386 MEALS MEDICINAL. 
It was dear old blind Margaret in Charles Lamb’s first story 
(Rosamund Gray, 1798) who had among her half-dozen cottage 
volumes “a cookery book, with a few dry sprigs of Rosemary, 
and Lavender, stuck here and there between the leaves (1 suppose 
to point to some of the old lady’s favourite receipts).” In a 
well-known song which the spirited rendering of Santley has 
immortalized,—“ Simon the Cellarer”—it is quaintly, and 
picturesquely told :— 
‘“* Dame Margery sits in her own still room, 
And a matron sage is she : 
From thence oft at curfew is wafted a fume : 
She says it is ‘ Rosemarie’! 
But there’s a small cupboard behind the back stair, 
And the maids say they often see Margery there. 
Now Margery says that she grows very old, 
And must take a something to keep out the cold : 
But ho! ho! ho! old Simon doth know, 
Where many a flask of his best doth go.” 
For stuffing ducks, and geese, to be roasted, the conventional 
blend is of Sage, and onions; as regards the former of which 
this garden herb Sage contains an active principle which resists 
animal putrescence. Furthermore, the said principle, “ salviol,” 
together with the bitterness, and condimentary pungency oi the 
Sage leaves, enables the stomach to better digest rich, luscious 
meats, and gravies. Our well-known Sage, which is plentiful 
in every kitchen garden, is aromatic, and fragrant, by reason 
of its volatile, camphoraceous essential oil. The botanical name 
Salvia is derived from a Latin verb salvere, to be sound in health. 
“Cur moriatur homo cui Salvia crescit in horto?” saith an old 
monkish line—‘‘ Why should a man die as long as Sage grows 
in his garden?” There is no better way of taking Sage as a 
stomachic wholesome herb, than by eating it with bread and 
butter. ‘“ This herb,” says Gerarde, “is singular good for the 
head, and brain: it quickeneth the senses, and memory ; 
strengtheneth the sinews, restoreth health to those that hath 
the palsy, and takes away shaky trembling of the members.” 
John Swan, in Speculum Mundi (1643), writes : ‘‘ Sage also take, 
for it hath many virtues, and a great desire to make a man 
immortall.” 
‘* Sage makes the sinews strong, the palsie cures ; 
And by its help no ague long endures.” 
“A little vinegar sprinkled upon its leaves lying upon coals, 
