AN Arrant Thief, Whom Every Man may Trust:  
In Word and Deed, Exceeding true and Iust.  
WITH A Comparison between a Thief and a Book.  
Written by john Taylor.  
LONDON. Printed by Edw: Allde, for Henry Gosson, and are to be sold in Panier-Alley. 1622.   

THis Water Rat, 
The Annagram of Rat is Art.  (or Art) I would commend,  
But that I know not to begin or end:  
He read his Verses to me, and which more is  
Did move my Muse to write Laudem Authoris,  
If for his Land Discoveries 
* I touch not his Travails to Scotland Germany, or Bohemia or the Paper Boate.  she should praise him,  
Whether would then his liquid knowledge raise him?  
Read his two Treatises of Thief and Whore,  
You le think it time for him to leave his Oar.  
Yet thus much of his worth I cannot smother,  
'tis well for us when thieves peach one another.  
This Preface is but poor, 'tis by a Boy done,  
That is a Scholar of the School of Croyden,  
Who when he hath more years and learning got,  
he'll praise him more or less, or not a jot.  
Given upon Shrove Tuesday from our seat, in the second Form of the famous free School of Croyden. By RICHARD HATTON.   

WHen a Fresh Waterman doth turn Salt Poet,  
His Muse must prattle all the world must know it:  
Of Whores and Theives (he writes two merry Books)  
He loves them both, I know it by his looks.  
Alas I wrong him: blame my Muse not me,  
She never spoke before, and rude may be.  
Given from the low estate of the fifth Form near to the School door at Croyden beforesaid, By GEORGE HATTON.   

TO THE HOPEFUL PAIR OF BRETHREN, and my worthy Patroness, Master RICHARD, and GEORGE HATTON, Love, Learning, and true Happiness.  
YOur Muses, th'one a Youth, and one an Infant,  
Gave me two panegyrics at one Instant:  
The first Pen, 
This Gentleman was pleased Annagrammatically to call me Water-Rat, or water Art, Which I do Annagrammatize Water-Rat, to be A true Art.  the first line it pleased to walk in,  
Did make my Art a Rat, and like Grimalkin,  
Or a kind needful Vermin-coursing Cat,  
By Art I play, but will not eat your Rat.  
I thank you that you did so soon determine,  
To Annagram my Art into a Vermin,  
For which I vow, if e'er you keep a Dairy,  
Of (now and then) a Cheese I will impair ye.  
Kind Mr. George, your Muse must be exalted,  
My Poetry you very well have salted.  
Salt keeps things sweet, & make them relish savoury  
And you have powdered well my honest kna etc.  
I thank you to, nor will I be ingrateful,  
Whilst Rhyme or Reason deigns to fill my patefull,  
You truly say that I love Whores and Thiefs well,  
And half your speech I think the world believes well,  
For should I hate a Thief, thieves are so Common,  
I well could neither love myself or no man,  
But for Whores love, my purse would never hold out,  
They'll heat and pick the Silver and the Gold out.  
You both have graced my Thief, he bathe confessed,  
You (like two shreeves) conveyed him to be Pressed.  
In mirth you write to me, on small Requesting,  
For which I thank you both, in harmless jesting,  
And may your Studies to such goodness raise you,  
That God may ever love, and good men praise you.  
Yours, when you will, where you will, in what you will, as you will, with your will, again your will; at this time, at all time, at all times or sometimes, in pastimes. JOHN TAYLOR   


To any Reader He or She,  
It makes no matter what they be.   
WHen you open this first leaf, Imagine you are come within the door of my house, where according as you behave yourselves you are Courteously welcome, or you may lay down the Book, and go the same way you came: the flattering of Readers, or begging their acceptance is an argument that the ware is scarce good which the Author means to utter, or that it is a Cheap year of wit, and his lies upon his hands, which makes him pitifully, like a Suppliant to begin Honourably Complaineth to your Humbleness, ('tis but mistaken, the first should be last.) Some men have demanded of me, why I do write upon such sleight Subjects, as the Praise of Hempseed. The Travails of Twelvepences. Tailor's Goose. The Antiquity of Begging. A Cormorant. A Common Whore. And now an arrant Thief? ●o whom I answer here, that many Grave and excellent Writers have employed their Studies to good purposes in as trivial matters as myself; and I am assured that the meaner the subject is, the better the Invention must be, for (as Tom Nash said) every Fool can fetch Water out of the Sea or pick Corn out of full Sheaves, but to wring● Oil out of Flint, or make a plentiful Harvest with little or no Seed, that's the Workman, but that's not I And Gentlemen, as I lately sent you a Whore that was honest, so I have now sent you a Thief, that will never Rob you nor pick your Pockets of more than you are willing to part with all.  
Yours at all good times JOHN TAYLOR   

A THIEF.  
I Lately to the world did send a 
* A Book I writ called a Whore.  Whore  
And she was welcome, though she was but poor  
And being so, it did most strange appear  
That poverty found any welcome here,  
But when I saw that many Rich men sought,  
My Whore, & with their coin her freedom bought  
I mused, but as the cause I out did ferret  
● found some Rich in Purse, some poor in merit  
Some learned Scholars, some that scarce could spell:  
Yet all did love an honest Whore, right well,  
'twas only such as those that entertained her,  
Whilst scornful Knaves, & wides Fools disdained her.  
Now to defend her harmels' Innocence,  
I send this Thief to be her Just defence:  
Against all truemen, and i'll undertake  
There are not many that dare answer make.  
Then Rouse my Muse, be valiant, and be brief,  
Be confident my true and constant Thief:  
Thy Trade is scattered, universally,  
Throughout the spacious world's Rotundity,  
For all estates and functions great and small,  
Are for the most part Thiefs in general.  
Excepting Millers, Weavers, Tailors, and  
Such true trades as no stealing understand.  
Thou art a Thief (my Book) and being so  
Thou findest thy fellows wheresoeu'r thou go,  
Birds of a feather still will hold together  
And all the world with thee are of a feather:  
The odds is, thou art a Thief by nomination,  
And most of men are Thiefs in their vocation.  
Thou neither dost cog, Cheat, steal swear or lie  
Or gatherest goods by false dishonesty,  
And thou shalt live when many of the Crew  
Shall in a Halter bid the world Adieu.  
And now a thought into my mind doth fall  
To prove whence Thiefs have their original:  
I find that jupiter did wantonly  
On Maya get a son called Mercury,  
To whom the people oft did Sacrifice,  
Accounting him the God of Merchandise:  
Of Eloquence, and rare invention sharp,  
And that he first of all devised the Harp.  
The God of Tumblers, jugglers, fools & jesters,  
Of Thiefs, and fiddlers that the earth bepesters,  
Fair Venus was his Sister, and I find  
He was to her so much unkindly kind,  
That he on her begat Hermaphrodite  
As Ovid very wittily doth write:  
His wings on head and heels true Emblems be  
How quick he can invent, how quickly ●lee:  
By him are Thiefs inspired, and from his gift  
They plot to steal and run away most swift:  
In their conceits and sleights, no men are sharper,  
Each one as nimble fingered as a Harper.  
Thus Thieving is not altogether Base  
But is descended from a lofty Race.  
Moreover every man, himself doth show  
To be the Son of Addam, for we know  
He stole the Fruit, and ever since his Se●de,  
To steal from one another have agreed.  
Our Infancy is Theft, 'tis manifest  
We cry and Rob our Parents of their Rest:  
Our Childhood Robs us of our Infancy,  
And youth doth steal our childhood wantonly:  
Then Manhood pilfers all our youth away,  
And middleage, our Manhood doth convey  
Unto the Thieving hands of feeble age,  
Thus are we all Thiefs, all our Pilgrimage,  
In all which progress, many times by stealth  
Strange sicknesses doth Rob us of our health.  
Rage steals our Reason, Envy thinks it fit  
To steal our Love, whilst Folly steals our wit.  
Pride filcheth from us our Humility,  
And Lechery doth steal our honesty,  
Base Avarice, our Conscience doth purloin,  
Whilst sloth to steal our minds from work doth join  
Time steals upon us, whilst we take small care,  
And makes us old before we be a ware:  
Sleep and his brother Death conspire our fall  
The one steals half our lives, the other all.  
Thus are we Robbed by Morpheus, and by Mors  
Till in the end, each Corpse is but a Coarse,  
Note but the seasons of the year, and see  
How they like Thiefs to one another be  
From Winter's frozen face, through snow & showers  
The Spring doth steal roots, plants, buds & flowers,  
Then Summer Robs the Spring of nature's suit,  
And harvest Robs the Summer of his fruit,  
Then Winter comes again, and he bereaves  
The Harvest of the Grain, and Trees of Leaves,  
And thus these seasons Robs each other still  
Round in their course, like Horses in a mill.  
The Elements, Earth, Water, Air, and Fire  
To rob each other daily do Conspire:  
The fiery Sun from th'ocean, and each River  
Exhales their Waters, which they all deliver:  
This water, into Clouds the Air doth steal  
Where it doth unto Snow or Hail Conicale,  
Until at last Earth Robs the Air again  
Of his stolen Treasure Hail, sleet, snow or Rain.  
Thus be it hot or cold, or dry, or wet,  
These Thiefs, from one another steal and get.  
Night Robs us of the day, and day of Night:  
Light pilfers darkness, and the darkness light.  
Thus life, death, seasons, and the Elements  
And day & Night, for Thiefs are precedents.  
Two Arrant Thiefs we ever bear about us  
The one within, the other is without us,  
All that we get by toil, or Industry  
Our Backs and Bellies steal continually,  
For though men labour with much care & Carke,  
Lie with the Lamb down, rise up with the Lark.  
●weare and forswear, deceive, and lie and Cog,  
And have a Conscience worse than any Dog,  
●e most ungracious, extreme vile and base,  
And (so he gain) not caring for disgrace:  
Let such a Man or Woman count their gains  
They have but meat, & Raiment for their pains.  
No more have they that do live honestest  
Those that can say their Consciences are best,  
Their Bellies and their Backs, day, night and hour,  
The fruits of all their labours do devower:  
These Thiefs do rob us, with our own good will,  
And have dame natures warrant for it still,  
sometimes these Sharks do work each others wrack  
The Ravening Belly, often Robs the Back:  
Will feed like Dives, with Quail, Rail, & Pheasant  
And be attired all tattered like a Peasant,  
sometimes the gaudy Back, Man's Belly pines,  
●or which he often with Duke Humphrey dines:  
●he whilst the mind defends this hungry stealth  
And says a temperate diet maintains health,  
●et Corland cry, let Guts with famine mourn,  
The maw's unseen, good outsides must be worn,  
Thus do these Thiefs Rob us, and in this pother  
The mind consents, and then they Rob each other:  
Our Knowledge and our Learning (oft by chance)  
Doth steal and Rob us of our Ignorance:  
Yet Ignorance may sometimes gain promotion  
Where it is held the Mother of devotion)  
But knowledge joined with learning, are poor things  
That many times a man to begg'ry brings:  
And fortune very oft doth justly fit  
Some to have all the wealth, some all the wit.  
Tobacco Robs some men, if so it list  
It steals their Coin (as Thiefs do) in a Mist:  
Some men to Rob the Pot will ne'er refrain  
Until the Pot Rob them of all again,  
A prodigal can steal exceeding Brief,  
Picks his own purse, and is his own dear Thief:  
And thus within us, and without us we  
Are Thiefs, and by Thiefs always pillagde be.  
First then unto the greatest Thiefs of all  
Whose Thecu'ry is most high and Capital:  
You that for pomp, and Titles transitory  
Rob your Almighty maker of his Glory,  
And give the Honour due to him alone  
Unto a Carved block, a stock or stone,  
An Image, a similitude, or feature  
Of Angel, Saint, or Man, or any creature,  
To Altars, Lamps, to Holly Bread, or Waters,  
To shrines, or tapers, or such juggling matters,  
To Relics, of the dead, or of the living  
This is the most supremest kind of Theiuing.  
Besides they all commit this Felony  
That break the Sabbath day malliciouslie,  
God gives us six days and himself hath one,  
Wherein he would (with thanks) be called upon:  
And those that steal that day to bad abuses,  
Robs God of Honour, without all excuses:  
Unto these Thiefs, my Thief doth plainly tell  
That though they hang not here, they shall in Hell  
except Repentance, (and unworthy Guerdon  
through our redeemers merits) gain their pardon.  
●hen there's a Crew of Thiefs that pry and lu●ch  
●nd steal and share the livings of the Church;  
●hese are Hell's factors, Merchants of all Evil,  
●obs God of Souls, and give them to the Devil.  
●or where the Tithe of many a Parish may  
allow a good sufficient Preacher pay,  
●et Hellish pride, or lust, or Avarice,  
●r one or other fowl licentious Vice,  
●obs Learning Robs the people of their teaching  
who in seven years perhaps doth hear no preaching  
When as the Parsonage by accounts is found  
●earely worth two, 3. or 4. hundred pound,  
●et are those Souls served, or else starved I fear  
●ith a poor Reader 
In the 93. page of a Book, called the Spirit of Detraction the Author cities 12. Parishes in one Hundred in Wales in this predicament.  for eight pounds a year.  
Preacher breaks to us the Heavenly Bread  
●hereby our straying Souls are taught and fed:  
●nd for this heavenly work of his, 't is sense  
●hat men allow him earthly Recompense.  
● shall he give us food that's spiritual  
●nd not have means to feed him Corporal?  
〈◊〉; (of all men) 'tis most manifest,  
●ainefull Churchman earns his wages best.  
●●ose that keep back the Tithes, I tell them true  
〈◊〉 arrant Thiefs in Robbing God, of'is due:  
〈◊〉 he that robs God's church ('t increase their pelf)  
●is most apparent, they Rob God himself.  
The Patron oft deals with his Minister  
As Dionysius did with 
jupiters' Idol in Scracusa in Sicitia.  jupiter  
He stole his Golden Cloak, and put on him  
A Coat of Cotton, (nothing near so trim)  
And to excuse his theft, he said the Gold  
was (to be worn) in Winter time, too Cold,  
But in the Summer, 'twas too hot and heavy,  
And so some Patroness use the Tribe of Levy:  
That for the Winter's cold, or Summer's heat,  
They are so bold, they scarce have clothes & meat.  
Amongst the rest, there may some pastors be,  
Who enter in through cursed Simony:  
But all such are notorious Thiefs therefore  
They climb the wall, & not come through the 
The door is Christ.  door,  
Thus Menelaus did the Priesthood win  
From jason by this simonayck sin,  
For he did pay three hundred Talents more  
Than jason would (or could) disburse therefore.  
And many a mitred Pope and Cardinal  
This way have got their State Pontifical:  
These Rob and steal, (for which all good Men grieu●●  
And make the House of Prayer, a den of Thiefs.  
But though the Hangman, here they can outface  
Yet they shall all hang in a worse place.  
Then there are Thiefs who make the Church their gains  
Who can Preach well, yet will not take the pains:  
Dumb dogs, or ravening wolves, whose careless care  
Doth fat themselves, & keep their flocks most bare.  
Besides Churchwardens, with a griping Fist  
Like Thiefs may Rob their Vestry, if they list.  
The Poors neglector (O I pardon crave)  
Collector I should say, may play the Knave,  
The Thief I would have said, but choose you whether  
He may be both, and so he may be neither.  
So leaving Church- Thiefs, with their cursed stealth,  
He now descend unto the Commonwealth.  
And yet me thinks I should not pass the Court,  
But sure Thiefs dare not thither to resort.  
But of all Thiefs in any King's Dominion,  
A Flatterer is a Cutpurse of opinion,  
That like a Pickpocket, doth lie and wait,  
To steal himself into a man's conceit.  
This Thief will often daub a great man's vice,  
Or rate his Virtue at too low a price,  
Or at too high a pitch his worth will raise,  
To fill his ears with flattery any ways.  
surveyors, and purveyors, now and then  
May steal, and yet be counted honest men.  
When men do for their living labour true,  
●e's a base Thief that pays them not their due.  
They are all Thiefs, that live upon the fruits  
Of Monnopollies if ungodly Suits.  
●he judge or justice that do Bribes desire  
Like Thiefs, deserve a halter for their hire.  
● Reverend Father, worthy of believing,  
●aid taking bribes was Gentleman like Thieving.  
● Merchant now and then his goods may bring,  
And steal the Custom, and so rob the King.  
Thiefs they are all, that scrape and gather treasures,  
By Wares deceitful, or false weights or measures.  
That Landlord is a Thief that racks his Rents,  
And mount the price of rotten Tenements,  
Almost unto a damned double Rate,  
And such a Thief as that 
One that 8 years since bought many houses, where I & many poor men dwelled, & presently raised our Rents, from 3. l. to 5. l. but I changed him quickly for a better. , myself had late.  
A pair of Lovers, are stark Thiefs, for they  
Do kindly steal each others hearts away.  
Extortioners, I Thiefs may truly call,  
Who take more Interest, than the principal.  
Executors, and Overseers Thieving,  
Have often wronged the Dead, and Robbed the living  
All those within the rank of Thiefs must be,  
That trust their Wares out from 3. months to thre●  
And makes their Debtors thrice the worth to pay,  
Because they trust them, these are Thiefs I say,  
That do sell Time, which unto God belongs,  
And beggar whom they trust most, with these wron●  
He is a Thief, and basely doth purloin,  
Who borroweth of his neighbour's goods, or Coyn●  
And can, but will no satisfaction give,  
These are the most notorious Thiefs that live,  
Upon such Thiefs (if Law the same allowed)  
A hanging were exceeding well bestowed.  
A Farmer is a Thief, that hoards up Grain  
In hope of Dearth, by either Drought or Rain,  
He steals God's treasures, and doth quite forget,  
That over them he's but a Steward set,  
And for his Rob'ry he deserves to wear  
A riding Knot an Inch below his Eare.  
Of Drinking Thiefs exceeding store there are,  
That steal themselves Drunk ere they be aware  
These are right Rob-pots, Rob-wits, and Rob-purses,  
To gain Diseases, Begg'ry, and Gods curses.  
Drawers, and Tapsters too, are Thiefs I think,  
That Nick their Pots, and cheat men of their Drink,  
●nd when Guests have their Liquor in their brain,  
●●eale Pots half full, to fill them up again.  
Though this be Thieu'ry yet I must confess,  
●is honest Theft to punish Drunkenness.  
●nd of small Thiefs, the Tapster I prefer,  
●e is a Drunkard's Executioner,  
●or whilst his money lasts he much affects him,  
●hen, with the Rod of poverty Corrects him.  
● Chamberlain unto his Guests may creep  
●nd pick their Pockets, when theyare Drunk asleep▪  
●ut amongst Thiefs, that are of low Repute  
●n Hostler is a Thief, most absolute:  
●e with a Candles end Horse teeth can Grease,  
●hey shall eat neither Hay, Oates, Beanes, or Pease,  
●esides a hole i'th' Manger, and a Bag  
●ang'd underneath may Cozen many a Nag,  
●nd specially, if in a Stable dark,  
●one do not the Ostlers knavery mark.  
●e will deceive a man, before his face,  
●n the Peck's bottom, some few Oats he'll place  
Which seems as if it to the brim were full,  
●nd thus the Knave both Man and Horse will Gull.  
●he break Horsebread, he can thus much do,  
●mongst five loaves, his Codpiece swallows two,  
●he Hostler says the Horse hath one good trick,  
quick at his meat, he needs must travel quick.  
If men, at full Rack for their Horsmeat pay,  
So hard into the rack he'll tread the Hay,  
That out, the poor Beasts cannot get a bit,  
And th'Hostler held an honest man for it,  
For who would think the Horses want their right,  
When as the Rack is still full, day and night?  
With bottles, if men will have Horses fed,  
To each a Groats worth ere they go to bed,  
The Thievish Ostler can rob Horse and Men,  
And steal the bottles from the Rack again,  
And put in Hay that's pissed upon, I wot,  
Which being dried, no horse will eat a jot,  
And all such Ostlers, wheresoever they be,  
Deserve a Horse's nightcap for their Fee.  
One stole a Wife, and married her in post,  
A hanging had been better stolen, almost:  
By her he night and day was long perplexed,  
Cornuted, scolded at, defamed, and vexed,  

He cannot steal truly, or truly he cannot steal.  That (in comparison of all his pain)  
A friendly hanging had been mighty gain.  
There's an old speech, a Tailor is a Thief,  
And an old speech he hath for his relief,  
I'll not equivocate, I'll give him's due  
He (truly) steals not, or he steals not, true,  
Those that report so, mighty wrong doth do him,  
For how can he steal that, that's brought unto him  
And it may be they were false Idle speeches,  
That one brought Cotton once, to line his Breeches  
And that the Tailor laid the Cotton by,  
And with old painted Cloth, the room supply,  
●hich as the owner (for his use) did wear,  
Nail, or sceg, by chance his breech did tear,  
〈◊〉 which he saw the Linings, and was wroth;  
●r Dives and Lazarus on the painted Cloth,  
●he Gluttons Dogs, and Hell's fire hotly burning,  
●ith Fiends & fleshooks, whence there's no returning,  
●e ripped the other breech, and there he spied,  
●he pampered Prodigal on Cockhorse ride:  
●here was his fare, his Fiddlers, and his Whores,  
●is being poor, and beaten out of Doors,  
●is keeping Hogs, his eating husks for meat,  
●is Lamentation, and his home retreat,  
●is welcome to his Father, and the Feast,  
●he fat Calf killed, all these things were expressed.  
●hese Transformations filled the man with fear,  
●hat he Hell fire within his breech 
* 
This fellow's Breeches were not lined with Apochri●ha.  
I heard of one that had the picture of the Devil in the back linings of his Doublet witness at the Swan in St. Mar●ids.   should bear,  
●e mused what strange enchantments he had been in,  
●hat turned his linings, into painted Linen.  
●is fear was great, but at the last to rid it,  
〈◊〉 Wizard told him, 'twas the Tailor did it.  
●ne told me of a 
* This Miller kept a Windmill not many years since at Purflet in Essex.  Miller that had power  
sometimes to steal 5. Bushels out of four:  
●s once a Windmill (out of breath) lacked wind,  
● fellow brought Four bushels there to Grind,  
●nd hearing neither noise of Knap or tiler,  
●ayd down his Corn, and went to seek the Miller:  
●ome two flight-shoot to th'Alehouse he did wag,  
●nd left his Sack in keeping with his Nag,  
●he Miller came a by-way up the hill,  
And saw the Sack of Corn stand at the Mill,  
Perceiving none that could his Theft gainsay,  
For toll taken Bag and Grist, and all away.  
And a Cross way unto the Alehouse hied him,  
Whereas the man that sought him, quickly spied him  
Kind Miller (quoth the man) I left but now  
A Sack of Wheat, and I entreat that thou  
Wilt walk up to the Mill where it doth lie,  
And Grind it for me now the wind blows hie.  
So up the Hill they went, and quickly found  
The Bag & Corn, stolen from the ground ungrown  
The poor man with his loss was full of grief,  
He, and the Miller went to seek the Thief,  
Or else the Corn, at last all tired and sad,  
(Seeking both what he had not, and he had)  
The Miller (to appease or ease his pain)  
Sold him one Bushel 
Some say that he sold him the 4. Bushels again, and then stole one bushel for toll.  of his own again.  
Thus out of 4. the man Five Bushels lost,  
Accounting truly all his Corn and cost.  
To mend all of this Thieving Miller's brood,  
One half hours hanging would be very good.  
But there's a kind of stealing mystical,  
Pickpocket wits, filch lines Sophistical,  
Villains in Verse, base Runagates in Rhyme,  
False Rob-wits, and contemned slaves of time,  
Purloining Thiefs, that pilfer from Desert  
The due of Study, and reward of Art.  
Pot Poets, that have skill to steal Translations,  
And (into English) filch strange tongues and Nation  
And change the Language of good Wits unknown  
These Thievish Rascals print them for their own.  
mistake me not good Reader any ways,  
translators do deserve Respect and praise,  
●or were it not for them, we could not have  
● Bible, that declares our souls to save,  
●nd many thousands worthy works would lie  
●ot understood, or in obscurity,  
● they by Learned men's Intelligence,  
Were not Translated with great diligence:  
honour such, and he that doth not so,  
●ay his soul sink to everlasting woe.  
speak of such as steal Regard and Fame,  
Who do translate, and hide the Author's name,  
Or such as are so barren of Invention,  
That cannot write a line worth note, or mention,  
●et upon those that can will belch their spite,  
And with malicious Tongues their Names backbite.  
●o this effect I oft have wrote before,  
●nd am enforced now this one time more,  
●o take my Pen again into my fist,  
And Answer a depraving Emblemist,  
● spare to Name him, but I tell him plain,  
●e're he dare abuse me so again,  
●e whip him with a jerking Satyrs lash,  
●ang'd like th'invective Muse of famous Nash.  
That he shall wish he had not been, or been  
Hanged, ere he moved my Just incensed spleen.  
He hath Reported most maliciously,  
〈◊〉 sundry places amongst company,  
That I do neither Write, nor yet Invent  
The things that (in my Name) do pass in Print.  
But that some Scholar spends his Time and brain,  
And let me have the Glory and the Gain.  
Is any Poet in that low Degree,  
To make his Muse work journey-worke to me?  
Or are my Lines with Eloquence Embellished,  
As any Learning in them may be relished?  
Those that think so, they either judge in haste,  
Or else their judgements palates out of taste.  
My pen in Helicon, I ne'er did dip,  
And all my Scholarship is Schullership,  
I am an Englishman, and have the scope  
To write in mine own Country's speech (I hope)  
For Homer was a Grecian, and I note  
That all his works in the Greek tongue he wrote▪  
Virgil, and Ovid, neither did Contemn  
To use that speech, their Mothers taught to them.  
Du Bartas, Petrarcke, Tasso, all their Muses,  
Did use the Language that their Country uses.  
And though I know but English, I suppose  
I have as many tongues as some of those.  
Their Studies were much better, yet I say  
I use my Country's speech, and so did they.  
Because my Name is Tailor, some do doubt,  
My best Invention comes by stealing out  
From other Writers works, but I reply,  
And give their doubtful diffidence the lie.  
To close this point I must be very brief,  
And call them Knaves, that calls me Poet Thief.  
But yet a Poet's theft, I must not smother,  
For they do often steal from one another:  
They call it borrowing, but I think it true,  
To term it Stealing, were a style more due.  
There is a Speech, that Poets still are poor,  
●ut ne'er till now I knew the Cause wherefore:  
Which is, when their Inventions are at best,  
Then they are daily robbed, 'tis manifest,  
For noble Thiefs, and poor Thiefs all Conjoin,  
From painful Writers studies to purloin,  
And steal their Flashes, and their sparks of wit,  
Still uttering them at all occasions fit,  
As if they were their own, and these men are  
For their stolen stuff esteemed wise and Rare.  
They call it borrowing, but I tell them plain  
●Tis stealing, for they never pay again.  
The use of Money's ten i'th' Hundred still,  
And men in Bonds bound, as the owner will,  
But wit and Poetry (more worth than treasure)  
Is from the Owners borrowed, at men's pleasure,  
And to the Poet's lot it still doth fall,  
To lose both Interest and principal.  
This is the cause that Poets are poor men,  
theyare Robbed, and lend, and ne'er are paid again.  
'tis said that jacob (counselled by his Mother)  
Did steal his Father's blessing from his Brother,  
This was a Theft which few will imitate,  
Their Father's blessings are of no such rate,  
For though some Sons might have them for the craving,  
Yet they esteem them scarcely worth the having,  
Their Father's money they would gladly steal,  
But for their blessings they regard no deal.  
And by their Waters, you may guess and gather;  
That they were sick, and grieved of the Father:  
But on such Thiefs as those, I plainly say  
A handsome hanging were not cast away.  
Some Thiefs may through an Admirable skill,  
An honest Common wealth both poll and pill:  
These fellows steal secure as they were Millers,  
And are substantial men, their Country's Pillars:  
Purloining polers, or the Barbers Rather,  
That shave a Kingdom, Cursed wealth to gather;  
These Pillars, or these Caterpillars swarms  
Grow Rich, and purchase Goods by others harms▪  
And live like Fiends, extremely feared, and hated  
And are, and shallbe ever execrated.  
A King of Britain once Catellus 
* He was the 40. th' King after Brute & he Reigned before Christ's ' birth 171. years.  named  
Upon Record his Charity is famed:  
His justice, and his memory was so Ample  
He hanged up all opressors, for example.  
If that Law once again were in request  
Then, of all trades a Hangman were the best.  
These are the Brood of Barrabas, and these  
Can Rob, and be let loose again at ease,  
Whilst Christ (in his poor members) every day,  
Doth suffer (through their theft) and pine away.  
And sure all men, of whatsoe'er degree  
Of Science, Art, or Trade or mystery,  
Or occupation, whatsoe'er they are  
For truth cannot with Watermen compare.  
I know there's some objections may be made,  
How they are Rude, uncivil in their trade,  
●ut that is not the question I propound  
● say no theft can in the Trade be found,  
Our greatest foes by no means can Reveal,  
Which way we can deceive, or cheat, or steal:  
We take men in, and Land them at their pleasure,  
And never bate them half an Inch of measure,  
Still at one price ourselves we waste and wear,  
Though all things else be mounted double dear,  
And in a word, I must Conclude and say  
A Waterman can be a Thief no way. 
The Annagram of Waterman is A TRUE MAN.   
Except one way, which I had half forgot  
He now and then perhaps may Rob the pot,  
Steal himself Drunk, and be his own Purspicker,  
And Chimically turns his Coin to Liquer:  
This is almost a Universal Theaft  
A portion Fathers to their Sons have left,  
Men are begot, and do like their begetters  
And Watermen do learn it of their betters.  
there's nothing that doth make them poor and bare,  
But cause they are such true men as they are:  
For if they would but steal, like other men  
The Gallows would devour them now and then  
Whereby their number quickly would be less,  
Which (to their wants) would be a good redress,  
Their poverty doth from their truth proceed  
Their way to thrive were to be Thiefs indeed,  
If they would steal and hang as others do  
Those that survive it were a help unto,  
Truth is their trade, and truth doth keep them poor  
But if their truth were less their wealth were more,  
All sorts of men work all the means they can,  
To make a Thief of every Waterman:  
And as it were in one consent they join,  
To troth by land i'th' dirt, and save their Coin.  
Carroaches, Coaches, jades and Flanders Mares,  
Do rob us of our shares, our wares, our Fares.  
Against the ground we stand and knock our heels,  
Whilst all our profit runs away on wheels,  
And whosoever but observes and notes  
The great increase of Coaches, and of Boats:  
Shall find their number more than e'er they were,  
By half and more within these Thirty year.  
Then Watermen at Sea had service still,  
And those that stayed at home had work at will,  
Then upstart Helcart-Coaches were to seek,  
A man could scarce see Twenty in a week,  
But now I think a man may daily see,  
More than the Whirryes on the Thames can be.  
When Queen Elizabeth, came to the Crown,  
A Coach in England, then was scarcely known,  
Then 'twas as rare to see one, as to spy  
A Tradesman that had never told a lie.  
But now, like plagues of Egypt, they do swarm,  
As thick as Frogs, or Lice, unto our harm.  
For though the King, the Counsel, and such States,  
As are of high Superior ranks, and rates:  
For port or pleasure, may their Coaches have,  
Yet 'tis not fit that every Whore or Knave,  
And fulsome Madams, and new scurvy Squires,  
Should jolt the Streets in pomp, at their desires,  
Like great Triumphant Tamberlaines, each day,  
Drawn with the pampered jades of Belgia,  
That almost all the streets are choked outright,  
Where men can hardly pass from morn till night.  
Whilst Watermen want work, and are at ease,  
To Carry one another, if they please,  
Or else sit still, and poorly starve and dye.  
For all their livings on four Wheels do fly.  
Good Reader think it not too long, or much  
That I thus amply, on this point do touch,  
Now we are Borne, we would our work apply  
To labour, and to live until we Dye,  
And we could live well, but for Coaches Thieving.  
That every Day do rob us of our living.  
If we, by any means, could learn the skill  
To rob the Coachmen, as they rob us still:  
Then in the Session's book it would appear,  
They would be hanged five hundred in a year.  
Besides it is too manifestly Known,  
They have the Saddler's Trade almost o'erthrown,  
And the best Leather in our Kingdom they  
Consume and waste; for which poor men do pay.  
Our Boots and Shoes to such high price they rear,  
That all our profit can buy none to wear.  
● in Bohemia saw, that all but Lords,  
Or men of worth, had Coaches drawn with Cords:  
And I my Neck unto the Rope would pawn,  
That if our Hackney Ratlers were so drawn,  
With Cords, or Ropes, or Halters, choose ye whether  
It quickly would bring down the price of Leather.  
Then Watermen should have more work I hope,  
When every Hireling Coach drawn with a Rope,  
Would make our Gallants stomach at the matter  

The Wher●yes were wont to have all the Whores Till the Coaches Robbed them of their Custom.  And now and then to spend their Coin by water.  
Without all flattery, here my mind I break,  
The Proverb says, give loser's leave to speak:  
They Carry all our Fares, and make us poor  
That to our Boats we scarce can get a Whore,  
Some honest men and women, now and then  
Will spend their monies amongst Watermen,  
But we are grown so many, and again  
Our fares so few, that little is our gain.  
Yet for all this (to give the Devil his due)  
Our honest trade can no ways be untrue.  
If some be rude amongst the multitude  
'Tis only want of work that makes them Rude,  
'Tis want of money and of Manners to  
That makes them do as too too oft they do  
And every good thing that in them is scant  
It still must be Imputed to their want.  
But leaving true men, I must turn my style  
To paltry Thiefs, whose Glory is their guile:  
For thrice three hundred of them from one took  
Some of them ready money, some a Book,  
And set their hands to Bills, to pay to me  
When I from Scotland should returned be.  
Crouns, Pounds or Angels, what thy pleased to writ  
I have their fists to show in black and white.  
And after that, I to Bohemia went,  
And gave out money, and much money spent:  
And for these things, those Thiefs in general,  
Will neither give me gain or Principal. 
It is called a Kicksie winsie, or a Lerrio cun●●wang.   
● lately wrought a Pamphlet to the Crew,  
●hat spoke their due, for keeping of my due:  
Wherein I gave them thanks that had me paid,  
●nd pardoned, those that in their graves were laid:  
●o those that were exceeding poor, or fled,  
Except good words) I very little said,  
● prayed for them that only would and could not  
●nd I inveighed at those that could and would not.  
●nd let those shifters their own judges be  
●f they have not been arrant Thiefs to me,  
●or first and last they took (with their good) wills  
●eere fifteen hundred books upon their bills,  
●nd all their hands (If I the truth may utter)  
●re worse than obligations sealed with butter:  
●or I have in my store (not worth a Louse)  
●s many Bills as well may thatch a House,  
●nd there I have the hands of Knights and Squires:  
●nd Omnium gatherum Cheating knaves and liars,  
●eauen hundred in a Galleymawfrey, Close  
Which I would sell for fifteen pence the Groce,  
●hei'le neither pay, with coming, nor with sending  
●nd are like old Boots, past all hope of mending.  
●●rst they did Rob me of my expectation  
●nd made me walk along perambulation,  
●nd as my Royal Master 
To whom I in all humility must ever, acknowledge my obedience and dutiful Thankfulness and service.  when I came  
●he good Prince, and my Lord of Buckingham  
With many more of Honour, Worship, and  
●en of inferior callings in this land,  
Were bountiful to me at my Return,  
Yet I like one, that doth one Candle burn  
In seeking of another, spent their gifts  
To find out Sharks, and Compliments and shift  
Theft is the best Name I can give their Crime,  
They rob me of my Books, my Coin, and time,  
Of others Bounty, and mine own good Hopes,  
And for this Theft I leave them to the Ropes,  
I speak to those that can and will not pay,  
When in the Streets I meet them every day,  

I have 700. Bills of their hands which in all co●●es to near; 00. l.  They do not much mistake if they do think  
I wish them hanged, for keeping of my Chink.  
Thus have I touched a Crew of Thieving fellows,  
That Rob beyond the Compass of the Gallows:  
Whilst many little Thiefs are hanged up dead  
That only Steal for need, to find them Bread,  
As Pharaoh's fat Kine, did the Lean devour,  
So great Thiefs swallow small ones by their power  
And sure I think, that Common Burglaries,  
Pickpockets, Highway Thiefs, and Pilferies,  
And all that thus Feloniously do Thieve,  
Are Thiefs whose labours 
The trade of Thieving is very profitable to many men.  many do Relieve.  
Who but poor Thiefs do jailors wants supply?  
On whom do under Keepers still rely?  
From Thieving, money still is gotten thus,  
For many a Warrant and a Mittimus,  
And if men were not apt to Filch and Thieve,  
'Twere worse for many a High, and under-shrieve  
The Halter-maker, and the Smith are getters  
For fatal Twist, and ponderous Bolts and Petters.  
●e Carman hath a share amongst the rest,  
●hough not voluntary, yet he's Pressed.  
〈◊〉 Ballad-maker doth some profit reap,  
〈◊〉 makes a Tyburn Dirge, exceeding Cheap,  
〈◊〉 whilst the Printers, and the doleful Singers,  
〈◊〉 in these gainful business dip their fingers.  
〈◊〉 very Hangman hath the sleight and skill,  
〈◊〉 extract all his goods from others Ill,  
〈◊〉 is the Epilogue unto the Law,  
〈◊〉 from the jaws of Death his life doth draw.  
〈◊〉 last, the Hangman's Broker reaps the fruit,  
〈◊〉 selling to one Thief another's Suit.  
●●sides Thiefs are sit members, for 'tis known,  
●hey make men careful how to keep their own,  
〈◊〉 were it not for them, we still should lie  
●●ck'd in the Cradle of security.  
●ll'd in base Idleness, and sluggish sloth,  
〈◊〉 to all ill, and to all Goodness loath.  
●hich would infect us, and corrupt the blood,  
●nd therefore for our health's sake, Thiefs are good.  
●nd some men are so prone to steal, I think  
〈◊〉 as Natural as their meat and drink,  
●hey are borne to't, and cannot do withal,  
●nd must be filching still, what ere befall.  
●wispe of Rushes, or a Clod of land,  
〈◊〉 any wad of Hay that's next to hand  
●hey'l steal, and for it have a good excuse,  
●hey do't to keep their hands in ure, or use.  
●ut not t'excuse a Thief in any case,  
〈◊〉 there are some Crimes, as void of Grace,  
On whom men scarce have feeling or a thought,  
Nor e'er like Thiefs are to the Gallows brought  
Those that obey false Gods commit offence,  
Against th'eternal Gods Omnipotence.  
Those that do graven Images adore,  
Are worse than Thiefs, yet are not hanged therefore  
'tis Treason high, to take God's Name in vain,  
Yet most men do't, through frailty, or for Gain▪  
The Saboth is profaned continually,  
Whilst the offenders pay small 
Or none at all.  penalty.  
And Parents are dishonoured, without Awe,  
The whilst the Children do escape the Law.  
And Murder, though't be ne'er so foul and dead  
Is oft times made Manslaughter or Chancemed  
Adulteries neighbourhood, and Fornication,  
May be connived at, with a toleration.  
A Witness, that false Testimony bears,  
'tis a great wonder if he lose his Ears,  
But sure, the Proverb is as true as brief,  
A Lyer's ever worse than a Thief,  
And 'tis called Thrift, when men their minds do  
To covet how their Neighbour's goods to get.  
To be vainglorious, and Ambitious proud  
Are Gentlemanlike parts, must be allowed.  
To bear an Envy base and secretly,  
'tis counted Wisdom, and great Policy.  
To be a Drunkard, and the Cat to whip,  
Is called the King of all good Fellowship.  
But for a Thief, the whole world doth Consent  
That Hanging is the fittest punishment.  
〈◊〉 if that Law were put in Execution,  
●hinke it would be Mankind's Dissolution:  
●nd then we should have Land and Tenements  
〈◊〉 nothing, or for very easy Rents,  
●hereby we see that man his wealth esteems,  
〈◊〉 better than his God, his soul it deems:  
●or let God be abused, and let his soul  
●●nne greedily into offences foul,  
〈◊〉 scarcely shall be questioned for't, but if  
●mongst his other sins) he play the Thief  
●nd steal men's goods, they all will sentence give,  
〈◊〉 must be Hanged, he is unfit to live.  
〈◊〉 the Low Countries, if a wretch do steal  
〈◊〉 Bread, or Meat, to feed himself a meal,  
●hey will unmercifully beat and Clout him,  
●●le, pull, and tear, & spurn, & kick, & flout him,  
●ut if a Drunkard be unpledged a Can  
●●awes out his Knife and basely stabs a man,  
〈◊〉 run away the Rascal shall have scope,  
●one holds him, but all Cry 
Run thief Run.  Lope Scellum Lope,  
●hus there's a close Connivance for all Vice,  
except for Theft, and that's a Hanging price.  
●ne man's addicted to Blaspheme and swear,  
● second to Carouse, and Domineer:  
● third to Whoring, and a fourth to Fight,  
●nd Kill and slay, a fifth man to Backbite,  
● sixth and seaventh, with this or that Crime caught,  
●nd all in general much worse than nought.  
●nd amongst all these sinners general,  
●he Thief must win the Halter from them all,  
When if the matter should examined be  
They do deserve it all, as much as he.  
Nor yet is Thievery any upstar sin,  
But it of long Antiquity hath been:  
And by this Trade Great men have not disdained,  
To win Renown, and have their states maintain  
Great Alexander's Conquests, what were they  
But taking others goods and Lands away:  
(In manners) I must call it Martial dealing,  
But truth will term it Rob'ry, and flat stealing,  
For unto all the world it is well known,  
That he by force, took what was not his hour.  
Some Writers are with Tamburlaine so brief,  
To style him with the Name of Scythian Thief.  

Platarch.  Lycurgus loved, and granted gifts beside  
To Thiefs that could steal, and escape unspied:  
But if they taken with the manner were,  
They must restore, and buy the bargain dear.  
Thiefs were at all times ever to be had  
Exampled by the good Thief and the Bad.  
And England still hath been a fruitful Land  
Of Valiant Thiefs, that durst bid true men stand  
One Bellin Dun 
Hen. 1. , a famous Thief survived,  
From whom the Town of Dunstable's derived:  
And Robin Hood 
Rich. 2.  with little john agreed  
To rob the Rich men, and the Poor to feed.  

Edw. 3.  The Priests had here such small means for therefore  
That many, of them were enforced to Thieving.  
Once the fifth Henry could Rob excellent well,  
When he was Prince of Wales, as Stories tell.  
●hen Friar Tuck a tall stout Thief indeed,  
●ould better Rob and steal, then Preach or reed.  
〈◊〉 Gosselin Deinuill, 
Edw. 2.  with 200. more,  
〈◊〉 Friars weeds, Robbed, and were Hanged therefore.  
●hus I in Stories, and by proof do find  
●hat steal's very old, time out of mind,  
●re I was Borne, it through the world was spread,  
●nd will be when I from the world am Dead.  
But leaving thus, my Muse in hand hath taken,  
To show which way a Thief is like a Book.   

A Comparison between a Thief and a Book.  
COmparisons are odious, as some say,  
But my Comparisons are so no way,  
In the Pamphlet which I wrote before,  
Compared a Book most fitly to a Whore:  
●nd now, as fitly my poor Muse alludes,  
● Thief t' a Book in apt similitudes,  
A good Book steals the mind from vain pretences,  
From wicked Cogitations, and offences:  
〈◊〉 makes us know the world's deceiving pleasures,  
And set our hearts on never ending Treasures.  
So when Thiefs steal, our Cattle, Coin or Ware,  
It makes us see how mutable they are.  
Puts us in mind that we should put our trust,  
Where Felon cannot steal, or Canker rust.  
Bad Books through eyes and ears do break & enter,  
And takes possession of the hearts frail Centre.  
Infecting all the little Kingdom Man,  
With all the poyso'nous mischief that they can,  
Till they have Robbed and ransacked him of all  
Those things which men may justly goodness call,  
Robs him of Virtue, and Heavenly grace  
And leaves him Beggared, in a wretched case.  
So of our Earthly goods, Thiefs steal the best,  
And richest jewels, and leave us the rest.  
Men know not Thiefs from true men by their look●  
Nor by their outsides, no man can know Books.  
Both are to be suspected, all can tell,  
And Wisemen ere they trust, will try them well.  
A Book may have a Title good and fair,  
Though in it one may find small goodness there:  
And so a Thief, whose actions are most vile,  
Steals good opinion, and a True man's style.  
Some Books (profane) the Sacred Text abuse,  
With common Thiefs, it is a common use.  
Some Books are full of lies, and Thiefs are so,  
One hardly can believe their yea or no.  
Some Books are Scurrilous, and too obscene,  
And he's no right Thief that loves not a Quean.  
Some Book's not worth the Reading for their fruits  
Some Thiefs not worth the Hanging, for their suits  
Some Books are brief, and in few words declare  
Compendious matter, and Acuteness rare,  
And so some Thiefs will break into a House,  
Or cut a Purse whilst one can crack a Louse.  
Some Books are arrogant and Impudent,  
So are most Thiefs in Christendom and Kent.  
Some Books are plain and simple, and some Thie●●●  
Are simply Hanged, whilst others get Reprieves.  
Some Books like foolish Thiefs, their faults are sp●●  
Some Thiefs like witty Books, their faults can hide  
●ome Books are acquaint and quick in their Conceits▪  
●ome Thiefs are active, nimble in their sleights.  
●ome Books with idle stuff the Author fills,  
●ome Thiefs will still be Idle, by their wills.  
●ome Books have neither Reason, Law, or sense,  
No more have any Thiefs for their offence.  
● book's but one, when first it comes to th'press,  
〈◊〉 may increase to Numbers Numberless,  
And so one Thief perhaps may make threescore  
And that threescore may make ten thousand more,  
Thus from one Thief, Thiefs may at last amount  
Like Books from one Book past all men's account.  
And as with Industry, and Art, and Skill,  
One Thief doth daily Rob another still,  
So one Book from another (in this Age)  
Steals many a Line, a sentence or a Page.  
Thus amongst Books, good fellowship I find,  
All things are common, Thiefs bear no such mind.  
And for this Thieving Books with Hue and Cry  
Are sought, (as Thiefs are) for their Felony.  
As Thiefs are chased and sent from place to place,  
So Books, are always in continual Chase.  
As Books are strongly Bossed, and Clasped & bound,  
So Thiefs are Manacled, when they are found:  
As Thiefs are oft examined, for their Crimes,  
So Books are used, and have been at all times.  
As Thiefs have oft at their Arraignment stood,  
So Books are tried if they be bad or good.  
As juries and Grand juries, with much strife.  
Give up (for Thiefs) a Verdict, Death or Life.  
So as men's fancies Evidence do give,  
The shame or fame of Books, to dye or live:  
And as the veriest Thief may have some friend,  
So the worst Books, some Knave will still defend.  
As Thiefs their Condemnation must abide,  
Books are deemed true sometimes, sometimes belied.  
As Thiefs are judged, so have Books again,  
As many Censures (almost) as are men.  
And as their faults are different in degree,  
Some Thiefs are hanged, some Books are burnt w● 〈◊〉  
Some Thiefs are for their small offences whipped,  
All Books are Pressed, except a Manuscript.  
As Thiefs are buried, when the Law is paid,  
So some Books in oblivions Grave are laid.  
The jailors keep the Thiefs, and much regards  
The strength of Fetters, Locks, bolts, grates & wards  
And will know when and how abroad they go,  
And unto Books the Stacioners 
There is od● betwixt a Keeper & a jailor the Stationer keeps Books against his will, the jailor holds Thiefs with his will.  are so.  
Still Books and Thiefs in one Conceit do join:  
For, if you mark them, they are all for Coin.  
Some Thiefs exceeding brave a man may find  
In Satin, and their Cloaks with Velvet lined:  
And some Books have gay Coats unto their back  
When as their insides, goods and goodness lacks.  
Some Books are all bet●tterd, torn and 〈◊〉,  
Some Thiefs endure a rugged punishment▪  
Some Thiefs may come (their sorrows to increase)  
Before a shallow Officer of Peace,  
One that can Cough, call knave, & with non sense  
Commit, before be know for what offence:  
A Book sometimes doth prove a Thiefs true friend,  
And doth preserve him from a hanging end:  
For let a man at any Sessions look,  
And still some Thiefs are saved by their Book.  
And so some Books to Coxcombs hands may come,  
Who can cry Pish, and Mew, and Tush, and Hum,  
Condemn ere they have read, or throughly scanned,  
Abusing what they cannot understand.  
Some Thiefs are like a Hornbook, and begin  
Their A. B. C. of filching, with a Pin;  
Their Primer is a Point, and then their Psalter  
May pick a Pocket, and come near a Halter.  
Then with long practice in these Rudiments,  
To break a House may be his Accidence,  
And using of his skill (thus day by day)  
By Grammar he may Rob upon the way,  
Until at last, to wear (it be his hap)  
A Tyburn Tippet, or old Stories Cap.  
That is the highest degree which they can take,  
An end to all their Studies there they make:  
For amongst Thiefs, not one amongst a score,  
●f they be raised so high, they'll steal no more.  
Thus the Comparisons holds still you see,  
To Whores and Theives, Books may compared be.  
All are like Actors, in this wavering Age,  
They Enter all, upon the world's great Stage:  
Some gain Applause, and some do Act amiss,  
And exit from the Scaffold with a Hiss.  
Now if my Whore or Thief play well their Parts,  
Give them their due, Applaud their good deserts.  
If ill, To Newgate hisse them, or Bridewell,  
To any place, Hull, Halifax or Hell.  
And thus the Thief and Book join both in one;  
Both having made an END, they both have  
DON.   

Thus having Treated sufficiently of Whores and Whoring, and Thiefs and Thieving, I do purpo●● shortly, to set forth a Pamphlet, in the Commendat●●ons of jailors and jails, with the necessity of Hangiing, and the Hangman's Art or Mystery, Compend●●ously described.  
FINIS.