102 THE FIRESIDE SPHINX 



" The cat, with eyne of burning coal, 

 Now couches 'fore the mouse's hole." 



How keenly descriptive of the struggle we Have all 

 of us witnessed between Pussy's caution and cupid- 

 ity, is Lady Macbeth's scornful jibe : — 



" Letting I dare not wait upon I would. 

 Like the poor cat i' the adage." 



Yet in all this there is no touch of kindness ; and 

 when we go further, we fare worse. 



" Every cat and dog, 

 And little mouse, every unworthy thing," 



moans Romeo, who ought to have been ashamed of 

 such a speech, even in the extremity of his anguish. 



" Creatures vile, as cats and dogs, 

 Of no esteem ; " 



says Cornelius in " Cymbeline." 



" Hang off, thou cat, thou burr : vile thing, let loose ! " 



cries Lysander to poor Hermia ; and Bertram, in 

 " All 's Well that Ends Well," must needs air his 

 unwelcome views. 



" I could endure anything before but a cat, and now he 's a cat 

 to me : " 



is the angry word he flings at ParoUes ; and, as his 

 resentment flames hotter and hotter, he can appar- 

 ently find no more stinging reproach : — 



" He is more and more a cat." 

 " He 's a cat still." 



