ing piece of advice is carefully adopted every
year:--

"He that would live for aye
Must eat Sage in May."

During the time of Charlemagne, the school of Salerno thought so
highly of Sage that they originated the dictum quoted above of
Saracenic old pharmacy, but they wisely added a second line:--

"Contra vim mortis non est medicamen in hortis."

The essential oil of the herb may be more readily dissolved in a
spirituous than in a watery vehicle. Of this, the active principle is
"salviol," which confers the power of resisting putrefaction on
animal substances; whilst the bitterness and condimentary pungency
of the herb enable the stomach to digest rich, luscious meats and
gravies, if it be eaten therewith.

Hence has arisen the custom of stuffing ducks for the table, and
geese, with the conventional Sage and onions. Or there is no better
way of taking Sage as a stomachic wholesome herb than by eating it
with bread and butter. In Buckinghamshire a tradition maintains
[491] that the wife rules where Sage grows vigorously in the garden:
and it is believed that this plant will thrive or wither, just as the
owner's business prospers or fails. George Whitfield, when at
Oxford (1733), took only Sage-tea, with sugar, and coarse bread.

Old sayings tell of the herb, as _Salvia salvatrix; naturoe
conciliatrix_; and the line runs:--

"Salvia cum ruta faciunt tibi pocula tuta."

recommending to plant Rue among the Sage so as to keep away
noxious toads.

The Chinese are as fond of Sage as we are of their fragrant teas;
and the Dutch once carried on a profitable trade with them, by
exchanging a pound of Sage leaves for each three-pound parcel of
tea.

It was formerly thought that Sage, if used in the making of cheese,
improved its flavour.

"Marbled with Sage the hardening cheese she pressed."
--_Gay_.

"Sage," says Gerard, "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." Agrippa called it "the holy herb,"
because women with child, if they be likely to come before their
time, "do eat thereof to their great good."

Pepys, in his well-known Diary says, "between Gosport and
Southampton we observed a little churchyard where it is customary
to sow all the graves with Sage." In _Franche Comte_ the herb is
supposed to mitigate g