92 The Book of Cats. 



ologies ; and, in those days, there was one particular 

 sort of lecture, which might be roughly described 

 as hard words and an explosion, with which the 

 frequenter of all institutes was perfectly familiar ; 

 and you may remember, too, how we did not so 

 much care about the words, but thought that the 

 stuff out of the bottle, that went off with a bang, 

 was the best fun out. Carried away by the popu- 

 larity of these oratorical and chemical displays, the 

 heads of schools were wont to encourage lecturing 

 on a small scale among their pupils, only suppres- 

 sing the explosive part of the entertainment as too 

 dangerous ; and young gentlemen told other young 

 gentlemen what they knew rather better than the 

 young gentlemen telling them respecting the ology 

 of which they treated. 



In like fashion, I am afraid I may be only telling 

 you what you know already, or what you might 

 have known, but have not cared about learning. 

 The fact is, all that this chapter contains is to be 

 elsewhere found at greater length. I have no new 

 theories of my own upon the subject, and, indeed, 

 would not presume to argue the question of the 

 domestic Cat's origin with those who have so ably 

 treated the subject in books long since written. To 

 tell the truth, I was not myself very much inte- 



