the cat - World eBook Library

Antipathy
=T.HE CAT
Mathiolus tells us of a German who, coming in
winter time into an inn to sup with him and some
other of his friends, the woman of the house, being
acquainted with his temper (lest he should depart
at sight of a young cat which she kept to breed
up), had beforehand hid her kitling in a chest, in
the room where the company sat at supper. But
though the German had neither seen nor heard the
little animal, yet after some time that he had sucked
in the air infected by its breath, that quality of
his temperament which had antipathy unto cats
became sorely disturbed. He began to sweat, and
of a sudden to grow pale; and, to the wonder of
all who were present, he cried out in an anguished
voice that in some corner of the room there was a
cat lay hid.
Wonders of the Little World, 1678,
Nathaniel Wanley.
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