256 pfant Isore, T^cge^/, di-id "bijrie/*. 



Latin rhjnne, '^ Ego Bovago gaudia semper ago.''' All the old herba- 

 lists praise the plant for its exhilarating effe(f\s, and agree with 

 Pliny that when put into wine the leaves and flowers of Borage 

 make men and women glad and merry, driving away all sadness, 

 dulness, and melancholy. The "cool tankard" of our forefathers 

 was a beverage composed of the young shoots and blossoms of 

 Borage mingled with wine, water, lemon, and sugar. Lord Bacon 

 was of opinion that "if in the must of wine or wort of beer, while 

 it worketh, before it be tunned, the Burrage stay a short time, and 

 be changed with fresh, it will make a sovereign drink for melan- 

 choly passion." Borage, astrologers tell us, is one of Jupiter's 



cordials. 



BOX. — The evergreen Box [Buxiis setnpevviva) was specially 

 consecrated by the Greeks to Pluto, the protecftor of all evergreen 

 trees, as being s3aiibolical of the life which continues through 



the winter in the infernal regions, and in the other world. 



A curious superstition existed among the ancients in regard 

 to the Box : although it very much resembles the Myrtle, which 

 was held sacred to Venus, yet they carefully refrained from 

 dedicating the Box to that goddess, because they were afraid that 

 through such an offering they would lose their virility. They 

 also, according to Bacon, entertained the belief that the Box pro- 

 duced honey, and that in Trebizonde the honey issuing from this 

 tree was so noxious, that it drove men mad. Corsican honey was 

 supposed to owe its ill repute to the facft that the bees fed upon Box. 

 The Box is referred to by the Prophet Isaiah in his description of 

 the glory of the latter days of the Church : " The glory of Lebanon 

 shall come unto thee, the Fir-tree, the Pine-tree, and the Box-tree 

 together, to beautify the place of my sancfluary." It is thought, 

 also, to be the Ashur-wood of the Scriptures, and to be referred to 

 by Ezekiel when, in describing the splendour of Tyre, he alludes 

 to the benches of the rowers as made of Ashur wood, inlaid with 

 ivory. That the ancients were accustomed to inlay Box-wood with 

 ivory we know from Virgil and other writers, who allude to this 



pradlice. The Jews employ branches of Box in eredting their 



tents at the Feast of Tabernacles. Boughs of Box were used 



formerly for decorative purposes, instead of the Willow, on Palm 

 Sundays. According to Herrick, it was once a time-honoured 

 custom on Candlemas Day to replace the Christmas evergreens with 

 sprigs of Box, which were kept up till Easter Eve, when they gave 



place to Yew. 



" Down with the Rosemary and Bays, 

 Down with the Mistletoe ; 

 Instead of Holly now upraise 

 The greener Box for show." 



Box-boughs were also in olden times regularly gathered at Whit- 

 suntide for decking the large open fire-places then in vogue. 



In several parts of the North of England, when a funeral takes 



