146 THE FIRESIDE SPHINX 



persuade Mr. Bickerstaff that they could turn water 

 into wine by merely adding to it a few drops of 

 some mysterious elixir. He asked to see and taste 

 this potent drug, and then — forgetful of friend- 

 ship and unworthy of confidence — ventured upon 

 a most unpardonable experiment. 



"My Cat at this Time sat by me on the Elbow 

 of my Chair ; and, as I did not care to make the 

 Trial myself, I reached it to her to sip of it, which 

 had like to cost her her Life. For notwithstanding 

 that it flung her at first into freakish Tricks, quite 

 contrary to her usual Gravity, in less than a Quarter 

 of an Hour she fell into Convulsions ; and, had she 

 not been a Creature more tenacious of Life than 

 any other, she would certainly have died under the 

 Operation. 



" I was so incensed by the Tortures of my inno- 

 cent Domestick, and by the wicked dealings of these 

 Men, that I told them if each of them had as many 

 Lives as the injured Creature before us, they de- 

 served to forfeit them for the pernicious Arts which 

 they used for their Profit." 



After all, who gave the cat the poisonous stuff ? 

 Steele's virtuous indignation at the consequence of 

 his own act must have amused Dr. Johnson, who 

 bade Miss Susan Thrale read Bickerstaff's account 

 of his pet. It was not in such fashion that the 

 great scholar cherished his own cats. When we 



