London was swarming with poetic geniuses.

Immortal dramatists wandered in couples between stage doors and taverns.
[Illustration] All this has been said many times; and we read these glowing outbursts about the Elizabethan age as if to the beating of a drum.

But why was this period riper for magnificent deeds and noble literature than any other in English history?
We all know how the thinkers, historians, and critics of yesterday and to-day answer that question; but our hearts and brains tell us that they are astray.

By an amazing oversight they have said nothing of the Influence of Tobacco.

The Elizabethan age might be better named the beginning of the smoking era.