96 THE FIRESIDE SPHINX 



streaming on the wind. The ancient Burgundians 

 adopted the cat as their heraldic device, to intimate 

 an abhorrence of servitude ; and Clotilde, the fair 

 and saintly Burgundian wife of Clovis, had blazoned 

 on her armorial bearings a cat sable springing at a 

 mouse. The same symbol served many a noble 

 house. The Katzen family carried an azure shield, 

 with a cat argent holding a rat. The Chetaldie 

 family of Limoges carried two cats argent on an 

 azure shield. The princely Delia Gatta of Naples 

 bore a cat a splendid cat couchant on their 

 crest ; and in Scotland the well-known cognizance 

 of the Clan Chattan was a wild-cat, with the signifi 

 cant motto, &quot;Touch not the cat but &quot; (i. c. without) 

 &quot; the glove.&quot; Of a truth, Cervantes strayed not so 

 far into extravagance when he wrote of the &quot; ever 

 victorious and never vanquished &quot; Timonel of Car- 

 cajona, Prince of New Biscay, who carried upon 

 his shield a golden cat, with the expressive motto, 

 &quot; Mian,&quot; in honour of his lady, the beautiful and 

 peerless Miaulina, daughter of the great Alfeniquen 

 of the Algarve. 



More peaceful memories cling around the an 

 cient sign-boards, on which Pussy was ever a favour 

 ite figure. &quot; La Maison du CJiat qui Pelote&quot; and 

 &quot; La Maison du CJiat qui Pcclie&quot; commended 

 themselves especially to French merchants ; and 

 M. Champfleury sadly regrets the disappearance of 



