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Of a Courber, & how cūningly he was taken.
IT fortuned of late that a Courber & his Warpe went walking in the dead of the night to spy out some window open for their purpose, & by chance same by a Noble mans house about London and saw the windowe of the porters lodge open, and loo∣king in, spyed fatte snappings and bad his Warpe watch carefully for there would be purchase, & with that took his Courb and thrust it into the chamber, and the Porter lying in his bed was a wake & sawe all, and so was his bedfellow that was yeoman of the wine seller, the Porter stole out of his bed to marke what would be doone, and the firste snap∣ping the Courber light on, was his Liuerye coate, as he was drawing it to the windowe, the Porter easilye lifted it off and so the Courber drew his hook in vaine, the whilste his bedfellow stole out of the chamber and raysed vptwo or thrée more and went about to take them, but still the rogue he plyed his busines and lighted on a gowne that he vsed to sit in in the Porters lodge, and warily drew it, but when it came at the windowe, the Porter drew it off so lightly that the hooker perceiued it not: then when he saw his Courbe would take no holde, he swore and chafte and tolde the Warp he had holde of two good snappes and yet mist them both and that the fault was in his Courb, then he fell to sharping and hammering of the hook to make it kéep better hold, and in againe he thrusts it and lightes vpon a paire of buffe hose, but when he had drawen them to the windowe the Porter tooke them off againe, which made the Courber almost mad, & swore he thought the deuill was abrode to night he had such hard for∣tune: