_(To the Editor of the Mirror.)_
As several of your correspondents have lately interested themselves in the
sign of "The Cat and Fiddle;" a few observations may not be thought
irrelevant, on the probable origin of the "King's Stag," a description of
which, under the signature, _Ruris_, appeared in the MIRROR, of Saturday,
the 30th ult. Its rise may, I conceive, with tolerable certainty, be
traced to the stag said to have been taken in the Forest of Senlis, by
Charles the Sixth, about whose neck was a collar, with the inscription,
"_Caesar hoc mihi donavit_," which induced a belief that the animal had
lived from the reign of some one of the twelve Caesars. This inscription
also exists in the following form:--
"Tempore, quo Caesar Româ, dominatus in altâ
Aureolo jussit collum signare moniti;
Ne depascentem quisquis me gramina laedat,
Caesaris heu causâ, periturae parcere vitae."
which has been thus literally translated in nearly the same words quoted
by _Ruris_--
"When Julius Caesar reigned king,
About my neck he put this ring,
That whosoever did me take,
Should spare my life for Caesar's sake."
It thus appears that _Julius_ Caesar is gratuitously introduced by the
English paraphrast, nothing appearing in the original inscription to
determine its application, or render it more probable, that the reference
should be to Julius Caesar, than to Domitian; and the two first lines
given by _Ruris_, have evidently been introduced by way of transferring
the subject to our own country.
Allow me before concluding this communication, one word in reply to E.D.'s
observations on the "Cat and Fiddle." It is not impossible that some
resemblance (though I am disposed to think it very trifling) may exist
between the "tones of a _flute_" and those of "the human voice;" but I
have yet to learn wherein consists the similarity of the notes of the
clarinet and those of a "GOOSE;" neither do I imagine performers on the
violin, (especially Italians,) will feel themselves obliged by E.D.'s
comparison of their favourite instrument, to the vile squall of the feline
race. On the whole, I should feel more disposed to concur with him who
"has been led away by a love of etymology" that the "Cat and Fiddle" is an
"anomalous" sign, and that "no two objects in the world have less to do
with each other than a cat and a violin," than to adopt the opposite
theories of E.D. or his predecessor, unless better supported than they are
at present. IOTA.
* * * * *