anguish, and threatened with the loss of the use of 

 the limb. Against this accident, to which they are 

 continually liable, our provident forefathers always 

 kept a shrew-ash at hand, which, when once medi- 

 cated, would maintain its virtue forever. A shrew- 

 ash was made thus : * — Into the body of the tree a 

 deep hole was bored with an auger, and a poor de- 

 voted shrew-mouse was thrust in alive, and plugged 

 in, no doubt, with several quaint incantations long 

 since forgotten. As the ceremonies necessary for 

 such a consecration are no longer understood, all 

 succession is at an end, and no such tree is known 

 to subsist in the manor, or hundred. 

 As to that on the Plestor, for 



" The late vicar stubb'd and burnt it," 



when he was way-warden, regardless of the remon- 

 strances of the bystanders, who interceded in vain 

 for its preservation, urging its power and efficacy, 

 and alleging that it had been ''guarded through 

 many years by the piety of our ancestors ; " 



" Religione patrum multos servata per annes." 

 Selborne, y^w. 8, 1776. 



* For a similar practice, White refers us to Plot's " Staffordshire." 



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