Concerning Some Historic Cats 



the human race. I was perfectly well able to dis- 

 tinguish between these little faces, as black as Harle- 

 quin's mask, and lighted up by disks of emerald with 

 golden gleams. Enjolras, who was much the hand- 

 somest of the three, was remarkable for his broad, 

 leonine head and full whiskers, strong shoulders, and 

 a superb feathery tail. There was something theat- 

 rical and pretentious in his air, hke the posing of a 

 popular actor. His movements were slow, undula- 

 tory, and majestic : so circumspect was he about 

 where he set his feet down that he always seemed to 

 be walking among glass and china. His disposition 

 was by no means stoical, and he was much too fond 

 of food to have been approved of by his namesake. 

 The temperate and austere Enjolras would certainly 

 have said to him, as the angel said to Swedenborg, 

 ' You eat too much.' I encouraged his gastronomical 

 tastes, and Enjolras attained a very unusual size and 

 weight. 



"Gavroche was a remarkably knowing cat, and 

 looked it. He was wonderfully active, and his twists, 

 twirls, and tumbles were very comic. He was of a 

 Bohemian temperament, and fond of low company. 

 Thus he would occasionally compromise the dignity 

 of his descent from the illustrious Don-Pierrot-de- 

 Navarre, grandee of Spain of the iirst class, and the 

 Marquesa Dona Seraphita, of aristocratic and disdain- 

 ful bearing. He would sometimes return from his ex- 

 peditions to the street, accompanied by gaunt, starved 



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