234 HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. 



high: it was likewise required, that it should be 

 perfect in its senses of hearing and seeing, should 

 be a good mouser, have its claws whole, and if a 

 female, be a careful nurse: if it failed in any of 

 these good qualities, the seller was to forfeit to the 

 buyer the third part of its value. If any one should 

 steal or kill the Cat that guarded the Prince's 

 granary, he was either to forfeit a milk ewe, her 

 fleece and lamb, or as much wheat as, when poured 

 on the Cat suspended by its tail (its head touching 

 the floor), would form a heap high enough to cover 

 the tip of the former. Hence we may conclude 

 that Cats were not originally natives of these 

 islands; and from the great care taken to improve 

 and preserve the breed of this prolific creature, we 

 may suppose, were but little known at that period. 

 Whatever credit we may allow to the circumstances 

 of the well-known story of Whittington and his 

 Cat, it is another proof of the great value set upon 

 this animal in former times. 



