THE BOOK OF YEA EXORDIUM THE ABBOT MILO _URBI ET ORBI_, CONCERNING THE NATURE OF THE LEOPARD I like this good man's account of leopards, and find it more pertinent to my matter than you might think.

Milo was a Carthusian monk, abbot of the cloister of Saint Mary-of-the-Pine by Poictiers; it was his distinction to be the life-long friend of a man whose friendships were few: certainly it may be said of him that he knew as much of leopards as any one of his time and nation, and that his knowledge was better grounded.
'Your leopard,' he writes, 'is alleged in the books to be offspring of the Lioness and the Pard; and his name, if the Realists have any truth on their side, establishes the fact.

But I think he should be called Leolupe, which is to say, got by lion out of bitch-wolf, since two essences burn in him as well as two sorts.

This is the nature of the leopard: it is a spotted beast, having two souls, a bright soul and a dark soul.

It is black and golden, slim and strong, cat and dog.