Page:The power of the dog.djvu/156



N those days of Platonism and "sensibility," which formed such a curious phase of the feminism of the Sixteenth century, no woman was happy without a pet dog, probably a poodle. Their love of animals was particular rather than general. As M. de Maulde says in "The Women of the Renaissance," "Ladies only valued the boudoir pet, the little, affectionate, obedient animal, their very own, which meekly took their kisses and upon which they lavished without misgiving a portion of their tenderness: a bird, for instance, or a pug. I say a pug, for there was seldom more than one. What was the good of a troop of shaggy animals, however graceful, like those which fill the canvases of Veronese? A lady much preferred her one little lap dog, which she carried on her arm against her heart, took to bed with her, and had painted in her own portrait." Probably the author is inexact