7 8 THE FIRESIDE SPHINX 



If Moncrif be the first genuine chronicler, the 

 Froissart of cats, La Fontaine, says M. Feuillet de 

 Conches, is their Homer. " He painted them, as 

 he studied them, under all aspects, and with a mas- 

 ter's skill." But that he painted them unkindly is 

 too evident for denial. He borrowed Rodilardus 

 from Rabelais, and turned that feline Samson into 

 a cruel and insatiable tyrant, 



" L'Attila, le fleau des rats," 



who wages day and night a relentless war of ex- 

 termination. 



" Et Rodilard passoit, chez la gent miserable, 

 Non pour un chat, mais pour un diable." 



This "Alexander of cats" is as brave as he is 

 merciless, — cowardice has never been a cattish 

 trait, — but he is as false and malicious as he is 

 brave. He sows the seeds of dissension between 

 other animals, and laughs in his sleeve at their stu- 

 pidity. He refuses pity to the mouseling in these 

 terrible words, " Cats know not how to pardon." 

 He is a prince of hypocrites, and, like the hermit 

 of the Ganges, affects piety, and the spirit of uni- 

 versal brotherhood. When the foolish young rab- 

 bit quarrels with the weasel, she consents to abide 

 by the just decision of Raminagrobis, a saintly puss 

 of ascetic habits and incorruptible morals ; a "chate- 

 mite," who, sighing that he is old and deaf, per- 



