years ago.

This expression is much more ancient than the time of Charles I., to
which it is generally referred. It occurs in Skelton, _Colin
Clout_, line 31. _a fine_:--

"Nor wyll suffer this boke
_By hooke ne by crooke_
Prynted for to be."

In Spenser, f. 2. v. ii. 27.:--

"Thereafter all that mucky pelfe he tooke,
The spoile of peoples evil gotten good,
The which her sire had serap't by hooke and crooke,
And burning all to ashes pour'd it down the brooke."

In Holland's _Suetonius_, p. 169:--

"Likewise to get, to pill and poll _by hooke and crooke_
so much, as that----"

In a letter of Sir Richard Morysin to the Privy
Council, in Lodges _Illustrations, &c_., i. 154:--

"Ferrante Gonzaga, d'Arras, and Don Diego, are in a leage,
utterlie bent to myslyke, and to charge _by hook or by
crooke_, anything don, or to be don, by the thre fyrst."

L.S.