hetham Library.

The following are some of the chief references to Whittington's story in
literature after the publication of Johnson's ballad, arranged in
chronological order:--

"As if a new-found Whittington's rare cat,
Come to extoll their birth-rights above that
Which nature once intended."--

Stephens's _Essayes and Characters_, 1615.

"Faith, how many churches do you mean to build
Before you die? Six bells in every steeple,
And let them all go to the _City tune_,
_Turn again, Whittington_, and who they say
Grew rich, and let his land out for nine lives,
'Cause all came in by a cat."--

Shirley's _Constant Maid_ (1640), act ii. sc. 2.

"I have heard of Whittington and his cat, and others, that have
made fortunes by strange means."--Parson's _Wedding_ (1664).

Pepys went on September 21, 1668, to Southwark Fair, "and there saw the
puppet show of Whittington, which was pretty to see." He adds in his
_Diary_ "how that idle thing do work upon people that see it, and even
myself too."

In the _Tatler_ of September 13, 1709 (No. 67), is a list of great men
to be entered in the Temple of Fame, and in the subsequent No. 78 is
printed the following letter from a Citizen:--

"Mr. Isaac Bickerstaff, Sir, Your _Tatler_ of September 13 I am now
reading, and in your list of famous men desire you not to forget
Alderman Whittington, who began the world with a cat, and died
worth three hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling, which he
left to an only daughter three years after his mayoralty. If you
want any further particulars of ditto Alderman, daughter, or cat,
let me know, and per first will advise the needful, which
concludes, Your loving Friend, LEMUEL LEGER."

"I am credibly informed that there was once a design of casting
into an opera the story of Whittington and his Cat, and that in
order to it there had been got together a great quantity of mice;
but Mr. Rich, the proprietor of the playhouse, very prudently
considered that it would be impossible for the cat to kill them
all, and that consequently the princes of the stage might be as
much infested with mice as the prince of the island was before the
cat's arrival upon it; for which reason he would not permit it to
be acted in his house."--_Spectator_ (No. 5, March 6, 1711).

The Rev. Samuel Pegge brought the subject of Whit