June 28, 1712 is the birthdate of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Judging from his "Confessions" he had a cat. Quoting:
"How eagerly I ran every morning at sunrise to breathe the perfumed air of the peristyle. What delicious cafe au lait I took there with my Therese. My cat and dog kept us company This retinue alone would have been enough for my whole life I should never have experienced a moment's weariness I was in an earthly paradise I lived there in the same state of innocence and enjoyed the same happiness."
Rousseau is interesting, he inaugurated a new confessional personal style of literature. The Queen of France read his books, though others would later blame Rousseau for the revolution. We think of him as modern, but few recall that he dropped the children of his mistresses off at an orphanage. Still, how very French the above quote sounds.
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