THE CAT TRIUMPHANT 175 



to be charmed by her gentler moods, to admire her 

 beauty, to appreciate her intelligence, and to love 

 her steadfastly without being loved in return, — 

 these things are not often possible to the Anglo- 

 Saxon nature. It is an upright nature, but iron- 

 bound and exacting. It is wont to overrate the 

 virtues it possesses, and to underrate those to which 

 it lays no claim. It prizes the frank fidelity of the 

 dog, it mistrusts the suavity and subtlety of the 

 cat ; but then, as the cat remarks to the dog in 

 Mr. Froude's "Pilgrimage," "There may be truth 

 in what you say, but I think your view is limited." 

 It is at least worthy of note that the Englishman 

 who so deeply offended his country-people by his 

 admiration for French traits and French literature, 

 embodied the one, and rivalled the other, in the 

 few admirable lines that immortalize his cat. Mr. 

 Arnold's Atossa is no "comely, careful" mouser, 

 no guileless kitling, innocent of sin. She is a red- 

 handed murderess, whose blandishments win easy 

 pardon for her crimes. His letters prove the affec- 

 tion he felt for her ; his poetry proves the clearness 

 with which he saw the depths of her misdoing. 

 He cheerfully fills page after page of his corre- 

 spondence with minute descriptions of her behaviour 

 by night and day, winding up with the heartfelt 

 assurance ; " She is a most interesting cat, and we 

 get fonder and fonder of her all the time." 



