The History of Sir Richard Whittington | Page 4

fear
Of many a mouse
and rat.
Meat that in trenchers lay,
No way they could keepe safe
But by
rats borne away,
Fearing no wand or staff.
Whereupon, soone they
brought
Whittington's nimble cat;
Which by the king was bought;

Heapes of gold giv'n for that.
Home againe came these men

With their ships loaden so;

Whittington's wealth began
By this cat thus to grow.
Scullions life
he forsooke
To be a marchant good,
And soon began to looke

How well his credit stood.
After that he was chose
Shriefe of the citty heere,
And then full

quickly rose
Higher as did appeare.
For to this cities praise
Sir
Richard Whittington
Came to be in his dayes
Thrise Maior of
London.
More his fame to advance,
Thousands he lent his king
To maintaine
warres in France,
Glory from thence to bring.
And after, at a feast,

Which he the king did make,
He burnt the bonds all in jeast,
And
would no money take.
Ten thousand pound he gave
To his prince willingly,
And would
not one penny have.
This in kind courtesie.
God did thus make him
great,
So would he daily see
Poor people fed with meat,
To shew
his charity.
Prisoners poore cherish'd were,
Widdowes sweet comfort found;

Good deeds, both far and neere,
Of him do still resound.

Whittington Colledge is
One of his charities,
Records reporteth this

To lasting memories.
Newgate he builded faire,
For prisoners to live in;
Christ's Church
he did repaire,
Christian love for to win.
Many more such like
deedes
Were done by Whittington;
Which joy and comfort breedes,

To such as looke thereon.
Lancashire thou hast bred
This flower of charity;
Though he be
gone and dead,
Yet lives he lastingly.
Those bells that call'd him so,

'Turne again, Whittington,'
Call you back may moe
To live so in
London."
This ballad, as it stands here with the exception of the last stanza, was
reprinted in A Collection of Old Ballads, 1823, vol. i. p. 130.
This ballad is the original of all the later ballads, although the titles
have been greatly varied. The Roxburghe ballad (vol. iii. p. 58) is dated
in the British Museum Catalogue 1641[?]. Its full title is as follows:--

"London's Glory and Whittington's Renown, or a Looking Glass for
Citizens of London, being a remarkable story how Sir Richard
Whittington (a poor boy bred up in Lancashire) came to be three times
Lord Mayor of London in three several kings' reigns, and how his rise
was by a cat, which he sent by a venture beyond sea. Together with his
bountiful gifts and liberality given to this honourable City, and the vast
sums of money he lent the King to maintain the wars in France; and
how at a great Feast, to which he invited the King, the Queen, and the
Nobility, he generously burnt the writings and freely forgave his
Majesty the whole Debt. Tune of 'Dainty, come thou to me.' London:
Printed for R. Burton, at the Horse Shoe in West Smithfield."
The bulk of the ballad is the same as Richard Johnson's, but the
following first stanza is added, the original first stanza becoming the
second:--
"Brave London Prentices,
Come listen to my song,
Tis for your
glory all
And to you both belong.
And you poor country lads,

Though born of low degree,
See by God's providence
What you in
time may be."
The second half of the original seventh stanza, and the eighth, ninth,
and tenth stanzas, are left out.
Immediately before the last stanza the following one is introduced:--
"Let all kynde Citizens
Who do this story read,
By his example
learn
Always the poor to feed.
What is lent to the poor
The Lord
will sure repay,
And blessings keep in store
Until the latter day."
The other alterations are not many, and chiefly consist in

transpositions by which the rhymes are varied. This may be seen by
comparing with the original the Roxburghe version of the last stanza
which is as follows:--
"Lancashire, thou hast bred
This flower of charity;
Though he be
dead and gone,
Yet lives his memory.
Those bells that call'd him so,


Turn again, Whittington,
Would they call may moe
Such men to
fair London."
At the end of one of the chap-books there is a version of the ballad in
which Lancashire is replaced by Somersetshire.
In the same volume of the Roxburghe Ballads (p. 470) is a short
version [1710?] containing a few only of the verses taken from the
ballad. It is illustrated with some woodcuts from T. H.'s earlier History.
"An old Ballad of Whittington and his Cat, who from a poor boy came
to be thrice Lord Mayor of London. Printed and sold in Aldermary
Church Yard, London."
There is a copy of this in the Chetham Library.
The following are some of the chief references to Whittington's story in
literature after the publication of Johnson's ballad, arranged in
chronological order:--
"As if a new-found Whittington's rare cat,
Come to extoll their
birth-rights above that
Which nature once intended."--
Stephens's Essayes and Characters, 1615.
"Faith, how many churches do you mean to build
Before you die? Six
bells in every steeple,
And let them all go to the City tune,
Turn
again, Whittington,