Thieues were at all times euer to be had,
Examples by the good Thiefe and the bad.1 
And England still hath bin a fruitfull Land
Of valiant Thieues, that durst bid true men stand.
One Bellin Dun, a famous Thiefe suruiu’d,2 
From whom the towne of Dunstable’s deriv’d;
And Robin Hood with little John agreed
To rob the rich men, and the poore to feede.
The Priests had here such small meanes for their liuing,
That many of them were enforc’d to Thieuing.
Once the fift Henry could rob ex’lent well,
When he was Prince of Wales, as Stories tell.
Then Fryer Tucke, a tall stout Thiefe indeed,
Could better rob and steale, then preach or read.
Sir Gosselin Deinuill, with 200. more,3 
In Fryers weedes, rob’d and were hang’d therefore.
Thus I in Stories, and by proofe doe finde,
That stealing’s very old, time out of minde,
E’r I was borne, it through the world was spred,
And will be when I from the world am dead.

John Taylor the Water Poet

Textual Note

Original has ‘cowne’ for ‘towne’.

Notes

• the good Thiefe and the bad: see Matthew chap 27 v 38; Luke chap 23 vv 39–43.  [return]
• Bellin Dun: a legendary highway robber, supposed to have lived in the reign of Henry I. According to the legend, the king founded the market town of Dunstable in order to provide refuge for travellers and a base from which Dun’s activities might be controlled.  [return]
• Sir Gosselin Deinuill: Taylor’s source for this robber knight’s career was probably John Stow’s Chronicle. According to Stow, this episode took place in 1316, in the reign of Edward II.  [return]