Star.
London, England, 1830-09-18 00:00:00

A FEW WORDS ON CATS.

SCINTILLA-

The Egyptians held the cat in high veneration. HERo-
DOTUII informs us [ adapt, 66.873, that when a cat died io a house,
the owner of the habitation and all his family shaved their eye-brows ;
that they wiled the cats when dead into consecrated houses, and, after
they were salted, interred them in the city of Bubastis. DIODORUS
&CULTS/ relates [1.6.3 that a Roman having by accident killed a cat,
the common people instantly surrounded his house and sacrificed him
to their fbry. We learn from Plutarch that in Egypt the symbol of
the moss was a cat.

When Lord Southampton was confined in the Tower, A. D. 1601, a
favourite eat is said to have found her way to his prison by means of a
chimney; and to have partaken and consoled his solitude. Sea
p... 190, of Axourwa's Conlassation of HENRY'S History of
Boitlartd.
Marlowe da Puls, a celebrated player on the harp, settled a pandas
on her at. sad appointed vhdtsto be paid her every week. See TL!,
art Rosax.

It is stated in the Magasisw of Natural History, vol.i. p. 88, 178,
that white cats with blue eyes are always deaf. A gentleman had a
white Persian cat; she produced various litters, and of her Miring
some were entirely white, and these were invariably deaf; but others
were mottled, and all those which had the least speck of colour had the
faculty of hearing as usual.
In the winter of 1797, a plague prevailed among the cats in Feroe ;
there was a very general morality among them about the same time in
England. Sea-bathing was tried with little effect ; but emetics were
administered with considerable SUMS& The life of a domestic cat
is of:some value in these islands, for rats arc very numerous ; they will
destroy $ can field in two nights, and when they can get at the sea.
fowl, they commit such havoc, that they leave little to be done by the
fowler.

Cats were prohibited in the island of Isclice, lest they should destroy
the game, sad when these useful animals had been extirpated, the rat,
became so numerous that the infants were not safe in the cradle.

During the days of the French Republic, the magazines were so in..
fisted with rats that ten thousand cats were immediately put in requisi-
tion by the National convention.
Cats are extremely fond of fish. A friend of Dr. Darwin saw aat
catch a trout,.by actually darting upon it in a deep, clear water, at the
Mill at Weaford, near Litchfield.
Sea BINGLET'S Memoirs of British Quadrupeds, where, on the
authority of Dr. Hamilton, of Ipswich, it is stated that it is almost im-
possible to ”bat a cat. Arsenic, corrosive sublimate, and nux-vomics,
were all tried, but without effect.
See the 9th 'ol.e the Transactions of the Duncan Society for a
curious anecdote of the effect of imagination In u female cat on the foetus
in its womb.

Lutirxra, in his description of the cat, most erroneously asserts that
they are not infested with fleas. See TEZTON'S Liana's*, vol. 1. p. 40.
In the Rev. T. COLE'S Life of Hubert, 1795,wi1l be found a spirited
translation of Molinceus's humorous poem on his at :
An Archbishop fond of Cats.--.. 4 The first day we had the honour of
dining at the Palace of the Archbishop of Taranto at Naples, he said
to me, You must pardon my passion for cats, but never exclude them
from my dining-room, and you will find they make excellent company.
Between the first and second course, the door opened, and several crier.
mously large and beautiful cats were introduced by the names of Pan.
talooe, Desdemona, Otello, and other dramatic cognomina. They took
their places on chairs near the table, and were as silent, as quiet, as
motionless, and as well-behaved,'as the most bon-ton table in London
could require. On the Bishop requesting one ef the Chaplains to help
the
tSignora Desdemona to something, the butler stepped up to his
ip and observed,' Desdemona will prefer waiting for the roasts.'"
—Lady hdosnax's Book of the Boudoir, tooL 2, p. 39. J. J.W.

ST. JOHN LONG.—The doctors arc making a end wail
about the death of Miss Cashin, just as if they hail never sent any pa.
dents to their Long home themselves. Before they stand up for the
prescriptive right of administering manslaughter scesoidust artern, they
ought to remember the divine rule, " Let him that is without sin cast
the first stone."

EQUIVOCAL PRA ISE. Hcre is a publication, said; the
Literary Gazette, reviewing some trash of a novel, " Here we have a
publication which may be placed oa the shelf with its most popular
contemporaries."
HOSPITALITY.—When Marmont visited Woolwich he
was entertained by the military officers with a collation. Many years
have elapsed since he met the honourable company before at a fete
champetre, in the neighbourhood of Salamanca, on which ocasion they
gave his Excellency a ball. The warm friend who then look him by
the arm was one of the loudest amongst the field-pieces to welcome him
to Woolwich. No doubt he would have been very glad to shake hands
with her.

A MAN OF LETTERS.—Mr. O'Connell. is becoming as
prolific a pcnteile aslBk Harcourt Lees, or Lady Morten : a bale of
Cabbies stubble, made into paper, went down last week to Derrinane
for his special use.--Item, The wings of half a hundred. Man geese,
the gift of Joseph Hume, from the Orkneys, and an imperial gallon of
Hunts matchless, by way of ink. All this ammunition is to he squib.
bed off before the meeting of Parliament.
DERIVATION OF " JACKSTONES." The game of
" Jackstones," hnd its origin in a species of divination practised among
eastern nations. Haman, who conspired the massacre of the Jews, east
ipur (that is five small stones or bones,) to End what success his scheme
would have—vide, Esther ix. chap. xxiv. verse. The Irish called it
Seic Seona or Shee Amok which was readily turned into Jackatoces
by an Rneish ear.
THE LIBERTY OE THE PRESS IN 1738.—July 18,
1738, the printer and publisher of the General Everting Post attended
the Court of Aldermen, by order, to answer for printing the list of
Aldermen, dz. who voted for the mason's work at the Mansion-house,
to be done at the highest price. He (the printer) acknowledged print.
ladatenpaper, but would make no submission; and though a certain
an moved to resolve—that the said paper was "false, gouda.
loos, and malicious," Cie majority insisted on the previous question,
uppoono which he withdrew his motion, and the printer and publisher welt
dimtlaad without the least reprimand ! !
POPERY IN LANCASHIRE.—The Roman Catholic reli-
gion is making rapid progress in the county of Lancaster. According
to the census of 1821 the followers of the Church of Rome in Lan.
cashire did not exceed 3,000; in 1829 their numbers had increased t.•
11,000. In one parish, at the former period, the whole Catholic popu-
lation scarcely numbered 40; at the latter they amounted to 900. In
some instances nearly whole parishes have passed from the one religion
to the other; and in Manchester, a short time since, 62 Protestant.
were baptized in the Roman Catholic faith. The French Globe, a fie
months ago, willing, perhaps, to anticipate the progress of conrersion,
described the " whole county" (tout le comte de Lancastre) as of the
Banish religion !
Als Er.vrATED PoTATOE.—MM. &hie& and Diep?4..
a letter to Baron A. Humboldt, giving an account of their wart ot ti
great volcano of Orizaba, in Mexico, mention that they found the 114:.
in a wild state at the height of 10,000 feet above the level of the sea. It
was about three inches and a half high, with large blue flowers ; !ii
potatoes were about the size of a hazel nut.
USELESS LITIGATION.—A recent writer, commenting. cn

the too great tendency to useless and expensivelitigition, thus ration-ally
accounts for it i.—" Were there," says be, " no other. bad ermine:la:,
men's passions are the worst advisers. One is irritated, and will go to
law ; another Is alarmed overmuch, and will vield a just right ; a third
is sanguine, and cannot suppose defeat ; while a fourth is proud. and
will not appear to yield voluntarily."
GLORIES or' THE LA w.—ln a late amusing publication
of Charles Butler's, he mentions some astonishing instances of legal
absurdity. A gentleman having six estates, wished to settle one ot.
each of his six sons, and•the heirs of their bodies respectively, with what
lawyers term cross remainders betweat them, where on failure or istr,
in one line, the estate passes to the other branches. Nr. Butler, tun;
directed to prepare the deed, conceived at first that one pmriso small
be suilicient: he then thought six would do; but on examining mot
minutely hew many clauses would be requisite to legally express the
whole settlement, he found that it would require 720, being every po:i
ble combination of the number six I><2 Is 3st 4 +eh is 601,720. Int
other example is still more striking. Ten gentlemen. partners In
mining company, wished to provide by deed, that if any one ef
number advanced money to any of the others, it should be considered
sort of mortgage on the borrower's share, and have preference to all slit..
sequent charges. The number of contracts necessary to make this Inc-
vision with due legal accuracy, were found to amount to 3,629,:;00.
being all possible combinations of 10. On each of these clauses the
benevolence of government has imposed a stamp duty of 251. ; so that
the whole duty would have amounted to 90,720,0001. • Ninety manor..
of stamp duty on a single and simple deed ! Well might Foresee(
write a laborious treatise, " De laudibus Legum

BIRTH.
The 12th inst. In Cambridge•plate, Mrs. Henry Nicholls, of a sac.

MARRIED.
The 16th inst. by the Rev. J. W. Habbersty, G. W. Welly, EW
to Miss M. White, of Sheen Vale, Mortlake.

The 15th lust. at St. Oswald's, Durham. W. Emerson, younge,f
son of the late G. Wooller, Erg. of Fawn-Lees, county of Durham, tr.
Fanny, second daughter of J. Gregaon, Est of the former place.--
The 17th inst. at St. Pantras. P. Champion, eldest soo of E. Taker,
Esq. of the Oaks, near Ospringe, to Eliza Jeanette, only child of the
late Capt. A. Branthwayt.

DIM).
The 15th Wt. J. &later. Esq. of Tunbridge. In the 711 t year of his
age.—The 13th inst. in Otioaburgh-street, Reseneelrici.Mety. the
widow of the late J. Crutteeden, Esq. of la!dont,
4
LchtDow: Printed and rublished by Joni' 31 nrtts, at
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