The History of Sir Richard Whittington | Page 2

the bells rung out varies very much in the
different versions.
In Richard Johnson's ballad (1612) we find--
"Whittington, back return."
which is then amplified into--
"Turn againe, Whittington,
For thou in time shall grow
Lord Maior
of London."
In T. H.'s History (see p. 11) we have--
"Turn again, Whittington, Lord Mayor of London."
In the later chap-book version this is altered into--
"Turn again, Whittington,
Lord Mayor of great London."
It will be seen that the special reference to the fact that Whittington was
three times Lord Mayor is not to be found in either the ballads or the
chap-books.
In the Life_, by the author of _George Barnwell (1811), however we
read--
"Return again, Whittington,
Thrise Lord Mayor of London."
And in The Life and Times of Whittington (1841)--
"Turn again, turn again, Whittington,
Three times Lord Mayor of
London."

In the early version of the History by T. H. the fanciful portions are
only allowed to occupy a small portion of the whole, and a long
account is given of Whittington's real actions, but, in the later
chap-book versions, the historical incidents are ruthlessly cut down,
and the fictitious ones amplified. This will be seen by comparing the
two printed here. Thus T. H. merely says (p. 6) that Whittington was
obscurely born, and that being almost starved in the country he came
up to London. In the later chap-book the journey to London is more
fully enlarged upon (p. xxxiii.), and among those at Whittington's
marriage with Alice Fitzwarren the name of the Company of Stationers
not then in existence is foisted in (pp. xlii.) It does not appear in T. H.'s
History.
In many other particulars the later chap-book which contains the story
as known to modern readers is amplified, and thus shows signs of a
very late origin.
With regard to the three fictitious points of Whittington's history
mentioned at the beginning of this preface, the first--his poor
parentage--is disposed of by documentary evidence; the second--his
sitting on a stone at Highgate hill--has been shown to be quite a modern
invention; and the third--the story of the cat--has been told of so many
other persons in different parts of the world that there is every reason to
believe it to be a veritable folk-tale joined to the history of Whittington
from some unexplained connection. None of the early historians who
mention Whittington allude to the incident of the cat, and it is only to
be found in popular literature, ballads, plays, &c. The story seems to
have taken its rise in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The reason why
however the life of Whittington should have been chosen as the stock
upon which this folk-tale should be grafted is still unexplained. Some
have supposed that he obtained his money by the employment of
"cats," or vessels for the carriage of coals; but this suggestion does not
appear to be worthy of much consideration.
It is said that at Newgate, which owed much to Whittington, there was
a statue of him with a cat, which was destroyed in the Great Fire; and in
1862, when some alterations were made in an old house at Gloucester,

which had been occupied by the Whittington family until 1460, a stone
was said to have been dug up on which was a basso-relievo
representing the figure of a boy carrying a cat in his arms. This find,
however, appears rather suspicious.
Keightley devotes a whole chapter of his Tales and Popular Fictions to
the legend of Whittington and his Cat, in which he points out how
many similar stories exist. The Facezie, of Arlotto, printed soon after
the author's death in 1483, contain a tale of a merchant of Genoa,
entitled "Novella delle Gatte," and probably from this the story came to
England, although it is also found in a German chronicle of the
thirteenth century. Sir William Ouseley, in his Travels, 1819, speaking
of an island in the Persian Gulf, relates, on the authority of a Persian
MS., that "in the tenth century, one Keis, the son of a poor widow in
Siráf, embarked for India with a cat, his only property. There he
fortunately arrived at a time when the palace was so infested by mice or
rats that they invaded the king's food, and persons were employed to
drive them from the royal banquet. Keis produced his cat; the noxious
animals soon disappeared, and magnificent rewards were bestowed on
the adventurer of Siráf, who returned to that city, and afterwards, with
his mother and brothers, settled on the island, which from him has been
denominated Keis, or according to the Persians Keisch." Mr.
Halliwell-Phillipps quotes from the Description of Guinea (1665) the
record of "how Alphonso, a Portuguese, being wrecked on the coast of
Guinney, and being presented by the king thereof