Whittington and His Cat. 



119 



for the fourth time. But scarcely had he departed from Cadiz, when 

 a most furious tempest arose, and he ran for several days without 

 knowing whither he should go. Fortune, however, was so kind to 

 him, that she brought him to an island named Canary. He had 

 scarcely anchored, when the king of the island, hearing of the arrival 

 of a vessel, came down to the port with all his barons ; and having 

 given Messer Ansaldo a most gracious reception, to let him see how 

 agreeable his arrival was to him, insisted on taking him with him to 

 the royal residence. Here, the tables being spread in the most sump- 

 tuous manner, he sat down along- with Messer Ansaldo, who, seeing 

 several of the young men who waited on the king holding in their 

 hands great long rods, like those carried by the Penitents, wondered 

 very much ; but as soon as the dishes were brought up he saw at once 

 what was the cause of this mode of attendance, for the mice that 

 came from all sides and attacked these delicate meats were so large 

 and so numerous that it was quite wonderful. The young men then 

 bestirred themselves, and used their rods vigorously to defend from 

 them the dish off which the king and Messer Ansaldo were eating. 

 Ansaldo, when he had heard, and in some sort also seen, that the mul- 

 titude of these nasty animals was numberless in that island, and that 

 no way had ever been discovered of destroying them, endeavored by 

 signs to let the king know that he would give him a remedy which 

 would clear the country completely of such animals. So he ran down 

 to his vessel, took two remarkably fine cats, a male and a female, and 

 bringing them to the king, made the tables be covered once more. 

 Scarcely had the odor of the victuals began to diffuse itself, when the 

 usual procession made its appearance ; which, when the cats saw, they 

 began to skirmish away so nobly that in a very short time they had 

 made a glorious slaughter among them. The king rejoiced beyond 

 measure at what he saw, and wishing to recompense the courtesy of 

 Messer Ansaldo, ordered several nets of pearls, and abundance of gold 

 and silver and other precious stones to be brought to him, and he 

 presented them to Messer Ansaldo, who thinking that he had now made 

 sufficient profit of his merchandise without going to dispose of it in 

 the west, spread his sails to the wind, and returned home as rich as he 

 need be." 



Stories similar to these are found in Tuscany and Denmark, 

 while Venice furnishes us one which is connected with the origin 

 of that city, and was an old story one hundred years and more 

 before Whittington was born. Indeed, it is generally conceded that 

 the story did not make its appearance in England until about the 

 reign of Elizabeth, about a century and a half after Whittington was 

 in his grave. One of the earliest allusions to the story that we have, 

 is in the play of Eastward Hoe, made (as the old edition has it) by 

 Geo. Chapman, Ben Jonson and John Marston, and played in the 

 Black Friars by the children of her Majesty's Revels. In this play. 

 Touchstone had given his daughter in marriage to his apprentice. 



