to the frontispiece of that book:--

"Borage and Hellebore fill two scenes,
Sovereign plants to purge the veins
Of melancholy, and cheer the heart
Of those black fumes which make it smart;
The best medicine that God e'er made
For this malady, if well assaid."

"The sprigs of Borage," wrote John Evelyn, "are of known virtue
to revive the hypochondriac and cheer the hard student."

According to Dioscorides and Pliny, the Borage was that famous
nepenthe of Homer which Polydamas sent to Helen for a token "of
such rare virtue that when taken steep'd in wine, if wife and
children, father and mother, brother and sister, and all thy dearest
friends should die before thy face, thou could'st not grieve, or shed
a tear for them." "The bowl of Helen had no other ingredient, as
most criticks do conjecture, than this of borage." And it was
declared of the herb by another ancient author: _Vinum potatum
quo sit macerata buglossa moerorum cerebri dicunt auferre
periti_:--

"To enliven the sad with the joy of a joke,
Give them wine with some borage put in it to soak."

The Romans named the Borage _Euphrosynon_, because when put
into a cup of wine it made the drinkers of the same merry and
glad.

Parkinson says, "The seed of Borage helpeth nurses to have more
store of milk, for which purpose its leaves are most conducing." Its
saline constituents promote activity of the kidneys, and for this
reason the plant is used in France to carry off catarrhs which are
feverish. The fresh herb has a cucumber-like odour, and when
compounded with lemon and sugar, added to wine and [62] water,
it makes a delicious "cool tankard," as a summer drink. "A syrup
concocted of the floures," said Gerard, "quieteth the lunatick
person, and the leaves eaten raw do engender good blood." Of all
nectar-loving insects, bees alone know how to pronounce the
"open sesame" of admission to the honey pots of the Borage.

BROOM.

The Broom, or Link (_Cytisus scoparius_) is a leguminous shrub
which is well known as growing abundantly on open places in our
rural districts. The prefix "cytisus" is derived from the name of a
Greek island where Broom abounded. It formerly bore the name of
_Planta Genista_, and gave rise to the historic title, "Plantagenet."
A sprig of its golden blossom was borne by Geoffrey of Anjou in
his bonnet when going into battle, making him conspicuous
throughout the strife. In the _Ingoldsby Legends_ it