Shakespeare, plants, and chemical analysis of early 17th century clay 'tobacco' pipes from Europe

Abstract

In a recent issue of Country Life, Mark Griffiths renews interest in John Gerard's Herbal, published in 1597 as a botanical book which includes engraved images of several people in the frontispiece. One of them is identified by Griffiths as William Shakespeare, but this identification is by no means certain. The question arises as to whether the engraving represents Sir Francis Drake. Gerard's Herbal refers inter alia to various kinds of tobacco introduced to Europe by Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh in the days of Shakespeare in Elizabethan England. One can well imagine the scenario in which Shakespeare performed his plays in the court of Queen Elizabeth, in the company of Drake, Raleigh and others who smoked clay pipes filled with tobacco. However, there were several kinds of tobacco in those days, as indicated in this article. There clearly is a strong link between Drake and plants from the New World, including corn, the potato and tobacco.

Headnote

KEYWORDS:

Walter Raleigh; Francis Drake; botany; cannabis; cocaine; tobacco

In a recent issue of Country Life, Mark Griffiths1 renews interest in John Gerard's Herbal2, published in 1597 as a botanical book which includes engraved images of several people in the frontispiece. One of them (cited as 'The Four th Man') is identified by Griffiths as William Shakespeare, but this identification is by no means cer tain. The question arises as to whether the engraving represents Sir Francis Drake.3 Gerard's Herbal refers inter alia to various kinds of 'tobacco' introduced to Europe by Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh in the days of Shakespeare in Elizabethan England. One can well imagine the scenario in which Shakespeare performed his plays in the court of Queen Elizabeth, in the company of Drake, Raleigh and others who smoked clay pipes filled with 'tobacco'. However, there were several kinds of 'tobacco' in those days, as indicated in this ar ticle.

There clearly is a strong link between Drake and plants from the New World, including corn, the potato and 'tobacco'. Furthermore, one can cer tainly associate Sir Walter Raleigh with the introduction of 'tobacco' to Europe from Nor th America (notably in the context of the tobacco plant called Nicotiana, from Virginia and elsewhere, and from which we get nicotine).

Thackeray et al.4 reported in the South African Journal of Science the results of chemical analyses of plant residues in 'tobacco pipes' from Stratford-upon-Avon and environs, dating to the early 17th century. This non-destructive chemical analysis was undertaken using state-of-the-art forensic technology at the South African Police narcotics laboratory, by three scientists (Professor Francis Thackeray, Professor Nicholas van der Merwe of the University of Cape Town, and Inspector Tommy van der Merwe). A sophisticated technique called gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) was used. The pipe bowls and stems had been obtained by Thackeray on loan from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon. Several of the pipes had been excavated from the garden of William Shakespeare.

Results of this study (including 24 pipe fragments) indicated Cannabis in eight samples, nicotine (from tobacco leaves of the kind associated with Raleigh) in at least one sample, and (in two samples) definite evidence for Peruvian cocaine from coca leaves of the kind which Thackeray et al.4 associated with Drake who had himself been to Peru before 1597.

Gerard2 has a whole section dedicated to kinds of tobacco including 'the henbane of Peru' which can be associated with cocaine (Erythroxylum), recognising that Sir Francis Drake could have brought coca leaves to England after his visit to Peru in South America, just as Sir Walter Raleigh had brought 'tobacco leaves' (Nicotiana) from Virginia in Nor th America.

In 2000, Thackeray consulted the first edition of Gerard's Herbal in Stratford-upon-Avon to check the description of various kinds of 'tobacco'. As a botanist, Gerard must have known of the coca leaf as a kind of 'tobacco' from Peru. As chemists, Thackeray et al.4 found unquestionable evidence for the smoking of coca leaves in early 17th century England, based on chemical evidence from two pipes in the Stratford-upon-Avon area. Neither of the pipes came from the garden of Shakespeare. Four of the pipes with Cannabis came from Shakespeare's garden.

Shakespeare may have been aware of the deleterious effects of cocaine as a strange compound. Thackeray (unpublished manuscript) suggests that Shakespeare preferred Cannabis as a stimulant which had mind-stimulating proper ties. These suggestions are based on the following literary indications. In Sonnet 76 Shakespeare writes about 'invention in a noted weed'. This can be interpreted to mean that Shakespeare was willing to use 'weed' (Cannabis as a kind of tobacco) for creative writing ('invention'). In the same sonnet it appears that he would prefer not to be associated with 'compounds strange', which can be interpreted, at least potentially, to mean 'strange drugs' (possibly cocaine). Sonnet 76 may relate to complex wordplay relating in par t to drugs (compounds and 'weed'), and in par t to a style of writing, associated with clothing ('weeds') and literary compounds (words combined to form one, as in the case of the word 'Philsides' from Philip Sidney). The so-called 'Four th Man' depicted on the frontispiece of Gerard's Herbal holds a fritillary plant in one hand and corn in the other, as identified by Griffiths1 who claims that the man is Shakespeare. However, attention can be given to an alternative hypothesis that this individual represents Sir Francis Drake.3 We support the view that the 'Fourth Man' in Gerard's Herbal may represent Drake (especially as he holds an ear of corn in one hand - why should Shakespeare be holding such a plant of a kind known to have been introduced to Europe by Drake?).

An appeal is made to the Shakespearean community to give attention to ar ticles that were published more than a decade ago5-12 and which were largely criticised by Shakespearean scholars at that time. Chemical analyses of residues in early 17th century clay 'tobacco pipes' have confirmed that a diversity of plants were smoked in Europe. Literary analyses and chemical science can be mutually beneficial, bringing the ar ts and the sciences together in an effor t to better understand Shakespeare and his contemporaries.

Acknowledgements

I thank the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust for the oppor tunity to analyse residues from pipes from the garden of Shakespeare and elsewhere in the environs of Stratford-upon-Avon.

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HOW TO CITE:

Thackeray F. Shakespeare, plants, and chemical analysis of early 17th century clay 'tobacco' pipes from Europe. S Afr J Sci. 2015;111(7/8), Art. #a0115, 2 pages. http://dx.doi. org/10.17159/sajs.2015/a0115

References

References

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2. Gerard J. The herbal or general history of plants. London: John Norton; 1597.

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4. Thackeray JF, Van der Merwe NJ, Van der Merwe TA. Chemical analysis of residues from seventeenth century clay pipes from Stratford-upon-Avon and environs. S Afr J Sci. 2001;97:19-21.

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