DOMESTIC CAT. Class I. 



Our ancestors seem to have had a high sense 

 Of the utility of this animal. That excellent 

 Prince ' H&wel dda, or Howel the Good, did not 

 think it beneath him (among his laws relating to 

 the prices, &c. of animals,*) to include that of 

 the cat, and to describe the qualities it ought 

 to have. The price of a kitling before it could 

 see, was to be a penny ; till it caught a mouse 

 two-pence; when it commenced mouser four- 

 pence. It was required besides, that it should 

 be perfect in its senses of hearing and seeing, 

 be a good mouser, have the claws whole, and be 

 a good nurse ; but if it failed in any of these 

 qualities, the seller was to forfeit to the buyer 

 the third part of its value. If any one stole or 

 killed the cat that guarded the Prince's granary, 

 he was to forfeit a milch ewe, its fleece and 

 lamb ; or as much wheat as when poured on the 

 cat suspended by its tail (the head touching the 

 floor) would form a heap high enough to cover 

 the tip of the former. -f This last quotation is 



that substance or camphorated spirits were thrown on the floor, 

 the animal would roll itself thereon in the greatest ecstacy, and 

 would also lick a small portion in powder from the palm of the 

 hand. Its offspring did not inherit the same taste. Ed. 



* Leges Wallicce, p. 247, 248. 



f Sir Ed. Coke in his reports, mentions the same kind of 

 punishment antiently for killing a swan, by suspending it by the 

 bill, &c. Vide, Case des Swannes. 



