TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE This book was published in 1760 at a time when there was no standardized spelling, and this etext is a careful reproduction of the original book. Except for a small number of changes noted at the end of the book, the punctuation and spelling in the text has been left unchanged. Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. Two or more dashes in the original text are generally denoted by — (emdash). However in names (such as ‘the D--- of -------’ in the original text) the dashes are denoted by —— (double emdash). THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF A CAT. [Illustration: (decorative icon in shape of a cat’s head)] LONDON: Printed for WILLOUGHBY MYNORS, in Middle-Row, Holborn. M DCC LX. [Illustration:(decorative banner)] THE HISTORY OF A CAT. CHAP. I. _On the sagacity of_ Cats, _superiour to that of any other animal_. It has been ever a sage remark of the wisest philosophers, that all creatures bear about them the criterion of their peculiar nature: Such as the ferocity of the Lyon, the grimness of the Tyger, the cunning of the Fox: Among the animals who boast of gravity, none can pretend to that sedateness which the _Cat_, on first view, arrogates to itself above all others. The _Owl_, indeed, has time immemorial, dared to enter the lists, and therefore was by the ignorant ancients, dedicated to _Minerva_, the goddess of _Wisdom_, but whether the Owl’s letters patent were ever made out for that title, is a question, which must be decided by the more learned, _Et, adhuc sub judice lis est._