Found while updating my bibliography of North Staffordshire folklore, an item which seems relevant to two of Lovecraft’s abiding interests. In the newly published book of essays on Human-Animal Interactions in the Eighteenth Century ($ paywall), Chapter 12 is “‘For I Will Consider My Cat Jeoffry’: Cats and Creativity in Eighteenth-Century Britain”…

Cats became very popular pets during the eighteenth century, especially in the cities, as Britain gradually moved from being a predominantly agrarian society to an increasingly urbanised world. Yet cats did not lose their magical powers, as many popular folklore tales bore witness. Cats, purring by the fireside, were familiar domestic friends, whilst retaining their relative feline aloofness and ‘strangeness’. Their alliance of opposing characteristics was a source of great literary and intellectual creativity. Thus cats conveyed ‘electric’ messages….