Page:The fireside sphinx.djvu/142

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116
THE FIRESIDE SPHINX

with contemptuous scrutiny, as if she fully understood the deception which was being practised, but forbore, in indifference, to betray it. On another dish, Orpheus plays to the ravished beasts; and here a stately cat, very courteous and attentive, has a whole section of the border to herself, the bigger animals keeping at a respectful distance.

Raphael has introduced Pussy into at least one of his cartoons,—the "Supper at Emmaus." He has presented her in a most aggressive and disagreeable humour. She crunches a big bone greedily, eyeing meanwhile an unhappy dog that would fain share the feast. Her roughened fur and undulating tail betray the angry disturbance of her mind. If we contrast this cat, so true to nature's self, with some of the other animals wrought into the Vatican tapestries;—with that more than doubtful elephant, upon whose back a playful ape is sporting; or with those curious, portly, short-necked beasts, having heads like horses, and rings through their noses to prove to the world they are camels, we see the supreme advantage of the living model, however seldom she may sit, however slightingly she may be handled. Think of the infinite variety of lions—none of them in the least like lions—that accompany Saint Jerome in art! Sometimes these faithful creatures stand on their hind legs, or trot by their master's side, like amiable dogs; sometimes