nd Times of Nollekens, the Royal Academician,"[129] tells
a story of Mr Matthew Mitchell, a banker, who collected prints.

"Mr Mitchell had a most serious antipathy to a kitten. He could sit in a
room without experiencing the least emotion from a cat; but directly he
perceived a kitten, his flesh shook on his bones, like a snail in
vinegar. I once relieved him from one of these paroxysms by taking a
kitten out of the room; on my return he thanked me, and declared his
feelings to be insupportable upon such an occasion. Long subsequently, I
asked him whether he could in any way account for this agitation. He
said he could not, adding that he experienced no such sensations upon
seeing a full-grown cat; but that a kitten, after he had looked at it
for a minute or two, in his imagination grew to the size of an
overpowering elephant."

JAMES MONTGOMERY AND HIS CATS.[130]

The poet Montgomery was very fond of cats. His biographers say--"We
never recollect the time when some familiar 'Tabby' or audacious 'Tom'
did not claim to share the poet's attention during our familiar
interviews with him in his own parlour. We well recollect one fine
brindled fellow, called 'Nero,' who, during his kittenhood, 'purred' the
following epistle to a little girl who had been his playmate:--

"HARTSHEAD, NEAR THE HOLE-IN-THE-WALL,
"_July 23, 1825_.
"_Harrrrrrr_,

"_Mew, wew, auw, mauw, hee, wee, miaw, waw, wurr, whirr, ghurr, wew,
mew, whew, isssss, tz, tz, tz, purrurrurrur._"

DONE INTO ENGLISH.

"HARRIET,

"This comes to tell you that I am very well, and I hope you are so too.
I am growing a great cat; pray how do you come on? I wish you were here
to carry me about as you used to do, and I would scratch you to some
purpose, for I can do this much better than I could while you were here.
I have not run away yet, but I believe I shall soon, for I find my feet
are too many for my head, and often carry me into mischief. Love to
Sheffelina, though I was always fit to pull her cap when I saw you
petting her. My cross old mother sends her love to you--she shows me
very little now-a-days, I assure you, so I do not care what she does
with the rest. She has brought me a mouse or two, and I caught one
myself last night; but it was in my dream, and I awoke as hungry as a
hunter, and fell to biting at my tail, which I believe I should have
eaten u