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.