98 The Book of Cats. 



there is a tradition extant of a serious conflict that 

 once took place between a man and a wild Cat. 

 The inhabitants say that the fight began in an 

 adjacent wood, and that the man and Cat fought 

 from thence to the porch of the church, where each 

 died of the wounds received. A rude painting in 

 the church commemorates the sanguinary event, 

 and the red colour of some of the stones are, of 

 course, said to be blood-stains, which all the soap 

 and water in the world could not remove. 



In the reign of Richard II. wild Cats were 

 reckoned among the beasts of the chase, and there 

 was an edict that no man should use more costly 

 apparel than that made of lambs' or Cats'-skins. 



In Egypt Cats were considered sacred to the 

 Goddess Bubastis, the Egyptian Diana. Her 

 priestesses were vowed to celibacy : they passed 

 a great portion of their time attending on the Cats 

 of the temple. Mrs. Loudon suggests that hence, 

 perhaps, may have arisen the idea that a fondness 

 for Cats is a sign of old maidlsm. 



Apollo created the lion to terrify his sister Diana, 

 and she turned his fearful beast into ridicule by 

 mimicking it in the form of a Cat. Cats were de- 

 dicated to Diana, not only when she bore her proper 

 name, but when she was called "Hecate." Witches 



