RECOLLECTIONS OF THR CAT. 199 



seemed petrified with terror, and it was not until two of their braves had 

 fallen that the rest could make off. 



Some of my readers will rejoice to hear that my ^'Random Recollections" can 

 now carry me no further; my notes I know are but indifferently let off, and 

 I must now fiddle my tune out entirely on shifts. Some of you will perhaps tell 

 me to take a lesson from ^Esop's Cock and Cat, which I understand runs thus: — • 

 "Puss had a month's mind to be upon the bones of him, but was unwilling to 

 pick a quarrel however, without some plausible colour for 't. Come, come, says 

 puss, without any more ado, 't is time for me to go to breakfast, and Cats don't 

 live upon dialogues; at which word she gave him a pinch, and so made an end 

 both of the Cock and of the story."* This implies direct cruelty, which is again 

 heightened by the following piece of ingratitude : — "Upon a time there was a Cat 

 fallen into a fat of wort, and was almost drowned, the Cat cried out for help; 

 the Rats hearing the cry, came and saw her misfortune; the Cat desired them 

 in all love to help her out, and such a day she would give them a great 

 reward, which they did. The day being come, the Rats made their application 

 to the Cat for their reward; the Cat said she made no such promise; they 

 proved the promise exactly. 'Well,' said the Cat, 'I do not remember any 

 such promise, but if I did "make any such promise, I was then in drink;' 

 and was highly displeased with the Rats, and instead of rewarding them, she 

 fell upon them, and killed several of them. I shall leave the moral applica- 

 tion to you,"f hoping it will be regarded as "the aboundanee of an ydle braine." 



In conclusion, I can only hope that my poor endeavours may serve to amuse 

 and at the same time engender a little compassionate feeling towards the 

 animal creation in general, but more particularly towards our feline friend, 

 who has suffered so much, and so long, in investigating whose habits we shall 

 no doubt find much both to admire and condemn; but as there arc none of 

 us perfect, let us endeavour as much as possible to judge with kindness, and 

 counterbalance the bad with the good. Do not let our friend have it to say, 

 "good troth, you do me wrong, good sooth, you do," J but let us so quicken 

 our powers of penetrative observation, that we may find something to please 

 and instruct, not only in the Cat, but in every living object with which a 

 Divine Wisdom has so plentifully surrounded us. Nothing was created im- 

 perfect; the whole range of animated nature, from the noxious serpent to the 

 gentle dove, uniting in one great cause for the fulfilment of some vast design, 

 which the Omnipotent alone can comprehend: and to conclude, let us bear ia 

 mind that — 



"He prayeth best who loveth best I For the dear God that loveth us, 



All things both great aud small; | He made and loveth all. 



Coleiudge's Anciext Mariner. 



Leeds, 1854. 



Mr. "Waterton's two magnificent Cats are still in perfection; or were last June, when we 

 had the pleasure of enjoying our kind friend's hospitality and society at Walton Hall. — B. R. M. 



* "JEsop's Fables. Sir Roger L' Estrange's edition, 1714." f "Humane Prudence, or the Art 

 by which a man may raise Himself and his Fortune to Grandeur, 1657." J Midsummer nights 

 Dream." 



VOL. IV. 2 



