Yet another excerpt from my unpublished book for young and general readers
Many famous people have been cat lovers. Looming large among them is the 18th Century man of letters Dr Samuel Johnson, who had a cat called Hodge whom he adored.
Johnson’s friend and biographer James Boswell wrote: “I never shall forget the indulgence with which he treated Hodge, his cat: for whom he himself used to go out and buy oysters, lest the servants having that trouble should take a dislike to the poor creature … I recollect him one day scrambling up Dr Johnson’s breast, apparently with much satisfaction, while my friend smiling and half-whistling, rubbed down his back, and pulled him by the tail; and when I observed he was a fine cat, saying, ‘Why yes, Sir, but I have had cats whom I liked better than this’; and then as if perceiving Hodge to be out of countenance, adding, ‘but he is a very fine cat, a very fine cat indeed.’ ”
British writer Thomas Gray is perhaps best remembered for his 1748 poem commemorating a tabby called Selima. The title, Ode on the death of a favourite cat drowned in a tub of Gold Fishes, just about says it all.
In the same century, the English philosopher and social reformer Jeremy Bentham gave his many cats distinguished human-sounding names and would introduce them with great gusto to guests at his dinner parties.
The eccentric Duke of Montagu, who died in 1709, left much of his fortune to his pets. It is said that one of his cats jumped up on his lap while he was writing his will. “What!” the Duke exclaimed, “have you a mind to be a witness, too? You can’t, for you are a party concerned and therefore interested.”
Théophile Gautier, a 19th Century French romantic author, wrote about some of his many exotic cats in his book La Ménagerie Théophile. One of them, an angora named Zizi, loved making music by walking up and down the keyboard of a piano, while Eponine was so favoured that she dined at her master’s table.
Sources: James Boswell, Life of Johnson, Vol 4; Michael Pollard, The Encyclopedia of the Cat, Parragon, 1999; No. 7 Montague Street – A Short History, Blooms Town House Hotel
