LOVERS OF CATS, 227 



sent up her name. She was admitted, and found him lolling 

 on a sofa, surrounded by twenty-seven cats of all ages. 



The following is from the Echo, respecting a lady well 

 known in her profession : " Miss Ellen Terry has a pas- 

 sionate fondness for cats. She will frolic for hours with her 

 feline pets, never tiring of studying their graceful gambols. 

 An author friend of mine told me of once reading a play 

 to her. During the reading she posed on an immense tiger- 

 skm, surrounded by a small army of cats. At first the 

 playful capers of the mistress and her pets were toned down 

 to suit the quiet situations of the play ; but as the reading 

 progressed, and the plot approached a climax, the antics of 

 the group became so vigorous and drolly excited that my 

 poor friend closed the MS. in despair, and abandoned him- 

 self to the unrestrained expression of his mirth, declaring 

 that if he could write a play to equal the fun of Miss Terry 

 and her cats, his fortune would be made." 



Cowper loved his pet hares, spaniel, and cat, and wrote 

 the well-known '' Cat retired from business." 



Gray wrote a poem on a cat drowned in a vase which 

 contained gold-fish. 



Cardinal Richelieu was a lover of the cat. 

 Montaigne had a favourite cat. 



Among painters, Gottfried Mind was not only fond of 

 cats, but was one of, if not the best at portraying them in 

 action ; and in England no one has surpassed Coudray in 

 delmeation, nor Miss Chaplin in perfection of modelling. 

 I am the fortunate possessor of several of her models in 

 terra cotta, which, though small, are beautiful in finish. Of 

 one. Miss Chaplin informed me, the details were scratched in 

 with a pin, for want of better and proper tools. 



Q 2 



