albeit an old one, will very well bear idling again. Perliape, 

 indeed, the secret of its freshness lies in the seasoning — like 

 many another dish. 



The legend runs thus : — In a certain monastery, in which 

 a cat was kept, the cook, one day, on laying the dinner, fonnd 

 one of the holy inmate's portions of meat missing, although 

 he thought he had cooked the proper quantity ; still the good 

 man was willing to believe he had miscalculated, and, without 

 making any ado about it, supplied the deficient dinner. Next 

 day, however, the same thing happened again — another monk's 

 meat was gone. The cook began now to suspect treachery, 

 and resolved to watch. On the third day he took particular 

 care iu apportioning the dinners, which were cooked, and 

 about to be served up, when he heard a ring of the gate-bell, and 

 hastened out to answer it. On his return, he discovered one 

 of the dinners was gone ; but how, or by whom, it was taken 

 he could not imagine. He determined to discover the thief, 

 and next day took the utmost precaution in seeing that the 

 vumber of dinners was quite correct. When all was ready to 

 dish up, the bell rang again. This time, however, he did not 

 go to the gate, but only just outside the kitchen, and, peeping 

 through the door, he saw the cat jump through -the window 

 and, seizing a piece of the meat, make his exit from the same 

 way as rapidly as he entered. So far the mystery was solved ; 

 but who rang the bell ? The next day the vigilant cook found 

 that this part of the performance was also played by the 

 ingenious feUs domesticus, whose mocl/us opercmdA was first to 

 jump at the bell-rope and pull it with its paw, then, watching 

 the cook out of the kitchen, to swiftly spring through the 

 window, seize the meat, and then, as swiftly, out again. 



The cook told the story of the feline thief to the monks, 

 and those holy brethren, in full conclave assembled, after 

 hearing the evidence, came to the resolution that the cat 

 should enjoy uninterrupted the fruits of its predatory art so 

 long as it chose to practise it ; and that the wondrous tale 

 should be published abroad. The result of this decision was 

 thai tor a considerable time visitors continually poured to the 

 monastery, and were, for a small fee, admitted to witness the 

 excellent comedy, which paid for the extra rations of the 

 cat, and put a little money into the pockets of the monks as 

 well. 



It is a curious fact that in countries liable to earthquakes 

 the cat is able to predict the coming event ; and a very singular 



