"He wyll no money, hostesse, I you promyt, For Gods sake he dooth it eche whyt." Than calleth he anone for his casket,

That scantily is worth a rotten basket, And taketh out a powdre of experyence,

That a carte lode is not worth two pence, And in a paper he dooth fayre fold it vp, Fastyng thre days, he byddeth that to sup. Then for a space he taketh lycence

God wot as yet he payd for none expence ; And so departeth, and on the next day

One of his fellowes wyll go the same way, To bolster the matter of his fals bewpere:

He sytteth downe, and maketh good chere,
Which in lyke wyse loketh on the chylde

Saying, "that heuenly vyrgyn vndefylde
Our lady Mary! preserue this chyld now,
For it is seke, hostesse, I tell it you;
For or thre days, but our Lorde hym saue
I ensure you it wylbe in a graue."

“Good syr,” sayth she, “alas! and wele away!

Here was a gentylman euen yesterday

That tolde the same accesse and dysease."

"Hostesse," sayth he, "yf that it would you please

What maner man was it? I pray you tell."

"Good syr," she sayth, "in sothe I know not well;

But Englysh speche in dede he can none,

And is a Jewe, his man told vs ech one."
"Yea was," sayth he, "I know him well in dede
I wolde I had spoke with hym or he yede.
But hostesse, in faythe, toke he ony thyng ?"

"By my trouth," sayth she, "not one farthyng."
"I wote," sayth he, "but I maruell that he wold
But of charyte, in suche a meane houshold
Do say so moche for yf great estates it knewe
His company than wold they all eschew."
"Good syr," sayth she, "yet of your gentylnes
Helpe this poore chyld, of this sayd sekenes:
And here is xx. shyllyngs for your payne,

And your expences for a weke or twayne."

"Well, hostesse," sayth he, "I wyll do more than that For you, but I shall tell you what

For my labour I aske nothyng at all

But for the drogges that occupy he shall,

The which be dere, and very precyous:
And surely, I wyll neuer out of your hous
Tyll he be hole as eyther you or I.”

Than gooth his knaue to a town to bye
These drogges that be not worth a

And there they lye a fourtenyght at borde
With these good folkes, and put them to cost :
Bothe meat and money clerely haue they lost.
Yet God wote, what waste they made and reuell :
So at the last departeth this Jauell
With the money, and streyght rydeth he

Where the thefe his felaw, and dyuers others be
And there they prate, and make theyr auaunt
Of theyr deceytes, and drynk theyr adew taunt
As they lyue, I pray God them amend,

Or as they be to bring them to an end :]
For the spyttell is not for theyr estate,

Howbeit they come dayly by the gate.

Among the rest are also curious descriptions of "pardoners" and "Preestes and clerkes that lyue vycyously not carying how they shold do theyr duty;" dissolute "yong heyres spending vp their patrymony;" "baylyffs and stuards that be neclygent to make reckenyngs;" "landlords, fermours and others;" and

and numerous other kinds. After enumerating adulterers, swearers, usurers, and others, Copland inquires what the porter thought of

Theeves and murtherers, and these watchers of wayes
That robbe and steale, bothe by nyghtes and dayes
Do not they oft tymes come hyther by you?

VOL. II. PART. II.

8 N

Porter.

Of them there cometh dayly ynow:

But they be led, and comenly fast bounde,

Bycause theyr lodgyng may soner be founde.
And ben conueyed by men of charyte

Where that they haue hospytalyte,
And ben well kept, and wrapped surely,

And whan tyme cometh that they must dye,

They be buryed-aloft in the ayre,

By cause dogs shall not on theyr graues repayre.

Last come the drunkards, brawlers, proud boasters, hypocrites, and men with "deynty huswyues," of whom Copland says:

Well, good Porter, I pray you let them alone

For happy is he that hath a good one.

I pray you shewe me of other gestes,
For agaynst women I loue no iestes.

He then remarks:

The showre is almoost done, and I haue fer to go;
Come none of these pedlers this way also,

With pak on bak, with theyr brousy speche

Jagged and ragged, with broken hose and breche?
Porter.

Inow, ynow; with bousy coue maund nace
Joure the patryng coues in the darkman cace
Docked the dell, for a coper meke

His watch shall seng a prounces nob chete
Cyarum by salmon, and thou shalt pek my iere
In thy gan for my watch it is nace gere
For the bene bouse, my watch hath a wyn

And thus they bable tyll theyr thry ft is thyn
I wote not what with theyr pedlyng frenche

But of the spyttle they haue a party stenche
And with them comes gaderers of cony skynnes
That chop with laces, poyntes, nedles, and pyns.

Copland then inquires:

Come ony Maryners hyther of Cok Lorels bote?
¶ Porter.

Euery day they be alway a flote:

We must them receyue and geyne them coites fre,

And also with them the fraternyte

Of unthryftes, which do our hous endewe,
And neuer fayle with brethren alway newe.
Also here is kept, and holden in degre

With in our hous the ordres. viii tyme thre
Of knaues onely; we can them not kepe out,
They swarme so thyke as bees in a rout;
And chyef of all that dooth us encombre,
The ordre of fooles, that be without nombre;
For dayly they make suche preas and cry
That scant our hous can them satysfy.

We find mention of this Cock Lorell, who lived at the time of Henry VIII., in a curious tract by Samuel Rowlands, entitled Martin Mark-all, Beadle of Bridewell: His defence and answer to the Belman of London, 4to, 1601; whence we learn that he was "the most notorious knave that ever lived," was a tinker by trade, and was at the head of the fraternity of vagabonds, and ruler over them for twenty-two years, from 1511 until the year 1533. He was the person that reduced and brought into form the Catalogue of Vagabonds, called the Five and Twenty Orders of Knaves, which are enumerated in the Fraternitye of Vagabondes, &c., confirmed for ever by Cocke Lorell, 4to, 1575. A curious satire in verse had been printed a short time before under the title of Cocke Lorells Bote, by Wynkyn de Worde, a copy of which, wanting the first part, formerly in the Garrick collection, is now in the British Museum. A reprint of thirty-five copies of this tract, supposed to be unique, was presented by the Rev. Henry Drury to the members of the Roxburghe Club in 1817. Another, and not very accurate, impression of forty copies only was printed at Edinburgh in 1841. And a third reprint was also published by the Percy Society in 1843, with a Preface by Edward F. Rimbault, Esq., in which we think he rightly supposes that the idea of the Bote, under the guidance of Cock Lorel, was taken from Sebastian Brandt's Shyp of Folys, then very popular, as translated by Alexander Barclay: but Dr. Rimbault has omitted all notice of the present work by Copland in his enumeration of the mention of Cock Lorell's Bote by other writers. The reader will find further notices of Cock Lorell's Bote in Percy's Reliques, vol. i. p. 137; in Beloe's Anecd., vol. i. p. 398; and in Dibdin's Typogr. Antiq., vol. ii. p. 352. Copland, in conclusion, puts one more question:

Yet one thing I wonder that ye do not tell,

Come there no women this way to dwell?

Porter.

Of all the sortes that be spoken of a fore
I warraunt women ynow in store,
That we are wery of them; euery day

They come so thycke that they stop the way.
The sisterhod of drabbes, sluttes, and callets
Do here resorte with theyr bags and wallets
And be parteners of the confrary

Of the maynteners of yll husbandry.

Copland.

A lewd sorte is of them of a surety.

Now, Mayster Porter, I thank you hertyly
Of your good talkyng, I must take my leue;
The shoure is done, and it is toward eue,
Another tyme, and at more leaser

I wyll for you do as great a pleaser.

Porter.

There be a M. mo than I can tell

But at this tyme I byd you farwell.

The work concludes with the following:

Lenuoy of the auctour.

Go lytell quayre to euery degre,

And on thy mater desyre them to loke

Desyryng them for to pardon me,

That am so bolde to put them in my boke;

To eschue vyce, I the undertoke

Dysdeynyng no maner of creature,

I were to blame yf I them forsoke,

None in this world of welth can be sure.

Finis.

Then the Colophon as given before, and Copland's device.

Robert Copland, both the author and printer of this work, was first an assistant to Caxton, then at his death to Wynkyn de Worde, and afterwards commenced business on his own account. His first known work printed with a date is in 1515. He was a bookseller and stationer as well as printer, as was customary among the printers of his time, and is believed to have died about 1547 or 1548. Wood supposed him to have been a poor scholar of Oxford. He certainly seems to have had a better education, and to be more versed in foreign languages, than most of his contemporaries.