336
NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. vi. OCT. 26, 1912
THOMAS EWBANK (11 S. vi. 271). The
Thomas Ubank mentioned at the end of
the following inscription from Hampstead
old churchyard, Middlesex, is very probably
the individual inquired after by G. F. R. B.,
as it will be seen that the ages almost
correspond. In the inscription the name
is spelt Ubank, but this I believe is a recog-
nized variant ; and I have also mention of a
Thomas Ewbank of Hampstead in a will
dated 1716, apparently the same person as
the Thomas Ubank first mentioned in the
inscription, which I copied many years ago.
The stone is a table tomb, split across in
two places :
" In a Vault Under this Tomb lie Interred y e | Bodys of Catherine and Isabell | Sisters of Thomas [UJbancke of | this Parish. | Also y c Body of | Thomas Ubanck | late of this Parish, Gen r | who departed this life Feb r > y c 26 th 17[2]4/3 in the 72 nd year of his Age. | Also the body of | Samuel Stanton, Gent: f late of the Parish of St. Andrews I Holborn who departed this Life I Dec r the | 27> 1736 Aged 83 Years. | Also the Body of | Koger Ubank, Gent: late of the Parish I of St. Andrews Holborn and Brother | to the above Thomas Ubank who | departed this life Dec r I 8t 1741, JEt&t: 68. | Also the Body of Elizabeth Wife to | the said Roger Ubank who departed | this life May the 14 th 1743 (?) JEtat: 63. | Also the Body of Roger Ubank | Son of the above Roger Ubank | Died December y e 5 th 17[5 ?]1, Aged 37. | Also the Body of Thomas Ubank, Gent. | Eldest Son of the above Roger and | Elizabeth Ubank, Born June 20 th 1712 I died June 9 th 1774, Aged 62. | Here lies the Body of Frances Hutton | Daughter of Roger Ubank sen r | [who] died March the 30 th 1792 in the 70* Year of her Age." R g> s ^^
15, The Burroughs, Hendon, N.W.
PRICE OF TOBACCO IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY (US. vi. 268). Within three years of the . introduction of tobacco into England smokers here had to pay 3s. per ounce for it. The import duty was light, being only 2d. per lb. James I., of ' Counterblaste ' memory, had the duty raised to 6s. Wd. on "Virginian" tobacco; consequently there were Spanish and Portuguese importations, and it was also cultivated in this country. In 1624 the duty on " Virginian " was lowered, and the aforesaid imports pro- hibited, but still the price was high, the inferior kind being 10s. per lb., up to 18s. per lb. for the best. In the MS. notes made by Sir Henry Oglander of Nunwell, in the Isle of Wight, in the year 1626 he mentions among other expenses " for eight ounces of tobacco, five shillings." In the ' Journal of the Rev. Giles Moore,' published by the Sussex Archaeological Society (vol. i. Trans- actions), he notes the payment in 1656 for
" two ounces of tobacco, one shilling." It
is on record that as late as 1680 tobacco was
worth its weight in silver, and that farmers
at provincial markets used to select their
biggest shillings to put into the scales against
it. In the first year of the reign of James II.
an Act was passed granting to him the
duties arising on tobacco, on which, over
and above all other charges, a tax of three-
pence per pound weight was levied. Con-
cessions were obtained by importers during
the reign of William III., and tobacco met
with a patronage almost universal. The
reduced price in 1686 of Is. 6d. per lb.
for unmanufactured tobacco is thus most
probably correct. In the adulteration period
of 1733 the duty was 6^d. per lb., and when
the lawlessness of the smuggler was carried
on so successfully in 1751 and 1783 the duty
was Is. 3d. per lb. The tariff history of
tobacco is one long record of change.
TOM JONES.
See Thorold Rogers's ' History of Agri- culture and Prices in England,' vol v., 1583- 1702, p. 467. Two sorts of tobacco were in use : Spanish, the average price of which was about 9s. 3|rf. ; and colonial, 2s. 2%d. These prices are between 1633 and 1702. Later on colonial seems to have superseded Spanish.
Aubrey in his Life of Raleigh see ' Letters of Eminent Persons,' &c. (edition of 1813), vol. ii. pt. ii. p. 512 says :
" It [tobacco] was sold then for its weight in silver. I have heard some of our old yeomen neighbours say, that when they went to Malmes- bury or Chippenham market, they culled out their biggest shillings to lay in the scales against the tobacco."
Apparently this was Spanish. J. F. R.
'MEMOIRS or SCRIBLERUS ' (11 S. vi. 167, 278). It should be noted that the quotation MR. FOSTER PALMER gives from Aitken's ' Life and Works ' of Arbuthnot is a transcript from Warburton, whose second sentence, when given in full, closes with the words, " they had only drawn out an imperfect essay towards it, under the title of ' The first book of the Memoirs of Scriblerus.' "
As Warburton was likely to know the facts, the only inference one can draw from his words is that he considered the satire as it stands the production of Pope. Arbuth- not died, Swift became infirm, and Pope alone was left to complete the projected treatise " on the abuses of human learning."
