584 
From the Port felio of a Man of Letters. 
Jan. 1,] 
Extras from the Port-folio of a Man of Letters. 
Se 
The following ANECDOTE of a CAT is ex- 
tracted from a Report lately made to the 
ATHENEUM of LYONS by Citizen MAR- 
TIN, a Phyfician of that City. 
N the 22d of Meffidor, at 8 o’clock 
A in the evening, I was called in by 
the juftice of the peace to make a report 
refpecting’ a murder committed on the 
perfon ‘of a woman named Pénit. Having 
obeyed his fummons, I repaired with him 
to the habitation of the deceafed, where I 
found on the floor the bedy of a young 
pregnant wornan, extended lifelefs and 
weltering in her blood. <A fpaniel lay at 
her feet, licking them from time to time, 
and uttering piteous moans. At fight of 
us he rofe, did not bark, came up to us, 
and then returned to his miftrefs. A 
large white cat likewife attracted my at- 
tention; he was mounted on the cornice 
of a cupboard at the farther end of the 
apartment, where probably he had taken 
refuge at the moment of the affaffination. 
There fitting motionlefs, he had his eyes 
fixed on the dead body—his attitude and 
his looks exprefling horror and affright. 
After flight examination I retired, hav- 
ing promiled to the juftice of the peace 
that I would return at 10 o’clock the next 
morning with one of my brethren of the 
faculty, to open the dead body in his pre- 
fence, and before the eyes of the perfons 
who were accufed of the murder. Ac- 
cordingly, the next day I returned to the 
fpot in purfuance of my promife. The 
firft object that caught the eye of Doctor 
Martin, who accompanied me, was that 
fame cat which I had obferved on the 
preceding evening: he ftill continued in 
jhis former ftation, in the fame attitude, 
and his looks had acquired fo ftrong an 
expreffion of horror and rage, as to in- 
fpire my colleague with a fear that the 
animal was mad. ‘The apartment was 
foon filled by the officers of juitice and 
the armed force: but neither the clatter- 
ing of the foldiers’ arms, nor the noife 
occafioned by the loud and animated con- 
verfation of the company, could divert 
the attention of the cat, or produce any 
change in his menacing attitude. 
1 was preparing to take from the womb 
of the unfortunate viétim another victim 
whom the fame murderous act had de- 
rived of life before it had enjoyed the 
fiche, when the accufed perfons were 
brought in. As foon as the cat, whofe 
motions I attentively watched, had ob- 
ferved the murderers, his eyes glared 
with increafed fury, his hair briftled up, 
he darted into the middle of the apart- 
ment, ftopped for a momeut, then went 
¢ 
and laid down under the bed befide the 
f{paniel, evidently fympathifing with him 
in his indignation at the murder, and his 
faithful attachment to his miftrefs. Thofe 
mute but alarming witneffes did not ef- 
cape the attention of the affaffins, whofe 
countenances were difconcerted at the 
fight, and who now, for the firft time 
during the whole courfe of the bufinefs, 
felt themfelves abandoned by their atro- 
cious audacity. 
This trait has removed the antipathy 
which I had entertained to cats. Hence- 
forward I fhall no longer fear their ca- 
reffes, fince the fcene which I have wit- 
neffed authorifes me to believe them fuf- 
ceptible of gratitude and attachment, 
MARRIAGE CEREMONIES. 
In the Greek Ifland of Santa Maura, 
when the bride and bridegroom join 
hands at the moment of receiving the 
nuptial benediction, they are immediately 
feparated by a young man; in confequence 
of which ceremony, a firm belief is enter- 
tained that their firft-born will be a fon. 
In fome villages in the fame ifland, on 
the wedding-day the bridegroom is con- 
ducted at the firft appearance of day- 
light to an open place, and feated in a 
chair, when two men immediately begin, 
the one to-comb his hair, the other to 
lather his face ; which operations are con- 
tinued till fun-fet. At his feet is placed a 
bafon to receive contributions; each perfon 
throwing into it a few pieces of money. 
On a tablet hanging up in the church 
of Allhallows Barking, Tower-ftreet, it 
is thus written :—“ This church was 
much defaced and ruined by a lamentable 
blow of 27 barrels of gunpowder that 
took fire on the ath of January 1649, in 
a fhip-chandler’s-houfe, over againft the 
fouth fide of the church, and afterwards 
was repaired and beautified again bya vo- 
luntary contribution of the parifhioners.” 
The account of this difafter is as fol- 
lows :—One of the houfes in this place 
was a fhip-chandler’s, who, on the 4th 
of January aforefaid, being bufy in his 
fhop barrelling up gunpowder, it took 
fire, and in the twinkling of an eye blew 
up not only that, but all the houfes there- 
about, to the number (towards the {treet 
and in back alleys) of fifty or fixty. The 
number of per‘ons deftroyed by this blow 
could not be known, for the next houfe 
but one was the Rofe Tavern, a houfe 
always full of company at that time of 
night, and that day the parifh-dinner was 
at the houfe; and in three or four days 
ery 

