_Slip._ Will I, Sir? Why were it to rob my father, hang my mother,
or any such like trifles, I am at your commandment, Sir. What will
you give me, Sir?

_Sir B._ A hundred pounds.

_Slip._ I am your man; give me earnest. I am dead at a pocket, Sir;
why I am a lifter, master, by occupation.

_Sir B._ A lifter! what is that?

Slip. Why, Sir, I can lift a pot as well as any man, and pick a
purse as soon as any thief in the country.

These humorous characters remind us a little of the slaves and parasites
in Roman comedy, of whom, no doubt, Greene had read. His amusing fellows
are free livers, and fond of wine like himself. In the "Looking-Glasse"
above mentioned, Nineveh represents London, and a fast being proclaimed,
we find Adam, a smith's journeyman, trying to evade it.

(_Enter Adam solus, with a bottle of beer in one slop (trouser) and
a great piece of beef in the other._)

_Adam._ Well, goodman Jonas, I would you had never come from Jewry
to this country; you have made me look like a lean rib of roast
beef, or like the picture of Lent, painted upon a red-herring's
cob. Alas! masters, we are commanded by the proclamation to fast
and pray! By my troth, I could prettily so, so away with praying,
but for fasting, why 'tis so contrary to my nature, that I had
rather suffer a short hanging than a long fasting. Mark me, the
words be these: thou shalt take no manner of food for so many
days. I had as lief he should have said, thou shalt hang thyself
for so many days. And yet, in faith, I need not find fault with the
proclamation, for I have a buttery and a pantry and a kitchen about
me; for proof, _ecce signum_! This right slop is my pantry, behold
a manchet; this place is my kitchen, for lo! a piece of beef. O!
let me repeat that sweet word again!--for lo! a piece of beef. This
is my buttery, for see, see, my friends, to my great joy a bottle
of beer. Thus, alas! I make shift to wear out this fasting; I drive
away the time. But there go searchers about to seek if any man
breaks the king's command. O, here they be; in with your victuals,
Adam.

(_Enter two Searchers._)

_1st Searcher._ How duly the men of Nineveh keep the proclamation!
how they are armed to repentance! We have searched through the
whole city, and have not as yet found one that break