[HPforGrownups] Cat, Rat and Dog

[Caius Marcius]

No: HPFGUIDX 13142

Just came across this on the newsgroup
humanities.lit.authors.shakespeare.Was JKR referencing this bit of doggerel
in the heading for chapter 17 in PoA? (And might we read "Hogwarts" for
"Hog"?)

 - CMC

Nicholas Gestalt wrote:
>
> A cat, a rat, and Lovell the dog
> Ruleth all England under a hog.
>
> I can't remember where I read about this bit of graffiti, where it was
found or
> when it was found.  Does anyone know?  I think it was after Shakespeare's
day
> but I'm not sure.
>
> Thanks
>
> Dlragrla

Here's how Brewer puts it:

"Rat, Cat, and Dog.

  The cat, the rat, and Lovel our dog,
  Rule all England under an hog.

The famous lines affixed to the door of St. Paul's and other
places in the City of London in 1484 at the instigation of
William Collyngburne, for which, according to the *Great
Chronicle of London*, "he was drawn unto the Tower Hill and
there full cruelly put to death, at first hanged and straight
cut down and ripped, and his bowels cast into the fire". The
rhyme implied that the kingdom was ruled by Francis, Viscount
Lovel, the king's "spaniel" or dog; Sir Richard Ratcliffe, the
Rat; and William Catesby, Speaker of the House of Commons, the
Cat. The Hog was the white boar or cognizance of Richard III."


Peter F.
peter.f at rey.prestel.co.uk
http://www2.prestel.co.uk/rey/