Sur mes genoux un chat qui se joue et folâtre,
Un livre pour veiller, un fauteil pour devenir.
Béranger, in his idyl The Cat, makes an intelligent cat a go-between of lovers. Baudelaire returned from his wanderings in the East a devotee of cats, and addressed to them several fine bits of verse; they are seen in his poetry, as dogs in the paintings of Paul Veronese. Here is a sample:
Come, beauty, rest upon my loving heart,
But cease thy paws’ sharp-nailèd play,
And let me peer into those eyes that dart
Mixed agate and metallic ray.
Again:
Grave scholars and mad lovers all admire
And love, and each alike, at his full tide