They say a dog is a man’s best friend, but with Dr Samuel Johnson is was definitely a cat. Hodge to be specific.
Hodge, Samuel Johnson ‘s famous black cat, was immortalised in James Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson (1791). ‘I never shall forget the indulgence with which he treated Hodge, his cat: for whom he himself used to go out and buy oysters, lest the servants having that trouble should take a dislike to the poor creature….’
Although Johnson had a few cats, Hodge was his favourite.
A bronze statue of Hodge the cat was unveiled in 1997 outside the London house he shared with his owner, Samuel Johnson. Sculpted by Jon Bickley, the statue shows Hodge sitting next to empty oyster shells on a copy of Johnson’s dictionary. An inscription on the statue reads, “a very fine cat indeed.” Visitors often place coins in the oyster shells for good luck, and a pink ribbon is occasionally tied to the statue for special occasions. The sculptor, who grew up near Johnson’s birthplace, based the statue on his own cat and designed it to be “shoulder height” so that people could easily put their arm around it.
Society Of Feline Artists 