March 31, 1844

An odd flight to fantasy accompanied the crowning of the natural sciences in the last half of the 19th century.  Andrew Lang (March 31,  1844 to July 20, 1912) is just one example. Here is one of many cats illustrating his fairy tale collections.




This is from The Crimson Fairy Book (1903) , a story titled "The Colony of Cats."
And elsewhere Andrew Lang wrote:

Of all animals the cat alone attains to the contemplative life. He regards the wheel of existence from without, like the Buddha.

Following is a biographical sketch on Lang. The full text is available here.

Andrew Lang was born in Selkirk, Scotland on 31 March 1844, eldest son of Jane Plenderleath Sellar and John Lang. Young Andrew's education started at the Selkirk Grammar School; he then went on to attend Edinburgh Academy. He next attended University of St. Andrews, which now hosts the Andrew Lang Lecture series in his honour. Lang then went to Balliol College, Oxford, England. His Oxford: Brief Historical and Descriptive Notes was published in 1880. He was Fellow of Merton College from 1865 to 1874. Lang studied Latin and Greek, especially the Homeric texts, and began translations from the French the poetry of François Villon, Pierre de Ronsard, and others. Lang was also writing his own poetry, Ballads and Lyrics of Old France(1872) his first publication. Other poetry collections include Ballads in Blue China (1880), Helen of Troy(1882), Rhymes à la Mode (1884), Grass of Parnassus(1888), Ban and Arriere Ban (1894), and New Collected Rhymes (1905).

Lang's childhood days in the Scottish Borderland of Selkirk, the land and history of William Wallace and Bonnie Prince Charlie and his Highlanders, his jaunts through heath and wood, fishing in the local streams, and reading such books as Grimm's Fairy Tales and the works of William Shakespeare, Madame d'Aulnoy, and Sir Walter Scott inspired his love of folklore, magic, and myth. Lang moved to London in 1875 to try his hand at journalism, the same year he married Leonore Blanche Alleyne. They would have no children. While Lang was editor of and wrote a popular column for Longman's Magazine, he continued his prodigious output, with dozens of articles and essays published in newspapers and magazines including Cornhill Magazine, Macmillan's, The Daily Post, Fortnightly Review, the Overland Mail, Fraser's and Time magazine. His dry wit and sardonic style earned him much acclaim. He was an avid golfer and fisherman and he and Leonore travelled to France and Italy.

Many honours were bestowed on Lang during his lifetime including Doctorates in Classics from the University of St. Andrews and Oxford, in 1885 and 1904 respectively... In 1911 he was voted President of the Psychical Research Society. After many years of ill-health, Andrew Lang died on 20 July 1912 in Aberdeen, Scotland. He now rests in the cathedral precincts of St. Andrews.