PERSECUTION 65 



and so brave, we come to a better understanding of 

 her complex, subtle, and, to many minds, unlovely 

 character. Self-sufficing by nature, she has learned 

 distrust through centuries of suffering. To see a 

 cat run across a street is to understand that her 

 race has for generation after generation been 

 hunted as cruelly as the hare. She scurries by 

 swiftly and fearfully, as did that poor ancestress of 

 hers whom the Puritan soldiers chased derisively 

 around the nave of Lichfield Cathedral, until Prince 

 Rupert interrupted their pious sport. She knows 

 not now precisely what she dreads, the coast 

 being clear, and no boys nor dogs in sight ; she 

 knew not three hundred years ago why she was 

 held responsible for theological errors in which she 

 had no share. Catholicism, Anglicanism, Puritan 

 ism, all were alike indifferent to her ; yet, as we 

 have seen, she bore the burden of man s devout 

 distaste for his neighbour s creed. Perhaps the last 

 authentic instance of feline persecution for con 

 science sake was the case of the &quot; ecclesiastical 

 cat &quot; that George Borrow met and rescued in Wales. 

 The Vicar of Llangollen, a most unpopular charac 

 ter in a stronghold of sturdy dissent, had returned 

 to England, leaving behind him his black cat ; and 

 the antagonism formerly felt for the clergyman had 

 been transferred to the clerical pet. No house 

 holder would give it food or shelter ; and, if it slunk 



