And then it goes on to say:--
4th. That the teithi and the legal worth of a cat are coequal.
5th. A pound is the worth of a pet animal of the king.
6th. The pet animal of a breyer (brewer) is six score pence in value.
7th. The pet animal of a taoog is a curt penny in value.
In the 39th chapter, 53d section, we find that "there are three animals
whose tails, eyes, and lives are of the same value--a calf, a filly for
common work, and a cat, except the cat which shall watch the king's
barn," in which case she was more valuable.
Another old Welsh law says: "Three animals reach their worth in a year:
a sheep, a cat, and a cur. This is a complement of the legal hamlet;
nine buildings, one plough, one kiln, one churn, and one cat, one cock,
one bull, and one herdsman."
In order that there might be no mistake in regard to the cat, a rough
sketch of Puss is given in the Mss. of the laws.]
That cats, even in the Middle Ages, were thought much more highly of in
Great Britain than on the Continent is proved by the fact that the laws
there imposed a heavy fine on cat-killers, the fine being as much wheat
as would serve to bury the cat when he was held up by the tip of the
tail with his nose on the ground. So that pet cats stood a fairly good
chance in those days.
One of the good things remembered of Louis XIII is that he interceded as
Dauphin with Henri IV for the lives of the cats about to be burned at
the festival on St.
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