in which a cat is exhorted to vacate a chair, c 1814

thanks pixabay (CC0 Creative Commons)

In the poem below, the living Cat, and the Cat living at Bristol, is one and the same, and he's named Cropps.  Just so you know going in.

LINES
Addressed to a living Cat, and to a Cat living at Bristol.
(Written at Bristol at the Request of her Mistress.)

O CAT! thy virtues to rehearse,
Does honor to my feeble verse;
Sure never cat was like to thee,
Such qualities in you I see;
So kind, so faithful, and so good,
You must be born of noble blood;
So restless after rats and mice,
You scent, then kill 'em in a trice,
If at them you can get, and if not,
Your mistress moves away the black pot
At your request, who, purring, ask

Her to perform that grateful task.
You watch your mistress while asleep,
And on her breast most faithful keep.
O, Cropps! still may you long survive
All other cats that near you live;
When they lie mould'ring in the dust,
May you drink milk to quench your thirst;
While they are rotting in the grave,
May you the house from vermin save;
But that you may, be careful, Cropps,
When into chair your master pops,
You swiftly from that chair descend,
Lest crush'd you are and meet your end.
A burnt child dreads the sight of fire,
And you did nearly once expire;
By stopping in the chair too long.
When down your master sat so strong;
Be careful, then, of master's chair —
I'll say no more to you this year.

-- from Prince, J. H. b. 1770. Eccentric Effusions, Consisting of Poems, Humorous, Satirical, Sentimental And Moral. London, 1814. pp. 65-6.