"HODGE."


Many have a dislike to cats; but when boys say they hate cats, it is to
be feared that they mostly do so that they may have an excuse for
hunting and ill-treating them. In some cases, however, there is a
natural antipathy which those who possess it cannot help, though it
seems very foolish and unreasonable.

James Boswell tells us that he was "unluckily one of those who have an
antipathy to a cat," so that he was uneasy when in a room with one. It
certainly was rather unlucky, for he was writing the life of Dr.
Johnson, and wishing to be as much in his company as possible was
frequently at his house. Now the Doctor had a favorite tomcat whom he
called "Hodge," and Boswell relates how he "suffered from the presence
of this same Hodge."

He says, "I recollect him one day scrambling up Dr. Johnson's breast,
apparently with much satisfaction, while my friend, smiling and half
whistling, rubbed down his back and pulled him by the tail, and when I
observed that he was a fine cat, saying, 'Why, yes, Sir, but I have had
cats whom I liked better than this,' and then, as if perceiving Hodge to
be out of countenance, he added! 'But he's a very fine cat; a very fine
cat, indeed.'"

Hodge was well taken care of, and did not have to catch rats for a
living, for the Doctor was in the habit of treating him to oysters.