Dublin.
_Tortoiseshell Tom Cat_ (Vol. v., p. 465.).--I always thought the
tortoiseshell tom cat was an animal of very rare occurrence; but I was not
aware, until I read the Note of your correspondent W. R., that it was
unknown in natural history. The late (and highly respected) Mr. John
Bannister, familiarly called "Jack Bannister," wrote, more than forty years
ago, a humorous and witty _jeu d'esprit_ on this subject: this was composed
for his "Budget," a species of entertainment from which the late Mr.
Matthews took the idea of his "At Home;" an entertainment exhibiting a most
extraordinary range of talent, and must be fresh in the memory of most of
your readers. It supposes the auctioneer, "Mr. Catseye," in the Great Room
in "Cateaton Street," and opens thus:
"Oh! what a story the papers have been telling us
About a little animal of wond'rous price;
Who but an auctioneer would ever think of selling us,
For two hundred yellow-boys, a trap for mice?"
&c. &c.
Having, humorously described the company assembled, and enlarged on the
"beauty and rarity" of the animal, it thus concludes:
"Now louder and warmer the competition growing,
Politeness nearly banished in the grand _fracas_;
Two hundred, two hundred and thirty-three--a-going!
Gone! Never cat of _talents_ surely met avidly such _éclat_!
E'en nine or ten fine gentlemen were in the fashion caught as well,
As ladies in their bidding for this purring piece of tortoiseshell.
And the buyer bore him off in triumph, after all the fun was done,
And bells rang, as if Whittington had been Lord Mayor of London;
Mice and rats flung up their hats, to find that cats so scarce were,
And mouse-trap makers raised their prices cent. per cent.!"