Chapter 106

3 10 6.”

With this may be compared the following:

“Anno MDLXVI, or 9 of Eliz., payde for setting up Robin Hoodes bower

0 18”

(Churchwardens’ Accompts of St. Helen’s [at Abingdon, Berks], Archæologia, I, 18). This latter entry is loosely cited by Ritson, I, cxiv, 2d ed., as dating from 1556. Ibidem may be found his opinion as to R. H.’s bower (n. *).Hampson, Medii Ævi Kalendarium, I,265, quotes this entry, also with the wrong year. He has no doubt about the Bower: “An arbour, called Robin Hood’s Bower, was erected in the church-yard, and here maidens stood gathering contributions.” I, 283. (All the above by G. L. K.)

P. 46 b, note. The Sloane MS. cited by Ritson as No 715 is No 780 (which is bound up with 715) and is “paper, early xviith century:” Ward, Catalogue of Romances, etc., I, 517. This correction is also to be made at p. 121 b, note; pp. 129 a, 173 b, 175 b.

51 b, sts 62–66.

The late Miss Hamilton McKie, New Galloway, told me this story:

A sturdy beggar, or luscan, came to a farm-house among the hills and asked quarters for the night. The gudewife, before entrusting him with the bedclothes in which to sleep in one of the outhouses, required a pledge or security for their return. He said he had none to offer but his Maker, and got his night’s lodging. In the morning he walked off with the bedclothes, but, becoming bewildered in a mist, he wandered about the whole day, and in the evening, seeing the light of a house, made towards it and knocked at the door. A woman opened it and said, “Your Cautioner has proved gude!” He had come back to the same house.

Mactaggart gives the story in his Gallovidian Encyclopedia, p. 325, but without the trait of the security. (W. Macmath.)

P. 210. The signature to a, L. P., is for Laurence Price: Ebsworth, Roxburghe Ballads, VI, 64.

P. 218 (and 43–46).

Mr H. L. D. Ward, in his invaluable Catalogue of Romances, etc., while treating of Fulk Fitz-Warine, has made the following important remarks concerning the literary history of Maid Marian (p. 506 f.).

“There were three Matildas who were popularly supposed to have been persecuted by King John. The most historical of these was Matilda de Braose. She was imprisoned, with her son and her son’s wife, in 1210, some (Matthew Paris and others) say at Windsor, but another chronicler says at Corfe Castle (see a volume published by the Soc. de l’Hist. de France in 1840), and they were all starved to death. The second was Fulk’s wife Mahaud, who was the widow of Theobald Walter. The third was the daughter of Robert Fitz-Walter. The only authority that can be quoted for the story of the third Matilda is the Chronicle of Dunmow, of which one copy of the 16th century remains, in the Cotton MS., Cleopatra, C. iii. (ff. 281–7), but which was probably begun by Nicholas de Brumfeld, a canon of Dunmow in the latter part of the 13th century. It is there stated that, when Robert Fitz-Walter fled to France in 1213, his daughter took refuge in Dunmow Priory, where John, after a vain attempt at seduction, poisoned her. Now all these three Matildas may be said to appear in the two plays known asThe DownfallandThe Death of Robert Earle of Huntington, by Anthony Munday and Henry Chettle, which are first mentioned in Henslowe’sDiaryin February and November, 1598. Two of them indeed appear in their own names, Matilda de Braose (or Bruce) and Matilda Fitz-Walter; and the one is starved at Windsor and the other is poisoned at Dunmow in the second play. But in the first play Matilda Fitz-Walter escapes the solicitations of John by joining her newly-married husband in Sherwood, where they are called Robin Hood and Maid Marian. This is clearly owing to a combination of the second and third Matildas. It may have been effected by the course of tradition, or it may have been the arbitrary work of a single author. But if the romance of Fulk Fitz-Warin had been known to either Munday or Chettle, other portions of it would almost certainly have appeared in plays or novels or ballads. Now Munday introduces the piece as a rehearsal, conducted by John Skelton the poet, who himself plays Friar Tuck, with a view to performing it before Henry VIII. And it is not at all unlikely that it was really founded upon a May-day pageant devised by Skelton, but not important enough to be specified in the list of his works in hisGarlande of Laurell. We know that Skelton did write Interludes, of which one still remains,Magnyfycence: and Anthony Wood tells us that at Diss in Norfolk, where Skelton was rector, he was ‘esteemed more fit for the stage than the pew or pulpit.’ Thus there was no man more likely than Skelton to devise a new Robin Hood pageant for his old pupil, Henry VIII. And again, there was no man more likely to celebrate the story of Matilda Fitz-Walter, for the patron of his living was Robert Lord Fitz-Walter, who was himself a Ratcliffe, but who had inherited the lordship of Diss through his grandmother, the last of the old Fitz-Walters.[327]But whether Skelton may have read the then accessible poem about Fulk, afterwards described by Leland, or whether either he or Munday may have received the story in its composite form, it is pretty evident that the two reputed objects of King John’s desire, Matilda Walter and Matilda Fitz-Walter, have become blended together into the Maid Marian of the play.”

P. 235 a. Bells ringing of themselves (in ballads).Pidal, Asturian Romances, ‘Il Penitente,’ Nos 1, 2, pp. 82, 84; Nigra, ‘Sant’ Alessio,’ No 148, A, B, p. 538 ff., and see p. 541.

P. 294. St George our Lady’s knight.

A nemnede sein Gorge our leuedi kniȝt:

Sir Beues of Hamtoun, ed. Kölbing, v. 2817, p. 129; Maitland Club ed., v. 2640. (G. L. K., who also gave me the case in Roister Doister.)

“Now holy St George, myne only avower,In whom I trust for my protection,O very Chevalier of the stourished Flower,By whose Hands thy Sword and Shield hast wone,Be mediator, that she may to her SoneCause me to hear Rex splendens songen on hye,Before the Trinitye, when that I shall dye.”

“Now holy St George, myne only avower,

In whom I trust for my protection,

O very Chevalier of the stourished Flower,

By whose Hands thy Sword and Shield hast wone,

Be mediator, that she may to her Sone

Cause me to hear Rex splendens songen on hye,

Before the Trinitye, when that I shall dye.”

Poem on the Willoughbies of Eresby, in the form of a prayer to St George put into the mouth of one of the Willoughby family, Dugdale, Baronage of England, 1676, II, 85, 86. Dugdale does not date the MS. The male line of the Willoughbies became extinct in 1525.

(3. flourished? 4. thou thy?) (G. L. K.)

P. 371 f.Ba,bare signed T. R., the initials of a purveyor or editor of ballads for the popular press.Baof ‘Robin Hood and the Butcher,’ No 122, andaof ‘Robin Hood and the Beggar,’ I, No 133, bear the same signature: see pp. 116, 156 of this volume. No such rhymster as T. R. shows himself to be in these two last pieces could have made ‘Johnie Armstrong,’ one of the best ballads in English.

P. 423. “The Donean Tourist,” by Alexander Laing, Aberdeen, 1828, p. 100, has a very bad copy, extended to fifty-nine stanzas.

P. 449. ‘Young Logie’ is among the ballads taken down by Mrs Murison in Aberdeenshire, p. 88 of the collection. The copy is imperfect, and extremely corrupted. Lady Margaret is the daughter of the king (who is not called by that name), but is confused with her mother, who counterfeits her consort’s han-write and steals his right-han glove, as is done inD. Three ships at the pier of Leith, and three again at Queen’s Ferry.

P. 458. Mr Macmath has pointed out to me a case in Pitcairn’s Criminal Trials, I, 397 f., in which “Jok Johnstoun, callit the Galzeart, Jok J., bruþer to Wille of Kirkhill,” with a Grahame, a couple of Armstrangs, and their accomplices, are accused of the theft of twelve score sheep from James Johnstoune, in February, 1557. We can make no inference as to the relation of Jok the Galliard to the Galliard of our ballad. There were generations of Jocks and Wills in these families, and the sobriquet of The Galliard, as Pitcairn has remarked, “was very prevalent.” He cites a “Gilbert Ellote, callit Gib the Galzart,” III, 441, under the date 1618.

I, 7 b, last line but three of text.ReadFordringer.

71 a, 332. tell thee, ed. 1802; tell to thee, ed. 1833.

132 b, 72.ReadLord John.

159 a, 31,2. to your, in the MS.

186 a, Notes toA b.Add22. slung at.

256 a, 14.ReadMacheyforMay-hay.

274 b, note[261].ReadRomania IX.

356 b,D c13.ReadO go not.

400 a,I.ReadII, 360.

469 a, 223.Readyourforyonr.

482 a,D16, 17, 5th line.ReadHine.

489 a, between 67 a and 84 b.Insert6. Willie’s Lady.

503 a. The title ofIis ‘Hynd Horn.’

504 b, between 226 a and 231.Insert21. The Maid and the Palmer.

II, 70 a, 184. Fall, ed. 1802; fell, ed. 1833.

104 a, 191,2.Readpat.

129 a, 111.Read‘O here I am’ the boy says.

135 a,A. a.111.Drop.

176 b, 113.ReadGae.

179 b, note toB72.Drop.

192 a, 74.Readmaun. 82.ReadYe’r seer. 92.Dropthe brackets.

193 a, 204.Readye never gat. 222.Dropthe brackets. 252.Readdreams.

193 b, 281.ReadGe (==Gae)forYe.

226 a, 229 a, ‘Sweet William’s Ghost,’A.Read1750for1763.

239 a,B31.ReadO she.

272 f.Read(according to the text of 1755): 21. will I. 74. gar thy.

102. to thy.

183. maun cum.

221.Note: “perhaps fetchie” nurse.

234. hes he.

261. sits.

263. means a’ those folks.

264. mother she.

271. And when he cam to gude grene wod.

273. first saw.

274. Kemeing down.

282. Than,misprint forThat.

344. they lay.

354. hip was.

392. ill deed.

275 b.Read, v.17, You see his heid upon my. v. 20, that did,apparently a misprint forthat thocht.

The only variations in the other copy are: 263, theseforthose; thochtfordid, in v. 20 of p. 275 b.

276 a.A. a.Read1750for1763twice.

276 b, 4th line of the preface.ReadAnnandale. 13th line of the preface.Readour old. 21.Readman (ed. 1750).

310 a, third paragraph, line seven.Readauthenticatable.

343.Read(ed. 1755): 23. And there. 33. And mantel. 121. I have. (Dropthe notes to 33, 51.)

348 b,G,H.ReadReifferscheid.

352 b,D54. MS. has And free.

378 a, last line.ReadAndrew Small.

381 b, 203.ReadScotch.

393 a, 142.Readshook.

405 b, notes. 16 belongs toIand should be on p. 406.

437 b, translations.ReadEis translated by Grundtvig, etc.;Dby Afzelius, etc.

462 a, 264.Readsnedforsued.

478, first line after the title.Read56 bfor27 b.

481 b, third paragraph, sixth line.Read, 27.

500,20, first line.ReadOforM. EnglishN,Oshould beO,P.

502 b,34, first line.ReadDecurtinsforDecurtius.

506 b,44, 400 a.DropQ, etc.. Note to 401,dropRevue des Traditions, etc..

513 a, seventh line from bottom.Readquam.

III, 6 a, 121.ReadBraidisbauks.

11,M.Say: Reminiscences by Thomas Carlyle, II, 171, 1881, Froude’s Life of Carlyle, II, 416, 1882. In line 2,read, O busk and go with me, me.

46 b, line 9.ReadS. S.forS. G.

95 b, note[86].Say: Jock o the Side,B13, 14,C10, III, 480, 482.

(The following are mostly trivial variations from the spelling of the text.)

I, 71 b, 511. Oh, ed. 1802; O, ed. 1883.

80 b, 141.Readf[e]ast.

132 a, 51.Readfather[s].

133 a,M.ReadDeer.

137 b,S42.Readcam.

256 b, 32.ReadO. 42.Readrocked.

302 a,B1,2.ReadWhare.

321 b, 74.Readdoun.

325 a, 33.ReadHeavn. 62.Readdanton.

331 a,C24.Readthrie.D23.Readmicht.

441 a, 16.Readwarsell. 43.Readbloody.

468 a, 41.Readstock. 102.Readsaftly. b 132. MS. has bone. 163.ReadBeachen.

481 a, 312.Readdazled.

500 a, 104.Readdown.

508 a, 74.Readby.

II, 32 a,P14.Readaboon.

70 a, 194.Readcheik. 202.Readsmil’d. b, 304.Readtine.

90 b, 261.Readwon,twice.

108 a, 24.Readdie. b, 113.Readmony.

130 a, 33.ReadGil. 43.ReadJill.

131 a, 173.Readhan. b, 193.Readain.

152 a, 43, 51.Readgrene.

153 b, 223.Readgrene.

161 a, 71, 81.Readtane.

192 a, 54.ReadAn. 73.Readaskin.

193 b, 261.Readbour.

240 a, note.ReadMadden.

272 f.Read(ed. 1755): 11. Gill Morice. 52. said. 63. red. 83, 163, 173, 243, 261, 363. guid grene wod. 92, 182. slive. 102, 152. Tho. 111. micht. 112. near. 112, 202. coud. 123. I’s. 133. whar he. 142. woud. 158. stracht. 174. Even. 214. welcom. 214, 394. me. 222. lie. 224. she. 232. he. 244. with. 261. Gill. 262. whistld. 264. tarrys. 272, 362. miekle. 272. cair. 282. well. 294, 311, 314, 333, 341. heid. 303. bodie. 334. town. 344. there. 353. ance. 371. credle. 392. die.

275 a, last line but three.ReadWi, pearce. L. l. but one, naithing, heid. Last line, coud. b, v. 3. day[s]. 7. been. 8. me. 15. teirs, wensom. 18. bluid. 22. comly. 25. driry.

321 b, note[152].ReadBalcanqual.

331 b, 31.Readnurice.

343.Read(ed. 1755): 14, favord. 51. spack. 63. bot. 73. bin. 91. coud. 94, 144. die.

352 b, 33.Readpown.

363 b, 111.Readladie’s.

364 a, 201.Readladye’s.

389 a, 83.ReadYou’r.

390 b, 292.Readhir. 51.Readbouer.

391 a, 121.ReadWhan.

396 a, 12.Readblithe.

404 b, 91.ReadWhan.

473 b, 173.Readmony.

475 a, 113.Readdown,twice.

478.Read: 12, onforan. 41. sir. 62. do. 141. a[t] London. 151. medans. 171. leyne.

483, 13.Readwel. 64.Readbeene.

III, 2 a, note, line 5.ReadBennet.

5 a,D52.ReadLincolm. b, 101.Readthere.

8 b, 241.Readbetide.

253 b,R, v. 3.Readdochter.

1. This manuscript, which Fry bought in Glasgow in 1810, contained several other ballads, “but written so corruptly as to be of little or no authority.” It did not occur to Fry that the illiteracy of the drummer gave his ballads the best of authority. I have done what I could to recover the manuscript, but in vain, though I had the kindest assistance in Bristol from the Rev. J. Percivall, Mr Francis Fry, and Mr J. F. Nicholls.

2. See Motherwell’s apt remarks, Minstrelsy, p. 1.

3. “It is sometimes said that this outlaw possessed the old Castle of Morton in Dumfriesshire, now ruinous.... The mention of Durisdeer, a neighboring parish, adds weight to the tradition.” Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, 1833, III, 114 f. Mr W. Bennett, writing in 1826 in The Dumfries Monthly Magazine, III, 250, of which he was editor, speaks of a field a little to the southwest of Lochmaben as still showing the trace of a circular tower, which was “called Cockiesfield, from one John Cock, or O’Cock, who had there his residence, and who during his lifetime was one of the most renowned freebooters in Annandale.” Mr Macmath, who pointed out the passage to me, observes that in Thomson’s map of Dumfriesshire, 1828, the name is given “Cocketfield,” and that there is also a Cocket Hill.

4. Colophon: [P]rynted at London, in Fletestrete, at [the si]gne of the Sonne, by me Iohn [By]ddell. In the yere of our lord god m.ccccc.xxxvj. The seconde daye of June. Iohn̄ Byddell.Eight lines wanting: 1203,4; 121; 1683,4. Mutilated at the beginning: 169; 170. Mutilated at the end: 1641; 1653; 1671.

4. Colophon: [P]rynted at London, in Fletestrete, at [the si]gne of the Sonne, by me Iohn [By]ddell. In the yere of our lord god m.ccccc.xxxvj. The seconde daye of June. Iohn̄ Byddell.

Eight lines wanting: 1203,4; 121; 1683,4. Mutilated at the beginning: 169; 170. Mutilated at the end: 1641; 1653; 1671.

5. Eleven lines wanting: 602,3,4; 674; 681,2; 1003; 1044; 1051,2; 1104. Mutilated at the beginning: 61–641; 643–673; 754–831; 904,5,6; 964; 1053–1103; 1111,2. Mutilated at the end: 601; 1013; 1023; 1031; 1042,3. Elsewhere: 972,3; 1041.

6. Colophon. Imprinted at London, in Lothburye, by Wyllyam Copeland.

7. “Two leaves, discovered in the pasteboard or fly-leaves of a book received from abroad.”

8.bwas kindly copied for me by Mr J. P. Collier in 1857. Mr Collier described his fragment as “a scrap which once formed the fly-leaf of a book.” Hazlitt says that the type is clearly older than Copland’s, and very like Wynkyn de Worde’s.

9. This old woman gives the title ‘Auld Matrons’ to a ballad in Buchan’s larger collection, II, 238, in which kitchen-tradition has made over some of the incidents in the First Fit of Adam Bell.

10.Vischer, Die Sage von der Befreiung der Waldstädte, pp 33, 36 f; Rochholz, Germania, XIII, 56 f. “Wa er das nit hette gethan, so hette er selbs müssen darumb sterben:” Russ’s Chronicle, 1482, Vischer, p. 50.

11.Liliencron, Die historischen Volkslieder der Deutschen, II, 109, No 147; Böhme, p. 47, No 10; Vischer, p. 46; Rochholz, Tell u. Gessler, p. 180; Tobler, p. 3.This or a like song was known to Russ, 1482. Tschudi, about a hundred years later, c. 1570, says that the child was five or six, not more than six, years old: Vischer, p. 122. There is another, but later and even worse, “song” about William Tell and the confederacy: Böhme, No 11, p. 49; Wunderhorn, 1808, II, 129; etc.

12.Müllenhoff, Sagen, u. s. w., der Herzogthümer Schleswig Holstein u. Lauenburg, p. 57, No 66.The story is localized at another place in Holstein, with the change of apple to pear: Lütolf, Germania, VIII, 213.

13. Torfæus, in his history of Norway, III, 371, speaks of a ballad about Heming sung in his time, c. 1700, which would seem to have been the same as this, only somewhat fuller. Landstad, p. 187.These ballads represent the king as regarding himself as quite unapproachable in athletic exercises. The little boy of ballads, smádrengin, kongins lítil svein, NorwegianB, FäröeA, or, in a Färöe variation (Hammershaimb, p. 161), Harald’s queen, intimates knowledge of an equal or superior. Harald answers, in true ballad style, in FäröeA6, If he is not my better, you shall burn for it. In NorwegianB, FäröeA, the king immediately sets out to find his rival. Cf. Charlemagne and King Arthur, I, 275, 279, and the beginning of ‘King Estmere,’ II, 51, and Landstad, p. 177, note 1.

13. Torfæus, in his history of Norway, III, 371, speaks of a ballad about Heming sung in his time, c. 1700, which would seem to have been the same as this, only somewhat fuller. Landstad, p. 187.

These ballads represent the king as regarding himself as quite unapproachable in athletic exercises. The little boy of ballads, smádrengin, kongins lítil svein, NorwegianB, FäröeA, or, in a Färöe variation (Hammershaimb, p. 161), Harald’s queen, intimates knowledge of an equal or superior. Harald answers, in true ballad style, in FäröeA6, If he is not my better, you shall burn for it. In NorwegianB, FäröeA, the king immediately sets out to find his rival. Cf. Charlemagne and King Arthur, I, 275, 279, and the beginning of ‘King Estmere,’ II, 51, and Landstad, p. 177, note 1.

14. The Witches’ Hammer was composed in 1486, and Punker is there recorded to have exercised his devil’s craft sixty years before. Elsewhere Punker [Pumper] is said to have been torn to pieces by oppressed peasants in 1420. The name is spelled Puncler in the edition of 1620, pp 248 f, and Puncher in the edition followed by Grimm. See Rochholz in Germania, XIII, 48–51.

15. The Tell story, complete, Apfelschuss, Felsensprung und Tyrannenmord, is said to occur among the Finns and the Lapps: E. Pabst, cited by Pfannenschmid, Germania, IX, 5. Particulars’, which are very desirable, are not given. This would not add much to the range of the story.

16. In the prose Hemings Ðáttr, the intent to take vengeance appears from Hemingr’s wish that the king should stand close to the mark; in the ballads he reserves an arrow. In the Ólafs Saga, Eindriði openly announces his purpose; in all but this version (treating the prose Hemings Ðáttr and the ballads as one), the archer provides himself with two arrows, or three.

17. Such as the penalty for missing, as above said; or Tell’s shooting at a hundred and twenty paces, and bearing Cloudesly’s name, William. If the coincidence as to the distance should be held to be very important, I, for one, should have no objection to admitting that this part of the ballad may be derived from the Tell story.J. Grimm remarked in 1813, Gedanken über Mythos, Epos und Geschichte (Kleinere Schriften, IV, 77), that the similarity of the names Tell, Bell, Velent, Bellerophon (see a little further on, p. 21), could hardly fail to strike even a superficial observer, and also pointed to the identity of Tell’s and Cloudesly’s Christian name. In his Deutsche Mythologie, I, 317, ed. 1875, it is simply said that the surname Bell, as well as Cloudesly’s Christian name, is suggestive of William Tell.

J. Grimm remarked in 1813, Gedanken über Mythos, Epos und Geschichte (Kleinere Schriften, IV, 77), that the similarity of the names Tell, Bell, Velent, Bellerophon (see a little further on, p. 21), could hardly fail to strike even a superficial observer, and also pointed to the identity of Tell’s and Cloudesly’s Christian name. In his Deutsche Mythologie, I, 317, ed. 1875, it is simply said that the surname Bell, as well as Cloudesly’s Christian name, is suggestive of William Tell.

18. The poet is Mohammed ben Ibrahim, 1119–c. 1230, and he bore the honorary title of Furîd Uddîn (Pearl of Religion), and the sobriquet of Attâr, perfumer. The title of the poem is The Language of Birds.Garcin de Tassy, La Poésie Philosophique et Religieuse chez les Persans, Extrait de la Revue Contemporaine, t. xxiv, pp. 4, 35.“Nur den Apfel treffen wir hier.... Es bleibt also weiter nichts übrig als anzunehmen dass die persische Sage ... in die grauesten Urzeiten des arischen Alterthums hinaufreichen muss.” (Pfannenschmid, in Germania, X, 26 f.) A rapid inference.

19. Eindriði also had accomplished a harder shot before he tried the chessman. But Hemingr, having done what was thought a masterly thing in cleaving a nut, is compelled to knock the same nut, shooting at the same distance, from his brother’s head.

20. Das Inland, No 39, p. 630, cited by Rochholz, Tell und Gessler, p. 40 f. Gerhard’s Wila, I, 147 f, cited by Rochholz, p. 39 f. Eustathius to Iliad, xii, 101, first cited by Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie (who says, “Es stimmt auch theilweise,” p. 317, ed. 1875); by others later.

21. To Virgil, Ecl. v, 11, cited by Ideler, Die Sage von dem Schuss des Tell, p. 59, note 3.

22.Hisely, Recherches Critiques sur l’Histoire de Guillaume Tell, p. 590.

23.Pfannenschmid, in Germania, X, 25; Rochholz, Tell und Gessler, p. 41 f.

24. T. B. Thorpe, Reminiscences of the Mississippi, in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, XII, 30. A story is there related of a famous Mike Fink’s striking an apple from a man’s head by shooting between it and the skull, like the Scandinavian marksmen. In Captain Mayne Reid’s Scalp Hunters, or Romantic Adventures in Northern Mexico, ch. 22, we are told of an Indian’s shooting a prairie-gourd from the head of his sister, which may or may not be an invention. The title of the chapter isA Feat à la Tell, and this may perhaps be the only foundation for an assertion that the Tell story had been found in Mexico; at least, inquiries have not brought to light any other.

25. For the interpretation which has been put upon the Tell story, see, among many, Pfannenschmid, in Germania, X, 1–40; Rochholz, Tell und Gessler, in Sage und Geschichte.The mildew of myth spreads, of course, from William to his comrades. J. Grimm, in his Gedanken über Mythos, etc., 1813, interprets Clim, Cloudesly, and Clough all in the sense of nail, sharp point, arrow; and as Bell isβέλος, Tell is telum, Tokoτόξον, and Egil is igel, hedgehog, and therefore the spine of the hedgehog, and therefore dart, the names are all one as to meaning. But Grimm appears to have been less confident about these etymologies in later days. Sir G. W. Cox, on the other hand, says that Cloudesly’s name marks him as an inhabitant of Cloudland. (Meanwhile, every likelihood favors the derivation of Cloudesly from clúd, rock, and leáh, lea, and the interpretation of Clim as Clem and of Clough as ravine.) Cloudesly and his mates are all the more mythical because they are three, and because, as it is asserted, Robin Hood is mythical, with whom they are, one and all, assumed to be identical.

25. For the interpretation which has been put upon the Tell story, see, among many, Pfannenschmid, in Germania, X, 1–40; Rochholz, Tell und Gessler, in Sage und Geschichte.

The mildew of myth spreads, of course, from William to his comrades. J. Grimm, in his Gedanken über Mythos, etc., 1813, interprets Clim, Cloudesly, and Clough all in the sense of nail, sharp point, arrow; and as Bell isβέλος, Tell is telum, Tokoτόξον, and Egil is igel, hedgehog, and therefore the spine of the hedgehog, and therefore dart, the names are all one as to meaning. But Grimm appears to have been less confident about these etymologies in later days. Sir G. W. Cox, on the other hand, says that Cloudesly’s name marks him as an inhabitant of Cloudland. (Meanwhile, every likelihood favors the derivation of Cloudesly from clúd, rock, and leáh, lea, and the interpretation of Clim as Clem and of Clough as ravine.) Cloudesly and his mates are all the more mythical because they are three, and because, as it is asserted, Robin Hood is mythical, with whom they are, one and all, assumed to be identical.

26. Camden, Britannia, II, 175, ed. 1772. King Edward the First, when hunting in this forest, is said to have killed two hundred bucks in one day. For Arthur’s hunting there, see Robson, Three Early English Metrical Romances, p. 26, LV7, p. 59, V1; Madden’s Syr Gawayne, p. 298, v. 16; this book, I, 294, st. 9, etc.

27. Cronykil of Scotland, Book vii, v. 3523 f, ed. Laing, II, 263.

28. John Bell robbed the Chamberlain’s men of cattle, 1337: Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, II, 437. The Bells are included with the Grahams, Armstrongs, and others, among the bad and more vagrant of the great surnames of the border, by the Lord Warden of the Marches of England, 1593 (Rymer’s Fœdera, XVI, 183, ed. 1727, cited by Bishop Percy), and had no better estimation in Scotland.

29.apreserves stanzas 1–834, 1184–2083, 3142–3493; with defects at 22,3, 71, 1234–1273, 133–1363. It has therefore about 200 stanzas out of 456.cpreserves 264–603;d, 280–350, very much mutilated;e, 4354–4501, very much mutilated.e, inserted among the Douce fragments, was presented by Mr Halliwell-Phillips.

29.apreserves stanzas 1–834, 1184–2083, 3142–3493; with defects at 22,3, 71, 1234–1273, 133–1363. It has therefore about 200 stanzas out of 456.

cpreserves 264–603;d, 280–350, very much mutilated;e, 4354–4501, very much mutilated.e, inserted among the Douce fragments, was presented by Mr Halliwell-Phillips.

30. Dr Farmer considered these leaves to be of Rastell’s printing, and older by some years thanb; which is not quite intelligible, since Rastell’s work is put at 1517–38.cis cited under Rastell’s name in Ritson’s second edition as well as his first.

31. 94,a, allther moste:b, all other moste. (f,g, of all other;b, 2833, all ther best; 2841, all theyre best;f,g, al of the best.) 614,a, Muche in fere:b, Much also. 684,a, By xxviii (eight and twenty) score:b(f,g), By eyghtene score, which gives no meaning. 1383,a, frembde bested:b(f,g), frend. 1734,a, same nyght:b, same day. 1764,a, wode hore:b(f,g), wode tre. 3332,a, on rode:b(f,g), on a tre. 3432,a, The sherif:b(f,g), The knyght.

32. 133,a,b, husbonde:f,g, husbandeman. 2561,b, in yonder other corser:f, on the other courser:g, in the other coffer. 2744, 2862, 3874, 4122,b, trystell-tre:f,g, trusty tre. 3851,b, “tarpe”:f,g, seale. 3714,b, blyve:f,g, blythe, etc.

33. 1112, That all this worldë wrought; 1632, The whilë that he wolde; 3164, To metë can they gone; 724, But his bowë tree; 291, They brought hym to the lodgë dore.2554, To seke a monkës male; 3603, He shall haue the knyghtës londys; 3691, And I wyll be your ledës man; 3761, Robyn toke the kyngës hors; 3663, 3672, 3684, etc. 3363, For our derë lady loue.311, With wordës fayre and fre; 344, Of all these wekÿs thre; 2102, Or a man that myrthës can; 3184, The wallës all aboute; 602, 3314, 3322, 3712, etc. 4334, And all his mennës fe.212, By a dernë strete; 251, Welcome be thou to grenë wode; 2981, But had I the in grenë wode; 3273, 3733, 3743.564, Ouer the saltë see; 1734, That ylkë samë nyght; 2132, By the hyë way; 2352, Of all this longë day; 2411, 2924, 3032, 3051, 3932, 4554, etc. 252, Hendë knyght & fre; 1133, Out, he sayd, thou falsë knyght; 2423, Therfore I cun the morë thanke.472, 1002, By God that madë me; 804, To walkë by his syde; 2222, And that shall rewë the; 2974, Other wyse thou behotë me; 4261, So God me helpë, sayd our kynge.d, 2822, 3172, herkeneth.

33. 1112, That all this worldë wrought; 1632, The whilë that he wolde; 3164, To metë can they gone; 724, But his bowë tree; 291, They brought hym to the lodgë dore.

2554, To seke a monkës male; 3603, He shall haue the knyghtës londys; 3691, And I wyll be your ledës man; 3761, Robyn toke the kyngës hors; 3663, 3672, 3684, etc. 3363, For our derë lady loue.

311, With wordës fayre and fre; 344, Of all these wekÿs thre; 2102, Or a man that myrthës can; 3184, The wallës all aboute; 602, 3314, 3322, 3712, etc. 4334, And all his mennës fe.

212, By a dernë strete; 251, Welcome be thou to grenë wode; 2981, But had I the in grenë wode; 3273, 3733, 3743.

564, Ouer the saltë see; 1734, That ylkë samë nyght; 2132, By the hyë way; 2352, Of all this longë day; 2411, 2924, 3032, 3051, 3932, 4554, etc. 252, Hendë knyght & fre; 1133, Out, he sayd, thou falsë knyght; 2423, Therfore I cun the morë thanke.

472, 1002, By God that madë me; 804, To walkë by his syde; 2222, And that shall rewë the; 2974, Other wyse thou behotë me; 4261, So God me helpë, sayd our kynge.d, 2822, 3172, herkeneth.

34. Ritson had seen, among Peck’s collections for the history of Premonstratensian monasteries, a Latin poem with the title Prioris Alnwicensis de bello Scotico apud Dunbar, tempore regis Edwardi I, dictamen, sive rithmus Latinus, quo de Willielmo Wallace, Scotico illo Robin Whood, plura sed invidiose canit, and in the margin the date 22 Julii, 1304; whence he concluded that Robin Hood was both mentioned, and compared with Wallace, in 1304. The date refers to matters in the poem. The MS. (Sloane, 4934, parsII, ff 103–106) is of the eighteenth century, Hardy, Descriptive Catalogue, etc., III, 279, No 503. The title was supplied by Peck, one of whose marks is the spelling Whood.

35. Either Randle the second, earl from 1128 to 1153, or Randle the third, earl from 1181 and for fifty years, would be likely to be the subject of ballads, but especially the latter. He figures in the story of Fulk Fitz Warine: Wright, p. 149.

36. Cited by Ritson. I have not found the writs.

37. Cited in the Edinburgh Review, 1847, LXXXVI, 134, note; and by Hunter, 1852, The Ballad-Hero, Robin Hood, p. 58 (where the year is wrongly given as 1432). It appears from many cases that the name was very often pronounced Róbinhode.

38. “Robertus Hode et Litill-Johanne, cum eorum complicibus, de quibus stolidum vulgus hianter in comœdiis et in tragœdiis prurienter festum faciunt, et præ ceteris romanciis mimos et bardanos cantitare delectantur.”“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:” Ritson, whose translation may pass. Ritson rightly observes that comedies and tragedies here are not to be understood as plays. Then follows this abstract of one of the ‘tragedies.’“De quo etiam quædam commendabilia recitantur, sicut patuit in hoc, quod cum ipse quondam in Barnisdale, iram regis et fremitum principis declinans, missam, ut solitus erat, devotissime audiret, nec aliqua necessitate volebat interrumpere officium, quadam die, cum audiret missam, a quodam vicecomite et ministris regis, eum sæpius perprius infestantibus, in illo secretissimo loco nemorali ubi missæ interfuit exploratus, venientes ad eum qui hoc de suis perceperunt ut omni annisu fugeret suggesserunt. Quod, ob reverentiam sacramenti, quod tunc devotissime venerabatur, omnino facere recusavit. Sed, ceteris suis ob metum mortis trepidantibus, Robertus, in tantum confisus in eum quem coluit, inveritus, cum paucis qui tunc forte ei affuerunt inimicos congressus eos de facili devicit, et, de eorum spoliis ac redemptione ditatus, ministros ecclesiæ et missas in majore veneratione semper et de post habere præelegit, attendens quod vulgariter dictum est:Hunc deus exaudit qui missam sæpius audit.”Scotichronicon, ed. Goodall, II, 104.

“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:” Ritson, whose translation may pass. Ritson rightly observes that comedies and tragedies here are not to be understood as plays. Then follows this abstract of one of the ‘tragedies.’

“De quo etiam quædam commendabilia recitantur, sicut patuit in hoc, quod cum ipse quondam in Barnisdale, iram regis et fremitum principis declinans, missam, ut solitus erat, devotissime audiret, nec aliqua necessitate volebat interrumpere officium, quadam die, cum audiret missam, a quodam vicecomite et ministris regis, eum sæpius perprius infestantibus, in illo secretissimo loco nemorali ubi missæ interfuit exploratus, venientes ad eum qui hoc de suis perceperunt ut omni annisu fugeret suggesserunt. Quod, ob reverentiam sacramenti, quod tunc devotissime venerabatur, omnino facere recusavit. Sed, ceteris suis ob metum mortis trepidantibus, Robertus, in tantum confisus in eum quem coluit, inveritus, cum paucis qui tunc forte ei affuerunt inimicos congressus eos de facili devicit, et, de eorum spoliis ac redemptione ditatus, ministros ecclesiæ et missas in majore veneratione semper et de post habere præelegit, attendens quod vulgariter dictum est:

Hunc deus exaudit qui missam sæpius audit.”

Scotichronicon, ed. Goodall, II, 104.

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