rs, and to eternal rest, in a
cemetery in Milton's Garden.[125]

"'I had a cat,' he said, 'at Hendon, which used to follow me about even
in the street. George Wilson was very fond of animals too. I remember a
cat following him as far as Staines. There was a beautiful pig at
Hendon, which I used to rub with my stick. He loved to come and lie down
to be rubbed, and took to following me like a dog. I had a remarkably
intellectual cat, who never failed to attend one of us when we went
round the garden. He grew quite a tyrant, insisting on being fed and on
being noticed. He interrupted my labours. Once he came with a most
hideous yell, insisting on the door being opened. He tormented Jack
(Colls) so much, that Jack threw him out of the window. He was so
clamorous that it could not be borne, and means were found to send him
to another world. His moral qualities were most despotic--his
intellectual extraordinary; but he was a universal nuisance."

"'From my youth I was fond of cats, as I am still. I was once playing
with one in my grandmother's room. I had heard the story of cats having
nine lives, and being sure of falling on their legs; and I threw the cat
out of the window on the grass-plot. When it fell it turned towards me,
looked in my face and mewed. "Poor thing!" I said, "thou art reproaching
me with my unkindness." I have a distinct recollection of all these
things. Cowper's story of his hares had the highest interest for me when
young; for I always enjoyed the society of tame animals. Wilson had the
same taste--so had Romilly, who kept a noble puss, before he came into
great business. I never failed to pay it my respects. I remember
accusing Romilly of violating the commandment in the matter of cats. My
fondness for animals exposed me to many jokes.'"

BISSET AND HIS MUSICAL CATS.

S. Bisset, to whom we referred before, was a Scotchman, born at Perth.
He went to London as a shoemaker; but afterwards turned a broker. About
1739 he turned his attention to the teaching of animals. He was very
successful, and among the subjects of his experiments were three young
cats. Wilson, in his "Eccentric Mirror,"[126] has recorded that "he
taught these domestic tigers to strike their paws in such directions on
the dulcimer, as to produce several tunes, having music-books before
them, and squalling at the same time in different keys or tones, first,
second, and third, by way of concert. In such a city as London these
feats co