“An old Ballad of Whittington and his Cat, who from a poor boy came to be thrice Lord Mayor of London. Printed and sold in Aldermary Church Yard, London.” There is a copy of this in the Chetham 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).