Mr Samuel Pepys had at least a gentle nature as regards animals

Mr Samuel Pepys had at least a gentle nature as regards animals

Mr Samuel Pepys had at least a gentle nature as regards animals

Mr. Samuel Pepys had at least a gentle nature as regards animals, if he was not a lover of cats, for in his Diary occurs this note as to the Fire of London, 1666:

"September 5th. Thence homeward having passed through
Cheapside and Newgate Market, all burned; and seen Antony Joyce's
house on fire. And took up (which I keep by me) a piece of glass
of Mercer's chapel in the street, where much more was, so melted
and buckled with the heat of the fire like parchment. I did also
see a poor cat taken out of a hole in a chimney, joining the wall
of the Exchange, with the hair all burned off its body and yet

alive."

Dr. Jortin wrote a Latin epitaph on a favourite cat: