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.
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