Neither in England have we the means of knowing with precision, the nature of the earlier exhibitions of "Punch and his merry family." How the stories of Mr. Powell were compounded, as far as relates to the dialogue, must remain a mystery, the writers of his day never entering into this interesting point. It appears from the "Spectator" (No. 14), that under the little Piazza, in Covent Garden, Mr. Powell's hero danced a minuet with "a well-disciplined pig; which, according to the "Second Tale of a Tub," had been taught also to ridicule the celebrated Italian singers, Valentini and Nicolini; and in the same show, "King Harry (probably the Eighth) laid his leg upon the Queen's lap in too ludicrous a manner." We likewise learn on this authority, as well as from Swift, that, at that time, Punch possessed the same animating voice which, when heard in our streets, still lights up the eyes of the rising generation.
The Spectator, and the "Second Tale of a Tub," may further be brought forward, to prove that "Whittington and his Cat"[1] was one of the subjects chosen by Mr. Powell for the display of his talents. We take it for granted, that in all these cases, as at the present moment, the dialogue was extemporaneous, excepting in so far as it became habitual and mechanical by frequent repetition. That singing then formed part of the entertainment, is not mere matter of inference, and we know that it did so in the time of Strutt, who also speaks of a fiddler, now discon-- ↑ It has, we believe, been hitherto thought that the story of "Whittington, thrice Lord Mayor of London," was exclusively national; but supposing the notion to be well founded, what we are about to mention affords one more proof to those already furnished of late years, that, in time, tales of the land become the common property of other countries. It is found among the "Facezie, Motti, Buffonerie, et Burle" of the Piovano Arlotto, which were originally printed very early in the 16th century, and subsequently were re-issued from the celebrated press of the Giunti, at Florence, in 1565. The title it there bears is this: "Il Piovano, à un prete che fece mercantia di palle, dice la novella delle gatte." With a change of persons and places, it is the same story as our own "Whittington and his Cat."
