A fryers cote of russet and a kyrtele of worstyde weltyd with red cloth, a mowrens93cote of buckram, and 4 morres{cv}daunsars cotes of white fustian spangelyd and two gryne saten cotes and a dysardd’s94cote of cotton and 6 payre of garters with bells.”These games appear to have been discontinued at Kingston, as a parochial undertaking at least, after the above period, as the industrious inquirer found no further entries relating to them.Some of the principal characters of the morris seem to have gradually disappeared, so that at length it consisted only of the dancers, the piper, and the fool. In Mr. Tollet’s window we find neither Robin Hood nor Little John, though Marian and the frier are still distinguished performers.95But in the scene of one, introduced in the old play of Jacke Drum’s Entertainment, first printed in 1601, there is not the least symptom of any of the four.96“The taber and pipe strike up a morrice. A shoute within: A lord, a lord, a lord, who !97Ed.Oh, a morrice is come, observe our country sports,’TisWhitson tyde,98and we must frolick it.Enter the morrice.The song.Skip it, and trip it, nimbly, nimbly,Tickle it, tickle it lustily,Strike up the taber, for the wenches favour,Tickle it, tickle it lustily.Let us be seen, on Hygate greene,To dance for the honour of Holloway.Since we are come hither, let’s spare for no leather,To dance for the honour of Holloway.Ed.Well said, my boyes, I must have my lord’s livory: what is’t? a maypole? Troth, ’twere a good body for a courtier’s impreza, if it had but this life, Frustra florescit. Hold, cousin, hold.[He gives the fool money.Foole.Thankes, cousin, when the lord my father’s audit comes, wee’l repay you againe. Your benevolence too, sir.Mam.What! a lord’s sonne become a begger!Foole.Why not? when beggers are become lord’s sons. Come, ’tis but a trifle.Mam.Oh, sir, many a small make a great.Foole.No, sir, a few great make a many small. Come, my lords, poore and neede hath no law.S. Ed.Nor necessitie no right. Drum, downe with them into the celler. Rest content, rest content; one bout more, and then away.Foole.‘Spoke’ like a true heart: I kisse thy foote, sweet knight.The morrice sing and dance and exeunt.”It is therefore highly probable, as hath been already suggested, that theMay-game of Robin Hoodand themorris-dancehad originally no sort of connection; that the performers had united their forces, because their joint efforts proved more successful, lucrative, or agreeable; and that, in fine, the latter gradually shook off companions from whose association they no longer derived any advantage.99An old writer, describing a country bridal show exhibited before Queen Elizabeth at Kenilworth Castle in 1575,{cvii}mentions “a lively moris dauns, according too the auncient manner, six daunsers, mawd Marion, and the fool.”Stubbs’s chapter, upon “Lords of mis-rule” (Anatomie of Abuses, 1583) contains a singular description of a grand parochial morris-dance, which is worthy of perusal.It is observable that, in the sham second part ofHudibras, published 1663, this place is said to be“Highly famed forHocktide games.”(Grey’s edition ofHudibras, ii. 90.) Of what nature these were (at Kingston) we are not informed. See Plot’s Natural History of Oxfordshire; Leland’s Collectanea, v. Roas.HocktideorHock-daywas the Tuesday fortnight after Easter. Two falsehoods are asserted of this festival: one, that its celebration was owing to the general joy excited by the death of Hardecnute, which in fact took place on the 8th of June: the other, that it was the anniversary of the general slaughter of the Danes in 1042; which Henry of Huntingdon and others expressly fix on St. Brice’s day, being the 13th of November.It plainly appears, by these extracts, thatRobyn Hode,Little John,the frere, andmayde Maryanwere fitted out at the same time withthe mores daunsars, and, consequently, it would seem, united with them in one and the same exhibition.100“Also it was said, that the ladie hir selfe, the same daie hir husband and she should be crowned, said that she feared they should prove but as a summer king and queene, such as in countrie townes the yoong folks choose for short to danse about maipoles” (Holinshed, at the year 1306).As to the original institution of May-poles, or king and queen of May,—in a word, of the primitive purpose and celebration of a popular festival at that season,—nothing{cviii}satisfactory or consequential can be discovered. The curious reader, at the same time, may consult Spelman’s Glossary,voceMAIUMA,and Ducange,vv.MAJUMA,MAIUS.In an old manuscript music-book given lately by Mr. Dalziel to the Advocates’ Library are the following scraps of songs about Robin Hood:“First when Robin good bow bare,Was never bairne so bold,Doune, doune, berrie, doune, doune.”“Now will ye hear a jollie jest,How Robin Hood was pope of Rome,And Wallace king of France.”“Jolly Robin goe to the green wood to thy lemman.”“The nock is out of Johnes bow, Joly, joly,” &c.Much curious matter on the subject of the morris-dance is to be found in “Mr. Tollet’s opinion concerning the Morris-dancers upon his Window.” (See Steevens’s Shakespeare, v. 425, edition 1778, or viii. 596, edition 1793. See also Mr. Waldron’s notes upon the Sad Shepherd, 1783, p. 255.) Morris-dancers are said to be yet annually seen in Norfolk,101and make their constant appearance in Lancashire.102In Scotland, “The game of Robin Hood was celebrated in the month of May. The populace assembled previous to{cvix}the celebration of this festival, and chose some respectable103member of the corporation to officiate in the character of Robin Hood, and another in that of Little John his squire. Upon the day appointed, which was a Sunday or holyday, the people assembled in military array, and went to some adjoining field, where, either as actors or spectators, the whole inhabitants of the respective towns were convened. In this field they probably amused themselves with a representation of Robin Hood’s predatory exploits, or of his encounters with the officers of justice [rather, perhaps, in feats of archery or military exercises].“As numerous meetings for disorderly mirth are apt to engender tumult, when the minds of the people came to be agitated with religious controversy, it was found necessary to repress the game104of Robin Hood by public statute. The populace were by no means willing to relinquish their favourite amusement. Year after year the magistrates of Edinburgh were obliged to exert their authority105in repressing this game; often ineffectually. In the year 1561, the mob were so enraged at being disappointed in making a Robin Hood, that they rose in mutiny, seized on the city gates, committed robberies upon strangers; and one of the{cx}ringleaders being condemned by the magistrates to be hanged, the mob forced open the jail, set at liberty the criminal and all the prisoners, and broke in pieces the gibbet erected at the cross for executing the malefactor. They next assaulted the magistrates, who were106sitting in the council-chamber, and who fled to the Tolbooth for shelter, where the mob attacked them, battering the doors, and pouring stones through the windows. Application was made to the deacons of the corporations to appease the tumult. Remaining, however, unconcerned spectators, they made this answer: ‘They will be magistrates alone; let them rule the people alone.’ The magistrates were kept in confinement till they made proclamation be published, offering indemnity to the rioters upon laying down their arms. Still, however, so late as the year 1592, we find the General Assembly complaining of the profanation of the sabbath, by making107of Robin Hood plays” (Arnot’s History of Edinburgh, p. 77).Notwithstanding the above representation, it is certain that these amusements were considerably upon the decline before the year 1568. This appears from a poem by Alexander Scot, preserved in the Hyndford MS. (in the Advocates’ Library, compiled and written in that identical year), and inaccurately printed in The Evergreen:“In May quhen men zeid everichoneWith Robene Hoid and Littill Johne,To bring in bowis and birkin bobbynis:Now all sic game is fastlingis gone,But gif it be amangis clovin Robbynis.”(35) —“His bow, and one of his arrows, his chair, his cap, and one of his slippers were preserved till within the present century.”] “We omitted,” says Ray, “the sight of Fountain’s Abbey, where Robin Hood’s bow is kept” (Itineraries, 1760, p. 161).“Having pleased ourselves with the antiquities of ‘Notingham,’ we took horse and went to visit the well and{cxi}ancient chair of Robin Hood, which is not far from hence, within the forest of Sherwood. Being placed in the chair, we had a cap, which they say was his, very formally put upon our heads, and having performed the usual ceremonies befitting so great a solemnity, we receiv’d the freedom of the chair, and were incorporated into the society of that renowned brotherhood” (Brome’s Travels over England, &c., 1700, p. 85).“On one side of this forest [sci. of Sherwood] towards Nottingham,” says the author of “The Travels of Tom Thumb over England and Wales” (i.e.Robert Dodsley), “I was shewn a chair, a bow, and arrow, all said to have been his [Robin Hood’s] property” (p. 82).“I was pleased with a slipper, belonging to the famous Robin Hood, shewn me, fifty years ago, at St. Ann’s well, near Nottingham, a place upon the borders of Sherwood forest, to which he resorted” (Journey from Birmingham to London, by W. Hutton, Bir. 1785, p. 174).(36) —“Not only places which afforded him security or amusement, but even the well at which he quenched his thirst, still retain his name.”] Robin Hood’s Bay is both a bay and a village on the coast of Yorkshire, between Whitby and Scarborough. It is mentioned by Leland as “a fischer tounlet of 20. bootes caullid Robyn Huddes bay, a dok or bosom of a mile yn length” (Itinerary, i. 53). “When his robberies,” says Master Charlton, “became so numerous, and the outcries against him so loud, as almost to alarm the whole nation, parties of soldiers were sent down from London to apprehend him: and then it was, that fearing for his safety, he found it necessary to desert his usual haunts, and, retreating northward, to cross the moors that surrounded Whitby [one side whereof happens, a little unfortunately, to lie open to the sea], where, gaining the sea-coast, he always had in readiness near at hand some small fishing vessels, to which he could have refuge, if he found himself pursued; for in these, putting off to sea, he looked upon himself as quite secure, and held the whole power of the English nation at defiance. The chief place of his resort{cxii}at these times, where his boats were generally laid up, was about six miles from Whitby, to which he communicated his name, and which is still called Robin Hood’s Bay. There he frequently went a fishing in the summer season, even when no enemy appeared to annoy him, and not far from that place he had buts or marks set up, where he used to exercise his men in shooting with the long-bow.”108Near Gloucester is “a famous hill” called “Robin Hood’s hill,” concerning which there is a very foolish modern song. Another hill of the same name exists in the neighbourhood of Castleton, Derbyshire.“Over a spring call’d Robin Hoods well (3 or 4 miles [on] this side [i.e.north] of Doncaster, and but a quarter of a mile only from 2 towns call’d Skelbrough and Bourmallis) is a very handsome stone arch, erected by the Lord Carlisle, where passengers from the coach frequently drink of the fair water, and give their charity to two people who attend there” (Gent’s History of York. York, 1730, p. 234).109{cxiii}Though there is no attendance at present, nor is the water altogether so fair as it might and should be, the case was otherwise in the days of honest Barnaby.“Veni Doncaster, &c.Nescit sitis artem modi,Puteum Roberti HoodiVeni, & liquente venaVincto110catino catena,Tollens sitim, parcum odi,Solvens obolum custodi.”“Thence to Doncaster, &c.Thirst knowes neither meane nor measure,Robin Hood’s well was my treasure;In a111common dish enchained,I my furious thirst restrained:And because I drunk the deeper,I paid two farthings to the keeper.”{cxiv}He mentions it again:“Nunc longinquos locus odi,Vale fons Roberti Hoodi.”“Now I hate all foreign places,Robin Hood’s well, and his chaces.”A different well, sacred either to Robin Hood or to St. Ann, has been already mentioned.“Not far [off Bitham, in Lincolnshire] isRobyn Huddes cros, alimesof the shires” (Leland’s Itinerary, i. 25).(37) —“conferred as a singular distinction upon the prime minister to the king of Madagascar.”] The natives of this island, who have dealings with our people, pride themselves, it seems, in English names, which are bestowed upon them at the discretion or caprice of the sailors: and thus a venerable minister of state, who should have been called Sir Robert Walpole or Cardinal Fleury, acquired the name of Robin Hood. Mr. Ives, by whom he is frequently mentioned, relates the followinganecdote:—“The reader will excuse my giving him another instance . . . . which still more strikingly displays the extreme sensibility of these islanders, in respect to their king’s dignity. Robin Hood (who seemed to act as prime minister, and negotiate most of the king’s concerns with our agent-victualler) was one day transacting business with another gentleman of the squadron, and they happened to differ so much about the value of a certain commodity, that high words arose, and at length Robin Hood in the greatest agitation started from the ground where he was sitting, and swore that he would immediately acquaint the king of Baba with what had passed. Our English gentleman, too much heated with this threat, and the violent altercation which had preceded it, unguardedly replied, ‘D—n the king of Baba.’ The eyes of Robin Hood flashed like lightning, and in the most violent wrath he retorted, ‘D—n King George.’ At the same instant he left the spot, hurrying away towards the Madagascarian cottages. Our countryman was soon struck with the impropriety of his behaviour, followed and overtook the disputant, and having{cxv}made all proper concessions, the affair was happily terminated.”112(38) “After his death his company was dispersed.”] They and their successors, disciples, or followers are supposed to have been afterward distinguished, from the name of their gallant leader, by the title of Roberdsmen. Lord Coke, who is somewhat singular in accusing him of living “by robbery, burning of houses, felony, waste and spoil, and principally by and with vagabonds, idle wanderers, night-walkers, and draw-latches,” says that “albeit he lived in Yorkshire, yet men of his quality took their denomination of him, and were called Roberdsmen throughout all England. Against these men,” continues he, “was the statute of Winchester made in 13 E. 1. [c. 14], for preventing of robbery, murders, burning of houses, &c. Also the statute of 5 E. 3. [c. 14], which ‘recites’ the statute of Winchester, and that there had been divers manslaughters, felonies, and robberies done in times past, by people that be called Roberdsmen, wasters and draw-latches; and remedy [is] provided by that act for the arresting of them. At the parliament holden 50 E. 3.,” he adds, “it was petitioned to the king that ribauds and sturdy beggars might be banished out of every town. The answer of the king in parliament was, touching ribauds: The statute of Winchester and the declaration of the same with other statutes of Roberdsmen, and for such as make themselves gentlemen, and men of armes, and archers, if they cannot so prove theirselves, let them be driven to their occupation or service, or to the place from whence they came.” He likewise notices the statute of 7 R. 2. [c. 5], by which it is provided “that the statutes of Roberdsmen and draw-latches be firmly holden and kept” (3 Inst. 197).These Roberdsmen are mentioned in Pierce the Ploughman’s Crede, written about 1400:“And right as Robartesmen raken aboute.”113{cxvi}Mr. Warton, who had once thought that the friers Robertines were here meant, observes that “the expression of Robin Hoode’s men, in Bishop Latimer’s sermon, is not without an allusion to the bad sense of Roberdsmen” (H. E. P. ii. additions, sig. d. 4). It does not, however, appear that the latter word has been ever used in a good one; nor is there, after all, sufficient ground for concluding that these people were so named after Robin Hood.(39) —“the honour of Little John’s death and burial is contended for by rival nations.”] I. By England.—At the village of Hathersage, about six miles from Castleton, in Derbyshire, is Little John’s grave. A few years ago some curious person caused it to be opened, when there were found several bones of an uncommon size, which he preserved; but, meeting afterwards with many unlucky accidents, he carefully replaced them; partly at the intercession of the sexton, who had taken them up for him, and who had in like manner been visited with misfortunes: upon restoring the bones all these troubles ceased. Such is the tradition at Castleton. E. Hargrove, in his “Anecdotes of Archery,” York, 1792, asserts that “the grave is distinguished by a large stone placed at the head, and another at the feet, on each of which are yet some remains of the letters I. L.” (p. 26).114II. By Scotland.—“In Murray land,” according to that most veracious historian Maister Hector Bois, “is the kirke of Pette, quhare the banis of lytill Johne remanis in gret admiratioun of pepill. He hes bene fourtene fut of hycht115with square membris effering thairto. Vi. zeris,” continues he, “afore the cumyng of this{cxvii}werk to lycht we saw his hanche-bane, als mekill as the haill bane of ane man: for we schot our arme in the mouth thairof. Be quhilk apperis how strang and square pepill grew in our regioun afore thay were effeminat with lust and intemperance of mouth.”116III. By Ireland.—“There standeth,” as Stanihurst relates, “in Ostmantowne greene an hillocke, named little John his shot. The occasion,” he says, “proceeded of this.“In the yeare one thousand one hundred foure score and nine, there ranged three robbers and outlaws in England, among which Robert Hood and Little John weere cheefeteins, of all theeves doubtlesse the most courteous. Robert Hood being betrayed at a nunrie in Scotland called Bricklies, the remnant of the crue was scattered, and everie man forced to shift for himselfe. Whereupon Little John was faine to flee the realme by sailing into Ireland, where he sojornied for a few daies at Dublin. The citizens being doone to understand the wandering outcast to be an excellent archer, requested him hartilie to trie how far he could shoot at random; who yeelding to their behest, stood on the bridge of Dublin, and shot to that mole hill, leaving behind him a monument, rather by his posteritie to be woondered, than possiblie by anie man living to be counterscored. But as the repaire of so notorious a champion to anie countrie would soone be published, so his abode could not be long concealed: and therefore to eschew the danger of [the] lawes, he fled into Scotland, where he died at a towne or village called Moravie.”117Thus Stanihurst, who is quoted by Dr. Hanmer in his Chronicle of Ireland, p. 179, but Mr. Walker, after observing that “poor Little John’s great practical skill in archery could not save him from an ignominious fate,” says, “it appeared, from some records in the Southwell family, that{cxviii}he was publicly executed for robbery on Arbor Hill, Dublin.”118(40) —“some of his descendants of the name of Nailor,”&c.] See the preface to the History of George a Green. As surnames were by no means in general use at the close of the twelfth century, Little John may have obtained that of Nailor from his original profession.(“Ye boasted worthies of the knuckle,To Maggs and to the Nailor truckle.”)But however this, or the fact itself may be, a bow, said to have belonged to Little John, with the name of Naylor upon it, is now, as the editor is informed, in the possession of a gentleman in the West Riding of Yorkshire.The quotation about whetstones is from the Sloane MS. Those, indeed, who recollect the equivocal meaning of the word may think that this production has not been altogether confined to the grave of Little John.
A fryers cote of russet and a kyrtele of worstyde weltyd with red cloth, a mowrens93cote of buckram, and 4 morres{cv}daunsars cotes of white fustian spangelyd and two gryne saten cotes and a dysardd’s94cote of cotton and 6 payre of garters with bells.”
These games appear to have been discontinued at Kingston, as a parochial undertaking at least, after the above period, as the industrious inquirer found no further entries relating to them.
Some of the principal characters of the morris seem to have gradually disappeared, so that at length it consisted only of the dancers, the piper, and the fool. In Mr. Tollet’s window we find neither Robin Hood nor Little John, though Marian and the frier are still distinguished performers.95But in the scene of one, introduced in the old play of Jacke Drum’s Entertainment, first printed in 1601, there is not the least symptom of any of the four.96“The taber and pipe strike up a morrice. A shoute within: A lord, a lord, a lord, who !97
Ed.Oh, a morrice is come, observe our country sports,’TisWhitson tyde,98and we must frolick it.Enter the morrice.The song.Skip it, and trip it, nimbly, nimbly,Tickle it, tickle it lustily,Strike up the taber, for the wenches favour,Tickle it, tickle it lustily.Let us be seen, on Hygate greene,To dance for the honour of Holloway.Since we are come hither, let’s spare for no leather,To dance for the honour of Holloway.Ed.Well said, my boyes, I must have my lord’s livory: what is’t? a maypole? Troth, ’twere a good body for a courtier’s impreza, if it had but this life, Frustra florescit. Hold, cousin, hold.[He gives the fool money.Foole.Thankes, cousin, when the lord my father’s audit comes, wee’l repay you againe. Your benevolence too, sir.Mam.What! a lord’s sonne become a begger!Foole.Why not? when beggers are become lord’s sons. Come, ’tis but a trifle.Mam.Oh, sir, many a small make a great.Foole.No, sir, a few great make a many small. Come, my lords, poore and neede hath no law.S. Ed.Nor necessitie no right. Drum, downe with them into the celler. Rest content, rest content; one bout more, and then away.Foole.‘Spoke’ like a true heart: I kisse thy foote, sweet knight.The morrice sing and dance and exeunt.”
Ed.Oh, a morrice is come, observe our country sports,’TisWhitson tyde,98and we must frolick it.Enter the morrice.The song.Skip it, and trip it, nimbly, nimbly,Tickle it, tickle it lustily,Strike up the taber, for the wenches favour,Tickle it, tickle it lustily.Let us be seen, on Hygate greene,To dance for the honour of Holloway.Since we are come hither, let’s spare for no leather,To dance for the honour of Holloway.
Ed.Oh, a morrice is come, observe our country sports,’TisWhitson tyde,98and we must frolick it.Enter the morrice.The song.Skip it, and trip it, nimbly, nimbly,Tickle it, tickle it lustily,Strike up the taber, for the wenches favour,Tickle it, tickle it lustily.Let us be seen, on Hygate greene,To dance for the honour of Holloway.Since we are come hither, let’s spare for no leather,To dance for the honour of Holloway.
Ed.Oh, a morrice is come, observe our country sports,
’TisWhitson tyde,98and we must frolick it.
Enter the morrice.
The song.
Skip it, and trip it, nimbly, nimbly,
Tickle it, tickle it lustily,
Strike up the taber, for the wenches favour,
Tickle it, tickle it lustily.
Let us be seen, on Hygate greene,
To dance for the honour of Holloway.
Since we are come hither, let’s spare for no leather,
To dance for the honour of Holloway.
Ed.Well said, my boyes, I must have my lord’s livory: what is’t? a maypole? Troth, ’twere a good body for a courtier’s impreza, if it had but this life, Frustra florescit. Hold, cousin, hold.[He gives the fool money.
Foole.Thankes, cousin, when the lord my father’s audit comes, wee’l repay you againe. Your benevolence too, sir.
Mam.What! a lord’s sonne become a begger!
Foole.Why not? when beggers are become lord’s sons. Come, ’tis but a trifle.
Mam.Oh, sir, many a small make a great.
Foole.No, sir, a few great make a many small. Come, my lords, poore and neede hath no law.
S. Ed.Nor necessitie no right. Drum, downe with them into the celler. Rest content, rest content; one bout more, and then away.
Foole.‘Spoke’ like a true heart: I kisse thy foote, sweet knight.The morrice sing and dance and exeunt.”
It is therefore highly probable, as hath been already suggested, that theMay-game of Robin Hoodand themorris-dancehad originally no sort of connection; that the performers had united their forces, because their joint efforts proved more successful, lucrative, or agreeable; and that, in fine, the latter gradually shook off companions from whose association they no longer derived any advantage.99
An old writer, describing a country bridal show exhibited before Queen Elizabeth at Kenilworth Castle in 1575,{cvii}mentions “a lively moris dauns, according too the auncient manner, six daunsers, mawd Marion, and the fool.”
Stubbs’s chapter, upon “Lords of mis-rule” (Anatomie of Abuses, 1583) contains a singular description of a grand parochial morris-dance, which is worthy of perusal.
It is observable that, in the sham second part ofHudibras, published 1663, this place is said to be
“Highly famed forHocktide games.”
“Highly famed forHocktide games.”
“Highly famed forHocktide games.”
“Highly famed forHocktide games.”
(Grey’s edition ofHudibras, ii. 90.) Of what nature these were (at Kingston) we are not informed. See Plot’s Natural History of Oxfordshire; Leland’s Collectanea, v. Roas.
HocktideorHock-daywas the Tuesday fortnight after Easter. Two falsehoods are asserted of this festival: one, that its celebration was owing to the general joy excited by the death of Hardecnute, which in fact took place on the 8th of June: the other, that it was the anniversary of the general slaughter of the Danes in 1042; which Henry of Huntingdon and others expressly fix on St. Brice’s day, being the 13th of November.
It plainly appears, by these extracts, thatRobyn Hode,Little John,the frere, andmayde Maryanwere fitted out at the same time withthe mores daunsars, and, consequently, it would seem, united with them in one and the same exhibition.100
“Also it was said, that the ladie hir selfe, the same daie hir husband and she should be crowned, said that she feared they should prove but as a summer king and queene, such as in countrie townes the yoong folks choose for short to danse about maipoles” (Holinshed, at the year 1306).
As to the original institution of May-poles, or king and queen of May,—in a word, of the primitive purpose and celebration of a popular festival at that season,—nothing{cviii}satisfactory or consequential can be discovered. The curious reader, at the same time, may consult Spelman’s Glossary,voceMAIUMA,and Ducange,vv.MAJUMA,MAIUS.
In an old manuscript music-book given lately by Mr. Dalziel to the Advocates’ Library are the following scraps of songs about Robin Hood:
“First when Robin good bow bare,Was never bairne so bold,Doune, doune, berrie, doune, doune.”“Now will ye hear a jollie jest,How Robin Hood was pope of Rome,And Wallace king of France.”“Jolly Robin goe to the green wood to thy lemman.”“The nock is out of Johnes bow, Joly, joly,” &c.
“First when Robin good bow bare,Was never bairne so bold,Doune, doune, berrie, doune, doune.”“Now will ye hear a jollie jest,How Robin Hood was pope of Rome,And Wallace king of France.”“Jolly Robin goe to the green wood to thy lemman.”“The nock is out of Johnes bow, Joly, joly,” &c.
“First when Robin good bow bare,Was never bairne so bold,Doune, doune, berrie, doune, doune.”
“First when Robin good bow bare,
Was never bairne so bold,
Doune, doune, berrie, doune, doune.”
“Now will ye hear a jollie jest,How Robin Hood was pope of Rome,And Wallace king of France.”
“Now will ye hear a jollie jest,
How Robin Hood was pope of Rome,
And Wallace king of France.”
“Jolly Robin goe to the green wood to thy lemman.”
“Jolly Robin goe to the green wood to thy lemman.”
“The nock is out of Johnes bow, Joly, joly,” &c.
“The nock is out of Johnes bow, Joly, joly,” &c.
Much curious matter on the subject of the morris-dance is to be found in “Mr. Tollet’s opinion concerning the Morris-dancers upon his Window.” (See Steevens’s Shakespeare, v. 425, edition 1778, or viii. 596, edition 1793. See also Mr. Waldron’s notes upon the Sad Shepherd, 1783, p. 255.) Morris-dancers are said to be yet annually seen in Norfolk,101and make their constant appearance in Lancashire.102
In Scotland, “The game of Robin Hood was celebrated in the month of May. The populace assembled previous to{cvix}the celebration of this festival, and chose some respectable103member of the corporation to officiate in the character of Robin Hood, and another in that of Little John his squire. Upon the day appointed, which was a Sunday or holyday, the people assembled in military array, and went to some adjoining field, where, either as actors or spectators, the whole inhabitants of the respective towns were convened. In this field they probably amused themselves with a representation of Robin Hood’s predatory exploits, or of his encounters with the officers of justice [rather, perhaps, in feats of archery or military exercises].
“As numerous meetings for disorderly mirth are apt to engender tumult, when the minds of the people came to be agitated with religious controversy, it was found necessary to repress the game104of Robin Hood by public statute. The populace were by no means willing to relinquish their favourite amusement. Year after year the magistrates of Edinburgh were obliged to exert their authority105in repressing this game; often ineffectually. In the year 1561, the mob were so enraged at being disappointed in making a Robin Hood, that they rose in mutiny, seized on the city gates, committed robberies upon strangers; and one of the{cx}ringleaders being condemned by the magistrates to be hanged, the mob forced open the jail, set at liberty the criminal and all the prisoners, and broke in pieces the gibbet erected at the cross for executing the malefactor. They next assaulted the magistrates, who were106sitting in the council-chamber, and who fled to the Tolbooth for shelter, where the mob attacked them, battering the doors, and pouring stones through the windows. Application was made to the deacons of the corporations to appease the tumult. Remaining, however, unconcerned spectators, they made this answer: ‘They will be magistrates alone; let them rule the people alone.’ The magistrates were kept in confinement till they made proclamation be published, offering indemnity to the rioters upon laying down their arms. Still, however, so late as the year 1592, we find the General Assembly complaining of the profanation of the sabbath, by making107of Robin Hood plays” (Arnot’s History of Edinburgh, p. 77).
Notwithstanding the above representation, it is certain that these amusements were considerably upon the decline before the year 1568. This appears from a poem by Alexander Scot, preserved in the Hyndford MS. (in the Advocates’ Library, compiled and written in that identical year), and inaccurately printed in The Evergreen:
“In May quhen men zeid everichoneWith Robene Hoid and Littill Johne,To bring in bowis and birkin bobbynis:Now all sic game is fastlingis gone,But gif it be amangis clovin Robbynis.”
“In May quhen men zeid everichoneWith Robene Hoid and Littill Johne,To bring in bowis and birkin bobbynis:Now all sic game is fastlingis gone,But gif it be amangis clovin Robbynis.”
“In May quhen men zeid everichoneWith Robene Hoid and Littill Johne,To bring in bowis and birkin bobbynis:Now all sic game is fastlingis gone,But gif it be amangis clovin Robbynis.”
“In May quhen men zeid everichone
With Robene Hoid and Littill Johne,
To bring in bowis and birkin bobbynis:
Now all sic game is fastlingis gone,
But gif it be amangis clovin Robbynis.”
(35) —“His bow, and one of his arrows, his chair, his cap, and one of his slippers were preserved till within the present century.”] “We omitted,” says Ray, “the sight of Fountain’s Abbey, where Robin Hood’s bow is kept” (Itineraries, 1760, p. 161).
“Having pleased ourselves with the antiquities of ‘Notingham,’ we took horse and went to visit the well and{cxi}ancient chair of Robin Hood, which is not far from hence, within the forest of Sherwood. Being placed in the chair, we had a cap, which they say was his, very formally put upon our heads, and having performed the usual ceremonies befitting so great a solemnity, we receiv’d the freedom of the chair, and were incorporated into the society of that renowned brotherhood” (Brome’s Travels over England, &c., 1700, p. 85).
“On one side of this forest [sci. of Sherwood] towards Nottingham,” says the author of “The Travels of Tom Thumb over England and Wales” (i.e.Robert Dodsley), “I was shewn a chair, a bow, and arrow, all said to have been his [Robin Hood’s] property” (p. 82).
“I was pleased with a slipper, belonging to the famous Robin Hood, shewn me, fifty years ago, at St. Ann’s well, near Nottingham, a place upon the borders of Sherwood forest, to which he resorted” (Journey from Birmingham to London, by W. Hutton, Bir. 1785, p. 174).
(36) —“Not only places which afforded him security or amusement, but even the well at which he quenched his thirst, still retain his name.”] Robin Hood’s Bay is both a bay and a village on the coast of Yorkshire, between Whitby and Scarborough. It is mentioned by Leland as “a fischer tounlet of 20. bootes caullid Robyn Huddes bay, a dok or bosom of a mile yn length” (Itinerary, i. 53). “When his robberies,” says Master Charlton, “became so numerous, and the outcries against him so loud, as almost to alarm the whole nation, parties of soldiers were sent down from London to apprehend him: and then it was, that fearing for his safety, he found it necessary to desert his usual haunts, and, retreating northward, to cross the moors that surrounded Whitby [one side whereof happens, a little unfortunately, to lie open to the sea], where, gaining the sea-coast, he always had in readiness near at hand some small fishing vessels, to which he could have refuge, if he found himself pursued; for in these, putting off to sea, he looked upon himself as quite secure, and held the whole power of the English nation at defiance. The chief place of his resort{cxii}at these times, where his boats were generally laid up, was about six miles from Whitby, to which he communicated his name, and which is still called Robin Hood’s Bay. There he frequently went a fishing in the summer season, even when no enemy appeared to annoy him, and not far from that place he had buts or marks set up, where he used to exercise his men in shooting with the long-bow.”108
Near Gloucester is “a famous hill” called “Robin Hood’s hill,” concerning which there is a very foolish modern song. Another hill of the same name exists in the neighbourhood of Castleton, Derbyshire.
“Over a spring call’d Robin Hoods well (3 or 4 miles [on] this side [i.e.north] of Doncaster, and but a quarter of a mile only from 2 towns call’d Skelbrough and Bourmallis) is a very handsome stone arch, erected by the Lord Carlisle, where passengers from the coach frequently drink of the fair water, and give their charity to two people who attend there” (Gent’s History of York. York, 1730, p. 234).109{cxiii}
Though there is no attendance at present, nor is the water altogether so fair as it might and should be, the case was otherwise in the days of honest Barnaby.
“Veni Doncaster, &c.Nescit sitis artem modi,Puteum Roberti HoodiVeni, & liquente venaVincto110catino catena,Tollens sitim, parcum odi,Solvens obolum custodi.”“Thence to Doncaster, &c.Thirst knowes neither meane nor measure,Robin Hood’s well was my treasure;In a111common dish enchained,I my furious thirst restrained:And because I drunk the deeper,I paid two farthings to the keeper.”
“Veni Doncaster, &c.Nescit sitis artem modi,Puteum Roberti HoodiVeni, & liquente venaVincto110catino catena,Tollens sitim, parcum odi,Solvens obolum custodi.”“Thence to Doncaster, &c.Thirst knowes neither meane nor measure,Robin Hood’s well was my treasure;In a111common dish enchained,I my furious thirst restrained:And because I drunk the deeper,I paid two farthings to the keeper.”
“Veni Doncaster, &c.Nescit sitis artem modi,Puteum Roberti HoodiVeni, & liquente venaVincto110catino catena,Tollens sitim, parcum odi,Solvens obolum custodi.”
“Veni Doncaster, &c.
Nescit sitis artem modi,
Puteum Roberti Hoodi
Veni, & liquente vena
Vincto110catino catena,
Tollens sitim, parcum odi,
Solvens obolum custodi.”
“Thence to Doncaster, &c.Thirst knowes neither meane nor measure,Robin Hood’s well was my treasure;In a111common dish enchained,I my furious thirst restrained:And because I drunk the deeper,I paid two farthings to the keeper.”
“Thence to Doncaster, &c.
Thirst knowes neither meane nor measure,
Robin Hood’s well was my treasure;
In a111common dish enchained,
I my furious thirst restrained:
And because I drunk the deeper,
I paid two farthings to the keeper.”
{cxiv}
He mentions it again:
“Nunc longinquos locus odi,Vale fons Roberti Hoodi.”“Now I hate all foreign places,Robin Hood’s well, and his chaces.”
“Nunc longinquos locus odi,Vale fons Roberti Hoodi.”“Now I hate all foreign places,Robin Hood’s well, and his chaces.”
“Nunc longinquos locus odi,Vale fons Roberti Hoodi.”
“Nunc longinquos locus odi,
Vale fons Roberti Hoodi.”
“Now I hate all foreign places,Robin Hood’s well, and his chaces.”
“Now I hate all foreign places,
Robin Hood’s well, and his chaces.”
A different well, sacred either to Robin Hood or to St. Ann, has been already mentioned.
“Not far [off Bitham, in Lincolnshire] isRobyn Huddes cros, alimesof the shires” (Leland’s Itinerary, i. 25).
(37) —“conferred as a singular distinction upon the prime minister to the king of Madagascar.”] The natives of this island, who have dealings with our people, pride themselves, it seems, in English names, which are bestowed upon them at the discretion or caprice of the sailors: and thus a venerable minister of state, who should have been called Sir Robert Walpole or Cardinal Fleury, acquired the name of Robin Hood. Mr. Ives, by whom he is frequently mentioned, relates the followinganecdote:—
“The reader will excuse my giving him another instance . . . . which still more strikingly displays the extreme sensibility of these islanders, in respect to their king’s dignity. Robin Hood (who seemed to act as prime minister, and negotiate most of the king’s concerns with our agent-victualler) was one day transacting business with another gentleman of the squadron, and they happened to differ so much about the value of a certain commodity, that high words arose, and at length Robin Hood in the greatest agitation started from the ground where he was sitting, and swore that he would immediately acquaint the king of Baba with what had passed. Our English gentleman, too much heated with this threat, and the violent altercation which had preceded it, unguardedly replied, ‘D—n the king of Baba.’ The eyes of Robin Hood flashed like lightning, and in the most violent wrath he retorted, ‘D—n King George.’ At the same instant he left the spot, hurrying away towards the Madagascarian cottages. Our countryman was soon struck with the impropriety of his behaviour, followed and overtook the disputant, and having{cxv}made all proper concessions, the affair was happily terminated.”112
(38) “After his death his company was dispersed.”] They and their successors, disciples, or followers are supposed to have been afterward distinguished, from the name of their gallant leader, by the title of Roberdsmen. Lord Coke, who is somewhat singular in accusing him of living “by robbery, burning of houses, felony, waste and spoil, and principally by and with vagabonds, idle wanderers, night-walkers, and draw-latches,” says that “albeit he lived in Yorkshire, yet men of his quality took their denomination of him, and were called Roberdsmen throughout all England. Against these men,” continues he, “was the statute of Winchester made in 13 E. 1. [c. 14], for preventing of robbery, murders, burning of houses, &c. Also the statute of 5 E. 3. [c. 14], which ‘recites’ the statute of Winchester, and that there had been divers manslaughters, felonies, and robberies done in times past, by people that be called Roberdsmen, wasters and draw-latches; and remedy [is] provided by that act for the arresting of them. At the parliament holden 50 E. 3.,” he adds, “it was petitioned to the king that ribauds and sturdy beggars might be banished out of every town. The answer of the king in parliament was, touching ribauds: The statute of Winchester and the declaration of the same with other statutes of Roberdsmen, and for such as make themselves gentlemen, and men of armes, and archers, if they cannot so prove theirselves, let them be driven to their occupation or service, or to the place from whence they came.” He likewise notices the statute of 7 R. 2. [c. 5], by which it is provided “that the statutes of Roberdsmen and draw-latches be firmly holden and kept” (3 Inst. 197).
These Roberdsmen are mentioned in Pierce the Ploughman’s Crede, written about 1400:
“And right as Robartesmen raken aboute.”113
“And right as Robartesmen raken aboute.”113
“And right as Robartesmen raken aboute.”113
“And right as Robartesmen raken aboute.”113
{cxvi}
Mr. Warton, who had once thought that the friers Robertines were here meant, observes that “the expression of Robin Hoode’s men, in Bishop Latimer’s sermon, is not without an allusion to the bad sense of Roberdsmen” (H. E. P. ii. additions, sig. d. 4). It does not, however, appear that the latter word has been ever used in a good one; nor is there, after all, sufficient ground for concluding that these people were so named after Robin Hood.
(39) —“the honour of Little John’s death and burial is contended for by rival nations.”] I. By England.—At the village of Hathersage, about six miles from Castleton, in Derbyshire, is Little John’s grave. A few years ago some curious person caused it to be opened, when there were found several bones of an uncommon size, which he preserved; but, meeting afterwards with many unlucky accidents, he carefully replaced them; partly at the intercession of the sexton, who had taken them up for him, and who had in like manner been visited with misfortunes: upon restoring the bones all these troubles ceased. Such is the tradition at Castleton. E. Hargrove, in his “Anecdotes of Archery,” York, 1792, asserts that “the grave is distinguished by a large stone placed at the head, and another at the feet, on each of which are yet some remains of the letters I. L.” (p. 26).114II. By Scotland.—“In Murray land,” according to that most veracious historian Maister Hector Bois, “is the kirke of Pette, quhare the banis of lytill Johne remanis in gret admiratioun of pepill. He hes bene fourtene fut of hycht115with square membris effering thairto. Vi. zeris,” continues he, “afore the cumyng of this{cxvii}werk to lycht we saw his hanche-bane, als mekill as the haill bane of ane man: for we schot our arme in the mouth thairof. Be quhilk apperis how strang and square pepill grew in our regioun afore thay were effeminat with lust and intemperance of mouth.”116III. By Ireland.—“There standeth,” as Stanihurst relates, “in Ostmantowne greene an hillocke, named little John his shot. The occasion,” he says, “proceeded of this.
“In the yeare one thousand one hundred foure score and nine, there ranged three robbers and outlaws in England, among which Robert Hood and Little John weere cheefeteins, of all theeves doubtlesse the most courteous. Robert Hood being betrayed at a nunrie in Scotland called Bricklies, the remnant of the crue was scattered, and everie man forced to shift for himselfe. Whereupon Little John was faine to flee the realme by sailing into Ireland, where he sojornied for a few daies at Dublin. The citizens being doone to understand the wandering outcast to be an excellent archer, requested him hartilie to trie how far he could shoot at random; who yeelding to their behest, stood on the bridge of Dublin, and shot to that mole hill, leaving behind him a monument, rather by his posteritie to be woondered, than possiblie by anie man living to be counterscored. But as the repaire of so notorious a champion to anie countrie would soone be published, so his abode could not be long concealed: and therefore to eschew the danger of [the] lawes, he fled into Scotland, where he died at a towne or village called Moravie.”117Thus Stanihurst, who is quoted by Dr. Hanmer in his Chronicle of Ireland, p. 179, but Mr. Walker, after observing that “poor Little John’s great practical skill in archery could not save him from an ignominious fate,” says, “it appeared, from some records in the Southwell family, that{cxviii}he was publicly executed for robbery on Arbor Hill, Dublin.”118
(40) —“some of his descendants of the name of Nailor,”&c.] See the preface to the History of George a Green. As surnames were by no means in general use at the close of the twelfth century, Little John may have obtained that of Nailor from his original profession.
(“Ye boasted worthies of the knuckle,To Maggs and to the Nailor truckle.”)
(“Ye boasted worthies of the knuckle,To Maggs and to the Nailor truckle.”)
(“Ye boasted worthies of the knuckle,To Maggs and to the Nailor truckle.”)
(“Ye boasted worthies of the knuckle,
To Maggs and to the Nailor truckle.”)
But however this, or the fact itself may be, a bow, said to have belonged to Little John, with the name of Naylor upon it, is now, as the editor is informed, in the possession of a gentleman in the West Riding of Yorkshire.
The quotation about whetstones is from the Sloane MS. Those, indeed, who recollect the equivocal meaning of the word may think that this production has not been altogether confined to the grave of Little John.
The quotation about whetstones is from the Sloane MS. Those, indeed, who recollect the equivocal meaning of the word may think that this production has not been altogether confined to the grave of Little John.