OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 43 



Reginald Elstrack, ' wlio flourislicd in 15D0. It professes to be a ''vera 

 effigies" or true likeness of that most illustrious gentleman, Iticliard 

 Whittington, Knight, and I see no reason to doubt the statement. In 

 this portrait '' our hero is represented in his robes as Lord Mayor, -with 

 a collar of S.S., and his hand resting on a very pretty cat. This again 

 carries back the connection of "Whitlington with a cat to the times when 

 two generations only might have sufficed to have handed it down. It is 

 recorded in Granger's' -History of Engrailed Portraits that the cat was 

 inserted afterwards ; that Whittington was represented in the original 

 engraving with his right hand on a skull; but the people generally would 

 not buy the print under those conditions, it did not fall in with the gene- 

 rally received account of the person of whom it assumed to be the por- 

 trait, and it was not until the skull was removed, and replaced by the 

 cat, that the artist could get any sale for his work. This entirely silences 

 the suggestion that the story was fabricated to suit the picture— on the 

 contrary we see that the public desired to have the cat inserted, in 

 conformity with the tradition which they had received, and which at 

 that early date was fully accepted. The alteration must have been 

 made at the very earliest opportunity, for the prints with the skull 

 are so rare that Granger had never seen more than two of them.-' It 

 is said that it is an anachronism to represent him with the collar of 

 S.S. and the Eose " and Portcullis. Now we find that the collar of 



c Reginald Elstrack was one of the earliest engravers in this country, and his 

 works have now become rare. 



d This plate seems to have been preserved for many years, for it has been rc- 

 eugi-aved and retouched, as given in the Antiquarian Rcpcrtori/, vol. 2. 



e Biographical History of England^hy^QX. J. Granger, 4 vols. 8vo., vol. 1. p. 63. 

 Bromley, British Forfraifs, 4to. p. 11 . 



/ It is not a little singular that oue of these engravings with the skull is in 

 the possession of W. J. Phelps, Esq., of Chcstal House, near Dursley, the present 

 High Sheriff of Gloucestershire, who possesses a valuable collection of portraits of 

 the worthies of this County. 



g The Red Rose, rosa rubra, was a common redditus, or acknowledgment of 

 property held under the Crown. The Rose appears on the seal of Richard, Duke 

 of York, 1430, (Dallaway's ^waW/c Jwj^t/iV/w), and quarter rose nobles were the 

 current coin of this reabn, commencing with Edward III., and continued down to 

 the successive reigns ; it seems, therefore, that this cognizance may be traced 

 even as far back as Edward III. 



