Then he put on the old man's cloak, Was patch'd black, blew, and red; He thought it no shame all the day long, Then he put on the old man's breeks, Was patch'd from ballup to side; 'By the truth of my body,' bold Robin can say, ‘This man lov'd little pride.' Then he put on the old man's hose Were patch'd from knee to wrist; 55 60 'By the truth of my body,' said bold Robin Hood, 'I'd laugh if I'd any list.' Then he put on the old man's shoes Were patch'd both beneath and above. Then Robin Hood swore a solemn oath, 'It's good habits that make a man.' 65 Now Robin Hood is to Nottingham gone, With a link a down and a down, 70 And there he met with the proude sheriff Was walking along the town. 'Oh Christ you save, O sheriff,' he said, Oh Christ you save and see; And what will you give to a silly old man 75 'Some suits, some suits,' the sheriff he said, 'Some suits I'll give to thee; Some suits, some suits, and pence To-day's a hangman's fee.' thirteen 80 Then Robin he turns him round about, And jumps from stock to stone. 'By the truth of my body,' the sheriff he said, 'That's well jumpt, thou nimble old man.' 'I was ne'er a hangman in all my life, Nor yet intend to trade; But curst be he,' said bold Robin Hood, 'That first a hangman was made. 'I've a bag for meal and a bag for malt, And a bag for barley and corn; A bag for bread and a bag for beef, And a bag for my little small horn. 'I have a horn in my pocket, I got it from Robin Hood, 85 90 And still when I set it to my mouth, 95 'Oh, wind thy horn, thou proud fellow, Of thee I have no doubt: I wish that thou'd give such a blast 100 The first loud blast that he did blow, He blew both loud and shrill; A hundred and fifty of Robin Hood's men The next loud blast that he did give, 105 He blew both loud and amain, And quickly sixty of Robin Hood's men Came shining over the plain. 'Oh, who are those ?' the sheriff he said, 'Come tripping over the lea?' 110 'They're my attendants,' brave Robin did say, A Lytell Geste of Robin Hood.] This is the earliest printed ballad relating to Robin Hood. It is generally thought to have been written about the time of Chaucer, between the reigns of Richard II., A.D. 1377, and Henry IV., who died 1413. There is some reason to believe that Robin Hood flourished after the battle of Evesham, and that, outliving Henry III., he survived till late into the reign of Edward I. 'Robyn dwelled in green wode Twenty yere and two For all drede of Edward our kynge Again would not he go." There is no difficulty in believing that his memory was kept alive in the intervening period of about a century, and was preserved in ballads and songs which may afterwards have been worked up into this longer and more perfect series. 'The Lytell Geste' runs to several hundred lines, divided into Fyttes, each dealing with some separate exploit. Of these the first alone is given. The second ballad is of much later composition. 9. Robyn stode in Barnysdale.] Bernysdale or Barnsdale, a district in the south of Yorkshire, and one of the favourite haunts of Robin Hood. It lies on the great north road between Doncaster and Pontefract. "The whole of this tract (now for the most part inclosed and offering little that is picturesque) was anciently covered with forest, and afforded an excellent retreat to bands of outlaws and broken men who took their prey from the passengers along Watling Street.' (See' Murray's Handbook for Yorkshire,' p. 10.) Merry Barnysdale' is the oft-recurring scene of Robin's exploits. 11. And by hym stode Little Johann.] 'Of all the boon companions of Robyn Hood,' says Mr. Gutch, the pre-eminence is incontestably due to Little John, whose name is almost constantly coupled with that of his leader.' They are mentioned together by Fordun, and in every adventure he stands by the side of Robin. His real name is said to have been John the Naylor. He was celebrated for his height, nearly seven feet, his drollery, and his prowess. The epithet of 'little' by which he was distinguished was applied to him by his comrades in jest. After the death of his chief he went over to Ireland in despair, and there continued to gratify his unassuaged desire for war against the Normans. 13, 14. And also dyde good Scathelock, And Much the millers sone. After that of 'Little John,' no two names occur oftener in these ballads than those of Scathelock and the miller's son. By the same rule of contraries as fixed the appellation of 'little' on John, that of 'Much' or 'Big 'un' was given to the miller's son, whom tradition points out as the smallest of the party. Scathelock, it is probable, was so named from his skill at single-stick and the breaking of pates which was its consequence. 58. The hye sheriff of Notynghame.] Responsible for the peace of his county, the sheriff of Nottingham, while Sherwood forest was haunted by Robin and his men, was naturally their most dangerous foe. He was ever on the look out to capture them, and, setting a price on their heads, trusted that some traitor in the band would sooner or later be found to betray the rest. But none arose, nor outside the band could any one be induced to disclose the secret of its hiding-places. A poor woman once said to Robyn, 'I would rather die than not do my utmost to save thee: for who has fed and clothed me and my children, but thou and Little John? 68, 69. And walke up to the Sayles, And so to Watlynge strete. It is stated that this place, the Sayles,' whatever or wherever it was, is not mentioned in any other record, though a field near Doncaster is still said to bear the same name. The old Roman road to the north is properly Erming Street; the real Watling Street running from Dover to Chester. 107. At Blythe or Dankastere.] In the two centuries succeeding the Norman conquest, the castle of Tickill is often called Blie or Blythe, and doubtless this castle is here intended. It is just on the borders of Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire, and the name often recurs in history. It held out for King John on the return of Richard Cœur de Lion from his captivity. It was settled by Edward III. on his queen, Philippa of Hainault, and afterwards became an appanage of the dukes of Lancaster. In the civil war it stood out for King Charles, but after the battle of Marston Moor, with all the other garrisons in this part of the kingdom, excepting Pontefract, it was forced to surrender to the Parliament. Doncaster occupies the site of a Roman station, castrum ad flumen Dani,' on the great road which led from Lincoln to York. In the time of King John it was fortified with a mound and ditch, and gates at the several entrances. 214, 215. To a rich abbott here besyde The abbey of St. Mary at York was founded in the reign of William Rufus by three Benedictine monks of Evesham, who made a pilgrimage to the north to visit the holy shrines. The church of St. Olave was given to them by Alan, Earl of Richmond, and was occupied by the fraternity in the first instance as their monastery. They afterwards moved to the present site; and the abbey, it is said, by the express command of the king, was dedicated to the blessed Virgin. It became in course of time one of the richest foundations in the north of England, and at the sup pression of monasteries its yearly revenues amounted to 1,550l. 7s. 9d. v. 5. Now Robin Hood is to Nottingham gone.] The wide forest of Sherwood was another of Robin Hood's favourite resorts. It was anciently divided into two districts known as Thorny Wood and High Forest, the former containing within its boundaries nineteen towns or villages, of which Nottingham was one (Thornton, 'Nottinghamshire,' ii. 158). This town was the scene of many of his most daring exploits, and in one of the ancient songs we are told that he once, on some great provocation, killed fifteen foresters, who were all buried in a row in one of the churchyards there. About two miles from Nottingham is St. Ann's Well, a sequestered haunt which he also much frequented. 65 BALLAD VI. SIMON DE MONTFORT. 6 SIMON DE MONTFORT, the youngest son of that Simon de Montfort whose name, for fame or infamy, is for ever associated with the Albigensian Crusade, was born in the early years of the thirteenth century. His father, the elder Simon, was, through his mother, of English descent, and had inherited half the lands and honours of the last Earl of Leicester, of the Beaumont family. On his death the king of England refused to allow a foreigner to succeed to English estates and titles, and the eldest son was put to his election between his succession in England and the broader lands and larger honours which had also devolved upon him under the crown of France. He chose the latter, but after much negotiation was permitted to surrender his English claims to his youngest brother Simon, who, on August 13, 1231, did homage for the inheritance of his grandmother, and became from that day an Englishman.' Twice he sought an alliance among the wealthy heiresses of France, and twice his plans were thwarted by the jealousy of the French monarch. A greater and more splendid match was, however, in store for him; he suddenly takes rank in English history as the husband of Eleanor, sister of King Henry III., the widowed Countess of Pembroke. The marriage was celebrated on June 7, 1238, the king himself giving away the bride. Never by birth or genius was man more fitted to adorn a royal station than Simon de Montfort, but the nuptials, in spite of the king's presence, were clandestine, and when the secret of them was made known it raised a storm of indignation. That a daughter F |