heir; and in addition Sir William erected a building called the Maison Dieu for the housing and maintenance of thirteen poor old men and thirteen poor old women. He died at Hull in 1366. His widow lived until 1382 without making use of her licence to marry again.

William's son Michael began life as a courtier, and became the favourite of Richard II., who made him Chancellor of England in 1383 and the Earl of Suffolk in 1384. But he was a corrupt man, and was impeached by the Commons, and forced to fly from England. To his son Michael, however, the peerage was restored, together with his father's possessions. His son, another Michael, a great-grandson of Sir William de la Pole, was slain at Agincourt, to be succeeded by his younger brother William, who, from being the fourth Earl, became the first Duke of Suffolk. This man conducted the siege of Orleans against Joan of Arc, and became Lord Chancellor, Lord High Admiral, the favourite of Margaret of Anjou, and virtually King of England, until he was hunted down as a traitor and beheaded in 1450.

His grandson Edmund was beheaded by Henry VIII. in 1513 for high treason, having coveted the Crown of England, and Anne, his only child, became a nun. Thus ended the direct line of succession from Sir William de la Pole, the merchant-prince of Hull.

XI

RICHARD WHITTINGTON, JOHN PHILPOT, AND WILLIAM WALWORTH

(c. 1350-1423)

ONDON early boasted a number of merchants of importance.

There was Henry Fitz-Alwyn, whose profession" was that of a draper. He was the first Mayor of London, and held this exalted office for a quarter of a century, from its establishment under Richard I. in 1189 to the time of his death in 1214.

Another Mayor of London, Gregory de Rokesley, was the richest goldsmith of his time. He was also a great wool merchant, and is named at the head of fifty-seven dealers in wool, who in 1285 were charged with having caused dissensions between the Earl of Flanders and Henry III. and Edward I., Kings of England, by persistent prosecution of their trade.

Another, Sir John de Pulteney, ancestor of the Earls of Bath, was a draper by trade. He was Mayor in 1330-1331-1333 and 1336. Simon Francis, a mercer of Old Jewry, was Mayor for two years. He died in 1360, the owner of twelve rich manors in London and Middlesex.

History makes but slight mention of these men. Historians are too apt to chronicle the home and foreign policies, Governments and wars of a nation, as though Commerce were some bye-product almost unworthy of

their notice. But Commerce is the backbone of the State and supports the body politic. Wars were waged usually to defend or develop Commerce. The statesman who ignores the trade of his country finds his public life short, and that Government is, or should be, quickly voted out of office, which enacts laws injurious to the commerce that upholds it.

Yet we are supplied with but little information regarding these real builders of England's wealth, and even of that great merchant-prince Richard Whittington we know none too much, and find his admirers, not satisfied with the scanty facts recorded by the historians of the time, resorting to the same quality of imagination which was so conspicuous in their hero.

But imagination may be a pole star in commerce and an unfortunate defect in history. The story that he ran away from home at seven, and then begged his way for several years, rests upon no substantial foundation. The tradition which has been a favourite with the children of all peoples for nearly five hundred years goes on to say that Dick Whittington, hearing that the streets of London were paved with gold and silver, worked his way to the big City, where he was saved from starvation by the kindness of a merchant named Fitzwarren. He lived for some time in this merchant's home in Leadenhall Street, where he was favoured by the merchant's daughter, Mistress Alice, but treated most unkindly by the "vile jade of a cook," under whose direct charge he was. Then one day his master sent a shipful of merchandise to Barbary, and with the spirit of a true sportsman let his servants also venture something on the voyage. Poor Dick had nothing but a cat which he had bought for a penny with which to drive away the rats, which were too frequent visitors to his garret, and so he sent this cat as his "venture." After the ship had been a long time away Dick seems to have concluded that life under the cook's tyranny was hardly worth living, and ran away from his master's house; but he had only reached

Bunhill Fields whan the bells of old Bow Church rang out a melody which seemed to say to him:

"Turn again, Whittington,

Thrice Lord Mayor of London,"

and according to the legend Dick thought better of his determination and turned back to the house in Leadenhall Street. We can imagine-for the whole tradition is imaginary-his surprise and delight on returning to learn that his cat had been bought by the King of Barbary for £100,000. Obviously this great fortune at once made Whittington one of the richest commoners in England, and permitted him to marry Mistress Alice, and in time to complete the prophecy of Bow bells, and become thrice Lord Mayor of London.

This legend has been traced back to within a generation of Whittington's death, and a cat is in some way closely associated with his success. Some say that Whittington did marry Alice, and the "Cat" was the name of the ship. Lysons tells us of "a singular discovery of a sculptured stone in basso relievo, representing young Whittington with the cat in his arms." This stone was dug up by those employed in building a sewer at Gloucester on the very spot where Richard Whittington, grandnephew of the celebrated Lord Mayor, had built his town house in 1460. The stone may have formed part of a mantelpiece, or a tablet over the door of the house, and as the grand-nephew was probably born before his great uncle's death this would seem to indicate that he was familiar with the story of the cat, and proud of the association.

However this may have been, we can safely picture Dick Whittington as serving the long term of apprenticeship required of everyone aspiring to trade on a large scale before he could become a member of one of the great city companies. He had elected to become a mercer, and must have stood day after day in Cheapside or Cornhill offering a stock of haberdashery to the