Hodge (cat)

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Statue of the cat Hodge in the courtyard outside Dr. Johnson's House, 17 Gough Square, London.

Hodge was one of Samuel Johnson's cats, immortalized in a characteristically whimsical passage in James Boswell's Life of Johnson

1 Quotation
2 Popular culture
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Quotation

I never shall forget the indulgence with which he treated Hodge, his cat: for whom he himself used to go out and buy oysters, lest the servants having that trouble should take a dislike to the poor creature. I am, unluckily, one of those who have an antipathy to a cat, so that I am uneasy when in the room with one; and I own, I frequently suffered a good deal from the presence of this same Hodge. 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 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, adding, 'but he is a very fine cat, a very fine cat indeed.'

This reminds me of the ludicrous account which he gave Mr. Langton, of the despicable state of a young Gentleman of good family. 'Sir, when I heard of him last, he was running about town shooting cats.' And then in a sort of kindly reverie, he bethought himself of his own favourite cat, and said, 'But Hodge shan't be shot; no, no, Hodge shall not be shot.'^[1]

The latter paragraph is used as the epigraph to Vladimir Nabokov's acclaimed poem/novel Pale Fire.

Note that Johnson bought oysters for his cat. In modern England, oysters are an expensive food for the well-to-do, but in the 18th century oysters were plentiful around the coasts of England and so cheap that they were a staple food of the poor.

On his death, Hodge's life was celebrated by an elegy by Percival Stockdale. Today he is remembered by a bronze statue, unveiled by the Lord Mayor of the City of London in 1997, outside the house he shared with Johnson and Francis Barber, Johnson's black manservant.

[edit] Popular culture

The cat Hodge - along with Dr. Johnson's second favorite cat, Lily - are the subjects of a book by Yvonne Skargon (Johnson is also given authorial credit) entitled, Lily and Hodge and Dr. Johnson (1993, Hyperion Books, ISBN-13: 978-1851830282). The book consists of quotations from Johnson's Dictionary, accompanied by Skargon's woodcarving illustrations of the two cats, contextually associated with the dictionary entries.