New-York tribune., 1910-01-29
CATS AND DOGS.
Andre70 Lang on the Greater
Charms of Pussy.
From The London Morning Post.

From The London Morning Post.
l say cats and dogs deliberately. Civ
ing the priority and place of honor to
cats, first. because they have alpha
bette precedence-as we say Elton and
Harrow next because their history
Is the more ancient. honorable and dig
n1ffed tas we say Oxford and Cam
bridge); last. and chiefly, because 1
like cats better than dogs. To confess
so much is to incur the risk of obloquy,
for the partisanS of dogs. If not more
numerous than they who honor the cat.
are Infinitely more noisy. and go about
cracking whips and shouting to their
canine favorites. There is no use in
shouting at cat, an animal which has
much retenue and does not answer TO
Hi or to any loud cry" Indeed. as far
as one of the only two dogs with whom
I was ever closely associated is con-
cerned. he did not answer to the loudest
cry which | or any one else could utter
The exertions of Stentor himself would
have been wasted on Snippet. To take
walk with him Cor, rather. without him)
was to come back as hoarse as If one
had been lecturfng to a mixed audience,
mainly consisting of deaf old ladies, at
the new schools in Oxford.
The friends of dogs are themselves
noisy, and can below like bulls at Pom
to or fowler when he deserts them, as
he usually does, in the course of walk.
For my part, l wish that the dog would
desert his human companions altogether.
If they be interesting people. My ac-
quaintance with the late Sir Leslie Ste
phen was slight, but once he did meet
me. prowling solitary in Kensington
Gardens. and accompanied me in stroll
through the elegant wilderness. But he
had his dog with him, and as the small
boy complained when Mr.. Gladstone was
residing with his family, II could not
get in a word edgewise." Nor could Sir
Leslie. His dog did all the talking,
loudly and ceaseeSsly, and unlike my
Lord Macaulay, as described by Sidney
Smith. the dog had no occasional
flashes of silence" His remarks were
and Sir Leslie and l never had a chance
to chirp like linnets in the pauses of
the wind
Now a cat. even If he deigns to take
walk with mortals tan honor rarely ac-
corded, and only by very young cats),
never interrupts the conversation of his
human companion. But the dog never
ceases TO interrupt, now by barking at
It may be a bird in the branches.
II may be a flower in the, ,way:
now by running off for purposes of war,
love or the chase. and having to be
shouted at for ever so long and Wen
pursued and captured by the painting
philosopher, his owner. That, 1 suppose.
IS why noisy persons, with whistles that
shrill and whips that crack. are parti
sans of the dog. AS F. B. said of him
self. the dog lis manly, sir, manly
So his friends aver, while the cat, they
maintain. is dear only to unmarried
ladies who have abandoned hope. The
statement is historically false from
Mahomet to Cardinal Richelieu and
Montaigne. and DR.. Johnson and Theo-
phile Gautier, poet of prodigiouS mus
cular development, good and great and
manly men have been friends, or, /
should say, have been admitted to the
intimacy of cats. Shakespeare must
have adored cats: he speaks sympa-
thetically of 1.-The poor cat in the adage."
and says, or rather makes somebody
say. that he would rather be kitten
and cry new than a minor poet. one of
your metre ballad mongers." The sneer
was probably aimed at Decker. who
must have felt it bitterly. l do not re-
member that Shakespeare ever pays
compliments to dogs, except, of course,
in sporting poems like Venus and
Adonis." where he could not help HIM
self. and talks of "the cunning hounds"
meaning barriers. though his sympathies
are all with poor Wat" the hunted
hare. Shakespeare never wore his heart
on his sleeve. and knew his brutal, dog
loving. bear batting audience, so he said
not much in praise of cats. Not that
he disliked dog. He probably repre-
sents himself and his dog in the char
acters of Launce and the irresponsible
Crab.
Homer, to be sure. was fond of dogs.
but he admits that Argus was not in old
age desirable household pet In youth he
had been equally good, we learn, as a
greyhound and boarhound, very high
praise. Achilles kept Cap dogs, trench
err dogs" at the siege of Troy, and good
natured men who dined out. says Homer,
brought home nice things for their dogs.
Heracles actually went to hell ITO bring
the dog" says Homer; who, however, en-
ters into no details about the breed,
name or accomplishments OF the animal.
Odysseus. in describing his visit to
Hades, does not mention that dog. Later
poets aver that the dog had three heads
an obvious eXaggeration, though our
common speech saith ''as proud as dog
with two tails" The devotion of Homer
to dogs is easily explained. The an
Cient Greeks in his time appear TO have
possessed no cats. In more remote ages q
cats were respected in Minoan Crete.
The seal of a Prince of Cnossos shows
a large and fine cat of the Egyptian
breed, which fills almost the whole field:
the ring is printed I'm gold. that expen-
sive but suitable medium on the cover
of Mr.. Evans's new book
The ancient Hebrews had a low opin-
ion of dogs, which are never taken i'm a
favorable sense in Scripture. OF cats
the Chosen People manifestly knew
nothing; they are never mentioned in
Holy Writ. The Hebrew is not even in
structed not to eat them, among the
other unappetizing animals which are
tabOoed in Leviticus. While in Esvpt
the Children OF Israel must have found
that cats We're deified which NAV have
created theological prejudice. and they
probably were not carried across the
desert,
When Israel cam hame
To his ain countrie,
as the old Jacobite song saws
Cat
thurian romances; when dogs is I'm cato
is out" and chivalry was devoted To "the
noble hound" great German tribe
was called the Chatti" nroha hI,, frns..