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.
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