THE CAT 



The Colubriad 



Close by the threshold of a door nail'd fast 



Three kittens sat; each kitten looked aghast. 



I, passing swift and inattentive by, 



At the three kittens cast a careless eye ; 



Not much concerned to know what they did there, 



Nor deeming kittens worth a poet's care. 



But presently a loud and furious hiss 



Caus'd me to stop, and to exclaim, " What's this ? " 



When lo ! upon the threshold met my view, 



With head erect, and eyes of fiery hue, 



A viper, long as Count de Grasse's queue. 



Forth from his head his forked tongue he throws, 



Darting it full against a kitten's nose; 



Who, never having seen in field or house 



The like, sat still and silent as a mouse ; 



Only projecting, with attention due, 



Her whisker'd face, she asked him, " Who are you ? 



On to the hall I went, with pace not slow, 



But swift as lightning, for a long Dutch hoe: 



With which well arm'd, I hastened to the spot, 



To find the viper, — but I saw him not. 



And, turning up the leaves and shrubs around, 



Found only that he was not to be found. 



But still the kittens, sitting as before, 



Sat watching close the bottom of the door. 



" I hope," said I, " the villain I would kill 



Has slipt between the door and the door-sill, 



154 



