The Choice Humorous Works, Ludicrous Adventures 39
Having thus selected such preliminary observations as were necessary
by way of introduction in the nature of prolegomena, I now approach
with equal awe and interest to the main point, which is, as I said
before, to ascertain what the Cat was by which Whittington made
himself to be so well remembered, and which is inseparable from
him in history and imagination. Who thinks of Whittington without
thinking of a Cat? Who with any love of sacred antiquity can see a
Cat without thinking of Whittington?
An English author records a speech made by a very erudite orientalist
and profound scholar, at a meeting of the Society of Antiquarians,
which was preserved in the minutes of that society, through the
generous care of Mr. S. Foote, and which I am enabled to lay before
my readers, by the favour of Sir Richard Phillips, who, for the
trifling sum of fifteen shillings, obliged me with the works of that
eminent Grecian, for so I presume he was, from his having acquired
the surname of Aristophanes.
"Permit me," says the orator, "to clear up some doubts relative to
a material and interesting point of the English History. Let others
toil to illumine the dark annals of Greece and Rome; my searches are
sacred only to the service of Britain.
"That Whittington lived, no doubt can be made; that he was Lord Mayor
of London, is equally true; but--as to HIS CAT--that, gentlemen, is
the Gordian knot to untie--and here, gentlemen, be it permitted to me
to define what a Cat is--a Cat is a domestic, whiskered, four-footed
animal, whose employment is catching of mice; but let a Cat have
been ever so subtle, ever so successful, to what could her captures
amount?--no tanner could curry the skin of a mouse--no family could
make a meal of the meat--consequently, no Cat could give Whittington
his wealth--from whence does the error proceed? Be that my care to
point out.
"The commerce this wealthy merchant carried on, was chiefly confined
to our coasts--for this purpose, he constructed a vessel, which,
from its aptness and lightness, he christened A CAT; nay, gentlemen,
to this day--all our coals are imported from Newcastle in nothing
but CATS--from thence it appears that it was not the whiskered,
four-footed--mouse-killing Cat--but the coasting, sailing, carrying
CAT--that, gentlemen, was Whittington's Cat."
Vide _opera omnia_ Sam. Foot. Tit. Nabob.----
I cannot, however, consent in this instance to judge "ex pede
Herculem." However ingenious this learned gentleman's view of the
case may be, we are upon one particular decidedly at issue; and I
think I shall be able to shew, that Whittington not only did not
derive his wealth from the renowned Cat, but that the Cat was the
ultimate cause of his ruin.
One writer, (Ibbotson on Quadrupeds, vol. viii. p. 381,) says,
that "Shee was no other than a female of highe ranke and singular
kinde harte, who for that shee had a _feline_ dysposition myghtelie
affected Masterre Whyttingtone"--"which mistake in the orthography,"
says my learned friend Backhouse (who seldom errs), "_feline_ being
put for _feeling_--has deluded many into the belief, that it was in
truth a four-footed, whiskered, mouse-catching Cat." This ingenious
conjecture is supported by the other obvious errors of the same
nature _in loc. citat._ and not a little validated by a curious
ballad of the times, which is to be found at this moment in the
British Museum (Messalina 2.) and of which I subjoin a copy:--
ANN EXCEEDINGE, EXACTE, AND EXCELLENTE GOODE BALLADE, WRITTEN BY MEE
GEOFFRY LYDGATE, UPONNE MASTERRE WHYTTINGTONE HYS CATTE.
Yee Cytyzens of Lundun toune,
Ande Wyves so faire and fatte,
Beholde a gueste of high renoune!
Grete Whyttingtone hys Catte!
Ye kynge hathe ynn hys towre off state
Beares, lyones and alle thatte;
But hee hathe notte a beste soe grate
Ass Whyttingtone hys Catte!
This Catte dothe notte a catte appear,
Beeynge toe bigge forre thatte,
But herre attendaunts alle doe weare
Some tokyn off a Catte;
Ye one hathe whyskerres, thick ass burrs,
Moste comelye toe looke atte:--
Anoder weares a gowne of furrs,
Ye lyverye off ye Catte!
Shee dothe notte creepe along ye floores,
But standes or else lyes flatte:
Whyles they must gambole onne all fours
Whoe wyshe to please ye Catte!
A conynge monkeye off ye lawe,
Ass bye ye fyre he satte,
Toe pick hiys nuts oute, used ye pawe
Off Whyttingtone hys Catte!
But Whyttingtone discovered playne
Whatte this vyle ape was atte;
Whoe fayledde thus hys nuttes toe gayne,
And onely synged ye Catte.
Thenne Whyttingtone ynn gorgeous state,
Syttynge wythoute his hatte,
Broughte toe hys house atte Grovner-gate
Thys moste yllustrious Catte.
She ys so graciouse and soe tame
Alle menne may strooke and patte;
But yt ys sayde, norre mayde norre dame,
Have dared toe see thatte Catte.
Fulle hugelye gladde she seemeth, whenne
They brynge herre a grete ratte,
But styll moe gladde atte katchynge menne
Ys Whyttingtone hys Catte.
A Catte, they saye, maye watche a kynge;
Ye apotheme ys patte;
Ye converse is a differente thynge:
Noe kynge maye watche thys Catte.
Thenne take, eache manne, hys scarlate goune,
Ande eke hys velvette hatte,
And humblye wellcome yntoe toune
Grete Whyttingtone his Catte.
This undoubtedly original and authentic document will be of vast
use in elucidating many of our difficulties, as I shall hereafter
abundantly observe; it is here only quoted in the order of proofs,
as supporting Mr. Backhouse's most acute conjecture; which is also
greatly strengthened by that profound scholar Mr. Hallam, in his
"History of the Middle Ages," who, however, gives a different and
more classical ground for the vulgar error----"This great Lady," he
says, "was _Catta_; that is, a _German_, one of the people called
_Catti_, who inhabited that part of the ancient Germania now called
the Duchy of Brunswick."
In opposition to all these opinions, Doctor Snodgrass (whose copious
history of the interior of Africa, and genealogy of the kings of
Gambia, sufficiently, as the modest Mr. Bowdich[33] justly observes,
stamp his merits) inclines to think that a person of Matthew's
original habits never could have been thrown into the society
of any lady of high rank, who had a regard for her character or
respectability. He treats the hypothesis of the _Cattean_ Lady with
great contempt, considers the authority of the ballad as trivial
and obscure; and maintains with all that power of argument, so
characteristic of his works, that it was a _bona-fide_ Cat, on which
Whittington's hopes at one particular period were placed, but which
had no connexion whatever with his pecuniary affairs, and which hopes
were moreover in the sequel frustrated.
A more ancient writer still ("Prendergast on Sorcery") makes an
assertion which at once confirms and refutes all that has been
advanced by my two learned friends, for he distinctly states, that,
that which rendered Whittington famous, was both a Cat and an
illustrious Lady. Not, indeed, at the same time; but that, being
endowed with magical potency, she was competent to assume both forms
at pleasure, displaying either the savage temper of the quadruped, or
the winning softness of her lovely sex, as best suited her purpose.
The same author says, that while under the appearance of a human
being she was capable of performing what in those days passed for
miracles; at one time metamorphosing menials and washer-women into
Lords and Ladies; causing unknown and portentous _stars_ to appear,
and changing by "_arte magicale_" white into black, and black into
white. He also more fully explains in the same way, the strange
facts alluded to in the ballad, of her putting off at pleasure the
form of a cat, and transforming the several feline attributes and
appearances to her followers; giving to one supernatural whiskers; to
another, a covering of fur; to a third, eyes that can see best in the
dark; to a fourth, the faculty of falling on his legs, whatever may
happen, and so forth.
We now live in an incredulous age, and it is not for me to decide
whether magical interferences with the ordinary course of nature are
to be believed or not. I would rather refer the curious reader to the
Dæmonologia of the royal and erudite James; for my part, I neither
wholly reject, nor wholly admit, the multitudinous affirmative
evidences, which all histories of all countries, in all ages,
afford on this subject; but I may be allowed to say in support of
Prendergast's hypothesis, that this change of form has, it appears,
been by no means uncommon. Le Père Jacques d'Autun says, "Baram Roi
de Bulgaire prenoit par ses prestiges la figure d'un loup ou _d'un
autre animal_;" and Job Fincel mentions that, "on attrapa un jour
un loup garou qui courait dans les Rues de Padoue: on lui coupa ses
pates de loup et il reprit au même instant la forme d'homme--mais
avec les bras et les pieds coupés." These are staggering authorities!
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