166 THE FIRESIDE SPHINX 



by worrying a dog, to the huge delight of Sir Walter 

 Scott ; yet who, combining courtesy with valour, 

 was wont to awaken her mistress when she lay late 

 abed, by very gently placing one paw " with its 

 glove on " upon the closed lids. Perhaps this peer- 

 less creature was also, in the main, a kitchen cat, 

 Miss Baillie having strict views of her own as to 

 the nature of feline duties. 



" Still be thou deemed by housewife fat, 

 A comely, careful, mousing cat, 

 Whose dish is, for the public good, 

 Replenished oft with savoury food ; " 



is the sober future she holds out to the kitten sport- 

 ing by the fire, — the tiny comedian whose irrespon- 

 sible gaye*ty beguiled her heart, and prompted some 

 of her prettiest lines. 



" Backwards coiled, and crouching low, 

 With glaring eye-balls watch thy foe, 

 The housewife's spindle whirling round, 

 Or thread or straw, that on the ground 

 Its shadow throws, by urchin sly 

 Held out to lure thy roving eye ; 

 Then, onward stealing, fiercely spring 

 Upon the futile, faithless thing. 

 Now, wheeling round with bootless skill, 

 Thy bo-peep tail provokes thee still, 

 And oft, beyond thy curving side, 

 Its jetty tip is seen to glide. 



The nimblest tumbler, stage-bedight, 

 To thee is but a clumsy wight, 



