Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1891-12-30
PUSSY'S FRIENDS.
JOHNSON, TAsso, AND SIR WALTER
SCOTT ALL FOND OF CATS.

And Many Other Authors OF Note Unite
Ina Singing Her Praises Our own
Josh Billings. Too Pets OF Great
Men.
Following in the wake of Button,
writers of natural histories are pretty
unanimous in setting down the cat as an
animal incapable of personal attachment:
yet Puss has won the friendship and
affection of many notable men. The
skull of Morosini's favorite cat is still pre-.
served among the relics of that Venetian
worthy. The counterfeit presentment Of
Andrea Doria's huge spotted pet contem.
plates the Doge with mournfnl tender.
ness on the canvas, as he Was wont to dc
when both were in the flesh.
Sir Henry Wyat's gratitude TO the fe-
line friend who saved him from starving
IN the Tower by bringing pigeons for his
sustenance caused him ever afterward to
make much of his purveyor's kindred,
and we are told, You shall not find his
picture anywhere, but, like Sir Christie.
pher Hatton with his dog, with a cat be-
side him" Having exhausted his credit
with the candle dealers. Tasso besought
his cat to aid him with the light of her
lustrous eyes. Cowper commemorated
his sedate favorite being shut up in a
drawer; gloried in saving her becoming
the victim of her philosophical inquiry
into the nature of a viper, by decapitat
ing the intruder with handy hoe; and
thought Lady Hesketh could not with
stand an invitation to come and see a tor
toise shell kitten given to indescribabIe
gambols, "the drollest of creatures that
ever wore catskin, ere Time, thai
spoiled all things, turned her into cat
When Horace Walpole bewailed to
Gray the loss of his handsomest cat, the
poet condoling replied: II know Zara
and Selma, or, rather, knew them both
together, for ] can not justly say which
was which. Then as to your handsomest
cat, / am no less at loss, as well know
ing ones handsomest cat is always the
cat one likes best; or if one be alive and
the other dead, it is usually the latter
that is handsomest. Besides if the point
were never SO clear, hope you do not
think me so i'll bred as to forget my in
terest in the survivor Oh, no! Iwould
rather seem to mistake, and imagine to
he sure that it must be the tabby one.
1t was the tabby one, and ia the hope Of
immortalizng Mile. Selma, Gray sent
Walpole an ode, recording how Selma.
tumbling from "a lofty vases side" into
q tub of goldfish:
Eight times emerging from the food.
She mewed TO ev'ry wat'ry ged
Some speedy aid TO send
No Dolphin came, no Nereid stirred;
Nor cruel Tom nor Susan heard.
A fay'rite has no friendl
Advising Miss Susannah Thrale to read
Bickerstaffe's account of his cat, DIR.
johnson wrote: II could tell you as
good things of Lille, the white killing,
who is now in full growth and very well
behaved.
Scotts love of dogs did not prevent his
delighting in the company of "a convers.
able cat, like the big gray puss who was
almost as important a member of the Alb
botsford household as MAZDA herself.
"Ah, |" said Sir Walter, "these cats are
very mysterious kind of folk; there is
always more passing in their minds than
we are aware of. j" Then he told the story
of the guidman who told his guide wife
that he had met funeral procession of
cats on his way home. whereupon the
family cat exclaimed: "Then am king
of the catslr and vanished up the Chin
ney. sour grimalkin here. added Scott,
reminds me of the story by the airs Of
sovereignty he assumes, and am apt to
treat him with respect from the idea that
ne may be a great prince incog., and some
time or other come to the throne.
Bentham did not dream of his feline
companion attaining quite so high dig
nifty. On his first coming he had christ
ened him Langbourne, but as he devel-
oped in width and wisdom the philoso-
pher dubbed him Sir John Langbourne,
and when advanced years brought in
creased gravity, inducted him into the
church. TO die in full possession Of all his
faculties and be mourned as the Rev.
Sir John Langbourne, d. ID.
Josh Billings resented the suggestion
that William was too dignified an ap-
pelIaiion for his favorite, and insisted
that such a special blue blooded specimen
OF the feline critter deserved dignified
name. adding: Poor old man he has
had fits recently; aud now | call him
Fritzwilliam
When Plus TX sat down to dine his
cat came in with the soup, mounted
chair opposite him. and dumbly and de
eorousiy looked on until the pontiff had
finished his meal
A much more pronounced cat lovel
was the Able Gallant, who declared his
sifeat Naples would have been unbearably
dull but for the companionship of histw0
cats, OF such valne in his eyes, that losing
nnR through q snruanf,s ralrrlsna,,co. thn