(Do you notice the poet’s wit and humour?)
“Him cruelly did treat.”
(There is a picture here of the Cook beating Whittington with two ladles.)
“No longer could he stay,
So towards the famous Highgate Hill
Poor Dick he ran away.
Four miles he ran, then wearied much,
He sat him on a stone,
And heard the merry bells of Bow
Speak to him in this tone—
‘Turn again, Whittington,
Thrice Lord Mayor of London.’”
The poet’s lines at this point have been beautifully illustrated by a picture of Whittington, sitting on the stone aforesaid, labelled “four miles to London,” in an attitude of attention, whilst the merry church of Bow is to be seen on the other side of a wooden fence, apparently fifty yards off.
“Then taking heart, he wandered home,
But meeting on the road
A boy, who had a Cat to sell,
He took’t to his abode.”
(I think, now, that “took’t” shows real genius! How else could you have got over the difficulty?)
“She drove away the rats and mice—
She was his only friend,”—
(This is true pathos.)
“But when the Merchant went abroad,
He Puss did with him send.”