The Book of Cats. 165 



knock out the bottom of the cask as he ran under 

 it, and was nimble enough to escape its falHng con- 

 tents, was thought to be very clever. After the 

 first part had been performed, the Cat was hunted 

 to death, which finished this diverting pastime. 

 They were full of their fun, once upon a time, in 

 merrie England. 



In an old-fashioned treatise upon Rat-catching, 

 I find mentioned a means of alluring " of very 

 material efficacy, which is, the use of oil of Rho- 

 dium, which, like the marumlyriacum, in the case 

 of Cats, has a very extraordinary fascinating 

 power on these animals." 



Among the sympathetic secrets in occult philo- 

 sophy, published in the Conjurors' Magazine, in 

 1 79 1, I find a recipe " to draw Cats together, and 

 fascinate them," which is as follows : — 



"In the new moon, gather the herb Nepe, and 

 dry it in the heat of the sun, when it is temperately 

 hot: gather vervain in the hour $, and only ex- 

 pose it to the air while q is under the earth. 

 Hang these together in a net, in a convenient 

 place, and when one of them has scented it, her 

 cry will soon call those about her that are within 

 hearing ; and they will rant and run about, leaping 

 and capering to get at the net, which must be huno- 



