l6 The Book of Cats. 



on his tail, he expresses for a moment the uneasi- 

 ness of his feehngs, but in a moment the complaint 

 is ended : he runs round you, jumps up against you, 

 seems to declare his sorrow for complaining, as it 

 was not intentionally done, — nay, to make himself 

 the aggressor, and begs, by whinings and lickings, 

 that the master will think of it no more." No sen- 

 timents could be more popular with some gentle- 

 men. In the same way there are those who would 

 like to beat their wives, and for them to come and 

 kiss the hand that struck them in all humility. It 

 is not only when hurt by accident that the dog 

 comes whining round its master. The lashed hound 

 crawls back and licks the boot that kicked him, and 

 so makes friends again. Pussy will not do that 

 though. If you want to be friendly with a cat on 

 Tuesday, you must not kick him on Monday. You 

 must not fondle him one moment and illtreat him 

 the next, or he will be shy of your advances. This 

 really human way of behaving makes Pussy un- 

 popular. 



I am afraid that if it were to occur to one of our 

 legislators to tax the Cats, the feline slaughter 

 would be fearful. Every one is fond of dogs, and 

 yet Mr. Edmund Yates, travelling by water to 

 Greenwich last June, said that the journey was 



