2o8 DEAD CATS. 



DEAD CATS. 



Lifeless cats have been from time immemorial sug- 

 gestive of foolish hoaxing, a parcel being made up, or a 

 basket with the legs of a hare projecting, directed to 

 some one at a distance, and on which the charge for 

 carriage comes to a considerable sum, the fortunate reci- 

 pient ultimately, to his great annoyance, finding " his 

 present " was nothing else but " a dead cat." Dead 

 cats, which not infrequently were cast into the streets, or 

 accidentally killed there, were sometimes used as objects 

 of sport by the silly, low-minded, and vulgar, and it was 

 thought a "clever thing" if they could deposit such in a 

 drawing-room through an open window, or pitch the unfor- 

 tunate animal, often crushed and dirty, into a passing 

 carriage ; but " the time of times " when it was considered 

 to be a legitimate object to use was that of either a borough 

 or county election, cats and rotten eggs forming the material 

 with which the assault was conducted in the event of an 

 unpopular candidate for honours attempting to give his 

 political views to a depreciatory mob surrounding the 

 hustings. An anecdote is recorded in Grose's "Olio" of 

 Mr. Fox, who, in 1784, was a candidate for Westminster, 

 which goes far to show what dirty, degrading, disgusting 

 indignities the would-be '^peoples representative " had to 

 endure at that period, and with what good humour such 

 favours of popular appreciation, or otherwise, were received 1 



" During the poll, a dead cat being thrown on the 

 hustings, one of Sir Cecil Wray's party observed it stunk 

 worse than a fox ; to which ]\Ir. Fox replied there was 

 nothing extraordinary in that, considering it was a 'poll 

 cat.' " 



This is by no means the only ready and witty answer 

 that has been attributed to Mr. Fox, though not bearing on 

 the present subject. 



