RENAISSANCE 79 



suades the disputants to approach within reach of 

 his murderous claws. Where /Esop treats Pussy 

 with some kindness, as in the fable of " The Cat 

 and the Fox," La Fontaine is at pains to insist that 

 this pair of pilgrims are pious frauds, arch-dissem- 

 blers, who compensate themselves with many a 

 strangled chicken and stolen cheese for the hard- 

 ships of their pilgrimage. He sums up feline char- 

 acteristics in the surpassing cynicism of the old 

 rat's scornful speech; "No benefit can win grati- 

 tude from a cat." 



And this defamer, we are bidden to believe, sings 

 Homerically of the race which he defames ? What 

 if his good humour be ever unimpaired, and if his 

 comfortable laugh reminds us now and then that 

 he, for his part, does not seriously object to such 

 amazing scampishness ? We who are forced to ob- 

 ject, — as living in a sternly moral age, — wish that 

 a little mercy, or even a little justice, had tempered 

 these gay calumnies which will outlive truth itself. 

 For so great is La Fontaine's charm, so felicitous 

 is every finely chosen phrase, that the beauty of 

 his verse wins permanence for his most scandalous 

 characterizations. He admits the seductive quali- 

 ties of the cat. Like the amorous young Greek of 

 the fable, he finds her 



" mignonne, et belle, et delicate," 

 inspiring foolish and excessive affection, to which 



