Our English Cardinal Wolsey also had a fondness for cats, and more than once was found by some great dignitary amusing himself with a kitten. One favorite was sometimes seen with him in the Council Chamber; and it may well have entered into the final sum of his offenses that he preferred the society of intelligent cats to that of empty-headed bigwigs! In the last century there was a Mlle. Dupuy living in France, of whom few people now know anything; but who, nevertheless, in her own day had a reputation as an exquisite performer on the harp. Furthermore, she possessed a cat who had also some claim to be called an authority in harpistry. Before a performance in public, Mlle. Dupuy would rehearse privately before him. He always listened with critical attention, and if any notes displeased, would growl. Such notes she always amended, trying them over until he ceased growling. The lady never married, and when in course of time she died, her will was found to provide, among other bequests, for the maintenance of this little friend and critic. Sad to relate, however, the will was set aside by grasping relatives, and Pussy’s fate is unknown. Fourier had a magnificent cat--a great pet--in his house at Lyons; and it is recorded of this rather grim philosopher, that he could never see a pretty cat or kitten on the street without stopping to caress it. Lord Eldon, the jurist, had a room full of cats, and once when, owing to some bone of contention, they grew extremely noisy, went into the room and solemnly read the Riot Act--with what effect we are not told. Lord Chesterfield gave all his cats--and they were many--a life pension, that they might not suffer, after his death, from some other master’s indifference. More fortunate than Mlle. Dupuy, his will was carried out. A very famous cat, indeed, is the one that befriended Sir Henry Wyatt in his hour of need. According to the epitaph on his monument, this gentleman “was imprisoned and tortured in the Tower, in the reign of Richard III.,” where he “was fed and preserved by a cat.” In manuscript family papers the story is more fully told, as follows: