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and the master. The latter was almost always a layman, and, besides his tutorial duties, assisted in the church services, led the choir, and acted generally as parish clerk; to be perfect in his calling it was desirable that he should be able to decipher for the information of the peasants the old manuscripts containing the ancient charters of the community. Statistics in 1789 for the district now forming the Department of Aube give the number of men able to read as seventy-two per cent., and of women as twenty-two per cent. Even under these circumstances the seigniors, strengthened in their selfish opinions by Voltaire, complained that the lower orders were overeducated, and in consequence litigious.

I have now outlined the chief features of what M. Babeau calls "a communal liberty existing under a despotic supreme government." The "liberty" appears to have consisted in the fact that, so long as the community supplied from off its own body the various pounds of flesh demanded by the royal, seignioral, and clerical Shylocks, it was permitted the privilege of buying and sharpening the knife, of choosing and paying the executioner, and of directing all the details for its own mutilation.

E. BLANCHE HAMILTON,

604

THE CAT AND ITS FOLK-LORE.

O animal enters more largely into the mythology and folk-lore of all the Indo-European nations than the Cat. In order, therefore, to ascertain the origin and growth of the extensive legends and superstitions which have, in the course of centuries, clustered round this favourite and domestic animal of man's fireside, we must go back to the primitive past. Indeed, it is only by this means that many a curious item of traditional lore and maxim of modern belief can be explained on any satisfactory basis. Thus, for instance, in accordance with a popular fallacy, the cat is supposed to have a peculiar predilection for sucking the breath of young children; but the majority of persons are probably unaware that this fanciful notion is only a survival of the old belief which credited the cat with a demoniac character. For this reason, in Germany, black cats are carefully kept away from the cradles of children. It is curious, however, to find modern folk-lore assigning a reason of its own for this prejudice to the cat, the myth which gave rise to it having long ago become forgotten. In the Annual Register (January 25, 1791) occurs the following paragraph: "A child of eighteen months old was found dead near Plymouth, and it appeared on the coroner's inquest that the child died in consequence of a cat sucking its breath, thereby occasioning a strangulation." As it has been often pointed out, this extremely unphilosophical notion of cats preferring exhausted to pure air is devoid of all truth, but was invented to explain the superstitious dread which the cat's presence, grounded on its traditionary association with the devil, occasions by the bedside.

Referring then, in the first place, to the demoniac characteristics of the cat, it may be noted that the conception which gave rise to this mythical idea may be chiefly attributed, amongst other causes, to the supernatural powers which in early times it was said to possess. Thus, like the lynx, and the owl of Pallas Athene, it owes much of the honour originally conferred upon it to its eyes, that gleam in the midnight darkness like fire, and are in this way permitted to see the mysterious workings of nature which are hidden to mortal gaze, besides being favoured with an insight into the actions

of men. Under the cover of darkness, too, it was but natural that demons when bent on any evil enterprise should take the form of a cat: its keen far-seeing eyesight being of incalculable advantage to them when desirous of undertaking some midnight errand. It was probably, also, on account of this animal's power of seeing in the night that the Egyptians represented the moon under the symbol of a cat. In the same way we can understand why the chariot of the goddess Freyja, the Teutonic Venus, was drawn by cats, and why Holda was accompanied by maidens riding on cats, or themselves distinguished in feline form. It was only natural, too, as soon as celestial honours had once been conferred on the cat, that an extensive mythological career should gradually be assigned to it. By degrees its supernatural qualities would be embodied in the folk-tales of various countries, and a prominence given to it in the superstitions of everyday life. By this means may be traced the development up to the present century of that wide-spread and deep-rooted superstition by which the cat has been invested with demoniac characteristics, and generally represented in this and other countries as the "familiar" of witches.

Without, however, entering very fully into the importance with which the cat was invested in olden times, by reason of the supernatural element supposed to reside in it, we may briefly note that by the Egyptians it was so highly honoured as "to receive sacrifice and devotions, and to have stately temples erected to its honour"; we may further allude to what Herodotus says of the sudden impulse which seized the Egyptian cats to leap into the fire, and the attempts of the Egyptians to prevent it. It is related, too, that in whatever house a cat died, all the family shaved their eyebrows. Diodorus Siculus, moreover, records how a Roman one day happening accidentally to kill a cat, the mob immediately assembled round the house where he was; neither the entreaties of some of the principal men, sent by the king, nor the fear of the Romans, with whom the Egyptians were then negotiating a peace, being able to save the man's life. In the Middle Ages the cat was a very important personage in religious festivals. At Aix, in Provence, for instance, on the festival of Corpus Christi, the finest tom-cat of the country, wrapped like a child in swaddling-clothes, was publicly exhibited in. a magnificent shrine. Every knee was bent, every hand either strewed flowers or poured incense; and, in short, the cat on this

1

Kelly's Indo-European Folk-lore, 1863, 236.

See Conway's Demonology and Devil-lore, 1880, ii. 301.

occasion was treated in all respects as the God of the Day.

In Sicily the cat is still held sacred to St. Martha ; and it is said that any one who kills this animal will thereby bring upon himself unhappiness for seven years. In Germany the cat and the mouse are sacred to the funereal St. Gertrude. These examples, therefore, suffice to show how universal has been the homage which man in all times and countries has paid to the cat: an interesting illustration of the survival of primitive culture, when our simple ancestors, not having risen to a clear conception of their own pre-eminence in the scale of created life, were only too prone to deify and worship brutes.

In referring to the demoniac character attributed to the cat, it may be noted that this superstition, which was once so universally accepted, has not even yet died out. Thus, it is believed in Tuscany that when a man desires death, the devil passes before his bed in the form of any animal except the lamb, but especially in that of a he-goat, a cock, a hen, or a cat.3 In Germany, we are told that the black cat which places itself upon the bed of a sick man announces his approaching death; whereas, if it be seen upon a grave, it signifies that the departed is in the devil's power. It is curious to find the evil omen attaching to a cat passing over a corpse, prevalent in China," having prevailed also in our own country; and Gough, in his "Sepulchral Monuments," says that in Orkney, during the time the corpse remained in the house, all the cats were locked up. Pennant further adds, that should a cat pass over a corpse, it was killed without mercy. Mr. Conway appears to have rightly interpreted the true meaning of this superstitious ceremony; he says: "This fact would seem to show that the fear is for the living, lest the soul of the deceased should enter the animal and become one of the innumerable werewolf or vampire class of demons." But the origin of the superstition is no doubt told in the Slavonic belief that "if a cat leap over a corpse the deceased person will become a vampire." The reason assigned by Brand" for locking up the cat in the case of death-" to prevent their making any depredations upon the corpse, which it is known they would attempt to do, if not prevented"-altogether loses sight of the popular idea of the cat's demoniac character; and equally untenable, too, is the following explanation, which occurs in the "Statistical Account of Mills' History of the Crusades.

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2 Gubernatis' Zoological Mythology, 1872, ii. 58, 59.
Ibid., ii. 63.

Denny's Folk-lore of China.

Pennant, Tour in Scotland.

• Demonology and Devil-lore, i. 131.

1 Pop. Antiq., 1849, ii. 232.

Scotland" (xxi. 147): "If a cat was permitted to leap over a corpse, it portended misfortune. The meaning of this was to prevent that carnivorous animal from coming near the body of the deceased, lest, when the watchers were asleep, it should endeavour to prey upon it." Again, it was also formerly believed that evil spirits in the form of cats hovered about the fireside, and numerous stories are on record of their supposed appearance under this form. In France, on the festival of St. John, it was in days gone by the custom to throw twentyfour cats into the midst of a large fire kindled in the public square by the bishop and his clergy; hymns and anthems were sung, and processions were made in honour of the occasion by the priests and people the cat being regarded as an emblem of the devil. It was no doubt, too, its demoniac character that gave rise to the superstitious idea of its being unlucky to meet a black cat at any time. Thus, we are told how, in years gone by, some of the Scotch folk were in the habit of carrying an old iron nail to throw at a black cat which might cross their path, as by this act all evil was supposed to be warded off. To the same reason, perhaps, may be attributed the notion that it is ominous for a bride, on setting out to be married, to

meet a cat.

cat enters largely into the Thus, by way of illustra

Again, the demoniac character of the legends and traditions associated with it. tion, we may quote a tale, known as "The Devil's Cat," current in North Germany. A peasant had three beautiful large cats. A neighbour begged to have one of them, and obtained it. To accustom it to the place, he shut it up in the loft. At night the cat, popping its head through the window, said, "What shall I bring to-night?" "Thou shalt bring mice," answered the man. The cat then set to work, and cast all it caught on the floor. The next morning the place was so full of dead mice that it was hardly possible to open the door, and the man was employed the whole day in throwing them away by bushels. At night the cat again put its head through the aperture, and asked, "What shall I bring tonight?" "Thou shalt bring rye," answered the peasant. The cat was now busily employed in shooting down rye, so that in the morning the door could not be opened. The man then saw the true nature of the cat, and carried it back to his neighbour, in which he acted prudently, for had he given it work a third time, he could never have got rid of it. In one respect, however, he did not act prudently, in not saying the second time, “Thou shalt bring gold"; 1 Gregor's Folk-lore of North-east of Scotland, 1881, 124.

2 Thorpe's Northern Mythology, 1852, iii. 18, 19.

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