E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Froude’s Cat.
This cat wanted to know what was good for life, and everyone gave her queer answers. The owl said, “Meditate, O cat;” and so she tried to think which could have come first, the fowl or the egg. (Short Studies on Great Subjects.)
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“If I were to ask, like Froude’s cat, ‘What is my duty?’ you would answer, I suppose, like the sagacious animal in the parable, ‘Get your own dinuer … . that is my duty, I suppose.’”—Edna Lyall: Donovan, chap. ix.
