Revered and Reviled by L A Vocelle

Author:L A Vocelle
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780692759820
Publisher: Great Cat Publications
Published: 2017-08-26T04:00:00+00:00

Figure 7.1. Etching of Moncrif and a Cat from his book Les Chats, 1727

Samuel Johnson, the father of the first English dictionary, had a cat named Hodge for whom he cared deeply. James Boswell, Johnson’s friend and biographer, found Johnson’s relationship with Hodge so important that he included a description of this bond in Johnson’s biography.

“Nor would it be just under this head, to omit the fondness which he shewed for animals which he had taken under his protection. 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 dislike to the poor creature. I am, unluckily one of those who have an antipathy to a cat, so that I am uneasy when in the room with one; and I own, I frequently suffered a good deal from the presences of this same Hodge. 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” (Boswell, 1820, p. 824) (figure 7.2).

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