Chapter 16

(27) —“innumerable poems, rimes, songs and ballads.”] The original and most ancient pieces of this nature have all perished in the lapse of time, during a period of between five and six hundred years’ continuance; and all we now know of them is that such things once existed. In the Vision of Pierce Plowman, an allegorical poem, thought to have been composed soon after the year 1360, and generally ascribed to Robert Langeland, the author introduces an ignorant, idle, and drunken secular priest, the representative, no doubt, of the parochial clergy of that age, in the character of Sloth, who makes the following confession:“I cannot parfitli mi paternoster, as the preist it singeth,But I can ryms of Roben Hode, and ‘Randolf’ erl of Chester,But of our lorde or our lady I lerne nothyng at all.”56{lxxiii}Fordun, the Scotish historian, who wrote about 1340, speaking of Robin Hood and Little John, and their accomplices, says, “of whom the foolish vulgar in comedies and tragedies make lewd entertainment, and are delighted to hear the jesters and minstrels sing them above all other ballads;”57and Mair (or Major), whose history was published by himself in 1521, observes that “The exploits of this Robert are celebrated in songs throughout all Britain.”58So, likewise, Maister Johne Bellendene, the translator of “that noble clerk Maister Hector Boece” (Bois or Boethius), having mentioned “that waithman Robert Hode with his fallow litil Johne,” adds, “of quhom ar mony fabillis and mery sportis soung amang the vulgar pepyll.”59Whatever may have been the nature of the compositions alluded to by the above writers, several of the pieces printed in the present collection are{lxxiv}unquestionably of great antiquity; not less, that is, than between three and four hundred years old. The Lytell Geste, which is first inserted, is probably the oldest thing upon the subject we now possess;60but a legend, apparently of the same species, was once extant, of, perhaps, a still earlier date, of which it is some little satisfaction to be able to give even the following fragment, from a single leaf, fortunately preserved in one of the volumes of old printed ballads in the British Museum, in a handwriting as old as Henry the Sixth’s time. It exhibits the characters of our hero and hisfidus Achatesin the noblest point of view.“He saydRobyn Hod . . . . yne the preson,And owght off hit was gon.The porter rose a-non certeyn,As sone as he hard Johan call;Lytyll Johan was redy with a sword,And bare hym throw to the wall.Now will I be jayler, sayd lytyll Johan,And toke the keys in hond;He toke the way to Robyn Hod,And sone he hyme unbond.He gaffe hym a good swerd in his hond,His hed ther-with for to kepe;And ther as the wallis wer lowest,Anon down ther they lepe.To Robyn . . . . . sayd:I have donethe a god torne for an . . .Quit me when thow may;I have done the a gode torne, sayd lytyll [Johan],Forsothe as I the saye;{lxxv}I have browghte the under the gren wod . . .Farewell & have gode daye.Nay, be my trowthe, sayd Robyn,So schall it never bee;I make the master, sayd Robyn,Off all my men & me.Nay, be my trowthe, sayd lytyll Johan,So schall it never bee.”This, indeed, may be part of the “story of Robin Hood and Little John,” which M. Wilhelm Bedwell found in the ancient MS. lent him by his much honoured good friend M. G. Withers, whence he extracted and published “The Turnament of Tottenham,” a poem of the same age, and which seemed to him to be done (perhaps but transcribed) by Sir Gilbert Pilkington, formerly, as some had thought, parson of that parish.61That poems and stories on the subject of our hero and his companions were extraordinarily popular and common before and during the 16th century is evident from the testimony of divers writers. Thus, Alexander Barclay, priest, in his translation of The Shyp of Folys, printed by Pynson in 1508, and by John Cawood in 1570,62says:“I write no jeste ne tale of Robin Hood.”Again:“For goodlie scripture is not worth an hawe,But tales are loved ground of ribaudry;And many are so blinded with their foly,That no scriptur thinke they so true nor gode,As is a foolish jest of Robin Hode.”Again:“And of all fables and jestes of Robin Hood,Or other trifles.”{lxxvi}The same Barclay, in the fourth of his Egloges, subjoined to the last edition of The Ship of Foles, but originally printed soon after 1500, has the following passage:“Yet would I gladly heare some mery fitOf maide Marion, or els of Robin Hood,Or Benteleyes ale, which chafeth well the blood,Of Perte of Norwich, or Sauce of Wilberton,Or buckishe Joly63well stuffed as a ton.”Robert Braham, in his epistle to the reader, prefixed to Lydgate’s Troy-book, 1555, is of opinion that “Caxton’s recueil” [of Troy] is “worthye to be numbred amongest the trifelinge tales and barrayne luerdries of Robyn Hode and Bevys of Hampton.” (See Ames’s Typographical Antiquities, by Herbert, p. 849.)“For one that is sand blynd,” says Sir Thomas Chaloner, “would take an asse for a moyle, or another prayse a rime of Robyn Hode for as excellent a making as Troylus of Chaucer, yet shoulde they not straight-waies be counted madde therefore?” (Erasmus’s Praise of Folye, sig. h.)“If good lyfe,” observes Bishop Latimer, “do not insue and folowe upon our readinge to the example of other, we myghte as well spende that tyme in reading of prophane hystories, of Canterburye tales, or a fit of Roben Hode” (Sermons, sig. A. iiii.)The following lines, from a poem in the Hyndford MS. compiled in 1568, afford an additional proof of our hero’s popularity in Scotland:“Thair is no story that I of heir,Of Johne nor Robene Hude,Nor zit of Wallace wicht but weir,That me thinkes half so gude,As of thre palmaris,” &c.That the subject was not forgotten in the succeeding age, can be testifyed by Drayton, who is elsewhere quoted, and in his sixth eclogue makes Gorbo thus address “old Winken de Word:”{lxxvii}“Come, sit we down under this hawthorn-tree,The morrow’s light shall lend us day enough,And let us tell of Gawen, or Sir Guy,Of Robin Hood, or of old Clem a Clough.”Richard Johnson, who wrote “The History of Tom Thumbe,” in prose (London, 1621, 12mo, b. l.), thus prefaces his work: “My merry muse begets no tales of Guy of Warwicke, &c. nor will I trouble my penne with the pleasant glee of Robin Hood, little John, the fryer, and his Marian; nor will I call to mind the lusty Pinder of Wakefield, &c.”In “The Calidonian Forrest,” a sort of allegorical or mystic tale, by John Hepwith, gentleman, printed in 1641, 4to, the author says,“Let us talke of Robin Hoode,And little John in mery Shirewoode,” &c.64Of one very ancient, and undoubtedly once very popular, song this single line is all that is now known to exist:{lxxviii}“Robin Hood in Barnsdale stood.”However, though but a line, it is of the highest authority in Westminster Hall, where, in order to the decision of a knotty point, it has been repeatedly cited, in the most solemn manner, by grave and learned judges.M. 6 Jac. B. R. Withamv.Barker, Yelv. 147. Trespass, for breaking plaintif’s close, &c. Plea. Liberum tenementum of Sir John Tyndall, and justification as his servant and by his command. Replication, That it is true it is his freehold, but that long before the time when &c. he leased to plaintif at will, who entered and was possessed until, &c. traversing, that defendant entered, &c. by command of Sir John. Demurrer: and adjudged against plaintif, on the ground of the replication being bad, as not setting forth any seisin or possession in Sir John, out of which a lease at will could be derived. For a title made by the plea or replication should be certain to all intents, because it is traversable. Here, therefor, he should have stated Sir John’s seisin, as well as the lease at will; which is not done here:“mestoutuncomeil ustreplieRobin Whood in Barnwood stood, absque hocq def.p commandementSirJohn. Quod nota. Per Fenner, Williams et Crookjusticessole encourt.Etjudgmentdoneaccordant.Yelv.p def.”In the case of Bushv.Leake, B. R. Trin. 23 G. 3, Buller, justice, cited the case of Coulthurstv.Coulthurst, C. B. Pasch. 12 G. 3 (an action on bond), and observed, “There a case in Yelverton was alluded to, where the court said, you might as well say, by way of inducement to a traverse, Robin Hood in Barnwood stood.”It is almost unnecessary to observe, because it will be shortly proved, that Barnwood, in the preceding quotations, ought to be Barnsdale.65With respect to Whood, the reader{lxxix}will see, under Note19, a remarkable proof of the antiquity of that pronunciation, which actually prevails in the metropolis at this day. See also the word “whodes” in Note34. So, likewise, Bale, in hisActes of English Votaries, 1560, says, “the monkes had their cowles, caprones or whodes;” and in Stow’sSurvey, 1598, p. 120, have “a fooles whoode.”This celebrated and important line occurs as the first of a foolish mock-song, inserted in an old mortality, intitled “A new interlude and a mery of the nature of the iiii elementes,” supposed to have been printed by John Rastall about 1520; where it is thus introduced:“Hu[manyte].2em-dashlet us some lusty balet syng.Yng[norance]. Nay, syr, by the hevyn kyng:For me thynkyth it servyth for no thyng,All suche pevysh prykeryd song.Hu.Pes, man, pryk-song may not be dyspysyd,For therwith God is well plesyd.Yng.Is God well pleasyd, trowest thou, therby?Nay, nay, for there is no reason why.For is it not as good to say playnlyGyf me a spade,As gyf me a spa ve va ve va ve vade?But yf thou wylt have a song that is good,I have one of Robyn Hode,The best that ever was made.{lxxx}Hu.Then a feleshyp, let us here it.Yng.But there is a bordon, thou must here it,Or ellys it wyll not be.Hu.Than begyn, and care not for . . .Downe downe downe, &c.Yng.Robyn Hode in Barnysdale stode,And lent hym tyl a mapyll thystyll;Than cam our lady & swete saynt Andrewe;Slepyst thou, wakyst thou, Geffrey Coke?66A c. wynter the water was depe,I can not tell you how brode;He toke a gose nek in his hande,And over the water he went.He start up to a thystell top,And cut hym downe a holyn clobbe;He stroke the wren betwene the hornys,That fyre sprange out of the pygges tayle.Jak boy is thy bow i-broke,Or hath any man done the wryguldy wrange?He plukkyd muskyllys out of a wyllowe,And put them in to his sachell.Wylkyn was an archer good,And well coude handell a spade;He toke his bend bowe in his hand,And set him downe by the fyre.He toke with hym lx. bowes and ten,A pese of befe, another of baken.Of all the byrdes in mery Englond,So merely pypys the mery bottel.”“The lives, stories, and giftes of men which are contained in the bible, they [the papists] read as thinges no more pertaining unto them than a tale of Robin Hood” (Tyndale, Prologue to the prophecy of Jonas, about 1531).Gwalter Lynne, printer, in his dedication to Ann, Duchess of Somerset, of “The true beliefe in Christ and his sacramentes,” 1550, says, “I woulde wyshe tharfore that al men,{lxxxi}women, and chyldren, would read it. Not as they haue bene here tofore accustomed to reade the fained storyes of Robin-hode, Clem of the Cloughe, wyth such lyke to passe the tyme wythal,” &c.In 1562, John Alde had license to print “a ballad of Robyn god,” a mistake, it is probable, for Robyn Hod.Alexander Hume, minister of Logie, about 1599, says in one of his “Hymnes or Sacred Songs,” printed in that year, that2em-dash“much to blame are those of carnal brood,Who loath to taste of intellectual food,Yet surfeit on old tales of Robin Hood.”Complaint of Scotland, Edin. 1801, Dissertation, p. 221.“Exclude the scriptures, and bid them read the storyOf Robin Hood and Guy, which was both tall and stout,And Bevis of Southampton, to seek the matter out.Suffer all slander against God and his truth,And praise the old fashion in king Arthur’s days,Of abbays and monasteries how it is great ruthTo have them plucked down, and so the eldest says;And how it was merry when Robin Hood’s playsWas in every town, the morrice and the fool,The maypole and the drum, to bring the calf from school,With Midge, Madge and Marion, about the pole to dance,And Stephen, that tall stripling, to lead Volans dance,With roguing Gangweeke, a goodly remembrance,With beads in every hand, our prayers stood by tale:This was a merry work, talk among our meany,And then of good eggs ye might have twenty for a penny.”L. Ramsey’s Practice of the Divell, b. l.All the entire poems and songs known to be extant will be found in the following collection; but many more may be traditionally preserved in different parts of the country which would have added considerably to its value.67That{lxxxii}some of these identical pieces, or others of the like nature, were great favourites with the common people in the time of Queen Elizabeth, though not much esteemed, it would seem, by the refined critic, may, in addition to the testimonies already cited, be inferred from a passage in Webbe’s Discourse{lxxxiii}of English Poetrie, printed in 1586. “If I lette passe,” says he, “the unaccountable rabble of ryming ballet-makers and compylers of sencelesse sonets, who be most busy to stuffe every stall full of grosse devises and unlearned pamphlets, I trust I shall with the best sort be held excused. For though many such can frame an alehouse-song of five or sixe score verses, hobbling uppon some tune of a northern jygge, or Robyn Hoode, or La lubber, &c. and perhappes observe just number of sillables, eyght in one line, sixe in an other, and therewithall an A to make a jercke in the ende, yet if these might be accounted poets (as it is sayde some of them make meanes to be promoted to the lawrell), surely we shall shortly have whole swarmes of poets; and every one that can frame a booke in ryme, though, for want of matter, it be but in commendations of copper noses, or bottle ale, wyll catch at the garlande due to poets: whose potticall (poeticall, I should say) heades, I woulde wyshe, at their worshipfull comencements, might, in steede of lawrell, be gorgiously garnished with fayre greene barley, in token of their good affection to our Englishe malt.” The chief object of this satire seems to be William Elderton, the drunken{lxxxiv}ballad-maker, of whose compositions all but one or two have unfortunately perished.68Most of the songs inserted in the second half of this volume were common broad-sheet ballads, printed in black letter, with woodcuts, between the Restoration and the Revolution; though copies of some few have been found of an earlier date. “Who was the author of the collection intitled Robin Hood’s Garland, no one,” says Sir John Hawkins, “has yet pretended to guess. As some of the songs have in them more of the spirit of poetry than others, it is probable,” he thinks, “it is the work of various hands: that it has from time to time been varied and adapted to the phrase of the times,” he says, “is certain.” None of these songs, it is believed, were collected into a garland till after the Restoration; as the earliest that has been met with, a copy of which is in the possession of Francis Douce, Esq., was printed by W. Thackeray, a noted ballad-monger, in 1670. This, however, contains no more than sixteen songs, some of which, very falsely as it seems, are said to have been “never before printed.” “The latest edition of any worth,” according to Sir John Hawkins, “is that of 1719.” None of the old editions of this garland have any sort of preface: that prefixed to the modern ones, of Bow or Aldermary churchyard, being{lxxxv}taken from the collection of old ballads, 1723, where it is placed at the head of Robin Hood’s birth and breeding. The full title of the last London edition of any note is—“Robin Hood’s Garland: being a complete history of all the notable and merry exploits performed by him and his men on many occasions: To which is added a preface [i.e.the one already mentioned] giving a more full and particular account of his birth, &c., than any hitherto published. [Cut of archers shooting at a target.]I’ll send this arrow from my bow,And in a wager will be boundTo hit the mark aright, althoughIt were for fifteen hundred pound.Doubt not I’ll make the wager good,Or ne’er believe bold Robin Hood.Adorned with twenty-seven neat and curious cuts adapted to the subject of each song. London, Printed and sold by R. Marshall, in Aldermary church-yard, Bow-lane.” 12mo. On the back of the title-page is the following Grub-street address:“To all gentlemen archers.“This garland has been long out of repair,Some songs being wanting, of which we give account;For now at last, by true industrious care,The sixteen songs to twenty-seven we mount;Which large addition needs must please, I know,All the ingenious ‘yeomen’ of the bow.To read how Robin Hood and Little John,Brave Scarlet, Stutely, valiant, bold and free,Each of them bravely, fairly play’d the man,While they did reign beneath the green-wood tree;Bishops, friars, likewise many more,Parted with their gold, for to increase their store,But never would they rob or wrong the poor.”The last seven lines are not by the author of the first six, but were added afterwards; perhaps when the twenty-four songs were increased to twenty-seven.69{lxxxvi}(28) —“has given rise to divers proverbs.”] Proverbs, in all countries, are, generally speaking, of very great antiquity; and therefore it will not be contended that those concerning our hero are the oldest we have. It is highly probable, however, that they originated in or near his own time, and of course have existed for upwards of 500 years, which is no modern date. They are here arranged, not, perhaps, according to their exact chronological order, but by the age of the authorities they are taken from.1. “Good even, good Robin Hood.”The allusion is to civility extorted by fear. It is preserved by Skelton, in that most biting satire against Cardinal Wolsey, “Why come ye not to court?” (Works, 1736, p. 147).“He is set so hye,In his hierarchy,That in the chambre of starsAll matters there he mars;Clapping his rod on the borde,No man dare speake a word;For he hath all the saying,Without any renaying:{lxxxvii}He rolleth in his recordes,He saith, How say ye my lordes?Is not my reason good?Good even, good Robin Hood.”702. “Many men talk of Robin Hood that never shot in his bow.”“That is, many discourse (or prate rather) of matters wherein they have no skill or experience. This proverb is now extended all over England, though originally of Nottinghamshire extraction, where Robin Hood did principally reside in Sherwood forest. He was an arch-robber, and withal an excellent archer; though surely the poet71gives a twang to the loose of his arrow, making him shoot one a cloth-yard long, at full forty score mark, for compass never higher than the breast, and within less than a foot of the mark. But herein our author hath verified the proverb, talking at large of Robin Hood, in whose bow he never shot” (Fuller’s Worthies, p. 315).“One may justly wonder,” adds the facetious writer, “this archer did not at last hit the mark, I mean, come to the gallows for his many robberies.”The proverb is mentioned, and given as above, by Sir Edward Coke in his 3d Institute, p. 197. See also Note26. It is thus noticed by Jonson in “The king’s entertainment at Welbeck in Nottinghamshire, 1633:”“This is . . . . . father Fitz-Ale, herald of Derby, &c.He can fly o’er hills and dales,And report you more odd talesOf our out law Robin Hood,That revell’d here in Sherewood,And more stories of him show,(Though he ne’er shot in his bow)Than au’ men or believe, or know.”{lxxxviii}We likewise meet with it in Epigrams, &c., 1654:“In Vertutem.“Vertue we praise, but practice not her good,(Athenian-like) we act not what we know;So many men doe talk of Robin Hood,Who never yet shot arrow in his bow.”On the back of a ballad in Anthony a Wood’s collection he has written,“There be some that prateOf Robin Hood, and of his bow,Which never shot therein, I trow.”Ray gives it thus:“Many talk of Robin Hood, that never shot in his bow,And many talk of little John, that never did him know:”which Kelly has varied, but without authority.Camden’s printer has separated the lines, as distinct proverbs (Remains, 1674):“Many speak of Robin Hood that never shot in his bow.“Many a man talks of little John that never did him know.”This proverb likewise occurs in The downfall of Robert earle of Huntington, 1600, and is alluded to in a scarce and curious old tract intitled “The contention betwyxte Church-yeard and Camell, upon David Dycer’s Dreame,” &c. 1560, 4to, b. l.“Your sodain stormes and thundre claps, your boasts and braggs so loude:Hath doone no harme thogh Robin Hood spake with you in a cloud.Go learne againe of litell Jhon, to shute in Robyn Hods bowe,Or Dicars dreame shall be unhit, and all his whens, I trowe.”72The Italians appear to have a similar saying:Molti parlan di OrlandoChi non viddero mai suo brando.{lxxxix}3. “To overshoot Robin Hood.”“And lastly and chiefly, they cry out with open mouth as if they had overshot Robin Hood, that Plato banished them [i.e.poets] out of his commonwealth” (Sir P. Sidney’s Defence of Poesie).4. “Tales of Robin Hood are good [enough] for fools.”This proverb is inserted in Camden’s Remains, printed originally in 1605; but the word in brackets is supplied from Ray.5. “To sell Robin Hood’s pennyworths.”“It is spoken of things sold under half their value; or if you will, half sold, half given. Robin Hood came lightly by his ware, and lightly parted therewith; so that he could afford the length of his bow for a yard of velvet. Whithersoever he came, he carried a fair along with him; chapmen crowding to buy his stollen commodities. But seeing the receiver is as bad as the thief, and such buyers are as bad as receivers, the cheap pennyworths of plundered goods may in fine prove dear enough to their consciences” (Fuller’s Worthies, p. 315).This saying is alluded to in the old North-country song of Randal a Barnaby:“All men said, it became me well,And Robin Hood’s pennyworths I did sell.”6. “Come, turn about, Robin Hood.”Implying that to challenge or defy our hero must have been thene plus ultraof courage. It occurs in “Wit and Drollery,” 1661:“O love, whose power and might,No creature ere withstood,Thou forcest me to write,Come turn about Robin-hood.”7. “As crook’d as Robin Hood’s bow.”That is, we are to conceive, when bent by himself. The following stanza of a modern Irish song is the only authority for this proverb that has been met with:“The next with whom I did engage,It was an old woman worn with age,{xc}Her teeth were like tobacco pegs,Besides she had two bandy legs,Her back more crook’d than Robin Hood’s bow,Purblind and decrepid, unable to go;Altho’ her years were sixty-three,She smil’d at the humours of Soosthe Bue.”8. “To go round by Robin Hood’s barn.”This saying, which now first appears in print, is used to imply the going of a short distance by a circuitous method, or the farthest way about.(29) —“to swear by him, or some of his companions, appears to have been a usual practice.”] The earliest instance of this practice occurs in a pleasant story among “Certaine merry tales of the mad-men of Gottam,” compiled in the reign of Henry VIII. by Dr. Andrew Borde, an eminent physician of that period, which here follows verbatim, as taken from an old edition in black letter, without date (in the Bodleian Library), being the first tale in the book.“There was two men of Gottam, and the one of them was going to the market at Nottingham to buy sheepe, and the other came from the market; and both met together upon Nottingham bridge. Well met, said the one to the other. Whither be yee going? said he that came from Nottingham. Marry, said he that was going thither, I goe to the market to buy sheepe. Buy sheepe! said the other, and which way wilt thou bring them home? Marry, said the other, I will bring them over this bridge. By Robin Hood, said he that came from Nottingham, but thou shalt not. By Maid Marrion, said he that was going thitherward, but I will. Thou shalt not, said the one. I will, said the other. Ter here! said the one. Shue there! said the other. Then they beate their staves against the ground, one against the other, as there had beene an hundred sheepe betwixt them. Hold in, said the one. Beware the leaping over the bridge of my sheepe, said the other. I care not, said the other. They shall not come this way, said the one. But they shall, said the other. Then said the other, & if that thou make much to doe, I will put my finger in thy mouth. A turd thou wilt, said the other. And as they were at that contention, another man of Gottam{xci}came from the market, with a sacke of meale upon a horse, and seeing and hearing his neighbours at strife for sheepe, and none betwixt them, said, Ah fooles, will you never learn wit? Helpe me, said he that had the meale, and lay my sack upon my shoulder. They did so; and he went to the one side of the bridge, and unloosed the mouth of the sacke, and did shake out all his meale into the river. Now, neighbours, said the man, how much meale is there in my sacke now? Marry, there is none at all, said they. Now, by my faith, said he, even as much wit is in your two heads, to strive for that thing you have not. Which was the wisest of all these three persons, judge you.”73“By the bare scalp of Robin Hood’s fat frier,” is an oath put by Shakespeare into the mouth of one of his outlaws in theTwo Gentlemen of Verona, act iv. scene 1. “Robin Hood’s fat frier” is Frier Tuck; a circumstance of which Doctor Johnson, who set about explaining that author with a very inadequate stock of information, was perfectly ignorant.(30) —“his songs have been preferred, not only on the most solemn occasion to the psalms of David, but in fact to the New Testament.”] [“On Friday, March 9th, 1733] was executed at Northampton William Alcock for the murder of his wife. He never own’d the fact, nor was at all concern’d at his approaching death, refusing the prayers and assistance of any persons. In the morning he drank more than was sufficient, yet sent and paid for a pint of wine, which being deny’d him, he would not enter the cart before he had his money return’d. On his way to the gallows he sung part of an old song of Robin Hood, with the chorus, Derry, derry, down,74&c., and swore, kick’d and spurn’d at every person{xcii}that laid hold of the cart; and before he was turn’d off, took off his shoes, to avoid a well-known proverb; and being told by a person in the cart with him, it was more proper for him to read, or hear some body read to him, than so vilely to swear and sing, he struck the book out of the person’s hands, and went on damning the spectators, and calling for wine. Whilst psalms and prayers were performing at the tree, he did little but talk to one or other, desiring some to remember him, others to drink to his good journey; and to the last moment declared the injustice of his case” (Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. iii. P. 154).To this maybe added, that at Edinburgh, in 1565, “Sandy Stevin menstrall [i.e.musician] was convinced of blasphemy, alledging, That he would give no moir credit to The new testament, then to a tale of Robin Hood, except it wer confirmed be the doctours of the church” (Knox’s Historie of the Reformation in Scotland, Edin. 1732, p. 368).William Roy, in a bitter satire against Cardinal Wolsey, intitled, “Rede me and be nott wrothe For I saye nothynge but trothe,” printed abroad, about 1525, speaking of the bishops, says:“Their frantyke foly is so pevisshe,That they contempne in Englisshe,To have the new testament;But as for tales of Robyn Hode,With wother jestes nether honest nor goode,They have none impediment.”To the same effect is the following passage in another old libel upon the priests, intitled “I playne Piers which can not flatter, a plowe-man men me call,” &c. b. l. n. d. printed in the original as prose:“No Christen booke,Maye thou on looke,Yf thou be an Englishe strunt,{xciii}Thus dothe alyens us loutte,By that ye spreade aboute,After that old sorte and wonte.You allowe they saye,Legenda aurea,Roben Hoode, Bevys, & Gower,And all bagage be syd,But God’s word ye may not abyde,These lyese are your churche ‘dower.’”See also before, p. lxxii.75So in Laurence Ramsey’s “Practise of the Divell” (n. d. 4to, b. l.):“Exclude the scriptures, and byd them reade the storieOf Robin Hood, and Guye, which was both tall and stout,And Bevis of Southampton, to seeke the matter out.”(31) “His service to the Word of God.”] “I came once myselfe,” says Bishop Latimer (in his sixth sermon before King Edward VI.), “to a place, riding on a jorney homeward from London, and I sent worde over night into the towne that I would preach there in the morning, bicause it was a holy day, and methought it was an holydayes worke. The churche stode in my way; and I tooke my horse and my company and went thither (I thought I should have found a great companye in the churche), and when I came there, the churche dore was faste locked. I taried there half an hower and more; at last the keye was founde; and one of the parishe commes to me, and sayes, Sir, this is a busie day with us, we cannot heare you; it is Robin Hoodes daye. The parishe are gone abroad to gather for Robin Hoode, I pray you let them not. I was fayne there to geve place to Robin Hoode. I thought my rochet shoulde have bene regarded, thoughe I were not; but it woulde not serve, it was fayne to geve place to Robin Hodes men.{xciv}“It is no laughyng matter, my frendes, it is a weepyng matter, a heavy matter, under the pretence for gatherynge for Robin Hoode, a traytour76and a theefe, to put out a preacher, to have his office lesse esteemed, to preferre Robin Hoode before the ministration of God’s worde, and all this hath come of unpreaching prelates. Thys realme hath bene ill provided for, that it hath had suche corrupte judgementes in it, to preferre Robin Hoode to God’s worde. If the bishoppes had bene preachers, there shoulde never have bene any such thing,” &c.(32) —“may be called the patron of archery.”] The bow and arrow makers, in particular, have always held his memory in the utmost reverence. Thus, in the old ballad of London’s Ordinary:“The hosiers will dine at the Leg,The drapers at the sign of the Brush,The fletchers to Robin Hood will go,And the spendthrift to Beggar’s-bush.”77The picture of our hero is yet a common sign in the country, and, before hanging-signs were abolished in London, must have been still more so in the City; there being at present no less than a dozen alleys, courts, lanes, &c., to which he or it has given a name. (See Baldwin’s New Complete Guide, 1770.) The Robin Hood Society, a club or assembly for public debate, or school for oratory, is well known. It was held at a public-house, which had once borne the sign, and still retained the name of this great man, in Butcher Row, near Temple Bar.It is very usual in the North of England for a publican whose name fortunately happens to be John Little to have{xcv}the sign of Robin Hood and his constant attendant, with this quibbling subscription:“You gentlemen, and yeomen good,Come in and drink with Robin Hood;If Robin Hood be not at home,Come in and drink with Little John.”78An honest countryman, admiring the conceit, adopted the lines, with a slight, but, as he thought, necessary alteration, viz.:“If Robin Hood be not at home,Come in and drink with—Simon Webster.”Drayton, describing the various ensigns or devices of the English counties at the battle of Agincourt, gives to“Old Nottingham, an archer clad in green,Under a tree with his drawn bow that stood,Which in a chequer’d flag far off was seen;It was the picture of old Robin Hood.”(33) —“the supernatural powers he is, in some parts, supposed to have possessed.”] “In the parish of Halifax is an immense stone or rock, supposed to be a Druidical monument, there called Robin Hood’s pennystone, which he is said to have used to pitch with at a mark for his amusement. There is likewise another of these stones, of several tons weight, which the country-people will tell you he threw off an adjoining hill with a spade as he was digging. Every thing of the marvellous kind being here attributed to Robin Hood, as it is in Cornwall to King Arthur” (Watson’s History of Halifax, p. 27).At Birchover, six miles south of Bakewell, and four from Haddon, in Derbyshire, among several singular groups of rocks, are some stones called Robin Hood’s stride, being two{xcvi}of the highest and most remarkable. The people say Robin Hood lived here.(34) —“having a festival allotted to him, and solemn games instituted in honour of his memory,”&c.] These games, which were of great antiquity and different kinds, appear to have been solemnised on the first and succeeding days of May, and to owe their original establishment to the cultivation and improvement of the manly exercise of archery, which was not, in former times, practised merely for the sake of amusement.“I find,” says Stow, “that in the moneth of May, the citizens of London, of all estates, lightlie in every parish, or sometimes two or three parishes joyning together, had their severall mayinges, and did fetch in Maypoles, with divers warlike shewes, with good archers, morrice-dancers, and other devices for pastime all the day long: and towards the evening they had stage-playes and bonefires in the streetes. . . . . These greate Mayinges and Maygames, made by the governors and masters of this citie, with the triumphant setting up of the greate shafte (a principall Maypole in Cornhill, before the parish church of S. Andrew, therefore called Undershafte) by meane of an insurrection of youthes against alianes on Mayday 1517, the ninth of Henry the Eight, have not beene so freely used as afore” (Survey of London, 1598, p. 72).The disuse of these ancient pastimes, and the consequent “neglect of archerie,” are thus pathetically lamented by Richard Niccolls, in his London’s Artillery, 1616:“How is it that our London hath laid downeThis worthy practise, which was once the crowneOf all her pastime, when her Robin HoodHad wont each yeare, when May did clad the wood,With lustie greene, to lead his yong men out,Whose brave demeanour, oft when they did shoot,Invited royall princes from their courts,Into the wilde woods to behold their sports!A description of one drawing a bow.Who thought it then a manly sight and trim,To see a youth of cleane compacted lim,Who, with a comely grace, in his left handHolding his bow, did take his stedfast stand,Setting his left leg somewhat foorth before,His arrow with his right hand nocking sure,{xcvii}Not stooping, nor yet standing streight upright,Then, with his left hand little ’bove his sight,Stretching his arm out, with an easie strength,To draw an arrow of a yard in length.”79The lines,“Invited royall princes from their courtsInto the wild woods to behold their sports,”may be reasonably supposed to allude to Henry VIII., who appears to have been particularly attached, as well to the exercise of archery as to the observance of May. Some short time after his coronation, says Hall, he “came to Westminster with the quene, and all their traine: and on a tyme being there, his grace therles of Essex, Wilshire, and other noble menne, to the numbre of twelve, came sodainly in a mornyng into the quenes chambre, all appareled in short cotes of Kentish Kendal, with hodes on their heddes, and hosen of the same, every one of them his bowe and arrowes, and a sworde and a bucklar, like outlawes, or ‘Robyn’ Hodes men; whereof the quene, the ladies, and al other there were abashed, aswell for the straunge sight, as also for their sodain commyng: and after certayn daunces and pastime made thei departed” (Hen. VIII. fo. 6, b). The same author gives the following curious account of “A maiynge” in the 7th year of this monarch (1516): “The kyng & the quene, accompanied with many lordes & ladies, roade to the high grounde on Shoters hil to take the open ayre, and as they passed by the way they espied a company of tall yomen, clothed all in grene, with grene whodes & bowes and arrowes, to the number of ii. C. Then one of them whiche called hymselfe Robyn Hood, came to the kyng, desyring hym to se his men shote, & the kyng was content. Then he whisteled, and all the ii. C. archers shot & losed at once; and then he whisteled again, and they likewyse shot agayne; their arrowes whisteled by craft of the{xcviii}head, so that the noyes was straunge and great, and muche pleased the kyng, the quene, and all the company. All these archers were of the kynges garde, and had thus appareled themselves to make solace to the kynge. Then Robyn Hood desyred the kyng and quene to come into the grene wood, and to se how the outlawes lyve. The kyng demaunded of the quene and her ladyes, if they durst adventure to go into the wood with so many outlawes. Then the quene said, if it pleased hym, she was content. Then the hornes blewe tyll they came to the wood under Shoters-hill, and there was an arber made of bowes, with a hal, and a great chamber, and an inner chamber, very well made and covered with floures and swete herbes, which the kyng muche praised. Then sayd Robyn Hood, Sir, outlawes brekefastes is venyson, and therefore you must be content with such fare as we use. Then the kyng and quene sate doune, and were served with venyson and vyne by Robyn Hood and his men, to their great contentacion. Then the kyng departed and his company, and Robyn Hood and his men them conduicted: and as they were returnyng, there met with them two ladyes in a ryche chariot drawen with v. horses, and every horse had his name on his head, and on every horse sat a lady with her name written . . . . and in the chayre sate the lady May, accompanied with lady Flora, richely appareled; and they saluted the kyng with diverse goodly songes, and so brought hym to Grenewyche. At this maiyng was a greate number of people to beholde, to their great solace and confort” (fo. lvi. b).That this sort of May-games was not peculiar to London appears from a passage in Richard Robinson’s “Third assertion Englishe historicall, frendly in favour and furtherance of English archery:”80{xcix}“And, heare because of archery I do by penne explane,The use, the proffet, and the praise, to England by the same,(1553)Myselfe remembreth of a childe in contreye native mine,(7. E. 6.)A May-game was of Robyn Hood, and of his traine that time,To traine up young men, stripplings, and eche other younger childe,In shooting, yearely this with solempne feast was by the guyldeOr brotherhood of townsmen don, with sport, with joy, and love,To proffet which in present tyme, and afterward did prove.”The games of Robin Hood seem to have been occasionally of a dramatic cast. Sir John Paston, in the time of King Edward IV., complaining of the ingratitude of his servants, mentions one who had promised never to desert him, “and ther uppon,” says he, “I have kepyd hym thys iii yer to pleye seynt Jorge, and Robyn Hod and the sheryf off Notyngham,81and now when I wolde have good horse he is goon into Bernysdale, and I withowt a keeper.”In some old accounts of the churchwardens of St. Helen’s at Abingdon, Berks, for the year 1556, there is an entry For setting up Robin Hoodes Bower; I suppose, says{c}Warton, for a parish interlude. (See History of English Poetry, ii. 175.)82{ci}In some places, at least, these games were nothing more, in effect, than a morris-dance, in which Robin Hood, Little John, Maid Marian, and Frier Tuck were the principal personages; the others being a clown or fool, the hobby-horse (which appears, for some reason or other, to have been frequently forgot83), the taborer, and the dancers, who were more or less numerous. Thus Warner:“At Paske began our morrise, and ere penticost our May,Tho Roben Hood, liell John, frier Tuck, and Marian deftly play,And lard and ladie gang till kirke with lads and lasses gay.”84Perhaps the clearest idea of these last-mentioned games, about the beginning of the 16th century, will be derived from some curious extracts given by Mr. Lysons in his valuable work intitled “The Environs of London” (vol. i. 1792, p. 226), from the contemporary accounts of the “churchwardens of the parish of Kingston upon Thames.”

“I cannot parfitli mi paternoster, as the preist it singeth,But I can ryms of Roben Hode, and ‘Randolf’ erl of Chester,But of our lorde or our lady I lerne nothyng at all.”56

“I cannot parfitli mi paternoster, as the preist it singeth,

But I can ryms of Roben Hode, and ‘Randolf’ erl of Chester,

But of our lorde or our lady I lerne nothyng at all.”56

{lxxiii}

Fordun, the Scotish historian, who wrote about 1340, speaking of Robin Hood and Little John, and their accomplices, says, “of whom the foolish vulgar in comedies and tragedies make lewd entertainment, and are delighted to hear the jesters and minstrels sing them above all other ballads;”57and Mair (or Major), whose history was published by himself in 1521, observes that “The exploits of this Robert are celebrated in songs throughout all Britain.”58So, likewise, Maister Johne Bellendene, the translator of “that noble clerk Maister Hector Boece” (Bois or Boethius), having mentioned “that waithman Robert Hode with his fallow litil Johne,” adds, “of quhom ar mony fabillis and mery sportis soung amang the vulgar pepyll.”59Whatever may have been the nature of the compositions alluded to by the above writers, several of the pieces printed in the present collection are{lxxiv}unquestionably of great antiquity; not less, that is, than between three and four hundred years old. The Lytell Geste, which is first inserted, is probably the oldest thing upon the subject we now possess;60but a legend, apparently of the same species, was once extant, of, perhaps, a still earlier date, of which it is some little satisfaction to be able to give even the following fragment, from a single leaf, fortunately preserved in one of the volumes of old printed ballads in the British Museum, in a handwriting as old as Henry the Sixth’s time. It exhibits the characters of our hero and hisfidus Achatesin the noblest point of view.

“He saydRobyn Hod . . . . yne the preson,And owght off hit was gon.The porter rose a-non certeyn,As sone as he hard Johan call;Lytyll Johan was redy with a sword,And bare hym throw to the wall.Now will I be jayler, sayd lytyll Johan,And toke the keys in hond;He toke the way to Robyn Hod,And sone he hyme unbond.He gaffe hym a good swerd in his hond,His hed ther-with for to kepe;And ther as the wallis wer lowest,Anon down ther they lepe.To Robyn . . . . . sayd:I have donethe a god torne for an . . .Quit me when thow may;I have done the a gode torne, sayd lytyll [Johan],Forsothe as I the saye;{lxxv}I have browghte the under the gren wod . . .Farewell & have gode daye.Nay, be my trowthe, sayd Robyn,So schall it never bee;I make the master, sayd Robyn,Off all my men & me.Nay, be my trowthe, sayd lytyll Johan,So schall it never bee.”

“He saydRobyn Hod . . . . yne the preson,And owght off hit was gon.

“He saydRobyn Hod . . . . yne the preson,

And owght off hit was gon.

The porter rose a-non certeyn,As sone as he hard Johan call;Lytyll Johan was redy with a sword,And bare hym throw to the wall.

The porter rose a-non certeyn,

As sone as he hard Johan call;

Lytyll Johan was redy with a sword,

And bare hym throw to the wall.

Now will I be jayler, sayd lytyll Johan,And toke the keys in hond;He toke the way to Robyn Hod,And sone he hyme unbond.

Now will I be jayler, sayd lytyll Johan,

And toke the keys in hond;

He toke the way to Robyn Hod,

And sone he hyme unbond.

He gaffe hym a good swerd in his hond,His hed ther-with for to kepe;And ther as the wallis wer lowest,Anon down ther they lepe.

He gaffe hym a good swerd in his hond,

His hed ther-with for to kepe;

And ther as the wallis wer lowest,

Anon down ther they lepe.

To Robyn . . . . . sayd:

I have donethe a god torne for an . . .Quit me when thow may;I have done the a gode torne, sayd lytyll [Johan],Forsothe as I the saye;{lxxv}I have browghte the under the gren wod . . .Farewell & have gode daye.

I have donethe a god torne for an . . .

Quit me when thow may;

I have done the a gode torne, sayd lytyll [Johan],

Forsothe as I the saye;{lxxv}

I have browghte the under the gren wod . . .

Farewell & have gode daye.

Nay, be my trowthe, sayd Robyn,So schall it never bee;I make the master, sayd Robyn,Off all my men & me.Nay, be my trowthe, sayd lytyll Johan,So schall it never bee.”

Nay, be my trowthe, sayd Robyn,

So schall it never bee;

I make the master, sayd Robyn,

Off all my men & me.

Nay, be my trowthe, sayd lytyll Johan,

So schall it never bee.”

This, indeed, may be part of the “story of Robin Hood and Little John,” which M. Wilhelm Bedwell found in the ancient MS. lent him by his much honoured good friend M. G. Withers, whence he extracted and published “The Turnament of Tottenham,” a poem of the same age, and which seemed to him to be done (perhaps but transcribed) by Sir Gilbert Pilkington, formerly, as some had thought, parson of that parish.61

That poems and stories on the subject of our hero and his companions were extraordinarily popular and common before and during the 16th century is evident from the testimony of divers writers. Thus, Alexander Barclay, priest, in his translation of The Shyp of Folys, printed by Pynson in 1508, and by John Cawood in 1570,62says:

“I write no jeste ne tale of Robin Hood.”

Again:

“For goodlie scripture is not worth an hawe,But tales are loved ground of ribaudry;And many are so blinded with their foly,That no scriptur thinke they so true nor gode,As is a foolish jest of Robin Hode.”

“For goodlie scripture is not worth an hawe,

But tales are loved ground of ribaudry;

And many are so blinded with their foly,

That no scriptur thinke they so true nor gode,

As is a foolish jest of Robin Hode.”

Again:

“And of all fables and jestes of Robin Hood,Or other trifles.”

“And of all fables and jestes of Robin Hood,

Or other trifles.”

{lxxvi}

The same Barclay, in the fourth of his Egloges, subjoined to the last edition of The Ship of Foles, but originally printed soon after 1500, has the following passage:

“Yet would I gladly heare some mery fitOf maide Marion, or els of Robin Hood,Or Benteleyes ale, which chafeth well the blood,Of Perte of Norwich, or Sauce of Wilberton,Or buckishe Joly63well stuffed as a ton.”

“Yet would I gladly heare some mery fit

Of maide Marion, or els of Robin Hood,

Or Benteleyes ale, which chafeth well the blood,

Of Perte of Norwich, or Sauce of Wilberton,

Or buckishe Joly63well stuffed as a ton.”

Robert Braham, in his epistle to the reader, prefixed to Lydgate’s Troy-book, 1555, is of opinion that “Caxton’s recueil” [of Troy] is “worthye to be numbred amongest the trifelinge tales and barrayne luerdries of Robyn Hode and Bevys of Hampton.” (See Ames’s Typographical Antiquities, by Herbert, p. 849.)

“For one that is sand blynd,” says Sir Thomas Chaloner, “would take an asse for a moyle, or another prayse a rime of Robyn Hode for as excellent a making as Troylus of Chaucer, yet shoulde they not straight-waies be counted madde therefore?” (Erasmus’s Praise of Folye, sig. h.)

“If good lyfe,” observes Bishop Latimer, “do not insue and folowe upon our readinge to the example of other, we myghte as well spende that tyme in reading of prophane hystories, of Canterburye tales, or a fit of Roben Hode” (Sermons, sig. A. iiii.)

The following lines, from a poem in the Hyndford MS. compiled in 1568, afford an additional proof of our hero’s popularity in Scotland:

“Thair is no story that I of heir,Of Johne nor Robene Hude,Nor zit of Wallace wicht but weir,That me thinkes half so gude,As of thre palmaris,” &c.

“Thair is no story that I of heir,

Of Johne nor Robene Hude,

Nor zit of Wallace wicht but weir,

That me thinkes half so gude,

As of thre palmaris,” &c.

That the subject was not forgotten in the succeeding age, can be testifyed by Drayton, who is elsewhere quoted, and in his sixth eclogue makes Gorbo thus address “old Winken de Word:”{lxxvii}

“Come, sit we down under this hawthorn-tree,The morrow’s light shall lend us day enough,And let us tell of Gawen, or Sir Guy,Of Robin Hood, or of old Clem a Clough.”

“Come, sit we down under this hawthorn-tree,

The morrow’s light shall lend us day enough,

And let us tell of Gawen, or Sir Guy,

Of Robin Hood, or of old Clem a Clough.”

Richard Johnson, who wrote “The History of Tom Thumbe,” in prose (London, 1621, 12mo, b. l.), thus prefaces his work: “My merry muse begets no tales of Guy of Warwicke, &c. nor will I trouble my penne with the pleasant glee of Robin Hood, little John, the fryer, and his Marian; nor will I call to mind the lusty Pinder of Wakefield, &c.”

In “The Calidonian Forrest,” a sort of allegorical or mystic tale, by John Hepwith, gentleman, printed in 1641, 4to, the author says,

“Let us talke of Robin Hoode,And little John in mery Shirewoode,” &c.64

“Let us talke of Robin Hoode,

And little John in mery Shirewoode,” &c.64

Of one very ancient, and undoubtedly once very popular, song this single line is all that is now known to exist:{lxxviii}

“Robin Hood in Barnsdale stood.”

However, though but a line, it is of the highest authority in Westminster Hall, where, in order to the decision of a knotty point, it has been repeatedly cited, in the most solemn manner, by grave and learned judges.

M. 6 Jac. B. R. Withamv.Barker, Yelv. 147. Trespass, for breaking plaintif’s close, &c. Plea. Liberum tenementum of Sir John Tyndall, and justification as his servant and by his command. Replication, That it is true it is his freehold, but that long before the time when &c. he leased to plaintif at will, who entered and was possessed until, &c. traversing, that defendant entered, &c. by command of Sir John. Demurrer: and adjudged against plaintif, on the ground of the replication being bad, as not setting forth any seisin or possession in Sir John, out of which a lease at will could be derived. For a title made by the plea or replication should be certain to all intents, because it is traversable. Here, therefor, he should have stated Sir John’s seisin, as well as the lease at will; which is not done here:“mestoutuncomeil ustreplieRobin Whood in Barnwood stood, absque hocq def.p commandementSirJohn. Quod nota. Per Fenner, Williams et Crookjusticessole encourt.Etjudgmentdoneaccordant.Yelv.p def.”

In the case of Bushv.Leake, B. R. Trin. 23 G. 3, Buller, justice, cited the case of Coulthurstv.Coulthurst, C. B. Pasch. 12 G. 3 (an action on bond), and observed, “There a case in Yelverton was alluded to, where the court said, you might as well say, by way of inducement to a traverse, Robin Hood in Barnwood stood.”

It is almost unnecessary to observe, because it will be shortly proved, that Barnwood, in the preceding quotations, ought to be Barnsdale.65With respect to Whood, the reader{lxxix}will see, under Note19, a remarkable proof of the antiquity of that pronunciation, which actually prevails in the metropolis at this day. See also the word “whodes” in Note34. So, likewise, Bale, in hisActes of English Votaries, 1560, says, “the monkes had their cowles, caprones or whodes;” and in Stow’sSurvey, 1598, p. 120, have “a fooles whoode.”

This celebrated and important line occurs as the first of a foolish mock-song, inserted in an old mortality, intitled “A new interlude and a mery of the nature of the iiii elementes,” supposed to have been printed by John Rastall about 1520; where it is thus introduced:

“Hu[manyte].2em-dashlet us some lusty balet syng.Yng[norance]. Nay, syr, by the hevyn kyng:For me thynkyth it servyth for no thyng,All suche pevysh prykeryd song.Hu.Pes, man, pryk-song may not be dyspysyd,For therwith God is well plesyd.Yng.Is God well pleasyd, trowest thou, therby?Nay, nay, for there is no reason why.For is it not as good to say playnlyGyf me a spade,As gyf me a spa ve va ve va ve vade?But yf thou wylt have a song that is good,I have one of Robyn Hode,The best that ever was made.{lxxx}Hu.Then a feleshyp, let us here it.Yng.But there is a bordon, thou must here it,Or ellys it wyll not be.Hu.Than begyn, and care not for . . .Downe downe downe, &c.Yng.Robyn Hode in Barnysdale stode,And lent hym tyl a mapyll thystyll;Than cam our lady & swete saynt Andrewe;Slepyst thou, wakyst thou, Geffrey Coke?66A c. wynter the water was depe,I can not tell you how brode;He toke a gose nek in his hande,And over the water he went.He start up to a thystell top,And cut hym downe a holyn clobbe;He stroke the wren betwene the hornys,That fyre sprange out of the pygges tayle.Jak boy is thy bow i-broke,Or hath any man done the wryguldy wrange?He plukkyd muskyllys out of a wyllowe,And put them in to his sachell.Wylkyn was an archer good,And well coude handell a spade;He toke his bend bowe in his hand,And set him downe by the fyre.He toke with hym lx. bowes and ten,A pese of befe, another of baken.Of all the byrdes in mery Englond,So merely pypys the mery bottel.”

“Hu[manyte].2em-dashlet us some lusty balet syng.

Yng[norance]. Nay, syr, by the hevyn kyng:

For me thynkyth it servyth for no thyng,

All suche pevysh prykeryd song.

Hu.Pes, man, pryk-song may not be dyspysyd,

For therwith God is well plesyd.

Yng.Is God well pleasyd, trowest thou, therby?

Nay, nay, for there is no reason why.

For is it not as good to say playnly

Gyf me a spade,

As gyf me a spa ve va ve va ve vade?

But yf thou wylt have a song that is good,

I have one of Robyn Hode,

The best that ever was made.{lxxx}

Hu.Then a feleshyp, let us here it.

Yng.But there is a bordon, thou must here it,

Or ellys it wyll not be.

Hu.Than begyn, and care not for . . .

Downe downe downe, &c.

Yng.Robyn Hode in Barnysdale stode,And lent hym tyl a mapyll thystyll;Than cam our lady & swete saynt Andrewe;Slepyst thou, wakyst thou, Geffrey Coke?66

Yng.Robyn Hode in Barnysdale stode,

And lent hym tyl a mapyll thystyll;

Than cam our lady & swete saynt Andrewe;

Slepyst thou, wakyst thou, Geffrey Coke?66

A c. wynter the water was depe,I can not tell you how brode;He toke a gose nek in his hande,And over the water he went.

A c. wynter the water was depe,

I can not tell you how brode;

He toke a gose nek in his hande,

And over the water he went.

He start up to a thystell top,And cut hym downe a holyn clobbe;He stroke the wren betwene the hornys,That fyre sprange out of the pygges tayle.

He start up to a thystell top,

And cut hym downe a holyn clobbe;

He stroke the wren betwene the hornys,

That fyre sprange out of the pygges tayle.

Jak boy is thy bow i-broke,Or hath any man done the wryguldy wrange?He plukkyd muskyllys out of a wyllowe,And put them in to his sachell.

Jak boy is thy bow i-broke,

Or hath any man done the wryguldy wrange?

He plukkyd muskyllys out of a wyllowe,

And put them in to his sachell.

Wylkyn was an archer good,And well coude handell a spade;He toke his bend bowe in his hand,And set him downe by the fyre.

Wylkyn was an archer good,

And well coude handell a spade;

He toke his bend bowe in his hand,

And set him downe by the fyre.

He toke with hym lx. bowes and ten,A pese of befe, another of baken.Of all the byrdes in mery Englond,So merely pypys the mery bottel.”

He toke with hym lx. bowes and ten,

A pese of befe, another of baken.

Of all the byrdes in mery Englond,

So merely pypys the mery bottel.”

“The lives, stories, and giftes of men which are contained in the bible, they [the papists] read as thinges no more pertaining unto them than a tale of Robin Hood” (Tyndale, Prologue to the prophecy of Jonas, about 1531).

Gwalter Lynne, printer, in his dedication to Ann, Duchess of Somerset, of “The true beliefe in Christ and his sacramentes,” 1550, says, “I woulde wyshe tharfore that al men,{lxxxi}women, and chyldren, would read it. Not as they haue bene here tofore accustomed to reade the fained storyes of Robin-hode, Clem of the Cloughe, wyth such lyke to passe the tyme wythal,” &c.

In 1562, John Alde had license to print “a ballad of Robyn god,” a mistake, it is probable, for Robyn Hod.

Alexander Hume, minister of Logie, about 1599, says in one of his “Hymnes or Sacred Songs,” printed in that year, that

2em-dash“much to blame are those of carnal brood,Who loath to taste of intellectual food,Yet surfeit on old tales of Robin Hood.”

2em-dash“much to blame are those of carnal brood,

Who loath to taste of intellectual food,

Yet surfeit on old tales of Robin Hood.”

Complaint of Scotland, Edin. 1801, Dissertation, p. 221.

“Exclude the scriptures, and bid them read the storyOf Robin Hood and Guy, which was both tall and stout,And Bevis of Southampton, to seek the matter out.Suffer all slander against God and his truth,And praise the old fashion in king Arthur’s days,Of abbays and monasteries how it is great ruthTo have them plucked down, and so the eldest says;And how it was merry when Robin Hood’s playsWas in every town, the morrice and the fool,The maypole and the drum, to bring the calf from school,With Midge, Madge and Marion, about the pole to dance,And Stephen, that tall stripling, to lead Volans dance,With roguing Gangweeke, a goodly remembrance,With beads in every hand, our prayers stood by tale:This was a merry work, talk among our meany,And then of good eggs ye might have twenty for a penny.”L. Ramsey’s Practice of the Divell, b. l.

“Exclude the scriptures, and bid them read the story

Of Robin Hood and Guy, which was both tall and stout,

And Bevis of Southampton, to seek the matter out.

Suffer all slander against God and his truth,

And praise the old fashion in king Arthur’s days,

Of abbays and monasteries how it is great ruth

To have them plucked down, and so the eldest says;

And how it was merry when Robin Hood’s plays

Was in every town, the morrice and the fool,

The maypole and the drum, to bring the calf from school,

With Midge, Madge and Marion, about the pole to dance,

And Stephen, that tall stripling, to lead Volans dance,

With roguing Gangweeke, a goodly remembrance,

With beads in every hand, our prayers stood by tale:

This was a merry work, talk among our meany,

And then of good eggs ye might have twenty for a penny.”

L. Ramsey’s Practice of the Divell, b. l.

All the entire poems and songs known to be extant will be found in the following collection; but many more may be traditionally preserved in different parts of the country which would have added considerably to its value.67That{lxxxii}some of these identical pieces, or others of the like nature, were great favourites with the common people in the time of Queen Elizabeth, though not much esteemed, it would seem, by the refined critic, may, in addition to the testimonies already cited, be inferred from a passage in Webbe’s Discourse{lxxxiii}of English Poetrie, printed in 1586. “If I lette passe,” says he, “the unaccountable rabble of ryming ballet-makers and compylers of sencelesse sonets, who be most busy to stuffe every stall full of grosse devises and unlearned pamphlets, I trust I shall with the best sort be held excused. For though many such can frame an alehouse-song of five or sixe score verses, hobbling uppon some tune of a northern jygge, or Robyn Hoode, or La lubber, &c. and perhappes observe just number of sillables, eyght in one line, sixe in an other, and therewithall an A to make a jercke in the ende, yet if these might be accounted poets (as it is sayde some of them make meanes to be promoted to the lawrell), surely we shall shortly have whole swarmes of poets; and every one that can frame a booke in ryme, though, for want of matter, it be but in commendations of copper noses, or bottle ale, wyll catch at the garlande due to poets: whose potticall (poeticall, I should say) heades, I woulde wyshe, at their worshipfull comencements, might, in steede of lawrell, be gorgiously garnished with fayre greene barley, in token of their good affection to our Englishe malt.” The chief object of this satire seems to be William Elderton, the drunken{lxxxiv}ballad-maker, of whose compositions all but one or two have unfortunately perished.68

Most of the songs inserted in the second half of this volume were common broad-sheet ballads, printed in black letter, with woodcuts, between the Restoration and the Revolution; though copies of some few have been found of an earlier date. “Who was the author of the collection intitled Robin Hood’s Garland, no one,” says Sir John Hawkins, “has yet pretended to guess. As some of the songs have in them more of the spirit of poetry than others, it is probable,” he thinks, “it is the work of various hands: that it has from time to time been varied and adapted to the phrase of the times,” he says, “is certain.” None of these songs, it is believed, were collected into a garland till after the Restoration; as the earliest that has been met with, a copy of which is in the possession of Francis Douce, Esq., was printed by W. Thackeray, a noted ballad-monger, in 1670. This, however, contains no more than sixteen songs, some of which, very falsely as it seems, are said to have been “never before printed.” “The latest edition of any worth,” according to Sir John Hawkins, “is that of 1719.” None of the old editions of this garland have any sort of preface: that prefixed to the modern ones, of Bow or Aldermary churchyard, being{lxxxv}taken from the collection of old ballads, 1723, where it is placed at the head of Robin Hood’s birth and breeding. The full title of the last London edition of any note is—“Robin Hood’s Garland: being a complete history of all the notable and merry exploits performed by him and his men on many occasions: To which is added a preface [i.e.the one already mentioned] giving a more full and particular account of his birth, &c., than any hitherto published. [Cut of archers shooting at a target.]

I’ll send this arrow from my bow,And in a wager will be boundTo hit the mark aright, althoughIt were for fifteen hundred pound.Doubt not I’ll make the wager good,Or ne’er believe bold Robin Hood.

I’ll send this arrow from my bow,

And in a wager will be bound

To hit the mark aright, although

It were for fifteen hundred pound.

Doubt not I’ll make the wager good,

Or ne’er believe bold Robin Hood.

Adorned with twenty-seven neat and curious cuts adapted to the subject of each song. London, Printed and sold by R. Marshall, in Aldermary church-yard, Bow-lane.” 12mo. On the back of the title-page is the following Grub-street address:

“To all gentlemen archers.“This garland has been long out of repair,Some songs being wanting, of which we give account;For now at last, by true industrious care,The sixteen songs to twenty-seven we mount;Which large addition needs must please, I know,All the ingenious ‘yeomen’ of the bow.To read how Robin Hood and Little John,Brave Scarlet, Stutely, valiant, bold and free,Each of them bravely, fairly play’d the man,While they did reign beneath the green-wood tree;Bishops, friars, likewise many more,Parted with their gold, for to increase their store,But never would they rob or wrong the poor.”

“To all gentlemen archers.

“This garland has been long out of repair,

Some songs being wanting, of which we give account;

For now at last, by true industrious care,

The sixteen songs to twenty-seven we mount;

Which large addition needs must please, I know,

All the ingenious ‘yeomen’ of the bow.

To read how Robin Hood and Little John,

Brave Scarlet, Stutely, valiant, bold and free,

Each of them bravely, fairly play’d the man,

While they did reign beneath the green-wood tree;

Bishops, friars, likewise many more,

Parted with their gold, for to increase their store,

But never would they rob or wrong the poor.”

The last seven lines are not by the author of the first six, but were added afterwards; perhaps when the twenty-four songs were increased to twenty-seven.69{lxxxvi}

(28) —“has given rise to divers proverbs.”] Proverbs, in all countries, are, generally speaking, of very great antiquity; and therefore it will not be contended that those concerning our hero are the oldest we have. It is highly probable, however, that they originated in or near his own time, and of course have existed for upwards of 500 years, which is no modern date. They are here arranged, not, perhaps, according to their exact chronological order, but by the age of the authorities they are taken from.

1. “Good even, good Robin Hood.”

The allusion is to civility extorted by fear. It is preserved by Skelton, in that most biting satire against Cardinal Wolsey, “Why come ye not to court?” (Works, 1736, p. 147).

“He is set so hye,In his hierarchy,That in the chambre of starsAll matters there he mars;Clapping his rod on the borde,No man dare speake a word;For he hath all the saying,Without any renaying:{lxxxvii}He rolleth in his recordes,He saith, How say ye my lordes?Is not my reason good?Good even, good Robin Hood.”70

“He is set so hye,

In his hierarchy,

That in the chambre of stars

All matters there he mars;

Clapping his rod on the borde,

No man dare speake a word;

For he hath all the saying,

Without any renaying:{lxxxvii}

He rolleth in his recordes,

He saith, How say ye my lordes?

Is not my reason good?

Good even, good Robin Hood.”70

2. “Many men talk of Robin Hood that never shot in his bow.”

“That is, many discourse (or prate rather) of matters wherein they have no skill or experience. This proverb is now extended all over England, though originally of Nottinghamshire extraction, where Robin Hood did principally reside in Sherwood forest. He was an arch-robber, and withal an excellent archer; though surely the poet71gives a twang to the loose of his arrow, making him shoot one a cloth-yard long, at full forty score mark, for compass never higher than the breast, and within less than a foot of the mark. But herein our author hath verified the proverb, talking at large of Robin Hood, in whose bow he never shot” (Fuller’s Worthies, p. 315).

“One may justly wonder,” adds the facetious writer, “this archer did not at last hit the mark, I mean, come to the gallows for his many robberies.”

The proverb is mentioned, and given as above, by Sir Edward Coke in his 3d Institute, p. 197. See also Note26. It is thus noticed by Jonson in “The king’s entertainment at Welbeck in Nottinghamshire, 1633:”

“This is . . . . . father Fitz-Ale, herald of Derby, &c.He can fly o’er hills and dales,And report you more odd talesOf our out law Robin Hood,That revell’d here in Sherewood,And more stories of him show,(Though he ne’er shot in his bow)Than au’ men or believe, or know.”

“This is . . . . . father Fitz-Ale, herald of Derby, &c.

He can fly o’er hills and dales,

And report you more odd tales

Of our out law Robin Hood,

That revell’d here in Sherewood,

And more stories of him show,

(Though he ne’er shot in his bow)

Than au’ men or believe, or know.”

{lxxxviii}

We likewise meet with it in Epigrams, &c., 1654:

“In Vertutem.“Vertue we praise, but practice not her good,(Athenian-like) we act not what we know;So many men doe talk of Robin Hood,Who never yet shot arrow in his bow.”

“In Vertutem.

“Vertue we praise, but practice not her good,(Athenian-like) we act not what we know;So many men doe talk of Robin Hood,Who never yet shot arrow in his bow.”

“Vertue we praise, but practice not her good,

(Athenian-like) we act not what we know;

So many men doe talk of Robin Hood,

Who never yet shot arrow in his bow.”

On the back of a ballad in Anthony a Wood’s collection he has written,

“There be some that prateOf Robin Hood, and of his bow,Which never shot therein, I trow.”

“There be some that prate

Of Robin Hood, and of his bow,

Which never shot therein, I trow.”

Ray gives it thus:

“Many talk of Robin Hood, that never shot in his bow,And many talk of little John, that never did him know:”

“Many talk of Robin Hood, that never shot in his bow,

And many talk of little John, that never did him know:”

which Kelly has varied, but without authority.

Camden’s printer has separated the lines, as distinct proverbs (Remains, 1674):

“Many speak of Robin Hood that never shot in his bow.“Many a man talks of little John that never did him know.”

“Many speak of Robin Hood that never shot in his bow.

“Many a man talks of little John that never did him know.”

This proverb likewise occurs in The downfall of Robert earle of Huntington, 1600, and is alluded to in a scarce and curious old tract intitled “The contention betwyxte Church-yeard and Camell, upon David Dycer’s Dreame,” &c. 1560, 4to, b. l.

“Your sodain stormes and thundre claps, your boasts and braggs so loude:Hath doone no harme thogh Robin Hood spake with you in a cloud.Go learne againe of litell Jhon, to shute in Robyn Hods bowe,Or Dicars dreame shall be unhit, and all his whens, I trowe.”72

“Your sodain stormes and thundre claps, your boasts and braggs so loude:

Hath doone no harme thogh Robin Hood spake with you in a cloud.

Go learne againe of litell Jhon, to shute in Robyn Hods bowe,

Or Dicars dreame shall be unhit, and all his whens, I trowe.”72

The Italians appear to have a similar saying:

Molti parlan di OrlandoChi non viddero mai suo brando.

Molti parlan di Orlando

Chi non viddero mai suo brando.

{lxxxix}

3. “To overshoot Robin Hood.”

“And lastly and chiefly, they cry out with open mouth as if they had overshot Robin Hood, that Plato banished them [i.e.poets] out of his commonwealth” (Sir P. Sidney’s Defence of Poesie).

4. “Tales of Robin Hood are good [enough] for fools.”

This proverb is inserted in Camden’s Remains, printed originally in 1605; but the word in brackets is supplied from Ray.

5. “To sell Robin Hood’s pennyworths.”

“It is spoken of things sold under half their value; or if you will, half sold, half given. Robin Hood came lightly by his ware, and lightly parted therewith; so that he could afford the length of his bow for a yard of velvet. Whithersoever he came, he carried a fair along with him; chapmen crowding to buy his stollen commodities. But seeing the receiver is as bad as the thief, and such buyers are as bad as receivers, the cheap pennyworths of plundered goods may in fine prove dear enough to their consciences” (Fuller’s Worthies, p. 315).

This saying is alluded to in the old North-country song of Randal a Barnaby:

“All men said, it became me well,And Robin Hood’s pennyworths I did sell.”

“All men said, it became me well,

And Robin Hood’s pennyworths I did sell.”

6. “Come, turn about, Robin Hood.”

Implying that to challenge or defy our hero must have been thene plus ultraof courage. It occurs in “Wit and Drollery,” 1661:

“O love, whose power and might,No creature ere withstood,Thou forcest me to write,Come turn about Robin-hood.”

“O love, whose power and might,

No creature ere withstood,

Thou forcest me to write,

Come turn about Robin-hood.”

7. “As crook’d as Robin Hood’s bow.”

That is, we are to conceive, when bent by himself. The following stanza of a modern Irish song is the only authority for this proverb that has been met with:

“The next with whom I did engage,It was an old woman worn with age,{xc}Her teeth were like tobacco pegs,Besides she had two bandy legs,Her back more crook’d than Robin Hood’s bow,Purblind and decrepid, unable to go;Altho’ her years were sixty-three,She smil’d at the humours of Soosthe Bue.”

“The next with whom I did engage,

It was an old woman worn with age,{xc}

Her teeth were like tobacco pegs,

Besides she had two bandy legs,

Her back more crook’d than Robin Hood’s bow,

Purblind and decrepid, unable to go;

Altho’ her years were sixty-three,

She smil’d at the humours of Soosthe Bue.”

8. “To go round by Robin Hood’s barn.”

This saying, which now first appears in print, is used to imply the going of a short distance by a circuitous method, or the farthest way about.

(29) —“to swear by him, or some of his companions, appears to have been a usual practice.”] The earliest instance of this practice occurs in a pleasant story among “Certaine merry tales of the mad-men of Gottam,” compiled in the reign of Henry VIII. by Dr. Andrew Borde, an eminent physician of that period, which here follows verbatim, as taken from an old edition in black letter, without date (in the Bodleian Library), being the first tale in the book.

“There was two men of Gottam, and the one of them was going to the market at Nottingham to buy sheepe, and the other came from the market; and both met together upon Nottingham bridge. Well met, said the one to the other. Whither be yee going? said he that came from Nottingham. Marry, said he that was going thither, I goe to the market to buy sheepe. Buy sheepe! said the other, and which way wilt thou bring them home? Marry, said the other, I will bring them over this bridge. By Robin Hood, said he that came from Nottingham, but thou shalt not. By Maid Marrion, said he that was going thitherward, but I will. Thou shalt not, said the one. I will, said the other. Ter here! said the one. Shue there! said the other. Then they beate their staves against the ground, one against the other, as there had beene an hundred sheepe betwixt them. Hold in, said the one. Beware the leaping over the bridge of my sheepe, said the other. I care not, said the other. They shall not come this way, said the one. But they shall, said the other. Then said the other, & if that thou make much to doe, I will put my finger in thy mouth. A turd thou wilt, said the other. And as they were at that contention, another man of Gottam{xci}came from the market, with a sacke of meale upon a horse, and seeing and hearing his neighbours at strife for sheepe, and none betwixt them, said, Ah fooles, will you never learn wit? Helpe me, said he that had the meale, and lay my sack upon my shoulder. They did so; and he went to the one side of the bridge, and unloosed the mouth of the sacke, and did shake out all his meale into the river. Now, neighbours, said the man, how much meale is there in my sacke now? Marry, there is none at all, said they. Now, by my faith, said he, even as much wit is in your two heads, to strive for that thing you have not. Which was the wisest of all these three persons, judge you.”73

“By the bare scalp of Robin Hood’s fat frier,” is an oath put by Shakespeare into the mouth of one of his outlaws in theTwo Gentlemen of Verona, act iv. scene 1. “Robin Hood’s fat frier” is Frier Tuck; a circumstance of which Doctor Johnson, who set about explaining that author with a very inadequate stock of information, was perfectly ignorant.

(30) —“his songs have been preferred, not only on the most solemn occasion to the psalms of David, but in fact to the New Testament.”] [“On Friday, March 9th, 1733] was executed at Northampton William Alcock for the murder of his wife. He never own’d the fact, nor was at all concern’d at his approaching death, refusing the prayers and assistance of any persons. In the morning he drank more than was sufficient, yet sent and paid for a pint of wine, which being deny’d him, he would not enter the cart before he had his money return’d. On his way to the gallows he sung part of an old song of Robin Hood, with the chorus, Derry, derry, down,74&c., and swore, kick’d and spurn’d at every person{xcii}that laid hold of the cart; and before he was turn’d off, took off his shoes, to avoid a well-known proverb; and being told by a person in the cart with him, it was more proper for him to read, or hear some body read to him, than so vilely to swear and sing, he struck the book out of the person’s hands, and went on damning the spectators, and calling for wine. Whilst psalms and prayers were performing at the tree, he did little but talk to one or other, desiring some to remember him, others to drink to his good journey; and to the last moment declared the injustice of his case” (Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. iii. P. 154).

To this maybe added, that at Edinburgh, in 1565, “Sandy Stevin menstrall [i.e.musician] was convinced of blasphemy, alledging, That he would give no moir credit to The new testament, then to a tale of Robin Hood, except it wer confirmed be the doctours of the church” (Knox’s Historie of the Reformation in Scotland, Edin. 1732, p. 368).

William Roy, in a bitter satire against Cardinal Wolsey, intitled, “Rede me and be nott wrothe For I saye nothynge but trothe,” printed abroad, about 1525, speaking of the bishops, says:

“Their frantyke foly is so pevisshe,That they contempne in Englisshe,To have the new testament;But as for tales of Robyn Hode,With wother jestes nether honest nor goode,They have none impediment.”

“Their frantyke foly is so pevisshe,

That they contempne in Englisshe,

To have the new testament;

But as for tales of Robyn Hode,

With wother jestes nether honest nor goode,

They have none impediment.”

To the same effect is the following passage in another old libel upon the priests, intitled “I playne Piers which can not flatter, a plowe-man men me call,” &c. b. l. n. d. printed in the original as prose:

“No Christen booke,Maye thou on looke,Yf thou be an Englishe strunt,{xciii}Thus dothe alyens us loutte,By that ye spreade aboute,After that old sorte and wonte.You allowe they saye,Legenda aurea,Roben Hoode, Bevys, & Gower,And all bagage be syd,But God’s word ye may not abyde,These lyese are your churche ‘dower.’”

“No Christen booke,

Maye thou on looke,

Yf thou be an Englishe strunt,{xciii}

Thus dothe alyens us loutte,

By that ye spreade aboute,

After that old sorte and wonte.

You allowe they saye,

Legenda aurea,

Roben Hoode, Bevys, & Gower,

And all bagage be syd,

But God’s word ye may not abyde,

These lyese are your churche ‘dower.’”