The History of Sir Richard Whittington Part 1

The History of Sir Richard Whittington.

by T. H.

Introduction.

The popular story of Whittington and his Cat is one in which a version of a wide-spread folk-tale has been grafted upon the history of the life of an historical character, and in the later versions the historical incidents have been more and more eliminated. The three chief points in the chap-book story are, 1, the poor parentage of the hero; 2, his change of mind at Highgate Hill by reason of hearing Bow Bells; and, 3, his good fortune arising from the sale of his cat. Now these are all equally untrue as referring to the historical Whittington, and the second is apparently an invention of the eighteenth century. When the Rev. Canon Lysons wrote his interesting and valuable work ent.i.tled _The Model Merchant_ he showed the incorrectness of the first point by tracing out Whittington's distinguished pedigree, but he was loath to dispute the other two. It is rather strange that neither Mr. Lysons nor Messrs. Besant and Rice appear to have seen the work which I now present to my readers, which is the earliest form of the life of Whittington known to exist. This is printed from the copy in the Pepysian Library, a later edition of which, with a few typographical alterations, will be found in the British Museum library. This _History_ will be found to differ very considerably from the later and better-known story, which appears to have been written early in the eighteenth century. A comparison between the latter which I print at the end of this Preface (p. xxix.) with T. H.'s earlier text will not, I think, be found unprofitable. _The Famous and Remarkable History_ here reprinted is undated, but was probably published about 1670; the later edition in the British Museum is dated 1678. One pa.s.sage on page 7--"The merchant went then to the Exchange, which was then in Lumber-street, about his affairs"--seems to show that it was originally written quite early in the century, and it is just possible that T. H. stands for the voluminous playwright and pamphleteer Thomas Heywood. The Exchange was removed to its present site in 1568, and therefore our tract could not have been written before that date, but must have appeared when the memory of the old meeting-place was still fresh in public memory. On page 11 it will be seen that Whittington, when discontented with his position in Fitzwarren's house, set out before day-break on All Hallows-day with his clothes in a bundle, in order to seek his fortune elsewhere. He had only got as far as Bunhill when he heard Bow bells ring out what appeared to be--

"Turn again, Whittington, Lord Mayor of London, Turn again, Whittington, Lord Mayor of London."

These words took complete possession of him, and he returned before it was known that he had run away. In the more modern chap-book Whittington is made to reach Holloway, where it would be less easy to hear Bow bells, and from which place he would have found it more difficult to return before the cook had risen. As far as I can find there is no allusion to Holloway or Highgate hill in any early version, and it is evident that this localization is quite modern. Mr. Lysons is certainly wrong when he says that at Highgate "a stone continued to mark the spot for many centuries." It is not known when the stone was first erected there, but it was probably put up when the name of the place was first foisted into the tale. One stone was taken away in 1795, but others have succeeded it, and now there is a Whittington Stone Tavern; and the situation of Whittington College, which was removed to Highgate in 1808, has helped to favour the supposition that Whittington himself was in some way connected with that place.

The form of invitation which 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 fict.i.tious 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. x.x.xiii.), 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 fict.i.tious points of Whittington's history mentioned at the beginning of this preface, the first--his poor parentage--is disposed of by doc.u.mentary 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 ba.s.so-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, ent.i.tled "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 Siraf, 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 Siraf, 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 with his weight in gold for a cat to kill their mice; and an oyntment to kill their flies, which he improved within five years to 6000l. in the place, and, returning to Portugal after fifteen years traffick, became the third man in the kingdom."[1]

Keightley also quotes two similar stories from Thiele's _Danish Popular Traditions_ and another from the letters of Count Magalotti, a Florentine of the latter half of the seventeenth century.

Mr. Lysons gives much information as to the great value of cats in the Middle Ages, but the writer of the _History of Whittington_ does not lead us to believe that they were dear in England, for he makes the boy buy his cat for one penny. The two following t.i.tles are from the Stationers' Registers. The ballad is probably the one subsequently referred to as by Richard Johnson:--

"The History of Richard Whittington, of his lowe birthe, his great fortune, as yt was plaied by the Prynces Servants. Licensed to Thomas Pavyer, Feb. 8, 1604-5."

"A Ballad, called The vertuous lyfe and memorable death of Sir Richard Whittington, mercer, sometymes Lord Maiour of the honorable Citie of London. Licensed to John Wright, 16 July, 1605."

The first reference that we find to the cat incident is in the play _Eastward Hoe_ by Chapman, Ben Jonson, and Marston; for, as the portrait which was said to have existed at Mercers' Hall is not now known, it can scarcely be put in evidence. This half-length portrait of a man of about sixty years of age, dressed in a livery gown and black cap of the time of Henry VIII. with a figure of a black and white cat on the left, is said to have had painted in the left-hand upper corner of the canvas the inscription, "R. Whittington, 1536."

In _Eastward Hoe_, 1605, Touchstone a.s.sures Goulding that he hopes to see him reckoned one of the worthies of the city of London "When the famous fable of Whittington and his puss shall be forgotten."

The next allusion is in Thomas Heywood's _If you know not me, you know n.o.body_, 2nd part, 1606.

_Dean Nowell._ "This Sir Richard Whittington, three times Mayor, Sonne to a knight and prentice to a mercer, Began the Library of Grey-Friars in London, And his executors after him did build Whittington Colledge, thirteene Alms-houses for poore men, Repair'd S. Bartholomewes, in Smithfield, Glased the Guildhall, and built Newgate.

_Hobson._ Bones of men, then I have heard lies; For I have heard he was a scullion, And rais'd himself by venture of a cat.

_Nowell._ They did the more wrong to the gentleman."

Here it will be seen that, although the popular tale is mentioned, it is treated as a mere invention unworthy of credence.

The next in point of time is the ballad by Richard Johnson, published in the _Crowne Garland of Goulden Roses_ (1612), which probably had a much earlier existence in a separate form. It is the earliest form of the story of Whittington now in existence.

_A song of Sir Richard Whittington, who by strange fortunes came to bee thrice Lord Maior of London; with his bountifull guifts and liberallity given to this honourable Citty._

(To the tune of "_Dainty come thou to me_.")

"Here must I tell the praise Of worthie Whittington, Known to be in his dayes Thrice Maior of London.

But of poor parentage Borne was he, as we heare, And in his tender age Bred up in Lancas.h.i.+re.

Poorely to London than Came up this simple lad, Where, with a marchant-man, Soone he a dwelling had; And in a kitchen plast, A scullion for to be, Whereas long time he past In labour grudgingly.

His daily service was Turning spits at the fire; And to scour pots of bra.s.se, For a poore scullions hire.

Meat and drinke all his pay, Of coyne he had no store; Therefore to run away, In secret thought he bore.

So from this marchant-man Whittington secretly Towards his country ran, To purchase liberty.

But as he went along In a fair summer's morne, London bells sweetly rung, 'Whittington, back return!'

'Evermore sounding so, Turn againe, Whittington; For thou in time shall grow Lord-Maior of London.'

Whereupon back againe Whittington came with speed, Aprentise to remaine, As the Lord had decreed.

'Still blessed be the bells'

(This was his daily song), 'They my good fortune tells, Most sweetly have they rung.

If G.o.d so favour me, I will not proove unkind; London my love shall see, And my great bounties find.'

But see his happy chance!