4 
re 
210 THE RAT. 
well that snakes are not in the habit of chasing men 
er women. I was consulted on the important affair; 
and I remarked, with great gravity, that there was 
something very strange and awful in it. “If,” said 
I, “ Molly has unfortunately been interfering with 
any other woman’s witchcraft; or if she has been 
writing words with her own blood; or, above all, if 
there was a strong smell of brimstone in the lane at 
the time of the chase, then, and in that case, there 
is too much reason to fear that the thing which 
Wilson took for a snake was an imp from the bot- 
tomless pit, sent up here, no doubt, by the king of 
sulphur, on some wicked and mischievous errand.” 
Poor old Molly is still alive, but nature is almost 
done within her; and she is now rarely seen on the 
cold side of the threshold. Many a time have I 
bantered old Molly on this serpentine apparition ; 
but she would only shake her head and say, she 
wished she had been at home that evening, instead 
of going up Blind Lane. 
NOTES ON THE HISTORY AND HABITS OF 
THE BROWN, OR GREY, RAT. 
Some few years after the fatal period of 1688, 
when our aristocracy, in defence of its iil-gotten 
goods, took upon itself to dispose of hereditary 
monarchy in a way which, if attempted nowadays, 
would cause a considerable rise in the price of 
