THE DARK AGES 21 



bring back the cat. Long before Peter the Hermit 

 preached to the loyal sons of Christendom,, Pussy 

 slept by English firesides, and was held in high 

 esteem in English nunneries, alike for her gentle- 

 ness and valour. A canon enacted in 1127 forbade 

 all nuns, even abbesses, to wear any costlier skins 

 than those of lambs and cats ; and the " Ancren 

 Riwle" of 1205 denied them possession of flocks, 

 cattle, swine, or other domestic animals, save only 

 the cat. " Ye, my dear sisters, shall have no beast 

 but a cat," says this excellent ordinance; — "no 

 best bute kat ane," is the old Saxon manuscript. 

 " An Anchoress that hath herds seemeth a better 

 housewife (as was Martha) than an Anchoress, and 

 in no wise may she be Mary with peacefulness of 

 - heart." 



To have sheep in the fold, cows in the barn, 

 mules in the stable, was to sin against holy Poverty, 

 — Our Lady Poverty, mother of all monastic virtues ; 

 but the cat stood for no such excess of indulgence. 

 Her value was small, but her services were great. 

 She gave to convents chill and bare that look of 

 home, that sweet suggestion of domesticity, which 

 all women, even cloistered, women, love ; she played 

 with her kittens in the sun, affording a welcome 

 distraction from work and prayer ; and she held 

 herself ever in joyful readiness to 



" Combat with the creeping Mouse, 

 And scratch the screeking Rat." 



