2IO HERALDRY, ETC. 



Again, John Philips, in the latter part of the seventeenth 

 century, in his poem of *' The Splendid Shilling," referring 

 to debtors, writes : 



Grimalkin to Domestick Vermin sworn 

 An everlasting Foe, with watchful Eye 

 Lies nightly brooding o'er a chinky Gap 

 Protending her fell Claws, to thoughtless Mice 

 Sure Ruin. 



HERALDRY, etc. 



A CAT (hieroglyphically) represents false friendship, or a 

 deceitful, flattering friend. 



The cat (in heraldry) is an emblem of liberty, because it 

 naturally dislikes to be shut up, and therefore the Bur- 

 gundians, etc., bore a cat on their banners to intimate they 

 could not endure servitude. 



" It is a bold and daring creature and also cruel to its 

 enemy, and never gives over till it has destroyed it, if 

 possible. It is also watchful, dexterous, swift, pliable, and 

 has good nerves — thus, if it falls from a place never so high, 

 it still alights on its feet ; and therefore may denote those 

 who have much forethought, that whatsoever befalls them 

 they are still on their guard." 



'*In coat armour they must always be represented as 

 full-faced, and not showing one side of it, but both their 

 eyes and both their ears. Argefit three cats in pale sable is 

 the coat of the family of Keat of Devonshire." 



Many families have adopted the cat as their emblem. 

 In "Cats, Past and Present," several are noted. In Scotland, 

 the Clan Chattan bore as their chief cognizance the wild cat, 

 and called their chief "Mohr au Chat," the great wild 

 cat. Nor is the name uncommon as an English surname, 

 frequently appearing as Cat, Catt, Catte; but the most 

 strange association of the name with the calling was one I 

 knew in my old sporting days of a gaffiekeeper whose name 

 was Cat. 



