SUPERSTITIONS RELATING TO IT. 31 



and feeds on the shrew, as it does on any other 

 mouse which comes in its way. Other persons 

 have maintained that cats will kill this little qua- 

 druped, but that they always refuse to eat it, in 

 consequence of a rank offensive smell which it is 

 said to possess. I have however found dead 

 shrews far away from the haunts of cats, and they 

 may now be fairly exonerated, like the owl, from 

 this charge. The very circumstance, however, of 

 this mystery in the history of the shrew, has 

 given it a sort of importance amongst country- 

 people, even in the present day, and many will not 

 only refuse to touch it, but they even look upon it 

 with dislike. They consider it to be venomous, 

 and it was formerly thought that if it ran over a 

 person's foot, he would become lame in conse- 

 quence. Mr. White, in his History of Selborne, 

 mentions a shrew-ash tree, which after having had 

 a large hole bored in it, and a live shrew-mouse 

 plugged up in it, was thought to be a remedy for 

 the evils inflicted by this harmless animal. Its 

 very name has been adopted as a term of reproach 

 to a scolding woman, probably from the venom it 

 was supposed to possess. Shakspeare, however, 

 has now and then used it with terms of endear- 

 ment 



Pretty Jessica, like a little shrew. 

 Bless you, fair shrew. 



Wishing, however, to rescue this little quadruped 



