Chapter XIII: Appendix: The Play of Robin Hood (4)

_No printer._ Sold in Bow-Church-Yard, London.

1^3. tell you.

2^3. aware.

4^3. spy.

5^2. quite _for_ clean.

6^2. Midge _for_ Nick.

9^3. these seven.

10^2. she was from me taen.

11^2. any _wanting_.

13^4. for _wanting_.

16^1. do _wanting_: then _for_ he.

16^2. unto me.

17^1. then _for_ he.

18^4. Who shone like the glittering.

19^1. not a fit.

19^4. she _wanting_.

22^3. at the.

24^3. Robin he.

24^4. This coat.

25^1. to _for_ into.

25^2. for _wanting_.

26^1. me _wanting_: maid, says.

27^2. bride she lookd like a.

139

ROBIN HOOD’S PROGRESS TO NOTTINGHAM

#a.# Wood, 402, leaf 14 b. #b.# Wood, 401, leaf 37 b. #c.# Garland of
1663, No 2. #d.# Garland of 1670, No 1. #e.# Pepys, II, 104, No 92.

This piece occurs also in the Roxburghe Ballads, III, 270, 845, the Douce, III, 120, was among Heber’s ballads (a copy by W. Onley), and is probably in all collections of broadsides.

#a# or #b# was printed by Ritson, Robin Hood, 1795, II, 12. A copy in Evans’s Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 96, is later, and very like Douce, III, 120.

When Robin Hood is but fifteen years of age, he falls in with fifteen foresters who are drinking together at Nottingham. They hear with scorn that he intends to take part in a shooting-match. He wagers with them that he will kill a hart at a hundred rod, and does this. They refuse to pay, and bid him begone if he would save his sides from a basting. Robin kills them all with his bow; people come out from Nottingham to take him, but get very much hurt. Robin goes to the green wood; the townsmen bury the foresters.

This is evidently a comparatively late ballad, but has not come down to us in its oldest form. The story is told to the following effect in the life of Robin Hood in Sloane MS. 715, 7, fol. 157, written, as it seems, says Ritson, towards the end of the sixteenth century. Robin Hood, going into a forest with a bow of extraordinary strength, fell in with some rangers, or woodmen, who gibed at him for pretending to use a bow such as no man could shoot with. Robin said that he had two better, and that the one he had with him was only a “birding-bow”; nevertheless he would lay his head against a certain sum of money that he would kill a deer with it at a great distance. When the chance offered, one of the rangers sought to disconcert him by reminding him that he would lose his head if he missed his mark. Robin won the wager, and gave every man his money back except the one who had tried to fluster him. A quarrel followed, which ended with Robin’s killing them all, and consequently betaking himself to life in the woods. Thoms, Early Prose Romances, II, Robin Hood, 37 ff.

Douce notes in his copy of Ritson’s Robin Hood (Bodleian Library) the second stanza of this ballad as it is cited in the Duke of Newcastle’s play, ‘The Varietie’:

When Robin came to Nottingham,
His dinner all for to dine,
There met him fifteen jolly foresters,
Were drinking ale and wine.

Gutch’s Robin Hood, II, 123.

Translated by A. Grün, p. 61; Doenniges, p. 170.

1
Robin Hood hee was and a tall young man,
Derry derry down
And fifteen winters old,
And Robin Hood he was a proper young man,
Of courage stout and bold.
Hey down derry derry down

2
Robin Hood he would and to fair Nottingham,
With the general for to dine;
There was he ware of fifteen forresters,
And a drinking bear, ale, and wine.

3
‘What news? What news?’ said bold Robin Hood;
‘What news, fain wouldest thou know?
Our king hath provided a shooting-match:’
‘And I’m ready with my bow.’

4
‘We hold it in scorn,’ then said the forresters,
‘That ever a boy so young
Should bear a bow before our king,
That’s not able to draw one string.’

5
‘I’le hold you twenty marks,’ said bold Robin Hood,
‘By the leave of Our Lady,
That I’le hit a mark a hundred rod,
And I’le cause a hart to dye.’

6
‘We’l hold you twenty mark,’ then said the forresters,
‘By the leave of Our Lady,
Thou hitst not the marke a hundred rod,
Nor causest a hart to dye.’

7
Robin Hood he bent up a noble bow,
And a broad arrow he let flye,
He hit the mark a hundred rod,
And he caused a hart to dy.

8
Some said hee brake ribs one or two,
And some said hee brake three;
The arrow within the hart would not abide,
But it glanced in two or three.

9
The hart did skip, and the hart did leap,
And the hart lay on the ground;
‘The wager is mine,’ said bold Robin Hood,
‘If ’twere for a thousand pound.’

10
‘The wager’s none of thine,’ then said the forresters,
‘Although thou beest in haste;
Take up thy bow, and get thee hence,
Lest wee thy sides do baste.’

11
Robin Hood hee took up his noble bow,
And his broad arrows all amain,
And Robin Hood he laught, and begun to smile,
As hee went over the plain.

12
Then Robin Hood hee bent his noble bow,
And his broad arrows he let flye,
Till fourteen of these fifteen forresters
Vpon the ground did lye.

13
He that did this quarrel first begin
Went tripping over the plain;
But Robin Hood he bent his noble bow,
And hee fetcht him back again.

14
‘You said I was no archer,’ said Robin Hood,
‘But say so now again;’
With that he sent another arrow
That split his head in twain.

15
‘You have found mee an archer,’ saith Robin Hood,
‘Which will make your wives for to wring,
And wish that you had never spoke the word,
That I could not draw one string.’

16
The people that lived in fair Nottingham
Came runing out amain,
Supposing to have taken bold Robin Hood,
With the forresters that were slain.

17
Some lost legs, and some lost arms,
And some did lose their blood,
But Robin Hood hee took up his noble bow,
And is gone to the merry green wood.

18
They carryed these forresters into fair Nottingham,
As many there did know;
They digd them graves in their church-yard,
And they buried them all a row.

* * * * *

#a#, #b#.

Robin Hoods Progresse to Nottingham,

Where hee met with fifteen forresters, all on a row,
And hee desired of them some news for to know,
But with crosse graind words they did him thwart,
For which at last hee made them smart.

To the tune of Bold Robin Hood.

#a.#

London, Printed for Fran. Grove. And entred according to order.
(1620–55: _Chappell._)

#b.#

London, Printed for F. Coles, T. Vere, and J. Wright. (1655–80:
_Chappell._)

_3. Commonly punctuated as if spoken entirely by Robin. There
would certainly be an antecedent probability against three
speeches in one stanza, in an older ballad._

#c#, #d#.

Robin Hoods Progress to Notingham, where he slew fifteen
Forresters. To the tune of Bold Robin Hood.

#c.#

6^3. an.

7^3. a mark.

15^3. spake.

#d.#

7^3. an hundred.

11^3. began.

12^3. of the.

14^2. say you so.

14^3. he another arrnw let fly.

18^1. to fair.

#e.#

_Title as in #a#, #b#, above, with these variations in the verse_:

2, news to. 3, And with. 4, them for to.

Printed for J. Clarke, W. Thackeray, and T. Passenger. (1670–82?)

1^1. and _wanting_.

2^1. would unto.

2^3. aware.

4^1. scorn said bold R. Hood.

5^3. the mark an.

5^4, 7^4. one hart.

6^1. marks.

6^3. That thou: an.

7^3. an.

8^2. some say.

8^3. in _for_ within.

11^2. all _wanting_.

11^3. began.

14^4. Which split.

15^1. said.

15^2. for _wanting_.

15^3. wish you ne’r had.

17^3. R. Hood he bent.

18^3. yards.

18^4. all on a row.

140

ROBIN HOOD RESCUING THREE SQUIRES

#A.# Percy MS., p. 5; Hales and Furnivall, I, 13; Jamieson’s Popular
Ballads, II, 49.

#B. a.# ‘Robin Hood rescuing the Widow’s Three Sons from the Sheriff,
when going to be executed,’ The English Archer, York, N. Nickson, n.
d. #b.# The English Archer, Paisley, John Neilson, 1786. #c.#
Adventures of ... Robin Hood, Falkirk, T. Johnston, 1808. All in the
Bodleian Library, Douce, F.F. 71.

#C.# ‘Robin Hood rescuing the Three Squires from Nottingham Gallows.’
#a.# Robin Hood’s Garland, London, Printed by W. & C. Dicey, n. d.
#b.# R. H.’s Garland, London, L. How, in Peticoat Lane, n. d. #c.#
R. H.’s Garland, York, T. Wilson and R. Spence, n. d. #d.# R. H.’s
Garland, Preston, W. Sergent, n. d. #e.# R. H.’s Garland, London, J.
Marshall & Co., n. d. #f.# R. H.’s Garland, Wolverhampton, J. Smart,
n. d. #a-d#, Douce, FF. 71, #f#, Douce, Add. 262, Bodleian Library.

#B# is given by Ritson, Robin Hood, 1795, II, 151, “from the York edition of Robin Hood’s garland;” #C#, the same, II, 216, from an Aldermary Churchyard garland, and by Evans, Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 215.

#B.# Robin Hood, while on his way to Nottingham, meets an old woman who is weeping for three squires condemned to die that day, not for recognized crimes, but for killing the king’s deer. These seem to be his own men: st. 6. Pursuing his way, he meets an old “palmer,” really a beggar, who confirms the bad news. He changes clothes with the palmer (who at first thinks the proposal a mock), and at Nottingham comes upon the sheriff, and asks what he will give an old fellow to be his hangman. The sheriff offers suits and pence; Robin says, hangmen be cursed, he will never take to that business. He has a horn in his pocket which would blow the sheriff little good; the sheriff bids him blow his fill. The first blast brings a hundred and fifty of Robin’s men; the second brings three score more. They free their own men and hang the sheriff.

In #C# the three squires are expressly said to be the woman’s sons;[114] for the palmer we have a beggar; Robin asks it as a boon that he may be hangman, and will have nothing for his service but three blasts on his horn, ‘that their souls to heaven may flee.’ The horn brings a hundred and ten men, and the sheriff surrenders the three squires.

In the fragment #A#, Robin changes clothes with an old man, who appears by stanza 11 to be a beggar. His men are with him meanwhile, and he orders them to conceal themselves in a wood until they hear his horn. A blast brings three hundred of them; Robin casts off his beggar’s gear and stands in his red velvet doublet;[115] his men bend their bows and beset the gallows. The sheriff throws up his hands and begs for terms; Robin demands the three squires. The sheriff objects, for they are the king’s felons; Robin will have them, or the sheriff shall be the first man to flower the tree.

‘Robin Hood and the Beggar,’ No 133, from stanza 16, is another version of this ballad. Robin changes clothes with a beggar, after a hard fight in which he has had the worse, goes to Nottingham, and hears that three brothers are condemned to die. He hies to the sheriff to plead for them; a gentleman at the door tells him they must be hanged for deer-stealing clearly proved. At the gallows Robin blows his horn; a hundred archers present themselves, and ask his will. He commands them to shoot east and west and spare no man. The sheriff and his men, all that are not laid low, fly, and the three brothers, who have already shown their quality, are added to Robin’s company.

A Scottish version of #B#, derived from the English, is given in an appendix. It occurs in Kinloch MSS, V, 288, and may be as old as the York garland used by Ritson, or older.

Ritson was informed by his friend Edward Williams, the Welsh bard, that #C# and its tune were well known in South Wales by the name of Marchog Glas, or Green Knight. As to the tune, says Dr Rimbault, it is not to be found in the collections of Welsh airs, nor was _his_ friend John Parry, then representing the Welsh bards, able to give any account of it. Nothing further is said by Rimbault, either way, of the ballad.

#B# 6, in which Robin reminds the old woman that she had once given him to sup and dine, implicitly as a reason for his exerting himself in behalf of the three squires (who, according to the title of the ballad, but not the text, are her three sons), looks like a reminiscence of st. 9 of R. H. and the Bishop, No 143, where an old woman shows her gratitude to Robin Hood for having given her shoes and hose, and may not originally have belonged here.[C]

#B# 1, #A# 9^{1,2}, 11^{3,4}, #B# 25, 28^{1,2} are almost repetitions of Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar, #A# 1, #A# 4^{3,4}, 12^{3,4}, #B# 26, 28^{1,2}.[116]

The rescue in the ballad is introduced into Anthony Munday’s play of The Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntington, Act II, Scene 2. Scarlet and Scathlock, sons of Widow Scarlet, are to be hanged. Friar Tuck attends them as confessor. Robin Hood, disguised as an old man, pretends that they have killed his son, and asks the sheriff that they may be delivered to him for revenge. The sheriff allows them to be unbound. Robin, for a feigned reason, blows his horn; Little John and Much come in and begin a fight; Friar Tuck, pretending to help the sheriff, knocks down his men; the sheriff and his men run away. (Dodsley’s Old Plays, ed. Hazlitt, VIII, 134–41.)

Ritson, Robin Hood, 1832, II, 155, suggests that the circumstance of Robin’s changing clothes with the palmer may possibly be taken from “the noble history of Ponthus of Galyce,” printed by Wynkyn de Worde, 1511, and cites this passage, which resembles the narrative in #B# 8, 10, 11: “And as he [Ponthus] rode, he met with a poore palmer, beggynge his brede, the whiche had his gowne all to-clouted and an olde pylled hatte: so he alyght, and sayd to the palmer, frende, we shall make a chaunge of all our garmentes, for ye shall have my gowne and I shall have yours and your hatte. A, syr, sayd the palmer, ye bourde you with me. In good fayth, sayd Ponthus, I do not; so he dyspoyled hym and cladde hym with all his rayment, and he put vpon hym the poore mannes gowne, his gyrdell, his hosyn, his shone, his hatte and his bourden.”

This noble history is taken from one in French which is merely the romance of Horn turned into prose, and it is also possible that the passage in the English ballad may be derived from some version of Hind Horn: see No 17.

Wallace changes clothes with a beggar in ‘Gude Wallace,’ No 157, #F#, #G#, where there is a general likeness to this ballad of Robin Hood. It may be noted that Wulric the Heron, one of the comrades of Hereward, rescues four brothers who were about to be hanged, killing some of their common enemies: Michel, Chroniques Anglo-Normandes, II, 51.

#B# is translated by Anastasius Grün, p. 135, Doenniges, p. 135, Knortz L. u. R. Altenglands, No 19; combined with #C#, by Talvj, Charakteristik, p. 489.

A

* * * * *

1
‘. . . . . . .
In faith thou shal[t] haue mine,
And twenty pound in thy purse,
To spend att ale and wine.’

2
‘Though yo_u_r clothes are of light Lincolne green,
And mine gray russett and torne,
Yet it doth not you beseeme
To doe an old man scorne.’

3
‘I scorne thee not, old man,’ says Robin,
‘By the faith of my body;
Doe of thy clothes, thou shalt haue mine,
For it may noe better bee.’

4
But Robin did on this old mans hose,
The were torne in the wrist;
‘When I looke on my leggs,’ said Robin,
‘Then for to laugh I list.’

5
But Robin did on the old mans shooes,
And the were cliitt full cleane;
‘Now, by my faith,’ sayes Litle Iohn,
‘These are good for thornës keene.’

6
But Robin did on the old mans cloake,
And it was torne in the necke;
‘Now, by my faith,’ said William Scarlett,
‘Heere shold be set a specke.’

7
But Robin did on this old mans hood,
Itt gogled on his crowne;
‘When I come into Nottingham,’ said Robin,
‘My hood it will lightly downe.

8
‘But yonder is an outwood,’ said Robin,
‘An outwood all and a shade,
And thither I reede you, my merrymen all,
The ready way to take.

9
‘And when you heare my litle horne blow,
Come raking all on a rowte
. . . . . . .
. . . . . . .

* * * * *

10
But Robin he lope, and Robin he threw,
He lope over stocke and stone;
But those that saw Ro_bin_ Hood run
Said he was a liuer old man.

11
[Then Robin set his] horne to his mowth,
A loud blast cold h[e] blow;
Ffull three hundred bold yeomen
Came rakinge all on a row.

12
But Robin cast downe his baggs of bread,
Soe did he his staffe with a face,
And in a doublet of red veluett
This yeoman stood in his place.

13
‘But bend yo_u_r bowes, and stroke yo_u_r strings,
Set the gallow-tree aboute,
And Christs cursse on his heart,’ said Robin,
‘That spares the sheriffe and the sergiant!’

14
When the sheriffe see gentle Robin wold shoote,
He held vp both his hands;
Sayes, Aske, good Robin, and thou shalt haue,
Whether it be house or land.

15
‘I will neither haue house nor land,’ said Ro_bin_,
‘Nor gold, nor none of thy ffee,
But I will haue those three squires
To the greene fforest w_i_th me.

16
‘Now marry, Gods forbott,’ said the sheriffe,
‘That euer _tha_t shold bee;
For why, they be the kings ffelons,
They are all condemned to dye.’

17
‘But grant me my askinge,’ said Robin,
‘Or by the faith of my body
Thou shalt be the first man
Shall flower this gallow-tree.’

18
‘But I wi[ll haue t]hose three squires
. . . . . . .

B

#a.# The English Archer, Robin Hood’s Garland, York, N. Nickson, n.
d., p. 65. #b.# The English Archer, etc., Paisley, John Neilson,
1786. #c.# Adventures of Robin Hood, Falkirk, T. Johnston, 1808.

1
There are twelve months in all the year,
As I hear many men say,
But the merriest month in all the year
Is the merry month of May.

2
Now Robin Hood is to Nottingham gone,
With a link a down and a day,
And there he met a silly old woman,
Was weeping on the way.

3
‘What news? what news, thou silly old woman?
What news hast thou for me?’
Said she, There’s three squires in Nottingham town
To-day is condemned to die.

4
‘O have they parishes burnt?’ he said,
‘Or have they ministers slain?
Or have they robbed any virgin,
Or with other men’s wives have lain?’

5
‘They have no parishes burnt, good sir,
Nor yet have ministers slain,
Nor have they robbed any virgin,
Nor with other men’s wives have lain.’

6
‘O what have they done?’ said bold Robin Hood,
‘I pray thee tell to me:’
‘It’s for slaying of the king’s fallow deer,
Bearing their long bows with thee.’

7
‘Dost thou not mind, old woman,’ he said,
‘Since thou made me sup and dine?
By the truth of my body,’ quoth bold Robin Hood,
‘You could not tell it in better time.’

8
Now Robin Hood is to Nottingham gone,
With a link a down and a day,
And there he met with a silly old palmer,
Was walking along the highway.

9
‘What news? what news, thou silly old man?
What news, I do thee pray?’
Said he, Three squires in Nottingham town
Are condemnd to die this day.

10
‘Come change thy apparel with me, old man,
Come change thy apparel for mine;
Here is forty shillings in good silver,
Go drink it in beer or wine.’

11
‘O thine apparel is good,’ he said,
‘And mine is ragged and torn;
Whereever you go, wherever you ride,
Laugh neer an old man to scorn.’

12
‘Come change thy apparel with me, old churl,
Come change thy apparel with mine;
Here are twenty pieces of good broad gold,
Go feast thy brethren with wine.’

13
Then he put on the old man’s hat,
It stood full high on the crown:
‘The first bold bargain that I come at,
It shall make thee come down.’

14
Then he put on the old man’s cloak,
Was patchd black, blew, and red;
He thought no shame all the day long
To wear the bags of bread.

15
Then he put on the old man’s breeks,
Was patchd from ballup to side;
‘By the truth of my body,’ bold Robin can say,
‘This man lovd little pride.’

16
Then he put on the old man’s hose,
Were patchd from knee to wrist;
‘By the truth of my body,’ said bold Robin Hood,
‘I’d laugh if I had any list.’

17
Then he put on the old man’s shoes,
Were patchd both beneath and aboon;
Then Robin Hood swore a solemn oath,
It’s good habit that makes a man.

18
Now Robin Hood is to Nottingham gone,
With a link a down and a down,
And there he met with the proud sheriff,
Was walking along the town.

19
‘O save, O save, O sheriff,’ he said,
‘O save, and you may see!
And what will you give to a silly old man
To-day will your hangman be?’

20
‘Some suits, some suits,’ the sheriff he said,
‘Some suits I’ll give to thee;
Some suits, some suits, and pence thirteen
To-day’s a hangman’s fee.’

21
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.’

22
‘I was neer a hangman in all my life,
Nor yet intends to trade;
But curst be he,’ said bold Robin,
‘That first a hangman was made.

23
‘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.

24
‘I have a horn in my pocket,
I got it from Robin Hood,
And still when I set it to my mouth,
For thee it blows little good.’

25
‘O wind thy horn, thou proud fellow,
Of thee I have no doubt;
I wish that thou give such a blast
Till both thy eyes fall out.’

26
The first loud blast that he did blow,
He blew both loud and shrill;
A hundred and fifty of Robin Hood’s men
Came riding over the hill.

27
The next loud blast that he did give,
He blew both loud and amain,
And quickly sixty of Robin Hood’s men
Came shining over the plain.

28
‘O who are yon,’ the sheriff he said,
‘Come tripping over the lee?’
‘The’re my attendants,’ brave Robin did say,
‘They’ll pay a visit to thee.’

29
They took the gallows from the slack,
They set it in the glen,
They hangd the proud sheriff on that,
Releasd their own three men.

C

Robin Hood’s Garland. #a.# London, printed by W. & C. Dicey, in St.
Mary Aldermary Church Yard, Bow Lane, Cheapside, and sold at the
Warehouse at Northampton, n. d.: p. 74, No 24. #b.# London, printed
by L. How, in Peticoat Lane, n. d.: p. 23. #c.# York, T. Wilson and
R. Spence, n. d.: p. 27. #d.# Preston, W. Sergent, n. d.: p. 62.
#e.# London, printed and sold by J. Marshall & Co., Aldermary Church
Yard, Bow Lane, n. d.: No 24. #f.# Wolverhampton, printed and sold
by J. Smart, n. d.

1
Bold Robin Hood ranging the forest all round,
The forest all round ranged he;
O there did he meet with a gay lady,
She came weeping along the highway.

2
‘Why weep you, why weep you?’ bold Robin he said,
‘What, weep you for gold or fee?
Or do you weep for your maidenhead,
That is taken from your body?’

3
‘I weep not for gold,’ the lady replyed,
‘Neither do I weep for fee;
Nor do I weep for my maidenhead,
That is taken from my body.’

4
‘What weep you for then?’ said jolly Robin,
‘I prithee come tell unto me;’
‘Oh! I do weep for my three sons,
For they are all condemned to die.’

5
‘What church have they robbed?’ said jolly Robin,
‘Or parish-priest have they slain?
What maids have they forced against their will?
Or with other men’s wives have lain?’

6
‘No church have they robbd,’ this lady replied,
‘Nor parish-priest have they slain;
No maids have they forc’d against their will,
Nor with other men’s wives have lain.’

7
‘What have they done then?’ said jolly Robin,
‘Come tell me most speedily:’
‘Oh! it is for killing the king’s fallow deer,
And they are all condemned to die.’

8
‘Get you home, get you home,’ said jolly Robin,
‘Get you home most speedily,
And I will unto fair Nottingham go,
For the sake of the squires all three.’

9
Then bold Robin Hood for Nottingham goes,
For Nottingham town goes he,
O there did he meet with a poor beggar-man,
He came creeping along the highway.

10
‘What news, what news, thou old beggar-man?
What news, come tell unto me:’
‘O there is weeping and wailing in fair Nottingham,
For the death of the squires all three.’

11
This beggar-man had a coat on his back,
’Twas neither green, yellow, nor red;
Bold Robin Hood thought ’twas no disgrace
To be in a beggar-man’s stead.

12
‘Come, pull off thy coat, you old beggar-man,
And you shall put on mine;
And forty good shillings I’ll give thee to boot,
Besides brandy, good beer, ale and wine.’

13
Bold Robin Hood then unto Nottingham came,
Unto Nottingham town came he;
O there did he meet with great master sheriff,
And likewise the squires all three.

14
‘One boon, one boon,’ says jolly Robin,
‘One boon I beg on my knee;
That, as for the deaths of these three squires,
Their hangman I may be.’

15
‘Soon granted, soon granted,’ says great master sheriff,
‘Soon granted unto thee;
And you shall have all their gay cloathing,
Aye, and all their white money.’

16
‘O I will have none of their gay cloathing,
Nor none of their white money,
But I’ll have three blasts on my bugle-horn,
That their souls to heaven may flee.’

17
Then Robin Hood mounted the gallows so high,
Where he blew loud and shrill,
Till an hundred and ten of Robin Hood’s men
They came marching all down the green hill.

18
‘Whose men are they all these?’ says great master sheriff,
‘Whose men are they? tell unto me:’
‘O they are mine, but none of thine,
And they’re come for the squires all three.’

19
‘O take them, O take them,’ says great master sheriff,
‘O take them along with thee;
For there’s never a man in all Nottingham
Can do the like of thee.’

* * * * *

#A.#

1^3. 20[l :].

5^2. _Only one of the_ i’s _is dotted in_ cliit: _Furnivall_.

6^3. said w^m.

9^2. _half a page wanting._

10 _follows_ 12.

11^3. 300[d :].

15^3, 18^1. 3.

17^2. or be me.

18^1. _half a page wanting._

#B. a.#

3^3. Knews.

4^1, 6^1, 11^1, 19^{1,2}, 25^1, 28^1. Oh.

8^2. and a down a.

12^1. chur.

15^1. Teen.

16^2. Where.

17^4. Itts.

24^4. For me.

28^1. are you.

#b.#

Robin Hood rescu’d the Widow’s three Sons from the Sheriff when
going to be hanged.

#c.#

How Robin Hood rescued, etc., ... to be hanged.

#b#, #c#.

2^1. Hood _wanting_.

2^2. a down down.

2^3. met with.

2^4. along the highway.

3^2. to me.

3^4. To-day are.

5^2. Nor have they.

6^3. ’Tis for.

7^3. quoth _wanting_.

8^1. Robin he is.

8^2. a down down and a day.

8^3. old _wanting_.

9^1. silly palmer.

10^2. with _for_ for.

10^3. of _for_ in.

10^4. beer and good wine.

12^1. churl.

14^3. not _for_ no.

14^4. the poor bags.

15^1. Then.

15^2. Were _for_ Was.

15^3. did say.

16^2, 17^2. Were _wanting_.

17^2. both _wanting_.

17^4. ’Tis.

18^1. Robin is unto.

18^2. a down down and a day.

18^4. the highway.

19^2. you may you [may you?].

19^4. That to-day.

20^4. day is.

21^2. stone to stone.

22^1. never: in _wanting_.

23^2. And _wanting_.

24^1. a small horn now in.

24^2. it _wanting_.

24^4. For thee.

25^4. fly out.

26^3. An: Robin’s men.

27^3. Robin’s men.

28^1. are you.

28^2. Comes.

28^3. bold Robin.

29^4. And released.

#b.#

18^3. with _wanting_.

20^2. unto thee.

20^3. pence fourteen.

#c.#

6^2. unto me.

7^2. mad’st.

15^1. poor _for_ old.

20^1. suits and pence fourteen.

20^{2,3}. _wanting._

21^1. turnd.

21^2. jumpd.

22^2. the trade.

24^3. I put.

25^3. gave.

29^2. let _for_ set.

#C.# #a.#

_The Garland is not earlier, and probably not much later, than
1753_, “The Arguments ... in the ... affair of Eliz. Canning ...
robbed ... in Jan^y, 1753,” _occurring in advertisements printed
therewith_.

16^1. of ther.

#b.#

5^4. have they.

6^4. have they.

11^4. in the.

12^4. beside.

16^3. buglee.

17^2. blew both.

18^3. are all.

19^4. That can.

#c.#

1^1. ranged.

3^1. this lady.

4^4. all _wanting_.

5^4. have they.

6^3. they have.

6^4. have they.

7^3. it’s all.

7^4. they’re.

8^3. will then to.

9^1. bold _wanting_: to _for_ for.

11^2. It was.

11^2. or red.

11^3. it was.

11^4. in the.

12^1. thou old.

12^3. give you.

13^1. then to.

13^3. And there.

13^4. Aye and.

14^2. upon my.

14^3. the three.

15^1. great _wanting_.

15^2. Soon grant it I will unto thee.

15^4. Aye _wanting_.

16^1. I’ll.

16^3. of my.

17^2. blew both.

17^4. They _wanting_.

18^3. are all.

19^4. That can.

#d.#

1^3. he did.

3^2. I _wanting_.

6^2. No.

7^2. Come tell unto me speedily.

8^3. will for.

10^3. there’s: fair _wanting_.

11^4. in the.

12^1. thou old.

12^2. thou shalt.

15^1. great _wanting_.

17^1. When.

17^3. Hood’s _wanting_.

17^4. They _wanting_: all _wanting_.

18^1. all _wanting_: great _wanting_.

18^4. And are.

19^3. in fair.

#e.#

5^4. have they.

6^4. have they.

10^3. there’s: fair _wanting_.

11^4. in the.

12^1. thou old.

12^2. thou shalt.

14^3. death.

15^1. great _wanting_.

17^1. When.

17^4. They _wanting_: all _wanting_.

18^1. are they: great _wanting_.

18^2. come tell.

18^4. And are.

19^3. in fair.

#f.#

5^4. have they.

6^4. have they.

7^4. they’re.

10^3. there’s: fair _wanting_.

11^4. in the.

12^1. thou old.

12^2. thou shalt.

14^3. death.

15^1. great _wanting_.

17^1. When.

17^4. They _wanting_: all _wanting_.

18^1. are they: great _wanting_.

18^2. come tell.

18^4. And are come.

19^3. in fair.