Courteous Reader,--I here present unto thee no strange or forreign news,
no imagination, or vain conceit of poetical fiction; neither do I tell
thee of Gallagantua or of the Red Rose Knight, nor such like stories;
but I here offer to thy view a true pattern of humility; being the glory
of our Kingdom, and raised to Honour by desert; the title tells you that
it is the life and death of Richard Whittington, who for his clemency
and understanding was three times chosen Lord Mayor of the Honourable
City of London, who always acknowledged his beginning to be of mean and
low rank; yet he was beloved of the King for his fidelity and trust, as
may appear in larger volumes, and the entertainment that he gave at his
own house to his Soveraign at several times: his bounty upon all
occasions, when the King wanted his purse; his love to the City and
Commons; which are not to be buried in oblivion, but rather to be
proclaimed as living monuments to all people of what condition soever,
to animate them never to be dejected though never so poor, as the story
will more at large declare; all which happened in the days of our
forefathers, and very probable it may be for us to believe; if we will
not give credit to former historians who will give the like to us in
future ages: read it through, and you will find something worthy
of note, and thou shall do thy self some pleasure and me a high
favour. _Vale._




_The Life and Death of Sir Richard Whittington;
who was three times Lord Mayor of the
City of London._