=THE CAT 



The Ratcatcher and Cats 



The rats by night such mischief did, 



Betty was every morning chid. 



They undermined whole sides of bacon, 



Her cheese was sapped, her tarts were taken; 



Her pasties, fenced with thickest paste, 



Were all demolished and laid waste. 



She cursed the Cat for want of duty, 



Who left her foes a constant booty. 



An engineer of noted skill 

 Engaged to stop the growing ill; 

 From room to room he now surveys 

 Their haunts, their works, their secret ways ; 

 Finds where they scape an ambuscade, 

 And whence the nightly sally's made. 

 An envious Cat from place to place, 

 Unseen, attends his silent pace. 

 She saw that, if his trade went on, 

 The purring race must be undone ; 

 So secretly removes his baits, 

 And every stratagem defeats. 



Again he sets the poisoned toils, 

 And Puss again the labour foils. 

 " What foe (to frustrate my designs) 

 My schemes thus nightly countermines ? " 

 Incensed he cries ; " this very hour 

 The wretch shall bleed beneath my power." 

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