208 SHAKESPEARE'S [ 



MOUSE. 



WRITING-INK tempered with water, wine, or vinegar, where- 

 in wormwood hath been steeped, Mice will not eat the 

 papers or letters written with that ink. 



Lupton, "Notable Things," bk. vi. 51. 



QUICKSILVER killed, burnt lead, the scales of iron, or 

 black hellebore, mixed with some pleasant meat that Mice 

 love if any Mice eat thereof, it will kill them. 



Ibid., bk. x. 68. 



OF the vulgar little Mouse : Concerning their manners 

 they are evil, apt to steal, insidious and deceitful. If the 

 brains of a weasel, the hair or rennet be sprinkled upon 

 cheese, or any other meat whereunto Mice resort, they not 

 only forbear to eat thereof, but also to come in that place. 

 A Mouse watcheth an oyster when he gapeth, and seeing 

 it open, thrusts in his head to eat the fish ; as soon as ever 

 the oyster felt his teeth, presently he closeth his shell again, 

 and so crusheth the Mouse's head in pieces. A man took 

 a Mouse, which Mouse he fed only with the flesh of 

 Mice, and after he had fed it so a long time, he let it go, 

 who killed all the Mice he did meet, and was not satisfied 

 with them, but went into every hole that he could find, and 

 ate them up also. A Mouse being flayed, and afterwards cut 

 through the middle, and put unto a wound or sore wherein 

 there is the head of a dart or arrow, or any other thing 

 whatsoever, will presently and very easily exhale and draw 

 them out of the same. A young Mouse mingled with salt 

 is an excellent remedy against the biting of the Mouse 

 called the shrew, which biting horses and labouring cattle, 

 it doth venom until it come unto the heart, and then they 

 die, except the aforesaid remedy be used. Of the heads 

 of Mice being burned is made that excellent powder for 

 the scouring and cleansing of the teeth called tooth-soap. 

 For the - rottenness and diminishing of the teeth, the best 

 remedy is to take a living Mouse, and to take out one of 

 her teeth, whether the greatest or the least is no great 

 matter, and hang it by the teeth of the party grieved ; but 

 first kill the Mouse from whom you had the tooth, and he 

 shall presently have ease and help of his pain. 



Topsell, " Four-footed Beasts," pp. 392-402. 



