Yes, I mean the cartoon cat and mouse. No, the Regency did not have cartoons, not as we know them, even though Peter Mark Roget, of Thesaurus fame, did present a paper entitled Explanation of an optical deception in the appearance of the spokes of a wheel when seen through vertical apertures, in 1824, which ultimately led to the invention of the Zoetrope and similar devices which were the antecedents of the film industry. Three years before Dr. Roget presented his paper, Pierce Egan, a successful Regency-era journalist, published the first number of his new urban sporting journal called Life in London.

Not only do we have Pierce Egan to thank, if that is the correct word, for the animated Tom & Jerry, but also in part for The Nonesuch, The Corinthian, Faro's Daughter, Arabella, Friday's Child, Bath Tangle, Cotillion, Regency Buck ...

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