38 The Book of Cats. 



opinion the cat " is a useful but deceitful domestic. 

 Although when young it is playful and gay, it pos- 

 sesses at the same time an innate malice and 

 perverse disposition, which increases as it grows up, 

 and which education learns it to conceal, but never 

 to subdue. Constantly bent upon theft and rapine, 

 though in a domestic state, it is full of cunning 

 and dissimulation : it conceals all its designs, seizes 

 every opportunity of doing mischief, and then flies 

 from punishment. It easily takes on the habits of 

 society, but never its manners ; for it has only the 

 appearance of friendship and attachment. This 

 disingenuity of character is betrayed by the ob- 

 liquity of its movements and the ambiguity of its 

 looks. In a word, the Cat is totally destitute of 

 friendship." 



. Here, I think, are some pretty sentiments and 

 some valuable information about the Cat-kind. Let 

 us hope that the other contributors to the Encyclo- 

 paedia knew something more of what they wrote 

 about than the gentleman above quoted. And 

 these opinions are not uncommon ; for instance, 

 allow me to quote from an article in a popular mis- 

 cellany : — 



" No ! I cannot abide Cats," says the writer. 

 '* Pet Cats, wild Cats, Tom Cats, gib Cats, Persian 



