112 



WhiUmgton and His Cat. 



in the port of London, and the comptrollership of the small customs* 



Contrasting his former with his present estate, he touchingly says r 

 Although I had little in respect (comparison) among others great 

 and worthy, yet had I a fair parcel, as methought for the time, in 

 furthering of my sustenance ; and had riches sufficient to waive need ; 

 and had dignity to be reverenced in worship ; power methought that I 

 had, to keep from mine enemies ; and me seemed to shine in glory of 

 renown. Every one of these joys is turned into his contrary ; for 

 riches, now have I poverty; for dignity, now am I imprisoned; 

 instead of power, wretchedness I suffer ; and for glory ox renown, I 

 am now despised and fully hated." He was set at liberty in 1389, and 

 it would certainly appear from this account, that in the early history 

 of London, the citizens had more voice in the selection of their chief 

 magistrate than they have at present. So that after all, if it pleases 

 us to consider Whittington's elevation to office as a grateful tribute 

 on the part of his fellow citizens — and they had good reason to think 

 well of him — we are not running contrary to historical facts m so 

 doing. 



There is but one other fact in the nursery tale to which I would 

 now call your attention, and that is his marriage ; his wife was Alice 

 Fitz warren, the daughter of the gentleman on the steps of whose house 

 he lay down to die, and who had befriended him as a poor boy in her 

 father's house, and who had given him a penny to buy another cat, when 

 he had sent his first one on its renowned venture. For Stow, in his 

 history of London, informs us that Eichard Whittington rebuilt the 

 parish church of St. Michael in the Eoyal, and made a college of St. 

 Spiric and St. Mary, with an alms-house, called G-od's house or hos- 

 pital, for thirteen poor men who were to pray for the good es'tate 

 of Richard Whittington, and of Alice his wife, their founders ; and 

 for Sir Wm. Whittington, knight, and Dame Joan his wife ; and for 

 Hugh Fitz warren and Dame Malde his wife, the fathers and mothers 

 of the said Richard Whittington and Alice his wife; and besides this 

 testimony, in the church at Pauntley on the family estate in Glouces- 

 tershire, are emblazoned the arms of Whittington impaling Warren. 



But the story gives no record of his honorable life, nor any account 

 of the good deeds he performed for the benefit of the poor, for the 

 education and enlightenment of his fellow citizens, or for the glory 

 and renown of the old city that honored him. He held his wealth at 

 the disposal of his king and his country, and showed he had a proper 

 appreciation of it, by endeavoring to do what good he could with it. 

 Remember, he lived in the fourteenth century, in the Dark Ages, so 



