Emily M. Madden's cat Mouton. Drawings by Emily M. Madden, 1856-1859.

Name of Emily M. Madden inscribed on inner flyleaf in an adult hand, presumably written when the blank book was given to Emily Madden. Title page drawing of cat called Mouton saying "This is my book. Miau-u-u!". Further drawings show Mouton in various scenes: in an encounter with an elephant; in courtier costume attending a queen on a throne; dancing with a rat; horse riding, and jumping through a hoop held by a pig; being attacked by a giant vampire bat; fighting duels; shooting at mice; sitting with a hedgehog eating a boiled egg; and many more. Following these, one page (fol. 31r) has a lament written in pencil and marked with tear-stains: 'Poor dear Mouton died on Sunday 20th November 1859 at 9 o'clock p.m. To my unending grief. F.M."; then follows on fol. 32r "Epitaph. Ci repose pauvre Mouton, / Qui jamais ne fût glouton; / J'espère bien que le Roi Pluton / Lui donnera bon gîte et crouton!" Shortly after this point, most of the pages are blank. On fol. 35r is a pen and ink drawing of Mouton's successor, the spaniel Fido, sleeping, inscribed "Fido in his crinoline Novr, 1863"

"A 'French' tom-cat named Mouton, given to Frederic Madden by a bookseller in 1854, was the innocent cause of exasperation with Panizzi when he was shut up for two days or so in the latter's basement, not, in FM's opinion, by accident. The cat came home, however, before anyone claimed the twenty-shilling reward. Despite the administrations of an experienced zoo-keeper and veterinarian, Mouton died five years later, whereupon FM had him stuffed and set up in the dining room, and as a further memorial, published an epitaph to him in French in Notes and queries (3rd series, V, no. 128, 11 June 1864, 475)" (Ackerman, op. cit., p. 38)

"Mouton's successor, also a 'French' cat called Memel died of phthisis, and thereafter dogs were preferred. The first of these, Fido, a Blenheim spaniel, was the animal that aroused Panizzi's anger and prompted a quarrel, one of the few altercations with his rival in which FM was victorious. Fido ... was buried under a lilac bush on the Museum premises (Diary [of Frederic Madden] 8 June 1864)" (Ackerman, op. cit., p. 38)

[1859?]

1 sketchbook : 69 leaves ; sheets 19.7 x 15.8 cm

Emily M. Madden 1859

Emily Mary Madden was the daughter of Sir Frederic Madden of the British Museum (1801-1873) and his second wife Emily Sarah Madden (1813-1873): they married in 1837, and Emily Mary was born in April 1848 (Ackerman p. 19). She married first in 1870 Lieut. Col. Edward Tedlie of the 60th Royal Rifles, with whom she spent a tour of duty in India; and after his death in 1877, she married as her second husband William Holley, who predeceased her in 1898 (Ackerman p. 4)

R.W. Ackerman, Sir Frederic Madden: a biographical sketch, New York 1979

Wellcome Collection 28112i