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Upon which he cried out with great earnestness but not in the most poetical manner,
“ Go call him, and tell him of his fame,
“ And call him Mr Whittington by name.”
It is not our business to animadvert upon these lines; we are not critics but historians. It is sufficient for us, that these are the words of Mr Fitzwarren; and though it is beside our purpose and perhaps not in our power to prove him a good poet, we shall soon convince the reader that he was a good man, which was a much better character; for when some who were present, told him that this treasure was too much for such a poor boy as Whittington, he said, “God forbid that I should “deprive him of a penny, it is all his own, and he shall have it all to a farthing” He then ordered Mr Whittington in, who was at this time cleaning the kitchen, and would have excused himself from going into the parlour, saying, The room was rubbed, and his shoes were dirty and full of hob-nails. The merchant, however, made him come in, and ordered a chair to be set for him. Upon which, thinking they intended to make sport of him, as had been too often the case in the kitchen, he besought his master not to mock a poor simple fellow, who intended them no harm, but to let him go about his business. The merchant, taking
