Turn again, Whittington, Lord Mayor of London."

These words took complete possession of him, and he returned before it
was known that he had run away. In the more modern chap-book Whittington
is made to reach Holloway, where it would be less easy to hear Bow
bells, and from which place he would have found it more difficult to
return before the cook had risen. As far as I can find there is no
allusion to Holloway or Highgate hill in any early version, and it is
evident that this localization is quite modern. Mr. Lysons is certainly
wrong when he says that at Highgate "a stone continued to mark the spot
for many centuries." It is not known when the stone was first erected
there, but it was probably put up when the name of the place was first
foisted into the tale. One stone was taken away in 1795, but others have
succeeded it, and now there is a Whittington Stone Tavern; and the
situation of Whittington College, which was removed to Highgate in 1808,
has helped to favour the supposition that Whittington himself was in
some way connected with that place.

The form of invitation which the bells rung out varies very much in the
different versions.

In Richard Johnson's ballad (1612) we find--

"Whittington, back return."

which is then amplified into--

"Turn againe, Whittington,
For thou in time shall grow
Lord Maior of London."