Robert Wisdom (poet)

Robert Wisdom (died 1568) was a Church of England priest and a minor poet. Quotes The Indian weed witherèd quite, Green at morn, cut down at night,        Shows thy decay;        All flesh is hay:    Thus think, then drink Tobacco. And when the smoke ascends on high, Think thou behold'st the vanity        Of worldly stuff,        Gone with a puff:    Thus think, then drink Tobacco. "A Religious Use of Taking Tobacco", sts. 1–2. Anonymous in The Vocal Miscellany (London, 1738) vol. 2, p. 146, no. 164. Attributed to Wisdom in John Gross (ed.) The Oxford Book of Comic Verse (1995) p. 14, no. 8. Cf. the lines, as quoted by Scott, Rob Roy, first printed in Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy, vol. 1 (ed. 1707) p. 315: Tobacco's but an Indian weed, Grows green at morn, cut down at eve;    It shows our decay, we are but clay.      Think on this when you smoak Tobacco. External links Hoyt's New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations (1922) p. 805, no. 12 Category:1568 deaths Category:Poets from England Category:Church of England clergy