T. H. - The History of Sir Richard Whittington
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T. H. >> The History of Sir Richard Whittington
_Chap-Books_
_and_
_Folk-Lore Tracts._
_Edited by_
_G.L. Gomme, F.S.A._
_and_
_H.B. Wheatley, F.S.A._
_First Series._
~V.~
THE HISTORY
OF
SIR RICHARD WHITTINGTON.
BY T. H.
EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION,
BY
HENRY B. WHEATLEY, F.S.A.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR THE VILLON SOCIETY.
1885.
~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 entitled _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 passage 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
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 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 titles 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 assures 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
nobody_, 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 Lancashire.
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 brasse,
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 God so favour me,
I will not proove unkind;
London my love shall see,
And my great bounties find.'
But see his happy chance!
This scullion had a cat,
Which did his state advance,
And by it wealth he gat.
His maister ventred forth,
To a land far unknowne,
With marchandize of worth,
And is in stories shewne.
Whittington had no more
But this poor cat as than,
Which to the ship he bore,
Like a brave marchant-man.
'Vent'ring the same,' quoth he,
'I may get store of golde,
And Maior of London be,
As the bells have me told.'
Whittington's marchandise,
Carried was to a land
Troubled with rats and mice,
As they did understand.
The king of that country there,
As he at dinner sat,
Daily remain'd in 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_, 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 September 13, 1709 (No. 67), is a list of great men
to be entered in the Temple of Fame, and in the subsequent No. 78 is
printed the following letter from a Citizen:--
"Mr. Isaac Bickerstaff, Sir, Your _Tatler_ of September 13 I am now
reading, and in your list of famous men desire you not to forget
Alderman Whittington, who began the world with a cat, and died
worth three hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling, which he
left to an only daughter three years after his mayoralty. If you
want any further particulars of ditto Alderman, daughter, or cat,
let me know, and per first will advise the needful, which
concludes, Your loving Friend, LEMUEL LEGER."
"I am credibly informed that there was once a design of casting
into an opera the story of Whittington and his Cat, and that in
order to it there had been got together a great quantity of mice;
but Mr. Rich, the proprietor of the playhouse, very prudently
considered that it would be impossible for the cat to kill them
all, and that consequently the princes of the stage might be as
much infested with mice as the prince of the island was before the
cat's arrival upon it; for which reason he would not permit it to
be acted in his house."--_Spectator_ (No. 5, March 6, 1711).
The Rev. Samuel Pegge brought the subject of Whittington and his Cat
before a meeting of the Society of Antiquaries in 1771, but he could
make nothing at all of the cat. There is no record of the inquiry in the
_Archaeologia_, but it is mentioned in a letter from Gough to Tyson, 27
Dec. 1771 (Nichols's _Literary Anecdotes_, vol. viii. p. 575). Horace
Walpole was annoyed at the Society for criticising his "Richard III."
and in his _Short Notes on his Life_ he wrote--"Foote having brought
them on the stage for sitting in council, as they had done on
Whittington and his Cat, I was not sorry to find them so ridiculous, or
to mark their being so, and upon that nonsense, and the laughter that
accompanied it, I struck my name out of their book."
Foote brought out his comedy of _The Nabob_ at the Haymarket Theatre in
1772. Sir Matthew Mite, the hero of the piece, is elected a member of
the Society of Antiquaries, and delivers an address on Whittington and
his Cat in which he gave the following solution of the difficulty:--"The
commerce this worthy merchant carried on was chiefly confined to our
coasts. For this purpose he constructed a vessel which for its agility
and lightness he aptly christened a cat. Nay, to this our day,
gentlemen, all our coals from Newcastle are imported in nothing but
cats. From thence it appears that it was not the whiskered four-footed,
mouse-killing cat that was the source of the magistrate's wealth, but
the coasting, sailing, coal-carrying cat; that, gentlemen, was
Whittington's cat."
We may now pass from the fictitious to the real Richard Whittington, and
although this is not the place for a life of the distinguished citizen,
which may be found elsewhere, it will be convenient to set down in order
the chief incidents of his career.
Richard Whittington was the third son of Sir William Whittington,
knight, of Pauntley, Gloucestershire, and it is assumed, by some
writers, that he was born in or about the year 1360. We must, however,
place his birth at an earlier date, for his name appears in the city
_Letter Book_, H, fol. 110_a_, (as Richard Whyttingdone), in the second
year of Richard II. (A.D. 1379), as a contributor of five marks
towards a loan to the city authorities; about four-fifths of the
subscribers contributing the same, which is the lowest figure among the
contributions.[2] This is the first appearance of Whittington's name in
the city books. William, the eldest son, succeeded to the family
property of Pauntley, but, dying without issue, the estate went to
Robert, the second son, who became high sheriff of the county in 1402,
and again in 1407. Pauntley remained in the family as late as 1546.
Nothing is known of Richard's early life, either as to when or how he
came to London. He appears to have married Alice, daughter of Hugh
Fitzwarren, and probably he was originally apprenticed to his
father-in-law, whose name appears in all the versions of his history.
The second appearance of Whittington's name in the city books is in 8
Richard II., when he was one of the eight common councilmen for Coleman
Street ward. In 11 Richard II. he is named as becoming surety to the
chamberlain in the sum of ten pounds towards providing money for defence
of the city. In the following year he appears to have been no longer a
member for Coleman Street ward. On the 12th of March, 1393, he is named
as then chosen alderman of Broad Street ward; and on 21st September of
the same year he was chosen by the mayor, William Staundon, one of the
sheriffs for the ensuing year.[3]
When Adam Bamme died in the year 1397, during his mayoralty, Richard II.
arbitrarily put Whittington in his place, and at the lord mayor's day of
that year Whittington again filled the office, being then regularly
elected.[4] From his will we find that this king, who was a member of
the Mercers' Company, to which Whittington was apprenticed, was an
especial patron of his. In 1400 he was excused from attending the
Scottish wars, and in 1406 he was again elected mayor. He rebuilt his
parish church, and Mr. Riley has printed in his valuable _Memorials_ (p.
578) the grant by Whittington of land or the re-building of the church
of St. Michael, Paternoster, "in the street called La Riole," called
after the merchants of La Riole, a town near Bordeaux, who had
established themselves there.
