104 CASSELL'S POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY. 



formed l>v Katterfelto and his cats. We have 110 account of the particular uses to wliich he turned 

 his feline familiars; it is not unlikely thai he employed them in accordance with the notions which still 

 prevailed as svmUi'ls of supernatural power. His long, thin person was comnioiily enveloped in iv 

 tawdry, old-fashioned green gown, while his head was covered with a square velvet cap. His appearance 

 was provocative of mirth, which much that he said was intended to sustain ; but instruction was con- 

 veyed by means of chemical, magnetic, and electrical experiments, on which he amusingly expatiated. 

 Mueli that was true, as well as new, might have been borne away from Katterfelto's van. 



Cats have often been regarded " as the chosen allies of womankind." Mr. Broderip, who wrote 

 in 1847 savs : "A friend, not less noted for his scientific labours than his fund of anecdotes, tells us 

 that some twenty-five or (by'r Lady) thirty years ago, a tortoise-shell Tom-cat was exhibited in Pic- 

 cadilly, where the Liverpool Museum was afterwards shown " subsequently transferred to the well- 

 known Egyptian Hall "and where dowagers and spinsters thronged to his levee, as was recorded iu 

 the caricatures of the day. One hundred guineas, says our philosophical friend of many tales, was the 

 price asked ; and I saw many a longing, lingering, coronetted coach at the door of the exhibition- 

 room !" 



A cat mania is a singular thing ; yet it existed in Mrs. Grigga, of Southampton Row, who died 

 on the 16th of January, 1792. Her executors found in her house eighty-six living and twenty-eight 

 dead cats! Their owner, who died worth 30,000, left her black servant 150 per annum for the 

 maintenance of the surviving cats and himself. Pope records an instance of a famous Duchess of 

 R : , who bequeathed considerable legacies and annuities to her cats. In the Mercure Galante there 

 may be found a record of a famous law suit, relating to a cat of Madame de Puis, a celebrated per- 

 former on the harp. This lady's will, in favour of her cat, made a great noise at the "time. It settled 

 a large pension upon her, and directed that so many visits should be paid her every week. In the 

 .suit carried on to set the will aside, MM. Weaurier and Vautier, celebrated lawyers, were engaged 

 to sustain it, while M. de Ferriere, equally famous, was retained on the opposite interest. 



But if, of the gentler sex, there are those "who cradle the blind offspring of their Selirnas, and 

 adorn the pensive mother's neck with coral beads," some also of the remarkable among our sterner race 

 have shown an extraordinary fondness for these luxurious quadrupeds. Mohammed, for instance, hail 

 a cat to which he was so much attached, that he preferred cutting off the sleeve of his garment to 

 disturbing her repose when she had fallen asleep upon it. Petrarch was so fond of his cat, that he had 

 it embalmed after death, and placed in a niche in liis apartment. Dr. Johnson had a feline favourite, 

 and when it was ill, declining its usual food, but greedily seizing an oyster when it was offered, he was 

 accustomed to bring home for her daily some of these tempting molluscs. Mr. Peter King, who died 

 at Islington, in 1806, had two. Tom cats, that used to be set up at table with him at his meals; and 

 as he was a great admirer of fine clothes richly laced, he thought his cats might like them too. The 

 grimalkins were accordingly measured, and wore rich liveries until death. 



A very remarkable man, Gottfried Mind, who died at Berne, November 8th, 1814, had also an 

 extraordinary fondness for cats. He and they were, indeed, inseparable. Minette, his favourite, was 

 always near him when at work ; and he seemed, by gestures and words, to carry on a conversation with 

 her. Sometimes she occupied his lap, while two or three kittens were perched on each shoulder, or 

 reposed in the hollow formed at the back of his neck, while sitting in a stooping posture at the table. 

 Mind would remain in this posture for hours together, for fear of disturbing the companions of his 

 solitude, whose complacent purring seemed an ample compensation for any inconvenience. Not at 

 any time what is called "a good-humoured man," he was particularly surly if disturbed by visitors 

 when thus situated. 



Placed in early life under the care of Frudeuberger, a clever artist, he became a painter of bears ; 

 and his drawings of his favourite animals were so admirable, that he acquired the title of the " Raphael 

 of Cato." No artist before him had ever succeeded in representing, with so much of nature and spirit, 

 the mingled humility and fiereeiiess, suavity ami cunning, which the appearance of these animals pre- 

 sents, or the grace of their various postures in artion and repose. Kittens he particularly delighted to 

 ivpre-eiit. He Varied, BO far ae possible, their tine attitudes whilst at play around the mother, and 

 exhibited their gambols witli inimitable effect. Each of his cats, too, had an individual character and 

 expression, and wa. , in fact, a portrait, which seemed animalvd ; the very fur appeared so soft and 



