BORAGE 129 



The plant grows from one to two feet high, its 

 stems being stout and freely branching. Though 

 but a biennial it propagates freely from the seeds 

 it sheds, and so, once established, maintains its 

 position. 



The borage was held in high esteem for many 

 centuries as a cordial, though modern investigation 

 has decided that it is of little or no medical value. 

 Pliny called it the euphrosinum, from a belief in its 

 joy-yielding qualities, while in Wales it is still the 

 llawenlys, the herb of gladness. A very venerable 

 old testimony declared on its behalf " Ego Borago 

 gaudia semper ago," and this has been passed 

 on through the centuries as " I Borage bring 

 alwaies courage." I Burton, in his quaint " Anatomy 

 of Melancholy," commends the borage as a preser- 

 vative from the ills of which his volume treats, 

 affirming it a 



" Sovereign plant to purge the veins 

 Of melancholy, and cheer the heart 

 Of those black fumes which make it smart " ; 



while Bacon declares " it hath an excellent spirit 

 to repress the fuliginous vapour of dusky melan- 

 cholic." As all through the Middle Ages every 

 writer on plants appropriated the ideas of every 



1 " The vertue's eminent ; have you no Courage ? 

 At any time revive your soul with Borage." 



GAYTON, u The Art of Longevity," 1659. 



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