Cat and Dog

Cat and Dog, by Julia Charlotte
Maitland,

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Title: Cat and Dog Memoirs of Puss and the Captain
Author: Julia Charlotte Maitland

Release Date: March 21, 2007 [eBook #20868]
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CAT AND DOG;
Or,
Memoirs of Puss and the Captain.
A Story founded on Fact.
By the Author of
"The Doll and Her Friends," "Letters from Madras," "Historical Acting
Charades," Etc.
Fifth Edition.
With Illustrations by Harrison Weir.

[Illustration: CAPTAIN AND THE LOOKING-GLASS. Page 9]

London: Griffith and Farran, Late Grant and Griffith, Successors to
Newbery and Harris, Corner of St. Paul's Churchyard. MDCCCLVIII.

NOTE.
The Author begs to assure her young readers that the principal
circumstances on which this little story is founded are true. The
friendship between the two animals, the dog's journey home, and return
in company with his friend, are facts which occurred within her own
knowledge.
LONDON: SAVILL AND EDWARDS, PRINTERS, CHANDOS
STREET.

CAT AND DOG;
OR,
PUSS AND THE CAPTAIN.
I am going to relate the history of a pleasant and prosperous life; for
though a few misfortunes may have befallen me, my pleasures have far
exceeded them, and especially I have been treated with such constant
cordiality and kindness as would not fail to ensure the happiness of
man or beast. But though I have no reason to complain of my destiny, it
is a remarkable fact, that my principal happiness has been produced by
conforming myself to unfavourable circumstances, and reconciling
myself to an unnatural fate.
Nature herself did well by me. I am a fine setter, of a size that a
Newfoundland dog could not despise, and a beauty that a Blenheim
spaniel might envy. With a white and brown curly coat, drooping ears,
bushy tail, a delicate pink nose, and good-natured brown eyes, active,
strong, honest, gentle, and obedient, I have always felt a conscious

pride and pleasure in being a thoroughly well-bred dog.
My condition in life was peculiarly comfortable. I was brought up in an
old manor-house inhabited by a gentleman and his daughter, with
several respectable and good-natured servants. My education was
conducted with care, and from my earliest youth I had the advantage of
an introduction into good society. I was not, indeed, allowed to come
much into the drawing-room, as my master said I was too large for a
drawing-room dog; but I had the range of the lower part of the house,
and constant admittance to his study, where I was welcome to share his
fireside while he read the newspapers or received visitors. I took great
interest in his friends; and by means of listening to their conversation,
watching them from under my eyelids while they thought I was asleep,
and smelling them carefully, I could form a sufficiently just estimate of
their characters to regulate my own conduct towards them. Though a
polite dog both by birth and breeding, I was too honest and independent
to show the same respect and cordiality towards those whom I liked
and those whom I despised; and though very grateful for the smallest
favours from persons I esteemed, no flattery, caresses, or benefactions
could induce me to strike up an intimacy with one who did not please
me. If I had been able to speak, I should have expressed my opinions
without ceremony; and it often surprised me that my master, who could
say what he pleased, did not quarrel with people, and tell them all their
faults openly. I thought, if I had been he, I would have had many a fight
with intruders, to whom he was not only civil himself, but compelled
me to be so too. I have often observed that it appears proper for human
beings to observe a kind of respect even towards persons they dislike; a
line of conduct which brutes cannot understand.
However,