_Source_.--I have cobbled this up out of three chap-book versions; (1)
that contained in Mr. Hartland's _English Folk-tales_; (2) that edited
by Mr. H. B. Wheatley for the Villon Society; (3) that appended to
Messrs. Besant and Rice's monograph.
_Parallels_.--Whittington's cat has made the fortune of his master in
all parts of the Old World, as Mr. W. A. Clouston, among others,
has shown, _Popular Tales and Fictions_, ii. 65-78 (_cf._ Köhler on
Gonzenbach, ii. 251).
_Remarks_.--If Bow Bells had pealed in the exact and accurate nineteenth
century, they doubtless would have chimed
Turn again, Whittington,
Thrice and a half Lord Mayor of London.
For besides his three mayoralties of 1397, 1406, and 1419, he served as
Lord Mayor in place of Adam Bamme, deceased, in the latter half of
the mayoralty of 1396. It will be noticed that the chap-book puts the
introduction of potatoes rather far back.