Page:The genuine remains in verse and prose of Mr. Samuel Butler (1759), volume 2.djvu/203

Pigs and Capons taking of Bail; and they pass with him for substantial House-keepers. Of these he takes Security, that the Delinquent shall answer it before the Sessions, that is before the Court sits next, otherwise Forfeiture of Recognizance is sure to rise up in Judgment. He binds Men over, as Highwaymen do, to unty their Purses, and then leaves them to unbind themselves again, or rather as Surgeons do, to let their Purses Blood. He makes his Commission. a Patent, that no Man shall set-up any Sin without Licence from him. He knows no Virtue, but that of his Commission, for all his Business is with Vice, in which he is so expert, that he can commit one Sin instead of another, as Bribery for Bawdery, and Perjury for Breach of the Peace. He uses great Care and Moderation in punishing those, that offend regularly, by their Calling, as residentiary Bawds, and incumbent Pimps, that pay Parish Duties———Shopkeepers, that use constant false Weights and Measures, these he rather prunes, that they may grow the better, than disables; but is very severe to Hawkers and Interlopers, that commit Iniquity on the Bye. He interprets the Statutes, as Fanatics do the Scripture, by his own Spirit; and is most expert in the Cases of