asks them to help him with such a thing: Yes, say they, you may
have it; but withall they will give him a gripe, perhaps make him
pay as much (or more) for it at home, as they can get when they
have carryed it five miles to a Market, yea and that too for the
Refuse of their Commodity. But in this the Women are especially
faulty, in the sale of their Butter and Cheese, &c. Now this is a
kind of Extortion, it is a making a prey of the necessity of the
poor, it is a grinding of their faces, a buying and selling of
them.

But above all, your {116b} Hucksters, that buy up the poor mans
Victuals by whole-sale, and sell it to him again for unreasonable
gains, by retale, and as we call it, by piece meal; they are got
into a way, after a stingeing rate, to play their game upon such by
Extortion: I mean such who buy up Butter, Cheese, Eggs, Bacon, &c.
by whole sale, and sell it again (as they call it) by penny worths,
two penny worths, a half penny worth, or the like, to the poor, all
the week after the market is past.

These, though I will not condemn them all, do, many of them, bite
and pinch the poor by this kind of evil dealing. These destroy the
poor because he is poor, and that is a grievous sin. He that
oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and that giveth to the
rich, shall surely come to want. {116c} Therefore he saith again,
Rob not the poor because he is poor, neither oppress the afflicted
in the gate; for the Lord will plead their cause, and spoil the
soul of them that spoile them.

Oh that he that gripeth and grindeth the face of the poor, would
take notice of these two Scriptures! Here is threatned the