CATS. 125 



that the imputation of hypocrisy, which has been freely 

 brought against the animal, is hardly justified. The cat, to 

 do it justice, pretends to no fondness whatever for those 

 who care for it. It will submit to be rubbed and stroked, 

 and to be placed upon ladies' laps, simply because it likes 

 these attentions, not because it is grateful to those who 

 render them. It will rub against a human leg, but will also 

 rub against the leg of a table with an equal air of affection. 

 It will not answer when called unless there be a pro- 

 spect of food, but will gaze in stolid indifference at the 

 fire, as if wholly unconscious of being addressed. This 

 absence of affection in cats is in itself an argument against 

 the Darwinian theory. Since the days of ancient Egypt, 

 cats have been pets. Ladies have in the absence of 

 better subjects for affection doted upon them from time 

 immemorial ; but in all these countless generations the cats 

 have not been able to get up a reciprocal feeling. Friends 

 of the species have endeavoured to urge in its favour that 

 it is affectionate to its young. If, however, five out of six 

 kittens are removed and drowned, the mother in no way 

 concerns or troubles herself. She certainly will look sharp 

 after the last, but this only shows that she likes to have 

 something to nurse and play with. Had she had a particle 

 of real love for her offspring, she would have cared for all 

 alike. 



An intense devotion to public assemblies of its kind upon 

 housetops and walls, and to the raising of music, Wagnerian 

 in its absence of melody, are the special characteristics of 

 the cat. To gratify its passion for concerted music it will 

 dare every danger. Showers of lumps of coal, of boots and 

 brushes, cause but a momentary interruption of its song ; 



