The Book of Cats, 167 



' A wrinkled hag, of wicked fame, 

 Beside a little smoky flame, 

 Sat hovering, pinched with age and frost, 

 Her shrivelled hands with veins embossed. 

 Upon her knees her weight sustains, 

 While palsy shook her crazy brains ; 

 She mumbles forth her backward prayer — 

 An untamed scold of fourscore year. 

 About her swarmed a numerous brood 

 Of Cats, who, lank with hunger, mewed ; 

 Teased with their cries, her choler grew. 

 And thus she sputtered — ' Hence, ye crew ! 

 P'ool that I was to entertain 

 Such imps, such fiends— a hellish train ; 

 Had ye been never housed and nursed, 

 I for a witch had n'er been cursed ; 

 To you I owe that crowd of boys 

 Worry me with eternal noise ; — 

 Straws laid across, my pace retard ; 

 The horse-shoes nailed (each threshold's guard) ; 

 The stunted broom the wenches hide, 

 For fear that I should up and ride.' " 



The belief in witchcraft is a very ancient and 

 deep-rooted one. From the earliest times, we can 

 trace records of supposed acts of witchcraft, and 

 their punishment. Pope Innocent VIIL, in 1484, 

 issued a bull, empowering the Inquisition to search 

 for witches and burn them. From the time of this 

 superstitious act, the executions for witchcraft 

 increased. The pope had given sanction to the 



