CATS AND GREAT MEN.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3223, 28 October 1881, Page 4

CATS AND GREAT MEN.

Who does not know Taseo's charming sonnet to hia cat? —one of the brighest among his smaller gems ; and Petrarch is said to hare loved his cat only lees than hie Laura ; so that what he could not do for the latter, he did for his pet—he had her embalmed, and kept her as long as he lived. Cardinal Wolsey never eat on his almost regal throne, when he officiated as Chancellor, ■without having one or two o£ his favourite - cats by his side ; and Richelieu's grim humor

required the constant presence of a number of kittens, whose merry gambols alone could "licit a smile and soothe his temper. Chateaubriand was so passionately fond of cats that the Popo, to whom he went as ■iiiibassador, cuuld not find a more suitable and acceptable present than his predecessors favourite cat ; and when the great, author was growing old he fancied he was was also growing like his pets, from his close intimacy and great fondness. Nor have other authors disdained to sing the praise of cats ; banning, and Gray, and Cowper have, left their tribute to their affectionate friends ; FToffmann introduced them into all his quaint and fantastic tales, of which " Kater Murr" is not the least attractive ; Edgar Poe bore cheerful witness to their grace and strange attractions ; and Victor Hugo rarely is seen without his magnificent Angora. Rooks on cats abound in almost every language, and only quite recently a French "writer of some distinction —Champfleury— has published quite a superb work on the ! subject.—Ladies' Treasury.