Tom was not long relating the occasion, and after having held a short conference with the gravest and most sagacious, he appointed the hour and place of assignation, which was at the mouse-trap- maker’s house between the hours of twelve and one at night.
They met according to appointment, when all the house was asleep, and he shewed the machines, at the fame time interpreting the use of them to his brethren, and the next thing that came upon the tapis,* was what to do with them, how to dispose of them, and in fine* how to destroy: them; and the result of this short conference was to burn them on the spot; they accordingly gathered the chips and shavings that lay about the shop, and dragging about two hundred of them, which were finished, they in an hour’s time set fire to them all; as there was a fire in the shop* it was easily done by sixty Cats, who were as busy as their indignation could make them, nor did they much care whether they set the house on fire as they detested every thing in it, both the house and the master.
From ‘The Life and Adventures of a Cat’ (1760) by an anonymous author. With acknowledgements to ‘Tom - the Life and Adventures of a Cat The First Cat Novel in World Literature’ (2024) by Frank-Daniel Schulten.
* To be ‘on the tapis’ is to be up for discussion. A tapis (from Greek tapetion, little carpet, via Middle French) is a cloth, such as a tablecloth, a carpet, a rug or a curtain. The phrase mettre quelque chose sur le tapis (‘put something on the rug’) is still used in French to mean ‘put something up for discussion’.
* In fine is Latin for ‘in the end’, that is, at the close of debate.
* That is, there was a hearth with a domestic fire on it still burning at that late hour, which allowed Cats (who are not known for their ability to strike matches) to kindle their wood-shavings.