currently reading
33 people want to read
About the author
James VI and I
205 books33 followersJames VI, the son of Mary Stuart, queen, reigned from 1567 over Scotland and from 1603 succeeded as James I, the heir of Elizabeth I of England; his belief in the divine right and his attempts to abolish Parliament and to suppress Presbyterianism created resentment that led to the Civil War, but from Hebrew and Greek, his auspices sponsored the translation of the
King James Bible
, published in 1611.
People forced Mary Stuart, the Catholic monarch and queen of Scotland, in 1567 to abdicate in favor of James, her son.
His sovereignty extended of Ireland. This poet and religious scholar wrote of politics. He convened the known Hampton court conference.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_V...
People forced Mary Stuart, the Catholic monarch and queen of Scotland, in 1567 to abdicate in favor of James, her son.
His sovereignty extended of Ireland. This poet and religious scholar wrote of politics. He convened the known Hampton court conference.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_V...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 19, 2019
Everyone remembers this peroration from high school, right? It's semi-famous:
A custome lothsome to the eye, hatefull to the Nose, harmefull to the braine, dangerous to the Lungs, and in the blacke stinking fume thereof, neerest resembling the horrible Stigian smoke of the pit that is bottomelesse.
I read this as a sort of in joke, having finally managed to quit smoking a second time.
Tobacco had a pretty good run there, considering this "counter-blaste" is 500 years old.
And for the vanities committed in this filthie custome, is it not both great vanitie and vncleanenesse, that at the table, a place of respect, of cleanlinesse, of modestie, men should not be ashamed, to sit tossing of Tobacco pipes, and puffing of the smoke of Tobacco one to another, making the filthie smoke and stinke thereof, to exhale athwart the dishes, and infect the aire, when very often, men that abhorre it are at their repast? Surely Smoke becomes a kitchin far better then a Dining chamber, and yet it makes a kitchen also oftentimes in the inward parts of men, soiling and infecting them, with an vnctuous and oily kinde of Soote, as hath bene found in some great Tobacco takers, that after their death were opened.
Not the greatest pamphlet, but far from the worst. It gets points for being not too long. When I compile my great list of 1,001 pamphlets to read before you die, this will make the top 200.
A custome lothsome to the eye, hatefull to the Nose, harmefull to the braine, dangerous to the Lungs, and in the blacke stinking fume thereof, neerest resembling the horrible Stigian smoke of the pit that is bottomelesse.
I read this as a sort of in joke, having finally managed to quit smoking a second time.
Tobacco had a pretty good run there, considering this "counter-blaste" is 500 years old.
And for the vanities committed in this filthie custome, is it not both great vanitie and vncleanenesse, that at the table, a place of respect, of cleanlinesse, of modestie, men should not be ashamed, to sit tossing of Tobacco pipes, and puffing of the smoke of Tobacco one to another, making the filthie smoke and stinke thereof, to exhale athwart the dishes, and infect the aire, when very often, men that abhorre it are at their repast? Surely Smoke becomes a kitchin far better then a Dining chamber, and yet it makes a kitchen also oftentimes in the inward parts of men, soiling and infecting them, with an vnctuous and oily kinde of Soote, as hath bene found in some great Tobacco takers, that after their death were opened.
Not the greatest pamphlet, but far from the worst. It gets points for being not too long. When I compile my great list of 1,001 pamphlets to read before you die, this will make the top 200.
November 7, 2024
I'm giving this a high rating only because this was unintentionally hilarious and I imagined King James seething like a wojack meme while seeing someone smoking the entire time. He criticizes all indulgence in foreign goods, not just in tobacco, and believes they can lead to the decline of a whole country. He uses humoural theory to defend his claims for why tobacco is harmful to the body and mind, and also says it's stinky and nasty to do it in the company of others. The most interesting part for me was where he seems to hate it because of its association with Native Americans, and it leads me to wonder how much of his contempt of foreign goods is just xenophobia rather than a health concern.
July 19, 2023
I've seen anti-tobacco ads featuring cancer patients with less vitriol than this book. It's safe to say that King James hated smoking and he throws every argument from health to religion against the wall in a effort to guilt the reader into not smoking.
March 10, 2020
Truly an enlightened treatise on the evils of Tobacco use.
September 2, 2022
Quite a bit more accessible than his work on witchcraft.
August 29, 2019
An interesting book I found in a Vancouver Donut Shop, 'A Counter-Blaste' is a book full of error and nonsense about tobacco and other 'sinful' behaviors created from the mind of none other than King James I of England. This book may be, to modern standards (and somewhat, to his contemporary standards), ridiculous, however, it is a very fascinating time capsule into his period.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews