CAT AND DOG;

OR,

PUSS AND THE CAPTAIN.

I am going to relate the history of a pleasant and prosperous life; for
though a few misfortunes may have befallen me, my pleasures have far
exceeded them, and especially I have been treated with such constant
cordiality and kindness as would not fail to ensure the happiness of man
or beast. But though I have no reason to complain of my destiny, it is a
remarkable fact, that my principal happiness has been produced by
conforming myself to unfavourable circumstances, and reconciling myself
to an unnatural fate.

Nature herself did well by me. I am a fine setter, of a size that a
Newfoundland dog could not despise, and a beauty that a Blenheim spaniel
might envy. With a white and brown curly coat, drooping ears, bushy
tail, a delicate pink nose, and good-natured brown eyes, active,
strong, honest, gentle, and obedient, I have always felt a conscious
pride and pleasure in being a thoroughly well-bred dog.

My condition in life was peculiarly comfortable. I was brought up in an
old manor-house inhabited by a gentleman and his daughter, with several
respectable and good-natured servants. My education was conducted with
care, and from my earliest youth I had the advantage of an introduction
into good society. I was not, indeed, allowed to come much into the
drawing-room, as my master said I was too large for a drawing-room dog;
but I had the range of the lower part of the house, and constant
admittance to his study, where I was welcome to share his fireside while
he read the newspapers or received visitors. I took great interest in
his friends; and by means of listening to their conversation, watching
them from under my eyelids while they thought I was asleep, and smelling
them carefully, I could form a sufficiently just estimate of their
characters to regulate my own conduct towards them. Though a polite dog
both by birth and breeding, I was too honest and independent to show the
same respect and cordiality towards those whom I liked and those whom I
despised; and though very grateful for the smallest favours from
persons I esteemed, no flattery, caresses, or benefactions could induce
me to strike up an intimacy with one who did not please me. If I had
been able to speak, I should have expressed my opinions without
ceremony; and it often surprised me that my master, who could say what
he pleased, did not quarrel with people, and tell them all their faults
openly. I though