THE CAT TO-DAY 283 



Shone and sprang your mother, free 

 Bright and brave as wind or sea. 



" Free and proud and glad as they, 

 Here to-day 

 Rests or roams their radiant child, 

 Vanquished not, but reconciled ; 

 Free from curb of aught above, 

 Save the lovely curb of love. 



" Dogs may fawn on all and some. 

 As they come : 

 You, a friend of loftier mind, 

 Answer friends alone in kind. 

 Just your foot upon my hand 

 Softly bids it understand." 



For arrogance of spirit this is unsurpassed, even 

 in Saxon verse. Poets are never weary of comparing 

 the dog and the cat, and censuring one or the other 

 for not possessing its rival's traits ; but contrast 

 Mr. Swinburne's sublime assurance with the diffi- 

 dence of M. Lemaitre, who recognizes in his cat — 

 the host of his quiet house — an exquisite mingling 

 of irony and benignity, of attachment and contempt. 



" Tu n'as jamais connu, philosophe, et vieux frere, 

 La fidelite sotte et bruyante du chien ; 

 Tu m'aimes cependant, et mon coeur le sent bien ; 

 Ton amour clairvoyant et peut-Stre ^phemere 

 Me plait ; et je salue en toi, calme penseur, 

 Deux exquises vertues ; scepticisme et douceur." 



This is the Latin point of view, and sufficiently 

 explains the love of a Frenchman for his cat. He 



