12 



THE BOOK OF THE CAT. 



fully comprehensive work on the Cat, and has 

 used the maligned feline as his type for an in- 

 troduction to the study of back-boned animals. 

 It is he who remarks : " We cannot, without 

 becoming cats, perfectly understand the cat 

 mind." 



Perhaps the unkindest picture given to us 

 of a cat is from the pen of the naturalist 

 Buffon. " The cat " (says this unsympathetic 

 student) " is an unfaithful animal, kept only 

 from necessity in order to suppress a less 

 domestic and more unpleasant one, and 



THE CAT IN HERALDRY. 

 (From Frank's Collection of Book Plates.) 



although these animals are pretty creatures, 

 especially when they are young, they have a 

 treacherous and perverse disposition, which 

 increases with age, and is only disguised by 

 training. They are inveterate thieves ; only 

 when they are well brought up they become as 

 cunning and flattering as human rascals." 



Chateaubriand, referring to these scathing 

 remarks, says: " Buffon has belied this animal. 

 I am labouring at her rehabilitation, and hope 

 to make her appear a tolerably good sort of 

 beast." 



A charming reference to the ways of cats 

 occurs in a curious and interesting book by a 



THE PRINTER'S MARK OF MELCHIOR SESSA, 

 OF VENICE. 



(From a Print at the British Museum.) 



once famous Jesuit, Father Bougeant, who 

 lived in the first half of the eighteenth century. 

 There is an English translation of this work, 

 which has passed also into other languages and 

 several editions. This is the passage trans- 

 lated : 



" Such is one of those big-whiskered and well- 

 furred torn cats, that you see quiet in a corner, 

 digesting at his leisure, sleeping if it seems good 

 to him, sometimes giving himself the pleasure of 

 hunting, for the rest enjoying life peaceably, 

 without being troubled by the events which agitate 

 us, without tiring his mind by a thousand useless 

 reflections, and little caring to communicate 

 his thoughts to others. Truly it needs only that 

 a female cat (une chatte) come on the scene to 



A MERCHANT S MARK. 

 (From a Print at the British Museum.) 



