as he had no children it is reasonable to suppose that his
house would be assigned to the College. There is nothing to show what
kind of house it was, but we may rest assured that the man who could
entertain the King and Queen in such a manner was at least well housed.
There is a little court on this spot which is, I believe, on the site of
Whittington's house. They used to show a house in Hart Street as
Whittington's, but there was no ground for the tradition except that it
was a very old house.

Whittington married his master's daughter, Alice Fitzwarren. He had no
children, and he died in 1423 when he was sixty-five years of age.

Such was the real Whittington. A gentleman by birth, a rich and
successful man, happy in his private life, a great stickler for justice,
as a magistrate severe upon those who cheat and adulterate, a loyal and
patriotic man, and always filled with the desire to promote the
interests of the City which had received him and made him rich.

33. GIFTS AND BEQUESTS.

The stream of charity which has so largely enriched and endowed the City
of London began very early. You have seen how Rahere built and endowed
Bartholomew's, and how Queen Maud founded the Lazar House of St. Giles.
The fourteenth century furnishes many more instances. Thus William
Elsinge founded in 1332 a hospital for a hundred poor blind men: in 1371
John Barnes gave a chest containing 1,000 marks to be lent by the City
to young men beginning trade. You have heard how one Mayor went out to
fight a pirate and slew him and made prizes of his vessels. Another when
corn was very dear imported at his own expense a great quantity from
Germany. Another gave money to relieve poor prisoners: another left
money for the help of poor householders: another provided that on his
commemoration day in the year 2,400 poor householders, of the City
should have a dinner and every man two pence. This means in present
money about L600 a year, or an estate worth L20,000: another left money
to pay the tax called the Fifteenth, for three parishes: another brought
water in a conduit from Highbury to Cripplegate.

But the greatest and wisest benefactor of his time was Whittington. In
his own words: 'The fervent desire and busy intention of a prudent,
wise, and devout man, should be to cast before and make secure the state
and the end of this short life with deeds of mercy and pity, and
especially to provide for those miserable persons whom the pe