THE CA^ 



A Letter of Condolence 



As one ought to be particularly careful to avoid 

 blunders in a compliment of condolence, it would 

 be a sensible satisfaction to me (before I testify 

 my sorrow, and the sincere part I take in your 

 misfortune) to know for certain who it is I lament. 

 I knew Zara and Selima (Selima was it, or 

 Fatima?), or rather I knew them both together; 

 for I cannot justly say which was which. Then 

 as to your handsome Cat, the name you distinguish 

 her by, I am no less at a loss, as well knowing one's 

 handsome cat is always the cat one likes best ; or if 

 one be alive and the other dead, it is usually the 

 latter that is the handsomest. Besides, if the point 

 were never so clear, I hope you do not think me 

 so ill-bred or so imprudent as to forfeit all my 

 interest in the survivor. Oh, no ! I would rather 

 seem to mistake, and imagine to be sure it must be 

 the tabby one that has met with this sad accident. 

 ... I feel (as you have done long since) that I 

 have very little to say, at least in prose. Some- 

 body will be the better for it; I do not mean you, 

 but your Cat, feue Mademoiselle Selime, whom I 

 am about to immortalize for one week or fortnight. 



Thomas Gray to Horace Walpole. 



157 



