SS2 
CAT. 
laws of Hfcwel, the price of a kitten, before it 
could see was to be a penny ; till it caught a 
mouse,, two-pence ; and, when it commenced 
mouser, four-pence ; it was required, besides, 
that it should be perfect in its senses of hearing 
and seeing, he a good monger, have the claws 
■whole, and be a good nurse. 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 the tail, (the head touching the floor) 
would form a head high enough to cover the tip 
of the former. From hence we discover, besides 
a picture of the simplicity of the times, a strong 
argument that cats w ere not naturally bred in our 
forests. An animal that could be so easily taken, 
could never have been rated so highly ; and the 
precautions laid down to improve the breed, would 
have been superfluous, in a creature that multiplies 
to such an amazing degree. 
In our climate, we know hut of one variety 
of the wild cat ; and, from the accounts of tra- 
vellers, we learn, that there are but very few 
differences in this quadruped in all parts of the 
world. The greatest difference, indeed, between 
the wild and the tame cat, is rather to be found 
internally than in their outward form. Of all 
other quadrupeds, the wild cat is, perhaps, that 
whose intestines are proportionably the smallest 
ard the shortest. The intestines of the sheep, for 
instance, unravelled out, and measured according 
to their length, will be found to be above thirty 
times the length of its body ; whereas the wild 
cat's intestines, being measured out, will not be 
found above three times the length of its body. 
This is a surprising difference ; but we may ae- 
