THE CAT TRIUMPHANT 177 



ness. The same enviable instinct which prompts 

 them to offer their gentle tokens of regard, teaches 

 them sobriety and reserve. 



Mr. Arnold had a second and less distinguished 

 cat named Blacky, about whom we are told little, 

 save that he lost one of his legs by some sad acci 

 dent, and went about contentedly on the remaining 

 three all the years of his life, the cheeriest and most 

 agile of cripples. Atossa was a very beautiful Per 

 sian ; and who that has read the pathetic lament 

 for &quot; Poor Matthias,&quot; can forget the description of 

 her compelling and sinister loveliness ? 



&quot; Thou hast seen Atossa sage 

 Sit for hours beside thy cage ; 

 Thou wouldst chirp, thou foolish bird, 

 Flutter, chirp, she never stirred ! 

 What were now these toys to her ? 

 Down she sank amid her fur ; 

 Eyed thee with a soul resign d, 

 And thou deemedst cats were kind ! 

 Cruel, but composed and bland, 

 Dumb, inscrutable, and grand ; 

 So Tiberius might have sat, 

 Had Tiberius been a cat.&quot; 



And so Montaigne might have written, had Mon 

 taigne been a poet. The attitude of the two men 

 towards the animals they loved, but could not hope 

 to understand, an unmoral, unjudicial attitude, as 

 remote from vindication as from denunciation, shows 



