BIRTH

2

AND GALLANT ATCHIEVEMENTS OF THAT

REMARKABLE OUTLAW

ROBIN HOOD.

TOGETHER WITH A TRUE ACCOUNT OF THE MANY MERRY AND EXTRAVAGANT EXPLOITS HE PLAY'D IN

TWELVE SEVERAL STORIES:

TO WHICH IS ADDED,

THE LIFE OF ROBIN HOOD,
From a Manuscript in the British Museum.

LONDON:

WILLIAM PICKERING, CHANCERY LANE.

MDCCCXXVII.

!

ROBIN HOOD.

THE name of Robin Hood has long been so closely interwoven with the history of English romance, that a collection of our ancient fictions, which should not include some popular account of this renowned outlaw, and of the valorous exploits which were performed by him and his no less celebrated companions, would possess little claim to be considered either judicious or complete; it will not therefore be matter of surprize, that this version of our hero's adventures, which is stated in the title to be "newly collected into one volume by an Ingenious Antiquary," but the several stories of which, though popular in their day, are nothing more than transpositions into prose of so many ballads from the common Garland, should be included in the present series, as from its being the only prose History of Robin Hood, the editor' was afforded no opportunity of selection, and the subject-matter of it demanding a place so imperiously as to outweigh any consideration of the imperfect form under which it presented itself.

b

As some compensation, however, for the inferiority of the present tale to the merits of its hero, the editor has printed, for the first time, (vide Appendix) the curious history of him preserved among the manuscripts in the Sloane Library, at the British Museum. This life written, as Ritson supposes, towards the latter end of the sixteenth century, labours in some measure under the same objection with the tale to which it is annexed, the greater part of it, being merely a reduction into prose of that very antient legend, “A Lptle Geste of Robyn Bode," but as that industrious antiquary, whose labours on the subject of " Robin Hood, his outlaws, and his trade," have left little to be done by his followers, deemed it worthy of frequent quotation in his very curious illustrations of our hero's life, the present editor is of opinion that, in its original and perfect state, it cannot fail of being highly acceptable to all those, to whom the recollections and associations of childhood have endeared the name and memory of Robin Hood. It now remains to point out the particular sources from which the several incidents of the following narrative have been derived, and then to instance the earliest and most important historical allusions to the existence of our hero and his companions, which are to be found

scattered through the various pages of historians, poets, and playwrights.

Robin Hood's Delight is derived from the ballad of that name, which may be seen in Ritson's Collection, Vol. II. p. 116, who has printed it from an old black letter .copy, in the collection of Anthony Wood; the full title of which is

ROBIN HOOD'S DELIGHT,

Or, a merry combat fought between Robin Hood, Little John, and Will Scarelock and three stout Keepers in Sherwood Forrest:

Robin was valiant and stout,

So was Scarelock and John in the field,
But these Keepers stout did give them rout,
And made them all for to yield;

But after the battle ended was,
Bold Robin did make them amends,

For claret and sack they did not lack,
So drank themselves good friends.

To the tune of Robin Hood and Queen Katherine: or, Robin Hood and the Shepheard.

Robin Hood's Progress to Nottingham is likewise derived from a ballad with that title, to which are added the following doggerel lines: