156 THE FIRESIDE SPHINX 



That sound scholar and true lover of animals, 

 Archbishop Whately, he who " ignored metaphysics 

 and minimized theology," was wont to say that only 

 one English noun had a true vocative case. " Nomi- 

 native, cat. Vocative, Puss." And it is a happy cir- 

 cumstance which gives us this soft and pretty appel- 

 lation, this endearing diminutive, so well suited to 

 the little animal it summons. The French are less 

 fortunate, and all their loving efforts to provide the 

 cat with a permanent vocative serve only to show 

 the greater fitness and sweetness of the English 

 word ; in frank recognition of which superiority, 

 M. Taine drops Moumoutte and Mimi, and fits 

 " Puss " prettily into his loving tribute of verse. 



" Le plaisir, comme il vient ; la douleur, s'il le faut, 

 Puss, vous acceptez tout, et le soleil li-haut, 

 Quand il finit son tour dans I'immensite bleue, 

 Vous voit, coucb^e en circle, au soir comme au matin, 

 Heureuse sans effort, rdsign^e au destin, 

 Lisser nonchalamment les poils de votre queue." 



We could ill spare this ancient patronymic, since 

 a somewhat ponderous Saxon humour is wont to 

 wax sportive over the naming of cats. Instead 

 of studying simplicity, as in Hodge and Hinse, or 

 grace, as in Selima and Fatima, — on such points 

 Walpole could not go astray, — we find too often 

 either sheer stupidity, like Canon Liddon's Tweedle- 

 dum and Tweedledee, or the fantastic foolishness 



