The History of Sir Richard Whittington | Page 4

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, and who they say?Grew rich, and let his land out for nine lives,?'Cause all came in by a cat."--
Shirley's Constant Maid (1640), act ii. sc. 2.
"I have heard of Whittington and his cat, and others, that have made fortunes by strange means."--Parson's Wedding (1664).
Pepys went on September 21, 1668, to Southwark Fair, "and there saw the puppet show of Whittington, which was pretty to see." He adds in his Diary "how that idle thing do work upon people that see it, and even myself too."
In the Tatler of