118 THE REASON WHY 



And forth he goth, no longer would he tary, 



Into the town unto a potecary, 



And praied him that he him wolde sell 



Some poison that he might his ratouns quell.&quot; CHAUCEB. 



367. Why is it said that rats ahvays quit a falling house? 



The popular saying is founded upon the very obvious fact that 

 when houses become old and tottering, they are abandoned by 

 human beings, and then the rate finding no longer their usual 

 subsistence, quit the tenement ako. 



368. But the popular mind has thwarted this very palpable lact into a kind of 

 superstition, believing that rats have the power of anticipating the sudden fail of 

 a house, and quitting it some hours before. Granting that a rat were of all animals 

 the most sensitive to coming changes, and that it felt them in the very dawn of 

 their existence, the fall of a house does not come within the class of occurrences 

 of which the sensibility of the animal would give it early warning.* In like manner 

 it is said that rats leave a sinking ship ; they have been seen to do so by walking 

 along the rope which fastened the ship to the shore, but they did this only when 

 the water had absolutely forced them from every other place. 



369.. Why is a person shifting from one party or from one 

 cause to another said to be &quot;ratting?&quot; 



This saying is founded on the previous notion of rats deserting 

 falling houses and sinking ships. It implies that as the individual 

 can no longer suit his own purposes, he deserts his former place or 

 cause. Tergiversation of this kind, more especially when it consists 

 in deserting one party in its weakness, and going over to the 

 opposite one in its strength for the sake of personal advantage, is 

 invariably called &quot; ratting ;&quot; and it is held, and very properly held, 

 to be the worst species of political crime of which a public man 

 can be guilty, and characteristic of the very meanest cast of mind, 

 and lowest depth of political corruption.* 



370. Why may we suppose that rats can communicate intelligence 

 to each other when they find food ? 



Because the depredations committed usually commence with one 

 rat, which soon afterwards is joined by other companions, and in 

 a few days large swarms frequently appear. 



* Partington s &quot; Cyclopaedia.&quot; 



