=T.HE CAT 



Antipathy 



Mathiolus tells us of a German who, coming in 

 winter time into an inn to sup with him and some 

 other of his friends, the woman of the house, being 

 acquainted with his temper (lest he should depart 

 at sight of a young cat which she kept to breed 

 up), had beforehand hid her kitling in a chest, in 

 the room where the company sat at supper. But 

 though the German had neither seen nor heard the 

 little animal, yet after some time that he had sucked 

 in the air infected by its breath, that quality of 

 his temperament which had antipathy unto cats 

 became sorely disturbed. He began to sweat, and 

 of a sudden to grow pale; and, to the wonder of 

 all who were present, he cried out in an anguished 

 voice that in some corner of the room there was a 

 cat lay hid. 



Wonders of the Little World, 1678, 

 Nathaniel Wanley. 



52 



