208 SHAKESPEARE'S [ MOUSE. 
WritiINnG-1NK 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. 
VICKSILVER 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. 
Or 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. 
