THE CAT OF ALBION 87 



dom that a flattering or grateful word is spoken. 

 No pretty compliments here ; no charming allusions 

 to her beauty and distinction, as in those flowers 

 of Gallic verse. Chaucer, indeed, aptly compares 

 Pussy, snug and sleek in her soft fur, to a beneficed 

 Canon ; but Chaucer had no place in his heart for 

 cats. Perhaps his passionate love for birds preju- 

 diced him against their destroyer ; perhaps his 

 frankly masculine temperament debarred him from 

 sympathy with a creature so subtle and seductive. 

 He reproaches her bitterly because her passion for 

 the chase exceeds all other passions in her breast ; 

 and this is a just arraignment, for the cat which is, 

 by courtesy, called domestic, is as pure a" beast of 

 prey as its wild cousin of the woods and mountains. 

 He also recognizes her beauty, but with a grudging 

 slur, — the slur which masculinity has, during all 

 ages, delighted to cast upon femininity ; and in 

 which femininity has, during all ages, failed to feel 

 the sting. 



" For whoso wolde senge a catt^s skyn, 

 Thenne wolde the cat wel dwellen in hir in; 

 And if the cattfes skyn be slyk and gay, 

 She wol nat dwelle in hous^ half a day. 

 But forth she wo], er any day be dawed, 

 To shewe hir skyn, and goon a-caterwawed." 



It may be remembered that John Bossewell, honest 

 man, assigns the same trait to the male cat, — 



