beggars that pray not for his monarchy, shall any alms in his basket. And therefore I hope that God will so wipe off the scales from the eyes of the blind, that both one and other, soldier and lawyer, divine and layman, rich and poor, will so lay their heads, their hearts and hands, and their purses together, that, whereas he hath been long

in rising, and could not set fast, when he
was up, he shall take a fall of a sudden

and never rise again, when he is
down to which prayer, I

hope all true Christians
will say, Amen.

TOL., 20.4

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15-428-18

THE

'ENNILESS PARLIAMENT

OF

THREAD-BARE POETS;

QR,

ALL MIRTH AND WITTY CONCEITS.

Printed at London, for William Barley, and are to
be sold at his Shop in Grace Church-street,

near Leaden-hall-gate. 1608.

The witty conceits of the following tract, seem to carry with them an air of rebuke against the vices and follies of those times in which they were composed; and, so far as the same subject of rebuke subsisteth, they may still be serviceable to the same end: A jocose reproof is frequently known to take place of a serious admonitions.

50887

THE

I.

PENNILESS PARLIAMENT.

IRST of all, for the increase of every fool in his humour, we think it necessary and convenient, that all such as buys this book, and laughs not at it, before he has read it over, shall be condemned of melancholy, and

be adjudged to walk over Moorfields,' twice a week, in a foul shirt, and a pair of boots, but no stockings. 2. It is also agreed upon, that long-bearded men shall seldom prove the wisest; and that a niggard's purse shall scarce bequeath his master a good dinner; and, because water is like to prove so

MOORFIELDS.-Adjoining the manor of Finsbury was formerly one continuous fenny marsh, passable only by rude causeways here and there raised upon it. Eventually it was efficiently drained, and in 1614 it was to a certain degree levelled, and laid out into walks. In 1732, or between that and 1740 its level was perfected, and the walks planted with elms, and was a similar place of resort for recreation and amusement as Greenwich Park, with the advantage of being nearer London. After this, the spot was for years neglected, and Moorfields became an assemblage of petty shops, particularly booksellers, and of ironmonger's stalls, till the year 1790, when the handsome square of Finsbury, and the adjacent streets, arose upon its site.