"Mrs. Forster uttered a hideous yell, and threw the animal at the heads of the spectators."  From Newton Forster by Frederick Marryat and illustrated by E. J. Sullivan, 1897.

The reason cats dart is revealed in this illustrarion from Phantastes: A Faerie Romance by George MacDonald (1894).

Here's a precursor to the Bonnie Tyler song 'If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man),' from Gryll Grange by Thomas Love Peacock (1896).  The caption reads: "If you were a bachelor, and I were a maid, I should not trust myself to be your aga—aga—."

An illustration from Merriment and Mirth for Merry Little People (1889).  The caption reads: "For the owl and cats and I all grew larger every minute."

A pipe smoking black cat and its witchy familiar fly on a broomstick under cover of chimney smoke. An illustration from an 1860 issue of Punch magazine.

A precursor to Jerry slicing Tom in half, in the Hanna-Barbera cartoon: an illustration from an 1862 issue of Punch magazine.

An illustration from a 1906 issue of Puck magazine.  Speaking of which, one of the many things we admire about our British brethren is that they've long been consciously aware that they've slipped down the rabbit hole.  So very few nations realize they're in Wonderland.

It's raining cats, if not dogs.  The caption reads: "I saw many myriads of spectral kitten forms and unsubstantial egg-shapes."  From an 1895 issue of Punch.

"Cats' Ghosts":  an illustration from an 1895 issue of The Idler magazine.

An illustration from an 1895 issue of The Windsor magazine.

An illustration from an 1892 issue of Harper's magazine.  The caption reads: "Hey, black cat!  Hey, my pretty black cat!"