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Selima
Selima was a tortoiseshell tabby cat owned by Horace Walpole (1717-1779). He was a friend of the poet Thomas Gray, and when the poor cat was drowned in a goldfish bowl, Gray wrote a poem to commemorate the event, called Ode on the death of a favourite cat drowned in a tub of Gold Fishes (1748). Here is an extract from that poem:
' Twas on a lofty vase's side,
Where China's gayest art had dyed
The azure flowers that blow;
Demurest of the tabby kind,
The pensive Selma reclined,
Gazed on the lake below.
Her conscious tail her joy declared;
The fair round face, the snowy beard,
The velvet of her paws,
Her coat, that with the tortoise vies,
Her ears of jet, and emerald eyes.
She saw; and purred applause.
Thomas Gray