OF SELBORNE. 345 



shrew-mouse is of so baneful and deleteri- 

 ous a nature, that wherever it creeps over 

 a beast, be it horse, cow, or sheep, the 

 suffering animal is afflicted with cruel an- 

 guish, and threatened with the loss of the 

 use of the limb. Against this accident, to 

 which they were continually liable, our 

 provident fore-fathers always kept a shrew- 

 ash at hand, which, when once medicated, 

 would maintain its virtue for ever. A 

 shrew-ash was made thus :* — Into the body 

 of the tree a deep hole was bored with an 

 auger, and a poor devoted 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 un- 

 derstood, 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, 



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



when he was way-warden, regardless of 



* For a similar practice, see Pht's- Staffordshire, 



