This appears as a well-known proverbial expression long before the time
pointed out by J. D. S. Thus, in _Devout Contemplations_, by Fr. Ch. de
Fonseca, Englished by J. M., London, 1629, we read that the Devil
"Overthroweth monasteries; through sloth and idleness soliciting
religious men to be negligent in coming to Church, careless in
preaching, and loose in their lives. In the marriage bed he soweth
tares, treacheries, and lightness. With worldly men he persuadeth that
he is nobody that is not rich, and therefore, _bee it by hooke or by
crooke_, by right or wrong, he would have them get to be wealthy."