SUPERSTITIONS REGARDING SHREWS 63 



Britain, viz., the common, the water, and the oared, 

 and there is yet a fourth, the square-tailed shrew, 

 but this last-named is of too rare occurrence to refer 

 to ; indeed, the oared shrew is rare, though it is 

 asserted to have been common in Fifeshire. The 

 water-shrew is by no means frequently met with, 

 and may be certainly classed as belonging to our 

 rarer British quadrupeds. 



In times past, when superstition was more rife 

 in England than it is at the present day, the poor 

 shrews were terribly persecuted, being regarded 

 as venomous beasts ; for not only was their bite 

 believed to be fatal, but if one chanced to run 

 over the limb of an animal, it was credited with 

 causing the limb to become diseased. The follow- 

 ing brutal remedy was supposed to be efficacious 

 in such cases : A hole was bored with an auger 

 in an ash-tree, and into this a live shrew was put ; 

 the hole was then plugged up with wood. When 

 an ash -tree had been thus treated, any branches 

 gathered from it and waved over the affected 

 limb were supposed to effect a cure. We may 

 truly say, What brutes people were in those days ! 

 and what utter fools too ! There is still a most 

 unaccountable amount of superstition prevalent in 

 many of our country districts. It perhaps lingers 

 more in the Southern and Western counties. My 

 own servants are terribly superstitious, and most 

 firmly believe in ghosts, a belief which has occa- 

 sioned me no little trouble at times, as my house 

 has the reputation of being haunted. Nothing 



