178 CONCERNING CATS. 



often called "puss" or "pussy." "Puss" is also a common 

 name for a cat. 



Grhiagog, the cafs wide. — A foolish, grinning fellow. 

 One who grins without reason (Grose). In Norfolk, if one 

 say " she," the reply is, " Who's ' she ' ? The cat's aunt ? " 



Ha7ig me in a bottle like a cat. — " Benedict. If I do, 

 hang me in a bottle like a cat, and shoot at me, and he that 

 hits me, let him be clapt on the shoulder and called Adam " 

 (meaning Adam Bell, the famous archer). — Much Ado About 

 Nothing, Act I. 



A note in the "Percy Reliques," vol. i., 1812, states: 

 " Bottles were formerly of leather, though perhaps a wooden 

 bottle might be here meant. It is still a diversion in 

 Scotland (18 12) to hang up a cat in a small cask or firkin, 

 half filled with soot, and then a parcel of clowns on horse- 

 back try to beat out the ends of it, in order to show their 

 dexterity in escaping before the contents fall on them." 



From "Demandes Joyeuses" (amusing questions), 151 1 : 



" (2- What is that that never was and never will be ? 



" A. A mouse nest in a cat's ear. 



" Q. Why does a cat cross the road ? 



" A. Because it wants to get to the other side." 



Mrs. Eva?is. — "A local name for a she-cat, owing, it is 

 said, to a witch of the name of Evans, who assumed the 

 appearance of a cat." — Grose. 



Ni?te lives like a cat, — '' Cats, from their great suppleness 

 and aptitude to fall on their feet, are commonly said to 

 have nine lives ; hence Ben Jonson, in ' Every Man in His 

 Humour,' says : ' 'Tis a pity you had not ten hves — a cat's 

 and your own.'" — Thiselton Dyer's English Folk-lore. 

 " Tyb. What wouldst thou have with me ? 

 Mer. Good king of cats, nothing but one of your 

 nine lives." Rotneo and Juliet, III. i. 



Middleton says in "Blurt Master Constable," 1602 : 

 " They have nine lives apiece, like a woman." 



