Towards the close of the century two eminent botanists, who were, of course, well acquainted with the specimens that had been described by Sir Hans Sloane and Dr. Breyn, were constrained in writing of the poetry of their science to make the legendary “Borametz” their theme. Dr. Erasmus Darwin, in 1781, contributed to the literature of the subject the following lines[21]:-- [21] ‘The Botanic Garden.’ A poem in two parts; with philosophical notes. London. 1781. “E’en round the Pole the flames of love aspire, And icy bosoms feel the secret fire, Cradled in snow, and fanned by Arctic air, Shines, gentle Borametz, thy golden hair; Rooted in earth, each cloven foot descends, And round and round her flexile neck she bends, Crops the grey coral moss, and hoary thyme, Or laps with rosy tongue the melting rime; Eyes with mute tenderness her distant dam, And seems to bleat--a ‘vegetable lamb.’” Dr. Erasmus Darwin appears to have bestowed “golden hair” upon his Borametz, to assimilate it to the fern-root toys that were regarded as its prototypes; but as the fern of which they were made is a native of Southern China, and as no author has described the lamb-plant as being found in a cold climate, his authority and his motive for locating it in an arctic region are alike inexplicable. Dr. De la Croix, the other botanical author above referred to, extolled, in 1791, the fabulous animal-plant in a Latin poem[22] which Bishop Atterbury characterized as “excellent, and approaching very near to the versification of Virgil’s ‘Georgics.’” [22] ‘Connubia Florum, Latino Carmine Demonstrata.’ Bath. 1791. “Qui Caspia sulcant Æquora, sive legant spumosa Boristhenis ora Sive petant Asiam velis, et Colchica regna, Hinc atque inde stupent visu mirabile monstrum: Surgit humo Borames. Præcelso in stipite fructus Stat quadrupes. Olli vellus. Duo cornua fronte Lanea, nec desunt oculi; rudis accola credit Esse animal, dormire die, vigilare per umbram, Et circum exesis pasci radicitus herbis: Carnibus Ambrosiæ sapor est, succique rubentes Posthabeat quibus alma suum Burgundia Nectar; Atque loco si ferre pedem Natura dedisset, Balatu si posset opem implorare voracis Ora lupi contra, credas in stirpe sedere Agnum equitem, gregibusque agnorum albescere colles.” As this has not been “done into English” (to use an old phrase), I venture to offer the following translation of it:--