y, which
appears to have been written early in the eighteenth century. A
comparison between the latter which I print at the end of this Preface
(p. xxix.) with T. H.'s earlier text will not, I think, be found
unprofitable. _The Famous and Remarkable History_ here reprinted is
undated, but was probably published about 1670; the later edition in the
British Museum is dated 1678. One passage on page 7--"The merchant went
then to the Exchange, which was then in Lumber-street, about his
affairs"--seems to show that it was originally written quite early in
the century, and it is just possible that T. H. stands for the
voluminous playwright and pamphleteer Thomas Heywood. The Exchange was
removed to its present site in 1568, and therefore our tract could not
have been written before that date, but must have appeared when the
memory of the old meeting-place was still fresh in public memory. On
page 11 it will be seen that Whittington, when discontented with his
position in Fitzwarren's house, set out before day-break on All
Hallows-day with his clothes in a bundle, in order to seek his fortune
elsewhere. He had only got as far as Bunhill when he heard Bow bells
ring out what appeared to be--

"Turn again, Whittington, Lord Mayor of London,
Turn again, Whittington, Lord Mayor of London."

These words took complete possession of him, and he returned before it
was known that he had run away. In the more modern chap-book Whittington
is made to reach Holloway, where it would be less easy to hear Bow
bells, and from which place he would have found it more difficult to
return before the cook had risen. As far as I can find there is no
allusion to Holloway or Highgate hill in any early version, and it is
evident that this localization is quite modern. Mr. Lysons is certainly
wrong when he says that at Highgate "a stone continued to mark the spot
for many centuries." It is not known when the stone was first erected
there, but it was probably put up when the name of the place was first
foisted into the tale. One stone was taken away in 1795, but others have
succeeded it, and now there is a Whittington Stone Tavern; and the
situation of Whittington College, which was removed to Highgate in 1808,
has helped to favour the supposition that Whittington himself was in
some way connected with that place.

The form of invitation which the bells rung out varies very much in the
different versions.

In Richard Johnson's ballad (1612) we f