DISPOSITIONS OF CATS. 



101 



accustomed to be served first, she was jealous of the preference shown to the stranger, and revenged 

 herself by thus flawing and wounding her master's unfortunate visage. Whether or not he now took 

 his revenge, there is no account. 



" Cats," says Mr. Jesse, " have been known to do their best to protect the property of their masters, 

 as well as dogs. A man who was sentenced to transportation for a 

 robbery, informed me, after his conviction, that he and two others 

 broke into the house of a gentleman near Hampton Court. While 

 they were in the act of plundering it, a large black cat flew at one 

 of the robbers, and fixed her claws on each side of his face. He 

 added that he never saw a man so much frightened in his life." 



Citizen Martin, of Lyons, in an authentic report to the Athentcum 

 of that city, gives the following official narrative : " On the 22nd 

 of Mesidor, at eight o'clock in the evening, I was called in by the 

 justice of the peace, to make a report of a murder committed on the 

 person of a woman named Pen-it. Having obeyed his summons, I 

 repaired with him to the habitation of the deceased, where I found on 

 the floor the body of a young woman extended lifeless, and weltering in her blood. A spaniel lay at 

 her feet, licking them from time to time, and uttering piteous moans. At sight of us he rose, did not 

 bark, came up to us, and then returned to his mistress. A large white eat, likewise, attracted my 



TEETH OF FELIS PLANICEPS. 



THE WILD CAT OF CAFFRAKIA. 



attention ; he was mounted on the cornice of a cupboard, at the further end of the apartment, where 

 probably he had taken refuge at the moment of the assassination. There, sitting motionless, he had 

 liis eyes fixed on the dead body, his attitude and his looks expressing horror and affright. 



" After slight examination, I retired, having promised to the justice of the peace I would return 

 at ten o'clock the next morning with one of the brethren of the faculty, to open the dead body in his 

 presence, and before the eyes of the persons who were accused of the murder. Accordingly, the next 

 day I returned to the spot in pursuance of iny promise. The first object that caught the eye of Dr. 

 Martin, who accompanied me, was that same cat which I had observed on the preceding evening ; he 

 still continued in his former station, in the same attitude, and his looks had acquired so strong an 

 expression of horror and rage, as to inspire niy colleague with fear that the animal was mad. The 

 .!|>.n Unent was soon filled with the officers of justice and the firmed force, but neither the clattering 

 of the soldiers' anus, nor the noise occasioned by the loud and animated conversation of the compuiiVi 

 could divert the attention of the cat, or produce any change in his menacing attitude. 



