36 THE MODEL MERCHANT 



then he ti'cats with the utmost ridicule the tale of a man whose 

 original name had been Halfpenny (who when he rose in the world 

 refined it to Halfpen) who had grown rich from the humblest means. 

 To show that there is nothing so extravagant in the story, * let 

 us take the Biography of the Successful Merchant, Mr. Samuel 

 Budgett, also a Gloucestershire man. He tells us himself that the 

 foundation of his fortune was the picking up of a horseshoe, which he 

 sold for a penny, and there is a gentleman of title and large posses- 

 sions in this and an adjoining county whose grandfather commenced 

 his fortune with half-a-crown in his pocket. Surely it would reflect no 

 discredit on the Biography of Mr. Samuel Budgett, even should it 

 be shown that other successful youths had made their fortunes by 

 means of a horseshoe, in France, in Spain, in Italy, in Portugal, in 

 Persia, in India, or elsewhere. 



Mr. Keightley then proceeds to throw more ridicule on the story of 

 AYhittington by quoting from Foote's farce called The JVabob, in which 

 a burlesque is cast upon the Society of Antiquaries in the character of 

 Sir Matthew Mite. That person is introduced as saying " That 

 Whittington lived no doubt can be made ; that he was Lord Mayor of 

 London is eqiially true ; but as to the Cat, that, gentlemen, is the 

 Gordian knot to untie. And here, gentlemen, be it permitted me to 

 define what a cat is. A cat is a domestic, whiskered, four-footed animal, 

 whose employment is catching of mice ; but let puss have been ever 

 so successful, to what could pussy's captures amount ? 'No tanner can 

 curry the skin of a mouse, no family make a meal of the meat, conse- 

 quently no cat would give "WTiittington his wealth." Foote had not 

 heard, of course, of the vast sums which were made in Paris a few 

 years ago when there was a general cleansing of the sewers, and many 

 millions of rats were destroyed, the skins of which were tanned and 

 made into ladies' gloves, realizing a very large amount of wealth.'' 



q Could it be sho\ni in our expected intercourse with China and Japan that 

 there were parts of those countries in which rats were very numerous and cats 

 cither unknown, or very scarce, the export of the latter animal to those quarters 

 might not be a bad speculation ; and though it might not be the means of realizing 

 a large fortune, it might give some return in cash which, by judicious management, 

 might be improved, and thus become the formdation of an individual's wealth. 



r Household Words, vol. 2, p. 214. The wTitcr in this article. Rats, mentions 



