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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/966-0.txt b/966-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7104d34 --- /dev/null +++ b/966-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4541 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Maid Marian, by Thomas Love Peacock + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Maid Marian + +Author: Thomas Love Peacock + +Posting Date: July 27, 2008 [EBook #966] +Release Date: June 1997 +Last Updated: November 18, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MAID MARIAN *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Keller + + + + + +MAID MARIAN + + +by Thomas Love Peacock + + + + +MAID MARIAN + + + + +CHAPTER I + + + Now come ye for peace here, or come ye for war? + --SCOTT. + + +“The abbot, in his alb arrayed,” stood at the altar in the abbey-chapel +of Rubygill, with all his plump, sleek, rosy friars, in goodly lines +disposed, to solemnise the nuptials of the beautiful Matilda Fitzwater, +daughter of the Baron of Arlingford, with the noble Robert Fitz-Ooth, +Earl of Locksley and Huntingdon. The abbey of Rubygill stood in a +picturesque valley, at a little distance from the western boundary of +Sherwood Forest, in a spot which seemed adapted by nature to be +the retreat of monastic mortification, being on the banks of a fine +trout-stream, and in the midst of woodland coverts, abounding with +excellent game. The bride, with her father and attendant maidens, +entered the chapel; but the earl had not arrived. The baron was amazed, +and the bridemaidens were disconcerted. Matilda feared that some evil +had befallen her lover, but felt no diminution of her confidence in his +honour and love. Through the open gates of the chapel she looked down +the narrow road that wound along the side of the hill; and her ear was +the first that heard the distant trampling of horses, and her eye was +the first that caught the glitter of snowy plumes, and the light of +polished spears. “It is strange,” thought the baron, “that the earl +should come in this martial array to his wedding;” but he had not long +to meditate on the phenomenon, for the foaming steeds swept up to the +gate like a whirlwind, and the earl, breathless with speed, and followed +by a few of his yeomen, advanced to his smiling bride. It was then +no time to ask questions, for the organ was in full peal, and the +choristers were in full voice. + +The abbot began to intone the ceremony in a style of modulation +impressively exalted, his voice issuing most canonically from the roof +of his mouth, through the medium of a very musical nose newly tuned for +the occasion. But he had not proceeded far enough to exhibit all the +variety and compass of this melodious instrument, when a noise was heard +at the gate, and a party of armed men entered the chapel. The song of +the choristers died away in a shake of demisemiquavers, contrary to all +the rules of psalmody. The organ-blower, who was working his musical +air-pump with one hand, and with two fingers and a thumb of the other +insinuating a peeping-place through the curtain of the organ-gallery, +was struck motionless by the double operation of curiosity and fear; +while the organist, intent only on his performance, and spreading all +his fingers to strike a swell of magnificent chords, felt his harmonic +spirit ready to desert his body on being answered by the ghastly rattle +of empty keys, and in the consequent agitato furioso of the internal +movements of his feelings, was preparing to restore harmony by the segue +subito of an appoggiatura con foco with the corner of a book of anthems +on the head of his neglectful assistant, when his hand and his attention +together were arrested by the scene below. The voice of the abbot +subsided into silence through a descending scale of long-drawn melody, +like the sound of the ebbing sea to the explorers of a cave. In a few +moments all was silence, interrupted only by the iron tread of the armed +intruders, as it rang on the marble floor and echoed from the vaulted +aisles. + +The leader strode up to the altar; and placing himself opposite to the +abbot, and between the earl and Matilda, in such a manner that the four +together seemed to stand on the four points of a diamond, exclaimed, “In +the name of King Henry, I forbid the ceremony, and attach Robert Earl of +Huntingdon as a traitor!” and at the same time he held his drawn sword +between the lovers, as if to emblem that royal authority which laid its +temporal ban upon their contract. The earl drew his own sword instantly, +and struck down the interposing weapon; then clasped his left arm round +Matilda, who sprang into his embrace, and held his sword before her with +his right hand. His yeomen ranged themselves at his side, and stood with +their swords drawn, still and prepared, like men determined to die in +his defence. The soldiers, confident in superiority of numbers, +paused. The abbot took advantage of the pause to introduce a word of +exhortation. “My children,” said he, “if you are going to cut each +other’s throats, I entreat you, in the name of peace and charity, to do +it out of the chapel.” + +“Sweet Matilda,” said the earl, “did you give your love to the Earl +of Huntingdon, whose lands touch the Ouse and the Trent, or to Robert +Fitz-Ooth, the son of his mother?” + +“Neither to the earl nor his earldom,” answered Matilda firmly, “but to +Robert Fitz-Ooth and his love.” + +“That I well knew,” said the earl; “and though the ceremony be +incomplete, we are not the less married in the eye of my only saint, our +Lady, who will yet bring us together. Lord Fitzwater, to your care, for +the present, I commit your daughter.--Nay, sweet Matilda, part we must +for a while; but we will soon meet under brighter skies, and be this the +seal of our faith.” + +He kissed Matilda’s lips, and consigned her to the baron, who glowered +about him with an expression of countenance that showed he was mortally +wroth with somebody; but whatever he thought or felt he kept to himself. +The earl, with a sign to his followers, made a sudden charge on the +soldiers, with the intention of cutting his way through. The soldiers +were prepared for such an occurrence, and a desperate skirmish +succeeded. Some of the women screamed, but none of them fainted; for +fainting was not so much the fashion in those days, when the ladies +breakfasted on brawn and ale at sunrise, as in our more refined age of +green tea and muffins at noon. Matilda seemed disposed to fly again to +her lover, but the baron forced her from the chapel. The earl’s bowmen +at the door sent in among the assailants a volley of arrows, one of +which whizzed past the ear of the abbot, who, in mortal fear of being +suddenly translated from a ghostly friar into a friarly ghost, began +to roll out of the chapel as fast as his bulk and his holy robes would +permit, roaring “Sacrilege!” with all his monks at his heels, who were, +like himself, more intent to go at once than to stand upon the order of +their going. The abbot, thus pressed from behind, and stumbling over +his own drapery before, fell suddenly prostrate in the door-way that +connected the chapel with the abbey, and was instantaneously buried +under a pyramid of ghostly carcasses, that fell over him and each other, +and lay a rolling chaos of animated rotundities, sprawling and bawling +in unseemly disarray, and sending forth the names of all the saints +in and out of heaven, amidst the clashing of swords, the ringing of +bucklers, the clattering of helmets, the twanging of bow-strings, the +whizzing of arrows, the screams of women, the shouts of the warriors, +and the vociferations of the peasantry, who had been assembled to the +intended nuptials, and who, seeing a fair set-to, contrived to pick a +quarrel among themselves on the occasion, and proceeded, with staff and +cudgel, to crack each other’s skulls for the good of the king and the +earl. One tall friar alone was untouched by the panic of his brethren, +and stood steadfastly watching the combat with his arms a-kembo, the +colossal emblem of an unarmed neutrality. + +At length, through the midst of the internal confusion, the earl, by the +help of his good sword, the staunch valour of his men, and the blessing +of the Virgin, fought his way to the chapel-gate--his bowmen closed him +in--he vaulted into his saddle, clapped spurs to his horse, rallied his +men on the first eminence, and exchanged his sword for a bow and arrow, +with which he did old execution among the pursuers, who at last thought +it most expedient to desist from offensive warfare, and to retreat into +the abbey, where, in the king’s name, they broached a pipe of the best +wine, and attached all the venison in the larder, having first carefully +unpacked the tuft of friars, and set the fallen abbot on his legs. + +The friars, it may be well supposed, and such of the king’s men as +escaped unhurt from the affray, found their spirits a cup too low, +and kept the flask moving from noon till night. The peaceful brethren, +unused to the tumult of war, had undergone, from fear and discomposure, +an exhaustion of animal spirits that required extraordinary refection. +During the repast, they interrogated Sir Ralph Montfaucon, the leader of +the soldiers, respecting the nature of the earl’s offence. + +“A complication of offences,” replied Sir Ralph, “superinduced on the +original basis of forest-treason. He began with hunting the king’s deer, +in despite of all remonstrance; followed it up by contempt of the king’s +mandates, and by armed resistance to his power, in defiance of all +authority; and combined with it the resolute withholding of payment of +certain moneys to the abbot of Doncaster, in denial of all law; and has +thus made himself the declared enemy of church and state, and all for +being too fond of venison.” And the knight helped himself to half a +pasty. + +“A heinous offender,” said a little round oily friar, appropriating the +portion of pasty which Sir Ralph had left. + +“The earl is a worthy peer,” said the tall friar whom we have already +mentioned in the chapel scene, “and the best marksman in England.” + +“Why this is flat treason, brother Michael,” said the little round +friar, “to call an attainted traitor a worthy peer.” + +“I pledge you,” said brother Michael. The little friar smiled and filled +his cup. “He will draw the long bow,” pursued brother Michael, “with any +bold yeoman among them all.” + +“Don’t talk of the long bow,” said the abbot, who had the sound of the +arrow still whizzing in his ear: “what have we pillars of the faith to +do with the long bow?” + +“Be that as it may,” said Sir Ralph, “he is an outlaw from this moment.” + +“So much the worse for the law then,” said brother Michael. “The law +will have a heavier miss of him than he will have of the law. He will +strike as much venison as ever, and more of other game. I know what I +say: but basta: Let us drink.” + +“What other game?” said the little friar. “I hope he won’t poach among +our partridges.” + +“Poach! not he,” said brother Michael: “if he wants your partridges, +he will strike them under your nose (here’s to you), and drag your +trout-stream for you on a Thursday evening.” + +“Monstrous! and starve us on fast-day,” said the little friar. + +“But that is not the game I mean,” said brother Michael. + +“Surely, son Michael,” said the abbot, “you do not mean to insinuate +that the noble earl will turn freebooter?” + +“A man must live,” said brother Michael, “earl or no. If the law takes +his rents and beeves without his consent, he must take beeves and rents +where he can get them without the consent of the law. This is the lex +talionis.” + +“Truly,” said Sir Ralph, “I am sorry for the damsel: she seems fond of +this wild runagate.” + +“A mad girl, a mad girl,” said the little friar. + +“How a mad girl?” said brother Michael. “Has she not beauty, grace, wit, +sense, discretion, dexterity, learning, and valour?” + +“Learning!” exclaimed the little friar; “what has a woman to do with +learning? And valour! who ever heard a woman commended for valour? +Meekness and mildness, and softness, and gentleness, and tenderness, and +humility, and obedience to her husband, and faith in her confessor, +and domesticity, or, as learned doctors call it, the faculty of +stayathomeitiveness, and embroidery, and music, and pickling, and +preserving, and the whole complex and multiplex detail of the noble +science of dinner, as well in preparation for the table, as in +arrangement over it, and in distribution around it to knights, and +squires, and ghostly friars,--these are female virtues: but valour--why +who ever heard----?” + +“She is the all in all,” said brother Michael, “gentle as a ring-dove, +yet high-soaring as a falcon: humble below her deserving, yet deserving +beyond the estimate of panegyric: an exact economist in all superfluity, +yet a most bountiful dispenser in all liberality: the chief regulator of +her household, the fairest pillar of her hall, and the sweetest blossom +of her bower: having, in all opposite proposings, sense to understand, +judgment to weigh, discretion to choose, firmness to undertake, +diligence to conduct, perseverance to accomplish, and resolution to +maintain. For obedience to her husband, that is not to be tried till +she has one: for faith in her confessor, she has as much as the law +prescribes: for embroidery an Arachne: for music a Siren: and for +pickling and preserving, did not one of her jars of sugared apricots +give you your last surfeit at Arlingford Castle?” + +“Call you that preserving?” said the little friar; “I call it +destroying. Call you it pickling? Truly it pickled me. My life was saved +by miracle.” + +“By canary,” said brother Michael. “Canary is the only life preserver, +the true aurum potabile, the universal panacea for all diseases, thirst, +and short life. Your life was saved by canary.” + +“Indeed, reverend father,” said Sir Ralph, “if the young lady be half +what you describe, she must be a paragon: but your commending her for +valour does somewhat amaze me.” + +“She can fence,” said the little friar, “and draw the long bow, and play +at singlestick and quarter-staff.” + +“Yet mark you,” said brother Michael, “not like a virago or a hoyden, +or one that would crack a serving-man’s head for spilling gravy on her +ruff, but with such womanly grace and temperate self-command as if +those manly exercises belonged to her only, and were become for her sake +feminine.” + +“You incite me,” said Sir Ralph, “to view her more nearly. That madcap +earl found me other employment than to remark her in the chapel.” + +“The earl is a worthy peer,” said brother Michael; “he is worth any +fourteen earls on this side Trent, and any seven on the other.” (The +reader will please to remember that Rubygill Abbey was north of Trent.) + +“His mettle will be tried,” said Sir Ralph. “There is many a courtier +will swear to King Henry to bring him in dead or alive.” + +“They must look to the brambles then,” said brother Michael. + + “The bramble, the bramble, the bonny forest bramble, + Doth make a jest + Of silken vest, + That will through greenwood scramble: + The bramble, the bramble, the bonny forest bramble.” + + +“Plague on your lungs, son Michael,” said the abbot; “this is your old +coil: always roaring in your cups.” + +“I know what I say,” said brother Michael; “there is often more sense in +an old song than in a new homily. + + The courtly pad doth amble, + When his gay lord would ramble: + But both may catch + An awkward scratch, + If they ride among the bramble: + The bramble, the bramble, the bonny forest bramble.” + + +“Tall friar,” said Sir Ralph, “either you shoot the shafts of your +merriment at random, or you know more of the earl’s designs than beseems +your frock.” + +“Let my frock,” said brother Michael, “answer for its own sins. It is +worn past covering mine. It is too weak for a shield, too transparent +for a screen, too thin for a shelter, too light for gravity, and too +threadbare for a jest. The wearer would be naught indeed who should +misbeseem such a wedding garment. + + But wherefore does the sheep wear wool? + That he in season sheared may be, + And the shepherd be warm though his flock be cool: + So I’ll have a new cloak about me.” + + + + +CHAPTER II + + + Vray moyne si oncques en feut depuis que le monde moynant + moyna de moynerie.--RABELAIS. + + +The Earl of Huntingdon, living in the vicinity of a royal forest, and +passionately attached to the chase from his infancy, had long made as +free with the king’s deer as Lord Percy proposed to do with those of +Lord Douglas in the memorable hunting of Cheviot. It is sufficiently +well known how severe were the forest-laws in those days, and with +what jealousy the kings of England maintained this branch of their +prerogative; but menaces and remonstrances were thrown away on the earl, +who declared that he would not thank Saint Peter for admission into +Paradise, if he were obliged to leave his bow and hounds at the gate. +King Henry (the Second) swore by Saint Botolph to make him rue his +sport, and, having caused him to be duly and formally accused, summoned +him to London to answer the charge. The earl, deeming himself safer +among his own vassals than among king Henry’s courtiers, took no notice +of the mandate. King Henry sent a force to bring him, vi et armis, to +court. The earl made a resolute resistance, and put the king’s force to +flight under a shower of arrows: an act which the courtiers declared to +be treason. At the same time, the abbot of Doncaster sued up the payment +of certain moneys, which the earl, whose revenue ran a losing race with +his hospitality, had borrowed at sundry times of the said abbot: for the +abbots and the bishops were the chief usurers of those days, and, as the +end sanctifies the means, were not in the least scrupulous of employing +what would have been extortion in the profane, to accomplish the pious +purpose of bringing a blessing on the land by rescuing it from the +frail hold of carnal and temporal into the firmer grasp of ghostly +and spiritual possessors. But the earl, confident in the number and +attachment of his retainers, stoutly refused either to repay the money, +which he could not, or to yield the forfeiture, which he would not: a +refusal which in those days was an act of outlawry in a gentleman, as +it is now of bankruptcy in a base mechanic; the gentleman having in our +wiser times a more liberal privilege of gentility, which enables him to +keep his land and laugh at his creditor. Thus the mutual resentments and +interests of the king and the abbot concurred to subject the earl to the +penalties of outlawry, by which the abbot would gain his due upon the +lands of Locksley, and the rest would be confiscate to the king. Still +the king did not think it advisable to assail the earl in his own +strong-hold, but caused a diligent watch to be kept over his motions, +till at length his rumoured marriage with the heiress of Arlingford +seemed to point out an easy method of laying violent hands on the +offender. Sir Ralph Montfaucon, a young man of good lineage and of an +aspiring temper, who readily seized the first opportunity that offered +of recommending himself to King Henry’s favour by manifesting his zeal +in his service, undertook the charge: and how he succeeded we have seen. + +Sir Ralph’s curiosity was strongly excited by the friar’s description +of the young lady of Arlingford; and he prepared in the morning to visit +the castle, under the very plausible pretext of giving the baron an +explanation of his intervention at the nuptials. Brother Michael and the +little fat friar proposed to be his guides. The proposal was courteously +accepted, and they set out together, leaving Sir Ralph’s followers at +the abbey. The knight was mounted on a spirited charger; brother Michael +on a large heavy-trotting horse; and the little fat friar on a plump +soft-paced galloway, so correspondent with himself in size, rotundity, +and sleekness, that if they had been amalgamated into a centaur, there +would have been nothing to alter in their proportions. + +“Do you know,” said the little friar, as they wound along the banks of +the stream, “the reason why lake-trout is better than river-trout, and +shyer withal?” + +“I was not aware of the fact,” said Sir Ralph. + +“A most heterodox remark,” said brother Michael: “know you not, that +in all nice matters you should take the implication for absolute, and, +without looking into the FACT WHETHER, seek only the reason why? But the +fact is so, on the word of a friar; which what layman will venture to +gainsay who prefers a down bed to a gridiron?” + +“The fact being so,” said the knight, “I am still at a loss for the +reason; nor would I undertake to opine in a matter of that magnitude: +since, in all that appertains to the good things either of this world +or the next, my reverend spiritual guides are kind enough to take the +trouble of thinking off my hands.” + +“Spoken,” said brother Michael, “with a sound Catholic conscience. My +little brother here is most profound in the matter of trout. He has +marked, learned, and inwardly digested the subject, twice a week at +least for five-and-thirty years. I yield to him in this. My strong +points are venison and canary.” + +“The good qualities of a trout,” said the little friar, “are firmness +and redness: the redness, indeed, being the visible sign of all other +virtues.” + +“Whence,” said brother Michael, “we choose our abbot by his nose: + + The rose on the nose doth all virtues disclose: + For the outward grace shows + That the inward overflows, + When it glows in the rose of a red, red nose.” + + +“Now,” said the little friar, “as is the firmness so is the redness, and +as is the redness so is the shyness.” + +“Marry why?” said brother Michael. “The solution is not +physical-natural, but physical-historical, or natural-superinductive. +And thereby hangs a tale, which may be either said or sung: + + The damsel stood to watch the fight + By the banks of Kingslea Mere, + And they brought to her feet her own true knight + Sore-wounded on a bier. + + She knelt by him his wounds to bind, + She washed them with many a tear: + And shouts rose fast upon the wind, + Which told that the foe was near. + + “Oh! let not,” he said, “while yet I live, + The cruel foe me take: + But with thy sweet lips a last kiss give, + And cast me in the lake.” + + Around his neck she wound her arms, + And she kissed his lips so pale: + And evermore the war’s alarms + Came louder up the vale. + + She drew him to the lake’s steep side, + Where the red heath fringed the shore; + She plunged with him beneath the tide, + And they were seen no more. + + Their true blood mingled in Kingslea Mere, + That to mingle on earth was fain: + And the trout that swims in that crystal clear + Is tinged with the crimson stain. + + +“Thus you see how good comes of evil, and how a holy friar may fare +better on fast-day for the violent death of two lovers two hundred +years ago. The inference is most consecutive, that wherever you catch +a red-fleshed trout, love lies bleeding under the water: an occult +quality, which can only act in the stationary waters of a lake, being +neutralised by the rapid transition of those of a stream.” + +“And why is the trout shyer for that?” asked Sir Ralph. + +“Do you not see?” said brother Michael. “The virtues of both lovers +diffuse themselves through the lake. The infusion of masculine valour +makes the fish active and sanguineous: the infusion of maiden modesty +makes him coy and hard to win: and you shall find through life, the fish +which is most easily hooked is not the best worth dishing. But yonder +are the towers of Arlingford.” + +The little friar stopped. He seemed suddenly struck with an awful +thought, which caused a momentary pallescence in his rosy complexion; +and after a brief hesitation, he turned his galloway, and told his +companions he should give them good day. + +“Why, what is in the wind now, brother Peter?” said Friar Michael. + +“The lady Matilda,” said the little friar, “can draw the long-bow. She +must bear no goodwill to Sir Ralph; and if she should espy him from her +tower, she may testify her recognition with a cloth-yard shaft. She is +not so infallible a markswoman, but that she might shoot at a crow and +kill a pigeon. She might peradventure miss the knight, and hit me, who +never did her any harm.” + +“Tut, tut, man,” said brother Michael, “there is no such fear.” + +“Mass,” said the little friar, “but there is such a fear, and very +strong too. You who have it not may keep your way, and I who have it +shall take mine. I am not just now in the vein for being picked off at a +long shot.” And saying these words, he spurred up his four-footed better +half, and galloped off as nimbly as if he had had an arrow singing +behind him. + +“Is this lady Matilda, then, so very terrible a damsel?” said Sir Ralph +to brother Michael. + +“By no means,” said the friar. “She has certainly a high spirit; but it +is the wing of the eagle, without his beak or his claw. She is as gentle +as magnanimous; but it is the gentleness of the summer wind, which, +however lightly it wave the tuft of the pine, carries with it the +intimation of a power, that, if roused to its extremity, could make it +bend to the dust.” + +“From the warmth of your panegyric, ghostly father,” said the knight, “I +should almost suspect you were in love with the damsel.” + +“So I am,” said the friar, “and I care not who knows it; but all in the +way of honesty, master soldier. I am, as it were, her spiritual lover; +and were she a damsel errant, I would be her ghostly esquire, her friar +militant. I would buckle me in armour of proof, and the devil might +thresh me black with an iron flail, before I would knock under in +her cause. Though they be not yet one canonically, thanks to your +soldiership, the earl is her liege lord, and she is his liege lady. I +am her father confessor and ghostly director: I have taken on me to show +her the way to the next world; and how can I do that if I lose sight of +her in this? seeing that this is but the road to the other, and has so +many circumvolutions and ramifications of byeways and beaten paths (all +more thickly set than the true one with finger-posts and milestones, +not one of which tells truth), that a traveller has need of some one who +knows the way, or the odds go hard against him that he will ever see the +face of Saint Peter.” + +“But there must surely be some reason,” said Sir Ralph, “for father +Peter’s apprehension.” + +“None,” said brother Michael, “but the apprehension itself; fear being +its own father, and most prolific in self-propagation. The lady did, it +is true, once signalize her displeasure against our little brother, +for reprimanding her in that she would go hunting a-mornings instead +of attending matins. She cut short the thread of his eloquence by +sportively drawing her bow-string and loosing an arrow over his head; +he waddled off with singular speed, and was in much awe of her for many +months. I thought he had forgotten it: but let that pass. In truth, +she would have had little of her lover’s company, if she had liked the +chaunt of the choristers better than the cry of the hounds: yet I +know not; for they were companions from the cradle, and reciprocally +fashioned each other to the love of the fern and the foxglove. Had +either been less sylvan, the other might have been more saintly; but +they will now never hear matins but those of the lark, nor reverence +vaulted aisle but that of the greenwood canopy. They are twin plants of +the forest, and are identified with its growth. + + For the slender beech and the sapling oak, + That grow by the shadowy rill, + You may cut down both at a single stroke, + You may cut down which you will. + + But this you must know, that as long as they grow + Whatever change may be, + You never can teach either oak or beech + To be aught but a greenwood tree.” + + + + +CHAPTER III + + Inflamed wrath in glowing breast.--BUTLER. + + +The knight and the friar arriving at Arlingford Castle, and leaving +their horses in the care of lady Matilda’s groom, with whom the friar +was in great favour, were ushered into a stately apartment, where they +found the baron alone, flourishing an enormous carving-knife over a +brother baron--of beef--with as much vehemence of action as if he +were cutting down an enemy. The baron was a gentleman of a fierce and +choleric temperament: he was lineally descended from the redoubtable +Fierabras of Normandy, who came over to England with the Conqueror, and +who, in the battle of Hastings, killed with his own hand four-and-twenty +Saxon cavaliers all on a row. The very excess of the baron’s internal +rage on the preceding day had smothered its external manifestation: he +was so equally angry with both parties, that he knew not on which to +vent his wrath. He was enraged with the earl for having brought himself +into such a dilemma without his privily; and he was no less enraged with +the king’s men for their very unseasonable intrusion. He could willingly +have fallen upon both parties, but, he must necessarily have begun with +one; and he felt that on whichever side he should strike the first blow, +his retainers would immediately join battle. He had therefore contented +himself with forcing away his daughter from the scene of action. In +the course of the evening he had received intelligence that the earl’s +castle was in possession of a party of the king’s men, who had been +detached by Sir Ralph Montfaucon to seize on it during the earl’s +absence. The baron inferred from this that the earl’s case was +desperate; and those who have had the opportunity of seeing a rich +friend fall suddenly into poverty, may easily judge by their own +feelings how quickly and completely the whole moral being of the earl +was changed in the baron’s estimation. The baron immediately proceeded +to require in his daughter’s mind the same summary revolution that had +taken place in his own, and considered himself exceedingly ill-used by +her non-compliance. The lady had retired to her chamber, and the +baron had passed a supperless and sleepless night, stalking about his +apartments till an advanced hour of the morning, when hunger compelled +him to summon into his presence the spoils of the buttery, which, being +the intended array of an uneaten wedding feast, were more than usually +abundant, and on which, when the knight and the friar entered, he was +falling with desperate valour. He looked up at them fiercely, with his +mouth full of beef and his eyes full of flame, and rising, as ceremony +required, made an awful bow to the knight, inclining himself forward +over the table and presenting his carving-knife en militaire, in a +manner that seemed to leave it doubtful whether he meant to show respect +to his visitor, or to defend his provision: but the doubt was soon +cleared up by his politely motioning the knight to be seated; on which +the friar advanced to the table, saying, “For what we are going to +receive,” and commenced operations without further prelude by filling +and drinking a goblet of wine. The baron at the same time offered one +to Sir Ralph, with the look of a man in whom habitual hospitality and +courtesy were struggling with the ebullitions of natural anger. They +pledged each other in silence, and the baron, having completed a copious +draught, continued working his lips and his throat, as if trying to +swallow his wrath as he had done his wine. Sir Ralph, not knowing well +what to make of these ambiguous signs, looked for instructions to the +friar, who by significant looks and gestures seemed to advise him to +follow his example and partake of the good cheer before him, without +speaking till the baron should be more intelligible in his demeanour. +The knight and the friar, accordingly, proceeded to refect themselves +after their ride; the baron looking first at the one and then at the +other, scrutinising alternately the serious looks of the knight and +the merry face of the friar, till at length, having calmed himself +sufficiently to speak, he said, “Courteous knight and ghostly father, +I presume you have some other business with me than to eat my beef and +drink my canary; and if so, I patiently await your leisure to enter on +the topic.” + +“Lord Fitzwater,” said Sir Ralph, “in obedience to my royal master, King +Henry, I have been the unwilling instrument of frustrating the intended +nuptials of your fair daughter; yet will you, I trust, owe me no +displeasure for my agency herein, seeing that the noble maiden might +otherwise by this time have been the bride of an outlaw.” + +“I am very much obliged to you, sir,” said the baron; “very exceedingly +obliged. Your solicitude for my daughter is truly paternal, and for a +young man and a stranger very singular and exemplary: and it is very +kind withal to come to the relief of my insufficiency and inexperience, +and concern yourself so much in that which concerns you not.” + +“You misconceive the knight, noble baron,” said the friar. “He urges +not his reason in the shape of a preconceived intent, but in that of +a subsequent extenuation. True, he has done the lady Matilda great +wrong----” + +“How, great wrong?” said the baron. “What do you mean by great wrong? +Would you have had her married to a wild fly-by-night, that accident +made an earl and nature a deer-stealer? that has not wit enough to eat +venison without picking a quarrel with monarchy? that flings away his +own lands into the clutches of rascally friars, for the sake of hunting +in other men’s grounds, and feasting vagabonds that wear Lincoln +green, and would have flung away mine into the bargain if he had had my +daughter? What do you mean by great wrong?” + +“True,” said the friar, “great right, I meant.” + +“Right!” exclaimed the baron: “what right has any man to do my daughter +right but myself? What right has any man to drive my daughter’s +bridegroom out of the chapel in the middle of the marriage ceremony, and +turn all our merry faces into green wounds and bloody coxcombs, and then +come and tell me he has done us great right?” + +“True,” said the friar: “he has done neither right nor wrong.” + +“But he has,” said the baron, “he has done both, and I will maintain it +with my glove.” + +“It shall not need,” said Sir Ralph; “I will concede any thing in +honour.” + +“And I,” said the baron, “will concede nothing in honour: I will concede +nothing in honour to any man.” + +“Neither will I, Lord Fitzwater,” said Sir Ralph, “in that sense: +but hear me. I was commissioned by the king to apprehend the Earl of +Huntingdon. I brought with me a party of soldiers, picked and tried men, +knowing that he would not lightly yield. I sent my lieutenant with a +detachment to surprise the earl’s castle in his absence, and laid my +measures for intercepting him on the way to his intended nuptials; but +he seems to have had intimation of this part of my plan, for he brought +with him a large armed retinue, and took a circuitous route, which made +him, I believe, somewhat later than his appointed hour. When the lapse +of time showed me that he had taken another track, I pursued him to the +chapel; and I would have awaited the close of the ceremony, if I had +thought that either yourself or your daughter would have felt desirous +that she should have been the bride of an outlaw.” + +“Who said, sir,” cried the baron, “that we were desirous of any such +thing? But truly, sir, if I had a mind to the devil for a son-in-law, I +would fain see the man that should venture to interfere.” + +“That would I,” said the friar; “for I have undertaken to make her +renounce the devil.” + +“She shall not renounce the devil,” said the baron, “unless I please. +You are very ready with your undertakings. Will you undertake to make +her renounce the earl, who, I believe, is the devil incarnate? Will you +undertake that?” + +“Will I undertake,” said the friar, “to make Trent run westward, or to +make flame burn downward, or to make a tree grow with its head in the +earth and its root in the air?” + +“So then,” said the baron, “a girl’s mind is as hard to change as nature +and the elements, and it is easier to make her renounce the devil than a +lover. Are you a match for the devil, and no match for a man?” + +“My warfare,” said the friar, “is not of this world. I am militant not +against man, but the devil, who goes about seeking what he may devour.” + +“Oh! does he so?” said the baron: “then I take it that makes you look +for him so often in my buttery. Will you cast out the devil whose name +is Legion, when you cannot cast out the imp whose name is Love?” + +“Marriages,” said the friar, “are made in heaven. Love is God’s work, +and therewith I meddle not.” + +“God’s work, indeed!” said the baron, “when the ceremony was cut short +in the church. Could men have put them asunder, if God had joined them +together? And the earl is now no earl, but plain Robert Fitz-Ooth: +therefore, I’ll none of him.” + +“He may atone,” said the friar, “and the king may mollify. The earl is a +worthy peer, and the king is a courteous king.” + +“He cannot atone,” said Sir Ralph. “He has killed the king’s men; and if +the baron should aid and abet, he will lose his castle and land.” + +“Will I?” said the baron; “not while I have a drop of blood in my veins. +He that comes to take them shall first serve me as the friar serves my +flasks of canary: he shall drain me dry as hay. Am I not disparaged? Am +I not outraged? Is not my daughter vilified, and made a mockery? A girl +half-married? There was my butler brought home with a broken head. +My butler, friar: there is that may move your sympathy. Friar, the +earl-no-earl shall come no more to my daughter.” + +“Very good,” said the friar. + +“It is not very good,” said the baron, “for I cannot get her to say so.” + +“I fear,” said Sir Ralph, “the young lady must be much distressed and +discomposed.” + +“Not a whit, sir,” said the baron. “She is, as usual, in a most +provoking imperturbability, and contradicts me so smilingly that it +would enrage you to see her.” + +“I had hoped,” said Sir Ralph, “that I might have seen her, to make my +excuse in person for the hard necessity of my duty.” + +He had scarcely spoken, when the door opened, and the lady made her +appearance. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + + Are you mad, or what are you, that you squeak out your + catches without mitigation or remorse of voice? + --Twelfth Night. + + +Matilda, not dreaming of visitors, tripped into the apartment in a dress +of forest green, with a small quiver by her side, and a bow and arrow +in her hand. Her hair, black and glossy as the raven’s wing, curled +like wandering clusters of dark ripe grapes under the edge of her round +bonnet; and a plume of black feathers fell back negligently above it, +with an almost horizontal inclination, that seemed the habitual effect +of rapid motion against the wind. Her black eyes sparkled like sunbeams +on a river: a clear, deep, liquid radiance, the reflection of ethereal +fire,--tempered, not subdued, in the medium of its living and gentle +mirror. Her lips were half opened to speak as she entered the apartment; +and with a smile of recognition to the friar, and a courtesy to the +stranger knight, she approached the baron and said, “You are late at +your breakfast, father.” + +“I am not at breakfast,” said the baron. “I have been at supper: my last +night’s supper; for I had none.” + +“I am sorry,” said Matilda, “you should have gone to bed supperless.” + +“I did not go to bed supperless,” said the baron: “I did not go to bed +at all: and what are you doing with that green dress and that bow and +arrow?” + +“I am going a-hunting,” said Matilda. + +“A-hunting!” said the baron. “What, I warrant you, to meet with the +earl, and slip your neck into the same noose?” + +“No,” said Matilda: “I am not going out of our own woods to-day.” + +“How do I know that?” said the baron. “What surety have I of that?” + +“Here is the friar,” said Matilda. “He will be surety.” + +“Not he,” said the baron: “he will undertake nothing but where the devil +is a party concerned.” + +“Yes, I will,” said the friar: “I will undertake any thing for the lady +Matilda.” + +“No matter for that,” said the baron: “she shall not go hunting to day.” + +“Why, father,” said Matilda, “if you coop me up here in this odious +castle, I shall pine and die like a lonely swan on a pool. + +“No,” said the baron, “the lonely swan does not die on the pool. If +there be a river at hand, she flies to the river, and finds her a mate; +and so shall not you.” + +“But,” said Matilda, “you may send with me any, or as many, of your +grooms as you will.” + +“My grooms,” said the baron, “are all false knaves. There is not a +rascal among them but loves you better than me. Villains that I feed and +clothe.” + +“Surely,” said Matilda, “it is not villany to love me: if it be, I +should be sorry my father were an honest man.” The baron relaxed his +muscles into a smile. “Or my lover either,” added Matilda. The baron +looked grim again. + +“For your lover,” said the baron, “you may give God thanks of him. He is +as arrant a knave as ever poached.” + +“What, for hunting the king’s deer?” said Matilda. “Have I not heard you +rail at the forest laws by the hour?” + +“Did you ever hear me,” said the baron, “rail myself out of house and +land? If I had done that, then were I a knave.” + +“My lover,” said Matilda, “is a brave man, and a true man, and a +generous man, and a young man, and a handsome man; aye, and an honest +man too.” + +“How can he be an honest man,” said the baron, “when he has neither +house nor land, which are the better part of a man?” + +“They are but the husk of a man,” said Matilda, “the worthless coat of +the chesnut: the man himself is the kernel.” + +“The man is the grape stone,” said the baron, “and the pulp of the +melon. The house and land are the true substantial fruit, and all that +give him savour and value.” + +“He will never want house or land,” said Matilda, “while the meeting +boughs weave a green roof in the wood, and the free range of the hart +marks out the bounds of the forest.” + +“Vert and venison! vert and venison!” exclaimed the baron. “Treason +and flat rebellion. Confound your smiling face! what makes you look so +good-humoured? What! you think I can’t look at you, and be in a passion? +You think so, do you? We shall see. Have you no fear in talking thus, +when here is the king’s liegeman come to take us all into custody, and +confiscate our goods and chattels?” + +“Nay, Lord Fitzwater,” said Sir Ralph, “you wrong me in your report. My +visit is one of courtesy and excuse, not of menace and authority.” + +“There it is,” said the baron: “every one takes a pleasure in +contradicting me. Here is this courteous knight, who has not opened +his mouth three times since he has been in my house except to take in +provision, cuts me short in my story with a flat denial.” + +“Oh! I cry you mercy, sir knight,” said Matilda; “I did not mark you +before. I am your debtor for no slight favour, and so is my liege lord.” + +“Her liege lord!” exclaimed the baron, taking large strides across the +chamber. + +“Pardon me, gentle lady,” said Sir Ralph. “Had I known you before +yesterday, I would have cut off my right hand ere it should have been +raised to do you displeasure. + +“Oh sir,” said Matilda, “a good man may be forced on an ill office: but +I can distinguish the man from his duty.” She presented to him her +hand, which he kissed respectfully, and simultaneously with the contact +thirty-two invisible arrows plunged at once into his heart, one from +every point of the compass of his pericardia. + +“Well, father,” added Matilda, “I must go to the woods.” + +“Must you?” said the baron; “I say you must not.” + +“But I am going,” said Matilda + +“But I will have up the drawbridge,” said the baron. + +“But I will swim the moat,” said Matilda. + +“But I will secure the gates,” said the baron. + +“But I will leap from the battlement,” said Matilda. + +“But I will lock you in an upper chamber,” said the baron. + +“But I will shred the tapestry,” said Matilda, “and let myself down.” + +“But I will lock you in a turret,” said the baron, “where you shall only +see light through a loophole.” + +“But through that loophole,” said Matilda, “will I take my flight, like +a young eagle from its eerie; and, father, while I go out freely, I will +return willingly: but if once I slip out through a loop-hole----” She +paused a moment, and then added, singing,-- + + The love that follows fain + Will never its faith betray: + But the faith that is held in a chain + Will never be found again, + If a single link give way. + + +The melody acted irresistibly on the harmonious propensities of the +friar, who accordingly sang in his turn,-- + + For hark! hark! hark! + The dog doth bark, + That watches the wild deer’s lair. + The hunter awakes at the peep of the dawn, + But the lair it is empty, the deer it is gone, + And the hunter knows not where. + +Matilda and the friar then sang together,-- + + Then follow, oh follow! the hounds do cry: + The red sun flames in the eastern sky: + The stag bounds over the hollow. + He that lingers in spirit, or loiters in hall, + Shall see us no more till the evening fall, + And no voice but the echo shall answer his call: + Then follow, oh follow, follow: + Follow, oh follow, follow! + + +During the process of this harmony, the baron’s eyes wandered from his +daughter to the friar, and from the friar to his daughter again, with +an alternate expression of anger differently modified: when he looked +on the friar, it was anger without qualification; when he looked on +his daughter it was still anger, but tempered by an expression of +involuntary admiration and pleasure. These rapid fluctuations of the +baron’s physiognomy--the habitual, reckless, resolute merriment in the +jovial face of the friar,--and the cheerful, elastic spirits that played +on the lips and sparkled in the eyes of Matilda,--would have presented a +very amusing combination to Sir Ralph, if one of the three images in +the group had not absorbed his total attention with feelings of intense +delight very nearly allied to pain. The baron’s wrath was somewhat +counteracted by the reflection that his daughter’s good spirits +seemed to show that they would naturally rise triumphant over all +disappointments; and he had had sufficient experience of her humour to +know that she might sometimes be led, but never could be driven. Then, +too, he was always delighted to hear her sing, though he was not at all +pleased in this instance with the subject of her song. Still he would +have endured the subject for the sake of the melody of the treble, but +his mind was not sufficiently attuned to unison to relish the harmony +of the bass. The friar’s accompaniment put him out of all patience, +and--“So,” he exclaimed, “this is the way, you teach my daughter to +renounce the devil, is it? A hunting friar, truly! Who ever heard +before of a hunting friar? A profane, roaring, bawling, bumper-bibbing, +neck-breaking, catch-singing friar?” + +“Under favour, bold baron,” said the friar; but the friar was warm +with canary, and in his singing vein; and he could not go on in plain +unmusical prose. He therefore sang in a new tune,-- + + Though I be now a grey, grey friar, + Yet I was once a hale young knight: + The cry of my dogs was the only choir + In which my spirit did take delight. + Little I recked of matin bell, + But drowned its toll with my clanging horn: + And the only beads I loved to tell + Were the beads of dew on the spangled thorn. + + +The baron was going to storm, but the friar paused, and Matilda sang in +repetition,-- + + Little I reck of matin bell, + But drown its toll with my clanging horn: + And the only beads I love to tell + Are the beads of dew on the spangled thorn. + + +And then she and the friar sang the four lines together, and rang the +changes upon them alternately. + + Little I reck of matin bell, + +sang the friar. + +“A precious friar,” said the baron. + + +But drown its toll with my clanging horn, sang Matilda. + +“More shame for you,” said the baron. + + And the only beads I love to tell + Are the beads of dew on the spangled thorn, + +sang Matilda and the friar together. + +“Penitent and confessor,” said the baron: “a hopeful pair truly.” + +The friar went on,-- + + An archer keen I was withal, + As ever did lean on greenwood tree; + And could make the fleetest roebuck fall, + A good three hundred yards from me. + Though changeful time, with hand severe, + Has made me now these joys forego, + Yet my heart bounds whene’er I hear + Yoicks! hark away! and tally ho! + + +Matilda chimed in as before. + +“Are you mad?” said the baron. “Are you insane? Are you possessed? What +do you mean? What in the devil’s name do you both mean?” + + Yoicks! hark away! and tally ho! + +roared the friar. + +The baron’s pent-up wrath had accumulated like the waters above the dam +of an overshot mill. The pond-head of his passion being now filled +to the utmost limit of its capacity, and beginning to overflow in the +quivering of his lips and the flashing of his eyes, he pulled up all +the flash-boards at once, and gave loose to the full torrent of his +indignation, by seizing, like furious Ajax, not a messy stone more than +two modern men could raise, but a vast dish of beef more than fifty +ancient yeomen could eat, and whirled it like a coit, in terrorem, over +the head of the friar, to the extremity of the apartment, + + Where it on oaken floor did settle, + With mighty din of ponderous metal. + + +“Nay father,” said Matilda, taking the baron’s hand, “do not harm the +friar: he means not to offend you. My gaiety never before displeased +you. Least of all should it do so now, when I have need of all my +spirits to outweigh the severity of my fortune.” + +As she spoke the last words, tears started into her eyes, which, as if +ashamed of the involuntary betraying of her feelings, she turned away to +conceal. The baron was subdued at once. He kissed his daughter, held out +his hand to the friar, and said, “Sing on, in God’s name, and crack away +the flasks till your voice swims in canary.” Then turning to Sir Ralph, +he said, “You see how it is, sir knight. Matilda is my daughter; but she +has me in leading-strings, that is the truth of it.” + + + + +CHAPTER V + + ‘T is true, no lover has that power + To enforce a desperate amour + As he that has two strings to his bow + And burns for love and money too.--BUTLER. + + +The friar had often had experience of the baron’s testy humour; but +it had always before confined itself to words, in which the habit of +testiness often mingled more expression of displeasure than the internal +feeling prompted. He knew the baron to be hot and choleric, but at the +same time hospitable and generous; passionately fond of his daughter, +often thwarting her in seeming, but always yielding to her in fact. The +early attachment between Matilda and the Earl of Huntingdon had given +the baron no serious reason to interfere with her habits and +pursuits, which were so congenial to those of her lover; and not being +over-burdened with orthodoxy, that is to say, not being seasoned with +more of the salt of the spirit than was necessary to preserve him from +excommunication, confiscation, and philotheoparoptesism, [1] he was not +sorry to encourage his daughter’s choice of her confessor in brother +Michael, who had more jollity and less hypocrisy than any of his +fraternity, and was very little anxious to disguise his love of the good +things of this world under the semblance of a sanctified exterior. The +friar and Matilda had often sung duets together, and had been accustomed +to the baron’s chiming in with a stormy capriccio, which was usually +charmed into silence by some sudden turn in the witching melodies of +Matilda. They had therefore naturally calculated, as far as their wild +spirits calculated at all, on the same effects from the same causes. But +the circumstances of the preceding day had made an essential alteration +in the case. The baron knew well, from the intelligence he had received, +that the earl’s offence was past remission: which would have been of +less moment but for the awful fact of his castle being in the possession +of the king’s forces, and in those days possession was considerably more +than eleven points of the law. The baron was therefore convinced +that the earl’s outlawry was infallible, and that Matilda must either +renounce her lover, or become with him an outlaw and a fugitive. In +proportion, therefore, to the baron’s knowledge of the strength and +duration of her attachment, was his fear of the difficulty of its ever +being overcome: her love of the forest and the chase, which he had never +before discouraged, now presented itself to him as matter of serious +alarm; and if her cheerfulness gave him hope on the one hand by +indicating a spirit superior to all disappointments, it was suspicious +to him on the other, as arising from some latent certainty of being soon +united to the earl. All these circumstances concurred to render +their songs of the vanished deer and greenwood archery and Yoicks and +Harkaway, extremely mal-a-propos, and to make his anger boil and bubble +in the cauldron of his spirit, till its more than ordinary excitement +burst forth with sudden impulse into active manifestation. + + But as it sometimes happens, from the might + Of rage in minds that can no farther go, + As high as they have mounted in despite + In their remission do they sink as low, + To our bold baron did it happen so. [2] + + +For his discobolic exploit proved the climax of his rage, and was +succeeded by an immediate sense that he had passed the bounds of +legitimate passion; and he sunk immediately from the very pinnacle of +opposition to the level of implicit acquiescence. The friar’s spirits +were not to be marred by such a little incident. He was half-inclined, +at first, to return the baron’s compliment; but his love of Matilda +checked him; and when the baron held out his hand, the friar seized it +cordially, and they drowned all recollection of the affair by pledging +each other in a cup of canary. + +The friar, having stayed long enough to see every thing replaced on a +friendly footing, rose, and moved to take his leave. Matilda told him +he must come again on the morrow, for she had a very long confession +to make to him. This the friar promised to do, and departed with the +knight. + +Sir Ralph, on reaching the abbey, drew his followers together, and +led them to Locksley Castle, which he found in the possession of his +lieutenant; whom he again left there with a sufficient force to hold it +in safe keeping in the king’s name, and proceeded to London to report +the results of his enterprise. + +Now Henry our royal king was very wroth at the earl’s evasion, and swore +by Saint Thomas-a-Becket (whom he had himself translated into a saint by +having him knocked on the head), that he would give the castle and lands +of Locksley to the man who should bring in the earl. Hereupon ensued +a process of thought in the mind of the knight. The eyes of the fair +huntress of Arlingford had left a wound in his heart which only she who +gave could heal. He had seen that the baron was no longer very partial +to the outlawed earl, but that he still retained his old affection for +the lands and castle of Locksley. Now the lands and castle were very +fair things in themselves, and would be pretty appurtenances to an +adventurous knight; but they would be doubly valuable as certain +passports to the father’s favour, which was one step towards that of the +daughter, or at least towards obtaining possession of her either quietly +or perforce; for the knight was not so nice in his love as to consider +the lady’s free grace a sine qua non: and to think of being, by any +means whatever, the lord of Locksley and Arlingford, and the husband +of the bewitching Matilda, was to cut in the shades of futurity a vista +very tempting to a soldier of fortune. He set out in high spirits with +a chosen band of followers, and beat up all the country far and wide +around both the Ouse and the Trent; but fortune did not seem disposed +to second his diligence, for no vestige whatever could he trace of the +earl. His followers, who were only paid with the wages of hope, began to +murmur and fall off; for, as those unenlightened days were ignorant of +the happy invention of paper machinery, by which one promise to pay is +satisfactorily paid with another promise to pay, and that again with +another in infinite series, they would not, as their wiser posterity has +done, take those tenders for true pay which were not sterling; so that, +one fine morning, the knight found himself sitting on a pleasant bank of +the Trent, with only a solitary squire, who still clung to the shadow +of preferment, because he did not see at the moment any better chance of +the substance. + +The knight did not despair because of the desertion of his followers: he +was well aware that he could easily raise recruits if he could once find +trace of his game; he, therefore, rode about indefatigably over hill +and dale, to the great sharpening of his own appetite and that of his +squire, living gallantly from inn to inn when his purse was full, and +quartering himself in the king’s name on the nearest ghostly brotherhood +when it happened to be empty. An autumn and a winter had passed away, +when the course of his perlustations brought him one evening into a +beautiful sylvan valley, where he found a number of young women weaving +garlands of flowers, and singing over their pleasant occupation. He +approached them, and courteously inquired the way to the nearest town. + +“There is no town within several miles,” was the answer. + +“A village, then, if it be but large enough to furnish an inn?” + +“There is Gamwell just by, but there is no inn nearer than the nearest +town.” + +“An abbey, then?” + +“There is no abbey nearer than the nearest inn.” + +“A house then, or a cottage, where I may obtain hospitality for the +night?” + +“Hospitality!” said one of the young women; “you have not far to +seek for that. Do you not know that you are in the neighbourhood of +Gamwell-Hall?” + +“So far from it,” said the knight, “that I never heard the name of +Gamwell-Hall before.” + +“Never heard of Gamwell-Hall?” exclaimed all the young women together, +who could as soon have dreamed of his never having heard of the sky. + +“Indeed, no,” said Sir Ralph; “but I shall be very happy to get rid of +my ignorance.” + +“And so shall I,” said his squire; “for it seems that in this case +knowledge will for once be a cure for hunger, wherewith I am grievously +afflicted.” + +“And why are you so busy, my pretty damsels, weaving these garlands?” + said the knight. + +“Why, do you not know, sir,” said one of the young women, “that +to-morrow is Gamwell feast?” + +The knight was again obliged, with all humility, to confess his +ignorance. + +“Oh! sir,” said his informant, “then you will have something to see, +that I can tell you; for we shall choose a Queen of the May, and we +shall crown her with flowers, and place her in a chariot of flowers, +and draw it with lines of flowers, and we shall hang all the trees with +flowers, and we shall strew all the ground with flowers, and we shall +dance with flowers, and in flowers, and on flowers, and we shall be all +flowers.” + +“That you will,” said the knight; “and the sweetest and brightest of +all the flowers of the May, my pretty damsels.” On which all the pretty +damsels smiled at him and each other. + +“And there will be all sorts of May-games, and there will be prizes for +archery, and there will be the knight’s ale, and the foresters’ venison, +and there will be Kit Scrapesqueak with his fiddle, and little Tom +Whistlerap with his fife and tabor, and Sam Trumtwang with his harp, +and Peter Muggledrone with his bagpipe, and how I shall dance with +Will Whitethorn!” added the girl, clapping her hands as she spoke, and +bounding from the ground with the pleasure of the anticipation. + +A tall athletic young man approached, to whom the rustic maidens +courtesied with great respect; and one of them informed Sir Ralph that +it was young Master William Gamwell. The young gentleman invited and +conducted the knight to the hall, where he introduced him to the old +knight his father, and to the old lady his mother, and to the young lady +his sister, and to a number of bold yeomen, who were laying siege to +beef, brawn, and plum pie around a ponderous table, and taking copious +draughts of old October. A motto was inscribed over the interior door,-- + +EAT, DRINK, AND BE MERRY: + +an injunction which Sir Ralph and his squire showed remarkable alacrity +in obeying. Old Sir Guy of Gamwell gave Sir Ralph a very cordial +welcome, and entertained him during supper with several of his best +stories, enforced with an occasional slap on the back, and pointed with +a peg in the ribs; a species of vivacious eloquence in which the old +gentleman excelled, and which is supposed by many of that pleasant +variety of the human spectes, known by the name of choice fellows and +comical dogs, to be the genuine tangible shape of the cream of a good +joke. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + What! shall we have incision? shall we embrew? + --Henry IV. + + +Old Sir Guy of Gamwell, and young William Gamwell, and fair Alice +Gamwell, and Sir Ralph Montfaucon and his squire, rode together the +next morning to the scene of the feast. They arrived on a village green, +surrounded with cottages peeping from among the trees by which the +green was completely encircled. The whole circle was hung round with one +continuous garland of flowers, depending in irregular festoons from the +branches. In the centre of the green was a May-pole hidden in boughs +and garlands; and a multitude of round-faced bumpkins and cherry-checked +lasses were dancing around it, to the quadruple melody of Scrapesqueak, +Whistlerap, Trumtwang, and Muggledrone: harmony we must not call it; +for, though they had agreed to a partnership in point of tune, each, +like a true painstaking man, seemed determined to have his time to +himself: Muggledrone played allegretto, Trumtwang allegro, Whistlerap +presto, and Scrapesqueak prestissimo. There was a kind of mathematical +proportion in their discrepancy: while Muggledrone played the tune four +times, Trumtwang played it five, Whistlerap six, and Scrapesqueak eight; +for the latter completely distanced all his competitors, and indeed +worked his elbow so nimbly that its outline was scarcely distinguishable +through the mistiness of its rapid vibration. + +While the knight was delighting his eyes and ears with these pleasant +sights and sounds, all eyes were turned in one direction; and Sir Ralph, +looking round, saw a fair lady in green and gold come riding through the +trees, accompanied by a portly friar in grey, and several fair damsels +and gallant grooms. On their nearer approach, he recognised the lady +Matilda and her ghostly adviser, brother Michael. A party of foresters +arrived from another direction, and then ensued cordial interchanges of +greeting, and collisions of hands and lips, among the Gamwells and the +new-comers,--“How does my fair coz, Mawd?” and “How does my sweet coz, +Mawd?” and “How does my wild coz, Mawd?” And “Eh! jolly friar, your +hand, old boy:” and “Here, honest friar:” and “To me, merry friar:” and +“By your favour, mistress Alice:” and “Hey! cousin Robin:” and “Hey! +cousin Will:” and “Od’s life! merry Sir Guy, you grow younger every +year,”--as the old knight shook them all in turn with one hand, and +slapped them on the back with the other, in token of his affection. A +number of young men and women advanced, some drawing, and others dancing +round, a floral car; and having placed a crown of flowers on Matilda’s +head, they saluted her Queen of the May, and drew her to the place +appointed for the rural sports. + +A hogshead of ale was abroach under an oak, and a fire was blazing in +an open space before the trees to roast the fat deer which the foresters +brought. The sports commenced; and, after an agreeable series of +bowling, coiling, pitching, hurling, racing, leaping, grinning, +wrestling or friendly dislocation of joints, and cudgel-playing or +amicable cracking of skulls, the trial of archery ensued. The conqueror +was to be rewarded with a golden arrow from the hand of the Queen of the +May, who was to be his partner in the dance till the close of the feast. +This stimulated the knight’s emulation: young Gamwell supplied him with +a bow and arrow, and he took his station among the foresters, but had +the mortification to be out-shot by them all, and to see one of them +lodge the point of his arrow in the golden ring of the centre, and +receive the prize from the hand of the beautiful Matilda, who smiled on +him with particular grace. The jealous knight scrutinised the successful +champion with great attention, and surely thought he had seen that face +before. In the mean time the forester led the lady to the station. The +luckless Sir Ralph drank deep draughts of love from the matchless grace +of her attitudes, as, taking the bow in her left hand, and adjusting the +arrow with her right, advancing her left foot, and gently curving her +beautiful figure with a slight motion of her head that waved her black +feathers and her ringleted hair, she drew the arrow to its head, and +loosed it from her open fingers. The arrow struck within the ring of +gold, so close to that of the victorious forester that the points were +in contact, and the feathers were intermingled. Great acclamations +succeeded, and the forester led Matilda to the dance. Sir Ralph gazed +on her fascinating motions till the torments of baffled love and jealous +rage became unendurable; and approaching young Gamwell, he asked him +if he knew the name of that forester who was leading the dance with the +Queen of the May? + +“Robin, I believe,” said young Gamwell carelessly; “I think they call +him Robin.” + +“Is that all you know of him?” said Sir Ralph. + +“What more should I know of him?” said young Gamwell. + +“Then I can tell you,” said Sir Ralph, “he is the outlawed Earl of +Huntingdon, on whose head is set so large a price.” + +“Ay, is he?” said young Gamwell, in the same careless manner. + +“He were a prize worth the taking,” said Sir Ralph. + +“No doubt,” said young Gamwell. + +“How think you?” said Sir Ralph: “are the foresters his adherents?” + +“I cannot say,” said young Gamwell. + +“Is your peasantry loyal and well-disposed?” said Sir Ralph. + +“Passing loyal,” said young Gamwell. + +“If I should call on them in the king’s name,” said Sir Ralph, “think +you they would aid and assist?” + +“Most likely they would,” said young Gamwell, “one side or the other.” + +“Ay, but which side?” said the knight. + +“That remains to be tried,” said young Gamwell. + +“I have King Henry’s commission,” said the knight, “to apprehend this +earl that was. How would you advise me to act, being, as you see, +without attendant force?” + +“I would advise you,” said young Gamwell, “to take yourself off without +delay, unless you would relish the taste of a volley of arrows, a shower +of stones, and a hailstorm of cudgel-blows, which would not be turned +aside by a God save King Henry.” + +Sir Ralph’s squire no sooner heard this, and saw by the looks of the +speaker that he was not likely to prove a false prophet, than he clapped +spurs to his horse and galloped off with might and main. This gave the +knight a good excuse to pursue him, which he did with great celerity, +calling, “Stop, you rascal.” When the squire fancied himself safe out +of the reach of pursuit, he checked his speed, and allowed the knight +to come up with him. They rode on several miles in silence, till +they discovered the towers and spires of Nottingham, where the knight +introduced himself to the sheriff, and demanded an armed force to assist +in the apprehension of the outlawed Earl of Huntingdon. The sheriff, who +was willing to have his share of the prize, determined to accompany the +knight in person, and regaled him and his man with good store of the +best; after which, they, with a stout retinue of fifty men, took the way +to Gamwell feast. + +“God’s my life,” said the sheriff, as they rode along, “I had as lief +you would tell me of a service of plate. I much doubt if this outlawed +earl, this forester Robin, be not the man they call Robin Hood, who +has quartered himself in Sherwood Forest, and whom in endeavouring +to apprehend I have fallen divers times into disasters. He has +gotten together a band of disinherited prodigals, outlawed debtors, +excommunicated heretics, elder sons that have spent all they had, and +younger sons that never had any thing to spend; and with these he kills +the king’s deer, and plunders wealthy travellers of five-sixths of their +money; but if they be abbots or bishops, them he despoils utterly.” + +The sheriff then proceeded to relate to his companion the adventure of +the abbot of Doubleflask (which some grave historians have related of +the abbot of Saint Mary’s, and others of the bishop of Hereford): how +the abbot, returning to his abbey in company with his high selerer, +who carried in his portmanteau the rents of the abbey-lands, and with a +numerous train of attendants, came upon four seeming peasants, who +were roasting the king’s venison by the king’s highway: how, in just +indignation at this flagrant infringement of the forest laws, he asked +them what they meant, and they answered that they meant to dine: how he +ordered them to be seized and bound, and led captive to Nottingham, +that they might know wild-flesh to have been destined by Providence +for licensed and privileged appetites, and not for the base hunger of +unqualified knaves: how they prayed for mercy, and how the abbot swore +by Saint Charity that he would show them none: how one of them thereupon +drew a bugle horn from under his smock-frock and blew three blasts, on +which the abbot and his train were instantly surrounded by sixty bowmen +in green: how they tied him to a tree, and made him say mass for their +sins: how they unbound him, and sate him down with them to dinner, and +gave him venison and wild-fowl and wine, and made him pay for his fare +all the money in his high selerer’s portmanteau, and enforced him to +sleep all night under a tree in his cloak, and to leave the cloak behind +him in the morning: how the abbot, light in pocket and heavy in heart, +raised the country upon Robin Hood, for so he had heard the chief +forester called by his men, and hunted him into an old woman’s cottage: +how Robin changed dresses with the old woman, and how the abbot rode in +great triumph to Nottingham, having in custody an old woman in a green +doublet and breeches: how the old woman discovered herself: how the +merrymen of Nottingham laughed at the abbot: how the abbot railed at the +old woman, and how the old woman out-railed the abbot, telling him that +Robin had given her food and fire through the winter, which no abbot +would ever do, but would rather take it from her for what he called the +good of the church, by which he meant his own laziness and gluttony; and +that she knew a true man from a false thief, and a free forester from a +greedy abbot. + +“Thus you see,” added the sheriff, “how this villain perverts the +deluded people by making them believe that those who tithe and toll upon +them for their spiritual and temporal benefit are not their best friends +and fatherly guardians; for he holds that in giving to boors and old +women what he takes from priests and peers, he does but restore to the +former what the latter had taken from them; and this the impudent varlet +calls distributive justice. Judge now if any loyal subject can be safe +in such neighbourhood.” + +While the sheriff was thus enlightening his companion concerning the +offenders, and whetting his own indignation against them, the sun was +fast sinking to the west. They rode on till they came in view of a +bridge, which they saw a party approaching from the opposite side, and +the knight presently discovered that the party consisted of the lady +Matilda and friar Michael, young Gamwell, cousin Robin, and about +half-a-dozen foresters. The knight pointed out the earl to the sheriff, +who exclaimed, “Here, then, we have him an easy prey;” and they rode on +manfully towards the bridge, on which the other party made halt. + +“Who be these,” said the friar, “that come riding so fast this way? Now, +as God shall judge me, it is that false knight Sir Ralph Montfaucon, and +the sheriff of Nottingham, with a posse of men. We must make good our +post, and let them dislodge us if they may.” + +The two parties were now near enough to parley; and the sheriff and the +knight, advancing in the front of the cavalcade, called on the lady, +the friar, young Gamwell, and the foresters, to deliver up that +false-traitor, Robert, formerly Earl of Huntingdon. Robert himself made +answer by letting fly an arrow that struck the ground between the fore +feet of the sheriff’s horse. The horse reared up from the whizzing, and +lodged the sheriff in the dust; and, at the same time, the fair Matilda +favoured the knight with an arrow in his right arm, that compelled him +to withdraw from the affray. His men lifted the sheriff carefully up, +and replaced him on his horse, whom he immediately with great rage and +zeal urged on to the assault with his fifty men at his heels, some of +whom were intercepted in their advance by the arrows of the foresters +and Matilda; while the friar, with an eight-foot staff, dislodged the +sheriff a second time, and laid on him with all the vigour of the church +militant on earth, in spite of his ejaculations of “Hey, friar +Michael! What means this, honest friar? Hold, ghostly friar! Hold, holy +friar!”--till Matilda interposed, and delivered the battered sheriff +to the care of the foresters. The friar continued flourishing his +staff among the sheriff’s men, knocking down one, breaking the ribs of +another, dislocating the shoulder of a third, flattening the nose of +a fourth, cracking the skull of a fifth, and pitching a sixth into the +river, till the few, who were lucky enough to escape with whole bones, +clapped spurs to their horses and fled for their lives, under a farewell +volley of arrows. + +Sir Ralph’s squire, meanwhile, was glad of the excuse of attending +his master’s wound to absent himself from the battle; and put the poor +knight to a great deal of unnecessary pain by making as long a business +as possible of extracting the arrow, which he had not accomplished when +Matilda, approaching, extracted it with great facility, and bound up +the wound with her scarf, saying, “I reclaim my arrow, sir knight, which +struck where I aimed it, to admonish you to desist from your enterprise. +I could as easily have lodged it in your heart.” + +“It did not need,” said the knight, with rueful gallantry; “you have +lodged one there already.” + +“If you mean to say that you love me,” said Matilda, “it is more than I +ever shall you: but if you will show your love by no further interfering +with mine, you will at least merit my gratitude.” + +The knight made a wry face under the double pain of heart and +body caused at the same moment by the material or martial, and the +metaphorical or erotic arrow, of which the latter was thus barbed by a +declaration more candid than flattering; but he did not choose to put +in any such claim to the lady’s gratitude as would bar all hopes of her +love: he therefore remained silent; and the lady and her escort, leaving +him and the sheriff to the care of the squire, rode on till they came in +sight of Arlingford Castle, when they parted in several directions. The +friar rode off alone; and after the foresters had lost sight of him they +heard his voice through the twilight, singing,-- + + A staff, a staff, of a young oak graff, + That is both stoure and stiff, + Is all a good friar can needs desire + To shrive a proud sheriffe. + And thou, fine fellowe, who hast tasted so + Of the forester’s greenwood game, + Wilt be in no haste thy time to waste + In seeking more taste of the same: + Or this can I read thee, and riddle thee well, + Thou hadst better by far be the devil in hell, + Than the sheriff of Nottinghame. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + Now, master sheriff, what’s your will with me? + --Henry IV. + + +Matilda had carried her point with the baron of ranging at liberty +whithersoever she would, under her positive promise to return home; she +was a sort of prisoner on parole: she had obtained this indulgence by +means of an obsolete habit of always telling the truth and keeping her +word, which our enlightened age has discarded with other barbarisms, +but which had the effect of giving her father so much confidence in her, +that he could not help considering her word a better security than locks +and bars. + +The baron had been one of the last to hear of the rumours of the new +outlaws of Sherwood, as Matilda had taken all possible precautions to +keep those rumours from his knowledge, fearing that they might cause +the interruption of her greenwood liberty; and it was only during her +absence at Gamwell feast, that the butler, being thrown off his guard by +liquor, forgot her injunctions, and regaled the baron with a long story +of the right merry adventure of Robin Hood and the abbot of Doubleflask. + +The baron was one morning, as usual, cutting his way valorously through +a rampart of cold provision, when his ears were suddenly assailed by a +tremendous alarum, and sallying forth, and looking from his castle wall, +he perceived a large party of armed men on the other side of the +moat, who were calling on the warder in the king’s name to lower the +drawbridge and raise the portcullis, which had both been secured by +Matilda’s order. The baron walked along the battlement till he came +opposite to these unexpected visitors, who, as soon as they saw him, +called out, “Lower the drawbridge, in the king’s name.” + +“For what, in the devil’s name?” said the baron. + +“The sheriff of Nottingham,” said one, “lies in bed grievously bruised, +and many of his men are wounded, and several of them slain; and Sir +Ralph Montfaucon, knight, is sore wounded in the arm; and we are charged +to apprehend William Gamwell the younger, of Gamwell Hall, and father +Michael of Rubygill Abbey, and Matilda Fitzwater of Arlingford Castle, +as agents and accomplices in the said breach of the king’s peace.” + +“Breach of the king’s fiddlestick!” answered the baron. “What do you +mean by coming here with your cock and bull, stories of my daughter +grievously bruising the sheriff of Nottingham? You are a set of vagabond +rascals in disguise; and I hear, by the bye, there is a gang of thieves +that has just set up business in Sherwood Forest: a pretty presence, +indeed, to get into my castle with force and arms, and make a famine in +my buttery, and a drought in my cellar, and a void in my strong box, and +a vacuum in my silver scullery.” + +“Lord Fitzwater,” cried one, “take heed how you resist lawful authority: +we will prove ourselves----” + +“You will prove yourselves arrant knaves, I doubt not,” answered the +baron; “but, villains, you shall be more grievously bruised by me than +ever was the sheriff by my daughter (a pretty tale truly!), if you do +not forthwith avoid my territory.” + +By this time the baron’s men had flocked to the battlements, with +long-bows and cross-bows, slings and stones, and Matilda with her bow +and quiver at their head. The assailants, finding the castle so well +defended, deemed it expedient to withdraw till they could return in +greater force, and rode off to Rubygill Abbey, where they made known +their errand to the father abbot, who, having satisfied himself of their +legitimacy, and conned over the allegations, said that doubtless brother +Michael had heinously offended; but it was not for the civil law to +take cognizance of the misdoings of a holy friar; that he would summon +a chapter of monks, and pass on the offender a sentence proportionate to +his offence. The ministers of civil justice said that would not do. +The abbot said it would do and should; and bade them not provoke the +meekness of his catholic charity to lay them under the curse of Rome. +This threat had its effect, and the party rode off to Gamwell-Hall, +where they found the Gamwells and their men just sitting down to dinner, +which they saved them the trouble of eating by consuming it in the +king’s name themselves, having first seized and bound young Gamwell; +all which they accomplished by dint of superior numbers, in despite of +a most vigorous stand made by the Gamwellites in defence of their young +master and their provisions. + +The baron, meanwhile, after the ministers of justice had departed, +interrogated Matilda concerning the alleged fact of the grievous +bruising of the sheriff of Nottingham. Matilda told him the whole +history of Gamwell feast, and of their battle on the bridge, which had +its origin in a design of the sheriff of Nottingham to take one of the +foresters into custody. + +“Ay! ay!” said the baron, “and I guess who that forester was; but truly +this friar is a desperate fellow. I did not think there could have been +so much valour under a grey frock. And so you wounded the knight in the +arm. You are a wild girl, Mawd,--a chip of the old block, Mawd. A wild +girl, and a wild friar, and three or four foresters, wild lads all, to +keep a bridge against a tame knight, and a tame sheriff, and fifty tame +varlets; by this light, the like was never heard! But do you know, Mawd, +you must not go about so any more, sweet Mawd: you must stay at home, +you must ensconce; for there is your tame sheriff on the one hand, that +will take you perforce; and there is your wild forester on the other +hand, that will take you without any force at all, Mawd: your wild +forester, Robin, cousin Robin, Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest, that beats +and binds bishops, spreads nets for archbishops, and hunts a fat abbot +as if he were a buck: excellent game, no doubt, but you must hunt no +more in such company. I see it now: truly I might have guessed before +that the bold outlaw Robin, the most courteous Robin, the new thief of +Sherwood Forest, was your lover, the earl that has been: I might have +guessed it before, and what led you so much to the woods; but you hunt +no more in such company. No more May games and Gamwell feasts. My lands +and castle would be the forfeit of a few more such pranks; and I think +they are as well in my hands as the king’s, quite as well.” + +“You know, father,” said Matilda, “the condition of keeping me at home: +I get out if I can, and not on parole.” + +“Ay! ay!” said the baron, “if you can; very true: watch and ward, Mawd, +watch and ward is my word: if you can, is yours. The mark is set, and so +start fair.” + +The baron would have gone on in this way for an hour; but the friar made +his appearance with a long oak staff in his hand, singing,-- + + Drink and sing, and eat and laugh, + And so go forth to battle: + For the top of a skull and the end of a staff + Do make a ghostly rattle. + + +“Ho! ho! friar!” said the baron--“singing friar, laughing friar, +roaring friar, fighting friar, hacking friar, thwacking friar; cracking, +cracking, cracking friar; joke-cracking, bottle-cracking, skull-cracking +friar!” + +“And ho! ho!” said the friar,--“bold baron, old baron, sturdy baron, +wordy baron, long baron, strong baron, mighty baron, flighty baron, +mazed baron, crazed baron, hacked baron, thwacked baron; cracked, +cracked, cracked baron; bone-cracked, sconce-cracked, brain-cracked +baron!” + +“What do you mean,” said the baron, “bully friar, by calling me hacked +and thwacked?” + +“Were you not in the wars?” said the friar, “where he who escapes +untracked does more credit to his heels than his arms. I pay tribute to +your valour in calling you hacked and thwacked.” + +“I never was thwacked in my life,” said the baron; “I stood my ground +manfully, and covered my body with my sword. If I had had the luck +to meet with a fighting friar indeed, I might have been thwacked, and +soundly too; but I hold myself a match for any two laymen; it takes nine +fighting laymen to make a fighting friar.” + +“Whence come you now, holy father?” asked Matilda. + +“From Rubygill Abbey,” said the friar, “whither I never return: + + For I must seek some hermit cell, + Where I alone my beads may tell, + And on the wight who that way fares + Levy a toll for my ghostly pray’rs, + Levy a toll, levy a toll, + Levy a toll for my ghostly pray’rs.” + + +“What is the matter then, father?” said Matilda. + +“This is the matter,” said the friar: “my holy brethren have held a +chapter on me, and sentenced me to seven years’ privation of wine. I +therefore deemed it fitting to take my departure, which they would fain +have prohibited. I was enforced to clear the way with my staff. I have +grievously beaten my dearly beloved brethren: I grieve thereat; but they +enforced me thereto. I have beaten them much; I mowed them down to the +right and to the left, and left them like an ill-reaped field of wheat, +ear and straw pointing all ways, scattered in singleness and jumbled in +masses; and so bade them farewell, saying, Peace be with you. But I +must not tarry, lest danger be in my rear: therefore, farewell, sweet +Matilda; and farewell, noble baron; and farewell, sweet Matilda again, +the alpha and omega of father Michael, the first and the last.” + +“Farewell, father,” said the baron, a little softened; “and God send you +be never assailed by more than fifty men at a time.” + +“Amen,” said the friar, “to that good wish.” + +“And we shall meet again, father, I trust,” said Matilda. + +“When the storm is blown over,” said the baron. + +“Doubt it not,” said the friar, “though flooded Trent were between us, +and fifty devils guarded the bridge.” + +He kissed Matilda’s forehead, and walked away without a song. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + Let gallows gape for dog: let man go free. + --Henry V. + + +A page had been brought up in Gamwell-Hall, who, while he was little, +had been called Little John, and continued to be so called after he had +grown to be a foot taller than any other man in the house. He was full +seven feet high. His latitude was worthy of his longitude, and his +strength was worthy of both; and though an honest man by profession, he +had practiced archery on the king’s deer for the benefit of his master’s +household, and for the improvement of his own eye and hand, till his +aim had become infallible within the range of two miles. He had fought +manfully in defence of his young master, took his captivity exceedingly +to heart, and fell into bitter grief and boundless rage when he heard +that he had been tried in Nottingham and sentenced to die. Alice +Gamwell, at Little John’s request, wrote three letters of one tenour; +and Little John, having attached them to three blunt arrows, saddled the +fleetest steed in old Sir Guy of Gamwell’s stables, mounted, and rode +first to Arlingford Castle, where he shot one of the three arrows over +the battlements; then to Rubygill Abbey, where he shot the second into +the abbey-garden; then back past Gamwell-Hall to the borders of Sherwood +Forest, where he shot the third into the wood. Now the first of these +arrows lighted in the nape of the neck of Lord Fitzwater, and lodged +itself firmly between his skin and his collar; the second rebounded with +the hollow vibration of a drumstick from the shaven sconce of the abbot +of Rubygill; and the third pitched perpendicularly into the centre of a +venison pasty in which Robin Hood was making incision. + +Matilda ran up to her father in the court of Arlingford Castle, seized +the arrow, drew off the letter, and concealed it in her bosom before the +baron had time to look round, which he did with many expressions of rage +against the impudent villain who had shot a blunt arrow into the nape of +his neck. + +“But you know, father,” said Matilda, “a sharp arrow in the same place +would have killed you; therefore the sending a blunt one was very +considerate.” + +“Considerate, with a vengeance!” said the baron. “Where was the +consideration of sending it at all? This is some of your forester’s +pranks. He has missed you in the forest, since I have kept watch and +ward over you, and by way of a love-token and a remembrance to you takes +a random shot at me.” + +The abbot of Rubygill picked up the missile-missive or messenger +arrow, which had rebounded from his shaven crown, with a very unghostly +malediction on the sender, which he suddenly checked with a pious and +consolatory reflection on the goodness of Providence in having blessed +him with such a thickness of skull, to which he was now indebted for +temporal preservation, as he had before been for spiritual promotion. He +opened the letter, which was addressed to father Michael; and found it +to contain an intimation that William Gamwell was to be hanged on Monday +at Nottingham. + +“And I wish,” said the abbot, “father Michael were to be hanged with +him: an ungrateful monster, after I had rescued him from the fangs of +civil justice, to reward my lenity by not leaving a bone unbruised among +the holy brotherhood of Rubygill.” + +Robin Hood extracted from his venison pasty a similar intimation of the +evil destiny of his cousin, whom he determined, if possible, to rescue +from the jaws of Cerberus. + +The sheriff of Nottingham, though still sore with his bruises, was so +intent on revenge, that he raised himself from his bed to attend +the execution of William Gamwell. He rode to the august structure of +retributive Themis, as the French call a gallows, in all the pride and +pomp of shrievalty, and with a splendid retinue of well-equipped knaves +and varlets, as our ancestors called honest serving-men. + +Young Gamwell was brought forth with his arms pinioned behind him; his +sister Alice and his father, Sir Guy, attending him in disconsolate +mood. He had rejected the confessor provided by the sheriff, and had +insisted on the privilege of choosing his own, whom Little John had +promised to bring. Little John, however, had not made his appearance +when the fatal procession began its march; but when they reached the +place of execution, Little John appeared, accompanied by a ghostly +friar. + +“Sheriff,” said young Gamwell, “let me not die with my hands pinioned: +give me a sword, and set any odds of your men against me, and let me +die the death of a man, like the descendant of a noble house, which has +never yet been stained with ignominy.” + +“No, no,” said the sheriff; “I have had enough of setting odds against +you. I have sworn you shall be hanged, and hanged you shall be.” + +“Then God have mercy on me,” said young Gamwell; “and now, holy friar, +shrive my sinful soul.” + +The friar approached. + +“Let me see this friar,” said the sheriff: “if he be the friar of the +bridge, I had as lief have the devil in Nottingham; but he shall find me +too much for him here.” + +“The friar of the bridge,” said Little John, “as you very well know, +sheriff, was father Michael of Rubygill Abbey, and you may easily see +that this is not the man.” + +“I see it,” said the sheriff; “and God be thanked for his absence.” + +Young Gamwell stood at the foot of the ladder. The friar approached him, +opened his book, groaned, turned up the whites of his eyes, tossed up +his arms in the air, and said “Dominus vobiscum.” He then crossed both +his hands on his breast under the folds of his holy robes, and stood a +few moments as if in inward prayer. A deep silence among the attendant +crowd accompanied this action of the friar; interrupted only by the +hollow tone of the death-bell, at long and dreary intervals. Suddenly +the friar threw off his holy robes, and appeared a forester clothed in +green, with a sword in his right hand and a horn in his left. With the +sword he cut the bonds of William Gamwell, who instantly snatched a +sword from one of the sheriff’s men; and with the horn he blew a loud +blast, which was answered at once by four bugles from the quarters +of the four winds, and from each quarter came five-and-twenty bowmen +running all on a row. + +“Treason! treason!” cried the sheriff. Old Sir Guy sprang to his son’s +side, and so did Little John; and the four setting back to back, kept +the sheriff and his men at bay till the bowmen came within shot and let +fly their arrows among the sheriff’s men, who, after a brief resistance, +fled in all directions. The forester, who had personated the friar, sent +an arrow after the flying sheriff, calling with a strong voice, “To the +sheriff’s left arm, as a keepsake from Robin Hood.” The arrow reached +its destiny; the sheriff redoubled his speed, and, with the one arrow in +his arm, did not stop to breathe till he was out of reach of another. + +The foresters did not waste time in Nottingham, but were soon at a +distance from its walls. Sir Guy returned with Alice to Gamwell-Hall; +but thinking he should not be safe there, from the share he had had in +his son’s rescue, they only remained long enough to supply themselves +with clothes and money, and departed, under the escort of Little John, +to another seat of the Gamwells in Yorkshire. Young Gamwell, taking it +for granted that his offence was past remission, determined on joining +Robin Hood, and accompanied him to the forest, where it was deemed +expedient that he should change his name; and he was rechristened +without a priest, and with wine instead of water, by the immortal name +of Scarlet. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + Who set my man i’ the stocks?---- + I set him there, Sir but his own disorders + Deserved much less advancement.--Lear. + + +The baron was inflexible in his resolution not to let Matilda leave the +castle. The letter, which announced to her the approaching fate of +young Gamwell, filled her with grief, and increased the irksomeness of a +privation which already preyed sufficiently on her spirits, and began to +undermine her health. She had no longer the consolation of the society +of her old friend father Michael: the little fat friar of Rubygill was +substituted as the castle confessor, not without some misgivings in his +ghostly bosom; but he was more allured by the sweet savour of the good +things of this world at Arlingford Castle, than deterred by his awe +of the lady Matilda, which nevertheless was so excessive, from his +recollection of the twang of the bow-string, that he never ventured to +find her in the wrong, much less to enjoin any thing in the shape of +penance, as was the occasional practice of holy confessors, with or +without cause, for the sake of pious discipline, and what was in those +days called social order, namely, the preservation of the privileges +of the few who happened to have any, at the expense of the swinish +multitude who happened to have none, except that of working and being +shot at for the benefit of their betters, which is obviously not the +meaning of social order in our more enlightened times: let us therefore +be grateful to Providence, and sing Te Deum laudamus in chorus with the +Holy Alliance. + +The little friar, however, though he found the lady spotless, found the +butler a great sinner: at least so it was conjectured, from the length +of time he always took to confess him in the buttery. + +Matilda became every day more pale and dejected: her spirit, which could +have contended against any strenuous affliction, pined in the monotonous +inaction to which she was condemned. While she could freely range the +forest with her lover in the morning, she had been content to return +to her father’s castle in the evening, thus preserving underanged the +balance of her duties, habits, and affections; not without a hope that +the repeal of her lover’s outlawry might be eventually obtained, by +a judicious distribution of some of his forest spoils among the +holy fathers and saints that-were-to-be,--pious proficients in the +ecclesiastic art equestrian, who rode the conscience of King Henry with +double-curb bridles, and kept it well in hand when it showed mettle +and seemed inclined to rear and plunge. But the affair at Gamwell feast +threw many additional difficulties in the way of the accomplishment of +this hope; and very shortly afterwards King Henry the Second went to +make up in the next world his quarrel with Thomas-a-Becket; and Richard +Coeur de Lion made all England resound with preparations for the +crusade, to the great delight of many zealous adventurers, who eagerly +flocked under his banner in the hope of enriching themselves with +Saracen spoil, which they called fighting the battles of God. Richard, +who was not remarkably scrupulous in his financial operations, was +not likely to overlook the lands and castle of Locksley, which he +appropriated immediately to his own purposes, and sold to the highest +bidder. Now, as the repeal of the outlawry would involve the restitution +of the estates to the rightful owner, it was obvious that it could never +be expected from that most legitimate and most Christian king, +Richard the First of England, the arch-crusader and anti-jacobin by +excellence,--the very type, flower, cream, pink, symbol, and mirror of +all the Holy Alliances that have ever existed on earth, excepting +that he seasoned his superstition and love of conquest with a certain +condiment of romantic generosity and chivalrous self-devotion, with +which his imitators in all other points have found it convenient to +dispense. To give freely to one man what he had taken forcibly from +another, was generosity of which he was very capable; but to restore +what he had taken to the man from whom he had taken it, was something +that wore too much of the cool physiognomy of justice to be easily +reconcileable to his kingly feelings. He had, besides, not only sent +all King Henry’s saints about their business, or rather about their +no-business--their faineantise--but he had laid them under rigorous +contribution for the purposes of his holy war; and having made them +refund to the piety of the successor what they had extracted from the +piety of the precursor, he compelled them, in addition, to give +him their blessing for nothing. Matilda, therefore, from all these +circumstances, felt little hope that her lover would be any thing but an +outlaw for life. + +The departure of King Richard from England was succeeded by the +episcopal regency of the bishops of Ely and Durham. Longchamp, bishop +of Ely, proceeded to show his sense of Christian fellowship by arresting +his brother bishop, and despoiling him of his share in the government; +and to set forth his humility and loving-kindness in a retinue of nobles +and knights who consumed in one night’s entertainment some five years’ +revenue of their entertainer, and in a guard of fifteen hundred foreign +soldiers, whom he considered indispensable to the exercise of a vigour +beyond the law in maintaining wholesome discipline over the refractory +English. The ignorant impatience of the swinish multitude with these +fruits of good living, brought forth by one of the meek who had +inherited the earth, displayed itself in a general ferment, of which +Prince John took advantage to make the experiment of getting possession +of his brother’s crown in his absence. He began by calling at Reading +a council of barons, whose aspect induced the holy bishop to disguise +himself (some say as an old woman, which, in the twelfth century, +perhaps might have been a disguise for a bishop), and make his +escape beyond sea. Prince John followed up his advantage by obtaining +possession of several strong posts, and among others of the castle of +Nottingham. + +While John was conducting his operations at Nottingham, he rode at times +past the castle of Arlingford. He stopped on one occasion to claim Lord +Fitzwater’s hospitality, and made most princely havoc among his venison +and brawn. Now it is a matter of record among divers great historians +and learned clerks, that he was then and there grievously smitten by the +charms of the lovely Matilda, and that a few days after he despatched +his travelling minstrel, or laureate, Harpiton, [3] (whom he retained at +moderate wages, to keep a journal of his proceedings, and prove them all +just and legitimate), to the castle of Arlingford, to make proposals to +the lady. This Harpiton was a very useful person. He was always ready, +not only to maintain the cause of his master with his pen, and to sing +his eulogies to his harp, but to undertake at a moment’s notice any +kind of courtly employment, called dirty work by the profane, which the +blessings of civil government, namely, his master’s pleasure, and the +interests of social order, namely, his own emolument, might require. In +short, + + Il eut l’emploi qui certes n’est pas mince, + Et qu’a la cour, ou tout se peint en beau, + On appelloit etre l’ami du prince; + Mais qu’a la ville, et surtout en province, + Les gens grossiers ont nomme maquereau. + + +Prince John was of opinion that the love of a prince actual and king +expectant, was in itself a sufficient honour to the daughter of a simple +baron, and that the right divine or royalty would make it sufficiently +holy without the rite divine of the church. He was, therefore, +graciously pleased to fall into an exceeding passion, when his +confidential messenger returned from his embassy in piteous plight, +having been, by the baron’s order, first tossed in a blanket and set in +the stocks to cool, and afterwards ducked in the moat and set again in +the stocks to dry. John swore to revenge horribly this flagrant outrage +on royal prerogative, and to obtain possession of the lady by force +of arms; and accordingly collected a body of troops, and marched upon +Arlingford castle. A letter, conveyed as before on the point of a blunt +arrow, announced his approach to Matilda: and lord Fitzwater had just +time to assemble his retainers, collect a hasty supply of provision, +raise the draw-bridge, and drop the portcullis, when the castle was +surrounded by the enemy. The little fat friar, who during the confusion +was asleep in the buttery, found himself, on awaking, inclosed in the +besieged castle, and dolefully bewailed his evil chance. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + + A noble girl, i’ faith. Heart! I think I fight with a + familiar, or the ghost of a fencer. Call you this an + amorous visage? Here’s blood that would have served me these + seven years, in broken heads and cut fingers, and now it + runs out all together.--MIDDLETON. Roaring Girl. + + +Prince John sat down impatiently before Arlingford castle in the hope +of starving out the besieged; but finding the duration of their supplies +extend itself in an equal ratio with the prolongation of his hope, +he made vigorous preparations for carrying the place by storm. He +constructed an immense machine on wheels, which, being advanced to the +edge of the moat, would lower a temporary bridge, of which one end would +rest on the bank, and the other on the battlements, and which, being +well furnished with stepping boards, would enable his men to ascend the +inclined plane with speed and facility. Matilda received intimation of +this design by the usual friendly channel of a blunt arrow, which must +either have been sent from some secret friend in the prince’s camp, +or from some vigorous archer beyond it: the latter will not appear +improbable, when we consider that Robin Hood and Little John could shoot +two English miles and an inch point-blank, + +Come scrive Turpino, che non erra. + + +The machine was completed, and the ensuing morning fixed for the +assault. Six men, relieved at intervals, kept watch over it during +the night. Prince John retired to sleep, congratulating himself in +the expectation that another day would place the fair culprit at his +princely mercy. His anticipations mingled with the visions of his +slumber, and he dreamed of wounds and drums, and sacking and firing +the castle, and bearing off in his arms the beautiful prize through the +midst of fire and smoke. In the height of this imaginary turmoil, he +awoke, and conceived for a few moments that certain sounds which rang in +his ears, were the continuation of those of his dream, in that sort +of half-consciousness between sleeping and waking, when reality and +phantasy meet and mingle in dim and confused resemblance. He was, +however, very soon fully awake to the fact of his guards calling on him +to arm, which he did in haste, and beheld the machine in flames, and +a furious conflict raging around it. He hurried to the spot, and found +that his camp had been suddenly assailed from one side by a party of +foresters, and that the baron’s people had made a sortie on the other, +and that they had killed the guards, and set fire to the machine, before +the rest of the camp could come to the assistance of their fellows. + +The night was in itself intensely dark, and the fire-light shed around +it a vivid and unnatural radiance. On one side, the crimson light +quivered by its own agitation on the waveless moat, and on the bastions +and buttresses of the castle, and their shadows lay in massy blackness +on the illuminated walls: on the other, it shone upon the woods, +streaming far within among the open trunks, or resting on the closer +foliage. The circumference of darkness bounded the scene on all sides: +and in the centre raged the war; shields, helmets, and bucklers gleaming +and glittering as they rang and clashed against each other; plumes +confusedly tossing in the crimson light, and the messy light and shade +that fell on the faces of the combatants, giving additional energy to +their ferocious expression. + +John, drawing nearer to the scene of action, observed two young warriors +fighting side by side, one of whom wore the habit of a forester, the +other that of a retainer of Arlingford. He looked intently on them both: +their position towards the fire favoured the scrutiny; and the hawk’s +eye of love very speedily discovered that the latter was the fair +Matilda. The forester he did not know: but he had sufficient tact to +discern that his success would be very much facilitated by separating +her from this companion, above all others. He therefore formed a party +of men into a wedge, only taking especial care not to be the point of +it himself, and drove it between them with so much precision, that they +were in a moment far asunder. + +“Lady Matilda,” said John, “yield yourself my prisoner.” + +“If you would wear me, prince,” said Matilda, “you must win me:” and +without giving him time to deliberate on the courtesy of fighting with +the lady of his love, she raised her sword in the air, and lowered it on +his head with an impetus that would have gone nigh to fathom even that +extraordinary depth of brain which always by divine grace furnishes the +interior of a head-royal, if he had not very dexterously parried the +blow. Prince John wished to disarm and take captive, not in any way to +wound or injure, least of all to kill, his fair opponent. Matilda was +only intent to get rid of her antagonist at any rate: the edge of her +weapon painted his complexion with streaks of very unloverlike crimson, +and she would probably have marred John’s hand for ever signing Magna +Charta, but that he was backed by the advantage of numbers, and that her +sword broke short on the boss of his buckler. John was following up his +advantage to make a captive of the lady, when he was suddenly felled to +the earth by an unseen antagonist. Some of his men picked him carefully +up, and conveyed him to his tent, stunned and stupified. + +When he recovered, he found Harpiton diligently assisting in his +recovery, more in the fear of losing his place than in that of losing +his master: the prince’s first inquiry was for the prisoner he had +been on the point of taking at the moment when his habeas corpus was +so unseasonably suspended. He was told that his people had been on the +point of securing the said prisoner, when the devil suddenly appeared +among them in the likeness of a tall friar, having his grey frock +cinctured with a sword-belt, and his crown, which whether it were shaven +or no they could not see, surmounted with a helmet, and flourishing an +eight-foot staff, with which he laid about him to the right and to the +left, knocking down the prince and his men as if they had been so +many nine-pins: in fine, he had rescued the prisoner, and made a clear +passage through friend and foe, and in conjunction with a chosen +party of archers, had covered the retreat of the baron’s men and the +foresters, who had all gone off in a body towards Sherwood forest. + +Harpiton suggested that it would be desirable to sack the castle, and +volunteered to lead the van on the occasion, as the defenders were +withdrawn, and the exploit seemed to promise much profit and little +danger: John considered that the castle would in itself be a great +acquisition to him, as a stronghold in furtherance of his design on his +brother’s throne; and was determining to take possession with the first +light of morning, when he had the mortification to see the castle burst +into flames in several places at once. A piteous cry was heard from +within, and while the prince was proclaiming a reward to any one who +would enter into the burning pile, and elucidate the mystery of the +doleful voice, forth waddled the little fat friar in an agony of fear, +out of the fire into the frying-pan; for he was instantly taken into +custody and carried before Prince John, wringing his hands and tearing +his hair. + +“Are you the friar,” said Prince John, in a terrible voice, “that +laid me prostrate in battle, mowed down my men like grass, rescued my +captive, and covered the retreat of my enemies? And, not content with +this, have you now set fire to the castle in which I intended to take up +my royal quarters?” + +The little friar quaked like a jelly: he fell on his knees, and +attempted to speak; but in his eagerness to vindicate himself from this +accumulation of alarming charges, he knew not where to begin; his ideas +rolled round upon each other like the radii of a wheel; the words he +desired to utter, instead of issuing, as it were, in a right line from +his lips, seemed to conglobate themselves into a sphere turning on its +own axis in his throat: after several ineffectual efforts, his utterance +totally failed him, and he remained gasping, with his mouth open, his +lips quivering, his hands clasped together, and the whites of his eyes +turned up towards the prince with an expression most ruefully imploring. + +“Are you that friar?” repeated the prince. + +Several of the by-standers declared that he was not that friar. The +little friar, encouraged by this patronage, found his voice, and pleaded +for mercy. The prince questioned him closely concerning the burning of +the castle. The little friar declared, that he had been in too great +fear during the siege to know much of what was going forward, except +that he had been conscious during the last few days of a lamentable +deficiency of provisions, and had been present that very morning at the +broaching of the last butt of sack. Harpiton groaned in sympathy. The +little friar added, that he knew nothing of what had passed since till +he heard the flames roaring at his elbow. + +“Take him away, Harpiton,” said the prince, “fill him with sack, and +turn him out.” + +“Never mind the sack,” said the little friar, “turn me out at once.” + +“A sad chance,” said Harpiton, “to be turned out without sack.” + +But what Harpiton thought a sad chance the little friar thought a merry +one, and went bounding like a fat buck towards the abbey of Rubygill. + +An arrow, with a letter attached to it, was shot into the camp, and +carried to the prince. The contents were these:-- + +“Prince John,--I do not consider myself to have resisted lawful +authority in defending my castle against you, seeing that you are at +present in a state of active rebellion against your liege sovereign +Richard: and if my provisions had not failed me, I would have maintained +it till doomsday. As it is, I have so well disposed my combustibles that +it shall not serve you as a strong hold in your rebellion. If you hunt +in the chases of Nottinghamshire, you may catch other game than my +daughter. Both she and I are content to be houseless for a time, in +the reflection that we have deserved your enmity, and the friendship of +Coeur-de-Lion. + +“FITZWATER.” + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + --Tuck, the merry friar, who many a sermon made In praise of + Robin Hood, his outlaws, and their trade.--DRAYTON. + + +The baron, with some of his retainers and all the foresters, halted at +daybreak in Sherwood forest. The foresters quickly erected tents, and +prepared an abundant breakfast of venison and ale. + +“Now, Lord Fitzwater,” said the chief forester, “recognise your +son-in-law that was to have been, in the outlaw Robin Hood.” + +“Ay, ay,” said the baron, “I have recognised you long ago.” + +“And recognise your young friend Gamwell,” said the second, “in the +outlaw Scarlet.” + +“And Little John, the page,” said the third, “in Little John the +outlaw.” + +“And Father Michael, of Rubygill Abbey,” said the friar, “in Friar Tuck, +of Sherwood forest. Truly, I have a chapel here hard by, in the shape of +a hollow tree, where I put up my prayers for travellers, and Little John +holds the plate at the door, for good praying deserves good paying.” + +“I am in fine company,” said the baron. + +“In the very best of company,” said the friar, “in the high court of +Nature, and in the midst of her own nobility. Is it not so? This goodly +grove is our palace: the oak and the beech are its colonnade and its +canopy: the sun and the moon and the stars are its everlasting lamps: +the grass, and the daisy, and the primrose, and the violet, are its +many-coloured floor of green, white, yellow, and blue; the may-flower, +and the woodbine, and the eglantine, and the ivy, are its decorations, +its curtains, and its tapestry: the lark, and the thrush, and the +linnet, and the nightingale, are its unhired minstrels and musicians. +Robin Hood is king of the forest both by dignity of birth and by virtue +of his standing army: to say nothing of the free choice of his people, +which he has indeed, but I pass it by as an illegitimate basis of power. +He holds his dominion over the forest, and its horned multitude of +citizen-deer, and its swinish multitude or peasantry of wild boars, by +right of conquest and force of arms. He levies contributions among them +by the free consent of his archers, their virtual representatives. If +they should find a voice to complain that we are ‘tyrants and usurpers +to kill and cook them up in their assigned and native dwelling-place,’ +we should most convincingly admonish them, with point of arrow, that +they have nothing to do with our laws but to obey them. Is it not +written that the fat ribs of the herd shall be fed upon by the mighty in +the land? And have not they withal my blessing? my orthodox, canonical, +and archiepiscopal blessing? Do I not give thanks for them when they +are well roasted and smoking under my nose? What title had William of +Normandy to England, that Robin of Locksley has not to merry Sherwood? +William fought for his claim. So does Robin. With whom, both? With any +that would or will dispute it. William raised contributions. So does +Robin. From whom, both? From all that they could or can make pay them. +Why did any pay them to William? Why do any pay them to Robin? For the +same reason to both: because they could not or cannot help it. They +differ indeed, in this, that William took from the poor and gave to the +rich, and Robin takes from the rich and gives to the poor: and therein +is Robin illegitimate; though in all else he is true prince. Scarlet and +John, are they not peers of the forest? lords temporal of Sherwood? And +am not I lord spiritual? Am I not archbishop? Am I not pope? Do I not +consecrate their banner and absolve their sins? Are not they state, and +am not I church? Are not they state monarchical, and am not I church +militant? Do I not excommunicate our enemies from venison and brawn, +and by ‘r Lady, when need calls, beat them down under my feet? The state +levies tax, and the church levies tithe. Even so do we. Mass, we +take all at once. What then? It is tax by redemption and tithe by +commutation. Your William and Richard can cut and come again, but our +Robin deals with slippery subjects that come not twice to his exchequer. +What need we then to constitute a court, except a fool and a laureate? +For the fool, his only use is to make false knaves merry by art, and we +are true men and are merry by nature. For the laureate, his only office +is to find virtues in those who have none, and to drink sack for his +pains. We have quite virtue enough to need him not, and can drink our +sack for ourselves.” “Well preached, friar,” said Robin Hood: “yet there +is one thing wanting to constitute a court, and that is a queen. And +now, lovely Matilda, look round upon these sylvan shades where we have +so often roused the stag from his ferny covert. The rising sun smiles +upon us through the stems of that beechen knoll. Shall I take your hand, +Matilda, in the presence of this my court? Shall I crown you with our +wild-wood coronal, and hail you queen of the forest? Will you be the +queen Matilda of your own true king Robin?” + +Matilda smiled assent. + +“Not Matilda,” said the friar: “the rules of our holy alliance require +new birth. We have excepted in favour of Little John, because he is +great John, and his name is a misnomer. I sprinkle, not thy forehead +with water, but thy lips with wine, and baptize thee MARIAN.” + +“Here is a pretty conspiracy,” exclaimed the baron. “Why, you villanous +friar, think you to nickname and marry my daughter before my face with +impunity?” + +“Even so, bold baron,” said the friar; “we are strongest here. Say you, +might overcomes right? I say no. There is no right but might: and to +say that might overcomes right is to say that right overcomes itself: an +absurdity most palpable. Your right was the stronger in Arlingford, and +ours is the stronger in Sherwood. Your right was right as long as you +could maintain it; so is ours. So is King Richard’s, with all deference +be it spoken; and so is King Saladin’s; and their two mights are now +committed in bloody fray, and that which overcomes will be right, just +as long as it lasts, and as far as it reaches. And now if any of you +know any just impediment----” + +“Fire and fury,” said the baron. + +“Fire and fury,” said the friar, “are modes of that might which +constitutes right, and are just impediments to any thing against which +they can be brought to bear. They are our good allies upon occasion, and +would declare for us now if you should put them to the test.” + +“Father,” said Matilda, “you know the terms of our compact: from the +moment you restrained my liberty, you renounced your claim to all but +compulsory obedience. The friar argues well. Right ends with might. +Thick walls, dreary galleries, and tapestried chambers, were indifferent +to me while I could leave them at pleasure, but have ever been hateful +to me since they held me by force. May I never again have roof but +the blue sky, nor canopy but the green leaves, nor barrier but the +forest-bounds; with the foresters to my train, Little John to my page, +Friar Tuck to my ghostly adviser, and Robin Hood to my liege lord. I am +no longer lady Matilda Fitzwater, of Arlingford Castle, but plain Maid +Marian, of Sherwood Forest.” + +“Long live Maid Marian!” re-echoed the foresters. + +“Oh false girl!” said the baron, “do you renounce your name and +parentage?” + +“Not my parentage,” said Marian, “but my name indeed: do not all maids +renounce it at the altar?” + +“The altar!” said the baron: “grant me patience! what do you mean by the +altar?” + +“Pile green turf,” said the friar, “wreathe it with flowers, and crown +it with fruit, and we will show the noble baron what we mean by the +altar.” + +The foresters did as the friar directed. + +“Now, Little John,” said the friar, “on with the cloak of the abbot of +Doubleflask. I appoint thee my clerk: thou art here duly elected in full +mote.” + +“I wish you were all in full moat together,” said the baron, “and smooth +wall on both sides.” + +“Punnest thou?” said the friar. “A heinous anti-christian offence. +Why anti-christian? Because anti-catholic? Why anti-catholic? Because +anti-roman. Why anti-roman? Because Carthaginian. Is not pun from +Punic? punica fides: the very quint-essential quiddity of bad faith: +double-visaged: double-tongued. He that will make a pun will---- I say +no more. Fie on it. Stand forth, clerk. Who is the bride’s father?” + +“There is no bride’s father,” said the baron. “I am the father of +Matilda Fitzwater.” + +“There is none such,” said the friar. “This is the fair Maid Marian. +Will you make a virtue of necessity, or will you give laws to the +flowing tide? Will you give her, or shall Robin take her? Will you be +her true natural father, or shall I commute paternity? Stand forth, +Scarlet.” + +“Stand back, sirrah Scarlet,” said the baron. “My daughter shall have no +father but me. Needs must when the devil drives.” + +“No matter who drives,” said the friar, “so that, like a well-disposed +subject, you yield cheerful obedience to those who can enforce it.” + +“Mawd, sweet Mawd,” said the baron, “will you then forsake your poor +old father in his distress, with his castle in ashes, and his enemy in +power?” + +“Not so, father,” said Marian; “I will always be your true daughter: I +will always love, and serve, and watch, and defend you: but neither will +I forsake my plighted love, and my own liege lord, who was your choice +before he was mine, for you made him my associate in infancy; and that +he continued to be mine when he ceased to be yours, does not in any way +show remissness in my duties or falling off in my affections. And though +I here plight my troth at the altar to Robin, in the presence of this +holy priest and pious clerk, yet.... Father, when Richard returns from +Palestine, he will restore you to your barony, and perhaps, for your +sake, your daughter’s husband to the earldom of Huntingdon: should that +never be, should it be the will of fate that we must live and die in the +greenwood, I will live and die MAID MARIAN.” [4] + +“A pretty resolution,” said the baron, “if Robin will let you keep it.” + +“I have sworn it,” said Robin. “Should I expose her tenderness to the +perils of maternity, when life and death may hang on shifting at a +moment’s notice from Sherwood to Barnsdale, and from Barnsdale to the +sea-shore? And why should I banquet when my merry men starve? Chastity +is our forest law, and even the friar has kept it since he has been +here.” + +“Truly so,” said the friar: “for temptation dwells with ease and luxury: +but the hunter is Hippolytus, and the huntress is Dian. And now, dearly +beloved----” + +The friar went through the ceremony with great unction, and Little John +was most clerical in the intonation of his responses. After which, the +friar sang, and Little John fiddled, and the foresters danced, Robin +with Marian, and Scarlet with the baron; and the venison smoked, and +the ale frothed, and the wine sparkled, and the sun went down on their +unwearied festivity: which they wound up with the following song, the +friar leading and the foresters joining chorus: + + Oh! bold Robin Hood is a forester good, + As ever drew bow in the merry greenwood: + At his bugle’s shrill singing the echoes are ringing, + The wild deer are springing for many a rood: + Its summons we follow, through brake, over hollow, + The thrice-blown shrill summons of bold Robin Hood. + + And what eye hath e’er seen such a sweet Maiden Queen, + As Marian, the pride of the forester’s green? + A sweet garden-flower, she blooms in the bower, + Where alone to this hour the wild rose has been: + We hail her in duty the queen of all beauty: + We will live, we will die, by our sweet Maiden queen. + + And here’s a grey friar, good as heart can desire, + To absolve all our sins as the case may require: + Who with courage so stout, lays his oak-plant about, + And puts to the rout all the foes of his choir: + For we are his choristers, we merry foresters, + Chorussing thus with our militant friar + + And Scarlet cloth bring his good yew-bough and string, + Prime minister is he of Robin our king: + No mark is too narrow for little John’s arrow, + That hits a cock sparrow a mile on the wing; + Robin and Marion, Scarlet, and Little John, + Long with their glory old Sherwood shall ring. + + Each a good liver, for well-feathered quiver + Doth furnish brawn, venison, and fowl of the river: + But the best game we dish up, it is a fat bishop: + When his angels we fish up, he proves a free giver: + For a prelate so lowly has angels more holy, + And should this world’s false angels to sinners deliver. + + Robin and Marion, Scarlet and Little John, + Drink to them one by one, drink as ye sing: + Robin and Marion, Scarlet and Little John, + Echo to echo through Sherwood shall fling: + Robin and Marion, Scarlet and Little John, + Long with their glory old Sherwood shall ring. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + A single volume paramount: a code: + A master spirit: a determined road. + --WORDSWORTH. + + +The next morning Robin Hood convened his foresters, and desired Little +John, for the baron’s edification, to read over the laws of their forest +society. Little John read aloud with a stentorophonic voice. + +“At a high court of foresters, held under the greenwood tree, an hour +after sun-rise, Robin Hood President, William Scarlet Vice-President, +Little John Secretary: the following articles, moved by Friar Tuck in +his capacity of Peer Spiritual, and seconded by Much the Miller, were +unanimously agreed to. + +“The principles of our society are six: Legitimacy, Equity, Hospitality, +Chivalry, Chastity, and Courtesy. + +“The articles of Legitimacy are four: + +“I. Our government is legitimate, and our society is founded on the one +golden rule of right, consecrated by the universal consent of mankind, +and by the practice of all ages, individuals, and nations: namely, To +keep what we have, and to catch what we can. + +“II. Our government being legitimate, all our proceedings shall be +legitimate: wherefore we declare war against the whole world, and every +forester is by this legitimate declaration legitimately invested with a +roving commission, to make lawful prize of every thing that comes in his +way. + +“III. All forest laws but our own we declare to be null and void. + +“IV. All such of the old laws of England as do not in any way interfere +with, or militate against, the views of this honourable assembly, we +will loyally adhere to and maintain. The rest we declare null and void +as far as relates to ourselves, in all cases wherein a vigour beyond the +law may be conducive to our own interest and preservation.” + +“The articles of Equity are three: + +“I. The balance of power among the people being very much deranged, by +one having too much and another nothing, we hereby resolve ourselves +into a congress or court of equity, to restore as far as in us lies the +said natural balance of power, by taking from all who have too much +as much of the said too much as we can lay our hands on; and giving +to those who have nothing such a portion thereof as it may seem to us +expedient to part with. + +“II. In all cases a quorum of foresters shall constitute a court of +equity, and as many as may be strong enough to manage the matter in hand +shall constitute a quorum. + +“III. All usurers, monks, courtiers, and other drones of the great +hive of society, who shall be found laden with any portion of the honey +whereof they have wrongfully despoiled the industrious bee, shall be +rightfully despoiled thereof in turn; and all bishops and abbots shall +be bound and beaten, [5] especially the abbot of Doncaster; as shall +also all sheriffs, especially the sheriff of Nottingham. + + +“The articles of Hospitality are two: + +“I. Postmen, carriers and market-folk, peasants and mechanics, farmers +and millers, shall pass through our forest dominions without let or +molestation. + +“II. All other travellers through the forest shall be graciously invited +to partake of Robin’s hospitality; and if they come not willingly they +shall be compelled; and the rich man shall pay well for his fare; and +the poor man shall feast scot free, and peradventure receive bounty in +proportion to his desert and necessity. + +“The article of Chivalry is one: + +“I. Every forester shall, to the extent of his power, aid and protect +maids, widows, and orphans, and all weak and distressed persons +whomsoever: and no woman shall be impeded or molested in any way; nor +shall any company receive harm which any woman is in. + +“The article of Chastity is one: + +“I. Every forester, being Diana’s forester and minion of the moon, shall +commend himself to the grace of the Virgin, and shall have the gift of +continency on pain of expulsion: that the article of chivalry may be +secure from infringement, and maids, wives, and widows pass without fear +through the forest. + +“The article of Courtesy is one: + +“I. No one shall miscall a forester. He who calls Robin Robert of +Huntingdon, or salutes him by any other title or designation whatsoever +except plain Robin Hood; or who calls Marian Matilda Fitzwater, or +salutes her by any other title or designation whatsoever except plain +Maid Marian; and so of all others; shall for every such offence forfeit +a mark, to be paid to the friar. + +“And these articles we swear to keep as we are good men and true. +Carried by acclamation. God save King Richard. + +“LITTLE JOHN, Secretary.” + + +“Excellent laws,” said the baron: “excellent, by the holy rood. William +of Normandy, with my great great grandfather Fierabras at his elbow, +could not have made better. And now, sweet Mawd----” + +“A fine, a fine,” cried the friar, “a fine, by the article of courtesy.” + +“Od’s life,” said the baron, “shall I not call my own daughter Mawd? +Methinks there should be a special exception in my favour.” + +“It must not be,” said Robin Hood: “our constitution admits no +privilege.” + +“But I will commute,” said the friar; “for twenty marks a year duly paid +into my ghostly pocket you shall call your daughter Mawd two hundred +times a day.” + +“Gramercy,” said the baron, “and I agree, honest friar, when I can get +twenty marks to pay: for till Prince John be beaten from Nottingham, my +rents are like to prove but scanty.” + +“I will trust,” said the friar, “and thus let us ratify the stipulation; +so shall our laws and your infringement run together in an amicable +parallel.” + +“But,” said Little John, “this is a bad precedent, master friar. It is +turning discipline into profit, penalty into perquisite, public justice +into private revenue. It is rank corruption, master friar.” + +“Why are laws made?” said the friar. “For the profit of somebody. Of +whom? Of him who makes them first, and of others as it may happen. Was +not I legislator in the last article, and shall I not thrive by my own +law?” + +“Well then, sweet Mawd,” said the baron, “I must leave you, Mawd: your +life is very well for the young and the hearty, but it squares not with +my age or my humour. I must house, Mawd. I must find refuge: but where? +That is the question.” + +“Where Sir Guy of Gamwell has found it,” said Robin Hood, “near the +borders of Barnsdale. There you may dwell in safety with him and fair +Alice, till King Richard return, and Little John shall give you safe +conduct. You will have need to travel with caution, in disguise and +without attendants, for Prince John commands all this vicinity, and will +doubtless lay the country for you and Marian. Now it is first expedient +to dismiss your retainers. If there be any among them who like our life, +they may stay with us in the greenwood; the rest may return to their +homes.” + +Some of the baron’s men resolved to remain with Robin and Marian, and +were furnished accordingly with suits of green, of which Robin always +kept good store. + +Marian now declared that as there was danger in the way to Barnsdale, +she would accompany Little John and the baron, as she should not be +happy unless she herself saw her father placed in security. Robin was +very unwilling to consent to this, and assured her that there was more +danger for her than the baron: but Marian was absolute. + +“If so, then,” said Robin, “I shall be your guide instead of Little +John, and I shall leave him and Scarlet joint-regents of Sherwood during +my absence, and the voice of Friar Tuck shall be decisive between them +if they differ in nice questions of state policy.” Marian objected to +this, that there was more danger for Robin than either herself or the +baron: but Robin was absolute in his turn. + +“Talk not of my voice,” said the friar; “for if Marian be a damsel +errant, I will be her ghostly esquire.” + +Robin insisted that this should not be, for number would only expose +them to greater risk of detection. The friar, after some debate, +reluctantly acquiesced. + +While they were discussing these matters, they heard the distant sound +of horses’ feet. + +“Go,” said Robin to Little John, “and invite yonder horseman to dinner.” + +Little John bounded away, and soon came before a young man, who was +riding in a melancholy manner, with the bridle hanging loose on the +horse’s neck, and his eyes drooping towards the ground. + +“Whither go you?” said Little John. + +“Whithersoever my horse pleases,” said the young man. + +“And that shall be,” said Little John, “whither I please to lead him. I +am commissioned to invite you to dine with my master.” + +“Who is your master?” said the young man. + +“Robin Hood,” said Little John. + +“The bold outlaw?” said the stranger. “Neither he nor you should have +made me turn an inch aside yesterday; but to-day I care not.” + +“Then it is better for you,” said Little John, “that you came to-day +than yesterday, if you love dining in a whole skin: for my master is the +pink of courtesy: but if his guests prove stubborn, he bastes them and +his venison together, while the friar says mass before meat.” + +The young man made no answer, and scarcely seemed to hear what Little +John was saying, who therefore took the horse’s bridle and led him to +where Robin and his foresters were setting forth their dinner. Robin +seated the young man next to Marian. Recovering a little from his +stupor, he looked with much amazement at her, and the baron, and +Robin, and the friar; listened to their conversation, and seemed much +astonished to find himself in such holy and courtly company. Robin +helped him largely to rumble-pie and cygnet and pheasant, and the other +dainties of his table; and the friar pledged him in ale and wine, and +exhorted him to make good cheer. But the young man drank little, ate +less, spake nothing, and every now and then sighed heavily. + +When the repast was ended, “Now,” said Robin, “you are at liberty to +pursue your journey: but first be pleased to pay for your dinner.” + +“That would I gladly do, Robin,” said the young man, “but all I have +about me are five shillings and a ring. To the five shillings you shall +be welcome, but for the ring I will fight while there is a drop of blood +in my veins.” + +“Gallantly spoken,” said Robin Hood. “A love-token, without doubt: but +you must submit to our forest laws. Little John must search; and if he +find no more than you say, not a penny will I touch; but if you have +spoken false, the whole is forfeit to our fraternity.” + +“And with reason,” said the friar; “for thereby is the truth maintained +The abbot of Doubleflask swore there was no money in his valise, and +Little John forthwith emptied it of four hundred pounds. Thus was the +abbot’s perjury but of one minute’s duration; for though his speech +was false in the utterance, yet was it no sooner uttered than it became +true, and we should have been participes criminis to have suffered the +holy abbot to depart in falsehood: whereas he came to us a false priest, +and we sent him away a true man. Marry, we turned his cloak to further +account, and thereby hangs a tale that may be either said or sung; for +in truth I am minstrel here as well as chaplain; I pray for good success +to our just and necessary warfare, and sing thanks-giving odes when our +foresters bring in booty: + + Bold Robin has robed him in ghostly attire, + And forth he is gone like a holy friar, + Singing, hey down, ho down, down, derry down: + And of two grey friars he soon was aware, + Regaling themselves with dainty fare, + All on the fallen leaves so brown. + + “Good morrow, good brothers,” said bold Robin + Hood, + “And what make you in the good greenwood, + Singing hey down, ho down, down, derry down! + Now give me, I pray you, wine and food; + For none can I find in the good greenwood, + All on the fallen leaves so brown.” + + “Good brother,” they said, “we would give you full fain, + But we have no more than enough for twain, + Singing, hey down, ho down, down, derry down.” + “Then give me some money,” said bold Robin Hood, + “For none can I find in the good greenwood, + All on the fallen leaves so brown.” + + “No money have we, good brother,” said they: + “Then,” said he, “we three for money will pray: + Singing, hey down, ho down, down, derry down: + And whatever shall come at the end of our prayer, + We three holy friars will piously share, + All on the fallen leaves so brown.” + + “We will not pray with thee, good brother, God wot: + For truly, good brother, thou pleasest us not, + Singing hey down, ho down, down, derry down:” + Then up they both started from Robin to run, + But down on their knees Robin pulled them each one, + All on the fallen leaves so brown. + + The grey friars prayed with a doleful face, + But bold Robin prayed with a right merry grace, + Singing, hey down, ho down, down, derry down: + And when they had prayed, their portmanteau he took, + And from it a hundred good angels he shook, + All on the fallen leaves so brown. + + “The saints,” said bold Robin, “have hearkened our prayer, + And here’s a good angel apiece for your share: + If more you would have, you must win ere you wear: + Singing hey down, ho down, down, derry down:” + Then he blew his good horn with a musical cheer, + And fifty green bowmen came trooping full near, + And away the grey friars they bounded like deer, + All on the fallen leaves so brown. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + What can a young lassie, what shall a young lassie, + What can a young lassie do wi’an auld man? + --BURNS. + + +“Here is but five shillings and a ring,” said Little John, “and the +young man has spoken true.” + +“Then,” said Robin to the stranger, “if want of money be the cause +of your melancholy, speak. Little John is my treasurer, and he shall +disburse to you.” + +“It is, and it is not,” said the stranger; “it is, because, had I not +wanted money I had never lost my love; it is not, because, now that I +have lost her, money would come too late to regain her.” + +“In what way have you lost her?” said Robin: “let us clearly know that +she is past regaining, before we give up our wishes to restore her to +you.” + +“She is to be married this day,” said the stranger, “and perhaps is +married by this, to a rich old knight; and yesterday I knew it not.” + +“What is your name?” said Robin. + +“Allen,” said the stranger. + +“And where is the marriage to take place, Allen?” said Robin. + +“At Edwinstow church,” said Allen, “by the bishop of Nottingham.” + +“I know that bishop,” said Robin; “he dined with me a month since, and +paid three hundred pounds for his dinner. He has a good ear and loves +music. The friar sang to him to some tune. Give me my harper’s cloak, +and I will play a part at this wedding. + +“These are dangerous times, Robin,” said Marian, “for playing pranks out +of the forest.” + +“Fear not,” said Robin; “Edwinstow lies not Nottingham-ward, and I will +take my precautions.” + +Robin put on his harper’s cloak, while Little John painted his eyebrows +and cheeks, tipped his nose with red, and tied him on a comely beard. +Marian confessed, that had she not been present at the metamorphosis, +she should not have known her own true Robin. Robin took his harp and +went to the wedding. + +Robin found the bishop and his train in the church porch, impatiently +expecting the arrival of the bride and bridegroom. The clerk was +observing to the bishop that the knight was somewhat gouty, and that +the necessity of walking the last quarter of a mile from the road to the +churchyard probably detained the lively bridegroom rather longer than +had been calculated upon. + +“Oh! by my fey,” said the music-loving bishop, “here comes a harper in +the nick of time, and now I care not how long they tarry. Ho! honest +friend, are you come to play at the wedding?” + +“I am come to play anywhere,” answered Robin, “where I can get a cup of +sack; for which I will sing the praise of the donor in lofty verse, and +emblazon him with any virtue which he may wish to have the credit of +possessing, without the trouble of practising. + +“A most courtly harper,” said the bishop; “I will fill thee with sack; I +will make thee a walking butt of sack, if thou wilt delight my ears with +thy melodies.” + +“That will I,” said Robin; “in what branch of my art shall I exert my +faculty? I am passing well in all, from the anthem to the glee, and from +the dirge to the coranto.” + +“It would be idle,” said the bishop, “to give thee sack for playing me +anthems, seeing that I myself do receive sack for hearing them sung. +Therefore, as the occasion is festive, thou shalt play me a coranto.” + +Robin struck up and played away merrily, the bishop all the while in +great delight, noddling his head, and beating time with his foot, till +the bride and bridegroom appeared. The bridegroom was richly apparelled, +and came slowly and painfully forward, hobbling and leering, and pursing +up his mouth into a smile of resolute defiance to the gout, and of +tender complacency towards his lady love, who, shining like gold at the +old knight’s expense, followed slowly between her father and mother, +her cheeks pale, her head drooping, her steps faltering, and her eyes +reddened with tears. + +Robin stopped his minstrelsy, and said to the bishop, “This seems to me +an unfit match.” + +“What do you say, rascal?” said the old knight, hobbling up to him. + +“I say,” said Robin, “this seems to me an unfit match. What, in the +devil’s name, can you want with a young wife, who have one foot in +flannels and the other in the grave?” + +“What is that to thee, sirrah varlet?” said the old knight; “stand away +from the porch, or I will fracture thy sconce with my cane.” + +“I will not stand away from the porch,” said Robin, “unless the bride +bid me, and tell me that you are her own true love.” + +“Speak,” said the bride’s father, in a severe tone, and with a look of +significant menace. The girl looked alternately at her father and Robin. +She attempted to speak, but her voice failed in the effort, and she +burst into tears. + +“Here is lawful cause and just impediment,” said Robin, “and I forbid +the banns.” + +“Who are you, villain?” said the old knight, stamping his sound foot +with rage. + +“I am the Roman law,” said Robin, “which says that there shall not be +more than ten years between a man and his wife; and here are five times +ten: and so says the law of nature.” + +“Honest harper,” said the bishop, “you are somewhat over-officious here, +and less courtly than I deemed you. If you love sack, forbear; for this +course will never bring you a drop. As to your Roman law, and your law +of nature, what right have they to say any thing which the law of Holy +Writ says not?” + +“The law of Holy Writ does say it,” said Robin; “I expound it so to say; +and I will produce sixty commentators to establish my exposition.” + +And so saying, he produced a horn from beneath his cloak, and blew three +blasts, and threescore bowmen in green came leaping from the bushes and +trees; and young Allen was the first among them to give Robin his sword, +while Friar Tuck and Little John marched up to the altar. Robin stripped +the bishop and clerk of their robes, and put them on the friar and +Little John; and Allen advanced to take the hand of the bride. Her +cheeks grew red and her eyes grew bright, as she locked her hand in her +lover’s, and tripped lightly with him into the church. + +“This marriage will not stand,” said the bishop, “for they have not been +thrice asked in church.” + +“We will ask them seven times,” said Little John, “lest three should not +suffice.” + +“And in the meantime,” said Robin, “the knight and the bishop shall +dance to my harping.” + +So Robin sat in the church porch and played away merrily, while his +foresters formed a ring, in the centre of which the knight and bishop +danced with exemplary alacrity; and if they relaxed their exertions, +Scarlet gently touched them up with the point of an arrow. + +The knight grimaced ruefully, and begged Robin to think of his gout. + +“So I do,” said Robin; “this is the true antipodagron: you shall dance +the gout away, and be thankful to me while you live. I told you,” he +added to the bishop, “I would play at this wedding; but you did not tell +me that you would dance at it. The next couple you marry, think of the +Roman law.” + +The bishop was too much out of breath to reply; and now the young couple +issued from church, and the bride having made a farewell obeisance to +her parents, they departed together with the foresters, the parents +storming, the attendants laughing, the bishop puffing and blowing, and +the knight rubbing his gouty foot, and uttering doleful lamentations for +the gold and jewels with which he had so unwittingly adorned and cowered +the bride. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + As ye came from the holy land + Of blessed Walsinghame, + Oh met ye not with my true love, + As by the way ye came? + + --Old Ballad. + + +In pursuance of the arrangement recorded in the twelfth chapter, the +baron, Robin, and Marian disguised themselves as pilgrims returned from +Palestine, and travelling from the sea-coast of Hampshire to their home +in Northumberland. By dint of staff and cockle-shell, sandal and scrip, +they proceeded in safety the greater part of the way (for Robin had many +sly inns and resting-places between Barnsdale and Sherwood), and were +already on the borders of Yorkshire, when, one evening, they passed +within view of a castle, where they saw a lady standing on a turret, +and surveying the whole extent of the valley through which they were +passing. A servant came running from the castle, and delivered to them +a message from his lady, who was sick with expectation of news from her +lord in the Holy Land, and entreated them to come to her, that she might +question them concerning him. This was an awkward occurrence: but there +was no presence for refusal, and they followed the servant into the +castle. The baron, who had been in Palestine in his youth, undertook to +be spokesman on the occasion, and to relate his own adventures to +the lady as having happened to the lord in question. This preparation +enabled him to be so minute and circumstantial in his detail, and so +coherent in his replies to her questions, that the lady fell implicitly +into the delusion, and was delighted to find that her lord was alive and +in health, and in high favour with the king, and performing prodigies +of valour in the name of his lady, whose miniature he always wore in his +bosom. The baron guessed at this circumstance from the customs of that +age, and happened to be in the right. + +“This miniature,” added the baron, “I have had the felicity to see, and +should have known you by it among a million.” The baron was a little +embarrassed by some questions of the lady concerning her lord’s personal +appearance; but Robin came to his aid, observing a picture suspended +opposite to him on the wall, which he made a bold conjecture to be that +of the lord in question; and making a calculation of the influences of +time and war, which he weighed with a comparison of the lady’s age, +he gave a description of her lord sufficiently like the picture in its +groundwork to be a true resemblance, and sufficiently differing from +it in circumstances to be more an original than a copy. The lady was +completely deceived, and entreated them to partake her hospitality for +the night; but this they deemed it prudent to decline, and with many +humble thanks for her kindness, and representations of the necessity of +not delaying their homeward course, they proceeded on their way. + +As they passed over the drawbridge, they met Sir Ralph Montfaucon and +his squire, who were wandering in quest of Marian, and were entering +to claim that hospitality which the pilgrims had declined. Their +countenances struck Sir Ralph with a kind of imperfect recognition, +which would never have been matured, but that the eyes of Marian, as +she passed him, encountered his, and the images of those stars of beauty +continued involuntarily twinkling in his sensorium to the exclusion of +all other ideas, till memory, love, and hope concurred with imagination +to furnish a probable reason for their haunting him so pertinaciously. +Those eyes, he thought, were certainly the eyes of Matilda Fitzwater; +and if the eyes were hers, it was extremely probable, if not logically +consecutive, that the rest of the body they belonged to was hers also. +Now, if it were really Matilda Fitzwater, who were her two companions? +The baron? Aye, and the elder pilgrim was something like him. And the +earl of Huntingdon? Very probably. The earl and the baron might be good +friends again, now that they were both in disgrace together. While he +was revolving these cogitations, he was introduced to the lady, and +after claiming and receiving the promise of hospitality, he inquired +what she knew of the pilgrims who had just departed? The lady told him +they were newly returned from Palestine, having been long in the Holy +Land. The knight expressed some scepticism on this point. The lady +replied, that they had given her so minute a detail of her lord’s +proceedings, and so accurate a description of his person, that she could +not be deceived in them. This staggered the knight’s confidence in +his own penetration; and if it had not been a heresy in knighthood to +suppose for a moment that there could be in rerum natura such another +pair of eyes as those of his mistress, he would have acquiesced +implicitly in the lady’s judgment. But while the lady and the knight +were conversing, the warder blew his bugle-horn, and presently entered +a confidential messenger from Palestine, who gave her to understand +that her lord was well; but entered into a detail of his adventures +most completely at variance with the baron’s narrative, to which not +the correspondence of a single incident gave the remotest colouring of +similarity. It now became manifest that the pilgrims were not true +men; and Sir Ralph Montfaucon sate down to supper with his head full +of cogitations, which we shall leave him to chew and digest with his +pheasant and canary. + +Meanwhile our three pilgrims proceeded on their way. The evening set in +black and lowering, when Robin turned aside from the main track, to seek +an asylum for the night, along a narrow way that led between rocky and +woody hills. A peasant observed the pilgrims as they entered that narrow +pass, and called after them: “Whither go you, my masters? there are +rogues in that direction.” + +“Can you show us a direction,” said Robin, “in which there are none? If +so we will take it in preference.” The peasant grinned, and walked away +whistling. + +The pass widened as they advanced, and the woods grew thicker and darker +around them. Their path wound along the slope of a woody declivity, +which rose high above them in a thick rampart of foliage, and descended +almost precipitously to the bed of a small river, which they heard +dashing in its rocky channel, and saw its white foam gleaming at +intervals in the last faint glimmerings of twilight. In a short time all +was dark, and the rising voice of the wind foretold a coming storm. They +turned a point of the valley, and saw a light below them in the depth +of the hollow, shining through a cottage-casement and dancing in its +reflection on the restless stream. Robin blew his horn, which was +answered from below. The cottage door opened: a boy came forth with a +torch, ascended the steep, showed tokens of great delight at meeting +with Robin, and lighted them down a flight of steps rudely cut in the +rock, and over a series of rugged stepping-stones, that crossed +the channel of the river. They entered the cottage, which exhibited +neatness, comfort, and plenty, being amply enriched with pots, pans, +and pipkins, and adorned with flitches of bacon and sundry similar +ornaments, that gave goodly promise in the firelight that gleamed upon +the rafters. A woman, who seemed just old enough to be the boy’s mother, +had thrown down her spinning wheel in her joy at the sound of Robin’s +horn, and was bustling with singular alacrity to set forth her festal +ware and prepare an abundant supper. Her features, though not beautiful, +were agreeable and expressive, and were now lighted up with such +manifest joy at the sight of Robin, that Marian could not help feeling a +momentary touch of jealousy, and a half-formed suspicion that Robin had +broken his forest law, and had occasionally gone out of bounds, as other +great men have done upon occasion, in order to reconcile the breach +of the spirit, with the preservation of the letter, of their own +legislation. However, this suspicion, if it could be said to exist in a +mind so generous as Marian’s, was very soon dissipated by the entrance +of the woman’s husband, who testified as much joy as his wife had done +at the sight of Robin; and in a short time the whole of the party were +amicably seated round a smoking supper of river-fish and wild wood fowl, +on which the baron fell with as much alacrity as if he had been a true +pilgrim from Palestine. + +The husband produced some recondite flasks of wine, which were laid by +in a binn consecrated to Robin, whose occasional visits to them in his +wanderings were the festal days of these warm-hearted cottagers, whose +manners showed that they had not been born to this low estate. Their +story had no mystery, and Marian easily collected it from the tenour of +their conversation. The young man had been, like Robin, the victim of an +usurious abbot, and had been outlawed for debt, and his nut-brown maid +had accompanied him to the depths of Sherwood, where they lived an +unholy and illegitimate life, killing the king’s deer, and never hearing +mass. In this state, Robin, then earl of Huntingdon, discovered them +in one of his huntings, and gave them aid and protection. When Robin +himself became an outlaw, the necessary qualification or gift of +continency was too hard a law for our lovers to subscribe to; and +as they were thus disqualified for foresters, Robin had found them a +retreat in this romantic and secluded spot. He had done similar service +to other lovers similarly circumstanced, and had disposed them in +various wild scenes which he and his men had discovered in their +flittings from place to place, supplying them with all necessaries and +comforts from the reluctant disgorgings of fat abbots and usurers. The +benefit was in some measure mutual; for these cottages served him as +resting-places in his removals, and enabled him to travel untraced and +unmolested; and in the delight with which he was always received he +found himself even more welcome than he would have been at an inn; +and this is saying very much for gratitude and affection together. +The smiles which surrounded him were of his own creation, and he +participated in the happiness he had bestowed. + +The casements began to rattle in the wind, and the rain to beat upon +the windows. The wind swelled to a hurricane, and the rain dashed like +a flood against the glass. The boy retired to his little bed, the wife +trimmed the lamp, the husband heaped logs upon the fire: Robin broached +another flask; and Marian filled the baron’s cup, and sweetened Robin’s +by touching its edge with her lips. + +“Well,” said the baron, “give me a roof over my head, be it never so +humble. Your greenwood canopy is pretty and pleasant in sunshine; but if +I were doomed to live under it, I should wish it were water-tight.” + +“But,” said Robin, “we have tents and caves for foul weather, good store +of wine and venison, and fuel in abundance.” + +“Ay, but,” said the baron, “I like to pull off my boots of a night, +which you foresters seldom do, and to ensconce myself thereafter in +a comfortable bed. Your beech-root is over-hard for a couch, and your +mossy stump is somewhat rough for a bolster.” + +“Had you not dry leaves,” said Robin, “with a bishop’s surplice over +them? What would you have softer? And had you not an abbot’s travelling +cloak for a coverlet? What would you have warmer?” + +“Very true,” said the baron, “but that was an indulgence to a guest, and +I dreamed all night of the sheriff of Nottingham. I like to feel myself +safe,” he added, stretching out his legs to the fire, and throwing +himself back in his chair with the air of a man determined to be +comfortable. “I like to feel myself safe,” said the baron. + +At that moment the woman caught her husband’s arm, and all the party +following the direction of her eyes, looked simultaneously to the +window, where they had just time to catch a glimpse of an apparition of +an armed head, with its plumage tossing in the storm, on which the light +shone from within, and which disappeared immediately. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + + O knight, thou lack’st a cup of canary. + When did I see thee so put down?--Twelfth Night. + + +Several knocks, as from the knuckles of an iron glove, were given to the +door of the cottage, and a voice was heard entreating shelter from the +storm for a traveller who had lost his way. Robin arose and went to the +door. + +“What are you?” said Robin. + +“A soldier,” replied the voice: “an unfortunate adherent of Longchamp, +flying the vengeance of Prince John.” + +“Are you alone?” said Robin. + +“Yes,” said the voice: “it is a dreadful night. Hospitable cottagers, +pray give me admittance. I would not have asked it but for the storm. I +would have kept my watch in the woods.” + +“That I believe,” said Robin. “You did not reckon on the storm when you +turned into this pass. Do you know there are rogues this way?” + +“I do,” said the voice. + +“So do I,” said Robin. + +A pause ensued, during which Robin listening attentively caught a faint +sound of whispering. + +“You are not alone,” said Robin. “Who are your companions?” + +“None but the wind and the water,” said the voice, “and I would I had +them not.” + +“The wind and the water have many voices,” said Robin, “but I never +before heard them say, What shall we do?” + +Another pause ensued: after which, + +“Look ye, master cottager,” said the voice, in an altered tone, “if you +do not let us in willingly, we will break down the door.” + +“Ho! ho!” roared the baron, “you are become plural are you, rascals? How +many are there of you, thieves? What, I warrant, you thought to rob and +murder a poor harmless cottager and his wife, and did not dream of a +garrison? You looked for no weapon of opposition but spit, poker, and +basting ladle, wielded by unskilful hands: but, rascals, here is short +sword and long cudgel in hands well tried in war, wherewith you shall be +drilled into cullenders and beaten into mummy.” + +No reply was made, but furious strokes from without resounded upon the +door. Robin, Marian, and the baron threw by their pilgrim’s attire, and +stood in arms on the defensive. They were provided with swords, and the +cottager gave them bucklers and helmets, for all Robin’s haunts were +furnished with secret armouries. But they kept their swords sheathed, +and the baron wielded a ponderous spear, which he pointed towards the +door ready to run through the first that should enter, and Robin and +Marian each held a bow with the arrow drawn to its head and pointed in +the same direction. The cottager flourished a strong cudgel (a weapon +in the use of which he prided himself on being particularly expert), and +the wife seized the spit from the fireplace, and held it as she saw the +baron hold his spear. The storm of wind and rain continued to beat on +the roof and the casement, and the storm of blows to resound upon the +door, which at length gave way with a violent crash, and a cluster of +armed men appeared without, seemingly not less than twelve. Behind +them rolled the stream now changed from a gentle and shallow river to a +mighty and impetuous torrent, roaring in waves of yellow foam, partially +reddened by the light that streamed through the open door, and turning +up its convulsed surface in flashes of shifting radiance from restless +masses of half-visible shadow. The stepping-stones, by which the +intruders must have crossed, were buried under the waters. On the +opposite bank the light fell on the stems and boughs of the rock-rooted +oak and ash tossing and swaying in the blast, and sweeping the flashing +spray with their leaves. + +The instant the door broke, Robin and Marian loosed their arrows. +Robin’s arrow struck one of the assailants in the juncture of the +shoulder, and disabled his right arm: Marian’s struck a second in the +juncture of the knee, and rendered him unserviceable; for the night. +The baron’s long spear struck on the mailed breastplate of a third, and +being stretched to its full extent by the long-armed hero, drove him to +the edge of the torrent, and plunged him into its eddies, along which he +was whirled down the darkness of the descending stream, calling vainly +on his comrades for aid, till his voice was lost in the mingled roar of +the waters and the wind. A fourth springing through the door was laid +prostrate by the cottager’s cudgel: but the wife being less dexterous +than her company, though an Amazon in strength, missed her pass at a +fifth, and drove the point of the spit several inches into the right +hand door-post as she stood close to the left, and thus made a new +barrier which the invaders could not pass without dipping under it and +submitting their necks to the sword: but one of the assailants seizing +it with gigantic rage, shook it at once from the grasp of its holder +and from its lodgment in the post, and at the same time made good the +irruption of the rest of his party into the cottage. + +Now raged an unequal combat, for the assailants fell two to one on +Robin, Marian, the baron, and the cottager; while the wife, being +deprived of her spit, converted every thing that was at hand to a +missile, and rained pots, pans, and pipkins on the armed heads of the +enemy. The baron raged like a tiger, and the cottager laid about him +like a thresher. One of the soldiers struck Robin’s sword from his hand +and brought him on his knee, when the boy, who had been roused by the +tumult and had been peeping through the inner door, leaped forward in +his shirt, picked up the sword and replaced it in Robin’s hand, who +instantly springing up, disarmed and wounded one of his antagonists, +while the other was laid prostrate under the dint of a brass cauldron +launched by the Amazonian dame. Robin now turned to the aid of Marian, +who was parrying most dexterously the cuts and slashes of her two +assailants, of whom Robin delivered her from one, while a well-applied +blow of her sword struck off the helmet of the other, who fell on his +knees to beg a boon, and she recognised Sir Ralph Montfaucon. The men +who were engaged with the baron and the peasant, seeing their leader +subdued, immediately laid down their arms and cried for quarter. The +wife brought some strong rope, and the baron tied their arms behind +them. + +“Now, Sir Ralph,” said Marian, “once more you are at my mercy.” + +“That I always am, cruel beauty,” said the discomfited lover. + +“Odso! courteous knight,” said the baron, “is this the return you make +for my beef and canary, when you kissed my daughter’s hand in token of +contrition for your intermeddling at her wedding? Heart, I am glad to +see she has given you a bloody coxcomb. Slice him down, Mawd! slice him +down, and fling him into the river.” + +“Confess,” said Marian, “what brought you here, and how did you trace +our steps?” + +“I will confess nothing,” said the knight. + +“Then confess you, rascal,” said the baron, holding his sword to the +throat of the captive squire. + +“Take away the sword,” said the squire, “it is too near my mouth, and +my voice will not come out for fear: take away the sword, and I will +confess all.” The baron dropped his sword, and the squire proceeded; +“Sir Ralph met you, as you quitted Lady Falkland’s castle, and by +representing to her who you were, borrowed from her such a number of +her retainers as he deemed must ensure your capture, seeing that your +familiar the friar was not at your elbow. We set forth without delay, +and traced you first by means of a peasant who saw you turn into this +valley, and afterwards by the light from the casement of this solitary +dwelling. Our design was to have laid an ambush for you in the morning, +but the storm and your observation of my unlucky face through the +casement made us change our purpose; and what followed you can tell +better than I can, being indeed masters of the subject.” + +“You are a merry knave,” said the baron, “and here is a cup of wine for +you.” + +“Gramercy,” said the squire, “and better late than never: but I lacked a +cup of this before. Had I been pot-valiant, I had held you play.” + +“Sir knight,” said Marian, “this is the third time you have sought the +life of my lord and of me, for mine is interwoven with his. And do you +think me so spiritless as to believe that I can be yours by compulsion? +Tempt me not again, for the next time shall be the last, and the fish of +the nearest river shall commute the flesh of a recreant knight into the +fast-day dinner of an uncarnivorous friar. I spare you now, not in pity +but in scorn. Yet shall you swear to a convention never more to pursue +or molest my lord or me, and on this condition you shall live.” + +The knight had no alternative but to comply, and swore, on the honour of +knighthood, to keep the convention inviolate. How well he kept his oath +we shall have no opportunity of narrating: Di lui la nostra istoria piu +non parla. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + Carry me over the water, thou fine fellowe.--Old Ballad. + + +The pilgrims, without experiencing further molestation, arrived at the +retreat of Sir Guy of Gamwell. They found the old knight a cup too low; +partly from being cut off from the scenes of his old hospitality and the +shouts of his Nottinghamshire vassals, who were wont to make the rafters +of his ancient hall re-echo to their revelry; but principally from being +parted from his son, who had long been the better half of his flask and +pasty. The arrival of our visitors cheered him up; and finding that +the baron was to remain with him, he testified his delight and the +cordiality of his welcome by pegging him in the ribs till he made him +roar. + +Robin and Marian took an affectionate leave of the baron and the old +knight; and before they quitted the vicinity of Barnsdale, deeming +it prudent to return in a different disguise, they laid aside their +pilgrim’s attire, and assumed the habits and appurtenances of wandering +minstrels. + +They travelled in this character safely and pleasantly, till one evening +at a late hour they arrived by the side of a river, where Robin looking +out for a mode of passage perceived a ferry-boat safely moored in a nook +on the opposite bank; near which a chimney sending up a wreath of smoke +through the thick-set willows, was the only symptom of human habitation; +and Robin naturally conceiving the said chimney and wreath of smoke to +be the outward signs of the inward ferryman, shouted “Over!” with much +strength and clearness; but no voice replied, and no ferryman appeared. +Robin raised his voice, and shouted with redoubled energy, “Over, Over, +O-o-o-over!” A faint echo alone responded “Over!” and again died away +into deep silence: but after a brief interval a voice from among the +willows, in a strange kind of mingled intonation that was half a shout +and half a song, answered: + + Over, over, over, jolly, jolly rover, + Would you then come over? Over, over, over? + Jolly, jolly rover, here’s one lives in clover: + Who finds the clover? The jolly, jolly rover. + He finds the clover, let him then come over, + The jolly, jolly rover, over, over, over, + + +“I much doubt,” said Marian, “if this ferryman do not mean by clover +something more than the toll of his ferry-boat.” + +“I doubt not,” answered Robin, “he is a levier of toll and tithe, which +I shall put him upon proof of his right to receive, by making trial of +his might to enforce.” + +The ferryman emerged from the willows and stepped into his boat. “As I +live,” exclaimed Robin, “the ferryman is a friar.” + +“With a sword,” said Marian, “stuck in his rope girdle.” + +The friar pushed his boat off manfully, and was presently half over the +river. + +“It is friar Tuck,” said Marian. + +“He will scarcely know us,” said Robin; “and if he do not, I will break +a staff with him for sport.” + +The friar came singing across the water: the boat touched the land: +Robin and Marian stepped on board: the friar pushed off again. + +“Silken doublets, silken doublets,” said the friar: “slenderly lined, I +bow: your wandering minstrel is always poor toll: your sweet angels of +voices pass current for a bed and a supper at the house of every +lord that likes to hear the fame of his valour without the trouble of +fighting for it. What need you of purse or pouch? You may sing before +thieves. Pedlars, pedlars: wandering from door to door with the small +ware of lies and cajolery: exploits for carpet-knights; honesty for +courtiers; truth for monks, and chastity for nuns: a good saleable stock +that costs the vender nothing, defies wear and tear, and when it has +served a hundred customers is as plentiful and as marketable as ever. +But, sirrahs, I’ll none of your balderdash. You pass not hence without +clink of brass, or I’ll knock your musical noddles together till +they ring like a pair of cymbals. That will be a new tune for your +minstrelships.” + +This friendly speech of the friar ended as they stepped on the opposite +bank. Robin had noticed as they passed that the summer stream was low. + +“Why, thou brawling mongrel,” said Robin, “that whether thou be thief, +friar, or ferryman, or an ill-mixed compound of all three, passes +conjecture, though I judge thee to be simple thief, what barkest thou +at thus? Villain, there is clink of brass for thee. Dost thou see this +coin? Dost thou hear this music? Look and listen: for touch thou shalt +not: my minstrelship defies thee. Thou shalt carry me on thy back over +the water, and receive nothing but a cracked sconce for thy trouble.” + +“A bargain,” said the friar: “for the water is low, the labour is light, +and the reward is alluring.” And he stooped down for Robin, who mounted +his back, and the friar waded with him over the river. + +“Now, fine fellow,” said the friar, “thou shalt carry me back over the +water, and thou shalt have a cracked sconce for thy trouble.” + +Robin took the friar on his back, and waded with him into the middle +of the river, when by a dexterous jerk he suddenly flung him off and +plunged him horizontally over head and ears in the water. Robin waded to +shore, and the friar, half swimming and half scrambling, followed. + +“Fine fellow, fine fellow,” said the friar, “now will I pay thee thy +cracked sconce.” + +“Not so,” said Robin, “I have not earned it: but thou hast earned it, +and shalt have it.” + +It was not, even in those good old times, a sight of every day to see a +troubadour and a friar playing at single-stick by the side of a river, +each aiming with fell intent at the other’s coxcomb. The parties were +both so skilled in attack and defence, that their mutual efforts for a +long time expended themselves in quick and loud rappings on each other’s +oaken staves. At length Robin by a dexterous feint contrived to score +one on the friar’s crown: but in the careless moment of triumph a +splendid sweep of the friar’s staff struck Robin’s out of his hand into +the middle of the river, and repaid his crack on the head with a degree +of vigour that might have passed the bounds of a jest if Marian had not +retarded its descent by catching the friar’s arm. + +“How now, recreant friar,” said Marian; “what have you to say why you +should not suffer instant execution, being detected in open rebellion +against your liege lord? Therefore kneel down, traitor, and submit your +neck to the sword of the offended law.” + +“Benefit of clergy,” said the friar: “I plead my clergy. And is it you +indeed, ye scapegraces? Ye are well disguised: I knew ye not, by my +flask. Robin, jolly Robin, he buys a jest dearly that pays for it with +a bloody coxcomb. But here is balm for all bruises, outward and inward. +(The friar produced a flask of canary.) Wash thy wound twice and thy +throat thrice with this solar concoction, and thou shalt marvel where +was thy hurt. But what moved ye to this frolic? Knew ye not that ye +could not appear in a mask more fashioned to move my bile than in that +of these gilders and lackerers of the smooth surface of worthlessness, +that bring the gold of true valour into disrepute, by stamping the baser +metal with the fairer im-pression? I marvelled to find any such given +to fighting (for they have an old instinct of self-preservation): but +I rejoiced thereat, that I might discuss to them poetical justice: +and therefore have I cracked thy sconce: for which, let this be thy +medicine.” + +“But wherefore,” said Marian, “do we find you here, when we left you +joint lord warden of Sherwood?” + +“I do but retire to my devotions,” replied the friar. “This is my +hermitage, in which I first took refuge when I escaped from my beloved +brethren of Rubygill; and to which I still retreat at times from the +vanities of the world, which else might cling to me too closely, since +I have been promoted to be peer-spiritual of your forest-court. For, +indeed, I do find in myself certain indications and admonitions that my +day has past its noon; and none more cogent than this: that daily of +bad wine I grow more intolerant, and of good wine have a keener and +more fastidious relish. There is no surer symptom of receding years. The +ferryman is my faithful varlet. I send him on some pious errand, that I +may meditate in ghostly privacy, when my presence in the forest can best +be spared: and when can it be better spared than now, seeing that +the neighbourhood of Prince John, and his incessant perquisitions for +Marian, have made the forest too hot to hold more of us than are +needful to keep up a quorum, and preserve unbroken the continuity of +our forest-dominion? For, in truth, without your greenwood majesties, we +have hardly the wit to live in a body, and at the same time to keep our +necks out of jeopardy, while that arch-rebel and traitor John infests +the precincts of our territory.” + +The friar now conducted them to his peaceful cell, where he spread his +frugal board with fish, venison, wild-fowl, fruit, and canary. Under the +compound operation of this materia medica Robin’s wounds healed apace, +and the friar, who hated minstrelsy, began as usual chirping in his +cups. Robin and Marian chimed in with his tuneful humour till the +midnight moon peeped in upon their revelry. + +It was now the very witching time of night, when they heard a voice +shouting, “Over!” They paused to listen, and the voice repeated “Over!” + in accents clear and loud, but which at the same time either were in +themselves, or seemed to be, from the place and the hour, singularly +plaintive and dreary. The friar fidgetted about in his seat: fell into a +deep musing: shook himself, and looked about him: first at Marian, then +at Robin, then at Marian again; filled and tossed off a cup of canary, +and relapsed into his reverie. + +“Will you not bring your passenger over?” said Robin. The friar shook +his head and looked mysterious. + +“That passenger,” said the friar, “will never come over. Every full +moon, at midnight, that voice calls, ‘Over!’ I and my varlet have more +than once obeyed the summons, and we have sometimes had a glimpse of a +white figure under the opposite trees: but when the boat has touched the +bank, nothing has been to be seen; and the voice has been heard no more +till the midnight of the next full moon.” + +“It is very strange,” said Robin. + +“Wondrous strange,” said the friar, looking solemn. + +The voice again called “Over!” in a long plaintive musical cry. + +“I must go to it,” said the friar, “or it will give us no peace. I would +all my customers were of this world. I begin to think that I am Charon, +and that this river is Styx.” + +“I will go with you, friar,” said Robin. + +“By my flask,” said the friar, “but you shall not.” + +“Then I will,” said Marian. + +“Still less,” said the friar, hurrying out of the cell. Robin and Marian +followed: but the friar outstepped them, and pushed off his boat. + +A white figure was visible under the shade of the opposite trees. +The boat approached the shore, and the figure glided away. The friar +returned. + +They re-entered the cottage, and sat some time conversing on the +phenomenon they had seen. The friar sipped his wine, and after a time, +said: + +“There is a tradition of a damsel who was drowned here some years ago. +The tradition is----” + +But the friar could not narrate a plain tale: he therefore cleared his +throat, and sang with due solemnity, in a ghostly voice: + + A damsel came in midnight rain, + And called across the ferry: + The weary wight she called in vain, + Whose senses sleep did bury. + At evening, from her father’s door + She turned to meet her lover: + At midnight, on the lonely shore, + She shouted “Over, over!” + + She had not met him by the tree + Of their accustomed meeting, + And sad and sick at heart was she, + Her heart all wildly beating. + In chill suspense the hours went by, + The wild storm burst above her: + She turned her to the river nigh, + And shouted, “Over, over!” + + A dim, discoloured, doubtful light + The moon’s dark veil permitted, + And thick before her troubled sight + Fantastic shadows flitted. + Her lover’s form appeared to glide, + And beckon o’er the water: + Alas! his blood that morn had dyed + Her brother’s sword with slaughter. + + Upon a little rock she stood, + To make her invocation: + She marked not that the rain-swoll’n flood + Was islanding her station. + The tempest mocked her feeble cry: + No saint his aid would give her: + The flood swelled high and yet more high, + And swept her down the river. + + Yet oft beneath the pale moonlight, + When hollow winds are blowing, + The shadow of that maiden bright + Glides by the dark stream’s flowing. + And when the storms of midnight rave, + While clouds the broad moon cover, + The wild gusts waft across the wave + The cry of, “Over, over!” + + +While the friar was singing, Marian was meditating: and when he had +ended she said, “Honest friar, you have misplaced your tradition, which +belongs to the aestuary of a nobler river, where the damsel was +swept away by the rising of the tide, for which your land-flood is an +indifferent substitute. But the true tradition of this stream I think I +myself possess, and I will narrate it in your own way: + + It was a friar of orders free, + A friar of Rubygill: + At the greenwood-tree a vow made he, + But he kept it very ill: + A vow made he of chastity, + But he kept it very ill. + He kept it, perchance, in the conscious shade + Of the bounds of the forest wherein it was made: + But he roamed where he listed, as free as the wind, + And he left his good vow in the forest behind: + For its woods out of sight were his vow out of mind, + With the friar of Rubygill. + + In lonely hut himself he shut, + The friar of Rubygill; + Where the ghostly elf absolved himself, + To follow his own good will: + And he had no lack of canary sack, + To keep his conscience still. + And a damsel well knew, when at lonely midnight + It gleamed on the waters, his signal-lamp-light: + “Over! over!” she warbled with nightingale throat, + And the friar sprung forth at the magical note, + And she crossed the dark stream in his trim ferryboat, + With the friar of Rubygill.” + + +“Look you now,” said Robin, “if the friar does not blush. Many strange +sights have I seen in my day, but never till this moment did I see a +blushing friar.” + +“I think,” said the friar, “you never saw one that blushed not, or +you saw good canary thrown away. But you are welcome to laugh if it so +please you. None shall laugh in my company, though it be at my expense, +but I will have my share of the merriment. The world is a stage, +and life is a farce, and he that laughs most has most profit of the +performance. The worst thing is good enough to be laughed at, though +it be good for nothing else; and the best thing, though it be good for +something else, is good for nothing better.” + +And he struck up a song in praise of laughing and quaffing, without +further adverting to Marian’s insinuated accusation; being, perhaps, +of opinion, that it was a subject on which the least said would be the +soonest mended. + +So passed the night. In the morning a forester came to the friar, with +intelligence that Prince John had been compelled, by the urgency of +his affairs in other quarters, to disembarrass Nottingham Castle of +his royal presence. Our wanderers returned joyfully to their +forest-dominion, being thus relieved from the vicinity of any more +formidable belligerent than their old bruised and beaten enemy the +sheriff of Nottingham. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + Oh! this life + Is nobler than attending for a check, + Richer than doing nothing for a bribe + Prouder than rustling in unpaid-for silk.--Cymbeline. + + +So Robin and Marian dwelt and reigned in the forest, ranging the glades +and the greenwoods from the matins of the lark to the vespers of the +nightingale, and administering natural justice according to Robin’s +ideas of rectifying the inequalities of human condition: raising +genial dews from the bags of the rich and idle, and returning them in +fertilising showers on the poor and industrious: an operation which more +enlightened statesmen have happily reversed, to the unspeakable benefit +of the community at large. The light footsteps of Marian were impressed +on the morning dew beside the firmer step of her lover, and they shook +its large drops about them as they cleared themselves a passage through +the thick tall fern, without any fear of catching cold, which was not +much in fashion in the twelfth century. Robin was as hospitable as +Cathmor; for seven men stood on seven paths to call the stranger to his +feast. It is true, he superadded the small improvement of making the +stranger pay for it: than which what could be more generous? For Cathmor +was himself the prime giver of his feast, whereas Robin was only +the agent to a series of strangers, who provided in turn for +the entertainment of their successors; which is carrying the +disinterestedness of hospitality to its acme. Marian often killed the +deer, + + Which Scarlet dressed, and Friar Tuck blessed + While Little John wandered in search of a guest. + +Robin was very devout, though there was great unity in his religion: it +was exclusively given to our Lady the Virgin, and he never set forth in +a morning till he had said three prayers, and had heard the sweet voice +of his Marian singing a hymn to their mutual patroness. Each of his men +had, as usual, a patron saint according to his name or taste. The +friar chose a saint for himself, and fixed on Saint Botolph, whom he +euphonised into Saint Bottle, and maintained that he was that very +Panomphic Pantagruelian saint, well known in ancient France as a female +divinity, by the name of La Dive Bouteille, whose oracular monosyllable +“Trincq,” is celebrated and under-stood by all nations, and is +expounded by the learned doctor Alcofribas, [6] who has treated at large +on the subject, to signify “drink.” Saint Bottle, then, was the saint of +Friar Tuck, who did not yield even to Robin and Marian in the assiduity +of his devotions to his chosen patron. Such was their summer life, and +in their winter caves they had sufficient furniture, ample provender, +store of old wine, and assuredly no lack of fuel, with joyous music and +pleasant discourse to charm away the season of darkness and storms. + + +The reader who desires to know more about this oracular divinity, may +consult the said doctor Alcofribas Nasier, who will usher him into the +adytum through the medium of the high priestess Bacbuc. + + +Many moons had waxed and waned, when on the afternoon of a lovely +summer day a lusty broad-boned knight was riding through the forest +of Sherwood. The sun shone brilliantly on the full green foliage, and +afforded the knight a fine opportunity of observing picturesque effects, +of which it is to be feared he did not avail himself. But he had not +proceeded far, before he had an opportunity of observing something +much more interesting, namely, a fine young outlaw leaning, in the true +Sherwood fashion, with his back against a tree. The knight was preparing +to ask the stranger a question, the answer to which, if correctly given, +would have relieved him from a doubt that pressed heavily on his mind, +as to whether he was in the right road or the wrong, when the youth +prevented the inquiry by saying: “In God’s name, sir knight, you are +late to your meals. My master has tarried dinner for you these three +hours.” + +“I doubt,” said the knight, “I am not he you wot of. I am no where +bidden to day and I know none in this vicinage.” + +“We feared,” said the youth, “your memory would be treacherous: +therefore am I stationed here to refresh it.” + +“Who is your master?” said the knight; “and where does he abide?” + +“My master,” said the youth, “is called Robin Hood, and he abides hard +by.” + +“And what knows he of me?” said the knight. + +“He knows you,” answered the youth “as he does every way-faring knight +and friar, by instinct.” + +“Gramercy,” said the knight; “then I understand his bidding: but how if +I say I will not come?” + +“I am enjoined to bring you,” said the youth. “If persuasion avail not, +I must use other argument.” + +“Say’st thou so?” said the knight; “I doubt if thy stripling rhetoric +would convince me.” + +“That,” said the young forester, “we will see.” + +“We are not equally matched, boy,” said the knight. “I should get less +honour by thy conquest, than grief by thy injury.” + +“Perhaps,” said the youth, “my strength is more than my seeming, and my +cunning more than my strength. Therefore let it please your knighthood +to dismount.” + +“It shall please my knighthood to chastise thy presumption,” said the +knight, springing from his saddle. + +Hereupon, which in those days was usually the result of a meeting +between any two persons anywhere, they proceeded to fight. + +The knight had in an uncommon degree both strength and skill: the +forester had less strength, but not less skill than the knight, and +showed such a mastery of his weapon as reduced the latter to great +admiration. + +They had not fought many minutes by the forest clock, the sun; and had +as yet done each other no worse injury than that the knight had wounded +the forester’s jerkin, and the forester had disabled the knight’s plume; +when they were interrupted by a voice from a thicket, exclaiming, “Well +fought, girl: well fought. Mass, that had nigh been a shrewd hit. Thou +owest him for that, lass. Marry, stand by, I’ll pay him for thee.” + +The knight turning to the voice, beheld a tall friar issuing from the +thicket, brandishing a ponderous cudgel. + +“Who art thou?” said the knight. + +“I am the church militant of Sherwood,” answered the friar. “Why art +thou in arms against our lady queen?” + +“What meanest thou?” said the knight. + +“Truly, this,” said the friar, “is our liege lady of the forest, against +whom I do apprehend thee in overt act of treason. What sayest thou for +thyself?” + +“I say,” answered the knight, “that if this be indeed a lady, man never +yet held me so long.” + +“Spoken,” said the friar, “like one who hath done execution. Hast thou +thy stomach full of steel? Wilt thou diversify thy repast with a taste +of my oak-graff? Or wilt thou incline thine heart to our venison which +truly is cooling? Wilt thou fight? or wilt thou dine? or wilt thou fight +and dine? or wilt thou dine and fight? I am for thee, choose as thou +mayest.” + +“I will dine,” said the knight; “for with lady I never fought before, +and with friar I never fought yet, and with neither will I ever fight +knowingly: and if this be the queen of the forest, I will not, being in +her own dominions, be backward to do her homage.” + +So saying, he kissed the hand of Marian, who was pleased most graciously +to express her approbation. + +“Gramercy, sir knight,” said the friar, “I laud thee for thy courtesy, +which I deem to be no less than thy valour. Now do thou follow me, while +I follow my nose, which scents the pleasant odour of roast from the +depth of the forest recesses. I will lead thy horse, and do thou lead my +lady.” + +The knight took Marian’s hand, and followed the friar, who walked before +them, singing: + + When the wind blows, when the wind blows + From where under buck the dry log glows, + What guide can you follow, + O’er brake and o’er hollow, + So true as a ghostly, ghostly nose? + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + Robin and Richard were two pretty men. + --Mother Goose’s Melody. + + +They proceeded, following their infallible guide, first along a light +elastic greensward under the shade of lofty and wide-spreading trees +that skirted a sunny opening of the forest, then along labyrinthine +paths, which the deer, the outlaw, or the woodman had made, through the +close shoots of the young coppices, through the thick undergrowth of +the ancient woods, through beds of gigantic fern that filled the narrow +glades and waved their green feathery heads above the plume of the +knight. Along these sylvan alleys they walked in single file; the friar +singing and pioneering in the van, the horse plunging and floundering +behind the friar, the lady following “in maiden meditation fancy free,” + and the knight bringing up the rear, much marvelling at the strange +company into which his stars had thrown him. Their path had expanded +sufficiently to allow the knight to take Marian’s hand again, when they +arrived in the august presence of Robin Hood and his court. + +Robin’s table was spread under a high overarching canopy of living +boughs, on the edge of a natural lawn of verdure starred with flowers, +through which a swift transparent rivulet ran sparkling in the sun. The +board was covered with abundance of choice food and excellent liquor, +not without the comeliness of snow-white linen and the splendour +of costly plate, which the sheriff of Nottingham had unwillingly +contributed to supply, at the same time with an excellent cook, whom +Little John’s art had spirited away to the forest with the contents of +his master’s silver scullery. + +An hundred foresters were here assembled over-ready for their dinner, +some seated at the table and some lying in groups under the trees. + +Robin bade courteous welcome to the knight, who took his seat between +Robin and Marian at the festal board; at which was already placed one +strange guest in the person of a portly monk, sitting between Little +John and Scarlet, with, his rotund physiognomy elongated into an +unnatural oval by the conjoint influence of sorrow and fear: sorrow for +the departed contents of his travelling treasury, a good-looking valise +which was hanging empty on a bough; and fear for his personal safety, +of which all the flasks and pasties before him could not give him +assurance. The appearance of the knight, however, cheered him up with +a semblance of protection, and gave him just sufficient courage to +demolish a cygnet and a rumble-pie, which he diluted with the contents +of two flasks of canary sack. + +But wine, which sometimes creates and often increases joy, doth also, +upon occasion, heighten sorrow: and so it fared now with our portly +monk, who had no sooner explained away his portion of provender, than he +began to weep and bewail himself bitterly. + +“Why dost thou weep, man?” said Robin Hood. “Thou hast done thine +embassy justly, and shalt have thy Lady’s grace.” + +“Alack! alack!” said the monk: “no embassy had I, luckless sinner, +as well thou wottest, but to take to my abbey in safety the treasure +whereof thou hast despoiled me.” + +“Propound me his case,” said Friar Tuck, “and I will give him ghostly +counsel.” + +“You well remember,” said Robin Hood, “the sorrowful knight who dined +with us here twelve months and a day gone by.” + +“Well do I,” said Friar Tuck. “His lands were in jeopardy with a certain +abbot, who would allow him no longer day for their redemption. Whereupon +you lent to him the four hundred pounds which he needed, and which he +was to repay this day, though he had no better security to give than our +Lady the Virgin.” + +“I never desired better,” said Robin, “for she never yet failed to +send me my pay; and here is one of her own flock, this faithful and +well-favoured monk of St. Mary’s, hath brought it me duly, principal and +interest to a penny, as Little John can testify, who told it forth. To +be sure, he denied having it, but that was to prove our faith. We sought +and found it.” + +“I know nothing of your knight,” said the monk: “and the money was our +own, as the Virgin shall bless me.” + +“She shall bless thee,” said Friar Tuck, “for a faithful messenger.” + +The monk resumed his wailing. Little John brought him his horse. Robin +gave him leave to depart. He sprang with singular nimbleness into the +saddle, and vanished without saying, God give you good day. + +The stranger knight laughed heartily as the monk rode off. + +“They say, sir knight,” said Friar Tuck, “they should laugh who win: but +thou laughest who art likely to lose.” + +“I have won,” said the knight, “a good dinner, some mirth, and some +knowledge: and I cannot lose by paying for them.” + +“Bravely said,” answered Robin. “Still it becomes thee to pay: for it is +not meet that a poor forester should treat a rich knight. How much money +hast thou with thee?” + +“Troth, I know not,” said the knight. “Sometimes much, sometimes little, +sometimes none. But search, and what thou findest, keep: and for the +sake of thy kind heart and open hand, be it what it may, I shall wish it +were more.” + +“Then, since thou sayest so,” said Robin, “not a penny will I touch. +Many a false churl comes hither, and disburses against his will: and +till there is lack of these, I prey not on true men.” + +“Thou art thyself a true man, right well I judge, Robin,” said the +stranger knight, “and seemest more like one bred in court than to thy +present outlaw life.” + +“Our life,” said the friar, “is a craft, an art, and a mystery. How much +of it, think you, could be learned at court?” + +“Indeed, I cannot say,” said the stranger knight: “but I should +apprehend very little.” + +“And so should I,” said the friar: “for we should find very little +of our bold open practice, but should hear abundance of praise of our +principles. To live in seeming fellowship and secret rivalry; to have a +hand for all, and a heart for none; to be everybody’s acquaintance, and +nobody’s friend; to meditate the ruin of all on whom we smile, and to +dread the secret stratagems of all who smile on us; to pilfer honours +and despoil fortunes, not by fighting in daylight, but by sapping in +darkness: these are arts which the court can teach, but which we, by ‘r +Lady, have not learned. But let your court-minstrel tune up his throat +to the praise of your court-hero, then come our principles into play: +then is our practice extolled not by the same name, for their Richard +is a hero, and our Robin is a thief: marry, your hero guts an exchequer, +while your thief disembowels a portmanteau, your hero sacks a city, +while your thief sacks a cellar: your hero marauds on a larger scale, +and that is all the difference, for the principle and the virtue are +one: but two of a trade cannot agree: therefore your hero makes laws to +get rid of your thief, and gives him an ill name that he may hang him: +for might is right, and the strong make laws for the weak, and they that +make laws to serve their own turn do also make morals to give colour to +their laws.” + +“Your comparison, friar,” said the stranger, “fails in this: that your +thief fights for profit, and your hero for honour. I have fought under +the banners of Richard, and if, as you phrase it, he guts exchequers, +and sacks cities, it is not to win treasure for himself, but to furnish +forth the means of his greater and more glorious aim.” + +“Misconceive me not, sir knight,” said the friar. “We all love and +honour King Richard, and here is a deep draught to his health: but I +would show you, that we foresters are miscalled by opprobrious names, +and that our virtues, though they follow at humble distance, are yet +truly akin to those of Coeur-de-Lion. I say not that Richard is a +thief, but I say that Robin is a hero: and for honour, did ever yet man, +miscalled thief, win greater honour than Robin? Do not all men grace him +with some honourable epithet? The most gentle thief, the most courteous +thief, the most bountiful thief, yea, and the most honest thief? Richard +is courteous, bountiful, honest, and valiant: but so also is Robin: +it is the false word that makes the unjust distinction. They are +twin-spirits, and should be friends, but that fortune hath differently +cast their lot: but their names shall descend together to the latest +days, as the flower of their age and of England: for in the pure +principles of freebootery have they excelled all men; and to the +principles of freebootery, diversely developed, belong all the qualities +to which song and story concede renown.” + +“And you may add, friar,” said Marian, “that Robin, no less than +Richard, is king in his own dominion; and that if his subjects be fewer, +yet are they more uniformly loyal.” + +“I would, fair lady,” said the stranger, “that thy latter observation +were not so true. But I nothing doubt, Robin, that if Richard could hear +your friar, and see you and your lady, as I now do, there is not a man +in England whom he would take by the hand more cordially than yourself.” + +“Gramercy, sir knight,” said Robin---- But his speech was cut short by +Little John calling, “Hark!” + +All listened. A distant trampling of horses was heard. The sounds +approached rapidly, and at length a group of horsemen glittering in +holyday dresses was visible among the trees. + +“God’s my life!” said Robin, “what means this? To arms, my merrymen +all.” + +“No arms, Robin,” said the foremost horseman, riding up and springing +from his saddle: “have you forgotten Sir William of the Lee?” + +“No, by my fay,” said Robin; “and right welcome again to Sherwood.” + +Little John bustled to re-array the disorganised economy of the table, +and replace the dilapidations of the provender. + +“I come late, Robin,” said Sir William, “but I came by a wrestling, +where I found a good yeoman wrongfully beset by a crowd of sturdy +varlets, and I staid to do him right.” + +“I thank thee for that, in God’s name,” said Robin, “as if thy good +service had been to myself.” + +“And here,” said the knight, “is thy four hundred pound; and my men have +brought thee an hundred bows and as many well-furnished quivers; which +I beseech thee to receive and to use as a poor token of my grateful +kindness to thee: for me and my wife and children didst thou redeem from +beggary.” + +“Thy bows and arrows,” said Robin, “will I joyfully receive: but of thy +money, not a penny. It is paid already. My Lady, who was thy security, +hath sent it me for thee.” + +Sir William pressed, but Robin was inflexible. + +“It is paid,” said Robin, “as this good knight can testify, who saw my +Lady’s messenger depart but now.” + +Sir William looked round to the stranger knight, and instantly fell on +his knee, saying, “God save King Richard.” + +The foresters, friar and all, dropped on their knees together, and +repeated in chorus: “God save King Richard.” + +“Rise, rise,” said Richard, smiling: “Robin is king here, as his lady +hath shown. I have heard much of thee, Robin, both of thy present and +thy former state. And this, thy fair forest-queen, is, if tales say +true, the lady Matilda Fitzwater.” + +Marian signed acknowledgment. + +“Your father,” said the king, “has approved his fidelity to me, by +the loss of his lands, which the newness of my return, and many public +cares, have not yet given me time to restore: but this justice shall be +done to him, and to thee also, Robin, if thou wilt leave thy forest-life +and resume thy earldom, and be a peer of Coeur-de-Lion: for braver heart +and juster hand I never yet found.” + +Robin looked round on his men. + +“Your followers,” said the king, “shall have free pardon, and such of +them as thou wilt part with shall have maintenance from me; and if ever +I confess to priest, it shall be to thy friar.” + +“Gramercy to your majesty,” said the friar; “and my inflictions shall +be flasks of canary; and if the number be (as in grave cases I may, +peradventure, make it) too great for one frail mortality, I will relieve +you by vicarious penance, and pour down my own throat the redundancy of +the burden.” + +Robin and his followers embraced the king’s proposal. A joyful meeting +soon followed with the baron and Sir Guy of Gamwell: and Richard himself +honoured with his own presence a formal solemnization of the nuptials of +our lovers, whom he constantly distinguished with his peculiar regard. + +The friar could not say, Farewell to the forest, without something of +a heavy heart: and he sang as he turned his back upon its bounds, +occasionally reverting his head: + + Ye woods, that oft at sultry noon + Have o’er me spread your messy shade: + Ye gushing streams, whose murmured tune + Has in my ear sweet music made, + While, where the dancing pebbles show + Deep in the restless fountain-pool + The gelid water’s upward flow, + My second flask was laid to cool: + + Ye pleasant sights of leaf and flower: + Ye pleasant sounds of bird and bee: + Ye sports of deer in sylvan bower: + Ye feasts beneath the greenwood tree: + Ye baskings in the vernal sun: + Ye slumbers in the summer dell: + Ye trophies that this arm has won: + And must ye hear your friar’s farewell? + + +But the friar’s farewell was not destined to be eternal. He was +domiciled as the family confessor of the earl and countess of +Huntingdon, who led a discreet and courtly life, and kept up old +hospitality in all its munificence, till the death of King Richard and +the usurpation of John, by placing their enemy in power, compelled them +to return to their greenwood sovereignty; which, it is probable, they +would have before done from choice, if their love of sylvan liberty +had not been counteracted by their desire to retain the friendship +of Coeur-de-Lion. Their old and tried adherents, the friar among the +foremost, flocked again round their forest-banner; and in merry Sherwood +they long lived together, the lady still retaining her former name of +Maid Marian, though the appellation was then as much a misnomer as that +of Little John. + + +THE END. + + + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 1: Roasting by a slow fire for the love of God.] + +[Footnote 2: Of these lines all that is not in italics belongs to Mr. +Wordsworth: Resolution and Independence.] + +[Footnote 3: Harp-it-on: or, a corruption of (greek ‘Erpeton), a +creeping thing.] + +[Footnote 4: + + And therefore is she called Maid Marian + Because she leads a spotless maiden life + And shall till Robin’s outlaw life have end. + --Old Play.] + +[Footnote 5: + + “These byshoppes and these archbyshoppes + Ye shall them bete and bynde,” + +says Robin Hood, in an old ballad. Perhaps, however, thus is to be taken +not in a literal, but in a figurative sense from the binding and beating +of wheat: for as all rich men were Robin’s harvest, the bishops and +archbishops must have been the finest and fattest ears among them, from +which Robin merely proposes to thresh the grain when he directs them to +be bound and beaten: and as Pharaoh’s fat kine were typical of fat ears +of wheat, so may fat ears of wheat, mutatis mutandis, be typical of fat +kine.] + +[Footnote 6: Alcofribas Nasier: an anagram of Francois Rabelais, and his +assumed appellation.] + + + + +VARIANTS IN THE TEXT + +Changes in spelling, use of capitals, punctuation and type are not +recorded. + +P. 15, ll. 12-13. and the bishops: and bishops 1822. + +P. 46, l. 12. united: re-united 1822. + +P. 63, l. 14. a posse of men: fifty men 1822. + +P. 74, l. 6. privation: imprisonment and privation 1822. + +P. 80, l. 29. tone: toll 1822. + +P. 153, ll. 21-23. daily of bad wine... more fastidious relish: every +day I grow more intolerant of bad, and have a keener and more fastidious +relish of good wine 1822. + +P. 159, l. 20. passed: past 1822. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Maid Marian, by Thomas Love Peacock + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MAID MARIAN *** + +***** This file should be named 966-0.txt or 966-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/9/6/966/ + +Produced by Charles Keller + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/966-0.zip b/966-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4cb52ca --- /dev/null +++ b/966-0.zip diff --git a/966-h.zip b/966-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..72d5d6d --- /dev/null +++ b/966-h.zip diff --git a/966-h/966-h.htm b/966-h/966-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dbb61da --- /dev/null +++ b/966-h/966-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5334 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Maid Marian, by Thomas Love Peacock + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Maid Marian, by Thomas Love Peacock + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Maid Marian + +Author: Thomas Love Peacock + +Release Date: July 27, 2008 [EBook #966] +Last Updated: November 18, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MAID MARIAN *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Keller, and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + MAID MARIAN + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + by Thomas Love Peacock + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> <b>MAID MARIAN</b> </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER XV </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER XVI </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0017"> CHAPTER XVII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0018"> CHAPTER XVIII </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_FOOT"> Footnotes </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0021"> VARIANTS IN THE TEXT </a> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h1> + MAID MARIAN + </h1> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Now come ye for peace here, or come ye for war? + —SCOTT. +</pre> + <p> + “The abbot, in his alb arrayed,” stood at the altar in the abbey-chapel of + Rubygill, with all his plump, sleek, rosy friars, in goodly lines + disposed, to solemnise the nuptials of the beautiful Matilda Fitzwater, + daughter of the Baron of Arlingford, with the noble Robert Fitz-Ooth, Earl + of Locksley and Huntingdon. The abbey of Rubygill stood in a picturesque + valley, at a little distance from the western boundary of Sherwood Forest, + in a spot which seemed adapted by nature to be the retreat of monastic + mortification, being on the banks of a fine trout-stream, and in the midst + of woodland coverts, abounding with excellent game. The bride, with her + father and attendant maidens, entered the chapel; but the earl had not + arrived. The baron was amazed, and the bridemaidens were disconcerted. + Matilda feared that some evil had befallen her lover, but felt no + diminution of her confidence in his honour and love. Through the open + gates of the chapel she looked down the narrow road that wound along the + side of the hill; and her ear was the first that heard the distant + trampling of horses, and her eye was the first that caught the glitter of + snowy plumes, and the light of polished spears. “It is strange,” thought + the baron, “that the earl should come in this martial array to his + wedding;” but he had not long to meditate on the phenomenon, for the + foaming steeds swept up to the gate like a whirlwind, and the earl, + breathless with speed, and followed by a few of his yeomen, advanced to + his smiling bride. It was then no time to ask questions, for the organ was + in full peal, and the choristers were in full voice. + </p> + <p> + The abbot began to intone the ceremony in a style of modulation + impressively exalted, his voice issuing most canonically from the roof of + his mouth, through the medium of a very musical nose newly tuned for the + occasion. But he had not proceeded far enough to exhibit all the variety + and compass of this melodious instrument, when a noise was heard at the + gate, and a party of armed men entered the chapel. The song of the + choristers died away in a shake of demisemiquavers, contrary to all the + rules of psalmody. The organ-blower, who was working his musical air-pump + with one hand, and with two fingers and a thumb of the other insinuating a + peeping-place through the curtain of the organ-gallery, was struck + motionless by the double operation of curiosity and fear; while the + organist, intent only on his performance, and spreading all his fingers to + strike a swell of magnificent chords, felt his harmonic spirit ready to + desert his body on being answered by the ghastly rattle of empty keys, and + in the consequent agitato furioso of the internal movements of his + feelings, was preparing to restore harmony by the segue subito of an + appoggiatura con foco with the corner of a book of anthems on the head of + his neglectful assistant, when his hand and his attention together were + arrested by the scene below. The voice of the abbot subsided into silence + through a descending scale of long-drawn melody, like the sound of the + ebbing sea to the explorers of a cave. In a few moments all was silence, + interrupted only by the iron tread of the armed intruders, as it rang on + the marble floor and echoed from the vaulted aisles. + </p> + <p> + The leader strode up to the altar; and placing himself opposite to the + abbot, and between the earl and Matilda, in such a manner that the four + together seemed to stand on the four points of a diamond, exclaimed, “In + the name of King Henry, I forbid the ceremony, and attach Robert Earl of + Huntingdon as a traitor!” and at the same time he held his drawn sword + between the lovers, as if to emblem that royal authority which laid its + temporal ban upon their contract. The earl drew his own sword instantly, + and struck down the interposing weapon; then clasped his left arm round + Matilda, who sprang into his embrace, and held his sword before her with + his right hand. His yeomen ranged themselves at his side, and stood with + their swords drawn, still and prepared, like men determined to die in his + defence. The soldiers, confident in superiority of numbers, paused. The + abbot took advantage of the pause to introduce a word of exhortation. “My + children,” said he, “if you are going to cut each other’s throats, I + entreat you, in the name of peace and charity, to do it out of the + chapel.” + </p> + <p> + “Sweet Matilda,” said the earl, “did you give your love to the Earl of + Huntingdon, whose lands touch the Ouse and the Trent, or to Robert + Fitz-Ooth, the son of his mother?” + </p> + <p> + “Neither to the earl nor his earldom,” answered Matilda firmly, “but to + Robert Fitz-Ooth and his love.” + </p> + <p> + “That I well knew,” said the earl; “and though the ceremony be incomplete, + we are not the less married in the eye of my only saint, our Lady, who + will yet bring us together. Lord Fitzwater, to your care, for the present, + I commit your daughter.—Nay, sweet Matilda, part we must for a + while; but we will soon meet under brighter skies, and be this the seal of + our faith.” + </p> + <p> + He kissed Matilda’s lips, and consigned her to the baron, who glowered + about him with an expression of countenance that showed he was mortally + wroth with somebody; but whatever he thought or felt he kept to himself. + The earl, with a sign to his followers, made a sudden charge on the + soldiers, with the intention of cutting his way through. The soldiers were + prepared for such an occurrence, and a desperate skirmish succeeded. Some + of the women screamed, but none of them fainted; for fainting was not so + much the fashion in those days, when the ladies breakfasted on brawn and + ale at sunrise, as in our more refined age of green tea and muffins at + noon. Matilda seemed disposed to fly again to her lover, but the baron + forced her from the chapel. The earl’s bowmen at the door sent in among + the assailants a volley of arrows, one of which whizzed past the ear of + the abbot, who, in mortal fear of being suddenly translated from a ghostly + friar into a friarly ghost, began to roll out of the chapel as fast as his + bulk and his holy robes would permit, roaring “Sacrilege!” with all his + monks at his heels, who were, like himself, more intent to go at once than + to stand upon the order of their going. The abbot, thus pressed from + behind, and stumbling over his own drapery before, fell suddenly prostrate + in the door-way that connected the chapel with the abbey, and was + instantaneously buried under a pyramid of ghostly carcasses, that fell + over him and each other, and lay a rolling chaos of animated rotundities, + sprawling and bawling in unseemly disarray, and sending forth the names of + all the saints in and out of heaven, amidst the clashing of swords, the + ringing of bucklers, the clattering of helmets, the twanging of + bow-strings, the whizzing of arrows, the screams of women, the shouts of + the warriors, and the vociferations of the peasantry, who had been + assembled to the intended nuptials, and who, seeing a fair set-to, + contrived to pick a quarrel among themselves on the occasion, and + proceeded, with staff and cudgel, to crack each other’s skulls for the + good of the king and the earl. One tall friar alone was untouched by the + panic of his brethren, and stood steadfastly watching the combat with his + arms a-kembo, the colossal emblem of an unarmed neutrality. + </p> + <p> + At length, through the midst of the internal confusion, the earl, by the + help of his good sword, the staunch valour of his men, and the blessing of + the Virgin, fought his way to the chapel-gate—his bowmen closed him + in—he vaulted into his saddle, clapped spurs to his horse, rallied + his men on the first eminence, and exchanged his sword for a bow and + arrow, with which he did old execution among the pursuers, who at last + thought it most expedient to desist from offensive warfare, and to retreat + into the abbey, where, in the king’s name, they broached a pipe of the + best wine, and attached all the venison in the larder, having first + carefully unpacked the tuft of friars, and set the fallen abbot on his + legs. + </p> + <p> + The friars, it may be well supposed, and such of the king’s men as escaped + unhurt from the affray, found their spirits a cup too low, and kept the + flask moving from noon till night. The peaceful brethren, unused to the + tumult of war, had undergone, from fear and discomposure, an exhaustion of + animal spirits that required extraordinary refection. During the repast, + they interrogated Sir Ralph Montfaucon, the leader of the soldiers, + respecting the nature of the earl’s offence. + </p> + <p> + “A complication of offences,” replied Sir Ralph, “superinduced on the + original basis of forest-treason. He began with hunting the king’s deer, + in despite of all remonstrance; followed it up by contempt of the king’s + mandates, and by armed resistance to his power, in defiance of all + authority; and combined with it the resolute withholding of payment of + certain moneys to the abbot of Doncaster, in denial of all law; and has + thus made himself the declared enemy of church and state, and all for + being too fond of venison.” And the knight helped himself to half a pasty. + </p> + <p> + “A heinous offender,” said a little round oily friar, appropriating the + portion of pasty which Sir Ralph had left. + </p> + <p> + “The earl is a worthy peer,” said the tall friar whom we have already + mentioned in the chapel scene, “and the best marksman in England.” + </p> + <p> + “Why this is flat treason, brother Michael,” said the little round friar, + “to call an attainted traitor a worthy peer.” + </p> + <p> + “I pledge you,” said brother Michael. The little friar smiled and filled + his cup. “He will draw the long bow,” pursued brother Michael, “with any + bold yeoman among them all.” + </p> + <p> + “Don’t talk of the long bow,” said the abbot, who had the sound of the + arrow still whizzing in his ear: “what have we pillars of the faith to do + with the long bow?” + </p> + <p> + “Be that as it may,” said Sir Ralph, “he is an outlaw from this moment.” + </p> + <p> + “So much the worse for the law then,” said brother Michael. “The law will + have a heavier miss of him than he will have of the law. He will strike as + much venison as ever, and more of other game. I know what I say: but + basta: Let us drink.” + </p> + <p> + “What other game?” said the little friar. “I hope he won’t poach among our + partridges.” + </p> + <p> + “Poach! not he,” said brother Michael: “if he wants your partridges, he + will strike them under your nose (here’s to you), and drag your + trout-stream for you on a Thursday evening.” + </p> + <p> + “Monstrous! and starve us on fast-day,” said the little friar. + </p> + <p> + “But that is not the game I mean,” said brother Michael. + </p> + <p> + “Surely, son Michael,” said the abbot, “you do not mean to insinuate that + the noble earl will turn freebooter?” + </p> + <p> + “A man must live,” said brother Michael, “earl or no. If the law takes his + rents and beeves without his consent, he must take beeves and rents where + he can get them without the consent of the law. This is the lex talionis.” + </p> + <p> + “Truly,” said Sir Ralph, “I am sorry for the damsel: she seems fond of + this wild runagate.” + </p> + <p> + “A mad girl, a mad girl,” said the little friar. + </p> + <p> + “How a mad girl?” said brother Michael. “Has she not beauty, grace, wit, + sense, discretion, dexterity, learning, and valour?” + </p> + <p> + “Learning!” exclaimed the little friar; “what has a woman to do with + learning? And valour! who ever heard a woman commended for valour? + Meekness and mildness, and softness, and gentleness, and tenderness, and + humility, and obedience to her husband, and faith in her confessor, and + domesticity, or, as learned doctors call it, the faculty of + stayathomeitiveness, and embroidery, and music, and pickling, and + preserving, and the whole complex and multiplex detail of the noble + science of dinner, as well in preparation for the table, as in arrangement + over it, and in distribution around it to knights, and squires, and + ghostly friars,—these are female virtues: but valour—why who + ever heard——?” + </p> + <p> + “She is the all in all,” said brother Michael, “gentle as a ring-dove, yet + high-soaring as a falcon: humble below her deserving, yet deserving beyond + the estimate of panegyric: an exact economist in all superfluity, yet a + most bountiful dispenser in all liberality: the chief regulator of her + household, the fairest pillar of her hall, and the sweetest blossom of her + bower: having, in all opposite proposings, sense to understand, judgment + to weigh, discretion to choose, firmness to undertake, diligence to + conduct, perseverance to accomplish, and resolution to maintain. For + obedience to her husband, that is not to be tried till she has one: for + faith in her confessor, she has as much as the law prescribes: for + embroidery an Arachne: for music a Siren: and for pickling and preserving, + did not one of her jars of sugared apricots give you your last surfeit at + Arlingford Castle?” + </p> + <p> + “Call you that preserving?” said the little friar; “I call it destroying. + Call you it pickling? Truly it pickled me. My life was saved by miracle.” + </p> + <p> + “By canary,” said brother Michael. “Canary is the only life preserver, the + true aurum potabile, the universal panacea for all diseases, thirst, and + short life. Your life was saved by canary.” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed, reverend father,” said Sir Ralph, “if the young lady be half what + you describe, she must be a paragon: but your commending her for valour + does somewhat amaze me.” + </p> + <p> + “She can fence,” said the little friar, “and draw the long bow, and play + at singlestick and quarter-staff.” + </p> + <p> + “Yet mark you,” said brother Michael, “not like a virago or a hoyden, or + one that would crack a serving-man’s head for spilling gravy on her ruff, + but with such womanly grace and temperate self-command as if those manly + exercises belonged to her only, and were become for her sake feminine.” + </p> + <p> + “You incite me,” said Sir Ralph, “to view her more nearly. That madcap + earl found me other employment than to remark her in the chapel.” + </p> + <p> + “The earl is a worthy peer,” said brother Michael; “he is worth any + fourteen earls on this side Trent, and any seven on the other.” (The + reader will please to remember that Rubygill Abbey was north of Trent.) + </p> + <p> + “His mettle will be tried,” said Sir Ralph. “There is many a courtier will + swear to King Henry to bring him in dead or alive.” + </p> + <p> + “They must look to the brambles then,” said brother Michael. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “The bramble, the bramble, the bonny forest bramble, + Doth make a jest + Of silken vest, + That will through greenwood scramble: + The bramble, the bramble, the bonny forest bramble.” + </pre> + <p> + “Plague on your lungs, son Michael,” said the abbot; “this is your old + coil: always roaring in your cups.” + </p> + <p> + “I know what I say,” said brother Michael; “there is often more sense in + an old song than in a new homily. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + The courtly pad doth amble, + When his gay lord would ramble: + But both may catch + An awkward scratch, + If they ride among the bramble: + The bramble, the bramble, the bonny forest bramble.” + </pre> + <p> + “Tall friar,” said Sir Ralph, “either you shoot the shafts of your + merriment at random, or you know more of the earl’s designs than beseems + your frock.” + </p> + <p> + “Let my frock,” said brother Michael, “answer for its own sins. It is worn + past covering mine. It is too weak for a shield, too transparent for a + screen, too thin for a shelter, too light for gravity, and too threadbare + for a jest. The wearer would be naught indeed who should misbeseem such a + wedding garment. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + But wherefore does the sheep wear wool? + That he in season sheared may be, + And the shepherd be warm though his flock be cool: + So I’ll have a new cloak about me.” + </pre> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Vray moyne si oncques en feut depuis que le monde moynant + moyna de moynerie.—RABELAIS. +</pre> + <p> + The Earl of Huntingdon, living in the vicinity of a royal forest, and + passionately attached to the chase from his infancy, had long made as free + with the king’s deer as Lord Percy proposed to do with those of Lord + Douglas in the memorable hunting of Cheviot. It is sufficiently well known + how severe were the forest-laws in those days, and with what jealousy the + kings of England maintained this branch of their prerogative; but menaces + and remonstrances were thrown away on the earl, who declared that he would + not thank Saint Peter for admission into Paradise, if he were obliged to + leave his bow and hounds at the gate. King Henry (the Second) swore by + Saint Botolph to make him rue his sport, and, having caused him to be duly + and formally accused, summoned him to London to answer the charge. The + earl, deeming himself safer among his own vassals than among king Henry’s + courtiers, took no notice of the mandate. King Henry sent a force to bring + him, vi et armis, to court. The earl made a resolute resistance, and put + the king’s force to flight under a shower of arrows: an act which the + courtiers declared to be treason. At the same time, the abbot of Doncaster + sued up the payment of certain moneys, which the earl, whose revenue ran a + losing race with his hospitality, had borrowed at sundry times of the said + abbot: for the abbots and the bishops were the chief usurers of those + days, and, as the end sanctifies the means, were not in the least + scrupulous of employing what would have been extortion in the profane, to + accomplish the pious purpose of bringing a blessing on the land by + rescuing it from the frail hold of carnal and temporal into the firmer + grasp of ghostly and spiritual possessors. But the earl, confident in the + number and attachment of his retainers, stoutly refused either to repay + the money, which he could not, or to yield the forfeiture, which he would + not: a refusal which in those days was an act of outlawry in a gentleman, + as it is now of bankruptcy in a base mechanic; the gentleman having in our + wiser times a more liberal privilege of gentility, which enables him to + keep his land and laugh at his creditor. Thus the mutual resentments and + interests of the king and the abbot concurred to subject the earl to the + penalties of outlawry, by which the abbot would gain his due upon the + lands of Locksley, and the rest would be confiscate to the king. Still the + king did not think it advisable to assail the earl in his own strong-hold, + but caused a diligent watch to be kept over his motions, till at length + his rumoured marriage with the heiress of Arlingford seemed to point out + an easy method of laying violent hands on the offender. Sir Ralph + Montfaucon, a young man of good lineage and of an aspiring temper, who + readily seized the first opportunity that offered of recommending himself + to King Henry’s favour by manifesting his zeal in his service, undertook + the charge: and how he succeeded we have seen. + </p> + <p> + Sir Ralph’s curiosity was strongly excited by the friar’s description of + the young lady of Arlingford; and he prepared in the morning to visit the + castle, under the very plausible pretext of giving the baron an + explanation of his intervention at the nuptials. Brother Michael and the + little fat friar proposed to be his guides. The proposal was courteously + accepted, and they set out together, leaving Sir Ralph’s followers at the + abbey. The knight was mounted on a spirited charger; brother Michael on a + large heavy-trotting horse; and the little fat friar on a plump soft-paced + galloway, so correspondent with himself in size, rotundity, and sleekness, + that if they had been amalgamated into a centaur, there would have been + nothing to alter in their proportions. + </p> + <p> + “Do you know,” said the little friar, as they wound along the banks of the + stream, “the reason why lake-trout is better than river-trout, and shyer + withal?” + </p> + <p> + “I was not aware of the fact,” said Sir Ralph. + </p> + <p> + “A most heterodox remark,” said brother Michael: “know you not, that in + all nice matters you should take the implication for absolute, and, + without looking into the FACT WHETHER, seek only the reason why? But the + fact is so, on the word of a friar; which what layman will venture to + gainsay who prefers a down bed to a gridiron?” + </p> + <p> + “The fact being so,” said the knight, “I am still at a loss for the + reason; nor would I undertake to opine in a matter of that magnitude: + since, in all that appertains to the good things either of this world or + the next, my reverend spiritual guides are kind enough to take the trouble + of thinking off my hands.” + </p> + <p> + “Spoken,” said brother Michael, “with a sound Catholic conscience. My + little brother here is most profound in the matter of trout. He has + marked, learned, and inwardly digested the subject, twice a week at least + for five-and-thirty years. I yield to him in this. My strong points are + venison and canary.” + </p> + <p> + “The good qualities of a trout,” said the little friar, “are firmness and + redness: the redness, indeed, being the visible sign of all other + virtues.” + </p> + <p> + “Whence,” said brother Michael, “we choose our abbot by his nose: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + The rose on the nose doth all virtues disclose: + For the outward grace shows + That the inward overflows, + When it glows in the rose of a red, red nose.” + </pre> + <p> + “Now,” said the little friar, “as is the firmness so is the redness, and + as is the redness so is the shyness.” + </p> + <p> + “Marry why?” said brother Michael. “The solution is not physical-natural, + but physical-historical, or natural-superinductive. And thereby hangs a + tale, which may be either said or sung: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + The damsel stood to watch the fight + By the banks of Kingslea Mere, + And they brought to her feet her own true knight + Sore-wounded on a bier. + + She knelt by him his wounds to bind, + She washed them with many a tear: + And shouts rose fast upon the wind, + Which told that the foe was near. + + “Oh! let not,” he said, “while yet I live, + The cruel foe me take: + But with thy sweet lips a last kiss give, + And cast me in the lake.” + + Around his neck she wound her arms, + And she kissed his lips so pale: + And evermore the war’s alarms + Came louder up the vale. + + She drew him to the lake’s steep side, + Where the red heath fringed the shore; + She plunged with him beneath the tide, + And they were seen no more. + + Their true blood mingled in Kingslea Mere, + That to mingle on earth was fain: + And the trout that swims in that crystal clear + Is tinged with the crimson stain. +</pre> + <p> + “Thus you see how good comes of evil, and how a holy friar may fare better + on fast-day for the violent death of two lovers two hundred years ago. The + inference is most consecutive, that wherever you catch a red-fleshed + trout, love lies bleeding under the water: an occult quality, which can + only act in the stationary waters of a lake, being neutralised by the + rapid transition of those of a stream.” + </p> + <p> + “And why is the trout shyer for that?” asked Sir Ralph. + </p> + <p> + “Do you not see?” said brother Michael. “The virtues of both lovers + diffuse themselves through the lake. The infusion of masculine valour + makes the fish active and sanguineous: the infusion of maiden modesty + makes him coy and hard to win: and you shall find through life, the fish + which is most easily hooked is not the best worth dishing. But yonder are + the towers of Arlingford.” + </p> + <p> + The little friar stopped. He seemed suddenly struck with an awful thought, + which caused a momentary pallescence in his rosy complexion; and after a + brief hesitation, he turned his galloway, and told his companions he + should give them good day. + </p> + <p> + “Why, what is in the wind now, brother Peter?” said Friar Michael. + </p> + <p> + “The lady Matilda,” said the little friar, “can draw the long-bow. She + must bear no goodwill to Sir Ralph; and if she should espy him from her + tower, she may testify her recognition with a cloth-yard shaft. She is not + so infallible a markswoman, but that she might shoot at a crow and kill a + pigeon. She might peradventure miss the knight, and hit me, who never did + her any harm.” + </p> + <p> + “Tut, tut, man,” said brother Michael, “there is no such fear.” + </p> + <p> + “Mass,” said the little friar, “but there is such a fear, and very strong + too. You who have it not may keep your way, and I who have it shall take + mine. I am not just now in the vein for being picked off at a long shot.” + And saying these words, he spurred up his four-footed better half, and + galloped off as nimbly as if he had had an arrow singing behind him. + </p> + <p> + “Is this lady Matilda, then, so very terrible a damsel?” said Sir Ralph to + brother Michael. + </p> + <p> + “By no means,” said the friar. “She has certainly a high spirit; but it is + the wing of the eagle, without his beak or his claw. She is as gentle as + magnanimous; but it is the gentleness of the summer wind, which, however + lightly it wave the tuft of the pine, carries with it the intimation of a + power, that, if roused to its extremity, could make it bend to the dust.” + </p> + <p> + “From the warmth of your panegyric, ghostly father,” said the knight, “I + should almost suspect you were in love with the damsel.” + </p> + <p> + “So I am,” said the friar, “and I care not who knows it; but all in the + way of honesty, master soldier. I am, as it were, her spiritual lover; and + were she a damsel errant, I would be her ghostly esquire, her friar + militant. I would buckle me in armour of proof, and the devil might thresh + me black with an iron flail, before I would knock under in her cause. + Though they be not yet one canonically, thanks to your soldiership, the + earl is her liege lord, and she is his liege lady. I am her father + confessor and ghostly director: I have taken on me to show her the way to + the next world; and how can I do that if I lose sight of her in this? + seeing that this is but the road to the other, and has so many + circumvolutions and ramifications of byeways and beaten paths (all more + thickly set than the true one with finger-posts and milestones, not one of + which tells truth), that a traveller has need of some one who knows the + way, or the odds go hard against him that he will ever see the face of + Saint Peter.” + </p> + <p> + “But there must surely be some reason,” said Sir Ralph, “for father + Peter’s apprehension.” + </p> + <p> + “None,” said brother Michael, “but the apprehension itself; fear being its + own father, and most prolific in self-propagation. The lady did, it is + true, once signalize her displeasure against our little brother, for + reprimanding her in that she would go hunting a-mornings instead of + attending matins. She cut short the thread of his eloquence by sportively + drawing her bow-string and loosing an arrow over his head; he waddled off + with singular speed, and was in much awe of her for many months. I thought + he had forgotten it: but let that pass. In truth, she would have had + little of her lover’s company, if she had liked the chaunt of the + choristers better than the cry of the hounds: yet I know not; for they + were companions from the cradle, and reciprocally fashioned each other to + the love of the fern and the foxglove. Had either been less sylvan, the + other might have been more saintly; but they will now never hear matins + but those of the lark, nor reverence vaulted aisle but that of the + greenwood canopy. They are twin plants of the forest, and are identified + with its growth. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + For the slender beech and the sapling oak, + That grow by the shadowy rill, + You may cut down both at a single stroke, + You may cut down which you will. + + But this you must know, that as long as they grow + Whatever change may be, + You never can teach either oak or beech + To be aught but a greenwood tree.” + </pre> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Inflamed wrath in glowing breast.—BUTLER. +</pre> + <p> + The knight and the friar arriving at Arlingford Castle, and leaving their + horses in the care of lady Matilda’s groom, with whom the friar was in + great favour, were ushered into a stately apartment, where they found the + baron alone, flourishing an enormous carving-knife over a brother baron—of + beef—with as much vehemence of action as if he were cutting down an + enemy. The baron was a gentleman of a fierce and choleric temperament: he + was lineally descended from the redoubtable Fierabras of Normandy, who + came over to England with the Conqueror, and who, in the battle of + Hastings, killed with his own hand four-and-twenty Saxon cavaliers all on + a row. The very excess of the baron’s internal rage on the preceding day + had smothered its external manifestation: he was so equally angry with + both parties, that he knew not on which to vent his wrath. He was enraged + with the earl for having brought himself into such a dilemma without his + privily; and he was no less enraged with the king’s men for their very + unseasonable intrusion. He could willingly have fallen upon both parties, + but, he must necessarily have begun with one; and he felt that on + whichever side he should strike the first blow, his retainers would + immediately join battle. He had therefore contented himself with forcing + away his daughter from the scene of action. In the course of the evening + he had received intelligence that the earl’s castle was in possession of a + party of the king’s men, who had been detached by Sir Ralph Montfaucon to + seize on it during the earl’s absence. The baron inferred from this that + the earl’s case was desperate; and those who have had the opportunity of + seeing a rich friend fall suddenly into poverty, may easily judge by their + own feelings how quickly and completely the whole moral being of the earl + was changed in the baron’s estimation. The baron immediately proceeded to + require in his daughter’s mind the same summary revolution that had taken + place in his own, and considered himself exceedingly ill-used by her + non-compliance. The lady had retired to her chamber, and the baron had + passed a supperless and sleepless night, stalking about his apartments + till an advanced hour of the morning, when hunger compelled him to summon + into his presence the spoils of the buttery, which, being the intended + array of an uneaten wedding feast, were more than usually abundant, and on + which, when the knight and the friar entered, he was falling with + desperate valour. He looked up at them fiercely, with his mouth full of + beef and his eyes full of flame, and rising, as ceremony required, made an + awful bow to the knight, inclining himself forward over the table and + presenting his carving-knife en militaire, in a manner that seemed to + leave it doubtful whether he meant to show respect to his visitor, or to + defend his provision: but the doubt was soon cleared up by his politely + motioning the knight to be seated; on which the friar advanced to the + table, saying, “For what we are going to receive,” and commenced + operations without further prelude by filling and drinking a goblet of + wine. The baron at the same time offered one to Sir Ralph, with the look + of a man in whom habitual hospitality and courtesy were struggling with + the ebullitions of natural anger. They pledged each other in silence, and + the baron, having completed a copious draught, continued working his lips + and his throat, as if trying to swallow his wrath as he had done his wine. + Sir Ralph, not knowing well what to make of these ambiguous signs, looked + for instructions to the friar, who by significant looks and gestures + seemed to advise him to follow his example and partake of the good cheer + before him, without speaking till the baron should be more intelligible in + his demeanour. The knight and the friar, accordingly, proceeded to refect + themselves after their ride; the baron looking first at the one and then + at the other, scrutinising alternately the serious looks of the knight and + the merry face of the friar, till at length, having calmed himself + sufficiently to speak, he said, “Courteous knight and ghostly father, I + presume you have some other business with me than to eat my beef and drink + my canary; and if so, I patiently await your leisure to enter on the + topic.” + </p> + <p> + “Lord Fitzwater,” said Sir Ralph, “in obedience to my royal master, King + Henry, I have been the unwilling instrument of frustrating the intended + nuptials of your fair daughter; yet will you, I trust, owe me no + displeasure for my agency herein, seeing that the noble maiden might + otherwise by this time have been the bride of an outlaw.” + </p> + <p> + “I am very much obliged to you, sir,” said the baron; “very exceedingly + obliged. Your solicitude for my daughter is truly paternal, and for a + young man and a stranger very singular and exemplary: and it is very kind + withal to come to the relief of my insufficiency and inexperience, and + concern yourself so much in that which concerns you not.” + </p> + <p> + “You misconceive the knight, noble baron,” said the friar. “He urges not + his reason in the shape of a preconceived intent, but in that of a + subsequent extenuation. True, he has done the lady Matilda great wrong——” + </p> + <p> + “How, great wrong?” said the baron. “What do you mean by great wrong? + Would you have had her married to a wild fly-by-night, that accident made + an earl and nature a deer-stealer? that has not wit enough to eat venison + without picking a quarrel with monarchy? that flings away his own lands + into the clutches of rascally friars, for the sake of hunting in other + men’s grounds, and feasting vagabonds that wear Lincoln green, and would + have flung away mine into the bargain if he had had my daughter? What do + you mean by great wrong?” + </p> + <p> + “True,” said the friar, “great right, I meant.” + </p> + <p> + “Right!” exclaimed the baron: “what right has any man to do my daughter + right but myself? What right has any man to drive my daughter’s bridegroom + out of the chapel in the middle of the marriage ceremony, and turn all our + merry faces into green wounds and bloody coxcombs, and then come and tell + me he has done us great right?” + </p> + <p> + “True,” said the friar: “he has done neither right nor wrong.” + </p> + <p> + “But he has,” said the baron, “he has done both, and I will maintain it + with my glove.” + </p> + <p> + “It shall not need,” said Sir Ralph; “I will concede any thing in honour.” + </p> + <p> + “And I,” said the baron, “will concede nothing in honour: I will concede + nothing in honour to any man.” + </p> + <p> + “Neither will I, Lord Fitzwater,” said Sir Ralph, “in that sense: but hear + me. I was commissioned by the king to apprehend the Earl of Huntingdon. I + brought with me a party of soldiers, picked and tried men, knowing that he + would not lightly yield. I sent my lieutenant with a detachment to + surprise the earl’s castle in his absence, and laid my measures for + intercepting him on the way to his intended nuptials; but he seems to have + had intimation of this part of my plan, for he brought with him a large + armed retinue, and took a circuitous route, which made him, I believe, + somewhat later than his appointed hour. When the lapse of time showed me + that he had taken another track, I pursued him to the chapel; and I would + have awaited the close of the ceremony, if I had thought that either + yourself or your daughter would have felt desirous that she should have + been the bride of an outlaw.” + </p> + <p> + “Who said, sir,” cried the baron, “that we were desirous of any such + thing? But truly, sir, if I had a mind to the devil for a son-in-law, I + would fain see the man that should venture to interfere.” + </p> + <p> + “That would I,” said the friar; “for I have undertaken to make her + renounce the devil.” + </p> + <p> + “She shall not renounce the devil,” said the baron, “unless I please. You + are very ready with your undertakings. Will you undertake to make her + renounce the earl, who, I believe, is the devil incarnate? Will you + undertake that?” + </p> + <p> + “Will I undertake,” said the friar, “to make Trent run westward, or to + make flame burn downward, or to make a tree grow with its head in the + earth and its root in the air?” + </p> + <p> + “So then,” said the baron, “a girl’s mind is as hard to change as nature + and the elements, and it is easier to make her renounce the devil than a + lover. Are you a match for the devil, and no match for a man?” + </p> + <p> + “My warfare,” said the friar, “is not of this world. I am militant not + against man, but the devil, who goes about seeking what he may devour.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! does he so?” said the baron: “then I take it that makes you look for + him so often in my buttery. Will you cast out the devil whose name is + Legion, when you cannot cast out the imp whose name is Love?” + </p> + <p> + “Marriages,” said the friar, “are made in heaven. Love is God’s work, and + therewith I meddle not.” + </p> + <p> + “God’s work, indeed!” said the baron, “when the ceremony was cut short in + the church. Could men have put them asunder, if God had joined them + together? And the earl is now no earl, but plain Robert Fitz-Ooth: + therefore, I’ll none of him.” + </p> + <p> + “He may atone,” said the friar, “and the king may mollify. The earl is a + worthy peer, and the king is a courteous king.” + </p> + <p> + “He cannot atone,” said Sir Ralph. “He has killed the king’s men; and if + the baron should aid and abet, he will lose his castle and land.” + </p> + <p> + “Will I?” said the baron; “not while I have a drop of blood in my veins. + He that comes to take them shall first serve me as the friar serves my + flasks of canary: he shall drain me dry as hay. Am I not disparaged? Am I + not outraged? Is not my daughter vilified, and made a mockery? A girl + half-married? There was my butler brought home with a broken head. My + butler, friar: there is that may move your sympathy. Friar, the + earl-no-earl shall come no more to my daughter.” + </p> + <p> + “Very good,” said the friar. + </p> + <p> + “It is not very good,” said the baron, “for I cannot get her to say so.” + </p> + <p> + “I fear,” said Sir Ralph, “the young lady must be much distressed and + discomposed.” + </p> + <p> + “Not a whit, sir,” said the baron. “She is, as usual, in a most provoking + imperturbability, and contradicts me so smilingly that it would enrage you + to see her.” + </p> + <p> + “I had hoped,” said Sir Ralph, “that I might have seen her, to make my + excuse in person for the hard necessity of my duty.” + </p> + <p> + He had scarcely spoken, when the door opened, and the lady made her + appearance. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Are you mad, or what are you, that you squeak out your + catches without mitigation or remorse of voice? + —Twelfth Night. +</pre> + <p> + Matilda, not dreaming of visitors, tripped into the apartment in a dress + of forest green, with a small quiver by her side, and a bow and arrow in + her hand. Her hair, black and glossy as the raven’s wing, curled like + wandering clusters of dark ripe grapes under the edge of her round bonnet; + and a plume of black feathers fell back negligently above it, with an + almost horizontal inclination, that seemed the habitual effect of rapid + motion against the wind. Her black eyes sparkled like sunbeams on a river: + a clear, deep, liquid radiance, the reflection of ethereal fire,—tempered, + not subdued, in the medium of its living and gentle mirror. Her lips were + half opened to speak as she entered the apartment; and with a smile of + recognition to the friar, and a courtesy to the stranger knight, she + approached the baron and said, “You are late at your breakfast, father.” + </p> + <p> + “I am not at breakfast,” said the baron. “I have been at supper: my last + night’s supper; for I had none.” + </p> + <p> + “I am sorry,” said Matilda, “you should have gone to bed supperless.” + </p> + <p> + “I did not go to bed supperless,” said the baron: “I did not go to bed at + all: and what are you doing with that green dress and that bow and arrow?” + </p> + <p> + “I am going a-hunting,” said Matilda. + </p> + <p> + “A-hunting!” said the baron. “What, I warrant you, to meet with the earl, + and slip your neck into the same noose?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Matilda: “I am not going out of our own woods to-day.” + </p> + <p> + “How do I know that?” said the baron. “What surety have I of that?” + </p> + <p> + “Here is the friar,” said Matilda. “He will be surety.” + </p> + <p> + “Not he,” said the baron: “he will undertake nothing but where the devil + is a party concerned.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I will,” said the friar: “I will undertake any thing for the lady + Matilda.” + </p> + <p> + “No matter for that,” said the baron: “she shall not go hunting to day.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, father,” said Matilda, “if you coop me up here in this odious + castle, I shall pine and die like a lonely swan on a pool. + </p> + <p> + “No,” said the baron, “the lonely swan does not die on the pool. If there + be a river at hand, she flies to the river, and finds her a mate; and so + shall not you.” + </p> + <p> + “But,” said Matilda, “you may send with me any, or as many, of your grooms + as you will.” + </p> + <p> + “My grooms,” said the baron, “are all false knaves. There is not a rascal + among them but loves you better than me. Villains that I feed and clothe.” + </p> + <p> + “Surely,” said Matilda, “it is not villany to love me: if it be, I should + be sorry my father were an honest man.” The baron relaxed his muscles into + a smile. “Or my lover either,” added Matilda. The baron looked grim again. + </p> + <p> + “For your lover,” said the baron, “you may give God thanks of him. He is + as arrant a knave as ever poached.” + </p> + <p> + “What, for hunting the king’s deer?” said Matilda. “Have I not heard you + rail at the forest laws by the hour?” + </p> + <p> + “Did you ever hear me,” said the baron, “rail myself out of house and + land? If I had done that, then were I a knave.” + </p> + <p> + “My lover,” said Matilda, “is a brave man, and a true man, and a generous + man, and a young man, and a handsome man; aye, and an honest man too.” + </p> + <p> + “How can he be an honest man,” said the baron, “when he has neither house + nor land, which are the better part of a man?” + </p> + <p> + “They are but the husk of a man,” said Matilda, “the worthless coat of the + chesnut: the man himself is the kernel.” + </p> + <p> + “The man is the grape stone,” said the baron, “and the pulp of the melon. + The house and land are the true substantial fruit, and all that give him + savour and value.” + </p> + <p> + “He will never want house or land,” said Matilda, “while the meeting + boughs weave a green roof in the wood, and the free range of the hart + marks out the bounds of the forest.” + </p> + <p> + “Vert and venison! vert and venison!” exclaimed the baron. “Treason and + flat rebellion. Confound your smiling face! what makes you look so + good-humoured? What! you think I can’t look at you, and be in a passion? + You think so, do you? We shall see. Have you no fear in talking thus, when + here is the king’s liegeman come to take us all into custody, and + confiscate our goods and chattels?” + </p> + <p> + “Nay, Lord Fitzwater,” said Sir Ralph, “you wrong me in your report. My + visit is one of courtesy and excuse, not of menace and authority.” + </p> + <p> + “There it is,” said the baron: “every one takes a pleasure in + contradicting me. Here is this courteous knight, who has not opened his + mouth three times since he has been in my house except to take in + provision, cuts me short in my story with a flat denial.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! I cry you mercy, sir knight,” said Matilda; “I did not mark you + before. I am your debtor for no slight favour, and so is my liege lord.” + </p> + <p> + “Her liege lord!” exclaimed the baron, taking large strides across the + chamber. + </p> + <p> + “Pardon me, gentle lady,” said Sir Ralph. “Had I known you before + yesterday, I would have cut off my right hand ere it should have been + raised to do you displeasure. + </p> + <p> + “Oh sir,” said Matilda, “a good man may be forced on an ill office: but I + can distinguish the man from his duty.” She presented to him her hand, + which he kissed respectfully, and simultaneously with the contact + thirty-two invisible arrows plunged at once into his heart, one from every + point of the compass of his pericardia. + </p> + <p> + “Well, father,” added Matilda, “I must go to the woods.” + </p> + <p> + “Must you?” said the baron; “I say you must not.” + </p> + <p> + “But I am going,” said Matilda + </p> + <p> + “But I will have up the drawbridge,” said the baron. + </p> + <p> + “But I will swim the moat,” said Matilda. + </p> + <p> + “But I will secure the gates,” said the baron. + </p> + <p> + “But I will leap from the battlement,” said Matilda. + </p> + <p> + “But I will lock you in an upper chamber,” said the baron. + </p> + <p> + “But I will shred the tapestry,” said Matilda, “and let myself down.” + </p> + <p> + “But I will lock you in a turret,” said the baron, “where you shall only + see light through a loophole.” + </p> + <p> + “But through that loophole,” said Matilda, “will I take my flight, like a + young eagle from its eerie; and, father, while I go out freely, I will + return willingly: but if once I slip out through a loop-hole——” + She paused a moment, and then added, singing,— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + The love that follows fain + Will never its faith betray: + But the faith that is held in a chain + Will never be found again, + If a single link give way. +</pre> + <p> + The melody acted irresistibly on the harmonious propensities of the friar, + who accordingly sang in his turn,— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + For hark! hark! hark! + The dog doth bark, + That watches the wild deer’s lair. + The hunter awakes at the peep of the dawn, + But the lair it is empty, the deer it is gone, + And the hunter knows not where. +</pre> + <p> + Matilda and the friar then sang together,— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Then follow, oh follow! the hounds do cry: + The red sun flames in the eastern sky: + The stag bounds over the hollow. + He that lingers in spirit, or loiters in hall, + Shall see us no more till the evening fall, + And no voice but the echo shall answer his call: + Then follow, oh follow, follow: + Follow, oh follow, follow! +</pre> + <p> + During the process of this harmony, the baron’s eyes wandered from his + daughter to the friar, and from the friar to his daughter again, with an + alternate expression of anger differently modified: when he looked on the + friar, it was anger without qualification; when he looked on his daughter + it was still anger, but tempered by an expression of involuntary + admiration and pleasure. These rapid fluctuations of the baron’s + physiognomy—the habitual, reckless, resolute merriment in the jovial + face of the friar,—and the cheerful, elastic spirits that played on + the lips and sparkled in the eyes of Matilda,—would have presented a + very amusing combination to Sir Ralph, if one of the three images in the + group had not absorbed his total attention with feelings of intense + delight very nearly allied to pain. The baron’s wrath was somewhat + counteracted by the reflection that his daughter’s good spirits seemed to + show that they would naturally rise triumphant over all disappointments; + and he had had sufficient experience of her humour to know that she might + sometimes be led, but never could be driven. Then, too, he was always + delighted to hear her sing, though he was not at all pleased in this + instance with the subject of her song. Still he would have endured the + subject for the sake of the melody of the treble, but his mind was not + sufficiently attuned to unison to relish the harmony of the bass. The + friar’s accompaniment put him out of all patience, and—“So,” he + exclaimed, “this is the way, you teach my daughter to renounce the devil, + is it? A hunting friar, truly! Who ever heard before of a hunting friar? A + profane, roaring, bawling, bumper-bibbing, neck-breaking, catch-singing + friar?” + </p> + <p> + “Under favour, bold baron,” said the friar; but the friar was warm with + canary, and in his singing vein; and he could not go on in plain unmusical + prose. He therefore sang in a new tune,— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Though I be now a grey, grey friar, + Yet I was once a hale young knight: + The cry of my dogs was the only choir + In which my spirit did take delight. + Little I recked of matin bell, + But drowned its toll with my clanging horn: + And the only beads I loved to tell + Were the beads of dew on the spangled thorn. +</pre> + <p> + The baron was going to storm, but the friar paused, and Matilda sang in + repetition,— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Little I reck of matin bell, + But drown its toll with my clanging horn: + And the only beads I love to tell + Are the beads of dew on the spangled thorn. +</pre> + <p> + And then she and the friar sang the four lines together, and rang the + changes upon them alternately. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Little I reck of matin bell, +</pre> + <p> + sang the friar. + </p> + <p> + “A precious friar,” said the baron. + </p> + <p> + But drown its toll with my clanging horn, sang Matilda. + </p> + <p> + “More shame for you,” said the baron. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + And the only beads I love to tell + Are the beads of dew on the spangled thorn, +</pre> + <p> + sang Matilda and the friar together. + </p> + <p> + “Penitent and confessor,” said the baron: “a hopeful pair truly.” + </p> + <p> + The friar went on,— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + An archer keen I was withal, + As ever did lean on greenwood tree; + And could make the fleetest roebuck fall, + A good three hundred yards from me. + Though changeful time, with hand severe, + Has made me now these joys forego, + Yet my heart bounds whene’er I hear + Yoicks! hark away! and tally ho! +</pre> + <p> + Matilda chimed in as before. + </p> + <p> + “Are you mad?” said the baron. “Are you insane? Are you possessed? What do + you mean? What in the devil’s name do you both mean?” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Yoicks! hark away! and tally ho! +</pre> + <p> + roared the friar. + </p> + <p> + The baron’s pent-up wrath had accumulated like the waters above the dam of + an overshot mill. The pond-head of his passion being now filled to the + utmost limit of its capacity, and beginning to overflow in the quivering + of his lips and the flashing of his eyes, he pulled up all the + flash-boards at once, and gave loose to the full torrent of his + indignation, by seizing, like furious Ajax, not a messy stone more than + two modern men could raise, but a vast dish of beef more than fifty + ancient yeomen could eat, and whirled it like a coit, in terrorem, over + the head of the friar, to the extremity of the apartment, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Where it on oaken floor did settle, + With mighty din of ponderous metal. +</pre> + <p> + “Nay father,” said Matilda, taking the baron’s hand, “do not harm the + friar: he means not to offend you. My gaiety never before displeased you. + Least of all should it do so now, when I have need of all my spirits to + outweigh the severity of my fortune.” + </p> + <p> + As she spoke the last words, tears started into her eyes, which, as if + ashamed of the involuntary betraying of her feelings, she turned away to + conceal. The baron was subdued at once. He kissed his daughter, held out + his hand to the friar, and said, “Sing on, in God’s name, and crack away + the flasks till your voice swims in canary.” Then turning to Sir Ralph, he + said, “You see how it is, sir knight. Matilda is my daughter; but she has + me in leading-strings, that is the truth of it.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + ‘T is true, no lover has that power + To enforce a desperate amour + As he that has two strings to his bow + And burns for love and money too.—BUTLER. +</pre> + <p> + The friar had often had experience of the baron’s testy humour; but it had + always before confined itself to words, in which the habit of testiness + often mingled more expression of displeasure than the internal feeling + prompted. He knew the baron to be hot and choleric, but at the same time + hospitable and generous; passionately fond of his daughter, often + thwarting her in seeming, but always yielding to her in fact. The early + attachment between Matilda and the Earl of Huntingdon had given the baron + no serious reason to interfere with her habits and pursuits, which were so + congenial to those of her lover; and not being over-burdened with + orthodoxy, that is to say, not being seasoned with more of the salt of the + spirit than was necessary to preserve him from excommunication, + confiscation, and philotheoparoptesism, <a href="#linknote-1" + name="linknoteref-1" id="linknoteref-1"><small>1</small></a> he was not + sorry to encourage his daughter’s choice of her confessor in brother + Michael, who had more jollity and less hypocrisy than any of his + fraternity, and was very little anxious to disguise his love of the good + things of this world under the semblance of a sanctified exterior. The + friar and Matilda had often sung duets together, and had been accustomed + to the baron’s chiming in with a stormy capriccio, which was usually + charmed into silence by some sudden turn in the witching melodies of + Matilda. They had therefore naturally calculated, as far as their wild + spirits calculated at all, on the same effects from the same causes. But + the circumstances of the preceding day had made an essential alteration in + the case. The baron knew well, from the intelligence he had received, that + the earl’s offence was past remission: which would have been of less + moment but for the awful fact of his castle being in the possession of the + king’s forces, and in those days possession was considerably more than + eleven points of the law. The baron was therefore convinced that the + earl’s outlawry was infallible, and that Matilda must either renounce her + lover, or become with him an outlaw and a fugitive. In proportion, + therefore, to the baron’s knowledge of the strength and duration of her + attachment, was his fear of the difficulty of its ever being overcome: her + love of the forest and the chase, which he had never before discouraged, + now presented itself to him as matter of serious alarm; and if her + cheerfulness gave him hope on the one hand by indicating a spirit superior + to all disappointments, it was suspicious to him on the other, as arising + from some latent certainty of being soon united to the earl. All these + circumstances concurred to render their songs of the vanished deer and + greenwood archery and Yoicks and Harkaway, extremely mal-a-propos, and to + make his anger boil and bubble in the cauldron of his spirit, till its + more than ordinary excitement burst forth with sudden impulse into active + manifestation. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + But as it sometimes happens, from the might + Of rage in minds that can no farther go, + As high as they have mounted in despite + In their remission do they sink as low, + To our bold baron did it happen so. <a href="#linknote-2" name="linknoteref-2" + id="linknoteref-2">2</a> +</pre> + <p> + For his discobolic exploit proved the climax of his rage, and was + succeeded by an immediate sense that he had passed the bounds of + legitimate passion; and he sunk immediately from the very pinnacle of + opposition to the level of implicit acquiescence. The friar’s spirits were + not to be marred by such a little incident. He was half-inclined, at + first, to return the baron’s compliment; but his love of Matilda checked + him; and when the baron held out his hand, the friar seized it cordially, + and they drowned all recollection of the affair by pledging each other in + a cup of canary. + </p> + <p> + The friar, having stayed long enough to see every thing replaced on a + friendly footing, rose, and moved to take his leave. Matilda told him he + must come again on the morrow, for she had a very long confession to make + to him. This the friar promised to do, and departed with the knight. + </p> + <p> + Sir Ralph, on reaching the abbey, drew his followers together, and led + them to Locksley Castle, which he found in the possession of his + lieutenant; whom he again left there with a sufficient force to hold it in + safe keeping in the king’s name, and proceeded to London to report the + results of his enterprise. + </p> + <p> + Now Henry our royal king was very wroth at the earl’s evasion, and swore + by Saint Thomas-a-Becket (whom he had himself translated into a saint by + having him knocked on the head), that he would give the castle and lands + of Locksley to the man who should bring in the earl. Hereupon ensued a + process of thought in the mind of the knight. The eyes of the fair + huntress of Arlingford had left a wound in his heart which only she who + gave could heal. He had seen that the baron was no longer very partial to + the outlawed earl, but that he still retained his old affection for the + lands and castle of Locksley. Now the lands and castle were very fair + things in themselves, and would be pretty appurtenances to an adventurous + knight; but they would be doubly valuable as certain passports to the + father’s favour, which was one step towards that of the daughter, or at + least towards obtaining possession of her either quietly or perforce; for + the knight was not so nice in his love as to consider the lady’s free + grace a sine qua non: and to think of being, by any means whatever, the + lord of Locksley and Arlingford, and the husband of the bewitching + Matilda, was to cut in the shades of futurity a vista very tempting to a + soldier of fortune. He set out in high spirits with a chosen band of + followers, and beat up all the country far and wide around both the Ouse + and the Trent; but fortune did not seem disposed to second his diligence, + for no vestige whatever could he trace of the earl. His followers, who + were only paid with the wages of hope, began to murmur and fall off; for, + as those unenlightened days were ignorant of the happy invention of paper + machinery, by which one promise to pay is satisfactorily paid with another + promise to pay, and that again with another in infinite series, they would + not, as their wiser posterity has done, take those tenders for true pay + which were not sterling; so that, one fine morning, the knight found + himself sitting on a pleasant bank of the Trent, with only a solitary + squire, who still clung to the shadow of preferment, because he did not + see at the moment any better chance of the substance. + </p> + <p> + The knight did not despair because of the desertion of his followers: he + was well aware that he could easily raise recruits if he could once find + trace of his game; he, therefore, rode about indefatigably over hill and + dale, to the great sharpening of his own appetite and that of his squire, + living gallantly from inn to inn when his purse was full, and quartering + himself in the king’s name on the nearest ghostly brotherhood when it + happened to be empty. An autumn and a winter had passed away, when the + course of his perlustations brought him one evening into a beautiful + sylvan valley, where he found a number of young women weaving garlands of + flowers, and singing over their pleasant occupation. He approached them, + and courteously inquired the way to the nearest town. + </p> + <p> + “There is no town within several miles,” was the answer. + </p> + <p> + “A village, then, if it be but large enough to furnish an inn?” + </p> + <p> + “There is Gamwell just by, but there is no inn nearer than the nearest + town.” + </p> + <p> + “An abbey, then?” + </p> + <p> + “There is no abbey nearer than the nearest inn.” + </p> + <p> + “A house then, or a cottage, where I may obtain hospitality for the + night?” + </p> + <p> + “Hospitality!” said one of the young women; “you have not far to seek for + that. Do you not know that you are in the neighbourhood of Gamwell-Hall?” + </p> + <p> + “So far from it,” said the knight, “that I never heard the name of + Gamwell-Hall before.” + </p> + <p> + “Never heard of Gamwell-Hall?” exclaimed all the young women together, who + could as soon have dreamed of his never having heard of the sky. + </p> + <p> + “Indeed, no,” said Sir Ralph; “but I shall be very happy to get rid of my + ignorance.” + </p> + <p> + “And so shall I,” said his squire; “for it seems that in this case + knowledge will for once be a cure for hunger, wherewith I am grievously + afflicted.” + </p> + <p> + “And why are you so busy, my pretty damsels, weaving these garlands?” said + the knight. + </p> + <p> + “Why, do you not know, sir,” said one of the young women, “that to-morrow + is Gamwell feast?” + </p> + <p> + The knight was again obliged, with all humility, to confess his ignorance. + </p> + <p> + “Oh! sir,” said his informant, “then you will have something to see, that + I can tell you; for we shall choose a Queen of the May, and we shall crown + her with flowers, and place her in a chariot of flowers, and draw it with + lines of flowers, and we shall hang all the trees with flowers, and we + shall strew all the ground with flowers, and we shall dance with flowers, + and in flowers, and on flowers, and we shall be all flowers.” + </p> + <p> + “That you will,” said the knight; “and the sweetest and brightest of all + the flowers of the May, my pretty damsels.” On which all the pretty + damsels smiled at him and each other. + </p> + <p> + “And there will be all sorts of May-games, and there will be prizes for + archery, and there will be the knight’s ale, and the foresters’ venison, + and there will be Kit Scrapesqueak with his fiddle, and little Tom + Whistlerap with his fife and tabor, and Sam Trumtwang with his harp, and + Peter Muggledrone with his bagpipe, and how I shall dance with Will + Whitethorn!” added the girl, clapping her hands as she spoke, and bounding + from the ground with the pleasure of the anticipation. + </p> + <p> + A tall athletic young man approached, to whom the rustic maidens + courtesied with great respect; and one of them informed Sir Ralph that it + was young Master William Gamwell. The young gentleman invited and + conducted the knight to the hall, where he introduced him to the old + knight his father, and to the old lady his mother, and to the young lady + his sister, and to a number of bold yeomen, who were laying siege to beef, + brawn, and plum pie around a ponderous table, and taking copious draughts + of old October. A motto was inscribed over the interior door,— + </p> + <p> + EAT, DRINK, AND BE MERRY: + </p> + <p> + an injunction which Sir Ralph and his squire showed remarkable alacrity in + obeying. Old Sir Guy of Gamwell gave Sir Ralph a very cordial welcome, and + entertained him during supper with several of his best stories, enforced + with an occasional slap on the back, and pointed with a peg in the ribs; a + species of vivacious eloquence in which the old gentleman excelled, and + which is supposed by many of that pleasant variety of the human spectes, + known by the name of choice fellows and comical dogs, to be the genuine + tangible shape of the cream of a good joke. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + What! shall we have incision? shall we embrew? + —Henry IV. +</pre> + <p> + Old Sir Guy of Gamwell, and young William Gamwell, and fair Alice Gamwell, + and Sir Ralph Montfaucon and his squire, rode together the next morning to + the scene of the feast. They arrived on a village green, surrounded with + cottages peeping from among the trees by which the green was completely + encircled. The whole circle was hung round with one continuous garland of + flowers, depending in irregular festoons from the branches. In the centre + of the green was a May-pole hidden in boughs and garlands; and a multitude + of round-faced bumpkins and cherry-checked lasses were dancing around it, + to the quadruple melody of Scrapesqueak, Whistlerap, Trumtwang, and + Muggledrone: harmony we must not call it; for, though they had agreed to a + partnership in point of tune, each, like a true painstaking man, seemed + determined to have his time to himself: Muggledrone played allegretto, + Trumtwang allegro, Whistlerap presto, and Scrapesqueak prestissimo. There + was a kind of mathematical proportion in their discrepancy: while + Muggledrone played the tune four times, Trumtwang played it five, + Whistlerap six, and Scrapesqueak eight; for the latter completely + distanced all his competitors, and indeed worked his elbow so nimbly that + its outline was scarcely distinguishable through the mistiness of its + rapid vibration. + </p> + <p> + While the knight was delighting his eyes and ears with these pleasant + sights and sounds, all eyes were turned in one direction; and Sir Ralph, + looking round, saw a fair lady in green and gold come riding through the + trees, accompanied by a portly friar in grey, and several fair damsels and + gallant grooms. On their nearer approach, he recognised the lady Matilda + and her ghostly adviser, brother Michael. A party of foresters arrived + from another direction, and then ensued cordial interchanges of greeting, + and collisions of hands and lips, among the Gamwells and the new-comers,—“How + does my fair coz, Mawd?” and “How does my sweet coz, Mawd?” and “How does + my wild coz, Mawd?” And “Eh! jolly friar, your hand, old boy:” and “Here, + honest friar:” and “To me, merry friar:” and “By your favour, mistress + Alice:” and “Hey! cousin Robin:” and “Hey! cousin Will:” and “Od’s life! + merry Sir Guy, you grow younger every year,”—as the old knight shook + them all in turn with one hand, and slapped them on the back with the + other, in token of his affection. A number of young men and women + advanced, some drawing, and others dancing round, a floral car; and having + placed a crown of flowers on Matilda’s head, they saluted her Queen of the + May, and drew her to the place appointed for the rural sports. + </p> + <p> + A hogshead of ale was abroach under an oak, and a fire was blazing in an + open space before the trees to roast the fat deer which the foresters + brought. The sports commenced; and, after an agreeable series of bowling, + coiling, pitching, hurling, racing, leaping, grinning, wrestling or + friendly dislocation of joints, and cudgel-playing or amicable cracking of + skulls, the trial of archery ensued. The conqueror was to be rewarded with + a golden arrow from the hand of the Queen of the May, who was to be his + partner in the dance till the close of the feast. This stimulated the + knight’s emulation: young Gamwell supplied him with a bow and arrow, and + he took his station among the foresters, but had the mortification to be + out-shot by them all, and to see one of them lodge the point of his arrow + in the golden ring of the centre, and receive the prize from the hand of + the beautiful Matilda, who smiled on him with particular grace. The + jealous knight scrutinised the successful champion with great attention, + and surely thought he had seen that face before. In the mean time the + forester led the lady to the station. The luckless Sir Ralph drank deep + draughts of love from the matchless grace of her attitudes, as, taking the + bow in her left hand, and adjusting the arrow with her right, advancing + her left foot, and gently curving her beautiful figure with a slight + motion of her head that waved her black feathers and her ringleted hair, + she drew the arrow to its head, and loosed it from her open fingers. The + arrow struck within the ring of gold, so close to that of the victorious + forester that the points were in contact, and the feathers were + intermingled. Great acclamations succeeded, and the forester led Matilda + to the dance. Sir Ralph gazed on her fascinating motions till the torments + of baffled love and jealous rage became unendurable; and approaching young + Gamwell, he asked him if he knew the name of that forester who was leading + the dance with the Queen of the May? + </p> + <p> + “Robin, I believe,” said young Gamwell carelessly; “I think they call him + Robin.” + </p> + <p> + “Is that all you know of him?” said Sir Ralph. + </p> + <p> + “What more should I know of him?” said young Gamwell. + </p> + <p> + “Then I can tell you,” said Sir Ralph, “he is the outlawed Earl of + Huntingdon, on whose head is set so large a price.” + </p> + <p> + “Ay, is he?” said young Gamwell, in the same careless manner. + </p> + <p> + “He were a prize worth the taking,” said Sir Ralph. + </p> + <p> + “No doubt,” said young Gamwell. + </p> + <p> + “How think you?” said Sir Ralph: “are the foresters his adherents?” + </p> + <p> + “I cannot say,” said young Gamwell. + </p> + <p> + “Is your peasantry loyal and well-disposed?” said Sir Ralph. + </p> + <p> + “Passing loyal,” said young Gamwell. + </p> + <p> + “If I should call on them in the king’s name,” said Sir Ralph, “think you + they would aid and assist?” + </p> + <p> + “Most likely they would,” said young Gamwell, “one side or the other.” + </p> + <p> + “Ay, but which side?” said the knight. + </p> + <p> + “That remains to be tried,” said young Gamwell. + </p> + <p> + “I have King Henry’s commission,” said the knight, “to apprehend this earl + that was. How would you advise me to act, being, as you see, without + attendant force?” + </p> + <p> + “I would advise you,” said young Gamwell, “to take yourself off without + delay, unless you would relish the taste of a volley of arrows, a shower + of stones, and a hailstorm of cudgel-blows, which would not be turned + aside by a God save King Henry.” + </p> + <p> + Sir Ralph’s squire no sooner heard this, and saw by the looks of the + speaker that he was not likely to prove a false prophet, than he clapped + spurs to his horse and galloped off with might and main. This gave the + knight a good excuse to pursue him, which he did with great celerity, + calling, “Stop, you rascal.” When the squire fancied himself safe out of + the reach of pursuit, he checked his speed, and allowed the knight to come + up with him. They rode on several miles in silence, till they discovered + the towers and spires of Nottingham, where the knight introduced himself + to the sheriff, and demanded an armed force to assist in the apprehension + of the outlawed Earl of Huntingdon. The sheriff, who was willing to have + his share of the prize, determined to accompany the knight in person, and + regaled him and his man with good store of the best; after which, they, + with a stout retinue of fifty men, took the way to Gamwell feast. + </p> + <p> + “God’s my life,” said the sheriff, as they rode along, “I had as lief you + would tell me of a service of plate. I much doubt if this outlawed earl, + this forester Robin, be not the man they call Robin Hood, who has + quartered himself in Sherwood Forest, and whom in endeavouring to + apprehend I have fallen divers times into disasters. He has gotten + together a band of disinherited prodigals, outlawed debtors, + excommunicated heretics, elder sons that have spent all they had, and + younger sons that never had any thing to spend; and with these he kills + the king’s deer, and plunders wealthy travellers of five-sixths of their + money; but if they be abbots or bishops, them he despoils utterly.” + </p> + <p> + The sheriff then proceeded to relate to his companion the adventure of the + abbot of Doubleflask (which some grave historians have related of the + abbot of Saint Mary’s, and others of the bishop of Hereford): how the + abbot, returning to his abbey in company with his high selerer, who + carried in his portmanteau the rents of the abbey-lands, and with a + numerous train of attendants, came upon four seeming peasants, who were + roasting the king’s venison by the king’s highway: how, in just + indignation at this flagrant infringement of the forest laws, he asked + them what they meant, and they answered that they meant to dine: how he + ordered them to be seized and bound, and led captive to Nottingham, that + they might know wild-flesh to have been destined by Providence for + licensed and privileged appetites, and not for the base hunger of + unqualified knaves: how they prayed for mercy, and how the abbot swore by + Saint Charity that he would show them none: how one of them thereupon drew + a bugle horn from under his smock-frock and blew three blasts, on which + the abbot and his train were instantly surrounded by sixty bowmen in + green: how they tied him to a tree, and made him say mass for their sins: + how they unbound him, and sate him down with them to dinner, and gave him + venison and wild-fowl and wine, and made him pay for his fare all the + money in his high selerer’s portmanteau, and enforced him to sleep all + night under a tree in his cloak, and to leave the cloak behind him in the + morning: how the abbot, light in pocket and heavy in heart, raised the + country upon Robin Hood, for so he had heard the chief forester called by + his men, and hunted him into an old woman’s cottage: how Robin changed + dresses with the old woman, and how the abbot rode in great triumph to + Nottingham, having in custody an old woman in a green doublet and + breeches: how the old woman discovered herself: how the merrymen of + Nottingham laughed at the abbot: how the abbot railed at the old woman, + and how the old woman out-railed the abbot, telling him that Robin had + given her food and fire through the winter, which no abbot would ever do, + but would rather take it from her for what he called the good of the + church, by which he meant his own laziness and gluttony; and that she knew + a true man from a false thief, and a free forester from a greedy abbot. + </p> + <p> + “Thus you see,” added the sheriff, “how this villain perverts the deluded + people by making them believe that those who tithe and toll upon them for + their spiritual and temporal benefit are not their best friends and + fatherly guardians; for he holds that in giving to boors and old women + what he takes from priests and peers, he does but restore to the former + what the latter had taken from them; and this the impudent varlet calls + distributive justice. Judge now if any loyal subject can be safe in such + neighbourhood.” + </p> + <p> + While the sheriff was thus enlightening his companion concerning the + offenders, and whetting his own indignation against them, the sun was fast + sinking to the west. They rode on till they came in view of a bridge, + which they saw a party approaching from the opposite side, and the knight + presently discovered that the party consisted of the lady Matilda and + friar Michael, young Gamwell, cousin Robin, and about half-a-dozen + foresters. The knight pointed out the earl to the sheriff, who exclaimed, + “Here, then, we have him an easy prey;” and they rode on manfully towards + the bridge, on which the other party made halt. + </p> + <p> + “Who be these,” said the friar, “that come riding so fast this way? Now, + as God shall judge me, it is that false knight Sir Ralph Montfaucon, and + the sheriff of Nottingham, with a posse of men. We must make good our + post, and let them dislodge us if they may.” + </p> + <p> + The two parties were now near enough to parley; and the sheriff and the + knight, advancing in the front of the cavalcade, called on the lady, the + friar, young Gamwell, and the foresters, to deliver up that false-traitor, + Robert, formerly Earl of Huntingdon. Robert himself made answer by letting + fly an arrow that struck the ground between the fore feet of the sheriff’s + horse. The horse reared up from the whizzing, and lodged the sheriff in + the dust; and, at the same time, the fair Matilda favoured the knight with + an arrow in his right arm, that compelled him to withdraw from the affray. + His men lifted the sheriff carefully up, and replaced him on his horse, + whom he immediately with great rage and zeal urged on to the assault with + his fifty men at his heels, some of whom were intercepted in their advance + by the arrows of the foresters and Matilda; while the friar, with an + eight-foot staff, dislodged the sheriff a second time, and laid on him + with all the vigour of the church militant on earth, in spite of his + ejaculations of “Hey, friar Michael! What means this, honest friar? Hold, + ghostly friar! Hold, holy friar!”—till Matilda interposed, and + delivered the battered sheriff to the care of the foresters. The friar + continued flourishing his staff among the sheriff’s men, knocking down + one, breaking the ribs of another, dislocating the shoulder of a third, + flattening the nose of a fourth, cracking the skull of a fifth, and + pitching a sixth into the river, till the few, who were lucky enough to + escape with whole bones, clapped spurs to their horses and fled for their + lives, under a farewell volley of arrows. + </p> + <p> + Sir Ralph’s squire, meanwhile, was glad of the excuse of attending his + master’s wound to absent himself from the battle; and put the poor knight + to a great deal of unnecessary pain by making as long a business as + possible of extracting the arrow, which he had not accomplished when + Matilda, approaching, extracted it with great facility, and bound up the + wound with her scarf, saying, “I reclaim my arrow, sir knight, which + struck where I aimed it, to admonish you to desist from your enterprise. I + could as easily have lodged it in your heart.” + </p> + <p> + “It did not need,” said the knight, with rueful gallantry; “you have + lodged one there already.” + </p> + <p> + “If you mean to say that you love me,” said Matilda, “it is more than I + ever shall you: but if you will show your love by no further interfering + with mine, you will at least merit my gratitude.” + </p> + <p> + The knight made a wry face under the double pain of heart and body caused + at the same moment by the material or martial, and the metaphorical or + erotic arrow, of which the latter was thus barbed by a declaration more + candid than flattering; but he did not choose to put in any such claim to + the lady’s gratitude as would bar all hopes of her love: he therefore + remained silent; and the lady and her escort, leaving him and the sheriff + to the care of the squire, rode on till they came in sight of Arlingford + Castle, when they parted in several directions. The friar rode off alone; + and after the foresters had lost sight of him they heard his voice through + the twilight, singing,— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + A staff, a staff, of a young oak graff, + That is both stoure and stiff, + Is all a good friar can needs desire + To shrive a proud sheriffe. + And thou, fine fellowe, who hast tasted so + Of the forester’s greenwood game, + Wilt be in no haste thy time to waste + In seeking more taste of the same: + Or this can I read thee, and riddle thee well, + Thou hadst better by far be the devil in hell, + Than the sheriff of Nottinghame. +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Now, master sheriff, what’s your will with me? + —Henry IV. +</pre> + <p> + Matilda had carried her point with the baron of ranging at liberty + whithersoever she would, under her positive promise to return home; she + was a sort of prisoner on parole: she had obtained this indulgence by + means of an obsolete habit of always telling the truth and keeping her + word, which our enlightened age has discarded with other barbarisms, but + which had the effect of giving her father so much confidence in her, that + he could not help considering her word a better security than locks and + bars. + </p> + <p> + The baron had been one of the last to hear of the rumours of the new + outlaws of Sherwood, as Matilda had taken all possible precautions to keep + those rumours from his knowledge, fearing that they might cause the + interruption of her greenwood liberty; and it was only during her absence + at Gamwell feast, that the butler, being thrown off his guard by liquor, + forgot her injunctions, and regaled the baron with a long story of the + right merry adventure of Robin Hood and the abbot of Doubleflask. + </p> + <p> + The baron was one morning, as usual, cutting his way valorously through a + rampart of cold provision, when his ears were suddenly assailed by a + tremendous alarum, and sallying forth, and looking from his castle wall, + he perceived a large party of armed men on the other side of the moat, who + were calling on the warder in the king’s name to lower the drawbridge and + raise the portcullis, which had both been secured by Matilda’s order. The + baron walked along the battlement till he came opposite to these + unexpected visitors, who, as soon as they saw him, called out, “Lower the + drawbridge, in the king’s name.” + </p> + <p> + “For what, in the devil’s name?” said the baron. + </p> + <p> + “The sheriff of Nottingham,” said one, “lies in bed grievously bruised, + and many of his men are wounded, and several of them slain; and Sir Ralph + Montfaucon, knight, is sore wounded in the arm; and we are charged to + apprehend William Gamwell the younger, of Gamwell Hall, and father Michael + of Rubygill Abbey, and Matilda Fitzwater of Arlingford Castle, as agents + and accomplices in the said breach of the king’s peace.” + </p> + <p> + “Breach of the king’s fiddlestick!” answered the baron. “What do you mean + by coming here with your cock and bull, stories of my daughter grievously + bruising the sheriff of Nottingham? You are a set of vagabond rascals in + disguise; and I hear, by the bye, there is a gang of thieves that has just + set up business in Sherwood Forest: a pretty presence, indeed, to get into + my castle with force and arms, and make a famine in my buttery, and a + drought in my cellar, and a void in my strong box, and a vacuum in my + silver scullery.” + </p> + <p> + “Lord Fitzwater,” cried one, “take heed how you resist lawful authority: + we will prove ourselves——” + </p> + <p> + “You will prove yourselves arrant knaves, I doubt not,” answered the + baron; “but, villains, you shall be more grievously bruised by me than + ever was the sheriff by my daughter (a pretty tale truly!), if you do not + forthwith avoid my territory.” + </p> + <p> + By this time the baron’s men had flocked to the battlements, with + long-bows and cross-bows, slings and stones, and Matilda with her bow and + quiver at their head. The assailants, finding the castle so well defended, + deemed it expedient to withdraw till they could return in greater force, + and rode off to Rubygill Abbey, where they made known their errand to the + father abbot, who, having satisfied himself of their legitimacy, and + conned over the allegations, said that doubtless brother Michael had + heinously offended; but it was not for the civil law to take cognizance of + the misdoings of a holy friar; that he would summon a chapter of monks, + and pass on the offender a sentence proportionate to his offence. The + ministers of civil justice said that would not do. The abbot said it would + do and should; and bade them not provoke the meekness of his catholic + charity to lay them under the curse of Rome. This threat had its effect, + and the party rode off to Gamwell-Hall, where they found the Gamwells and + their men just sitting down to dinner, which they saved them the trouble + of eating by consuming it in the king’s name themselves, having first + seized and bound young Gamwell; all which they accomplished by dint of + superior numbers, in despite of a most vigorous stand made by the + Gamwellites in defence of their young master and their provisions. + </p> + <p> + The baron, meanwhile, after the ministers of justice had departed, + interrogated Matilda concerning the alleged fact of the grievous bruising + of the sheriff of Nottingham. Matilda told him the whole history of + Gamwell feast, and of their battle on the bridge, which had its origin in + a design of the sheriff of Nottingham to take one of the foresters into + custody. + </p> + <p> + “Ay! ay!” said the baron, “and I guess who that forester was; but truly + this friar is a desperate fellow. I did not think there could have been so + much valour under a grey frock. And so you wounded the knight in the arm. + You are a wild girl, Mawd,—a chip of the old block, Mawd. A wild + girl, and a wild friar, and three or four foresters, wild lads all, to + keep a bridge against a tame knight, and a tame sheriff, and fifty tame + varlets; by this light, the like was never heard! But do you know, Mawd, + you must not go about so any more, sweet Mawd: you must stay at home, you + must ensconce; for there is your tame sheriff on the one hand, that will + take you perforce; and there is your wild forester on the other hand, that + will take you without any force at all, Mawd: your wild forester, Robin, + cousin Robin, Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest, that beats and binds bishops, + spreads nets for archbishops, and hunts a fat abbot as if he were a buck: + excellent game, no doubt, but you must hunt no more in such company. I see + it now: truly I might have guessed before that the bold outlaw Robin, the + most courteous Robin, the new thief of Sherwood Forest, was your lover, + the earl that has been: I might have guessed it before, and what led you + so much to the woods; but you hunt no more in such company. No more May + games and Gamwell feasts. My lands and castle would be the forfeit of a + few more such pranks; and I think they are as well in my hands as the + king’s, quite as well.” + </p> + <p> + “You know, father,” said Matilda, “the condition of keeping me at home: I + get out if I can, and not on parole.” + </p> + <p> + “Ay! ay!” said the baron, “if you can; very true: watch and ward, Mawd, + watch and ward is my word: if you can, is yours. The mark is set, and so + start fair.” + </p> + <p> + The baron would have gone on in this way for an hour; but the friar made + his appearance with a long oak staff in his hand, singing,— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Drink and sing, and eat and laugh, + And so go forth to battle: + For the top of a skull and the end of a staff + Do make a ghostly rattle. +</pre> + <p> + “Ho! ho! friar!” said the baron—“singing friar, laughing friar, + roaring friar, fighting friar, hacking friar, thwacking friar; cracking, + cracking, cracking friar; joke-cracking, bottle-cracking, skull-cracking + friar!” + </p> + <p> + “And ho! ho!” said the friar,—“bold baron, old baron, sturdy baron, + wordy baron, long baron, strong baron, mighty baron, flighty baron, mazed + baron, crazed baron, hacked baron, thwacked baron; cracked, cracked, + cracked baron; bone-cracked, sconce-cracked, brain-cracked baron!” + </p> + <p> + “What do you mean,” said the baron, “bully friar, by calling me hacked and + thwacked?” + </p> + <p> + “Were you not in the wars?” said the friar, “where he who escapes + untracked does more credit to his heels than his arms. I pay tribute to + your valour in calling you hacked and thwacked.” + </p> + <p> + “I never was thwacked in my life,” said the baron; “I stood my ground + manfully, and covered my body with my sword. If I had had the luck to meet + with a fighting friar indeed, I might have been thwacked, and soundly too; + but I hold myself a match for any two laymen; it takes nine fighting + laymen to make a fighting friar.” + </p> + <p> + “Whence come you now, holy father?” asked Matilda. + </p> + <p> + “From Rubygill Abbey,” said the friar, “whither I never return: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + For I must seek some hermit cell, + Where I alone my beads may tell, + And on the wight who that way fares + Levy a toll for my ghostly pray’rs, + Levy a toll, levy a toll, + Levy a toll for my ghostly pray’rs.” + </pre> + <p> + “What is the matter then, father?” said Matilda. + </p> + <p> + “This is the matter,” said the friar: “my holy brethren have held a + chapter on me, and sentenced me to seven years’ privation of wine. I + therefore deemed it fitting to take my departure, which they would fain + have prohibited. I was enforced to clear the way with my staff. I have + grievously beaten my dearly beloved brethren: I grieve thereat; but they + enforced me thereto. I have beaten them much; I mowed them down to the + right and to the left, and left them like an ill-reaped field of wheat, + ear and straw pointing all ways, scattered in singleness and jumbled in + masses; and so bade them farewell, saying, Peace be with you. But I must + not tarry, lest danger be in my rear: therefore, farewell, sweet Matilda; + and farewell, noble baron; and farewell, sweet Matilda again, the alpha + and omega of father Michael, the first and the last.” + </p> + <p> + “Farewell, father,” said the baron, a little softened; “and God send you + be never assailed by more than fifty men at a time.” + </p> + <p> + “Amen,” said the friar, “to that good wish.” + </p> + <p> + “And we shall meet again, father, I trust,” said Matilda. + </p> + <p> + “When the storm is blown over,” said the baron. + </p> + <p> + “Doubt it not,” said the friar, “though flooded Trent were between us, and + fifty devils guarded the bridge.” + </p> + <p> + He kissed Matilda’s forehead, and walked away without a song. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Let gallows gape for dog: let man go free. + —Henry V. +</pre> + <p> + A page had been brought up in Gamwell-Hall, who, while he was little, had + been called Little John, and continued to be so called after he had grown + to be a foot taller than any other man in the house. He was full seven + feet high. His latitude was worthy of his longitude, and his strength was + worthy of both; and though an honest man by profession, he had practiced + archery on the king’s deer for the benefit of his master’s household, and + for the improvement of his own eye and hand, till his aim had become + infallible within the range of two miles. He had fought manfully in + defence of his young master, took his captivity exceedingly to heart, and + fell into bitter grief and boundless rage when he heard that he had been + tried in Nottingham and sentenced to die. Alice Gamwell, at Little John’s + request, wrote three letters of one tenour; and Little John, having + attached them to three blunt arrows, saddled the fleetest steed in old Sir + Guy of Gamwell’s stables, mounted, and rode first to Arlingford Castle, + where he shot one of the three arrows over the battlements; then to + Rubygill Abbey, where he shot the second into the abbey-garden; then back + past Gamwell-Hall to the borders of Sherwood Forest, where he shot the + third into the wood. Now the first of these arrows lighted in the nape of + the neck of Lord Fitzwater, and lodged itself firmly between his skin and + his collar; the second rebounded with the hollow vibration of a drumstick + from the shaven sconce of the abbot of Rubygill; and the third pitched + perpendicularly into the centre of a venison pasty in which Robin Hood was + making incision. + </p> + <p> + Matilda ran up to her father in the court of Arlingford Castle, seized the + arrow, drew off the letter, and concealed it in her bosom before the baron + had time to look round, which he did with many expressions of rage against + the impudent villain who had shot a blunt arrow into the nape of his neck. + </p> + <p> + “But you know, father,” said Matilda, “a sharp arrow in the same place + would have killed you; therefore the sending a blunt one was very + considerate.” + </p> + <p> + “Considerate, with a vengeance!” said the baron. “Where was the + consideration of sending it at all? This is some of your forester’s + pranks. He has missed you in the forest, since I have kept watch and ward + over you, and by way of a love-token and a remembrance to you takes a + random shot at me.” + </p> + <p> + The abbot of Rubygill picked up the missile-missive or messenger arrow, + which had rebounded from his shaven crown, with a very unghostly + malediction on the sender, which he suddenly checked with a pious and + consolatory reflection on the goodness of Providence in having blessed him + with such a thickness of skull, to which he was now indebted for temporal + preservation, as he had before been for spiritual promotion. He opened the + letter, which was addressed to father Michael; and found it to contain an + intimation that William Gamwell was to be hanged on Monday at Nottingham. + </p> + <p> + “And I wish,” said the abbot, “father Michael were to be hanged with him: + an ungrateful monster, after I had rescued him from the fangs of civil + justice, to reward my lenity by not leaving a bone unbruised among the + holy brotherhood of Rubygill.” + </p> + <p> + Robin Hood extracted from his venison pasty a similar intimation of the + evil destiny of his cousin, whom he determined, if possible, to rescue + from the jaws of Cerberus. + </p> + <p> + The sheriff of Nottingham, though still sore with his bruises, was so + intent on revenge, that he raised himself from his bed to attend the + execution of William Gamwell. He rode to the august structure of + retributive Themis, as the French call a gallows, in all the pride and + pomp of shrievalty, and with a splendid retinue of well-equipped knaves + and varlets, as our ancestors called honest serving-men. + </p> + <p> + Young Gamwell was brought forth with his arms pinioned behind him; his + sister Alice and his father, Sir Guy, attending him in disconsolate mood. + He had rejected the confessor provided by the sheriff, and had insisted on + the privilege of choosing his own, whom Little John had promised to bring. + Little John, however, had not made his appearance when the fatal + procession began its march; but when they reached the place of execution, + Little John appeared, accompanied by a ghostly friar. + </p> + <p> + “Sheriff,” said young Gamwell, “let me not die with my hands pinioned: + give me a sword, and set any odds of your men against me, and let me die + the death of a man, like the descendant of a noble house, which has never + yet been stained with ignominy.” + </p> + <p> + “No, no,” said the sheriff; “I have had enough of setting odds against + you. I have sworn you shall be hanged, and hanged you shall be.” + </p> + <p> + “Then God have mercy on me,” said young Gamwell; “and now, holy friar, + shrive my sinful soul.” + </p> + <p> + The friar approached. + </p> + <p> + “Let me see this friar,” said the sheriff: “if he be the friar of the + bridge, I had as lief have the devil in Nottingham; but he shall find me + too much for him here.” + </p> + <p> + “The friar of the bridge,” said Little John, “as you very well know, + sheriff, was father Michael of Rubygill Abbey, and you may easily see that + this is not the man.” + </p> + <p> + “I see it,” said the sheriff; “and God be thanked for his absence.” + </p> + <p> + Young Gamwell stood at the foot of the ladder. The friar approached him, + opened his book, groaned, turned up the whites of his eyes, tossed up his + arms in the air, and said “Dominus vobiscum.” He then crossed both his + hands on his breast under the folds of his holy robes, and stood a few + moments as if in inward prayer. A deep silence among the attendant crowd + accompanied this action of the friar; interrupted only by the hollow tone + of the death-bell, at long and dreary intervals. Suddenly the friar threw + off his holy robes, and appeared a forester clothed in green, with a sword + in his right hand and a horn in his left. With the sword he cut the bonds + of William Gamwell, who instantly snatched a sword from one of the + sheriff’s men; and with the horn he blew a loud blast, which was answered + at once by four bugles from the quarters of the four winds, and from each + quarter came five-and-twenty bowmen running all on a row. + </p> + <p> + “Treason! treason!” cried the sheriff. Old Sir Guy sprang to his son’s + side, and so did Little John; and the four setting back to back, kept the + sheriff and his men at bay till the bowmen came within shot and let fly + their arrows among the sheriff’s men, who, after a brief resistance, fled + in all directions. The forester, who had personated the friar, sent an + arrow after the flying sheriff, calling with a strong voice, “To the + sheriff’s left arm, as a keepsake from Robin Hood.” The arrow reached its + destiny; the sheriff redoubled his speed, and, with the one arrow in his + arm, did not stop to breathe till he was out of reach of another. + </p> + <p> + The foresters did not waste time in Nottingham, but were soon at a + distance from its walls. Sir Guy returned with Alice to Gamwell-Hall; but + thinking he should not be safe there, from the share he had had in his + son’s rescue, they only remained long enough to supply themselves with + clothes and money, and departed, under the escort of Little John, to + another seat of the Gamwells in Yorkshire. Young Gamwell, taking it for + granted that his offence was past remission, determined on joining Robin + Hood, and accompanied him to the forest, where it was deemed expedient + that he should change his name; and he was rechristened without a priest, + and with wine instead of water, by the immortal name of Scarlet. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Who set my man i’ the stocks?—— + I set him there, Sir but his own disorders + Deserved much less advancement.—Lear. +</pre> + <p> + The baron was inflexible in his resolution not to let Matilda leave the + castle. The letter, which announced to her the approaching fate of young + Gamwell, filled her with grief, and increased the irksomeness of a + privation which already preyed sufficiently on her spirits, and began to + undermine her health. She had no longer the consolation of the society of + her old friend father Michael: the little fat friar of Rubygill was + substituted as the castle confessor, not without some misgivings in his + ghostly bosom; but he was more allured by the sweet savour of the good + things of this world at Arlingford Castle, than deterred by his awe of the + lady Matilda, which nevertheless was so excessive, from his recollection + of the twang of the bow-string, that he never ventured to find her in the + wrong, much less to enjoin any thing in the shape of penance, as was the + occasional practice of holy confessors, with or without cause, for the + sake of pious discipline, and what was in those days called social order, + namely, the preservation of the privileges of the few who happened to have + any, at the expense of the swinish multitude who happened to have none, + except that of working and being shot at for the benefit of their betters, + which is obviously not the meaning of social order in our more enlightened + times: let us therefore be grateful to Providence, and sing Te Deum + laudamus in chorus with the Holy Alliance. + </p> + <p> + The little friar, however, though he found the lady spotless, found the + butler a great sinner: at least so it was conjectured, from the length of + time he always took to confess him in the buttery. + </p> + <p> + Matilda became every day more pale and dejected: her spirit, which could + have contended against any strenuous affliction, pined in the monotonous + inaction to which she was condemned. While she could freely range the + forest with her lover in the morning, she had been content to return to + her father’s castle in the evening, thus preserving underanged the balance + of her duties, habits, and affections; not without a hope that the repeal + of her lover’s outlawry might be eventually obtained, by a judicious + distribution of some of his forest spoils among the holy fathers and + saints that-were-to-be,—pious proficients in the ecclesiastic art + equestrian, who rode the conscience of King Henry with double-curb + bridles, and kept it well in hand when it showed mettle and seemed + inclined to rear and plunge. But the affair at Gamwell feast threw many + additional difficulties in the way of the accomplishment of this hope; and + very shortly afterwards King Henry the Second went to make up in the next + world his quarrel with Thomas-a-Becket; and Richard Coeur de Lion made all + England resound with preparations for the crusade, to the great delight of + many zealous adventurers, who eagerly flocked under his banner in the hope + of enriching themselves with Saracen spoil, which they called fighting the + battles of God. Richard, who was not remarkably scrupulous in his + financial operations, was not likely to overlook the lands and castle of + Locksley, which he appropriated immediately to his own purposes, and sold + to the highest bidder. Now, as the repeal of the outlawry would involve + the restitution of the estates to the rightful owner, it was obvious that + it could never be expected from that most legitimate and most Christian + king, Richard the First of England, the arch-crusader and anti-jacobin by + excellence,—the very type, flower, cream, pink, symbol, and mirror + of all the Holy Alliances that have ever existed on earth, excepting that + he seasoned his superstition and love of conquest with a certain condiment + of romantic generosity and chivalrous self-devotion, with which his + imitators in all other points have found it convenient to dispense. To + give freely to one man what he had taken forcibly from another, was + generosity of which he was very capable; but to restore what he had taken + to the man from whom he had taken it, was something that wore too much of + the cool physiognomy of justice to be easily reconcileable to his kingly + feelings. He had, besides, not only sent all King Henry’s saints about + their business, or rather about their no-business—their faineantise—but + he had laid them under rigorous contribution for the purposes of his holy + war; and having made them refund to the piety of the successor what they + had extracted from the piety of the precursor, he compelled them, in + addition, to give him their blessing for nothing. Matilda, therefore, from + all these circumstances, felt little hope that her lover would be any + thing but an outlaw for life. + </p> + <p> + The departure of King Richard from England was succeeded by the episcopal + regency of the bishops of Ely and Durham. Longchamp, bishop of Ely, + proceeded to show his sense of Christian fellowship by arresting his + brother bishop, and despoiling him of his share in the government; and to + set forth his humility and loving-kindness in a retinue of nobles and + knights who consumed in one night’s entertainment some five years’ revenue + of their entertainer, and in a guard of fifteen hundred foreign soldiers, + whom he considered indispensable to the exercise of a vigour beyond the + law in maintaining wholesome discipline over the refractory English. The + ignorant impatience of the swinish multitude with these fruits of good + living, brought forth by one of the meek who had inherited the earth, + displayed itself in a general ferment, of which Prince John took advantage + to make the experiment of getting possession of his brother’s crown in his + absence. He began by calling at Reading a council of barons, whose aspect + induced the holy bishop to disguise himself (some say as an old woman, + which, in the twelfth century, perhaps might have been a disguise for a + bishop), and make his escape beyond sea. Prince John followed up his + advantage by obtaining possession of several strong posts, and among + others of the castle of Nottingham. + </p> + <p> + While John was conducting his operations at Nottingham, he rode at times + past the castle of Arlingford. He stopped on one occasion to claim Lord + Fitzwater’s hospitality, and made most princely havoc among his venison + and brawn. Now it is a matter of record among divers great historians and + learned clerks, that he was then and there grievously smitten by the + charms of the lovely Matilda, and that a few days after he despatched his + travelling minstrel, or laureate, Harpiton, <a href="#linknote-3" + name="linknoteref-3" id="linknoteref-3"><small>3</small></a> (whom he + retained at moderate wages, to keep a journal of his proceedings, and + prove them all just and legitimate), to the castle of Arlingford, to make + proposals to the lady. This Harpiton was a very useful person. He was + always ready, not only to maintain the cause of his master with his pen, + and to sing his eulogies to his harp, but to undertake at a moment’s + notice any kind of courtly employment, called dirty work by the profane, + which the blessings of civil government, namely, his master’s pleasure, + and the interests of social order, namely, his own emolument, might + require. In short, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Il eut l’emploi qui certes n’est pas mince, + Et qu’a la cour, ou tout se peint en beau, + On appelloit etre l’ami du prince; + Mais qu’a la ville, et surtout en province, + Les gens grossiers ont nomme maquereau. +</pre> + <p> + Prince John was of opinion that the love of a prince actual and king + expectant, was in itself a sufficient honour to the daughter of a simple + baron, and that the right divine or royalty would make it sufficiently + holy without the rite divine of the church. He was, therefore, graciously + pleased to fall into an exceeding passion, when his confidential messenger + returned from his embassy in piteous plight, having been, by the baron’s + order, first tossed in a blanket and set in the stocks to cool, and + afterwards ducked in the moat and set again in the stocks to dry. John + swore to revenge horribly this flagrant outrage on royal prerogative, and + to obtain possession of the lady by force of arms; and accordingly + collected a body of troops, and marched upon Arlingford castle. A letter, + conveyed as before on the point of a blunt arrow, announced his approach + to Matilda: and lord Fitzwater had just time to assemble his retainers, + collect a hasty supply of provision, raise the draw-bridge, and drop the + portcullis, when the castle was surrounded by the enemy. The little fat + friar, who during the confusion was asleep in the buttery, found himself, + on awaking, inclosed in the besieged castle, and dolefully bewailed his + evil chance. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER X + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + A noble girl, i’ faith. Heart! I think I fight with a + familiar, or the ghost of a fencer. Call you this an + amorous visage? Here’s blood that would have served me these + seven years, in broken heads and cut fingers, and now it + runs out all together.—MIDDLETON. Roaring Girl. +</pre> + <p> + Prince John sat down impatiently before Arlingford castle in the hope of + starving out the besieged; but finding the duration of their supplies + extend itself in an equal ratio with the prolongation of his hope, he made + vigorous preparations for carrying the place by storm. He constructed an + immense machine on wheels, which, being advanced to the edge of the moat, + would lower a temporary bridge, of which one end would rest on the bank, + and the other on the battlements, and which, being well furnished with + stepping boards, would enable his men to ascend the inclined plane with + speed and facility. Matilda received intimation of this design by the + usual friendly channel of a blunt arrow, which must either have been sent + from some secret friend in the prince’s camp, or from some vigorous archer + beyond it: the latter will not appear improbable, when we consider that + Robin Hood and Little John could shoot two English miles and an inch + point-blank, + </p> + <p> + Come scrive Turpino, che non erra. + </p> + <p> + The machine was completed, and the ensuing morning fixed for the assault. + Six men, relieved at intervals, kept watch over it during the night. + Prince John retired to sleep, congratulating himself in the expectation + that another day would place the fair culprit at his princely mercy. His + anticipations mingled with the visions of his slumber, and he dreamed of + wounds and drums, and sacking and firing the castle, and bearing off in + his arms the beautiful prize through the midst of fire and smoke. In the + height of this imaginary turmoil, he awoke, and conceived for a few + moments that certain sounds which rang in his ears, were the continuation + of those of his dream, in that sort of half-consciousness between sleeping + and waking, when reality and phantasy meet and mingle in dim and confused + resemblance. He was, however, very soon fully awake to the fact of his + guards calling on him to arm, which he did in haste, and beheld the + machine in flames, and a furious conflict raging around it. He hurried to + the spot, and found that his camp had been suddenly assailed from one side + by a party of foresters, and that the baron’s people had made a sortie on + the other, and that they had killed the guards, and set fire to the + machine, before the rest of the camp could come to the assistance of their + fellows. + </p> + <p> + The night was in itself intensely dark, and the fire-light shed around it + a vivid and unnatural radiance. On one side, the crimson light quivered by + its own agitation on the waveless moat, and on the bastions and buttresses + of the castle, and their shadows lay in massy blackness on the illuminated + walls: on the other, it shone upon the woods, streaming far within among + the open trunks, or resting on the closer foliage. The circumference of + darkness bounded the scene on all sides: and in the centre raged the war; + shields, helmets, and bucklers gleaming and glittering as they rang and + clashed against each other; plumes confusedly tossing in the crimson + light, and the messy light and shade that fell on the faces of the + combatants, giving additional energy to their ferocious expression. + </p> + <p> + John, drawing nearer to the scene of action, observed two young warriors + fighting side by side, one of whom wore the habit of a forester, the other + that of a retainer of Arlingford. He looked intently on them both: their + position towards the fire favoured the scrutiny; and the hawk’s eye of + love very speedily discovered that the latter was the fair Matilda. The + forester he did not know: but he had sufficient tact to discern that his + success would be very much facilitated by separating her from this + companion, above all others. He therefore formed a party of men into a + wedge, only taking especial care not to be the point of it himself, and + drove it between them with so much precision, that they were in a moment + far asunder. + </p> + <p> + “Lady Matilda,” said John, “yield yourself my prisoner.” + </p> + <p> + “If you would wear me, prince,” said Matilda, “you must win me:” and + without giving him time to deliberate on the courtesy of fighting with the + lady of his love, she raised her sword in the air, and lowered it on his + head with an impetus that would have gone nigh to fathom even that + extraordinary depth of brain which always by divine grace furnishes the + interior of a head-royal, if he had not very dexterously parried the blow. + Prince John wished to disarm and take captive, not in any way to wound or + injure, least of all to kill, his fair opponent. Matilda was only intent + to get rid of her antagonist at any rate: the edge of her weapon painted + his complexion with streaks of very unloverlike crimson, and she would + probably have marred John’s hand for ever signing Magna Charta, but that + he was backed by the advantage of numbers, and that her sword broke short + on the boss of his buckler. John was following up his advantage to make a + captive of the lady, when he was suddenly felled to the earth by an unseen + antagonist. Some of his men picked him carefully up, and conveyed him to + his tent, stunned and stupified. + </p> + <p> + When he recovered, he found Harpiton diligently assisting in his recovery, + more in the fear of losing his place than in that of losing his master: + the prince’s first inquiry was for the prisoner he had been on the point + of taking at the moment when his habeas corpus was so unseasonably + suspended. He was told that his people had been on the point of securing + the said prisoner, when the devil suddenly appeared among them in the + likeness of a tall friar, having his grey frock cinctured with a + sword-belt, and his crown, which whether it were shaven or no they could + not see, surmounted with a helmet, and flourishing an eight-foot staff, + with which he laid about him to the right and to the left, knocking down + the prince and his men as if they had been so many nine-pins: in fine, he + had rescued the prisoner, and made a clear passage through friend and foe, + and in conjunction with a chosen party of archers, had covered the retreat + of the baron’s men and the foresters, who had all gone off in a body + towards Sherwood forest. + </p> + <p> + Harpiton suggested that it would be desirable to sack the castle, and + volunteered to lead the van on the occasion, as the defenders were + withdrawn, and the exploit seemed to promise much profit and little + danger: John considered that the castle would in itself be a great + acquisition to him, as a stronghold in furtherance of his design on his + brother’s throne; and was determining to take possession with the first + light of morning, when he had the mortification to see the castle burst + into flames in several places at once. A piteous cry was heard from + within, and while the prince was proclaiming a reward to any one who would + enter into the burning pile, and elucidate the mystery of the doleful + voice, forth waddled the little fat friar in an agony of fear, out of the + fire into the frying-pan; for he was instantly taken into custody and + carried before Prince John, wringing his hands and tearing his hair. + </p> + <p> + “Are you the friar,” said Prince John, in a terrible voice, “that laid me + prostrate in battle, mowed down my men like grass, rescued my captive, and + covered the retreat of my enemies? And, not content with this, have you + now set fire to the castle in which I intended to take up my royal + quarters?” + </p> + <p> + The little friar quaked like a jelly: he fell on his knees, and attempted + to speak; but in his eagerness to vindicate himself from this accumulation + of alarming charges, he knew not where to begin; his ideas rolled round + upon each other like the radii of a wheel; the words he desired to utter, + instead of issuing, as it were, in a right line from his lips, seemed to + conglobate themselves into a sphere turning on its own axis in his throat: + after several ineffectual efforts, his utterance totally failed him, and + he remained gasping, with his mouth open, his lips quivering, his hands + clasped together, and the whites of his eyes turned up towards the prince + with an expression most ruefully imploring. + </p> + <p> + “Are you that friar?” repeated the prince. + </p> + <p> + Several of the by-standers declared that he was not that friar. The little + friar, encouraged by this patronage, found his voice, and pleaded for + mercy. The prince questioned him closely concerning the burning of the + castle. The little friar declared, that he had been in too great fear + during the siege to know much of what was going forward, except that he + had been conscious during the last few days of a lamentable deficiency of + provisions, and had been present that very morning at the broaching of the + last butt of sack. Harpiton groaned in sympathy. The little friar added, + that he knew nothing of what had passed since till he heard the flames + roaring at his elbow. + </p> + <p> + “Take him away, Harpiton,” said the prince, “fill him with sack, and turn + him out.” + </p> + <p> + “Never mind the sack,” said the little friar, “turn me out at once.” + </p> + <p> + “A sad chance,” said Harpiton, “to be turned out without sack.” + </p> + <p> + But what Harpiton thought a sad chance the little friar thought a merry + one, and went bounding like a fat buck towards the abbey of Rubygill. + </p> + <p> + An arrow, with a letter attached to it, was shot into the camp, and + carried to the prince. The contents were these:— + </p> + <p> + “Prince John,—I do not consider myself to have resisted lawful + authority in defending my castle against you, seeing that you are at + present in a state of active rebellion against your liege sovereign + Richard: and if my provisions had not failed me, I would have maintained + it till doomsday. As it is, I have so well disposed my combustibles that + it shall not serve you as a strong hold in your rebellion. If you hunt in + the chases of Nottinghamshire, you may catch other game than my daughter. + Both she and I are content to be houseless for a time, in the reflection + that we have deserved your enmity, and the friendship of Coeur-de-Lion. + </p> + <p> + “FITZWATER.” <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XI + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + —Tuck, the merry friar, who many a sermon made In praise of + Robin Hood, his outlaws, and their trade.—DRAYTON. +</pre> + <p> + The baron, with some of his retainers and all the foresters, halted at + daybreak in Sherwood forest. The foresters quickly erected tents, and + prepared an abundant breakfast of venison and ale. + </p> + <p> + “Now, Lord Fitzwater,” said the chief forester, “recognise your son-in-law + that was to have been, in the outlaw Robin Hood.” + </p> + <p> + “Ay, ay,” said the baron, “I have recognised you long ago.” + </p> + <p> + “And recognise your young friend Gamwell,” said the second, “in the outlaw + Scarlet.” + </p> + <p> + “And Little John, the page,” said the third, “in Little John the outlaw.” + </p> + <p> + “And Father Michael, of Rubygill Abbey,” said the friar, “in Friar Tuck, + of Sherwood forest. Truly, I have a chapel here hard by, in the shape of a + hollow tree, where I put up my prayers for travellers, and Little John + holds the plate at the door, for good praying deserves good paying.” + </p> + <p> + “I am in fine company,” said the baron. + </p> + <p> + “In the very best of company,” said the friar, “in the high court of + Nature, and in the midst of her own nobility. Is it not so? This goodly + grove is our palace: the oak and the beech are its colonnade and its + canopy: the sun and the moon and the stars are its everlasting lamps: the + grass, and the daisy, and the primrose, and the violet, are its + many-coloured floor of green, white, yellow, and blue; the may-flower, and + the woodbine, and the eglantine, and the ivy, are its decorations, its + curtains, and its tapestry: the lark, and the thrush, and the linnet, and + the nightingale, are its unhired minstrels and musicians. Robin Hood is + king of the forest both by dignity of birth and by virtue of his standing + army: to say nothing of the free choice of his people, which he has + indeed, but I pass it by as an illegitimate basis of power. He holds his + dominion over the forest, and its horned multitude of citizen-deer, and + its swinish multitude or peasantry of wild boars, by right of conquest and + force of arms. He levies contributions among them by the free consent of + his archers, their virtual representatives. If they should find a voice to + complain that we are ‘tyrants and usurpers to kill and cook them up in + their assigned and native dwelling-place,’ we should most convincingly + admonish them, with point of arrow, that they have nothing to do with our + laws but to obey them. Is it not written that the fat ribs of the herd + shall be fed upon by the mighty in the land? And have not they withal my + blessing? my orthodox, canonical, and archiepiscopal blessing? Do I not + give thanks for them when they are well roasted and smoking under my nose? + What title had William of Normandy to England, that Robin of Locksley has + not to merry Sherwood? William fought for his claim. So does Robin. With + whom, both? With any that would or will dispute it. William raised + contributions. So does Robin. From whom, both? From all that they could or + can make pay them. Why did any pay them to William? Why do any pay them to + Robin? For the same reason to both: because they could not or cannot help + it. They differ indeed, in this, that William took from the poor and gave + to the rich, and Robin takes from the rich and gives to the poor: and + therein is Robin illegitimate; though in all else he is true prince. + Scarlet and John, are they not peers of the forest? lords temporal of + Sherwood? And am not I lord spiritual? Am I not archbishop? Am I not pope? + Do I not consecrate their banner and absolve their sins? Are not they + state, and am not I church? Are not they state monarchical, and am not I + church militant? Do I not excommunicate our enemies from venison and + brawn, and by ‘r Lady, when need calls, beat them down under my feet? The + state levies tax, and the church levies tithe. Even so do we. Mass, we + take all at once. What then? It is tax by redemption and tithe by + commutation. Your William and Richard can cut and come again, but our + Robin deals with slippery subjects that come not twice to his exchequer. + What need we then to constitute a court, except a fool and a laureate? For + the fool, his only use is to make false knaves merry by art, and we are + true men and are merry by nature. For the laureate, his only office is to + find virtues in those who have none, and to drink sack for his pains. We + have quite virtue enough to need him not, and can drink our sack for + ourselves.” “Well preached, friar,” said Robin Hood: “yet there is one + thing wanting to constitute a court, and that is a queen. And now, lovely + Matilda, look round upon these sylvan shades where we have so often roused + the stag from his ferny covert. The rising sun smiles upon us through the + stems of that beechen knoll. Shall I take your hand, Matilda, in the + presence of this my court? Shall I crown you with our wild-wood coronal, + and hail you queen of the forest? Will you be the queen Matilda of your + own true king Robin?” + </p> + <p> + Matilda smiled assent. + </p> + <p> + “Not Matilda,” said the friar: “the rules of our holy alliance require new + birth. We have excepted in favour of Little John, because he is great + John, and his name is a misnomer. I sprinkle, not thy forehead with water, + but thy lips with wine, and baptize thee MARIAN.” + </p> + <p> + “Here is a pretty conspiracy,” exclaimed the baron. “Why, you villanous + friar, think you to nickname and marry my daughter before my face with + impunity?” + </p> + <p> + “Even so, bold baron,” said the friar; “we are strongest here. Say you, + might overcomes right? I say no. There is no right but might: and to say + that might overcomes right is to say that right overcomes itself: an + absurdity most palpable. Your right was the stronger in Arlingford, and + ours is the stronger in Sherwood. Your right was right as long as you + could maintain it; so is ours. So is King Richard’s, with all deference be + it spoken; and so is King Saladin’s; and their two mights are now + committed in bloody fray, and that which overcomes will be right, just as + long as it lasts, and as far as it reaches. And now if any of you know any + just impediment——” + </p> + <p> + “Fire and fury,” said the baron. + </p> + <p> + “Fire and fury,” said the friar, “are modes of that might which + constitutes right, and are just impediments to any thing against which + they can be brought to bear. They are our good allies upon occasion, and + would declare for us now if you should put them to the test.” + </p> + <p> + “Father,” said Matilda, “you know the terms of our compact: from the + moment you restrained my liberty, you renounced your claim to all but + compulsory obedience. The friar argues well. Right ends with might. Thick + walls, dreary galleries, and tapestried chambers, were indifferent to me + while I could leave them at pleasure, but have ever been hateful to me + since they held me by force. May I never again have roof but the blue sky, + nor canopy but the green leaves, nor barrier but the forest-bounds; with + the foresters to my train, Little John to my page, Friar Tuck to my + ghostly adviser, and Robin Hood to my liege lord. I am no longer lady + Matilda Fitzwater, of Arlingford Castle, but plain Maid Marian, of + Sherwood Forest.” + </p> + <p> + “Long live Maid Marian!” re-echoed the foresters. + </p> + <p> + “Oh false girl!” said the baron, “do you renounce your name and + parentage?” + </p> + <p> + “Not my parentage,” said Marian, “but my name indeed: do not all maids + renounce it at the altar?” + </p> + <p> + “The altar!” said the baron: “grant me patience! what do you mean by the + altar?” + </p> + <p> + “Pile green turf,” said the friar, “wreathe it with flowers, and crown it + with fruit, and we will show the noble baron what we mean by the altar.” + </p> + <p> + The foresters did as the friar directed. + </p> + <p> + “Now, Little John,” said the friar, “on with the cloak of the abbot of + Doubleflask. I appoint thee my clerk: thou art here duly elected in full + mote.” + </p> + <p> + “I wish you were all in full moat together,” said the baron, “and smooth + wall on both sides.” + </p> + <p> + “Punnest thou?” said the friar. “A heinous anti-christian offence. Why + anti-christian? Because anti-catholic? Why anti-catholic? Because + anti-roman. Why anti-roman? Because Carthaginian. Is not pun from Punic? + punica fides: the very quint-essential quiddity of bad faith: + double-visaged: double-tongued. He that will make a pun will—— + I say no more. Fie on it. Stand forth, clerk. Who is the bride’s father?” + </p> + <p> + “There is no bride’s father,” said the baron. “I am the father of Matilda + Fitzwater.” + </p> + <p> + “There is none such,” said the friar. “This is the fair Maid Marian. Will + you make a virtue of necessity, or will you give laws to the flowing tide? + Will you give her, or shall Robin take her? Will you be her true natural + father, or shall I commute paternity? Stand forth, Scarlet.” + </p> + <p> + “Stand back, sirrah Scarlet,” said the baron. “My daughter shall have no + father but me. Needs must when the devil drives.” + </p> + <p> + “No matter who drives,” said the friar, “so that, like a well-disposed + subject, you yield cheerful obedience to those who can enforce it.” + </p> + <p> + “Mawd, sweet Mawd,” said the baron, “will you then forsake your poor old + father in his distress, with his castle in ashes, and his enemy in power?” + </p> + <p> + “Not so, father,” said Marian; “I will always be your true daughter: I + will always love, and serve, and watch, and defend you: but neither will I + forsake my plighted love, and my own liege lord, who was your choice + before he was mine, for you made him my associate in infancy; and that he + continued to be mine when he ceased to be yours, does not in any way show + remissness in my duties or falling off in my affections. And though I here + plight my troth at the altar to Robin, in the presence of this holy priest + and pious clerk, yet.... Father, when Richard returns from Palestine, he + will restore you to your barony, and perhaps, for your sake, your + daughter’s husband to the earldom of Huntingdon: should that never be, + should it be the will of fate that we must live and die in the greenwood, + I will live and die MAID MARIAN.” <a href="#linknote-4" + name="linknoteref-4" id="linknoteref-4"><small>4</small></a> + </p> + <p> + “A pretty resolution,” said the baron, “if Robin will let you keep it.” + </p> + <p> + “I have sworn it,” said Robin. “Should I expose her tenderness to the + perils of maternity, when life and death may hang on shifting at a + moment’s notice from Sherwood to Barnsdale, and from Barnsdale to the + sea-shore? And why should I banquet when my merry men starve? Chastity is + our forest law, and even the friar has kept it since he has been here.” + </p> + <p> + “Truly so,” said the friar: “for temptation dwells with ease and luxury: + but the hunter is Hippolytus, and the huntress is Dian. And now, dearly + beloved——” + </p> + <p> + The friar went through the ceremony with great unction, and Little John + was most clerical in the intonation of his responses. After which, the + friar sang, and Little John fiddled, and the foresters danced, Robin with + Marian, and Scarlet with the baron; and the venison smoked, and the ale + frothed, and the wine sparkled, and the sun went down on their unwearied + festivity: which they wound up with the following song, the friar leading + and the foresters joining chorus: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Oh! bold Robin Hood is a forester good, + As ever drew bow in the merry greenwood: + At his bugle’s shrill singing the echoes are ringing, + The wild deer are springing for many a rood: + Its summons we follow, through brake, over hollow, + The thrice-blown shrill summons of bold Robin Hood. + + And what eye hath e’er seen such a sweet Maiden Queen, + As Marian, the pride of the forester’s green? + A sweet garden-flower, she blooms in the bower, + Where alone to this hour the wild rose has been: + We hail her in duty the queen of all beauty: + We will live, we will die, by our sweet Maiden queen. + + And here’s a grey friar, good as heart can desire, + To absolve all our sins as the case may require: + Who with courage so stout, lays his oak-plant about, + And puts to the rout all the foes of his choir: + For we are his choristers, we merry foresters, + Chorussing thus with our militant friar + + And Scarlet cloth bring his good yew-bough and string, + Prime minister is he of Robin our king: + No mark is too narrow for little John’s arrow, + That hits a cock sparrow a mile on the wing; + Robin and Marion, Scarlet, and Little John, + Long with their glory old Sherwood shall ring. + + Each a good liver, for well-feathered quiver + Doth furnish brawn, venison, and fowl of the river: + But the best game we dish up, it is a fat bishop: + When his angels we fish up, he proves a free giver: + For a prelate so lowly has angels more holy, + And should this world’s false angels to sinners deliver. + + Robin and Marion, Scarlet and Little John, + Drink to them one by one, drink as ye sing: + Robin and Marion, Scarlet and Little John, + Echo to echo through Sherwood shall fling: + Robin and Marion, Scarlet and Little John, + Long with their glory old Sherwood shall ring. +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XII + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + A single volume paramount: a code: + A master spirit: a determined road. + —WORDSWORTH. +</pre> + <p> + The next morning Robin Hood convened his foresters, and desired Little + John, for the baron’s edification, to read over the laws of their forest + society. Little John read aloud with a stentorophonic voice. + </p> + <p> + “At a high court of foresters, held under the greenwood tree, an hour + after sun-rise, Robin Hood President, William Scarlet Vice-President, + Little John Secretary: the following articles, moved by Friar Tuck in his + capacity of Peer Spiritual, and seconded by Much the Miller, were + unanimously agreed to. + </p> + <p> + “The principles of our society are six: Legitimacy, Equity, Hospitality, + Chivalry, Chastity, and Courtesy. + </p> + <p> + “The articles of Legitimacy are four: + </p> + <p> + “I. Our government is legitimate, and our society is founded on the one + golden rule of right, consecrated by the universal consent of mankind, and + by the practice of all ages, individuals, and nations: namely, To keep + what we have, and to catch what we can. + </p> + <p> + “II. Our government being legitimate, all our proceedings shall be + legitimate: wherefore we declare war against the whole world, and every + forester is by this legitimate declaration legitimately invested with a + roving commission, to make lawful prize of every thing that comes in his + way. + </p> + <p> + “III. All forest laws but our own we declare to be null and void. + </p> + <p> + “IV. All such of the old laws of England as do not in any way interfere + with, or militate against, the views of this honourable assembly, we will + loyally adhere to and maintain. The rest we declare null and void as far + as relates to ourselves, in all cases wherein a vigour beyond the law may + be conducive to our own interest and preservation.” + </p> + <p> + “The articles of Equity are three: + </p> + <p> + “I. The balance of power among the people being very much deranged, by one + having too much and another nothing, we hereby resolve ourselves into a + congress or court of equity, to restore as far as in us lies the said + natural balance of power, by taking from all who have too much as much of + the said too much as we can lay our hands on; and giving to those who have + nothing such a portion thereof as it may seem to us expedient to part + with. + </p> + <p> + “II. In all cases a quorum of foresters shall constitute a court of + equity, and as many as may be strong enough to manage the matter in hand + shall constitute a quorum. + </p> + <p> + “III. All usurers, monks, courtiers, and other drones of the great hive of + society, who shall be found laden with any portion of the honey whereof + they have wrongfully despoiled the industrious bee, shall be rightfully + despoiled thereof in turn; and all bishops and abbots shall be bound and + beaten, <a href="#linknote-5" name="linknoteref-5" id="linknoteref-5"><small>5</small></a> + especially the abbot of Doncaster; as shall also all sheriffs, especially + the sheriff of Nottingham. + </p> + <p> + “The articles of Hospitality are two: + </p> + <p> + “I. Postmen, carriers and market-folk, peasants and mechanics, farmers and + millers, shall pass through our forest dominions without let or + molestation. + </p> + <p> + “II. All other travellers through the forest shall be graciously invited + to partake of Robin’s hospitality; and if they come not willingly they + shall be compelled; and the rich man shall pay well for his fare; and the + poor man shall feast scot free, and peradventure receive bounty in + proportion to his desert and necessity. + </p> + <p> + “The article of Chivalry is one: + </p> + <p> + “I. Every forester shall, to the extent of his power, aid and protect + maids, widows, and orphans, and all weak and distressed persons + whomsoever: and no woman shall be impeded or molested in any way; nor + shall any company receive harm which any woman is in. + </p> + <p> + “The article of Chastity is one: + </p> + <p> + “I. Every forester, being Diana’s forester and minion of the moon, shall + commend himself to the grace of the Virgin, and shall have the gift of + continency on pain of expulsion: that the article of chivalry may be + secure from infringement, and maids, wives, and widows pass without fear + through the forest. + </p> + <p> + “The article of Courtesy is one: + </p> + <p> + “I. No one shall miscall a forester. He who calls Robin Robert of + Huntingdon, or salutes him by any other title or designation whatsoever + except plain Robin Hood; or who calls Marian Matilda Fitzwater, or salutes + her by any other title or designation whatsoever except plain Maid Marian; + and so of all others; shall for every such offence forfeit a mark, to be + paid to the friar. + </p> + <p> + “And these articles we swear to keep as we are good men and true. Carried + by acclamation. God save King Richard. + </p> + <p> + “LITTLE JOHN, Secretary.” + </p> + <p> + “Excellent laws,” said the baron: “excellent, by the holy rood. William of + Normandy, with my great great grandfather Fierabras at his elbow, could + not have made better. And now, sweet Mawd——” + </p> + <p> + “A fine, a fine,” cried the friar, “a fine, by the article of courtesy.” + </p> + <p> + “Od’s life,” said the baron, “shall I not call my own daughter Mawd? + Methinks there should be a special exception in my favour.” + </p> + <p> + “It must not be,” said Robin Hood: “our constitution admits no privilege.” + </p> + <p> + “But I will commute,” said the friar; “for twenty marks a year duly paid + into my ghostly pocket you shall call your daughter Mawd two hundred times + a day.” + </p> + <p> + “Gramercy,” said the baron, “and I agree, honest friar, when I can get + twenty marks to pay: for till Prince John be beaten from Nottingham, my + rents are like to prove but scanty.” + </p> + <p> + “I will trust,” said the friar, “and thus let us ratify the stipulation; + so shall our laws and your infringement run together in an amicable + parallel.” + </p> + <p> + “But,” said Little John, “this is a bad precedent, master friar. It is + turning discipline into profit, penalty into perquisite, public justice + into private revenue. It is rank corruption, master friar.” + </p> + <p> + “Why are laws made?” said the friar. “For the profit of somebody. Of whom? + Of him who makes them first, and of others as it may happen. Was not I + legislator in the last article, and shall I not thrive by my own law?” + </p> + <p> + “Well then, sweet Mawd,” said the baron, “I must leave you, Mawd: your + life is very well for the young and the hearty, but it squares not with my + age or my humour. I must house, Mawd. I must find refuge: but where? That + is the question.” + </p> + <p> + “Where Sir Guy of Gamwell has found it,” said Robin Hood, “near the + borders of Barnsdale. There you may dwell in safety with him and fair + Alice, till King Richard return, and Little John shall give you safe + conduct. You will have need to travel with caution, in disguise and + without attendants, for Prince John commands all this vicinity, and will + doubtless lay the country for you and Marian. Now it is first expedient to + dismiss your retainers. If there be any among them who like our life, they + may stay with us in the greenwood; the rest may return to their homes.” + </p> + <p> + Some of the baron’s men resolved to remain with Robin and Marian, and were + furnished accordingly with suits of green, of which Robin always kept good + store. + </p> + <p> + Marian now declared that as there was danger in the way to Barnsdale, she + would accompany Little John and the baron, as she should not be happy + unless she herself saw her father placed in security. Robin was very + unwilling to consent to this, and assured her that there was more danger + for her than the baron: but Marian was absolute. + </p> + <p> + “If so, then,” said Robin, “I shall be your guide instead of Little John, + and I shall leave him and Scarlet joint-regents of Sherwood during my + absence, and the voice of Friar Tuck shall be decisive between them if + they differ in nice questions of state policy.” Marian objected to this, + that there was more danger for Robin than either herself or the baron: but + Robin was absolute in his turn. + </p> + <p> + “Talk not of my voice,” said the friar; “for if Marian be a damsel errant, + I will be her ghostly esquire.” + </p> + <p> + Robin insisted that this should not be, for number would only expose them + to greater risk of detection. The friar, after some debate, reluctantly + acquiesced. + </p> + <p> + While they were discussing these matters, they heard the distant sound of + horses’ feet. + </p> + <p> + “Go,” said Robin to Little John, “and invite yonder horseman to dinner.” + </p> + <p> + Little John bounded away, and soon came before a young man, who was riding + in a melancholy manner, with the bridle hanging loose on the horse’s neck, + and his eyes drooping towards the ground. + </p> + <p> + “Whither go you?” said Little John. + </p> + <p> + “Whithersoever my horse pleases,” said the young man. + </p> + <p> + “And that shall be,” said Little John, “whither I please to lead him. I am + commissioned to invite you to dine with my master.” + </p> + <p> + “Who is your master?” said the young man. + </p> + <p> + “Robin Hood,” said Little John. + </p> + <p> + “The bold outlaw?” said the stranger. “Neither he nor you should have made + me turn an inch aside yesterday; but to-day I care not.” + </p> + <p> + “Then it is better for you,” said Little John, “that you came to-day than + yesterday, if you love dining in a whole skin: for my master is the pink + of courtesy: but if his guests prove stubborn, he bastes them and his + venison together, while the friar says mass before meat.” + </p> + <p> + The young man made no answer, and scarcely seemed to hear what Little John + was saying, who therefore took the horse’s bridle and led him to where + Robin and his foresters were setting forth their dinner. Robin seated the + young man next to Marian. Recovering a little from his stupor, he looked + with much amazement at her, and the baron, and Robin, and the friar; + listened to their conversation, and seemed much astonished to find himself + in such holy and courtly company. Robin helped him largely to rumble-pie + and cygnet and pheasant, and the other dainties of his table; and the + friar pledged him in ale and wine, and exhorted him to make good cheer. + But the young man drank little, ate less, spake nothing, and every now and + then sighed heavily. + </p> + <p> + When the repast was ended, “Now,” said Robin, “you are at liberty to + pursue your journey: but first be pleased to pay for your dinner.” + </p> + <p> + “That would I gladly do, Robin,” said the young man, “but all I have about + me are five shillings and a ring. To the five shillings you shall be + welcome, but for the ring I will fight while there is a drop of blood in + my veins.” + </p> + <p> + “Gallantly spoken,” said Robin Hood. “A love-token, without doubt: but you + must submit to our forest laws. Little John must search; and if he find no + more than you say, not a penny will I touch; but if you have spoken false, + the whole is forfeit to our fraternity.” + </p> + <p> + “And with reason,” said the friar; “for thereby is the truth maintained + The abbot of Doubleflask swore there was no money in his valise, and + Little John forthwith emptied it of four hundred pounds. Thus was the + abbot’s perjury but of one minute’s duration; for though his speech was + false in the utterance, yet was it no sooner uttered than it became true, + and we should have been participes criminis to have suffered the holy + abbot to depart in falsehood: whereas he came to us a false priest, and we + sent him away a true man. Marry, we turned his cloak to further account, + and thereby hangs a tale that may be either said or sung; for in truth I + am minstrel here as well as chaplain; I pray for good success to our just + and necessary warfare, and sing thanks-giving odes when our foresters + bring in booty: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Bold Robin has robed him in ghostly attire, + And forth he is gone like a holy friar, + Singing, hey down, ho down, down, derry down: + And of two grey friars he soon was aware, + Regaling themselves with dainty fare, + All on the fallen leaves so brown. + + “Good morrow, good brothers,” said bold Robin + Hood, + “And what make you in the good greenwood, + Singing hey down, ho down, down, derry down! + Now give me, I pray you, wine and food; + For none can I find in the good greenwood, + All on the fallen leaves so brown.” + + “Good brother,” they said, “we would give you full fain, + But we have no more than enough for twain, + Singing, hey down, ho down, down, derry down.” + “Then give me some money,” said bold Robin Hood, + “For none can I find in the good greenwood, + All on the fallen leaves so brown.” + + “No money have we, good brother,” said they: + “Then,” said he, “we three for money will pray: + Singing, hey down, ho down, down, derry down: + And whatever shall come at the end of our prayer, + We three holy friars will piously share, + All on the fallen leaves so brown.” + + “We will not pray with thee, good brother, God wot: + For truly, good brother, thou pleasest us not, + Singing hey down, ho down, down, derry down:” + Then up they both started from Robin to run, + But down on their knees Robin pulled them each one, + All on the fallen leaves so brown. + + The grey friars prayed with a doleful face, + But bold Robin prayed with a right merry grace, + Singing, hey down, ho down, down, derry down: + And when they had prayed, their portmanteau he took, + And from it a hundred good angels he shook, + All on the fallen leaves so brown. + + “The saints,” said bold Robin, “have hearkened our prayer, + And here’s a good angel apiece for your share: + If more you would have, you must win ere you wear: + Singing hey down, ho down, down, derry down:” + Then he blew his good horn with a musical cheer, + And fifty green bowmen came trooping full near, + And away the grey friars they bounded like deer, + All on the fallen leaves so brown. +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIII + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + What can a young lassie, what shall a young lassie, + What can a young lassie do wi’an auld man? + —BURNS. +</pre> + <p> + “Here is but five shillings and a ring,” said Little John, “and the young + man has spoken true.” + </p> + <p> + “Then,” said Robin to the stranger, “if want of money be the cause of your + melancholy, speak. Little John is my treasurer, and he shall disburse to + you.” + </p> + <p> + “It is, and it is not,” said the stranger; “it is, because, had I not + wanted money I had never lost my love; it is not, because, now that I have + lost her, money would come too late to regain her.” + </p> + <p> + “In what way have you lost her?” said Robin: “let us clearly know that she + is past regaining, before we give up our wishes to restore her to you.” + </p> + <p> + “She is to be married this day,” said the stranger, “and perhaps is + married by this, to a rich old knight; and yesterday I knew it not.” + </p> + <p> + “What is your name?” said Robin. + </p> + <p> + “Allen,” said the stranger. + </p> + <p> + “And where is the marriage to take place, Allen?” said Robin. + </p> + <p> + “At Edwinstow church,” said Allen, “by the bishop of Nottingham.” + </p> + <p> + “I know that bishop,” said Robin; “he dined with me a month since, and + paid three hundred pounds for his dinner. He has a good ear and loves + music. The friar sang to him to some tune. Give me my harper’s cloak, and + I will play a part at this wedding. + </p> + <p> + “These are dangerous times, Robin,” said Marian, “for playing pranks out + of the forest.” + </p> + <p> + “Fear not,” said Robin; “Edwinstow lies not Nottingham-ward, and I will + take my precautions.” + </p> + <p> + Robin put on his harper’s cloak, while Little John painted his eyebrows + and cheeks, tipped his nose with red, and tied him on a comely beard. + Marian confessed, that had she not been present at the metamorphosis, she + should not have known her own true Robin. Robin took his harp and went to + the wedding. + </p> + <p> + Robin found the bishop and his train in the church porch, impatiently + expecting the arrival of the bride and bridegroom. The clerk was observing + to the bishop that the knight was somewhat gouty, and that the necessity + of walking the last quarter of a mile from the road to the churchyard + probably detained the lively bridegroom rather longer than had been + calculated upon. + </p> + <p> + “Oh! by my fey,” said the music-loving bishop, “here comes a harper in the + nick of time, and now I care not how long they tarry. Ho! honest friend, + are you come to play at the wedding?” + </p> + <p> + “I am come to play anywhere,” answered Robin, “where I can get a cup of + sack; for which I will sing the praise of the donor in lofty verse, and + emblazon him with any virtue which he may wish to have the credit of + possessing, without the trouble of practising. + </p> + <p> + “A most courtly harper,” said the bishop; “I will fill thee with sack; I + will make thee a walking butt of sack, if thou wilt delight my ears with + thy melodies.” + </p> + <p> + “That will I,” said Robin; “in what branch of my art shall I exert my + faculty? I am passing well in all, from the anthem to the glee, and from + the dirge to the coranto.” + </p> + <p> + “It would be idle,” said the bishop, “to give thee sack for playing me + anthems, seeing that I myself do receive sack for hearing them sung. + Therefore, as the occasion is festive, thou shalt play me a coranto.” + </p> + <p> + Robin struck up and played away merrily, the bishop all the while in great + delight, noddling his head, and beating time with his foot, till the bride + and bridegroom appeared. The bridegroom was richly apparelled, and came + slowly and painfully forward, hobbling and leering, and pursing up his + mouth into a smile of resolute defiance to the gout, and of tender + complacency towards his lady love, who, shining like gold at the old + knight’s expense, followed slowly between her father and mother, her + cheeks pale, her head drooping, her steps faltering, and her eyes reddened + with tears. + </p> + <p> + Robin stopped his minstrelsy, and said to the bishop, “This seems to me an + unfit match.” + </p> + <p> + “What do you say, rascal?” said the old knight, hobbling up to him. + </p> + <p> + “I say,” said Robin, “this seems to me an unfit match. What, in the + devil’s name, can you want with a young wife, who have one foot in + flannels and the other in the grave?” + </p> + <p> + “What is that to thee, sirrah varlet?” said the old knight; “stand away + from the porch, or I will fracture thy sconce with my cane.” + </p> + <p> + “I will not stand away from the porch,” said Robin, “unless the bride bid + me, and tell me that you are her own true love.” + </p> + <p> + “Speak,” said the bride’s father, in a severe tone, and with a look of + significant menace. The girl looked alternately at her father and Robin. + She attempted to speak, but her voice failed in the effort, and she burst + into tears. + </p> + <p> + “Here is lawful cause and just impediment,” said Robin, “and I forbid the + banns.” + </p> + <p> + “Who are you, villain?” said the old knight, stamping his sound foot with + rage. + </p> + <p> + “I am the Roman law,” said Robin, “which says that there shall not be more + than ten years between a man and his wife; and here are five times ten: + and so says the law of nature.” + </p> + <p> + “Honest harper,” said the bishop, “you are somewhat over-officious here, + and less courtly than I deemed you. If you love sack, forbear; for this + course will never bring you a drop. As to your Roman law, and your law of + nature, what right have they to say any thing which the law of Holy Writ + says not?” + </p> + <p> + “The law of Holy Writ does say it,” said Robin; “I expound it so to say; + and I will produce sixty commentators to establish my exposition.” + </p> + <p> + And so saying, he produced a horn from beneath his cloak, and blew three + blasts, and threescore bowmen in green came leaping from the bushes and + trees; and young Allen was the first among them to give Robin his sword, + while Friar Tuck and Little John marched up to the altar. Robin stripped + the bishop and clerk of their robes, and put them on the friar and Little + John; and Allen advanced to take the hand of the bride. Her cheeks grew + red and her eyes grew bright, as she locked her hand in her lover’s, and + tripped lightly with him into the church. + </p> + <p> + “This marriage will not stand,” said the bishop, “for they have not been + thrice asked in church.” + </p> + <p> + “We will ask them seven times,” said Little John, “lest three should not + suffice.” + </p> + <p> + “And in the meantime,” said Robin, “the knight and the bishop shall dance + to my harping.” + </p> + <p> + So Robin sat in the church porch and played away merrily, while his + foresters formed a ring, in the centre of which the knight and bishop + danced with exemplary alacrity; and if they relaxed their exertions, + Scarlet gently touched them up with the point of an arrow. + </p> + <p> + The knight grimaced ruefully, and begged Robin to think of his gout. + </p> + <p> + “So I do,” said Robin; “this is the true antipodagron: you shall dance the + gout away, and be thankful to me while you live. I told you,” he added to + the bishop, “I would play at this wedding; but you did not tell me that + you would dance at it. The next couple you marry, think of the Roman law.” + </p> + <p> + The bishop was too much out of breath to reply; and now the young couple + issued from church, and the bride having made a farewell obeisance to her + parents, they departed together with the foresters, the parents storming, + the attendants laughing, the bishop puffing and blowing, and the knight + rubbing his gouty foot, and uttering doleful lamentations for the gold and + jewels with which he had so unwittingly adorned and cowered the bride. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIV + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + As ye came from the holy land + Of blessed Walsinghame, + Oh met ye not with my true love, + As by the way ye came? + + —Old Ballad. +</pre> + <p> + In pursuance of the arrangement recorded in the twelfth chapter, the + baron, Robin, and Marian disguised themselves as pilgrims returned from + Palestine, and travelling from the sea-coast of Hampshire to their home in + Northumberland. By dint of staff and cockle-shell, sandal and scrip, they + proceeded in safety the greater part of the way (for Robin had many sly + inns and resting-places between Barnsdale and Sherwood), and were already + on the borders of Yorkshire, when, one evening, they passed within view of + a castle, where they saw a lady standing on a turret, and surveying the + whole extent of the valley through which they were passing. A servant came + running from the castle, and delivered to them a message from his lady, + who was sick with expectation of news from her lord in the Holy Land, and + entreated them to come to her, that she might question them concerning + him. This was an awkward occurrence: but there was no presence for + refusal, and they followed the servant into the castle. The baron, who had + been in Palestine in his youth, undertook to be spokesman on the occasion, + and to relate his own adventures to the lady as having happened to the + lord in question. This preparation enabled him to be so minute and + circumstantial in his detail, and so coherent in his replies to her + questions, that the lady fell implicitly into the delusion, and was + delighted to find that her lord was alive and in health, and in high + favour with the king, and performing prodigies of valour in the name of + his lady, whose miniature he always wore in his bosom. The baron guessed + at this circumstance from the customs of that age, and happened to be in + the right. + </p> + <p> + “This miniature,” added the baron, “I have had the felicity to see, and + should have known you by it among a million.” The baron was a little + embarrassed by some questions of the lady concerning her lord’s personal + appearance; but Robin came to his aid, observing a picture suspended + opposite to him on the wall, which he made a bold conjecture to be that of + the lord in question; and making a calculation of the influences of time + and war, which he weighed with a comparison of the lady’s age, he gave a + description of her lord sufficiently like the picture in its groundwork to + be a true resemblance, and sufficiently differing from it in circumstances + to be more an original than a copy. The lady was completely deceived, and + entreated them to partake her hospitality for the night; but this they + deemed it prudent to decline, and with many humble thanks for her + kindness, and representations of the necessity of not delaying their + homeward course, they proceeded on their way. + </p> + <p> + As they passed over the drawbridge, they met Sir Ralph Montfaucon and his + squire, who were wandering in quest of Marian, and were entering to claim + that hospitality which the pilgrims had declined. Their countenances + struck Sir Ralph with a kind of imperfect recognition, which would never + have been matured, but that the eyes of Marian, as she passed him, + encountered his, and the images of those stars of beauty continued + involuntarily twinkling in his sensorium to the exclusion of all other + ideas, till memory, love, and hope concurred with imagination to furnish a + probable reason for their haunting him so pertinaciously. Those eyes, he + thought, were certainly the eyes of Matilda Fitzwater; and if the eyes + were hers, it was extremely probable, if not logically consecutive, that + the rest of the body they belonged to was hers also. Now, if it were + really Matilda Fitzwater, who were her two companions? The baron? Aye, and + the elder pilgrim was something like him. And the earl of Huntingdon? Very + probably. The earl and the baron might be good friends again, now that + they were both in disgrace together. While he was revolving these + cogitations, he was introduced to the lady, and after claiming and + receiving the promise of hospitality, he inquired what she knew of the + pilgrims who had just departed? The lady told him they were newly returned + from Palestine, having been long in the Holy Land. The knight expressed + some scepticism on this point. The lady replied, that they had given her + so minute a detail of her lord’s proceedings, and so accurate a + description of his person, that she could not be deceived in them. This + staggered the knight’s confidence in his own penetration; and if it had + not been a heresy in knighthood to suppose for a moment that there could + be in rerum natura such another pair of eyes as those of his mistress, he + would have acquiesced implicitly in the lady’s judgment. But while the + lady and the knight were conversing, the warder blew his bugle-horn, and + presently entered a confidential messenger from Palestine, who gave her to + understand that her lord was well; but entered into a detail of his + adventures most completely at variance with the baron’s narrative, to + which not the correspondence of a single incident gave the remotest + colouring of similarity. It now became manifest that the pilgrims were not + true men; and Sir Ralph Montfaucon sate down to supper with his head full + of cogitations, which we shall leave him to chew and digest with his + pheasant and canary. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile our three pilgrims proceeded on their way. The evening set in + black and lowering, when Robin turned aside from the main track, to seek + an asylum for the night, along a narrow way that led between rocky and + woody hills. A peasant observed the pilgrims as they entered that narrow + pass, and called after them: “Whither go you, my masters? there are rogues + in that direction.” + </p> + <p> + “Can you show us a direction,” said Robin, “in which there are none? If so + we will take it in preference.” The peasant grinned, and walked away + whistling. + </p> + <p> + The pass widened as they advanced, and the woods grew thicker and darker + around them. Their path wound along the slope of a woody declivity, which + rose high above them in a thick rampart of foliage, and descended almost + precipitously to the bed of a small river, which they heard dashing in its + rocky channel, and saw its white foam gleaming at intervals in the last + faint glimmerings of twilight. In a short time all was dark, and the + rising voice of the wind foretold a coming storm. They turned a point of + the valley, and saw a light below them in the depth of the hollow, shining + through a cottage-casement and dancing in its reflection on the restless + stream. Robin blew his horn, which was answered from below. The cottage + door opened: a boy came forth with a torch, ascended the steep, showed + tokens of great delight at meeting with Robin, and lighted them down a + flight of steps rudely cut in the rock, and over a series of rugged + stepping-stones, that crossed the channel of the river. They entered the + cottage, which exhibited neatness, comfort, and plenty, being amply + enriched with pots, pans, and pipkins, and adorned with flitches of bacon + and sundry similar ornaments, that gave goodly promise in the firelight + that gleamed upon the rafters. A woman, who seemed just old enough to be + the boy’s mother, had thrown down her spinning wheel in her joy at the + sound of Robin’s horn, and was bustling with singular alacrity to set + forth her festal ware and prepare an abundant supper. Her features, though + not beautiful, were agreeable and expressive, and were now lighted up with + such manifest joy at the sight of Robin, that Marian could not help + feeling a momentary touch of jealousy, and a half-formed suspicion that + Robin had broken his forest law, and had occasionally gone out of bounds, + as other great men have done upon occasion, in order to reconcile the + breach of the spirit, with the preservation of the letter, of their own + legislation. However, this suspicion, if it could be said to exist in a + mind so generous as Marian’s, was very soon dissipated by the entrance of + the woman’s husband, who testified as much joy as his wife had done at the + sight of Robin; and in a short time the whole of the party were amicably + seated round a smoking supper of river-fish and wild wood fowl, on which + the baron fell with as much alacrity as if he had been a true pilgrim from + Palestine. + </p> + <p> + The husband produced some recondite flasks of wine, which were laid by in + a binn consecrated to Robin, whose occasional visits to them in his + wanderings were the festal days of these warm-hearted cottagers, whose + manners showed that they had not been born to this low estate. Their story + had no mystery, and Marian easily collected it from the tenour of their + conversation. The young man had been, like Robin, the victim of an + usurious abbot, and had been outlawed for debt, and his nut-brown maid had + accompanied him to the depths of Sherwood, where they lived an unholy and + illegitimate life, killing the king’s deer, and never hearing mass. In + this state, Robin, then earl of Huntingdon, discovered them in one of his + huntings, and gave them aid and protection. When Robin himself became an + outlaw, the necessary qualification or gift of continency was too hard a + law for our lovers to subscribe to; and as they were thus disqualified for + foresters, Robin had found them a retreat in this romantic and secluded + spot. He had done similar service to other lovers similarly circumstanced, + and had disposed them in various wild scenes which he and his men had + discovered in their flittings from place to place, supplying them with all + necessaries and comforts from the reluctant disgorgings of fat abbots and + usurers. The benefit was in some measure mutual; for these cottages served + him as resting-places in his removals, and enabled him to travel untraced + and unmolested; and in the delight with which he was always received he + found himself even more welcome than he would have been at an inn; and + this is saying very much for gratitude and affection together. The smiles + which surrounded him were of his own creation, and he participated in the + happiness he had bestowed. + </p> + <p> + The casements began to rattle in the wind, and the rain to beat upon the + windows. The wind swelled to a hurricane, and the rain dashed like a flood + against the glass. The boy retired to his little bed, the wife trimmed the + lamp, the husband heaped logs upon the fire: Robin broached another flask; + and Marian filled the baron’s cup, and sweetened Robin’s by touching its + edge with her lips. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said the baron, “give me a roof over my head, be it never so + humble. Your greenwood canopy is pretty and pleasant in sunshine; but if I + were doomed to live under it, I should wish it were water-tight.” + </p> + <p> + “But,” said Robin, “we have tents and caves for foul weather, good store + of wine and venison, and fuel in abundance.” + </p> + <p> + “Ay, but,” said the baron, “I like to pull off my boots of a night, which + you foresters seldom do, and to ensconce myself thereafter in a + comfortable bed. Your beech-root is over-hard for a couch, and your mossy + stump is somewhat rough for a bolster.” + </p> + <p> + “Had you not dry leaves,” said Robin, “with a bishop’s surplice over them? + What would you have softer? And had you not an abbot’s travelling cloak + for a coverlet? What would you have warmer?” + </p> + <p> + “Very true,” said the baron, “but that was an indulgence to a guest, and I + dreamed all night of the sheriff of Nottingham. I like to feel myself + safe,” he added, stretching out his legs to the fire, and throwing himself + back in his chair with the air of a man determined to be comfortable. “I + like to feel myself safe,” said the baron. + </p> + <p> + At that moment the woman caught her husband’s arm, and all the party + following the direction of her eyes, looked simultaneously to the window, + where they had just time to catch a glimpse of an apparition of an armed + head, with its plumage tossing in the storm, on which the light shone from + within, and which disappeared immediately. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XV + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + O knight, thou lack’st a cup of canary. + When did I see thee so put down?—Twelfth Night. +</pre> + <p> + Several knocks, as from the knuckles of an iron glove, were given to the + door of the cottage, and a voice was heard entreating shelter from the + storm for a traveller who had lost his way. Robin arose and went to the + door. + </p> + <p> + “What are you?” said Robin. + </p> + <p> + “A soldier,” replied the voice: “an unfortunate adherent of Longchamp, + flying the vengeance of Prince John.” + </p> + <p> + “Are you alone?” said Robin. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said the voice: “it is a dreadful night. Hospitable cottagers, pray + give me admittance. I would not have asked it but for the storm. I would + have kept my watch in the woods.” + </p> + <p> + “That I believe,” said Robin. “You did not reckon on the storm when you + turned into this pass. Do you know there are rogues this way?” + </p> + <p> + “I do,” said the voice. + </p> + <p> + “So do I,” said Robin. + </p> + <p> + A pause ensued, during which Robin listening attentively caught a faint + sound of whispering. + </p> + <p> + “You are not alone,” said Robin. “Who are your companions?” + </p> + <p> + “None but the wind and the water,” said the voice, “and I would I had them + not.” + </p> + <p> + “The wind and the water have many voices,” said Robin, “but I never before + heard them say, What shall we do?” + </p> + <p> + Another pause ensued: after which, + </p> + <p> + “Look ye, master cottager,” said the voice, in an altered tone, “if you do + not let us in willingly, we will break down the door.” + </p> + <p> + “Ho! ho!” roared the baron, “you are become plural are you, rascals? How + many are there of you, thieves? What, I warrant, you thought to rob and + murder a poor harmless cottager and his wife, and did not dream of a + garrison? You looked for no weapon of opposition but spit, poker, and + basting ladle, wielded by unskilful hands: but, rascals, here is short + sword and long cudgel in hands well tried in war, wherewith you shall be + drilled into cullenders and beaten into mummy.” + </p> + <p> + No reply was made, but furious strokes from without resounded upon the + door. Robin, Marian, and the baron threw by their pilgrim’s attire, and + stood in arms on the defensive. They were provided with swords, and the + cottager gave them bucklers and helmets, for all Robin’s haunts were + furnished with secret armouries. But they kept their swords sheathed, and + the baron wielded a ponderous spear, which he pointed towards the door + ready to run through the first that should enter, and Robin and Marian + each held a bow with the arrow drawn to its head and pointed in the same + direction. The cottager flourished a strong cudgel (a weapon in the use of + which he prided himself on being particularly expert), and the wife seized + the spit from the fireplace, and held it as she saw the baron hold his + spear. The storm of wind and rain continued to beat on the roof and the + casement, and the storm of blows to resound upon the door, which at length + gave way with a violent crash, and a cluster of armed men appeared + without, seemingly not less than twelve. Behind them rolled the stream now + changed from a gentle and shallow river to a mighty and impetuous torrent, + roaring in waves of yellow foam, partially reddened by the light that + streamed through the open door, and turning up its convulsed surface in + flashes of shifting radiance from restless masses of half-visible shadow. + The stepping-stones, by which the intruders must have crossed, were buried + under the waters. On the opposite bank the light fell on the stems and + boughs of the rock-rooted oak and ash tossing and swaying in the blast, + and sweeping the flashing spray with their leaves. + </p> + <p> + The instant the door broke, Robin and Marian loosed their arrows. Robin’s + arrow struck one of the assailants in the juncture of the shoulder, and + disabled his right arm: Marian’s struck a second in the juncture of the + knee, and rendered him unserviceable; for the night. The baron’s long + spear struck on the mailed breastplate of a third, and being stretched to + its full extent by the long-armed hero, drove him to the edge of the + torrent, and plunged him into its eddies, along which he was whirled down + the darkness of the descending stream, calling vainly on his comrades for + aid, till his voice was lost in the mingled roar of the waters and the + wind. A fourth springing through the door was laid prostrate by the + cottager’s cudgel: but the wife being less dexterous than her company, + though an Amazon in strength, missed her pass at a fifth, and drove the + point of the spit several inches into the right hand door-post as she + stood close to the left, and thus made a new barrier which the invaders + could not pass without dipping under it and submitting their necks to the + sword: but one of the assailants seizing it with gigantic rage, shook it + at once from the grasp of its holder and from its lodgment in the post, + and at the same time made good the irruption of the rest of his party into + the cottage. + </p> + <p> + Now raged an unequal combat, for the assailants fell two to one on Robin, + Marian, the baron, and the cottager; while the wife, being deprived of her + spit, converted every thing that was at hand to a missile, and rained + pots, pans, and pipkins on the armed heads of the enemy. The baron raged + like a tiger, and the cottager laid about him like a thresher. One of the + soldiers struck Robin’s sword from his hand and brought him on his knee, + when the boy, who had been roused by the tumult and had been peeping + through the inner door, leaped forward in his shirt, picked up the sword + and replaced it in Robin’s hand, who instantly springing up, disarmed and + wounded one of his antagonists, while the other was laid prostrate under + the dint of a brass cauldron launched by the Amazonian dame. Robin now + turned to the aid of Marian, who was parrying most dexterously the cuts + and slashes of her two assailants, of whom Robin delivered her from one, + while a well-applied blow of her sword struck off the helmet of the other, + who fell on his knees to beg a boon, and she recognised Sir Ralph + Montfaucon. The men who were engaged with the baron and the peasant, + seeing their leader subdued, immediately laid down their arms and cried + for quarter. The wife brought some strong rope, and the baron tied their + arms behind them. + </p> + <p> + “Now, Sir Ralph,” said Marian, “once more you are at my mercy.” + </p> + <p> + “That I always am, cruel beauty,” said the discomfited lover. + </p> + <p> + “Odso! courteous knight,” said the baron, “is this the return you make for + my beef and canary, when you kissed my daughter’s hand in token of + contrition for your intermeddling at her wedding? Heart, I am glad to see + she has given you a bloody coxcomb. Slice him down, Mawd! slice him down, + and fling him into the river.” + </p> + <p> + “Confess,” said Marian, “what brought you here, and how did you trace our + steps?” + </p> + <p> + “I will confess nothing,” said the knight. + </p> + <p> + “Then confess you, rascal,” said the baron, holding his sword to the + throat of the captive squire. + </p> + <p> + “Take away the sword,” said the squire, “it is too near my mouth, and my + voice will not come out for fear: take away the sword, and I will confess + all.” The baron dropped his sword, and the squire proceeded; “Sir Ralph + met you, as you quitted Lady Falkland’s castle, and by representing to her + who you were, borrowed from her such a number of her retainers as he + deemed must ensure your capture, seeing that your familiar the friar was + not at your elbow. We set forth without delay, and traced you first by + means of a peasant who saw you turn into this valley, and afterwards by + the light from the casement of this solitary dwelling. Our design was to + have laid an ambush for you in the morning, but the storm and your + observation of my unlucky face through the casement made us change our + purpose; and what followed you can tell better than I can, being indeed + masters of the subject.” + </p> + <p> + “You are a merry knave,” said the baron, “and here is a cup of wine for + you.” + </p> + <p> + “Gramercy,” said the squire, “and better late than never: but I lacked a + cup of this before. Had I been pot-valiant, I had held you play.” + </p> + <p> + “Sir knight,” said Marian, “this is the third time you have sought the + life of my lord and of me, for mine is interwoven with his. And do you + think me so spiritless as to believe that I can be yours by compulsion? + Tempt me not again, for the next time shall be the last, and the fish of + the nearest river shall commute the flesh of a recreant knight into the + fast-day dinner of an uncarnivorous friar. I spare you now, not in pity + but in scorn. Yet shall you swear to a convention never more to pursue or + molest my lord or me, and on this condition you shall live.” + </p> + <p> + The knight had no alternative but to comply, and swore, on the honour of + knighthood, to keep the convention inviolate. How well he kept his oath we + shall have no opportunity of narrating: Di lui la nostra istoria piu non + parla. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVI + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Carry me over the water, thou fine fellowe.—Old Ballad. +</pre> + <p> + The pilgrims, without experiencing further molestation, arrived at the + retreat of Sir Guy of Gamwell. They found the old knight a cup too low; + partly from being cut off from the scenes of his old hospitality and the + shouts of his Nottinghamshire vassals, who were wont to make the rafters + of his ancient hall re-echo to their revelry; but principally from being + parted from his son, who had long been the better half of his flask and + pasty. The arrival of our visitors cheered him up; and finding that the + baron was to remain with him, he testified his delight and the cordiality + of his welcome by pegging him in the ribs till he made him roar. + </p> + <p> + Robin and Marian took an affectionate leave of the baron and the old + knight; and before they quitted the vicinity of Barnsdale, deeming it + prudent to return in a different disguise, they laid aside their pilgrim’s + attire, and assumed the habits and appurtenances of wandering minstrels. + </p> + <p> + They travelled in this character safely and pleasantly, till one evening + at a late hour they arrived by the side of a river, where Robin looking + out for a mode of passage perceived a ferry-boat safely moored in a nook + on the opposite bank; near which a chimney sending up a wreath of smoke + through the thick-set willows, was the only symptom of human habitation; + and Robin naturally conceiving the said chimney and wreath of smoke to be + the outward signs of the inward ferryman, shouted “Over!” with much + strength and clearness; but no voice replied, and no ferryman appeared. + Robin raised his voice, and shouted with redoubled energy, “Over, Over, + O-o-o-over!” A faint echo alone responded “Over!” and again died away into + deep silence: but after a brief interval a voice from among the willows, + in a strange kind of mingled intonation that was half a shout and half a + song, answered: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Over, over, over, jolly, jolly rover, + Would you then come over? Over, over, over? + Jolly, jolly rover, here’s one lives in clover: + Who finds the clover? The jolly, jolly rover. + He finds the clover, let him then come over, + The jolly, jolly rover, over, over, over, +</pre> + <p> + “I much doubt,” said Marian, “if this ferryman do not mean by clover + something more than the toll of his ferry-boat.” + </p> + <p> + “I doubt not,” answered Robin, “he is a levier of toll and tithe, which I + shall put him upon proof of his right to receive, by making trial of his + might to enforce.” + </p> + <p> + The ferryman emerged from the willows and stepped into his boat. “As I + live,” exclaimed Robin, “the ferryman is a friar.” + </p> + <p> + “With a sword,” said Marian, “stuck in his rope girdle.” + </p> + <p> + The friar pushed his boat off manfully, and was presently half over the + river. + </p> + <p> + “It is friar Tuck,” said Marian. + </p> + <p> + “He will scarcely know us,” said Robin; “and if he do not, I will break a + staff with him for sport.” + </p> + <p> + The friar came singing across the water: the boat touched the land: Robin + and Marian stepped on board: the friar pushed off again. + </p> + <p> + “Silken doublets, silken doublets,” said the friar: “slenderly lined, I + bow: your wandering minstrel is always poor toll: your sweet angels of + voices pass current for a bed and a supper at the house of every lord that + likes to hear the fame of his valour without the trouble of fighting for + it. What need you of purse or pouch? You may sing before thieves. Pedlars, + pedlars: wandering from door to door with the small ware of lies and + cajolery: exploits for carpet-knights; honesty for courtiers; truth for + monks, and chastity for nuns: a good saleable stock that costs the vender + nothing, defies wear and tear, and when it has served a hundred customers + is as plentiful and as marketable as ever. But, sirrahs, I’ll none of your + balderdash. You pass not hence without clink of brass, or I’ll knock your + musical noddles together till they ring like a pair of cymbals. That will + be a new tune for your minstrelships.” + </p> + <p> + This friendly speech of the friar ended as they stepped on the opposite + bank. Robin had noticed as they passed that the summer stream was low. + </p> + <p> + “Why, thou brawling mongrel,” said Robin, “that whether thou be thief, + friar, or ferryman, or an ill-mixed compound of all three, passes + conjecture, though I judge thee to be simple thief, what barkest thou at + thus? Villain, there is clink of brass for thee. Dost thou see this coin? + Dost thou hear this music? Look and listen: for touch thou shalt not: my + minstrelship defies thee. Thou shalt carry me on thy back over the water, + and receive nothing but a cracked sconce for thy trouble.” + </p> + <p> + “A bargain,” said the friar: “for the water is low, the labour is light, + and the reward is alluring.” And he stooped down for Robin, who mounted + his back, and the friar waded with him over the river. + </p> + <p> + “Now, fine fellow,” said the friar, “thou shalt carry me back over the + water, and thou shalt have a cracked sconce for thy trouble.” + </p> + <p> + Robin took the friar on his back, and waded with him into the middle of + the river, when by a dexterous jerk he suddenly flung him off and plunged + him horizontally over head and ears in the water. Robin waded to shore, + and the friar, half swimming and half scrambling, followed. + </p> + <p> + “Fine fellow, fine fellow,” said the friar, “now will I pay thee thy + cracked sconce.” + </p> + <p> + “Not so,” said Robin, “I have not earned it: but thou hast earned it, and + shalt have it.” + </p> + <p> + It was not, even in those good old times, a sight of every day to see a + troubadour and a friar playing at single-stick by the side of a river, + each aiming with fell intent at the other’s coxcomb. The parties were both + so skilled in attack and defence, that their mutual efforts for a long + time expended themselves in quick and loud rappings on each other’s oaken + staves. At length Robin by a dexterous feint contrived to score one on the + friar’s crown: but in the careless moment of triumph a splendid sweep of + the friar’s staff struck Robin’s out of his hand into the middle of the + river, and repaid his crack on the head with a degree of vigour that might + have passed the bounds of a jest if Marian had not retarded its descent by + catching the friar’s arm. + </p> + <p> + “How now, recreant friar,” said Marian; “what have you to say why you + should not suffer instant execution, being detected in open rebellion + against your liege lord? Therefore kneel down, traitor, and submit your + neck to the sword of the offended law.” + </p> + <p> + “Benefit of clergy,” said the friar: “I plead my clergy. And is it you + indeed, ye scapegraces? Ye are well disguised: I knew ye not, by my flask. + Robin, jolly Robin, he buys a jest dearly that pays for it with a bloody + coxcomb. But here is balm for all bruises, outward and inward. (The friar + produced a flask of canary.) Wash thy wound twice and thy throat thrice + with this solar concoction, and thou shalt marvel where was thy hurt. But + what moved ye to this frolic? Knew ye not that ye could not appear in a + mask more fashioned to move my bile than in that of these gilders and + lackerers of the smooth surface of worthlessness, that bring the gold of + true valour into disrepute, by stamping the baser metal with the fairer + im-pression? I marvelled to find any such given to fighting (for they have + an old instinct of self-preservation): but I rejoiced thereat, that I + might discuss to them poetical justice: and therefore have I cracked thy + sconce: for which, let this be thy medicine.” + </p> + <p> + “But wherefore,” said Marian, “do we find you here, when we left you joint + lord warden of Sherwood?” + </p> + <p> + “I do but retire to my devotions,” replied the friar. “This is my + hermitage, in which I first took refuge when I escaped from my beloved + brethren of Rubygill; and to which I still retreat at times from the + vanities of the world, which else might cling to me too closely, since I + have been promoted to be peer-spiritual of your forest-court. For, indeed, + I do find in myself certain indications and admonitions that my day has + past its noon; and none more cogent than this: that daily of bad wine I + grow more intolerant, and of good wine have a keener and more fastidious + relish. There is no surer symptom of receding years. The ferryman is my + faithful varlet. I send him on some pious errand, that I may meditate in + ghostly privacy, when my presence in the forest can best be spared: and + when can it be better spared than now, seeing that the neighbourhood of + Prince John, and his incessant perquisitions for Marian, have made the + forest too hot to hold more of us than are needful to keep up a quorum, + and preserve unbroken the continuity of our forest-dominion? For, in + truth, without your greenwood majesties, we have hardly the wit to live in + a body, and at the same time to keep our necks out of jeopardy, while that + arch-rebel and traitor John infests the precincts of our territory.” + </p> + <p> + The friar now conducted them to his peaceful cell, where he spread his + frugal board with fish, venison, wild-fowl, fruit, and canary. Under the + compound operation of this materia medica Robin’s wounds healed apace, and + the friar, who hated minstrelsy, began as usual chirping in his cups. + Robin and Marian chimed in with his tuneful humour till the midnight moon + peeped in upon their revelry. + </p> + <p> + It was now the very witching time of night, when they heard a voice + shouting, “Over!” They paused to listen, and the voice repeated “Over!” in + accents clear and loud, but which at the same time either were in + themselves, or seemed to be, from the place and the hour, singularly + plaintive and dreary. The friar fidgetted about in his seat: fell into a + deep musing: shook himself, and looked about him: first at Marian, then at + Robin, then at Marian again; filled and tossed off a cup of canary, and + relapsed into his reverie. + </p> + <p> + “Will you not bring your passenger over?” said Robin. The friar shook his + head and looked mysterious. + </p> + <p> + “That passenger,” said the friar, “will never come over. Every full moon, + at midnight, that voice calls, ‘Over!’ I and my varlet have more than once + obeyed the summons, and we have sometimes had a glimpse of a white figure + under the opposite trees: but when the boat has touched the bank, nothing + has been to be seen; and the voice has been heard no more till the + midnight of the next full moon.” + </p> + <p> + “It is very strange,” said Robin. + </p> + <p> + “Wondrous strange,” said the friar, looking solemn. + </p> + <p> + The voice again called “Over!” in a long plaintive musical cry. + </p> + <p> + “I must go to it,” said the friar, “or it will give us no peace. I would + all my customers were of this world. I begin to think that I am Charon, + and that this river is Styx.” + </p> + <p> + “I will go with you, friar,” said Robin. + </p> + <p> + “By my flask,” said the friar, “but you shall not.” + </p> + <p> + “Then I will,” said Marian. + </p> + <p> + “Still less,” said the friar, hurrying out of the cell. Robin and Marian + followed: but the friar outstepped them, and pushed off his boat. + </p> + <p> + A white figure was visible under the shade of the opposite trees. The boat + approached the shore, and the figure glided away. The friar returned. + </p> + <p> + They re-entered the cottage, and sat some time conversing on the + phenomenon they had seen. The friar sipped his wine, and after a time, + said: + </p> + <p> + “There is a tradition of a damsel who was drowned here some years ago. The + tradition is——” + </p> + <p> + But the friar could not narrate a plain tale: he therefore cleared his + throat, and sang with due solemnity, in a ghostly voice: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + A damsel came in midnight rain, + And called across the ferry: + The weary wight she called in vain, + Whose senses sleep did bury. + At evening, from her father’s door + She turned to meet her lover: + At midnight, on the lonely shore, + She shouted “Over, over!” + + She had not met him by the tree + Of their accustomed meeting, + And sad and sick at heart was she, + Her heart all wildly beating. + In chill suspense the hours went by, + The wild storm burst above her: + She turned her to the river nigh, + And shouted, “Over, over!” + + A dim, discoloured, doubtful light + The moon’s dark veil permitted, + And thick before her troubled sight + Fantastic shadows flitted. + Her lover’s form appeared to glide, + And beckon o’er the water: + Alas! his blood that morn had dyed + Her brother’s sword with slaughter. + + Upon a little rock she stood, + To make her invocation: + She marked not that the rain-swoll’n flood + Was islanding her station. + The tempest mocked her feeble cry: + No saint his aid would give her: + The flood swelled high and yet more high, + And swept her down the river. + + Yet oft beneath the pale moonlight, + When hollow winds are blowing, + The shadow of that maiden bright + Glides by the dark stream’s flowing. + And when the storms of midnight rave, + While clouds the broad moon cover, + The wild gusts waft across the wave + The cry of, “Over, over!” + </pre> + <p> + While the friar was singing, Marian was meditating: and when he had ended + she said, “Honest friar, you have misplaced your tradition, which belongs + to the aestuary of a nobler river, where the damsel was swept away by the + rising of the tide, for which your land-flood is an indifferent + substitute. But the true tradition of this stream I think I myself + possess, and I will narrate it in your own way: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + It was a friar of orders free, + A friar of Rubygill: + At the greenwood-tree a vow made he, + But he kept it very ill: + A vow made he of chastity, + But he kept it very ill. + He kept it, perchance, in the conscious shade + Of the bounds of the forest wherein it was made: + But he roamed where he listed, as free as the wind, + And he left his good vow in the forest behind: + For its woods out of sight were his vow out of mind, + With the friar of Rubygill. + + In lonely hut himself he shut, + The friar of Rubygill; + Where the ghostly elf absolved himself, + To follow his own good will: + And he had no lack of canary sack, + To keep his conscience still. + And a damsel well knew, when at lonely midnight + It gleamed on the waters, his signal-lamp-light: + “Over! over!” she warbled with nightingale throat, + And the friar sprung forth at the magical note, + And she crossed the dark stream in his trim ferryboat, + With the friar of Rubygill.” + </pre> + <p> + “Look you now,” said Robin, “if the friar does not blush. Many strange + sights have I seen in my day, but never till this moment did I see a + blushing friar.” + </p> + <p> + “I think,” said the friar, “you never saw one that blushed not, or you saw + good canary thrown away. But you are welcome to laugh if it so please you. + None shall laugh in my company, though it be at my expense, but I will + have my share of the merriment. The world is a stage, and life is a farce, + and he that laughs most has most profit of the performance. The worst + thing is good enough to be laughed at, though it be good for nothing else; + and the best thing, though it be good for something else, is good for + nothing better.” + </p> + <p> + And he struck up a song in praise of laughing and quaffing, without + further adverting to Marian’s insinuated accusation; being, perhaps, of + opinion, that it was a subject on which the least said would be the + soonest mended. + </p> + <p> + So passed the night. In the morning a forester came to the friar, with + intelligence that Prince John had been compelled, by the urgency of his + affairs in other quarters, to disembarrass Nottingham Castle of his royal + presence. Our wanderers returned joyfully to their forest-dominion, being + thus relieved from the vicinity of any more formidable belligerent than + their old bruised and beaten enemy the sheriff of Nottingham. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVII + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Oh! this life + Is nobler than attending for a check, + Richer than doing nothing for a bribe + Prouder than rustling in unpaid-for silk.—Cymbeline. +</pre> + <p> + So Robin and Marian dwelt and reigned in the forest, ranging the glades + and the greenwoods from the matins of the lark to the vespers of the + nightingale, and administering natural justice according to Robin’s ideas + of rectifying the inequalities of human condition: raising genial dews + from the bags of the rich and idle, and returning them in fertilising + showers on the poor and industrious: an operation which more enlightened + statesmen have happily reversed, to the unspeakable benefit of the + community at large. The light footsteps of Marian were impressed on the + morning dew beside the firmer step of her lover, and they shook its large + drops about them as they cleared themselves a passage through the thick + tall fern, without any fear of catching cold, which was not much in + fashion in the twelfth century. Robin was as hospitable as Cathmor; for + seven men stood on seven paths to call the stranger to his feast. It is + true, he superadded the small improvement of making the stranger pay for + it: than which what could be more generous? For Cathmor was himself the + prime giver of his feast, whereas Robin was only the agent to a series of + strangers, who provided in turn for the entertainment of their successors; + which is carrying the disinterestedness of hospitality to its acme. Marian + often killed the deer, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Which Scarlet dressed, and Friar Tuck blessed + While Little John wandered in search of a guest. +</pre> + <p> + Robin was very devout, though there was great unity in his religion: it + was exclusively given to our Lady the Virgin, and he never set forth in a + morning till he had said three prayers, and had heard the sweet voice of + his Marian singing a hymn to their mutual patroness. Each of his men had, + as usual, a patron saint according to his name or taste. The friar chose a + saint for himself, and fixed on Saint Botolph, whom he euphonised into + Saint Bottle, and maintained that he was that very Panomphic Pantagruelian + saint, well known in ancient France as a female divinity, by the name of + La Dive Bouteille, whose oracular monosyllable “Trincq,” is celebrated and + under-stood by all nations, and is expounded by the learned doctor + Alcofribas, <a href="#linknote-6" name="linknoteref-6" id="linknoteref-6"><small>6</small></a> + who has treated at large on the subject, to signify “drink.” Saint Bottle, + then, was the saint of Friar Tuck, who did not yield even to Robin and + Marian in the assiduity of his devotions to his chosen patron. Such was + their summer life, and in their winter caves they had sufficient + furniture, ample provender, store of old wine, and assuredly no lack of + fuel, with joyous music and pleasant discourse to charm away the season of + darkness and storms. + </p> + <p> + The reader who desires to know more about this oracular divinity, may + consult the said doctor Alcofribas Nasier, who will usher him into the + adytum through the medium of the high priestess Bacbuc. + </p> + <p> + Many moons had waxed and waned, when on the afternoon of a lovely summer + day a lusty broad-boned knight was riding through the forest of Sherwood. + The sun shone brilliantly on the full green foliage, and afforded the + knight a fine opportunity of observing picturesque effects, of which it is + to be feared he did not avail himself. But he had not proceeded far, + before he had an opportunity of observing something much more interesting, + namely, a fine young outlaw leaning, in the true Sherwood fashion, with + his back against a tree. The knight was preparing to ask the stranger a + question, the answer to which, if correctly given, would have relieved him + from a doubt that pressed heavily on his mind, as to whether he was in the + right road or the wrong, when the youth prevented the inquiry by saying: + “In God’s name, sir knight, you are late to your meals. My master has + tarried dinner for you these three hours.” + </p> + <p> + “I doubt,” said the knight, “I am not he you wot of. I am no where bidden + to day and I know none in this vicinage.” + </p> + <p> + “We feared,” said the youth, “your memory would be treacherous: therefore + am I stationed here to refresh it.” + </p> + <p> + “Who is your master?” said the knight; “and where does he abide?” + </p> + <p> + “My master,” said the youth, “is called Robin Hood, and he abides hard + by.” + </p> + <p> + “And what knows he of me?” said the knight. + </p> + <p> + “He knows you,” answered the youth “as he does every way-faring knight and + friar, by instinct.” + </p> + <p> + “Gramercy,” said the knight; “then I understand his bidding: but how if I + say I will not come?” + </p> + <p> + “I am enjoined to bring you,” said the youth. “If persuasion avail not, I + must use other argument.” + </p> + <p> + “Say’st thou so?” said the knight; “I doubt if thy stripling rhetoric + would convince me.” + </p> + <p> + “That,” said the young forester, “we will see.” + </p> + <p> + “We are not equally matched, boy,” said the knight. “I should get less + honour by thy conquest, than grief by thy injury.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps,” said the youth, “my strength is more than my seeming, and my + cunning more than my strength. Therefore let it please your knighthood to + dismount.” + </p> + <p> + “It shall please my knighthood to chastise thy presumption,” said the + knight, springing from his saddle. + </p> + <p> + Hereupon, which in those days was usually the result of a meeting between + any two persons anywhere, they proceeded to fight. + </p> + <p> + The knight had in an uncommon degree both strength and skill: the forester + had less strength, but not less skill than the knight, and showed such a + mastery of his weapon as reduced the latter to great admiration. + </p> + <p> + They had not fought many minutes by the forest clock, the sun; and had as + yet done each other no worse injury than that the knight had wounded the + forester’s jerkin, and the forester had disabled the knight’s plume; when + they were interrupted by a voice from a thicket, exclaiming, “Well fought, + girl: well fought. Mass, that had nigh been a shrewd hit. Thou owest him + for that, lass. Marry, stand by, I’ll pay him for thee.” + </p> + <p> + The knight turning to the voice, beheld a tall friar issuing from the + thicket, brandishing a ponderous cudgel. + </p> + <p> + “Who art thou?” said the knight. + </p> + <p> + “I am the church militant of Sherwood,” answered the friar. “Why art thou + in arms against our lady queen?” + </p> + <p> + “What meanest thou?” said the knight. + </p> + <p> + “Truly, this,” said the friar, “is our liege lady of the forest, against + whom I do apprehend thee in overt act of treason. What sayest thou for + thyself?” + </p> + <p> + “I say,” answered the knight, “that if this be indeed a lady, man never + yet held me so long.” + </p> + <p> + “Spoken,” said the friar, “like one who hath done execution. Hast thou thy + stomach full of steel? Wilt thou diversify thy repast with a taste of my + oak-graff? Or wilt thou incline thine heart to our venison which truly is + cooling? Wilt thou fight? or wilt thou dine? or wilt thou fight and dine? + or wilt thou dine and fight? I am for thee, choose as thou mayest.” + </p> + <p> + “I will dine,” said the knight; “for with lady I never fought before, and + with friar I never fought yet, and with neither will I ever fight + knowingly: and if this be the queen of the forest, I will not, being in + her own dominions, be backward to do her homage.” + </p> + <p> + So saying, he kissed the hand of Marian, who was pleased most graciously + to express her approbation. + </p> + <p> + “Gramercy, sir knight,” said the friar, “I laud thee for thy courtesy, + which I deem to be no less than thy valour. Now do thou follow me, while I + follow my nose, which scents the pleasant odour of roast from the depth of + the forest recesses. I will lead thy horse, and do thou lead my lady.” + </p> + <p> + The knight took Marian’s hand, and followed the friar, who walked before + them, singing: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + When the wind blows, when the wind blows + From where under buck the dry log glows, + What guide can you follow, + O’er brake and o’er hollow, + So true as a ghostly, ghostly nose? +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVIII + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Robin and Richard were two pretty men. + —Mother Goose’s Melody. +</pre> + <p> + They proceeded, following their infallible guide, first along a light + elastic greensward under the shade of lofty and wide-spreading trees that + skirted a sunny opening of the forest, then along labyrinthine paths, + which the deer, the outlaw, or the woodman had made, through the close + shoots of the young coppices, through the thick undergrowth of the ancient + woods, through beds of gigantic fern that filled the narrow glades and + waved their green feathery heads above the plume of the knight. Along + these sylvan alleys they walked in single file; the friar singing and + pioneering in the van, the horse plunging and floundering behind the + friar, the lady following “in maiden meditation fancy free,” and the + knight bringing up the rear, much marvelling at the strange company into + which his stars had thrown him. Their path had expanded sufficiently to + allow the knight to take Marian’s hand again, when they arrived in the + august presence of Robin Hood and his court. + </p> + <p> + Robin’s table was spread under a high overarching canopy of living boughs, + on the edge of a natural lawn of verdure starred with flowers, through + which a swift transparent rivulet ran sparkling in the sun. The board was + covered with abundance of choice food and excellent liquor, not without + the comeliness of snow-white linen and the splendour of costly plate, + which the sheriff of Nottingham had unwillingly contributed to supply, at + the same time with an excellent cook, whom Little John’s art had spirited + away to the forest with the contents of his master’s silver scullery. + </p> + <p> + An hundred foresters were here assembled over-ready for their dinner, some + seated at the table and some lying in groups under the trees. + </p> + <p> + Robin bade courteous welcome to the knight, who took his seat between + Robin and Marian at the festal board; at which was already placed one + strange guest in the person of a portly monk, sitting between Little John + and Scarlet, with, his rotund physiognomy elongated into an unnatural oval + by the conjoint influence of sorrow and fear: sorrow for the departed + contents of his travelling treasury, a good-looking valise which was + hanging empty on a bough; and fear for his personal safety, of which all + the flasks and pasties before him could not give him assurance. The + appearance of the knight, however, cheered him up with a semblance of + protection, and gave him just sufficient courage to demolish a cygnet and + a rumble-pie, which he diluted with the contents of two flasks of canary + sack. + </p> + <p> + But wine, which sometimes creates and often increases joy, doth also, upon + occasion, heighten sorrow: and so it fared now with our portly monk, who + had no sooner explained away his portion of provender, than he began to + weep and bewail himself bitterly. + </p> + <p> + “Why dost thou weep, man?” said Robin Hood. “Thou hast done thine embassy + justly, and shalt have thy Lady’s grace.” + </p> + <p> + “Alack! alack!” said the monk: “no embassy had I, luckless sinner, as well + thou wottest, but to take to my abbey in safety the treasure whereof thou + hast despoiled me.” + </p> + <p> + “Propound me his case,” said Friar Tuck, “and I will give him ghostly + counsel.” + </p> + <p> + “You well remember,” said Robin Hood, “the sorrowful knight who dined with + us here twelve months and a day gone by.” + </p> + <p> + “Well do I,” said Friar Tuck. “His lands were in jeopardy with a certain + abbot, who would allow him no longer day for their redemption. Whereupon + you lent to him the four hundred pounds which he needed, and which he was + to repay this day, though he had no better security to give than our Lady + the Virgin.” + </p> + <p> + “I never desired better,” said Robin, “for she never yet failed to send me + my pay; and here is one of her own flock, this faithful and well-favoured + monk of St. Mary’s, hath brought it me duly, principal and interest to a + penny, as Little John can testify, who told it forth. To be sure, he + denied having it, but that was to prove our faith. We sought and found + it.” + </p> + <p> + “I know nothing of your knight,” said the monk: “and the money was our + own, as the Virgin shall bless me.” + </p> + <p> + “She shall bless thee,” said Friar Tuck, “for a faithful messenger.” + </p> + <p> + The monk resumed his wailing. Little John brought him his horse. Robin + gave him leave to depart. He sprang with singular nimbleness into the + saddle, and vanished without saying, God give you good day. + </p> + <p> + The stranger knight laughed heartily as the monk rode off. + </p> + <p> + “They say, sir knight,” said Friar Tuck, “they should laugh who win: but + thou laughest who art likely to lose.” + </p> + <p> + “I have won,” said the knight, “a good dinner, some mirth, and some + knowledge: and I cannot lose by paying for them.” + </p> + <p> + “Bravely said,” answered Robin. “Still it becomes thee to pay: for it is + not meet that a poor forester should treat a rich knight. How much money + hast thou with thee?” + </p> + <p> + “Troth, I know not,” said the knight. “Sometimes much, sometimes little, + sometimes none. But search, and what thou findest, keep: and for the sake + of thy kind heart and open hand, be it what it may, I shall wish it were + more.” + </p> + <p> + “Then, since thou sayest so,” said Robin, “not a penny will I touch. Many + a false churl comes hither, and disburses against his will: and till there + is lack of these, I prey not on true men.” + </p> + <p> + “Thou art thyself a true man, right well I judge, Robin,” said the + stranger knight, “and seemest more like one bred in court than to thy + present outlaw life.” + </p> + <p> + “Our life,” said the friar, “is a craft, an art, and a mystery. How much + of it, think you, could be learned at court?” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed, I cannot say,” said the stranger knight: “but I should apprehend + very little.” + </p> + <p> + “And so should I,” said the friar: “for we should find very little of our + bold open practice, but should hear abundance of praise of our principles. + To live in seeming fellowship and secret rivalry; to have a hand for all, + and a heart for none; to be everybody’s acquaintance, and nobody’s friend; + to meditate the ruin of all on whom we smile, and to dread the secret + stratagems of all who smile on us; to pilfer honours and despoil fortunes, + not by fighting in daylight, but by sapping in darkness: these are arts + which the court can teach, but which we, by ‘r Lady, have not learned. But + let your court-minstrel tune up his throat to the praise of your + court-hero, then come our principles into play: then is our practice + extolled not by the same name, for their Richard is a hero, and our Robin + is a thief: marry, your hero guts an exchequer, while your thief + disembowels a portmanteau, your hero sacks a city, while your thief sacks + a cellar: your hero marauds on a larger scale, and that is all the + difference, for the principle and the virtue are one: but two of a trade + cannot agree: therefore your hero makes laws to get rid of your thief, and + gives him an ill name that he may hang him: for might is right, and the + strong make laws for the weak, and they that make laws to serve their own + turn do also make morals to give colour to their laws.” + </p> + <p> + “Your comparison, friar,” said the stranger, “fails in this: that your + thief fights for profit, and your hero for honour. I have fought under the + banners of Richard, and if, as you phrase it, he guts exchequers, and + sacks cities, it is not to win treasure for himself, but to furnish forth + the means of his greater and more glorious aim.” + </p> + <p> + “Misconceive me not, sir knight,” said the friar. “We all love and honour + King Richard, and here is a deep draught to his health: but I would show + you, that we foresters are miscalled by opprobrious names, and that our + virtues, though they follow at humble distance, are yet truly akin to + those of Coeur-de-Lion. I say not that Richard is a thief, but I say that + Robin is a hero: and for honour, did ever yet man, miscalled thief, win + greater honour than Robin? Do not all men grace him with some honourable + epithet? The most gentle thief, the most courteous thief, the most + bountiful thief, yea, and the most honest thief? Richard is courteous, + bountiful, honest, and valiant: but so also is Robin: it is the false word + that makes the unjust distinction. They are twin-spirits, and should be + friends, but that fortune hath differently cast their lot: but their names + shall descend together to the latest days, as the flower of their age and + of England: for in the pure principles of freebootery have they excelled + all men; and to the principles of freebootery, diversely developed, belong + all the qualities to which song and story concede renown.” + </p> + <p> + “And you may add, friar,” said Marian, “that Robin, no less than Richard, + is king in his own dominion; and that if his subjects be fewer, yet are + they more uniformly loyal.” + </p> + <p> + “I would, fair lady,” said the stranger, “that thy latter observation were + not so true. But I nothing doubt, Robin, that if Richard could hear your + friar, and see you and your lady, as I now do, there is not a man in + England whom he would take by the hand more cordially than yourself.” + </p> + <p> + “Gramercy, sir knight,” said Robin—— But his speech was cut + short by Little John calling, “Hark!” + </p> + <p> + All listened. A distant trampling of horses was heard. The sounds + approached rapidly, and at length a group of horsemen glittering in + holyday dresses was visible among the trees. + </p> + <p> + “God’s my life!” said Robin, “what means this? To arms, my merrymen all.” + </p> + <p> + “No arms, Robin,” said the foremost horseman, riding up and springing from + his saddle: “have you forgotten Sir William of the Lee?” + </p> + <p> + “No, by my fay,” said Robin; “and right welcome again to Sherwood.” + </p> + <p> + Little John bustled to re-array the disorganised economy of the table, and + replace the dilapidations of the provender. + </p> + <p> + “I come late, Robin,” said Sir William, “but I came by a wrestling, where + I found a good yeoman wrongfully beset by a crowd of sturdy varlets, and I + staid to do him right.” + </p> + <p> + “I thank thee for that, in God’s name,” said Robin, “as if thy good + service had been to myself.” + </p> + <p> + “And here,” said the knight, “is thy four hundred pound; and my men have + brought thee an hundred bows and as many well-furnished quivers; which I + beseech thee to receive and to use as a poor token of my grateful kindness + to thee: for me and my wife and children didst thou redeem from beggary.” + </p> + <p> + “Thy bows and arrows,” said Robin, “will I joyfully receive: but of thy + money, not a penny. It is paid already. My Lady, who was thy security, + hath sent it me for thee.” + </p> + <p> + Sir William pressed, but Robin was inflexible. + </p> + <p> + “It is paid,” said Robin, “as this good knight can testify, who saw my + Lady’s messenger depart but now.” + </p> + <p> + Sir William looked round to the stranger knight, and instantly fell on his + knee, saying, “God save King Richard.” + </p> + <p> + The foresters, friar and all, dropped on their knees together, and + repeated in chorus: “God save King Richard.” + </p> + <p> + “Rise, rise,” said Richard, smiling: “Robin is king here, as his lady hath + shown. I have heard much of thee, Robin, both of thy present and thy + former state. And this, thy fair forest-queen, is, if tales say true, the + lady Matilda Fitzwater.” + </p> + <p> + Marian signed acknowledgment. + </p> + <p> + “Your father,” said the king, “has approved his fidelity to me, by the + loss of his lands, which the newness of my return, and many public cares, + have not yet given me time to restore: but this justice shall be done to + him, and to thee also, Robin, if thou wilt leave thy forest-life and + resume thy earldom, and be a peer of Coeur-de-Lion: for braver heart and + juster hand I never yet found.” + </p> + <p> + Robin looked round on his men. + </p> + <p> + “Your followers,” said the king, “shall have free pardon, and such of them + as thou wilt part with shall have maintenance from me; and if ever I + confess to priest, it shall be to thy friar.” + </p> + <p> + “Gramercy to your majesty,” said the friar; “and my inflictions shall be + flasks of canary; and if the number be (as in grave cases I may, + peradventure, make it) too great for one frail mortality, I will relieve + you by vicarious penance, and pour down my own throat the redundancy of + the burden.” + </p> + <p> + Robin and his followers embraced the king’s proposal. A joyful meeting + soon followed with the baron and Sir Guy of Gamwell: and Richard himself + honoured with his own presence a formal solemnization of the nuptials of + our lovers, whom he constantly distinguished with his peculiar regard. + </p> + <p> + The friar could not say, Farewell to the forest, without something of a + heavy heart: and he sang as he turned his back upon its bounds, + occasionally reverting his head: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Ye woods, that oft at sultry noon + Have o’er me spread your messy shade: + Ye gushing streams, whose murmured tune + Has in my ear sweet music made, + While, where the dancing pebbles show + Deep in the restless fountain-pool + The gelid water’s upward flow, + My second flask was laid to cool: + + Ye pleasant sights of leaf and flower: + Ye pleasant sounds of bird and bee: + Ye sports of deer in sylvan bower: + Ye feasts beneath the greenwood tree: + Ye baskings in the vernal sun: + Ye slumbers in the summer dell: + Ye trophies that this arm has won: + And must ye hear your friar’s farewell? +</pre> + <p> + But the friar’s farewell was not destined to be eternal. He was domiciled + as the family confessor of the earl and countess of Huntingdon, who led a + discreet and courtly life, and kept up old hospitality in all its + munificence, till the death of King Richard and the usurpation of John, by + placing their enemy in power, compelled them to return to their greenwood + sovereignty; which, it is probable, they would have before done from + choice, if their love of sylvan liberty had not been counteracted by their + desire to retain the friendship of Coeur-de-Lion. Their old and tried + adherents, the friar among the foremost, flocked again round their + forest-banner; and in merry Sherwood they long lived together, the lady + still retaining her former name of Maid Marian, though the appellation was + then as much a misnomer as that of Little John. + </p> + <p> + THE END. <a name="link2H_FOOT" id="link2H_FOOT"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Footnotes: + </h2> + <p> + <a name="linknote-1" id="linknote-1"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 1 (<a href="#linknoteref-1">return</a>)<br /> [ Roasting by a slow fire for + the love of God.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-2" id="linknote-2"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 2 (<a href="#linknoteref-2">return</a>)<br /> [ Of these lines all that is + not in italics belongs to Mr. Wordsworth: Resolution and Independence.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-3" id="linknote-3"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 3 (<a href="#linknoteref-3">return</a>)<br /> [ Harp-it-on: or, a + corruption of (greek ‘Erpeton), a creeping thing.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-4" id="linknote-4"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 4 (<a href="#linknoteref-4">return</a>)<br /> [ + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + And therefore is she called Maid Marian + Because she leads a spotless maiden life + And shall till Robin’s outlaw life have end. + —Old Play.] +</pre> + <p> + <a name="linknote-5" id="linknote-5"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 5 (<a href="#linknoteref-5">return</a>)<br /> [ + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “These byshoppes and these archbyshoppes + Ye shall them bete and bynde,” + </pre> + <p class="foot"> + says Robin Hood, in an old ballad. Perhaps, however, thus is to be taken + not in a literal, but in a figurative sense from the binding and beating + of wheat: for as all rich men were Robin’s harvest, the bishops and + archbishops must have been the finest and fattest ears among them, from + which Robin merely proposes to thresh the grain when he directs them to be + bound and beaten: and as Pharaoh’s fat kine were typical of fat ears of + wheat, so may fat ears of wheat, mutatis mutandis, be typical of fat + kine.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-6" id="linknote-6"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 6 (<a href="#linknoteref-6">return</a>)<br /> [ Alcofribas Nasier: an + anagram of Francois Rabelais, and his assumed appellation.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0021" id="link2H_4_0021"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VARIANTS IN THE TEXT + </h2> + <p> + Changes in spelling, use of capitals, punctuation and type are not + recorded. + </p> + <p> + P. 15, ll. 12-13. and the bishops: and bishops 1822. + </p> + <p> + P. 46, l. 12. united: re-united 1822. + </p> + <p> + P. 63, l. 14. a posse of men: fifty men 1822. + </p> + <p> + P. 74, l. 6. privation: imprisonment and privation 1822. + </p> + <p> + P. 80, l. 29. tone: toll 1822. + </p> + <p> + P. 153, ll. 21-23. daily of bad wine... more fastidious relish: every day + I grow more intolerant of bad, and have a keener and more fastidious + relish of good wine 1822. + </p> + <p> + P. 159, l. 20. passed: past 1822. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Maid Marian, by Thomas Love Peacock + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MAID MARIAN *** + +***** This file should be named 966-h.htm or 966-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/9/6/966/ + +Produced by Charles Keller, and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Maid Marian + +Author: Thomas Love Peacock + +Posting Date: July 27, 2008 [EBook #966] +Release Date: June 1997 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MAID MARIAN *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Keller + + + + + +MAID MARIAN + + +by Thomas Love Peacock + + + + +MAID MARIAN + + + + +CHAPTER I + + + Now come ye for peace here, or come ye for war? + --SCOTT. + + +"The abbot, in his alb arrayed," stood at the altar in the abbey-chapel +of Rubygill, with all his plump, sleek, rosy friars, in goodly lines +disposed, to solemnise the nuptials of the beautiful Matilda Fitzwater, +daughter of the Baron of Arlingford, with the noble Robert Fitz-Ooth, +Earl of Locksley and Huntingdon. The abbey of Rubygill stood in a +picturesque valley, at a little distance from the western boundary of +Sherwood Forest, in a spot which seemed adapted by nature to be +the retreat of monastic mortification, being on the banks of a fine +trout-stream, and in the midst of woodland coverts, abounding with +excellent game. The bride, with her father and attendant maidens, +entered the chapel; but the earl had not arrived. The baron was amazed, +and the bridemaidens were disconcerted. Matilda feared that some evil +had befallen her lover, but felt no diminution of her confidence in his +honour and love. Through the open gates of the chapel she looked down +the narrow road that wound along the side of the hill; and her ear was +the first that heard the distant trampling of horses, and her eye was +the first that caught the glitter of snowy plumes, and the light of +polished spears. "It is strange," thought the baron, "that the earl +should come in this martial array to his wedding;" but he had not long +to meditate on the phenomenon, for the foaming steeds swept up to the +gate like a whirlwind, and the earl, breathless with speed, and followed +by a few of his yeomen, advanced to his smiling bride. It was then +no time to ask questions, for the organ was in full peal, and the +choristers were in full voice. + +The abbot began to intone the ceremony in a style of modulation +impressively exalted, his voice issuing most canonically from the roof +of his mouth, through the medium of a very musical nose newly tuned for +the occasion. But he had not proceeded far enough to exhibit all the +variety and compass of this melodious instrument, when a noise was heard +at the gate, and a party of armed men entered the chapel. The song of +the choristers died away in a shake of demisemiquavers, contrary to all +the rules of psalmody. The organ-blower, who was working his musical +air-pump with one hand, and with two fingers and a thumb of the other +insinuating a peeping-place through the curtain of the organ-gallery, +was struck motionless by the double operation of curiosity and fear; +while the organist, intent only on his performance, and spreading all +his fingers to strike a swell of magnificent chords, felt his harmonic +spirit ready to desert his body on being answered by the ghastly rattle +of empty keys, and in the consequent agitato furioso of the internal +movements of his feelings, was preparing to restore harmony by the segue +subito of an appoggiatura con foco with the corner of a book of anthems +on the head of his neglectful assistant, when his hand and his attention +together were arrested by the scene below. The voice of the abbot +subsided into silence through a descending scale of long-drawn melody, +like the sound of the ebbing sea to the explorers of a cave. In a few +moments all was silence, interrupted only by the iron tread of the armed +intruders, as it rang on the marble floor and echoed from the vaulted +aisles. + +The leader strode up to the altar; and placing himself opposite to the +abbot, and between the earl and Matilda, in such a manner that the four +together seemed to stand on the four points of a diamond, exclaimed, "In +the name of King Henry, I forbid the ceremony, and attach Robert Earl of +Huntingdon as a traitor!" and at the same time he held his drawn sword +between the lovers, as if to emblem that royal authority which laid its +temporal ban upon their contract. The earl drew his own sword instantly, +and struck down the interposing weapon; then clasped his left arm round +Matilda, who sprang into his embrace, and held his sword before her with +his right hand. His yeomen ranged themselves at his side, and stood with +their swords drawn, still and prepared, like men determined to die in +his defence. The soldiers, confident in superiority of numbers, +paused. The abbot took advantage of the pause to introduce a word of +exhortation. "My children," said he, "if you are going to cut each +other's throats, I entreat you, in the name of peace and charity, to do +it out of the chapel." + +"Sweet Matilda," said the earl, "did you give your love to the Earl +of Huntingdon, whose lands touch the Ouse and the Trent, or to Robert +Fitz-Ooth, the son of his mother?" + +"Neither to the earl nor his earldom," answered Matilda firmly, "but to +Robert Fitz-Ooth and his love." + +"That I well knew," said the earl; "and though the ceremony be +incomplete, we are not the less married in the eye of my only saint, our +Lady, who will yet bring us together. Lord Fitzwater, to your care, for +the present, I commit your daughter.--Nay, sweet Matilda, part we must +for a while; but we will soon meet under brighter skies, and be this the +seal of our faith." + +He kissed Matilda's lips, and consigned her to the baron, who glowered +about him with an expression of countenance that showed he was mortally +wroth with somebody; but whatever he thought or felt he kept to himself. +The earl, with a sign to his followers, made a sudden charge on the +soldiers, with the intention of cutting his way through. The soldiers +were prepared for such an occurrence, and a desperate skirmish +succeeded. Some of the women screamed, but none of them fainted; for +fainting was not so much the fashion in those days, when the ladies +breakfasted on brawn and ale at sunrise, as in our more refined age of +green tea and muffins at noon. Matilda seemed disposed to fly again to +her lover, but the baron forced her from the chapel. The earl's bowmen +at the door sent in among the assailants a volley of arrows, one of +which whizzed past the ear of the abbot, who, in mortal fear of being +suddenly translated from a ghostly friar into a friarly ghost, began +to roll out of the chapel as fast as his bulk and his holy robes would +permit, roaring "Sacrilege!" with all his monks at his heels, who were, +like himself, more intent to go at once than to stand upon the order of +their going. The abbot, thus pressed from behind, and stumbling over +his own drapery before, fell suddenly prostrate in the door-way that +connected the chapel with the abbey, and was instantaneously buried +under a pyramid of ghostly carcasses, that fell over him and each other, +and lay a rolling chaos of animated rotundities, sprawling and bawling +in unseemly disarray, and sending forth the names of all the saints +in and out of heaven, amidst the clashing of swords, the ringing of +bucklers, the clattering of helmets, the twanging of bow-strings, the +whizzing of arrows, the screams of women, the shouts of the warriors, +and the vociferations of the peasantry, who had been assembled to the +intended nuptials, and who, seeing a fair set-to, contrived to pick a +quarrel among themselves on the occasion, and proceeded, with staff and +cudgel, to crack each other's skulls for the good of the king and the +earl. One tall friar alone was untouched by the panic of his brethren, +and stood steadfastly watching the combat with his arms a-kembo, the +colossal emblem of an unarmed neutrality. + +At length, through the midst of the internal confusion, the earl, by the +help of his good sword, the staunch valour of his men, and the blessing +of the Virgin, fought his way to the chapel-gate--his bowmen closed him +in--he vaulted into his saddle, clapped spurs to his horse, rallied his +men on the first eminence, and exchanged his sword for a bow and arrow, +with which he did old execution among the pursuers, who at last thought +it most expedient to desist from offensive warfare, and to retreat into +the abbey, where, in the king's name, they broached a pipe of the best +wine, and attached all the venison in the larder, having first carefully +unpacked the tuft of friars, and set the fallen abbot on his legs. + +The friars, it may be well supposed, and such of the king's men as +escaped unhurt from the affray, found their spirits a cup too low, +and kept the flask moving from noon till night. The peaceful brethren, +unused to the tumult of war, had undergone, from fear and discomposure, +an exhaustion of animal spirits that required extraordinary refection. +During the repast, they interrogated Sir Ralph Montfaucon, the leader of +the soldiers, respecting the nature of the earl's offence. + +"A complication of offences," replied Sir Ralph, "superinduced on the +original basis of forest-treason. He began with hunting the king's deer, +in despite of all remonstrance; followed it up by contempt of the king's +mandates, and by armed resistance to his power, in defiance of all +authority; and combined with it the resolute withholding of payment of +certain moneys to the abbot of Doncaster, in denial of all law; and has +thus made himself the declared enemy of church and state, and all for +being too fond of venison." And the knight helped himself to half a +pasty. + +"A heinous offender," said a little round oily friar, appropriating the +portion of pasty which Sir Ralph had left. + +"The earl is a worthy peer," said the tall friar whom we have already +mentioned in the chapel scene, "and the best marksman in England." + +"Why this is flat treason, brother Michael," said the little round +friar, "to call an attainted traitor a worthy peer." + +"I pledge you," said brother Michael. The little friar smiled and filled +his cup. "He will draw the long bow," pursued brother Michael, "with any +bold yeoman among them all." + +"Don't talk of the long bow," said the abbot, who had the sound of the +arrow still whizzing in his ear: "what have we pillars of the faith to +do with the long bow?" + +"Be that as it may," said Sir Ralph, "he is an outlaw from this moment." + +"So much the worse for the law then," said brother Michael. "The law +will have a heavier miss of him than he will have of the law. He will +strike as much venison as ever, and more of other game. I know what I +say: but basta: Let us drink." + +"What other game?" said the little friar. "I hope he won't poach among +our partridges." + +"Poach! not he," said brother Michael: "if he wants your partridges, +he will strike them under your nose (here's to you), and drag your +trout-stream for you on a Thursday evening." + +"Monstrous! and starve us on fast-day," said the little friar. + +"But that is not the game I mean," said brother Michael. + +"Surely, son Michael," said the abbot, "you do not mean to insinuate +that the noble earl will turn freebooter?" + +"A man must live," said brother Michael, "earl or no. If the law takes +his rents and beeves without his consent, he must take beeves and rents +where he can get them without the consent of the law. This is the lex +talionis." + +"Truly," said Sir Ralph, "I am sorry for the damsel: she seems fond of +this wild runagate." + +"A mad girl, a mad girl," said the little friar. + +"How a mad girl?" said brother Michael. "Has she not beauty, grace, wit, +sense, discretion, dexterity, learning, and valour?" + +"Learning!" exclaimed the little friar; "what has a woman to do with +learning? And valour! who ever heard a woman commended for valour? +Meekness and mildness, and softness, and gentleness, and tenderness, and +humility, and obedience to her husband, and faith in her confessor, +and domesticity, or, as learned doctors call it, the faculty of +stayathomeitiveness, and embroidery, and music, and pickling, and +preserving, and the whole complex and multiplex detail of the noble +science of dinner, as well in preparation for the table, as in +arrangement over it, and in distribution around it to knights, and +squires, and ghostly friars,--these are female virtues: but valour--why +who ever heard----?" + +"She is the all in all," said brother Michael, "gentle as a ring-dove, +yet high-soaring as a falcon: humble below her deserving, yet deserving +beyond the estimate of panegyric: an exact economist in all superfluity, +yet a most bountiful dispenser in all liberality: the chief regulator of +her household, the fairest pillar of her hall, and the sweetest blossom +of her bower: having, in all opposite proposings, sense to understand, +judgment to weigh, discretion to choose, firmness to undertake, +diligence to conduct, perseverance to accomplish, and resolution to +maintain. For obedience to her husband, that is not to be tried till +she has one: for faith in her confessor, she has as much as the law +prescribes: for embroidery an Arachne: for music a Siren: and for +pickling and preserving, did not one of her jars of sugared apricots +give you your last surfeit at Arlingford Castle?" + +"Call you that preserving?" said the little friar; "I call it +destroying. Call you it pickling? Truly it pickled me. My life was saved +by miracle." + +"By canary," said brother Michael. "Canary is the only life preserver, +the true aurum potabile, the universal panacea for all diseases, thirst, +and short life. Your life was saved by canary." + +"Indeed, reverend father," said Sir Ralph, "if the young lady be half +what you describe, she must be a paragon: but your commending her for +valour does somewhat amaze me." + +"She can fence," said the little friar, "and draw the long bow, and play +at singlestick and quarter-staff." + +"Yet mark you," said brother Michael, "not like a virago or a hoyden, +or one that would crack a serving-man's head for spilling gravy on her +ruff, but with such womanly grace and temperate self-command as if +those manly exercises belonged to her only, and were become for her sake +feminine." + +"You incite me," said Sir Ralph, "to view her more nearly. That madcap +earl found me other employment than to remark her in the chapel." + +"The earl is a worthy peer," said brother Michael; "he is worth any +fourteen earls on this side Trent, and any seven on the other." (The +reader will please to remember that Rubygill Abbey was north of Trent.) + +"His mettle will be tried," said Sir Ralph. "There is many a courtier +will swear to King Henry to bring him in dead or alive." + +"They must look to the brambles then," said brother Michael. + + "The bramble, the bramble, the bonny forest bramble, + Doth make a jest + Of silken vest, + That will through greenwood scramble: + The bramble, the bramble, the bonny forest bramble." + + +"Plague on your lungs, son Michael," said the abbot; "this is your old +coil: always roaring in your cups." + +"I know what I say," said brother Michael; "there is often more sense in +an old song than in a new homily. + + The courtly pad doth amble, + When his gay lord would ramble: + But both may catch + An awkward scratch, + If they ride among the bramble: + The bramble, the bramble, the bonny forest bramble." + + +"Tall friar," said Sir Ralph, "either you shoot the shafts of your +merriment at random, or you know more of the earl's designs than beseems +your frock." + +"Let my frock," said brother Michael, "answer for its own sins. It is +worn past covering mine. It is too weak for a shield, too transparent +for a screen, too thin for a shelter, too light for gravity, and too +threadbare for a jest. The wearer would be naught indeed who should +misbeseem such a wedding garment. + + But wherefore does the sheep wear wool? + That he in season sheared may be, + And the shepherd be warm though his flock be cool: + So I'll have a new cloak about me." + + + + +CHAPTER II + + + Vray moyne si oncques en feut depuis que le monde moynant + moyna de moynerie.--RABELAIS. + + +The Earl of Huntingdon, living in the vicinity of a royal forest, and +passionately attached to the chase from his infancy, had long made as +free with the king's deer as Lord Percy proposed to do with those of +Lord Douglas in the memorable hunting of Cheviot. It is sufficiently +well known how severe were the forest-laws in those days, and with +what jealousy the kings of England maintained this branch of their +prerogative; but menaces and remonstrances were thrown away on the earl, +who declared that he would not thank Saint Peter for admission into +Paradise, if he were obliged to leave his bow and hounds at the gate. +King Henry (the Second) swore by Saint Botolph to make him rue his +sport, and, having caused him to be duly and formally accused, summoned +him to London to answer the charge. The earl, deeming himself safer +among his own vassals than among king Henry's courtiers, took no notice +of the mandate. King Henry sent a force to bring him, vi et armis, to +court. The earl made a resolute resistance, and put the king's force to +flight under a shower of arrows: an act which the courtiers declared to +be treason. At the same time, the abbot of Doncaster sued up the payment +of certain moneys, which the earl, whose revenue ran a losing race with +his hospitality, had borrowed at sundry times of the said abbot: for the +abbots and the bishops were the chief usurers of those days, and, as the +end sanctifies the means, were not in the least scrupulous of employing +what would have been extortion in the profane, to accomplish the pious +purpose of bringing a blessing on the land by rescuing it from the +frail hold of carnal and temporal into the firmer grasp of ghostly +and spiritual possessors. But the earl, confident in the number and +attachment of his retainers, stoutly refused either to repay the money, +which he could not, or to yield the forfeiture, which he would not: a +refusal which in those days was an act of outlawry in a gentleman, as +it is now of bankruptcy in a base mechanic; the gentleman having in our +wiser times a more liberal privilege of gentility, which enables him to +keep his land and laugh at his creditor. Thus the mutual resentments and +interests of the king and the abbot concurred to subject the earl to the +penalties of outlawry, by which the abbot would gain his due upon the +lands of Locksley, and the rest would be confiscate to the king. Still +the king did not think it advisable to assail the earl in his own +strong-hold, but caused a diligent watch to be kept over his motions, +till at length his rumoured marriage with the heiress of Arlingford +seemed to point out an easy method of laying violent hands on the +offender. Sir Ralph Montfaucon, a young man of good lineage and of an +aspiring temper, who readily seized the first opportunity that offered +of recommending himself to King Henry's favour by manifesting his zeal +in his service, undertook the charge: and how he succeeded we have seen. + +Sir Ralph's curiosity was strongly excited by the friar's description +of the young lady of Arlingford; and he prepared in the morning to visit +the castle, under the very plausible pretext of giving the baron an +explanation of his intervention at the nuptials. Brother Michael and the +little fat friar proposed to be his guides. The proposal was courteously +accepted, and they set out together, leaving Sir Ralph's followers at +the abbey. The knight was mounted on a spirited charger; brother Michael +on a large heavy-trotting horse; and the little fat friar on a plump +soft-paced galloway, so correspondent with himself in size, rotundity, +and sleekness, that if they had been amalgamated into a centaur, there +would have been nothing to alter in their proportions. + +"Do you know," said the little friar, as they wound along the banks of +the stream, "the reason why lake-trout is better than river-trout, and +shyer withal?" + +"I was not aware of the fact," said Sir Ralph. + +"A most heterodox remark," said brother Michael: "know you not, that +in all nice matters you should take the implication for absolute, and, +without looking into the FACT WHETHER, seek only the reason why? But the +fact is so, on the word of a friar; which what layman will venture to +gainsay who prefers a down bed to a gridiron?" + +"The fact being so," said the knight, "I am still at a loss for the +reason; nor would I undertake to opine in a matter of that magnitude: +since, in all that appertains to the good things either of this world +or the next, my reverend spiritual guides are kind enough to take the +trouble of thinking off my hands." + +"Spoken," said brother Michael, "with a sound Catholic conscience. My +little brother here is most profound in the matter of trout. He has +marked, learned, and inwardly digested the subject, twice a week at +least for five-and-thirty years. I yield to him in this. My strong +points are venison and canary." + +"The good qualities of a trout," said the little friar, "are firmness +and redness: the redness, indeed, being the visible sign of all other +virtues." + +"Whence," said brother Michael, "we choose our abbot by his nose: + + The rose on the nose doth all virtues disclose: + For the outward grace shows + That the inward overflows, + When it glows in the rose of a red, red nose." + + +"Now," said the little friar, "as is the firmness so is the redness, and +as is the redness so is the shyness." + +"Marry why?" said brother Michael. "The solution is not +physical-natural, but physical-historical, or natural-superinductive. +And thereby hangs a tale, which may be either said or sung: + + The damsel stood to watch the fight + By the banks of Kingslea Mere, + And they brought to her feet her own true knight + Sore-wounded on a bier. + + She knelt by him his wounds to bind, + She washed them with many a tear: + And shouts rose fast upon the wind, + Which told that the foe was near. + + "Oh! let not," he said, "while yet I live, + The cruel foe me take: + But with thy sweet lips a last kiss give, + And cast me in the lake." + + Around his neck she wound her arms, + And she kissed his lips so pale: + And evermore the war's alarms + Came louder up the vale. + + She drew him to the lake's steep side, + Where the red heath fringed the shore; + She plunged with him beneath the tide, + And they were seen no more. + + Their true blood mingled in Kingslea Mere, + That to mingle on earth was fain: + And the trout that swims in that crystal clear + Is tinged with the crimson stain. + + +"Thus you see how good comes of evil, and how a holy friar may fare +better on fast-day for the violent death of two lovers two hundred +years ago. The inference is most consecutive, that wherever you catch +a red-fleshed trout, love lies bleeding under the water: an occult +quality, which can only act in the stationary waters of a lake, being +neutralised by the rapid transition of those of a stream." + +"And why is the trout shyer for that?" asked Sir Ralph. + +"Do you not see?" said brother Michael. "The virtues of both lovers +diffuse themselves through the lake. The infusion of masculine valour +makes the fish active and sanguineous: the infusion of maiden modesty +makes him coy and hard to win: and you shall find through life, the fish +which is most easily hooked is not the best worth dishing. But yonder +are the towers of Arlingford." + +The little friar stopped. He seemed suddenly struck with an awful +thought, which caused a momentary pallescence in his rosy complexion; +and after a brief hesitation, he turned his galloway, and told his +companions he should give them good day. + +"Why, what is in the wind now, brother Peter?" said Friar Michael. + +"The lady Matilda," said the little friar, "can draw the long-bow. She +must bear no goodwill to Sir Ralph; and if she should espy him from her +tower, she may testify her recognition with a cloth-yard shaft. She is +not so infallible a markswoman, but that she might shoot at a crow and +kill a pigeon. She might peradventure miss the knight, and hit me, who +never did her any harm." + +"Tut, tut, man," said brother Michael, "there is no such fear." + +"Mass," said the little friar, "but there is such a fear, and very +strong too. You who have it not may keep your way, and I who have it +shall take mine. I am not just now in the vein for being picked off at a +long shot." And saying these words, he spurred up his four-footed better +half, and galloped off as nimbly as if he had had an arrow singing +behind him. + +"Is this lady Matilda, then, so very terrible a damsel?" said Sir Ralph +to brother Michael. + +"By no means," said the friar. "She has certainly a high spirit; but it +is the wing of the eagle, without his beak or his claw. She is as gentle +as magnanimous; but it is the gentleness of the summer wind, which, +however lightly it wave the tuft of the pine, carries with it the +intimation of a power, that, if roused to its extremity, could make it +bend to the dust." + +"From the warmth of your panegyric, ghostly father," said the knight, "I +should almost suspect you were in love with the damsel." + +"So I am," said the friar, "and I care not who knows it; but all in the +way of honesty, master soldier. I am, as it were, her spiritual lover; +and were she a damsel errant, I would be her ghostly esquire, her friar +militant. I would buckle me in armour of proof, and the devil might +thresh me black with an iron flail, before I would knock under in +her cause. Though they be not yet one canonically, thanks to your +soldiership, the earl is her liege lord, and she is his liege lady. I +am her father confessor and ghostly director: I have taken on me to show +her the way to the next world; and how can I do that if I lose sight of +her in this? seeing that this is but the road to the other, and has so +many circumvolutions and ramifications of byeways and beaten paths (all +more thickly set than the true one with finger-posts and milestones, +not one of which tells truth), that a traveller has need of some one who +knows the way, or the odds go hard against him that he will ever see the +face of Saint Peter." + +"But there must surely be some reason," said Sir Ralph, "for father +Peter's apprehension." + +"None," said brother Michael, "but the apprehension itself; fear being +its own father, and most prolific in self-propagation. The lady did, it +is true, once signalize her displeasure against our little brother, +for reprimanding her in that she would go hunting a-mornings instead +of attending matins. She cut short the thread of his eloquence by +sportively drawing her bow-string and loosing an arrow over his head; +he waddled off with singular speed, and was in much awe of her for many +months. I thought he had forgotten it: but let that pass. In truth, +she would have had little of her lover's company, if she had liked the +chaunt of the choristers better than the cry of the hounds: yet I +know not; for they were companions from the cradle, and reciprocally +fashioned each other to the love of the fern and the foxglove. Had +either been less sylvan, the other might have been more saintly; but +they will now never hear matins but those of the lark, nor reverence +vaulted aisle but that of the greenwood canopy. They are twin plants of +the forest, and are identified with its growth. + + For the slender beech and the sapling oak, + That grow by the shadowy rill, + You may cut down both at a single stroke, + You may cut down which you will. + + But this you must know, that as long as they grow + Whatever change may be, + You never can teach either oak or beech + To be aught but a greenwood tree." + + + + +CHAPTER III + + Inflamed wrath in glowing breast.--BUTLER. + + +The knight and the friar arriving at Arlingford Castle, and leaving +their horses in the care of lady Matilda's groom, with whom the friar +was in great favour, were ushered into a stately apartment, where they +found the baron alone, flourishing an enormous carving-knife over a +brother baron--of beef--with as much vehemence of action as if he +were cutting down an enemy. The baron was a gentleman of a fierce and +choleric temperament: he was lineally descended from the redoubtable +Fierabras of Normandy, who came over to England with the Conqueror, and +who, in the battle of Hastings, killed with his own hand four-and-twenty +Saxon cavaliers all on a row. The very excess of the baron's internal +rage on the preceding day had smothered its external manifestation: he +was so equally angry with both parties, that he knew not on which to +vent his wrath. He was enraged with the earl for having brought himself +into such a dilemma without his privily; and he was no less enraged with +the king's men for their very unseasonable intrusion. He could willingly +have fallen upon both parties, but, he must necessarily have begun with +one; and he felt that on whichever side he should strike the first blow, +his retainers would immediately join battle. He had therefore contented +himself with forcing away his daughter from the scene of action. In +the course of the evening he had received intelligence that the earl's +castle was in possession of a party of the king's men, who had been +detached by Sir Ralph Montfaucon to seize on it during the earl's +absence. The baron inferred from this that the earl's case was +desperate; and those who have had the opportunity of seeing a rich +friend fall suddenly into poverty, may easily judge by their own +feelings how quickly and completely the whole moral being of the earl +was changed in the baron's estimation. The baron immediately proceeded +to require in his daughter's mind the same summary revolution that had +taken place in his own, and considered himself exceedingly ill-used by +her non-compliance. The lady had retired to her chamber, and the +baron had passed a supperless and sleepless night, stalking about his +apartments till an advanced hour of the morning, when hunger compelled +him to summon into his presence the spoils of the buttery, which, being +the intended array of an uneaten wedding feast, were more than usually +abundant, and on which, when the knight and the friar entered, he was +falling with desperate valour. He looked up at them fiercely, with his +mouth full of beef and his eyes full of flame, and rising, as ceremony +required, made an awful bow to the knight, inclining himself forward +over the table and presenting his carving-knife en militaire, in a +manner that seemed to leave it doubtful whether he meant to show respect +to his visitor, or to defend his provision: but the doubt was soon +cleared up by his politely motioning the knight to be seated; on which +the friar advanced to the table, saying, "For what we are going to +receive," and commenced operations without further prelude by filling +and drinking a goblet of wine. The baron at the same time offered one +to Sir Ralph, with the look of a man in whom habitual hospitality and +courtesy were struggling with the ebullitions of natural anger. They +pledged each other in silence, and the baron, having completed a copious +draught, continued working his lips and his throat, as if trying to +swallow his wrath as he had done his wine. Sir Ralph, not knowing well +what to make of these ambiguous signs, looked for instructions to the +friar, who by significant looks and gestures seemed to advise him to +follow his example and partake of the good cheer before him, without +speaking till the baron should be more intelligible in his demeanour. +The knight and the friar, accordingly, proceeded to refect themselves +after their ride; the baron looking first at the one and then at the +other, scrutinising alternately the serious looks of the knight and +the merry face of the friar, till at length, having calmed himself +sufficiently to speak, he said, "Courteous knight and ghostly father, +I presume you have some other business with me than to eat my beef and +drink my canary; and if so, I patiently await your leisure to enter on +the topic." + +"Lord Fitzwater," said Sir Ralph, "in obedience to my royal master, King +Henry, I have been the unwilling instrument of frustrating the intended +nuptials of your fair daughter; yet will you, I trust, owe me no +displeasure for my agency herein, seeing that the noble maiden might +otherwise by this time have been the bride of an outlaw." + +"I am very much obliged to you, sir," said the baron; "very exceedingly +obliged. Your solicitude for my daughter is truly paternal, and for a +young man and a stranger very singular and exemplary: and it is very +kind withal to come to the relief of my insufficiency and inexperience, +and concern yourself so much in that which concerns you not." + +"You misconceive the knight, noble baron," said the friar. "He urges +not his reason in the shape of a preconceived intent, but in that of +a subsequent extenuation. True, he has done the lady Matilda great +wrong----" + +"How, great wrong?" said the baron. "What do you mean by great wrong? +Would you have had her married to a wild fly-by-night, that accident +made an earl and nature a deer-stealer? that has not wit enough to eat +venison without picking a quarrel with monarchy? that flings away his +own lands into the clutches of rascally friars, for the sake of hunting +in other men's grounds, and feasting vagabonds that wear Lincoln +green, and would have flung away mine into the bargain if he had had my +daughter? What do you mean by great wrong?" + +"True," said the friar, "great right, I meant." + +"Right!" exclaimed the baron: "what right has any man to do my daughter +right but myself? What right has any man to drive my daughter's +bridegroom out of the chapel in the middle of the marriage ceremony, and +turn all our merry faces into green wounds and bloody coxcombs, and then +come and tell me he has done us great right?" + +"True," said the friar: "he has done neither right nor wrong." + +"But he has," said the baron, "he has done both, and I will maintain it +with my glove." + +"It shall not need," said Sir Ralph; "I will concede any thing in +honour." + +"And I," said the baron, "will concede nothing in honour: I will concede +nothing in honour to any man." + +"Neither will I, Lord Fitzwater," said Sir Ralph, "in that sense: +but hear me. I was commissioned by the king to apprehend the Earl of +Huntingdon. I brought with me a party of soldiers, picked and tried men, +knowing that he would not lightly yield. I sent my lieutenant with a +detachment to surprise the earl's castle in his absence, and laid my +measures for intercepting him on the way to his intended nuptials; but +he seems to have had intimation of this part of my plan, for he brought +with him a large armed retinue, and took a circuitous route, which made +him, I believe, somewhat later than his appointed hour. When the lapse +of time showed me that he had taken another track, I pursued him to the +chapel; and I would have awaited the close of the ceremony, if I had +thought that either yourself or your daughter would have felt desirous +that she should have been the bride of an outlaw." + +"Who said, sir," cried the baron, "that we were desirous of any such +thing? But truly, sir, if I had a mind to the devil for a son-in-law, I +would fain see the man that should venture to interfere." + +"That would I," said the friar; "for I have undertaken to make her +renounce the devil." + +"She shall not renounce the devil," said the baron, "unless I please. +You are very ready with your undertakings. Will you undertake to make +her renounce the earl, who, I believe, is the devil incarnate? Will you +undertake that?" + +"Will I undertake," said the friar, "to make Trent run westward, or to +make flame burn downward, or to make a tree grow with its head in the +earth and its root in the air?" + +"So then," said the baron, "a girl's mind is as hard to change as nature +and the elements, and it is easier to make her renounce the devil than a +lover. Are you a match for the devil, and no match for a man?" + +"My warfare," said the friar, "is not of this world. I am militant not +against man, but the devil, who goes about seeking what he may devour." + +"Oh! does he so?" said the baron: "then I take it that makes you look +for him so often in my buttery. Will you cast out the devil whose name +is Legion, when you cannot cast out the imp whose name is Love?" + +"Marriages," said the friar, "are made in heaven. Love is God's work, +and therewith I meddle not." + +"God's work, indeed!" said the baron, "when the ceremony was cut short +in the church. Could men have put them asunder, if God had joined them +together? And the earl is now no earl, but plain Robert Fitz-Ooth: +therefore, I'll none of him." + +"He may atone," said the friar, "and the king may mollify. The earl is a +worthy peer, and the king is a courteous king." + +"He cannot atone," said Sir Ralph. "He has killed the king's men; and if +the baron should aid and abet, he will lose his castle and land." + +"Will I?" said the baron; "not while I have a drop of blood in my veins. +He that comes to take them shall first serve me as the friar serves my +flasks of canary: he shall drain me dry as hay. Am I not disparaged? Am +I not outraged? Is not my daughter vilified, and made a mockery? A girl +half-married? There was my butler brought home with a broken head. +My butler, friar: there is that may move your sympathy. Friar, the +earl-no-earl shall come no more to my daughter." + +"Very good," said the friar. + +"It is not very good," said the baron, "for I cannot get her to say so." + +"I fear," said Sir Ralph, "the young lady must be much distressed and +discomposed." + +"Not a whit, sir," said the baron. "She is, as usual, in a most +provoking imperturbability, and contradicts me so smilingly that it +would enrage you to see her." + +"I had hoped," said Sir Ralph, "that I might have seen her, to make my +excuse in person for the hard necessity of my duty." + +He had scarcely spoken, when the door opened, and the lady made her +appearance. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + + Are you mad, or what are you, that you squeak out your + catches without mitigation or remorse of voice? + --Twelfth Night. + + +Matilda, not dreaming of visitors, tripped into the apartment in a dress +of forest green, with a small quiver by her side, and a bow and arrow +in her hand. Her hair, black and glossy as the raven's wing, curled +like wandering clusters of dark ripe grapes under the edge of her round +bonnet; and a plume of black feathers fell back negligently above it, +with an almost horizontal inclination, that seemed the habitual effect +of rapid motion against the wind. Her black eyes sparkled like sunbeams +on a river: a clear, deep, liquid radiance, the reflection of ethereal +fire,--tempered, not subdued, in the medium of its living and gentle +mirror. Her lips were half opened to speak as she entered the apartment; +and with a smile of recognition to the friar, and a courtesy to the +stranger knight, she approached the baron and said, "You are late at +your breakfast, father." + +"I am not at breakfast," said the baron. "I have been at supper: my last +night's supper; for I had none." + +"I am sorry," said Matilda, "you should have gone to bed supperless." + +"I did not go to bed supperless," said the baron: "I did not go to bed +at all: and what are you doing with that green dress and that bow and +arrow?" + +"I am going a-hunting," said Matilda. + +"A-hunting!" said the baron. "What, I warrant you, to meet with the +earl, and slip your neck into the same noose?" + +"No," said Matilda: "I am not going out of our own woods to-day." + +"How do I know that?" said the baron. "What surety have I of that?" + +"Here is the friar," said Matilda. "He will be surety." + +"Not he," said the baron: "he will undertake nothing but where the devil +is a party concerned." + +"Yes, I will," said the friar: "I will undertake any thing for the lady +Matilda." + +"No matter for that," said the baron: "she shall not go hunting to day." + +"Why, father," said Matilda, "if you coop me up here in this odious +castle, I shall pine and die like a lonely swan on a pool. + +"No," said the baron, "the lonely swan does not die on the pool. If +there be a river at hand, she flies to the river, and finds her a mate; +and so shall not you." + +"But," said Matilda, "you may send with me any, or as many, of your +grooms as you will." + +"My grooms," said the baron, "are all false knaves. There is not a +rascal among them but loves you better than me. Villains that I feed and +clothe." + +"Surely," said Matilda, "it is not villany to love me: if it be, I +should be sorry my father were an honest man." The baron relaxed his +muscles into a smile. "Or my lover either," added Matilda. The baron +looked grim again. + +"For your lover," said the baron, "you may give God thanks of him. He is +as arrant a knave as ever poached." + +"What, for hunting the king's deer?" said Matilda. "Have I not heard you +rail at the forest laws by the hour?" + +"Did you ever hear me," said the baron, "rail myself out of house and +land? If I had done that, then were I a knave." + +"My lover," said Matilda, "is a brave man, and a true man, and a +generous man, and a young man, and a handsome man; aye, and an honest +man too." + +"How can he be an honest man," said the baron, "when he has neither +house nor land, which are the better part of a man?" + +"They are but the husk of a man," said Matilda, "the worthless coat of +the chesnut: the man himself is the kernel." + +"The man is the grape stone," said the baron, "and the pulp of the +melon. The house and land are the true substantial fruit, and all that +give him savour and value." + +"He will never want house or land," said Matilda, "while the meeting +boughs weave a green roof in the wood, and the free range of the hart +marks out the bounds of the forest." + +"Vert and venison! vert and venison!" exclaimed the baron. "Treason +and flat rebellion. Confound your smiling face! what makes you look so +good-humoured? What! you think I can't look at you, and be in a passion? +You think so, do you? We shall see. Have you no fear in talking thus, +when here is the king's liegeman come to take us all into custody, and +confiscate our goods and chattels?" + +"Nay, Lord Fitzwater," said Sir Ralph, "you wrong me in your report. My +visit is one of courtesy and excuse, not of menace and authority." + +"There it is," said the baron: "every one takes a pleasure in +contradicting me. Here is this courteous knight, who has not opened +his mouth three times since he has been in my house except to take in +provision, cuts me short in my story with a flat denial." + +"Oh! I cry you mercy, sir knight," said Matilda; "I did not mark you +before. I am your debtor for no slight favour, and so is my liege lord." + +"Her liege lord!" exclaimed the baron, taking large strides across the +chamber. + +"Pardon me, gentle lady," said Sir Ralph. "Had I known you before +yesterday, I would have cut off my right hand ere it should have been +raised to do you displeasure. + +"Oh sir," said Matilda, "a good man may be forced on an ill office: but +I can distinguish the man from his duty." She presented to him her +hand, which he kissed respectfully, and simultaneously with the contact +thirty-two invisible arrows plunged at once into his heart, one from +every point of the compass of his pericardia. + +"Well, father," added Matilda, "I must go to the woods." + +"Must you?" said the baron; "I say you must not." + +"But I am going," said Matilda + +"But I will have up the drawbridge," said the baron. + +"But I will swim the moat," said Matilda. + +"But I will secure the gates," said the baron. + +"But I will leap from the battlement," said Matilda. + +"But I will lock you in an upper chamber," said the baron. + +"But I will shred the tapestry," said Matilda, "and let myself down." + +"But I will lock you in a turret," said the baron, "where you shall only +see light through a loophole." + +"But through that loophole," said Matilda, "will I take my flight, like +a young eagle from its eerie; and, father, while I go out freely, I will +return willingly: but if once I slip out through a loop-hole----" She +paused a moment, and then added, singing,-- + + The love that follows fain + Will never its faith betray: + But the faith that is held in a chain + Will never be found again, + If a single link give way. + + +The melody acted irresistibly on the harmonious propensities of the +friar, who accordingly sang in his turn,-- + + For hark! hark! hark! + The dog doth bark, + That watches the wild deer's lair. + The hunter awakes at the peep of the dawn, + But the lair it is empty, the deer it is gone, + And the hunter knows not where. + +Matilda and the friar then sang together,-- + + Then follow, oh follow! the hounds do cry: + The red sun flames in the eastern sky: + The stag bounds over the hollow. + He that lingers in spirit, or loiters in hall, + Shall see us no more till the evening fall, + And no voice but the echo shall answer his call: + Then follow, oh follow, follow: + Follow, oh follow, follow! + + +During the process of this harmony, the baron's eyes wandered from his +daughter to the friar, and from the friar to his daughter again, with +an alternate expression of anger differently modified: when he looked +on the friar, it was anger without qualification; when he looked on +his daughter it was still anger, but tempered by an expression of +involuntary admiration and pleasure. These rapid fluctuations of the +baron's physiognomy--the habitual, reckless, resolute merriment in the +jovial face of the friar,--and the cheerful, elastic spirits that played +on the lips and sparkled in the eyes of Matilda,--would have presented a +very amusing combination to Sir Ralph, if one of the three images in +the group had not absorbed his total attention with feelings of intense +delight very nearly allied to pain. The baron's wrath was somewhat +counteracted by the reflection that his daughter's good spirits +seemed to show that they would naturally rise triumphant over all +disappointments; and he had had sufficient experience of her humour to +know that she might sometimes be led, but never could be driven. Then, +too, he was always delighted to hear her sing, though he was not at all +pleased in this instance with the subject of her song. Still he would +have endured the subject for the sake of the melody of the treble, but +his mind was not sufficiently attuned to unison to relish the harmony +of the bass. The friar's accompaniment put him out of all patience, +and--"So," he exclaimed, "this is the way, you teach my daughter to +renounce the devil, is it? A hunting friar, truly! Who ever heard +before of a hunting friar? A profane, roaring, bawling, bumper-bibbing, +neck-breaking, catch-singing friar?" + +"Under favour, bold baron," said the friar; but the friar was warm +with canary, and in his singing vein; and he could not go on in plain +unmusical prose. He therefore sang in a new tune,-- + + Though I be now a grey, grey friar, + Yet I was once a hale young knight: + The cry of my dogs was the only choir + In which my spirit did take delight. + Little I recked of matin bell, + But drowned its toll with my clanging horn: + And the only beads I loved to tell + Were the beads of dew on the spangled thorn. + + +The baron was going to storm, but the friar paused, and Matilda sang in +repetition,-- + + Little I reck of matin bell, + But drown its toll with my clanging horn: + And the only beads I love to tell + Are the beads of dew on the spangled thorn. + + +And then she and the friar sang the four lines together, and rang the +changes upon them alternately. + + Little I reck of matin bell, + +sang the friar. + +"A precious friar," said the baron. + + +But drown its toll with my clanging horn, sang Matilda. + +"More shame for you," said the baron. + + And the only beads I love to tell + Are the beads of dew on the spangled thorn, + +sang Matilda and the friar together. + +"Penitent and confessor," said the baron: "a hopeful pair truly." + +The friar went on,-- + + An archer keen I was withal, + As ever did lean on greenwood tree; + And could make the fleetest roebuck fall, + A good three hundred yards from me. + Though changeful time, with hand severe, + Has made me now these joys forego, + Yet my heart bounds whene'er I hear + Yoicks! hark away! and tally ho! + + +Matilda chimed in as before. + +"Are you mad?" said the baron. "Are you insane? Are you possessed? What +do you mean? What in the devil's name do you both mean?" + + Yoicks! hark away! and tally ho! + +roared the friar. + +The baron's pent-up wrath had accumulated like the waters above the dam +of an overshot mill. The pond-head of his passion being now filled +to the utmost limit of its capacity, and beginning to overflow in the +quivering of his lips and the flashing of his eyes, he pulled up all +the flash-boards at once, and gave loose to the full torrent of his +indignation, by seizing, like furious Ajax, not a messy stone more than +two modern men could raise, but a vast dish of beef more than fifty +ancient yeomen could eat, and whirled it like a coit, in terrorem, over +the head of the friar, to the extremity of the apartment, + + Where it on oaken floor did settle, + With mighty din of ponderous metal. + + +"Nay father," said Matilda, taking the baron's hand, "do not harm the +friar: he means not to offend you. My gaiety never before displeased +you. Least of all should it do so now, when I have need of all my +spirits to outweigh the severity of my fortune." + +As she spoke the last words, tears started into her eyes, which, as if +ashamed of the involuntary betraying of her feelings, she turned away to +conceal. The baron was subdued at once. He kissed his daughter, held out +his hand to the friar, and said, "Sing on, in God's name, and crack away +the flasks till your voice swims in canary." Then turning to Sir Ralph, +he said, "You see how it is, sir knight. Matilda is my daughter; but she +has me in leading-strings, that is the truth of it." + + + + +CHAPTER V + + 'T is true, no lover has that power + To enforce a desperate amour + As he that has two strings to his bow + And burns for love and money too.--BUTLER. + + +The friar had often had experience of the baron's testy humour; but +it had always before confined itself to words, in which the habit of +testiness often mingled more expression of displeasure than the internal +feeling prompted. He knew the baron to be hot and choleric, but at the +same time hospitable and generous; passionately fond of his daughter, +often thwarting her in seeming, but always yielding to her in fact. The +early attachment between Matilda and the Earl of Huntingdon had given +the baron no serious reason to interfere with her habits and +pursuits, which were so congenial to those of her lover; and not being +over-burdened with orthodoxy, that is to say, not being seasoned with +more of the salt of the spirit than was necessary to preserve him from +excommunication, confiscation, and philotheoparoptesism, [1] he was not +sorry to encourage his daughter's choice of her confessor in brother +Michael, who had more jollity and less hypocrisy than any of his +fraternity, and was very little anxious to disguise his love of the good +things of this world under the semblance of a sanctified exterior. The +friar and Matilda had often sung duets together, and had been accustomed +to the baron's chiming in with a stormy capriccio, which was usually +charmed into silence by some sudden turn in the witching melodies of +Matilda. They had therefore naturally calculated, as far as their wild +spirits calculated at all, on the same effects from the same causes. But +the circumstances of the preceding day had made an essential alteration +in the case. The baron knew well, from the intelligence he had received, +that the earl's offence was past remission: which would have been of +less moment but for the awful fact of his castle being in the possession +of the king's forces, and in those days possession was considerably more +than eleven points of the law. The baron was therefore convinced +that the earl's outlawry was infallible, and that Matilda must either +renounce her lover, or become with him an outlaw and a fugitive. In +proportion, therefore, to the baron's knowledge of the strength and +duration of her attachment, was his fear of the difficulty of its ever +being overcome: her love of the forest and the chase, which he had never +before discouraged, now presented itself to him as matter of serious +alarm; and if her cheerfulness gave him hope on the one hand by +indicating a spirit superior to all disappointments, it was suspicious +to him on the other, as arising from some latent certainty of being soon +united to the earl. All these circumstances concurred to render +their songs of the vanished deer and greenwood archery and Yoicks and +Harkaway, extremely mal-a-propos, and to make his anger boil and bubble +in the cauldron of his spirit, till its more than ordinary excitement +burst forth with sudden impulse into active manifestation. + + But as it sometimes happens, from the might + Of rage in minds that can no farther go, + As high as they have mounted in despite + In their remission do they sink as low, + To our bold baron did it happen so. [2] + + +For his discobolic exploit proved the climax of his rage, and was +succeeded by an immediate sense that he had passed the bounds of +legitimate passion; and he sunk immediately from the very pinnacle of +opposition to the level of implicit acquiescence. The friar's spirits +were not to be marred by such a little incident. He was half-inclined, +at first, to return the baron's compliment; but his love of Matilda +checked him; and when the baron held out his hand, the friar seized it +cordially, and they drowned all recollection of the affair by pledging +each other in a cup of canary. + +The friar, having stayed long enough to see every thing replaced on a +friendly footing, rose, and moved to take his leave. Matilda told him +he must come again on the morrow, for she had a very long confession +to make to him. This the friar promised to do, and departed with the +knight. + +Sir Ralph, on reaching the abbey, drew his followers together, and +led them to Locksley Castle, which he found in the possession of his +lieutenant; whom he again left there with a sufficient force to hold it +in safe keeping in the king's name, and proceeded to London to report +the results of his enterprise. + +Now Henry our royal king was very wroth at the earl's evasion, and swore +by Saint Thomas-a-Becket (whom he had himself translated into a saint by +having him knocked on the head), that he would give the castle and lands +of Locksley to the man who should bring in the earl. Hereupon ensued +a process of thought in the mind of the knight. The eyes of the fair +huntress of Arlingford had left a wound in his heart which only she who +gave could heal. He had seen that the baron was no longer very partial +to the outlawed earl, but that he still retained his old affection for +the lands and castle of Locksley. Now the lands and castle were very +fair things in themselves, and would be pretty appurtenances to an +adventurous knight; but they would be doubly valuable as certain +passports to the father's favour, which was one step towards that of the +daughter, or at least towards obtaining possession of her either quietly +or perforce; for the knight was not so nice in his love as to consider +the lady's free grace a sine qua non: and to think of being, by any +means whatever, the lord of Locksley and Arlingford, and the husband +of the bewitching Matilda, was to cut in the shades of futurity a vista +very tempting to a soldier of fortune. He set out in high spirits with +a chosen band of followers, and beat up all the country far and wide +around both the Ouse and the Trent; but fortune did not seem disposed +to second his diligence, for no vestige whatever could he trace of the +earl. His followers, who were only paid with the wages of hope, began to +murmur and fall off; for, as those unenlightened days were ignorant of +the happy invention of paper machinery, by which one promise to pay is +satisfactorily paid with another promise to pay, and that again with +another in infinite series, they would not, as their wiser posterity has +done, take those tenders for true pay which were not sterling; so that, +one fine morning, the knight found himself sitting on a pleasant bank of +the Trent, with only a solitary squire, who still clung to the shadow +of preferment, because he did not see at the moment any better chance of +the substance. + +The knight did not despair because of the desertion of his followers: he +was well aware that he could easily raise recruits if he could once find +trace of his game; he, therefore, rode about indefatigably over hill +and dale, to the great sharpening of his own appetite and that of his +squire, living gallantly from inn to inn when his purse was full, and +quartering himself in the king's name on the nearest ghostly brotherhood +when it happened to be empty. An autumn and a winter had passed away, +when the course of his perlustations brought him one evening into a +beautiful sylvan valley, where he found a number of young women weaving +garlands of flowers, and singing over their pleasant occupation. He +approached them, and courteously inquired the way to the nearest town. + +"There is no town within several miles," was the answer. + +"A village, then, if it be but large enough to furnish an inn?" + +"There is Gamwell just by, but there is no inn nearer than the nearest +town." + +"An abbey, then?" + +"There is no abbey nearer than the nearest inn." + +"A house then, or a cottage, where I may obtain hospitality for the +night?" + +"Hospitality!" said one of the young women; "you have not far to +seek for that. Do you not know that you are in the neighbourhood of +Gamwell-Hall?" + +"So far from it," said the knight, "that I never heard the name of +Gamwell-Hall before." + +"Never heard of Gamwell-Hall?" exclaimed all the young women together, +who could as soon have dreamed of his never having heard of the sky. + +"Indeed, no," said Sir Ralph; "but I shall be very happy to get rid of +my ignorance." + +"And so shall I," said his squire; "for it seems that in this case +knowledge will for once be a cure for hunger, wherewith I am grievously +afflicted." + +"And why are you so busy, my pretty damsels, weaving these garlands?" +said the knight. + +"Why, do you not know, sir," said one of the young women, "that +to-morrow is Gamwell feast?" + +The knight was again obliged, with all humility, to confess his +ignorance. + +"Oh! sir," said his informant, "then you will have something to see, +that I can tell you; for we shall choose a Queen of the May, and we +shall crown her with flowers, and place her in a chariot of flowers, +and draw it with lines of flowers, and we shall hang all the trees with +flowers, and we shall strew all the ground with flowers, and we shall +dance with flowers, and in flowers, and on flowers, and we shall be all +flowers." + +"That you will," said the knight; "and the sweetest and brightest of +all the flowers of the May, my pretty damsels." On which all the pretty +damsels smiled at him and each other. + +"And there will be all sorts of May-games, and there will be prizes for +archery, and there will be the knight's ale, and the foresters' venison, +and there will be Kit Scrapesqueak with his fiddle, and little Tom +Whistlerap with his fife and tabor, and Sam Trumtwang with his harp, +and Peter Muggledrone with his bagpipe, and how I shall dance with +Will Whitethorn!" added the girl, clapping her hands as she spoke, and +bounding from the ground with the pleasure of the anticipation. + +A tall athletic young man approached, to whom the rustic maidens +courtesied with great respect; and one of them informed Sir Ralph that +it was young Master William Gamwell. The young gentleman invited and +conducted the knight to the hall, where he introduced him to the old +knight his father, and to the old lady his mother, and to the young lady +his sister, and to a number of bold yeomen, who were laying siege to +beef, brawn, and plum pie around a ponderous table, and taking copious +draughts of old October. A motto was inscribed over the interior door,-- + +EAT, DRINK, AND BE MERRY: + +an injunction which Sir Ralph and his squire showed remarkable alacrity +in obeying. Old Sir Guy of Gamwell gave Sir Ralph a very cordial +welcome, and entertained him during supper with several of his best +stories, enforced with an occasional slap on the back, and pointed with +a peg in the ribs; a species of vivacious eloquence in which the old +gentleman excelled, and which is supposed by many of that pleasant +variety of the human spectes, known by the name of choice fellows and +comical dogs, to be the genuine tangible shape of the cream of a good +joke. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + What! shall we have incision? shall we embrew? + --Henry IV. + + +Old Sir Guy of Gamwell, and young William Gamwell, and fair Alice +Gamwell, and Sir Ralph Montfaucon and his squire, rode together the +next morning to the scene of the feast. They arrived on a village green, +surrounded with cottages peeping from among the trees by which the +green was completely encircled. The whole circle was hung round with one +continuous garland of flowers, depending in irregular festoons from the +branches. In the centre of the green was a May-pole hidden in boughs +and garlands; and a multitude of round-faced bumpkins and cherry-checked +lasses were dancing around it, to the quadruple melody of Scrapesqueak, +Whistlerap, Trumtwang, and Muggledrone: harmony we must not call it; +for, though they had agreed to a partnership in point of tune, each, +like a true painstaking man, seemed determined to have his time to +himself: Muggledrone played allegretto, Trumtwang allegro, Whistlerap +presto, and Scrapesqueak prestissimo. There was a kind of mathematical +proportion in their discrepancy: while Muggledrone played the tune four +times, Trumtwang played it five, Whistlerap six, and Scrapesqueak eight; +for the latter completely distanced all his competitors, and indeed +worked his elbow so nimbly that its outline was scarcely distinguishable +through the mistiness of its rapid vibration. + +While the knight was delighting his eyes and ears with these pleasant +sights and sounds, all eyes were turned in one direction; and Sir Ralph, +looking round, saw a fair lady in green and gold come riding through the +trees, accompanied by a portly friar in grey, and several fair damsels +and gallant grooms. On their nearer approach, he recognised the lady +Matilda and her ghostly adviser, brother Michael. A party of foresters +arrived from another direction, and then ensued cordial interchanges of +greeting, and collisions of hands and lips, among the Gamwells and the +new-comers,--"How does my fair coz, Mawd?" and "How does my sweet coz, +Mawd?" and "How does my wild coz, Mawd?" And "Eh! jolly friar, your +hand, old boy:" and "Here, honest friar:" and "To me, merry friar:" and +"By your favour, mistress Alice:" and "Hey! cousin Robin:" and "Hey! +cousin Will:" and "Od's life! merry Sir Guy, you grow younger every +year,"--as the old knight shook them all in turn with one hand, and +slapped them on the back with the other, in token of his affection. A +number of young men and women advanced, some drawing, and others dancing +round, a floral car; and having placed a crown of flowers on Matilda's +head, they saluted her Queen of the May, and drew her to the place +appointed for the rural sports. + +A hogshead of ale was abroach under an oak, and a fire was blazing in +an open space before the trees to roast the fat deer which the foresters +brought. The sports commenced; and, after an agreeable series of +bowling, coiling, pitching, hurling, racing, leaping, grinning, +wrestling or friendly dislocation of joints, and cudgel-playing or +amicable cracking of skulls, the trial of archery ensued. The conqueror +was to be rewarded with a golden arrow from the hand of the Queen of the +May, who was to be his partner in the dance till the close of the feast. +This stimulated the knight's emulation: young Gamwell supplied him with +a bow and arrow, and he took his station among the foresters, but had +the mortification to be out-shot by them all, and to see one of them +lodge the point of his arrow in the golden ring of the centre, and +receive the prize from the hand of the beautiful Matilda, who smiled on +him with particular grace. The jealous knight scrutinised the successful +champion with great attention, and surely thought he had seen that face +before. In the mean time the forester led the lady to the station. The +luckless Sir Ralph drank deep draughts of love from the matchless grace +of her attitudes, as, taking the bow in her left hand, and adjusting the +arrow with her right, advancing her left foot, and gently curving her +beautiful figure with a slight motion of her head that waved her black +feathers and her ringleted hair, she drew the arrow to its head, and +loosed it from her open fingers. The arrow struck within the ring of +gold, so close to that of the victorious forester that the points were +in contact, and the feathers were intermingled. Great acclamations +succeeded, and the forester led Matilda to the dance. Sir Ralph gazed +on her fascinating motions till the torments of baffled love and jealous +rage became unendurable; and approaching young Gamwell, he asked him +if he knew the name of that forester who was leading the dance with the +Queen of the May? + +"Robin, I believe," said young Gamwell carelessly; "I think they call +him Robin." + +"Is that all you know of him?" said Sir Ralph. + +"What more should I know of him?" said young Gamwell. + +"Then I can tell you," said Sir Ralph, "he is the outlawed Earl of +Huntingdon, on whose head is set so large a price." + +"Ay, is he?" said young Gamwell, in the same careless manner. + +"He were a prize worth the taking," said Sir Ralph. + +"No doubt," said young Gamwell. + +"How think you?" said Sir Ralph: "are the foresters his adherents?" + +"I cannot say," said young Gamwell. + +"Is your peasantry loyal and well-disposed?" said Sir Ralph. + +"Passing loyal," said young Gamwell. + +"If I should call on them in the king's name," said Sir Ralph, "think +you they would aid and assist?" + +"Most likely they would," said young Gamwell, "one side or the other." + +"Ay, but which side?" said the knight. + +"That remains to be tried," said young Gamwell. + +"I have King Henry's commission," said the knight, "to apprehend this +earl that was. How would you advise me to act, being, as you see, +without attendant force?" + +"I would advise you," said young Gamwell, "to take yourself off without +delay, unless you would relish the taste of a volley of arrows, a shower +of stones, and a hailstorm of cudgel-blows, which would not be turned +aside by a God save King Henry." + +Sir Ralph's squire no sooner heard this, and saw by the looks of the +speaker that he was not likely to prove a false prophet, than he clapped +spurs to his horse and galloped off with might and main. This gave the +knight a good excuse to pursue him, which he did with great celerity, +calling, "Stop, you rascal." When the squire fancied himself safe out +of the reach of pursuit, he checked his speed, and allowed the knight +to come up with him. They rode on several miles in silence, till +they discovered the towers and spires of Nottingham, where the knight +introduced himself to the sheriff, and demanded an armed force to assist +in the apprehension of the outlawed Earl of Huntingdon. The sheriff, who +was willing to have his share of the prize, determined to accompany the +knight in person, and regaled him and his man with good store of the +best; after which, they, with a stout retinue of fifty men, took the way +to Gamwell feast. + +"God's my life," said the sheriff, as they rode along, "I had as lief +you would tell me of a service of plate. I much doubt if this outlawed +earl, this forester Robin, be not the man they call Robin Hood, who +has quartered himself in Sherwood Forest, and whom in endeavouring +to apprehend I have fallen divers times into disasters. He has +gotten together a band of disinherited prodigals, outlawed debtors, +excommunicated heretics, elder sons that have spent all they had, and +younger sons that never had any thing to spend; and with these he kills +the king's deer, and plunders wealthy travellers of five-sixths of their +money; but if they be abbots or bishops, them he despoils utterly." + +The sheriff then proceeded to relate to his companion the adventure of +the abbot of Doubleflask (which some grave historians have related of +the abbot of Saint Mary's, and others of the bishop of Hereford): how +the abbot, returning to his abbey in company with his high selerer, +who carried in his portmanteau the rents of the abbey-lands, and with a +numerous train of attendants, came upon four seeming peasants, who +were roasting the king's venison by the king's highway: how, in just +indignation at this flagrant infringement of the forest laws, he asked +them what they meant, and they answered that they meant to dine: how he +ordered them to be seized and bound, and led captive to Nottingham, +that they might know wild-flesh to have been destined by Providence +for licensed and privileged appetites, and not for the base hunger of +unqualified knaves: how they prayed for mercy, and how the abbot swore +by Saint Charity that he would show them none: how one of them thereupon +drew a bugle horn from under his smock-frock and blew three blasts, on +which the abbot and his train were instantly surrounded by sixty bowmen +in green: how they tied him to a tree, and made him say mass for their +sins: how they unbound him, and sate him down with them to dinner, and +gave him venison and wild-fowl and wine, and made him pay for his fare +all the money in his high selerer's portmanteau, and enforced him to +sleep all night under a tree in his cloak, and to leave the cloak behind +him in the morning: how the abbot, light in pocket and heavy in heart, +raised the country upon Robin Hood, for so he had heard the chief +forester called by his men, and hunted him into an old woman's cottage: +how Robin changed dresses with the old woman, and how the abbot rode in +great triumph to Nottingham, having in custody an old woman in a green +doublet and breeches: how the old woman discovered herself: how the +merrymen of Nottingham laughed at the abbot: how the abbot railed at the +old woman, and how the old woman out-railed the abbot, telling him that +Robin had given her food and fire through the winter, which no abbot +would ever do, but would rather take it from her for what he called the +good of the church, by which he meant his own laziness and gluttony; and +that she knew a true man from a false thief, and a free forester from a +greedy abbot. + +"Thus you see," added the sheriff, "how this villain perverts the +deluded people by making them believe that those who tithe and toll upon +them for their spiritual and temporal benefit are not their best friends +and fatherly guardians; for he holds that in giving to boors and old +women what he takes from priests and peers, he does but restore to the +former what the latter had taken from them; and this the impudent varlet +calls distributive justice. Judge now if any loyal subject can be safe +in such neighbourhood." + +While the sheriff was thus enlightening his companion concerning the +offenders, and whetting his own indignation against them, the sun was +fast sinking to the west. They rode on till they came in view of a +bridge, which they saw a party approaching from the opposite side, and +the knight presently discovered that the party consisted of the lady +Matilda and friar Michael, young Gamwell, cousin Robin, and about +half-a-dozen foresters. The knight pointed out the earl to the sheriff, +who exclaimed, "Here, then, we have him an easy prey;" and they rode on +manfully towards the bridge, on which the other party made halt. + +"Who be these," said the friar, "that come riding so fast this way? Now, +as God shall judge me, it is that false knight Sir Ralph Montfaucon, and +the sheriff of Nottingham, with a posse of men. We must make good our +post, and let them dislodge us if they may." + +The two parties were now near enough to parley; and the sheriff and the +knight, advancing in the front of the cavalcade, called on the lady, +the friar, young Gamwell, and the foresters, to deliver up that +false-traitor, Robert, formerly Earl of Huntingdon. Robert himself made +answer by letting fly an arrow that struck the ground between the fore +feet of the sheriff's horse. The horse reared up from the whizzing, and +lodged the sheriff in the dust; and, at the same time, the fair Matilda +favoured the knight with an arrow in his right arm, that compelled him +to withdraw from the affray. His men lifted the sheriff carefully up, +and replaced him on his horse, whom he immediately with great rage and +zeal urged on to the assault with his fifty men at his heels, some of +whom were intercepted in their advance by the arrows of the foresters +and Matilda; while the friar, with an eight-foot staff, dislodged the +sheriff a second time, and laid on him with all the vigour of the church +militant on earth, in spite of his ejaculations of "Hey, friar +Michael! What means this, honest friar? Hold, ghostly friar! Hold, holy +friar!"--till Matilda interposed, and delivered the battered sheriff +to the care of the foresters. The friar continued flourishing his +staff among the sheriff's men, knocking down one, breaking the ribs of +another, dislocating the shoulder of a third, flattening the nose of +a fourth, cracking the skull of a fifth, and pitching a sixth into the +river, till the few, who were lucky enough to escape with whole bones, +clapped spurs to their horses and fled for their lives, under a farewell +volley of arrows. + +Sir Ralph's squire, meanwhile, was glad of the excuse of attending +his master's wound to absent himself from the battle; and put the poor +knight to a great deal of unnecessary pain by making as long a business +as possible of extracting the arrow, which he had not accomplished when +Matilda, approaching, extracted it with great facility, and bound up +the wound with her scarf, saying, "I reclaim my arrow, sir knight, which +struck where I aimed it, to admonish you to desist from your enterprise. +I could as easily have lodged it in your heart." + +"It did not need," said the knight, with rueful gallantry; "you have +lodged one there already." + +"If you mean to say that you love me," said Matilda, "it is more than I +ever shall you: but if you will show your love by no further interfering +with mine, you will at least merit my gratitude." + +The knight made a wry face under the double pain of heart and +body caused at the same moment by the material or martial, and the +metaphorical or erotic arrow, of which the latter was thus barbed by a +declaration more candid than flattering; but he did not choose to put +in any such claim to the lady's gratitude as would bar all hopes of her +love: he therefore remained silent; and the lady and her escort, leaving +him and the sheriff to the care of the squire, rode on till they came in +sight of Arlingford Castle, when they parted in several directions. The +friar rode off alone; and after the foresters had lost sight of him they +heard his voice through the twilight, singing,-- + + A staff, a staff, of a young oak graff, + That is both stoure and stiff, + Is all a good friar can needs desire + To shrive a proud sheriffe. + And thou, fine fellowe, who hast tasted so + Of the forester's greenwood game, + Wilt be in no haste thy time to waste + In seeking more taste of the same: + Or this can I read thee, and riddle thee well, + Thou hadst better by far be the devil in hell, + Than the sheriff of Nottinghame. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + Now, master sheriff, what's your will with me? + --Henry IV. + + +Matilda had carried her point with the baron of ranging at liberty +whithersoever she would, under her positive promise to return home; she +was a sort of prisoner on parole: she had obtained this indulgence by +means of an obsolete habit of always telling the truth and keeping her +word, which our enlightened age has discarded with other barbarisms, +but which had the effect of giving her father so much confidence in her, +that he could not help considering her word a better security than locks +and bars. + +The baron had been one of the last to hear of the rumours of the new +outlaws of Sherwood, as Matilda had taken all possible precautions to +keep those rumours from his knowledge, fearing that they might cause +the interruption of her greenwood liberty; and it was only during her +absence at Gamwell feast, that the butler, being thrown off his guard by +liquor, forgot her injunctions, and regaled the baron with a long story +of the right merry adventure of Robin Hood and the abbot of Doubleflask. + +The baron was one morning, as usual, cutting his way valorously through +a rampart of cold provision, when his ears were suddenly assailed by a +tremendous alarum, and sallying forth, and looking from his castle wall, +he perceived a large party of armed men on the other side of the +moat, who were calling on the warder in the king's name to lower the +drawbridge and raise the portcullis, which had both been secured by +Matilda's order. The baron walked along the battlement till he came +opposite to these unexpected visitors, who, as soon as they saw him, +called out, "Lower the drawbridge, in the king's name." + +"For what, in the devil's name?" said the baron. + +"The sheriff of Nottingham," said one, "lies in bed grievously bruised, +and many of his men are wounded, and several of them slain; and Sir +Ralph Montfaucon, knight, is sore wounded in the arm; and we are charged +to apprehend William Gamwell the younger, of Gamwell Hall, and father +Michael of Rubygill Abbey, and Matilda Fitzwater of Arlingford Castle, +as agents and accomplices in the said breach of the king's peace." + +"Breach of the king's fiddlestick!" answered the baron. "What do you +mean by coming here with your cock and bull, stories of my daughter +grievously bruising the sheriff of Nottingham? You are a set of vagabond +rascals in disguise; and I hear, by the bye, there is a gang of thieves +that has just set up business in Sherwood Forest: a pretty presence, +indeed, to get into my castle with force and arms, and make a famine in +my buttery, and a drought in my cellar, and a void in my strong box, and +a vacuum in my silver scullery." + +"Lord Fitzwater," cried one, "take heed how you resist lawful authority: +we will prove ourselves----" + +"You will prove yourselves arrant knaves, I doubt not," answered the +baron; "but, villains, you shall be more grievously bruised by me than +ever was the sheriff by my daughter (a pretty tale truly!), if you do +not forthwith avoid my territory." + +By this time the baron's men had flocked to the battlements, with +long-bows and cross-bows, slings and stones, and Matilda with her bow +and quiver at their head. The assailants, finding the castle so well +defended, deemed it expedient to withdraw till they could return in +greater force, and rode off to Rubygill Abbey, where they made known +their errand to the father abbot, who, having satisfied himself of their +legitimacy, and conned over the allegations, said that doubtless brother +Michael had heinously offended; but it was not for the civil law to +take cognizance of the misdoings of a holy friar; that he would summon +a chapter of monks, and pass on the offender a sentence proportionate to +his offence. The ministers of civil justice said that would not do. +The abbot said it would do and should; and bade them not provoke the +meekness of his catholic charity to lay them under the curse of Rome. +This threat had its effect, and the party rode off to Gamwell-Hall, +where they found the Gamwells and their men just sitting down to dinner, +which they saved them the trouble of eating by consuming it in the +king's name themselves, having first seized and bound young Gamwell; +all which they accomplished by dint of superior numbers, in despite of +a most vigorous stand made by the Gamwellites in defence of their young +master and their provisions. + +The baron, meanwhile, after the ministers of justice had departed, +interrogated Matilda concerning the alleged fact of the grievous +bruising of the sheriff of Nottingham. Matilda told him the whole +history of Gamwell feast, and of their battle on the bridge, which had +its origin in a design of the sheriff of Nottingham to take one of the +foresters into custody. + +"Ay! ay!" said the baron, "and I guess who that forester was; but truly +this friar is a desperate fellow. I did not think there could have been +so much valour under a grey frock. And so you wounded the knight in the +arm. You are a wild girl, Mawd,--a chip of the old block, Mawd. A wild +girl, and a wild friar, and three or four foresters, wild lads all, to +keep a bridge against a tame knight, and a tame sheriff, and fifty tame +varlets; by this light, the like was never heard! But do you know, Mawd, +you must not go about so any more, sweet Mawd: you must stay at home, +you must ensconce; for there is your tame sheriff on the one hand, that +will take you perforce; and there is your wild forester on the other +hand, that will take you without any force at all, Mawd: your wild +forester, Robin, cousin Robin, Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest, that beats +and binds bishops, spreads nets for archbishops, and hunts a fat abbot +as if he were a buck: excellent game, no doubt, but you must hunt no +more in such company. I see it now: truly I might have guessed before +that the bold outlaw Robin, the most courteous Robin, the new thief of +Sherwood Forest, was your lover, the earl that has been: I might have +guessed it before, and what led you so much to the woods; but you hunt +no more in such company. No more May games and Gamwell feasts. My lands +and castle would be the forfeit of a few more such pranks; and I think +they are as well in my hands as the king's, quite as well." + +"You know, father," said Matilda, "the condition of keeping me at home: +I get out if I can, and not on parole." + +"Ay! ay!" said the baron, "if you can; very true: watch and ward, Mawd, +watch and ward is my word: if you can, is yours. The mark is set, and so +start fair." + +The baron would have gone on in this way for an hour; but the friar made +his appearance with a long oak staff in his hand, singing,-- + + Drink and sing, and eat and laugh, + And so go forth to battle: + For the top of a skull and the end of a staff + Do make a ghostly rattle. + + +"Ho! ho! friar!" said the baron--"singing friar, laughing friar, +roaring friar, fighting friar, hacking friar, thwacking friar; cracking, +cracking, cracking friar; joke-cracking, bottle-cracking, skull-cracking +friar!" + +"And ho! ho!" said the friar,--"bold baron, old baron, sturdy baron, +wordy baron, long baron, strong baron, mighty baron, flighty baron, +mazed baron, crazed baron, hacked baron, thwacked baron; cracked, +cracked, cracked baron; bone-cracked, sconce-cracked, brain-cracked +baron!" + +"What do you mean," said the baron, "bully friar, by calling me hacked +and thwacked?" + +"Were you not in the wars?" said the friar, "where he who escapes +untracked does more credit to his heels than his arms. I pay tribute to +your valour in calling you hacked and thwacked." + +"I never was thwacked in my life," said the baron; "I stood my ground +manfully, and covered my body with my sword. If I had had the luck +to meet with a fighting friar indeed, I might have been thwacked, and +soundly too; but I hold myself a match for any two laymen; it takes nine +fighting laymen to make a fighting friar." + +"Whence come you now, holy father?" asked Matilda. + +"From Rubygill Abbey," said the friar, "whither I never return: + + For I must seek some hermit cell, + Where I alone my beads may tell, + And on the wight who that way fares + Levy a toll for my ghostly pray'rs, + Levy a toll, levy a toll, + Levy a toll for my ghostly pray'rs." + + +"What is the matter then, father?" said Matilda. + +"This is the matter," said the friar: "my holy brethren have held a +chapter on me, and sentenced me to seven years' privation of wine. I +therefore deemed it fitting to take my departure, which they would fain +have prohibited. I was enforced to clear the way with my staff. I have +grievously beaten my dearly beloved brethren: I grieve thereat; but they +enforced me thereto. I have beaten them much; I mowed them down to the +right and to the left, and left them like an ill-reaped field of wheat, +ear and straw pointing all ways, scattered in singleness and jumbled in +masses; and so bade them farewell, saying, Peace be with you. But I +must not tarry, lest danger be in my rear: therefore, farewell, sweet +Matilda; and farewell, noble baron; and farewell, sweet Matilda again, +the alpha and omega of father Michael, the first and the last." + +"Farewell, father," said the baron, a little softened; "and God send you +be never assailed by more than fifty men at a time." + +"Amen," said the friar, "to that good wish." + +"And we shall meet again, father, I trust," said Matilda. + +"When the storm is blown over," said the baron. + +"Doubt it not," said the friar, "though flooded Trent were between us, +and fifty devils guarded the bridge." + +He kissed Matilda's forehead, and walked away without a song. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + Let gallows gape for dog: let man go free. + --Henry V. + + +A page had been brought up in Gamwell-Hall, who, while he was little, +had been called Little John, and continued to be so called after he had +grown to be a foot taller than any other man in the house. He was full +seven feet high. His latitude was worthy of his longitude, and his +strength was worthy of both; and though an honest man by profession, he +had practiced archery on the king's deer for the benefit of his master's +household, and for the improvement of his own eye and hand, till his +aim had become infallible within the range of two miles. He had fought +manfully in defence of his young master, took his captivity exceedingly +to heart, and fell into bitter grief and boundless rage when he heard +that he had been tried in Nottingham and sentenced to die. Alice +Gamwell, at Little John's request, wrote three letters of one tenour; +and Little John, having attached them to three blunt arrows, saddled the +fleetest steed in old Sir Guy of Gamwell's stables, mounted, and rode +first to Arlingford Castle, where he shot one of the three arrows over +the battlements; then to Rubygill Abbey, where he shot the second into +the abbey-garden; then back past Gamwell-Hall to the borders of Sherwood +Forest, where he shot the third into the wood. Now the first of these +arrows lighted in the nape of the neck of Lord Fitzwater, and lodged +itself firmly between his skin and his collar; the second rebounded with +the hollow vibration of a drumstick from the shaven sconce of the abbot +of Rubygill; and the third pitched perpendicularly into the centre of a +venison pasty in which Robin Hood was making incision. + +Matilda ran up to her father in the court of Arlingford Castle, seized +the arrow, drew off the letter, and concealed it in her bosom before the +baron had time to look round, which he did with many expressions of rage +against the impudent villain who had shot a blunt arrow into the nape of +his neck. + +"But you know, father," said Matilda, "a sharp arrow in the same place +would have killed you; therefore the sending a blunt one was very +considerate." + +"Considerate, with a vengeance!" said the baron. "Where was the +consideration of sending it at all? This is some of your forester's +pranks. He has missed you in the forest, since I have kept watch and +ward over you, and by way of a love-token and a remembrance to you takes +a random shot at me." + +The abbot of Rubygill picked up the missile-missive or messenger +arrow, which had rebounded from his shaven crown, with a very unghostly +malediction on the sender, which he suddenly checked with a pious and +consolatory reflection on the goodness of Providence in having blessed +him with such a thickness of skull, to which he was now indebted for +temporal preservation, as he had before been for spiritual promotion. He +opened the letter, which was addressed to father Michael; and found it +to contain an intimation that William Gamwell was to be hanged on Monday +at Nottingham. + +"And I wish," said the abbot, "father Michael were to be hanged with +him: an ungrateful monster, after I had rescued him from the fangs of +civil justice, to reward my lenity by not leaving a bone unbruised among +the holy brotherhood of Rubygill." + +Robin Hood extracted from his venison pasty a similar intimation of the +evil destiny of his cousin, whom he determined, if possible, to rescue +from the jaws of Cerberus. + +The sheriff of Nottingham, though still sore with his bruises, was so +intent on revenge, that he raised himself from his bed to attend +the execution of William Gamwell. He rode to the august structure of +retributive Themis, as the French call a gallows, in all the pride and +pomp of shrievalty, and with a splendid retinue of well-equipped knaves +and varlets, as our ancestors called honest serving-men. + +Young Gamwell was brought forth with his arms pinioned behind him; his +sister Alice and his father, Sir Guy, attending him in disconsolate +mood. He had rejected the confessor provided by the sheriff, and had +insisted on the privilege of choosing his own, whom Little John had +promised to bring. Little John, however, had not made his appearance +when the fatal procession began its march; but when they reached the +place of execution, Little John appeared, accompanied by a ghostly +friar. + +"Sheriff," said young Gamwell, "let me not die with my hands pinioned: +give me a sword, and set any odds of your men against me, and let me +die the death of a man, like the descendant of a noble house, which has +never yet been stained with ignominy." + +"No, no," said the sheriff; "I have had enough of setting odds against +you. I have sworn you shall be hanged, and hanged you shall be." + +"Then God have mercy on me," said young Gamwell; "and now, holy friar, +shrive my sinful soul." + +The friar approached. + +"Let me see this friar," said the sheriff: "if he be the friar of the +bridge, I had as lief have the devil in Nottingham; but he shall find me +too much for him here." + +"The friar of the bridge," said Little John, "as you very well know, +sheriff, was father Michael of Rubygill Abbey, and you may easily see +that this is not the man." + +"I see it," said the sheriff; "and God be thanked for his absence." + +Young Gamwell stood at the foot of the ladder. The friar approached him, +opened his book, groaned, turned up the whites of his eyes, tossed up +his arms in the air, and said "Dominus vobiscum." He then crossed both +his hands on his breast under the folds of his holy robes, and stood a +few moments as if in inward prayer. A deep silence among the attendant +crowd accompanied this action of the friar; interrupted only by the +hollow tone of the death-bell, at long and dreary intervals. Suddenly +the friar threw off his holy robes, and appeared a forester clothed in +green, with a sword in his right hand and a horn in his left. With the +sword he cut the bonds of William Gamwell, who instantly snatched a +sword from one of the sheriff's men; and with the horn he blew a loud +blast, which was answered at once by four bugles from the quarters +of the four winds, and from each quarter came five-and-twenty bowmen +running all on a row. + +"Treason! treason!" cried the sheriff. Old Sir Guy sprang to his son's +side, and so did Little John; and the four setting back to back, kept +the sheriff and his men at bay till the bowmen came within shot and let +fly their arrows among the sheriff's men, who, after a brief resistance, +fled in all directions. The forester, who had personated the friar, sent +an arrow after the flying sheriff, calling with a strong voice, "To the +sheriff's left arm, as a keepsake from Robin Hood." The arrow reached +its destiny; the sheriff redoubled his speed, and, with the one arrow in +his arm, did not stop to breathe till he was out of reach of another. + +The foresters did not waste time in Nottingham, but were soon at a +distance from its walls. Sir Guy returned with Alice to Gamwell-Hall; +but thinking he should not be safe there, from the share he had had in +his son's rescue, they only remained long enough to supply themselves +with clothes and money, and departed, under the escort of Little John, +to another seat of the Gamwells in Yorkshire. Young Gamwell, taking it +for granted that his offence was past remission, determined on joining +Robin Hood, and accompanied him to the forest, where it was deemed +expedient that he should change his name; and he was rechristened +without a priest, and with wine instead of water, by the immortal name +of Scarlet. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + Who set my man i' the stocks?---- + I set him there, Sir but his own disorders + Deserved much less advancement.--Lear. + + +The baron was inflexible in his resolution not to let Matilda leave the +castle. The letter, which announced to her the approaching fate of +young Gamwell, filled her with grief, and increased the irksomeness of a +privation which already preyed sufficiently on her spirits, and began to +undermine her health. She had no longer the consolation of the society +of her old friend father Michael: the little fat friar of Rubygill was +substituted as the castle confessor, not without some misgivings in his +ghostly bosom; but he was more allured by the sweet savour of the good +things of this world at Arlingford Castle, than deterred by his awe +of the lady Matilda, which nevertheless was so excessive, from his +recollection of the twang of the bow-string, that he never ventured to +find her in the wrong, much less to enjoin any thing in the shape of +penance, as was the occasional practice of holy confessors, with or +without cause, for the sake of pious discipline, and what was in those +days called social order, namely, the preservation of the privileges +of the few who happened to have any, at the expense of the swinish +multitude who happened to have none, except that of working and being +shot at for the benefit of their betters, which is obviously not the +meaning of social order in our more enlightened times: let us therefore +be grateful to Providence, and sing Te Deum laudamus in chorus with the +Holy Alliance. + +The little friar, however, though he found the lady spotless, found the +butler a great sinner: at least so it was conjectured, from the length +of time he always took to confess him in the buttery. + +Matilda became every day more pale and dejected: her spirit, which could +have contended against any strenuous affliction, pined in the monotonous +inaction to which she was condemned. While she could freely range the +forest with her lover in the morning, she had been content to return +to her father's castle in the evening, thus preserving underanged the +balance of her duties, habits, and affections; not without a hope that +the repeal of her lover's outlawry might be eventually obtained, by +a judicious distribution of some of his forest spoils among the +holy fathers and saints that-were-to-be,--pious proficients in the +ecclesiastic art equestrian, who rode the conscience of King Henry with +double-curb bridles, and kept it well in hand when it showed mettle +and seemed inclined to rear and plunge. But the affair at Gamwell feast +threw many additional difficulties in the way of the accomplishment of +this hope; and very shortly afterwards King Henry the Second went to +make up in the next world his quarrel with Thomas-a-Becket; and Richard +Coeur de Lion made all England resound with preparations for the +crusade, to the great delight of many zealous adventurers, who eagerly +flocked under his banner in the hope of enriching themselves with +Saracen spoil, which they called fighting the battles of God. Richard, +who was not remarkably scrupulous in his financial operations, was +not likely to overlook the lands and castle of Locksley, which he +appropriated immediately to his own purposes, and sold to the highest +bidder. Now, as the repeal of the outlawry would involve the restitution +of the estates to the rightful owner, it was obvious that it could never +be expected from that most legitimate and most Christian king, +Richard the First of England, the arch-crusader and anti-jacobin by +excellence,--the very type, flower, cream, pink, symbol, and mirror of +all the Holy Alliances that have ever existed on earth, excepting +that he seasoned his superstition and love of conquest with a certain +condiment of romantic generosity and chivalrous self-devotion, with +which his imitators in all other points have found it convenient to +dispense. To give freely to one man what he had taken forcibly from +another, was generosity of which he was very capable; but to restore +what he had taken to the man from whom he had taken it, was something +that wore too much of the cool physiognomy of justice to be easily +reconcileable to his kingly feelings. He had, besides, not only sent +all King Henry's saints about their business, or rather about their +no-business--their faineantise--but he had laid them under rigorous +contribution for the purposes of his holy war; and having made them +refund to the piety of the successor what they had extracted from the +piety of the precursor, he compelled them, in addition, to give +him their blessing for nothing. Matilda, therefore, from all these +circumstances, felt little hope that her lover would be any thing but an +outlaw for life. + +The departure of King Richard from England was succeeded by the +episcopal regency of the bishops of Ely and Durham. Longchamp, bishop +of Ely, proceeded to show his sense of Christian fellowship by arresting +his brother bishop, and despoiling him of his share in the government; +and to set forth his humility and loving-kindness in a retinue of nobles +and knights who consumed in one night's entertainment some five years' +revenue of their entertainer, and in a guard of fifteen hundred foreign +soldiers, whom he considered indispensable to the exercise of a vigour +beyond the law in maintaining wholesome discipline over the refractory +English. The ignorant impatience of the swinish multitude with these +fruits of good living, brought forth by one of the meek who had +inherited the earth, displayed itself in a general ferment, of which +Prince John took advantage to make the experiment of getting possession +of his brother's crown in his absence. He began by calling at Reading +a council of barons, whose aspect induced the holy bishop to disguise +himself (some say as an old woman, which, in the twelfth century, +perhaps might have been a disguise for a bishop), and make his +escape beyond sea. Prince John followed up his advantage by obtaining +possession of several strong posts, and among others of the castle of +Nottingham. + +While John was conducting his operations at Nottingham, he rode at times +past the castle of Arlingford. He stopped on one occasion to claim Lord +Fitzwater's hospitality, and made most princely havoc among his venison +and brawn. Now it is a matter of record among divers great historians +and learned clerks, that he was then and there grievously smitten by the +charms of the lovely Matilda, and that a few days after he despatched +his travelling minstrel, or laureate, Harpiton, [3] (whom he retained at +moderate wages, to keep a journal of his proceedings, and prove them all +just and legitimate), to the castle of Arlingford, to make proposals to +the lady. This Harpiton was a very useful person. He was always ready, +not only to maintain the cause of his master with his pen, and to sing +his eulogies to his harp, but to undertake at a moment's notice any +kind of courtly employment, called dirty work by the profane, which the +blessings of civil government, namely, his master's pleasure, and the +interests of social order, namely, his own emolument, might require. In +short, + + Il eut l'emploi qui certes n'est pas mince, + Et qu'a la cour, ou tout se peint en beau, + On appelloit etre l'ami du prince; + Mais qu'a la ville, et surtout en province, + Les gens grossiers ont nomme maquereau. + + +Prince John was of opinion that the love of a prince actual and king +expectant, was in itself a sufficient honour to the daughter of a simple +baron, and that the right divine or royalty would make it sufficiently +holy without the rite divine of the church. He was, therefore, +graciously pleased to fall into an exceeding passion, when his +confidential messenger returned from his embassy in piteous plight, +having been, by the baron's order, first tossed in a blanket and set in +the stocks to cool, and afterwards ducked in the moat and set again in +the stocks to dry. John swore to revenge horribly this flagrant outrage +on royal prerogative, and to obtain possession of the lady by force +of arms; and accordingly collected a body of troops, and marched upon +Arlingford castle. A letter, conveyed as before on the point of a blunt +arrow, announced his approach to Matilda: and lord Fitzwater had just +time to assemble his retainers, collect a hasty supply of provision, +raise the draw-bridge, and drop the portcullis, when the castle was +surrounded by the enemy. The little fat friar, who during the confusion +was asleep in the buttery, found himself, on awaking, inclosed in the +besieged castle, and dolefully bewailed his evil chance. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + + A noble girl, i' faith. Heart! I think I fight with a + familiar, or the ghost of a fencer. Call you this an + amorous visage? Here's blood that would have served me these + seven years, in broken heads and cut fingers, and now it + runs out all together.--MIDDLETON. Roaring Girl. + + +Prince John sat down impatiently before Arlingford castle in the hope +of starving out the besieged; but finding the duration of their supplies +extend itself in an equal ratio with the prolongation of his hope, +he made vigorous preparations for carrying the place by storm. He +constructed an immense machine on wheels, which, being advanced to the +edge of the moat, would lower a temporary bridge, of which one end would +rest on the bank, and the other on the battlements, and which, being +well furnished with stepping boards, would enable his men to ascend the +inclined plane with speed and facility. Matilda received intimation of +this design by the usual friendly channel of a blunt arrow, which must +either have been sent from some secret friend in the prince's camp, +or from some vigorous archer beyond it: the latter will not appear +improbable, when we consider that Robin Hood and Little John could shoot +two English miles and an inch point-blank, + +Come scrive Turpino, che non erra. + + +The machine was completed, and the ensuing morning fixed for the +assault. Six men, relieved at intervals, kept watch over it during +the night. Prince John retired to sleep, congratulating himself in +the expectation that another day would place the fair culprit at his +princely mercy. His anticipations mingled with the visions of his +slumber, and he dreamed of wounds and drums, and sacking and firing +the castle, and bearing off in his arms the beautiful prize through the +midst of fire and smoke. In the height of this imaginary turmoil, he +awoke, and conceived for a few moments that certain sounds which rang in +his ears, were the continuation of those of his dream, in that sort +of half-consciousness between sleeping and waking, when reality and +phantasy meet and mingle in dim and confused resemblance. He was, +however, very soon fully awake to the fact of his guards calling on him +to arm, which he did in haste, and beheld the machine in flames, and +a furious conflict raging around it. He hurried to the spot, and found +that his camp had been suddenly assailed from one side by a party of +foresters, and that the baron's people had made a sortie on the other, +and that they had killed the guards, and set fire to the machine, before +the rest of the camp could come to the assistance of their fellows. + +The night was in itself intensely dark, and the fire-light shed around +it a vivid and unnatural radiance. On one side, the crimson light +quivered by its own agitation on the waveless moat, and on the bastions +and buttresses of the castle, and their shadows lay in massy blackness +on the illuminated walls: on the other, it shone upon the woods, +streaming far within among the open trunks, or resting on the closer +foliage. The circumference of darkness bounded the scene on all sides: +and in the centre raged the war; shields, helmets, and bucklers gleaming +and glittering as they rang and clashed against each other; plumes +confusedly tossing in the crimson light, and the messy light and shade +that fell on the faces of the combatants, giving additional energy to +their ferocious expression. + +John, drawing nearer to the scene of action, observed two young warriors +fighting side by side, one of whom wore the habit of a forester, the +other that of a retainer of Arlingford. He looked intently on them both: +their position towards the fire favoured the scrutiny; and the hawk's +eye of love very speedily discovered that the latter was the fair +Matilda. The forester he did not know: but he had sufficient tact to +discern that his success would be very much facilitated by separating +her from this companion, above all others. He therefore formed a party +of men into a wedge, only taking especial care not to be the point of +it himself, and drove it between them with so much precision, that they +were in a moment far asunder. + +"Lady Matilda," said John, "yield yourself my prisoner." + +"If you would wear me, prince," said Matilda, "you must win me:" and +without giving him time to deliberate on the courtesy of fighting with +the lady of his love, she raised her sword in the air, and lowered it on +his head with an impetus that would have gone nigh to fathom even that +extraordinary depth of brain which always by divine grace furnishes the +interior of a head-royal, if he had not very dexterously parried the +blow. Prince John wished to disarm and take captive, not in any way to +wound or injure, least of all to kill, his fair opponent. Matilda was +only intent to get rid of her antagonist at any rate: the edge of her +weapon painted his complexion with streaks of very unloverlike crimson, +and she would probably have marred John's hand for ever signing Magna +Charta, but that he was backed by the advantage of numbers, and that her +sword broke short on the boss of his buckler. John was following up his +advantage to make a captive of the lady, when he was suddenly felled to +the earth by an unseen antagonist. Some of his men picked him carefully +up, and conveyed him to his tent, stunned and stupified. + +When he recovered, he found Harpiton diligently assisting in his +recovery, more in the fear of losing his place than in that of losing +his master: the prince's first inquiry was for the prisoner he had +been on the point of taking at the moment when his habeas corpus was +so unseasonably suspended. He was told that his people had been on the +point of securing the said prisoner, when the devil suddenly appeared +among them in the likeness of a tall friar, having his grey frock +cinctured with a sword-belt, and his crown, which whether it were shaven +or no they could not see, surmounted with a helmet, and flourishing an +eight-foot staff, with which he laid about him to the right and to the +left, knocking down the prince and his men as if they had been so +many nine-pins: in fine, he had rescued the prisoner, and made a clear +passage through friend and foe, and in conjunction with a chosen +party of archers, had covered the retreat of the baron's men and the +foresters, who had all gone off in a body towards Sherwood forest. + +Harpiton suggested that it would be desirable to sack the castle, and +volunteered to lead the van on the occasion, as the defenders were +withdrawn, and the exploit seemed to promise much profit and little +danger: John considered that the castle would in itself be a great +acquisition to him, as a stronghold in furtherance of his design on his +brother's throne; and was determining to take possession with the first +light of morning, when he had the mortification to see the castle burst +into flames in several places at once. A piteous cry was heard from +within, and while the prince was proclaiming a reward to any one who +would enter into the burning pile, and elucidate the mystery of the +doleful voice, forth waddled the little fat friar in an agony of fear, +out of the fire into the frying-pan; for he was instantly taken into +custody and carried before Prince John, wringing his hands and tearing +his hair. + +"Are you the friar," said Prince John, in a terrible voice, "that +laid me prostrate in battle, mowed down my men like grass, rescued my +captive, and covered the retreat of my enemies? And, not content with +this, have you now set fire to the castle in which I intended to take up +my royal quarters?" + +The little friar quaked like a jelly: he fell on his knees, and +attempted to speak; but in his eagerness to vindicate himself from this +accumulation of alarming charges, he knew not where to begin; his ideas +rolled round upon each other like the radii of a wheel; the words he +desired to utter, instead of issuing, as it were, in a right line from +his lips, seemed to conglobate themselves into a sphere turning on its +own axis in his throat: after several ineffectual efforts, his utterance +totally failed him, and he remained gasping, with his mouth open, his +lips quivering, his hands clasped together, and the whites of his eyes +turned up towards the prince with an expression most ruefully imploring. + +"Are you that friar?" repeated the prince. + +Several of the by-standers declared that he was not that friar. The +little friar, encouraged by this patronage, found his voice, and pleaded +for mercy. The prince questioned him closely concerning the burning of +the castle. The little friar declared, that he had been in too great +fear during the siege to know much of what was going forward, except +that he had been conscious during the last few days of a lamentable +deficiency of provisions, and had been present that very morning at the +broaching of the last butt of sack. Harpiton groaned in sympathy. The +little friar added, that he knew nothing of what had passed since till +he heard the flames roaring at his elbow. + +"Take him away, Harpiton," said the prince, "fill him with sack, and +turn him out." + +"Never mind the sack," said the little friar, "turn me out at once." + +"A sad chance," said Harpiton, "to be turned out without sack." + +But what Harpiton thought a sad chance the little friar thought a merry +one, and went bounding like a fat buck towards the abbey of Rubygill. + +An arrow, with a letter attached to it, was shot into the camp, and +carried to the prince. The contents were these:-- + +"Prince John,--I do not consider myself to have resisted lawful +authority in defending my castle against you, seeing that you are at +present in a state of active rebellion against your liege sovereign +Richard: and if my provisions had not failed me, I would have maintained +it till doomsday. As it is, I have so well disposed my combustibles that +it shall not serve you as a strong hold in your rebellion. If you hunt +in the chases of Nottinghamshire, you may catch other game than my +daughter. Both she and I are content to be houseless for a time, in +the reflection that we have deserved your enmity, and the friendship of +Coeur-de-Lion. + +"FITZWATER." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + --Tuck, the merry friar, who many a sermon made In praise of + Robin Hood, his outlaws, and their trade.--DRAYTON. + + +The baron, with some of his retainers and all the foresters, halted at +daybreak in Sherwood forest. The foresters quickly erected tents, and +prepared an abundant breakfast of venison and ale. + +"Now, Lord Fitzwater," said the chief forester, "recognise your +son-in-law that was to have been, in the outlaw Robin Hood." + +"Ay, ay," said the baron, "I have recognised you long ago." + +"And recognise your young friend Gamwell," said the second, "in the +outlaw Scarlet." + +"And Little John, the page," said the third, "in Little John the +outlaw." + +"And Father Michael, of Rubygill Abbey," said the friar, "in Friar Tuck, +of Sherwood forest. Truly, I have a chapel here hard by, in the shape of +a hollow tree, where I put up my prayers for travellers, and Little John +holds the plate at the door, for good praying deserves good paying." + +"I am in fine company," said the baron. + +"In the very best of company," said the friar, "in the high court of +Nature, and in the midst of her own nobility. Is it not so? This goodly +grove is our palace: the oak and the beech are its colonnade and its +canopy: the sun and the moon and the stars are its everlasting lamps: +the grass, and the daisy, and the primrose, and the violet, are its +many-coloured floor of green, white, yellow, and blue; the may-flower, +and the woodbine, and the eglantine, and the ivy, are its decorations, +its curtains, and its tapestry: the lark, and the thrush, and the +linnet, and the nightingale, are its unhired minstrels and musicians. +Robin Hood is king of the forest both by dignity of birth and by virtue +of his standing army: to say nothing of the free choice of his people, +which he has indeed, but I pass it by as an illegitimate basis of power. +He holds his dominion over the forest, and its horned multitude of +citizen-deer, and its swinish multitude or peasantry of wild boars, by +right of conquest and force of arms. He levies contributions among them +by the free consent of his archers, their virtual representatives. If +they should find a voice to complain that we are 'tyrants and usurpers +to kill and cook them up in their assigned and native dwelling-place,' +we should most convincingly admonish them, with point of arrow, that +they have nothing to do with our laws but to obey them. Is it not +written that the fat ribs of the herd shall be fed upon by the mighty in +the land? And have not they withal my blessing? my orthodox, canonical, +and archiepiscopal blessing? Do I not give thanks for them when they +are well roasted and smoking under my nose? What title had William of +Normandy to England, that Robin of Locksley has not to merry Sherwood? +William fought for his claim. So does Robin. With whom, both? With any +that would or will dispute it. William raised contributions. So does +Robin. From whom, both? From all that they could or can make pay them. +Why did any pay them to William? Why do any pay them to Robin? For the +same reason to both: because they could not or cannot help it. They +differ indeed, in this, that William took from the poor and gave to the +rich, and Robin takes from the rich and gives to the poor: and therein +is Robin illegitimate; though in all else he is true prince. Scarlet and +John, are they not peers of the forest? lords temporal of Sherwood? And +am not I lord spiritual? Am I not archbishop? Am I not pope? Do I not +consecrate their banner and absolve their sins? Are not they state, and +am not I church? Are not they state monarchical, and am not I church +militant? Do I not excommunicate our enemies from venison and brawn, +and by 'r Lady, when need calls, beat them down under my feet? The state +levies tax, and the church levies tithe. Even so do we. Mass, we +take all at once. What then? It is tax by redemption and tithe by +commutation. Your William and Richard can cut and come again, but our +Robin deals with slippery subjects that come not twice to his exchequer. +What need we then to constitute a court, except a fool and a laureate? +For the fool, his only use is to make false knaves merry by art, and we +are true men and are merry by nature. For the laureate, his only office +is to find virtues in those who have none, and to drink sack for his +pains. We have quite virtue enough to need him not, and can drink our +sack for ourselves." "Well preached, friar," said Robin Hood: "yet there +is one thing wanting to constitute a court, and that is a queen. And +now, lovely Matilda, look round upon these sylvan shades where we have +so often roused the stag from his ferny covert. The rising sun smiles +upon us through the stems of that beechen knoll. Shall I take your hand, +Matilda, in the presence of this my court? Shall I crown you with our +wild-wood coronal, and hail you queen of the forest? Will you be the +queen Matilda of your own true king Robin?" + +Matilda smiled assent. + +"Not Matilda," said the friar: "the rules of our holy alliance require +new birth. We have excepted in favour of Little John, because he is +great John, and his name is a misnomer. I sprinkle, not thy forehead +with water, but thy lips with wine, and baptize thee MARIAN." + +"Here is a pretty conspiracy," exclaimed the baron. "Why, you villanous +friar, think you to nickname and marry my daughter before my face with +impunity?" + +"Even so, bold baron," said the friar; "we are strongest here. Say you, +might overcomes right? I say no. There is no right but might: and to +say that might overcomes right is to say that right overcomes itself: an +absurdity most palpable. Your right was the stronger in Arlingford, and +ours is the stronger in Sherwood. Your right was right as long as you +could maintain it; so is ours. So is King Richard's, with all deference +be it spoken; and so is King Saladin's; and their two mights are now +committed in bloody fray, and that which overcomes will be right, just +as long as it lasts, and as far as it reaches. And now if any of you +know any just impediment----" + +"Fire and fury," said the baron. + +"Fire and fury," said the friar, "are modes of that might which +constitutes right, and are just impediments to any thing against which +they can be brought to bear. They are our good allies upon occasion, and +would declare for us now if you should put them to the test." + +"Father," said Matilda, "you know the terms of our compact: from the +moment you restrained my liberty, you renounced your claim to all but +compulsory obedience. The friar argues well. Right ends with might. +Thick walls, dreary galleries, and tapestried chambers, were indifferent +to me while I could leave them at pleasure, but have ever been hateful +to me since they held me by force. May I never again have roof but +the blue sky, nor canopy but the green leaves, nor barrier but the +forest-bounds; with the foresters to my train, Little John to my page, +Friar Tuck to my ghostly adviser, and Robin Hood to my liege lord. I am +no longer lady Matilda Fitzwater, of Arlingford Castle, but plain Maid +Marian, of Sherwood Forest." + +"Long live Maid Marian!" re-echoed the foresters. + +"Oh false girl!" said the baron, "do you renounce your name and +parentage?" + +"Not my parentage," said Marian, "but my name indeed: do not all maids +renounce it at the altar?" + +"The altar!" said the baron: "grant me patience! what do you mean by the +altar?" + +"Pile green turf," said the friar, "wreathe it with flowers, and crown +it with fruit, and we will show the noble baron what we mean by the +altar." + +The foresters did as the friar directed. + +"Now, Little John," said the friar, "on with the cloak of the abbot of +Doubleflask. I appoint thee my clerk: thou art here duly elected in full +mote." + +"I wish you were all in full moat together," said the baron, "and smooth +wall on both sides." + +"Punnest thou?" said the friar. "A heinous anti-christian offence. +Why anti-christian? Because anti-catholic? Why anti-catholic? Because +anti-roman. Why anti-roman? Because Carthaginian. Is not pun from +Punic? punica fides: the very quint-essential quiddity of bad faith: +double-visaged: double-tongued. He that will make a pun will---- I say +no more. Fie on it. Stand forth, clerk. Who is the bride's father?" + +"There is no bride's father," said the baron. "I am the father of +Matilda Fitzwater." + +"There is none such," said the friar. "This is the fair Maid Marian. +Will you make a virtue of necessity, or will you give laws to the +flowing tide? Will you give her, or shall Robin take her? Will you be +her true natural father, or shall I commute paternity? Stand forth, +Scarlet." + +"Stand back, sirrah Scarlet," said the baron. "My daughter shall have no +father but me. Needs must when the devil drives." + +"No matter who drives," said the friar, "so that, like a well-disposed +subject, you yield cheerful obedience to those who can enforce it." + +"Mawd, sweet Mawd," said the baron, "will you then forsake your poor +old father in his distress, with his castle in ashes, and his enemy in +power?" + +"Not so, father," said Marian; "I will always be your true daughter: I +will always love, and serve, and watch, and defend you: but neither will +I forsake my plighted love, and my own liege lord, who was your choice +before he was mine, for you made him my associate in infancy; and that +he continued to be mine when he ceased to be yours, does not in any way +show remissness in my duties or falling off in my affections. And though +I here plight my troth at the altar to Robin, in the presence of this +holy priest and pious clerk, yet.... Father, when Richard returns from +Palestine, he will restore you to your barony, and perhaps, for your +sake, your daughter's husband to the earldom of Huntingdon: should that +never be, should it be the will of fate that we must live and die in the +greenwood, I will live and die MAID MARIAN." [4] + +"A pretty resolution," said the baron, "if Robin will let you keep it." + +"I have sworn it," said Robin. "Should I expose her tenderness to the +perils of maternity, when life and death may hang on shifting at a +moment's notice from Sherwood to Barnsdale, and from Barnsdale to the +sea-shore? And why should I banquet when my merry men starve? Chastity +is our forest law, and even the friar has kept it since he has been +here." + +"Truly so," said the friar: "for temptation dwells with ease and luxury: +but the hunter is Hippolytus, and the huntress is Dian. And now, dearly +beloved----" + +The friar went through the ceremony with great unction, and Little John +was most clerical in the intonation of his responses. After which, the +friar sang, and Little John fiddled, and the foresters danced, Robin +with Marian, and Scarlet with the baron; and the venison smoked, and +the ale frothed, and the wine sparkled, and the sun went down on their +unwearied festivity: which they wound up with the following song, the +friar leading and the foresters joining chorus: + + Oh! bold Robin Hood is a forester good, + As ever drew bow in the merry greenwood: + At his bugle's shrill singing the echoes are ringing, + The wild deer are springing for many a rood: + Its summons we follow, through brake, over hollow, + The thrice-blown shrill summons of bold Robin Hood. + + And what eye hath e'er seen such a sweet Maiden Queen, + As Marian, the pride of the forester's green? + A sweet garden-flower, she blooms in the bower, + Where alone to this hour the wild rose has been: + We hail her in duty the queen of all beauty: + We will live, we will die, by our sweet Maiden queen. + + And here's a grey friar, good as heart can desire, + To absolve all our sins as the case may require: + Who with courage so stout, lays his oak-plant about, + And puts to the rout all the foes of his choir: + For we are his choristers, we merry foresters, + Chorussing thus with our militant friar + + And Scarlet cloth bring his good yew-bough and string, + Prime minister is he of Robin our king: + No mark is too narrow for little John's arrow, + That hits a cock sparrow a mile on the wing; + Robin and Marion, Scarlet, and Little John, + Long with their glory old Sherwood shall ring. + + Each a good liver, for well-feathered quiver + Doth furnish brawn, venison, and fowl of the river: + But the best game we dish up, it is a fat bishop: + When his angels we fish up, he proves a free giver: + For a prelate so lowly has angels more holy, + And should this world's false angels to sinners deliver. + + Robin and Marion, Scarlet and Little John, + Drink to them one by one, drink as ye sing: + Robin and Marion, Scarlet and Little John, + Echo to echo through Sherwood shall fling: + Robin and Marion, Scarlet and Little John, + Long with their glory old Sherwood shall ring. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + A single volume paramount: a code: + A master spirit: a determined road. + --WORDSWORTH. + + +The next morning Robin Hood convened his foresters, and desired Little +John, for the baron's edification, to read over the laws of their forest +society. Little John read aloud with a stentorophonic voice. + +"At a high court of foresters, held under the greenwood tree, an hour +after sun-rise, Robin Hood President, William Scarlet Vice-President, +Little John Secretary: the following articles, moved by Friar Tuck in +his capacity of Peer Spiritual, and seconded by Much the Miller, were +unanimously agreed to. + +"The principles of our society are six: Legitimacy, Equity, Hospitality, +Chivalry, Chastity, and Courtesy. + +"The articles of Legitimacy are four: + +"I. Our government is legitimate, and our society is founded on the one +golden rule of right, consecrated by the universal consent of mankind, +and by the practice of all ages, individuals, and nations: namely, To +keep what we have, and to catch what we can. + +"II. Our government being legitimate, all our proceedings shall be +legitimate: wherefore we declare war against the whole world, and every +forester is by this legitimate declaration legitimately invested with a +roving commission, to make lawful prize of every thing that comes in his +way. + +"III. All forest laws but our own we declare to be null and void. + +"IV. All such of the old laws of England as do not in any way interfere +with, or militate against, the views of this honourable assembly, we +will loyally adhere to and maintain. The rest we declare null and void +as far as relates to ourselves, in all cases wherein a vigour beyond the +law may be conducive to our own interest and preservation." + +"The articles of Equity are three: + +"I. The balance of power among the people being very much deranged, by +one having too much and another nothing, we hereby resolve ourselves +into a congress or court of equity, to restore as far as in us lies the +said natural balance of power, by taking from all who have too much +as much of the said too much as we can lay our hands on; and giving +to those who have nothing such a portion thereof as it may seem to us +expedient to part with. + +"II. In all cases a quorum of foresters shall constitute a court of +equity, and as many as may be strong enough to manage the matter in hand +shall constitute a quorum. + +"III. All usurers, monks, courtiers, and other drones of the great +hive of society, who shall be found laden with any portion of the honey +whereof they have wrongfully despoiled the industrious bee, shall be +rightfully despoiled thereof in turn; and all bishops and abbots shall +be bound and beaten, [5] especially the abbot of Doncaster; as shall +also all sheriffs, especially the sheriff of Nottingham. + + +"The articles of Hospitality are two: + +"I. Postmen, carriers and market-folk, peasants and mechanics, farmers +and millers, shall pass through our forest dominions without let or +molestation. + +"II. All other travellers through the forest shall be graciously invited +to partake of Robin's hospitality; and if they come not willingly they +shall be compelled; and the rich man shall pay well for his fare; and +the poor man shall feast scot free, and peradventure receive bounty in +proportion to his desert and necessity. + +"The article of Chivalry is one: + +"I. Every forester shall, to the extent of his power, aid and protect +maids, widows, and orphans, and all weak and distressed persons +whomsoever: and no woman shall be impeded or molested in any way; nor +shall any company receive harm which any woman is in. + +"The article of Chastity is one: + +"I. Every forester, being Diana's forester and minion of the moon, shall +commend himself to the grace of the Virgin, and shall have the gift of +continency on pain of expulsion: that the article of chivalry may be +secure from infringement, and maids, wives, and widows pass without fear +through the forest. + +"The article of Courtesy is one: + +"I. No one shall miscall a forester. He who calls Robin Robert of +Huntingdon, or salutes him by any other title or designation whatsoever +except plain Robin Hood; or who calls Marian Matilda Fitzwater, or +salutes her by any other title or designation whatsoever except plain +Maid Marian; and so of all others; shall for every such offence forfeit +a mark, to be paid to the friar. + +"And these articles we swear to keep as we are good men and true. +Carried by acclamation. God save King Richard. + +"LITTLE JOHN, Secretary." + + +"Excellent laws," said the baron: "excellent, by the holy rood. William +of Normandy, with my great great grandfather Fierabras at his elbow, +could not have made better. And now, sweet Mawd----" + +"A fine, a fine," cried the friar, "a fine, by the article of courtesy." + +"Od's life," said the baron, "shall I not call my own daughter Mawd? +Methinks there should be a special exception in my favour." + +"It must not be," said Robin Hood: "our constitution admits no +privilege." + +"But I will commute," said the friar; "for twenty marks a year duly paid +into my ghostly pocket you shall call your daughter Mawd two hundred +times a day." + +"Gramercy," said the baron, "and I agree, honest friar, when I can get +twenty marks to pay: for till Prince John be beaten from Nottingham, my +rents are like to prove but scanty." + +"I will trust," said the friar, "and thus let us ratify the stipulation; +so shall our laws and your infringement run together in an amicable +parallel." + +"But," said Little John, "this is a bad precedent, master friar. It is +turning discipline into profit, penalty into perquisite, public justice +into private revenue. It is rank corruption, master friar." + +"Why are laws made?" said the friar. "For the profit of somebody. Of +whom? Of him who makes them first, and of others as it may happen. Was +not I legislator in the last article, and shall I not thrive by my own +law?" + +"Well then, sweet Mawd," said the baron, "I must leave you, Mawd: your +life is very well for the young and the hearty, but it squares not with +my age or my humour. I must house, Mawd. I must find refuge: but where? +That is the question." + +"Where Sir Guy of Gamwell has found it," said Robin Hood, "near the +borders of Barnsdale. There you may dwell in safety with him and fair +Alice, till King Richard return, and Little John shall give you safe +conduct. You will have need to travel with caution, in disguise and +without attendants, for Prince John commands all this vicinity, and will +doubtless lay the country for you and Marian. Now it is first expedient +to dismiss your retainers. If there be any among them who like our life, +they may stay with us in the greenwood; the rest may return to their +homes." + +Some of the baron's men resolved to remain with Robin and Marian, and +were furnished accordingly with suits of green, of which Robin always +kept good store. + +Marian now declared that as there was danger in the way to Barnsdale, +she would accompany Little John and the baron, as she should not be +happy unless she herself saw her father placed in security. Robin was +very unwilling to consent to this, and assured her that there was more +danger for her than the baron: but Marian was absolute. + +"If so, then," said Robin, "I shall be your guide instead of Little +John, and I shall leave him and Scarlet joint-regents of Sherwood during +my absence, and the voice of Friar Tuck shall be decisive between them +if they differ in nice questions of state policy." Marian objected to +this, that there was more danger for Robin than either herself or the +baron: but Robin was absolute in his turn. + +"Talk not of my voice," said the friar; "for if Marian be a damsel +errant, I will be her ghostly esquire." + +Robin insisted that this should not be, for number would only expose +them to greater risk of detection. The friar, after some debate, +reluctantly acquiesced. + +While they were discussing these matters, they heard the distant sound +of horses' feet. + +"Go," said Robin to Little John, "and invite yonder horseman to dinner." + +Little John bounded away, and soon came before a young man, who was +riding in a melancholy manner, with the bridle hanging loose on the +horse's neck, and his eyes drooping towards the ground. + +"Whither go you?" said Little John. + +"Whithersoever my horse pleases," said the young man. + +"And that shall be," said Little John, "whither I please to lead him. I +am commissioned to invite you to dine with my master." + +"Who is your master?" said the young man. + +"Robin Hood," said Little John. + +"The bold outlaw?" said the stranger. "Neither he nor you should have +made me turn an inch aside yesterday; but to-day I care not." + +"Then it is better for you," said Little John, "that you came to-day +than yesterday, if you love dining in a whole skin: for my master is the +pink of courtesy: but if his guests prove stubborn, he bastes them and +his venison together, while the friar says mass before meat." + +The young man made no answer, and scarcely seemed to hear what Little +John was saying, who therefore took the horse's bridle and led him to +where Robin and his foresters were setting forth their dinner. Robin +seated the young man next to Marian. Recovering a little from his +stupor, he looked with much amazement at her, and the baron, and +Robin, and the friar; listened to their conversation, and seemed much +astonished to find himself in such holy and courtly company. Robin +helped him largely to rumble-pie and cygnet and pheasant, and the other +dainties of his table; and the friar pledged him in ale and wine, and +exhorted him to make good cheer. But the young man drank little, ate +less, spake nothing, and every now and then sighed heavily. + +When the repast was ended, "Now," said Robin, "you are at liberty to +pursue your journey: but first be pleased to pay for your dinner." + +"That would I gladly do, Robin," said the young man, "but all I have +about me are five shillings and a ring. To the five shillings you shall +be welcome, but for the ring I will fight while there is a drop of blood +in my veins." + +"Gallantly spoken," said Robin Hood. "A love-token, without doubt: but +you must submit to our forest laws. Little John must search; and if he +find no more than you say, not a penny will I touch; but if you have +spoken false, the whole is forfeit to our fraternity." + +"And with reason," said the friar; "for thereby is the truth maintained +The abbot of Doubleflask swore there was no money in his valise, and +Little John forthwith emptied it of four hundred pounds. Thus was the +abbot's perjury but of one minute's duration; for though his speech +was false in the utterance, yet was it no sooner uttered than it became +true, and we should have been participes criminis to have suffered the +holy abbot to depart in falsehood: whereas he came to us a false priest, +and we sent him away a true man. Marry, we turned his cloak to further +account, and thereby hangs a tale that may be either said or sung; for +in truth I am minstrel here as well as chaplain; I pray for good success +to our just and necessary warfare, and sing thanks-giving odes when our +foresters bring in booty: + + Bold Robin has robed him in ghostly attire, + And forth he is gone like a holy friar, + Singing, hey down, ho down, down, derry down: + And of two grey friars he soon was aware, + Regaling themselves with dainty fare, + All on the fallen leaves so brown. + + "Good morrow, good brothers," said bold Robin + Hood, + "And what make you in the good greenwood, + Singing hey down, ho down, down, derry down! + Now give me, I pray you, wine and food; + For none can I find in the good greenwood, + All on the fallen leaves so brown." + + "Good brother," they said, "we would give you full fain, + But we have no more than enough for twain, + Singing, hey down, ho down, down, derry down." + "Then give me some money," said bold Robin Hood, + "For none can I find in the good greenwood, + All on the fallen leaves so brown." + + "No money have we, good brother," said they: + "Then," said he, "we three for money will pray: + Singing, hey down, ho down, down, derry down: + And whatever shall come at the end of our prayer, + We three holy friars will piously share, + All on the fallen leaves so brown." + + "We will not pray with thee, good brother, God wot: + For truly, good brother, thou pleasest us not, + Singing hey down, ho down, down, derry down:" + Then up they both started from Robin to run, + But down on their knees Robin pulled them each one, + All on the fallen leaves so brown. + + The grey friars prayed with a doleful face, + But bold Robin prayed with a right merry grace, + Singing, hey down, ho down, down, derry down: + And when they had prayed, their portmanteau he took, + And from it a hundred good angels he shook, + All on the fallen leaves so brown. + + "The saints," said bold Robin, "have hearkened our prayer, + And here's a good angel apiece for your share: + If more you would have, you must win ere you wear: + Singing hey down, ho down, down, derry down:" + Then he blew his good horn with a musical cheer, + And fifty green bowmen came trooping full near, + And away the grey friars they bounded like deer, + All on the fallen leaves so brown. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + What can a young lassie, what shall a young lassie, + What can a young lassie do wi'an auld man? + --BURNS. + + +"Here is but five shillings and a ring," said Little John, "and the +young man has spoken true." + +"Then," said Robin to the stranger, "if want of money be the cause +of your melancholy, speak. Little John is my treasurer, and he shall +disburse to you." + +"It is, and it is not," said the stranger; "it is, because, had I not +wanted money I had never lost my love; it is not, because, now that I +have lost her, money would come too late to regain her." + +"In what way have you lost her?" said Robin: "let us clearly know that +she is past regaining, before we give up our wishes to restore her to +you." + +"She is to be married this day," said the stranger, "and perhaps is +married by this, to a rich old knight; and yesterday I knew it not." + +"What is your name?" said Robin. + +"Allen," said the stranger. + +"And where is the marriage to take place, Allen?" said Robin. + +"At Edwinstow church," said Allen, "by the bishop of Nottingham." + +"I know that bishop," said Robin; "he dined with me a month since, and +paid three hundred pounds for his dinner. He has a good ear and loves +music. The friar sang to him to some tune. Give me my harper's cloak, +and I will play a part at this wedding. + +"These are dangerous times, Robin," said Marian, "for playing pranks out +of the forest." + +"Fear not," said Robin; "Edwinstow lies not Nottingham-ward, and I will +take my precautions." + +Robin put on his harper's cloak, while Little John painted his eyebrows +and cheeks, tipped his nose with red, and tied him on a comely beard. +Marian confessed, that had she not been present at the metamorphosis, +she should not have known her own true Robin. Robin took his harp and +went to the wedding. + +Robin found the bishop and his train in the church porch, impatiently +expecting the arrival of the bride and bridegroom. The clerk was +observing to the bishop that the knight was somewhat gouty, and that +the necessity of walking the last quarter of a mile from the road to the +churchyard probably detained the lively bridegroom rather longer than +had been calculated upon. + +"Oh! by my fey," said the music-loving bishop, "here comes a harper in +the nick of time, and now I care not how long they tarry. Ho! honest +friend, are you come to play at the wedding?" + +"I am come to play anywhere," answered Robin, "where I can get a cup of +sack; for which I will sing the praise of the donor in lofty verse, and +emblazon him with any virtue which he may wish to have the credit of +possessing, without the trouble of practising. + +"A most courtly harper," said the bishop; "I will fill thee with sack; I +will make thee a walking butt of sack, if thou wilt delight my ears with +thy melodies." + +"That will I," said Robin; "in what branch of my art shall I exert my +faculty? I am passing well in all, from the anthem to the glee, and from +the dirge to the coranto." + +"It would be idle," said the bishop, "to give thee sack for playing me +anthems, seeing that I myself do receive sack for hearing them sung. +Therefore, as the occasion is festive, thou shalt play me a coranto." + +Robin struck up and played away merrily, the bishop all the while in +great delight, noddling his head, and beating time with his foot, till +the bride and bridegroom appeared. The bridegroom was richly apparelled, +and came slowly and painfully forward, hobbling and leering, and pursing +up his mouth into a smile of resolute defiance to the gout, and of +tender complacency towards his lady love, who, shining like gold at the +old knight's expense, followed slowly between her father and mother, +her cheeks pale, her head drooping, her steps faltering, and her eyes +reddened with tears. + +Robin stopped his minstrelsy, and said to the bishop, "This seems to me +an unfit match." + +"What do you say, rascal?" said the old knight, hobbling up to him. + +"I say," said Robin, "this seems to me an unfit match. What, in the +devil's name, can you want with a young wife, who have one foot in +flannels and the other in the grave?" + +"What is that to thee, sirrah varlet?" said the old knight; "stand away +from the porch, or I will fracture thy sconce with my cane." + +"I will not stand away from the porch," said Robin, "unless the bride +bid me, and tell me that you are her own true love." + +"Speak," said the bride's father, in a severe tone, and with a look of +significant menace. The girl looked alternately at her father and Robin. +She attempted to speak, but her voice failed in the effort, and she +burst into tears. + +"Here is lawful cause and just impediment," said Robin, "and I forbid +the banns." + +"Who are you, villain?" said the old knight, stamping his sound foot +with rage. + +"I am the Roman law," said Robin, "which says that there shall not be +more than ten years between a man and his wife; and here are five times +ten: and so says the law of nature." + +"Honest harper," said the bishop, "you are somewhat over-officious here, +and less courtly than I deemed you. If you love sack, forbear; for this +course will never bring you a drop. As to your Roman law, and your law +of nature, what right have they to say any thing which the law of Holy +Writ says not?" + +"The law of Holy Writ does say it," said Robin; "I expound it so to say; +and I will produce sixty commentators to establish my exposition." + +And so saying, he produced a horn from beneath his cloak, and blew three +blasts, and threescore bowmen in green came leaping from the bushes and +trees; and young Allen was the first among them to give Robin his sword, +while Friar Tuck and Little John marched up to the altar. Robin stripped +the bishop and clerk of their robes, and put them on the friar and +Little John; and Allen advanced to take the hand of the bride. Her +cheeks grew red and her eyes grew bright, as she locked her hand in her +lover's, and tripped lightly with him into the church. + +"This marriage will not stand," said the bishop, "for they have not been +thrice asked in church." + +"We will ask them seven times," said Little John, "lest three should not +suffice." + +"And in the meantime," said Robin, "the knight and the bishop shall +dance to my harping." + +So Robin sat in the church porch and played away merrily, while his +foresters formed a ring, in the centre of which the knight and bishop +danced with exemplary alacrity; and if they relaxed their exertions, +Scarlet gently touched them up with the point of an arrow. + +The knight grimaced ruefully, and begged Robin to think of his gout. + +"So I do," said Robin; "this is the true antipodagron: you shall dance +the gout away, and be thankful to me while you live. I told you," he +added to the bishop, "I would play at this wedding; but you did not tell +me that you would dance at it. The next couple you marry, think of the +Roman law." + +The bishop was too much out of breath to reply; and now the young couple +issued from church, and the bride having made a farewell obeisance to +her parents, they departed together with the foresters, the parents +storming, the attendants laughing, the bishop puffing and blowing, and +the knight rubbing his gouty foot, and uttering doleful lamentations for +the gold and jewels with which he had so unwittingly adorned and cowered +the bride. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + As ye came from the holy land + Of blessed Walsinghame, + Oh met ye not with my true love, + As by the way ye came? + + --Old Ballad. + + +In pursuance of the arrangement recorded in the twelfth chapter, the +baron, Robin, and Marian disguised themselves as pilgrims returned from +Palestine, and travelling from the sea-coast of Hampshire to their home +in Northumberland. By dint of staff and cockle-shell, sandal and scrip, +they proceeded in safety the greater part of the way (for Robin had many +sly inns and resting-places between Barnsdale and Sherwood), and were +already on the borders of Yorkshire, when, one evening, they passed +within view of a castle, where they saw a lady standing on a turret, +and surveying the whole extent of the valley through which they were +passing. A servant came running from the castle, and delivered to them +a message from his lady, who was sick with expectation of news from her +lord in the Holy Land, and entreated them to come to her, that she might +question them concerning him. This was an awkward occurrence: but there +was no presence for refusal, and they followed the servant into the +castle. The baron, who had been in Palestine in his youth, undertook to +be spokesman on the occasion, and to relate his own adventures to +the lady as having happened to the lord in question. This preparation +enabled him to be so minute and circumstantial in his detail, and so +coherent in his replies to her questions, that the lady fell implicitly +into the delusion, and was delighted to find that her lord was alive and +in health, and in high favour with the king, and performing prodigies +of valour in the name of his lady, whose miniature he always wore in his +bosom. The baron guessed at this circumstance from the customs of that +age, and happened to be in the right. + +"This miniature," added the baron, "I have had the felicity to see, and +should have known you by it among a million." The baron was a little +embarrassed by some questions of the lady concerning her lord's personal +appearance; but Robin came to his aid, observing a picture suspended +opposite to him on the wall, which he made a bold conjecture to be that +of the lord in question; and making a calculation of the influences of +time and war, which he weighed with a comparison of the lady's age, +he gave a description of her lord sufficiently like the picture in its +groundwork to be a true resemblance, and sufficiently differing from +it in circumstances to be more an original than a copy. The lady was +completely deceived, and entreated them to partake her hospitality for +the night; but this they deemed it prudent to decline, and with many +humble thanks for her kindness, and representations of the necessity of +not delaying their homeward course, they proceeded on their way. + +As they passed over the drawbridge, they met Sir Ralph Montfaucon and +his squire, who were wandering in quest of Marian, and were entering +to claim that hospitality which the pilgrims had declined. Their +countenances struck Sir Ralph with a kind of imperfect recognition, +which would never have been matured, but that the eyes of Marian, as +she passed him, encountered his, and the images of those stars of beauty +continued involuntarily twinkling in his sensorium to the exclusion of +all other ideas, till memory, love, and hope concurred with imagination +to furnish a probable reason for their haunting him so pertinaciously. +Those eyes, he thought, were certainly the eyes of Matilda Fitzwater; +and if the eyes were hers, it was extremely probable, if not logically +consecutive, that the rest of the body they belonged to was hers also. +Now, if it were really Matilda Fitzwater, who were her two companions? +The baron? Aye, and the elder pilgrim was something like him. And the +earl of Huntingdon? Very probably. The earl and the baron might be good +friends again, now that they were both in disgrace together. While he +was revolving these cogitations, he was introduced to the lady, and +after claiming and receiving the promise of hospitality, he inquired +what she knew of the pilgrims who had just departed? The lady told him +they were newly returned from Palestine, having been long in the Holy +Land. The knight expressed some scepticism on this point. The lady +replied, that they had given her so minute a detail of her lord's +proceedings, and so accurate a description of his person, that she could +not be deceived in them. This staggered the knight's confidence in +his own penetration; and if it had not been a heresy in knighthood to +suppose for a moment that there could be in rerum natura such another +pair of eyes as those of his mistress, he would have acquiesced +implicitly in the lady's judgment. But while the lady and the knight +were conversing, the warder blew his bugle-horn, and presently entered +a confidential messenger from Palestine, who gave her to understand +that her lord was well; but entered into a detail of his adventures +most completely at variance with the baron's narrative, to which not +the correspondence of a single incident gave the remotest colouring of +similarity. It now became manifest that the pilgrims were not true +men; and Sir Ralph Montfaucon sate down to supper with his head full +of cogitations, which we shall leave him to chew and digest with his +pheasant and canary. + +Meanwhile our three pilgrims proceeded on their way. The evening set in +black and lowering, when Robin turned aside from the main track, to seek +an asylum for the night, along a narrow way that led between rocky and +woody hills. A peasant observed the pilgrims as they entered that narrow +pass, and called after them: "Whither go you, my masters? there are +rogues in that direction." + +"Can you show us a direction," said Robin, "in which there are none? If +so we will take it in preference." The peasant grinned, and walked away +whistling. + +The pass widened as they advanced, and the woods grew thicker and darker +around them. Their path wound along the slope of a woody declivity, +which rose high above them in a thick rampart of foliage, and descended +almost precipitously to the bed of a small river, which they heard +dashing in its rocky channel, and saw its white foam gleaming at +intervals in the last faint glimmerings of twilight. In a short time all +was dark, and the rising voice of the wind foretold a coming storm. They +turned a point of the valley, and saw a light below them in the depth +of the hollow, shining through a cottage-casement and dancing in its +reflection on the restless stream. Robin blew his horn, which was +answered from below. The cottage door opened: a boy came forth with a +torch, ascended the steep, showed tokens of great delight at meeting +with Robin, and lighted them down a flight of steps rudely cut in the +rock, and over a series of rugged stepping-stones, that crossed +the channel of the river. They entered the cottage, which exhibited +neatness, comfort, and plenty, being amply enriched with pots, pans, +and pipkins, and adorned with flitches of bacon and sundry similar +ornaments, that gave goodly promise in the firelight that gleamed upon +the rafters. A woman, who seemed just old enough to be the boy's mother, +had thrown down her spinning wheel in her joy at the sound of Robin's +horn, and was bustling with singular alacrity to set forth her festal +ware and prepare an abundant supper. Her features, though not beautiful, +were agreeable and expressive, and were now lighted up with such +manifest joy at the sight of Robin, that Marian could not help feeling a +momentary touch of jealousy, and a half-formed suspicion that Robin had +broken his forest law, and had occasionally gone out of bounds, as other +great men have done upon occasion, in order to reconcile the breach +of the spirit, with the preservation of the letter, of their own +legislation. However, this suspicion, if it could be said to exist in a +mind so generous as Marian's, was very soon dissipated by the entrance +of the woman's husband, who testified as much joy as his wife had done +at the sight of Robin; and in a short time the whole of the party were +amicably seated round a smoking supper of river-fish and wild wood fowl, +on which the baron fell with as much alacrity as if he had been a true +pilgrim from Palestine. + +The husband produced some recondite flasks of wine, which were laid by +in a binn consecrated to Robin, whose occasional visits to them in his +wanderings were the festal days of these warm-hearted cottagers, whose +manners showed that they had not been born to this low estate. Their +story had no mystery, and Marian easily collected it from the tenour of +their conversation. The young man had been, like Robin, the victim of an +usurious abbot, and had been outlawed for debt, and his nut-brown maid +had accompanied him to the depths of Sherwood, where they lived an +unholy and illegitimate life, killing the king's deer, and never hearing +mass. In this state, Robin, then earl of Huntingdon, discovered them +in one of his huntings, and gave them aid and protection. When Robin +himself became an outlaw, the necessary qualification or gift of +continency was too hard a law for our lovers to subscribe to; and +as they were thus disqualified for foresters, Robin had found them a +retreat in this romantic and secluded spot. He had done similar service +to other lovers similarly circumstanced, and had disposed them in +various wild scenes which he and his men had discovered in their +flittings from place to place, supplying them with all necessaries and +comforts from the reluctant disgorgings of fat abbots and usurers. The +benefit was in some measure mutual; for these cottages served him as +resting-places in his removals, and enabled him to travel untraced and +unmolested; and in the delight with which he was always received he +found himself even more welcome than he would have been at an inn; +and this is saying very much for gratitude and affection together. +The smiles which surrounded him were of his own creation, and he +participated in the happiness he had bestowed. + +The casements began to rattle in the wind, and the rain to beat upon +the windows. The wind swelled to a hurricane, and the rain dashed like +a flood against the glass. The boy retired to his little bed, the wife +trimmed the lamp, the husband heaped logs upon the fire: Robin broached +another flask; and Marian filled the baron's cup, and sweetened Robin's +by touching its edge with her lips. + +"Well," said the baron, "give me a roof over my head, be it never so +humble. Your greenwood canopy is pretty and pleasant in sunshine; but if +I were doomed to live under it, I should wish it were water-tight." + +"But," said Robin, "we have tents and caves for foul weather, good store +of wine and venison, and fuel in abundance." + +"Ay, but," said the baron, "I like to pull off my boots of a night, +which you foresters seldom do, and to ensconce myself thereafter in +a comfortable bed. Your beech-root is over-hard for a couch, and your +mossy stump is somewhat rough for a bolster." + +"Had you not dry leaves," said Robin, "with a bishop's surplice over +them? What would you have softer? And had you not an abbot's travelling +cloak for a coverlet? What would you have warmer?" + +"Very true," said the baron, "but that was an indulgence to a guest, and +I dreamed all night of the sheriff of Nottingham. I like to feel myself +safe," he added, stretching out his legs to the fire, and throwing +himself back in his chair with the air of a man determined to be +comfortable. "I like to feel myself safe," said the baron. + +At that moment the woman caught her husband's arm, and all the party +following the direction of her eyes, looked simultaneously to the +window, where they had just time to catch a glimpse of an apparition of +an armed head, with its plumage tossing in the storm, on which the light +shone from within, and which disappeared immediately. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + + O knight, thou lack'st a cup of canary. + When did I see thee so put down?--Twelfth Night. + + +Several knocks, as from the knuckles of an iron glove, were given to the +door of the cottage, and a voice was heard entreating shelter from the +storm for a traveller who had lost his way. Robin arose and went to the +door. + +"What are you?" said Robin. + +"A soldier," replied the voice: "an unfortunate adherent of Longchamp, +flying the vengeance of Prince John." + +"Are you alone?" said Robin. + +"Yes," said the voice: "it is a dreadful night. Hospitable cottagers, +pray give me admittance. I would not have asked it but for the storm. I +would have kept my watch in the woods." + +"That I believe," said Robin. "You did not reckon on the storm when you +turned into this pass. Do you know there are rogues this way?" + +"I do," said the voice. + +"So do I," said Robin. + +A pause ensued, during which Robin listening attentively caught a faint +sound of whispering. + +"You are not alone," said Robin. "Who are your companions?" + +"None but the wind and the water," said the voice, "and I would I had +them not." + +"The wind and the water have many voices," said Robin, "but I never +before heard them say, What shall we do?" + +Another pause ensued: after which, + +"Look ye, master cottager," said the voice, in an altered tone, "if you +do not let us in willingly, we will break down the door." + +"Ho! ho!" roared the baron, "you are become plural are you, rascals? How +many are there of you, thieves? What, I warrant, you thought to rob and +murder a poor harmless cottager and his wife, and did not dream of a +garrison? You looked for no weapon of opposition but spit, poker, and +basting ladle, wielded by unskilful hands: but, rascals, here is short +sword and long cudgel in hands well tried in war, wherewith you shall be +drilled into cullenders and beaten into mummy." + +No reply was made, but furious strokes from without resounded upon the +door. Robin, Marian, and the baron threw by their pilgrim's attire, and +stood in arms on the defensive. They were provided with swords, and the +cottager gave them bucklers and helmets, for all Robin's haunts were +furnished with secret armouries. But they kept their swords sheathed, +and the baron wielded a ponderous spear, which he pointed towards the +door ready to run through the first that should enter, and Robin and +Marian each held a bow with the arrow drawn to its head and pointed in +the same direction. The cottager flourished a strong cudgel (a weapon +in the use of which he prided himself on being particularly expert), and +the wife seized the spit from the fireplace, and held it as she saw the +baron hold his spear. The storm of wind and rain continued to beat on +the roof and the casement, and the storm of blows to resound upon the +door, which at length gave way with a violent crash, and a cluster of +armed men appeared without, seemingly not less than twelve. Behind +them rolled the stream now changed from a gentle and shallow river to a +mighty and impetuous torrent, roaring in waves of yellow foam, partially +reddened by the light that streamed through the open door, and turning +up its convulsed surface in flashes of shifting radiance from restless +masses of half-visible shadow. The stepping-stones, by which the +intruders must have crossed, were buried under the waters. On the +opposite bank the light fell on the stems and boughs of the rock-rooted +oak and ash tossing and swaying in the blast, and sweeping the flashing +spray with their leaves. + +The instant the door broke, Robin and Marian loosed their arrows. +Robin's arrow struck one of the assailants in the juncture of the +shoulder, and disabled his right arm: Marian's struck a second in the +juncture of the knee, and rendered him unserviceable; for the night. +The baron's long spear struck on the mailed breastplate of a third, and +being stretched to its full extent by the long-armed hero, drove him to +the edge of the torrent, and plunged him into its eddies, along which he +was whirled down the darkness of the descending stream, calling vainly +on his comrades for aid, till his voice was lost in the mingled roar of +the waters and the wind. A fourth springing through the door was laid +prostrate by the cottager's cudgel: but the wife being less dexterous +than her company, though an Amazon in strength, missed her pass at a +fifth, and drove the point of the spit several inches into the right +hand door-post as she stood close to the left, and thus made a new +barrier which the invaders could not pass without dipping under it and +submitting their necks to the sword: but one of the assailants seizing +it with gigantic rage, shook it at once from the grasp of its holder +and from its lodgment in the post, and at the same time made good the +irruption of the rest of his party into the cottage. + +Now raged an unequal combat, for the assailants fell two to one on +Robin, Marian, the baron, and the cottager; while the wife, being +deprived of her spit, converted every thing that was at hand to a +missile, and rained pots, pans, and pipkins on the armed heads of the +enemy. The baron raged like a tiger, and the cottager laid about him +like a thresher. One of the soldiers struck Robin's sword from his hand +and brought him on his knee, when the boy, who had been roused by the +tumult and had been peeping through the inner door, leaped forward in +his shirt, picked up the sword and replaced it in Robin's hand, who +instantly springing up, disarmed and wounded one of his antagonists, +while the other was laid prostrate under the dint of a brass cauldron +launched by the Amazonian dame. Robin now turned to the aid of Marian, +who was parrying most dexterously the cuts and slashes of her two +assailants, of whom Robin delivered her from one, while a well-applied +blow of her sword struck off the helmet of the other, who fell on his +knees to beg a boon, and she recognised Sir Ralph Montfaucon. The men +who were engaged with the baron and the peasant, seeing their leader +subdued, immediately laid down their arms and cried for quarter. The +wife brought some strong rope, and the baron tied their arms behind +them. + +"Now, Sir Ralph," said Marian, "once more you are at my mercy." + +"That I always am, cruel beauty," said the discomfited lover. + +"Odso! courteous knight," said the baron, "is this the return you make +for my beef and canary, when you kissed my daughter's hand in token of +contrition for your intermeddling at her wedding? Heart, I am glad to +see she has given you a bloody coxcomb. Slice him down, Mawd! slice him +down, and fling him into the river." + +"Confess," said Marian, "what brought you here, and how did you trace +our steps?" + +"I will confess nothing," said the knight. + +"Then confess you, rascal," said the baron, holding his sword to the +throat of the captive squire. + +"Take away the sword," said the squire, "it is too near my mouth, and +my voice will not come out for fear: take away the sword, and I will +confess all." The baron dropped his sword, and the squire proceeded; +"Sir Ralph met you, as you quitted Lady Falkland's castle, and by +representing to her who you were, borrowed from her such a number of +her retainers as he deemed must ensure your capture, seeing that your +familiar the friar was not at your elbow. We set forth without delay, +and traced you first by means of a peasant who saw you turn into this +valley, and afterwards by the light from the casement of this solitary +dwelling. Our design was to have laid an ambush for you in the morning, +but the storm and your observation of my unlucky face through the +casement made us change our purpose; and what followed you can tell +better than I can, being indeed masters of the subject." + +"You are a merry knave," said the baron, "and here is a cup of wine for +you." + +"Gramercy," said the squire, "and better late than never: but I lacked a +cup of this before. Had I been pot-valiant, I had held you play." + +"Sir knight," said Marian, "this is the third time you have sought the +life of my lord and of me, for mine is interwoven with his. And do you +think me so spiritless as to believe that I can be yours by compulsion? +Tempt me not again, for the next time shall be the last, and the fish of +the nearest river shall commute the flesh of a recreant knight into the +fast-day dinner of an uncarnivorous friar. I spare you now, not in pity +but in scorn. Yet shall you swear to a convention never more to pursue +or molest my lord or me, and on this condition you shall live." + +The knight had no alternative but to comply, and swore, on the honour of +knighthood, to keep the convention inviolate. How well he kept his oath +we shall have no opportunity of narrating: Di lui la nostra istoria piu +non parla. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + Carry me over the water, thou fine fellowe.--Old Ballad. + + +The pilgrims, without experiencing further molestation, arrived at the +retreat of Sir Guy of Gamwell. They found the old knight a cup too low; +partly from being cut off from the scenes of his old hospitality and the +shouts of his Nottinghamshire vassals, who were wont to make the rafters +of his ancient hall re-echo to their revelry; but principally from being +parted from his son, who had long been the better half of his flask and +pasty. The arrival of our visitors cheered him up; and finding that +the baron was to remain with him, he testified his delight and the +cordiality of his welcome by pegging him in the ribs till he made him +roar. + +Robin and Marian took an affectionate leave of the baron and the old +knight; and before they quitted the vicinity of Barnsdale, deeming +it prudent to return in a different disguise, they laid aside their +pilgrim's attire, and assumed the habits and appurtenances of wandering +minstrels. + +They travelled in this character safely and pleasantly, till one evening +at a late hour they arrived by the side of a river, where Robin looking +out for a mode of passage perceived a ferry-boat safely moored in a nook +on the opposite bank; near which a chimney sending up a wreath of smoke +through the thick-set willows, was the only symptom of human habitation; +and Robin naturally conceiving the said chimney and wreath of smoke to +be the outward signs of the inward ferryman, shouted "Over!" with much +strength and clearness; but no voice replied, and no ferryman appeared. +Robin raised his voice, and shouted with redoubled energy, "Over, Over, +O-o-o-over!" A faint echo alone responded "Over!" and again died away +into deep silence: but after a brief interval a voice from among the +willows, in a strange kind of mingled intonation that was half a shout +and half a song, answered: + + Over, over, over, jolly, jolly rover, + Would you then come over? Over, over, over? + Jolly, jolly rover, here's one lives in clover: + Who finds the clover? The jolly, jolly rover. + He finds the clover, let him then come over, + The jolly, jolly rover, over, over, over, + + +"I much doubt," said Marian, "if this ferryman do not mean by clover +something more than the toll of his ferry-boat." + +"I doubt not," answered Robin, "he is a levier of toll and tithe, which +I shall put him upon proof of his right to receive, by making trial of +his might to enforce." + +The ferryman emerged from the willows and stepped into his boat. "As I +live," exclaimed Robin, "the ferryman is a friar." + +"With a sword," said Marian, "stuck in his rope girdle." + +The friar pushed his boat off manfully, and was presently half over the +river. + +"It is friar Tuck," said Marian. + +"He will scarcely know us," said Robin; "and if he do not, I will break +a staff with him for sport." + +The friar came singing across the water: the boat touched the land: +Robin and Marian stepped on board: the friar pushed off again. + +"Silken doublets, silken doublets," said the friar: "slenderly lined, I +bow: your wandering minstrel is always poor toll: your sweet angels of +voices pass current for a bed and a supper at the house of every +lord that likes to hear the fame of his valour without the trouble of +fighting for it. What need you of purse or pouch? You may sing before +thieves. Pedlars, pedlars: wandering from door to door with the small +ware of lies and cajolery: exploits for carpet-knights; honesty for +courtiers; truth for monks, and chastity for nuns: a good saleable stock +that costs the vender nothing, defies wear and tear, and when it has +served a hundred customers is as plentiful and as marketable as ever. +But, sirrahs, I'll none of your balderdash. You pass not hence without +clink of brass, or I'll knock your musical noddles together till +they ring like a pair of cymbals. That will be a new tune for your +minstrelships." + +This friendly speech of the friar ended as they stepped on the opposite +bank. Robin had noticed as they passed that the summer stream was low. + +"Why, thou brawling mongrel," said Robin, "that whether thou be thief, +friar, or ferryman, or an ill-mixed compound of all three, passes +conjecture, though I judge thee to be simple thief, what barkest thou +at thus? Villain, there is clink of brass for thee. Dost thou see this +coin? Dost thou hear this music? Look and listen: for touch thou shalt +not: my minstrelship defies thee. Thou shalt carry me on thy back over +the water, and receive nothing but a cracked sconce for thy trouble." + +"A bargain," said the friar: "for the water is low, the labour is light, +and the reward is alluring." And he stooped down for Robin, who mounted +his back, and the friar waded with him over the river. + +"Now, fine fellow," said the friar, "thou shalt carry me back over the +water, and thou shalt have a cracked sconce for thy trouble." + +Robin took the friar on his back, and waded with him into the middle +of the river, when by a dexterous jerk he suddenly flung him off and +plunged him horizontally over head and ears in the water. Robin waded to +shore, and the friar, half swimming and half scrambling, followed. + +"Fine fellow, fine fellow," said the friar, "now will I pay thee thy +cracked sconce." + +"Not so," said Robin, "I have not earned it: but thou hast earned it, +and shalt have it." + +It was not, even in those good old times, a sight of every day to see a +troubadour and a friar playing at single-stick by the side of a river, +each aiming with fell intent at the other's coxcomb. The parties were +both so skilled in attack and defence, that their mutual efforts for a +long time expended themselves in quick and loud rappings on each other's +oaken staves. At length Robin by a dexterous feint contrived to score +one on the friar's crown: but in the careless moment of triumph a +splendid sweep of the friar's staff struck Robin's out of his hand into +the middle of the river, and repaid his crack on the head with a degree +of vigour that might have passed the bounds of a jest if Marian had not +retarded its descent by catching the friar's arm. + +"How now, recreant friar," said Marian; "what have you to say why you +should not suffer instant execution, being detected in open rebellion +against your liege lord? Therefore kneel down, traitor, and submit your +neck to the sword of the offended law." + +"Benefit of clergy," said the friar: "I plead my clergy. And is it you +indeed, ye scapegraces? Ye are well disguised: I knew ye not, by my +flask. Robin, jolly Robin, he buys a jest dearly that pays for it with +a bloody coxcomb. But here is balm for all bruises, outward and inward. +(The friar produced a flask of canary.) Wash thy wound twice and thy +throat thrice with this solar concoction, and thou shalt marvel where +was thy hurt. But what moved ye to this frolic? Knew ye not that ye +could not appear in a mask more fashioned to move my bile than in that +of these gilders and lackerers of the smooth surface of worthlessness, +that bring the gold of true valour into disrepute, by stamping the baser +metal with the fairer im-pression? I marvelled to find any such given +to fighting (for they have an old instinct of self-preservation): but +I rejoiced thereat, that I might discuss to them poetical justice: +and therefore have I cracked thy sconce: for which, let this be thy +medicine." + +"But wherefore," said Marian, "do we find you here, when we left you +joint lord warden of Sherwood?" + +"I do but retire to my devotions," replied the friar. "This is my +hermitage, in which I first took refuge when I escaped from my beloved +brethren of Rubygill; and to which I still retreat at times from the +vanities of the world, which else might cling to me too closely, since +I have been promoted to be peer-spiritual of your forest-court. For, +indeed, I do find in myself certain indications and admonitions that my +day has past its noon; and none more cogent than this: that daily of +bad wine I grow more intolerant, and of good wine have a keener and +more fastidious relish. There is no surer symptom of receding years. The +ferryman is my faithful varlet. I send him on some pious errand, that I +may meditate in ghostly privacy, when my presence in the forest can best +be spared: and when can it be better spared than now, seeing that +the neighbourhood of Prince John, and his incessant perquisitions for +Marian, have made the forest too hot to hold more of us than are +needful to keep up a quorum, and preserve unbroken the continuity of +our forest-dominion? For, in truth, without your greenwood majesties, we +have hardly the wit to live in a body, and at the same time to keep our +necks out of jeopardy, while that arch-rebel and traitor John infests +the precincts of our territory." + +The friar now conducted them to his peaceful cell, where he spread his +frugal board with fish, venison, wild-fowl, fruit, and canary. Under the +compound operation of this materia medica Robin's wounds healed apace, +and the friar, who hated minstrelsy, began as usual chirping in his +cups. Robin and Marian chimed in with his tuneful humour till the +midnight moon peeped in upon their revelry. + +It was now the very witching time of night, when they heard a voice +shouting, "Over!" They paused to listen, and the voice repeated "Over!" +in accents clear and loud, but which at the same time either were in +themselves, or seemed to be, from the place and the hour, singularly +plaintive and dreary. The friar fidgetted about in his seat: fell into a +deep musing: shook himself, and looked about him: first at Marian, then +at Robin, then at Marian again; filled and tossed off a cup of canary, +and relapsed into his reverie. + +"Will you not bring your passenger over?" said Robin. The friar shook +his head and looked mysterious. + +"That passenger," said the friar, "will never come over. Every full +moon, at midnight, that voice calls, 'Over!' I and my varlet have more +than once obeyed the summons, and we have sometimes had a glimpse of a +white figure under the opposite trees: but when the boat has touched the +bank, nothing has been to be seen; and the voice has been heard no more +till the midnight of the next full moon." + +"It is very strange," said Robin. + +"Wondrous strange," said the friar, looking solemn. + +The voice again called "Over!" in a long plaintive musical cry. + +"I must go to it," said the friar, "or it will give us no peace. I would +all my customers were of this world. I begin to think that I am Charon, +and that this river is Styx." + +"I will go with you, friar," said Robin. + +"By my flask," said the friar, "but you shall not." + +"Then I will," said Marian. + +"Still less," said the friar, hurrying out of the cell. Robin and Marian +followed: but the friar outstepped them, and pushed off his boat. + +A white figure was visible under the shade of the opposite trees. +The boat approached the shore, and the figure glided away. The friar +returned. + +They re-entered the cottage, and sat some time conversing on the +phenomenon they had seen. The friar sipped his wine, and after a time, +said: + +"There is a tradition of a damsel who was drowned here some years ago. +The tradition is----" + +But the friar could not narrate a plain tale: he therefore cleared his +throat, and sang with due solemnity, in a ghostly voice: + + A damsel came in midnight rain, + And called across the ferry: + The weary wight she called in vain, + Whose senses sleep did bury. + At evening, from her father's door + She turned to meet her lover: + At midnight, on the lonely shore, + She shouted "Over, over!" + + She had not met him by the tree + Of their accustomed meeting, + And sad and sick at heart was she, + Her heart all wildly beating. + In chill suspense the hours went by, + The wild storm burst above her: + She turned her to the river nigh, + And shouted, "Over, over!" + + A dim, discoloured, doubtful light + The moon's dark veil permitted, + And thick before her troubled sight + Fantastic shadows flitted. + Her lover's form appeared to glide, + And beckon o'er the water: + Alas! his blood that morn had dyed + Her brother's sword with slaughter. + + Upon a little rock she stood, + To make her invocation: + She marked not that the rain-swoll'n flood + Was islanding her station. + The tempest mocked her feeble cry: + No saint his aid would give her: + The flood swelled high and yet more high, + And swept her down the river. + + Yet oft beneath the pale moonlight, + When hollow winds are blowing, + The shadow of that maiden bright + Glides by the dark stream's flowing. + And when the storms of midnight rave, + While clouds the broad moon cover, + The wild gusts waft across the wave + The cry of, "Over, over!" + + +While the friar was singing, Marian was meditating: and when he had +ended she said, "Honest friar, you have misplaced your tradition, which +belongs to the aestuary of a nobler river, where the damsel was +swept away by the rising of the tide, for which your land-flood is an +indifferent substitute. But the true tradition of this stream I think I +myself possess, and I will narrate it in your own way: + + It was a friar of orders free, + A friar of Rubygill: + At the greenwood-tree a vow made he, + But he kept it very ill: + A vow made he of chastity, + But he kept it very ill. + He kept it, perchance, in the conscious shade + Of the bounds of the forest wherein it was made: + But he roamed where he listed, as free as the wind, + And he left his good vow in the forest behind: + For its woods out of sight were his vow out of mind, + With the friar of Rubygill. + + In lonely hut himself he shut, + The friar of Rubygill; + Where the ghostly elf absolved himself, + To follow his own good will: + And he had no lack of canary sack, + To keep his conscience still. + And a damsel well knew, when at lonely midnight + It gleamed on the waters, his signal-lamp-light: + "Over! over!" she warbled with nightingale throat, + And the friar sprung forth at the magical note, + And she crossed the dark stream in his trim ferryboat, + With the friar of Rubygill." + + +"Look you now," said Robin, "if the friar does not blush. Many strange +sights have I seen in my day, but never till this moment did I see a +blushing friar." + +"I think," said the friar, "you never saw one that blushed not, or +you saw good canary thrown away. But you are welcome to laugh if it so +please you. None shall laugh in my company, though it be at my expense, +but I will have my share of the merriment. The world is a stage, +and life is a farce, and he that laughs most has most profit of the +performance. The worst thing is good enough to be laughed at, though +it be good for nothing else; and the best thing, though it be good for +something else, is good for nothing better." + +And he struck up a song in praise of laughing and quaffing, without +further adverting to Marian's insinuated accusation; being, perhaps, +of opinion, that it was a subject on which the least said would be the +soonest mended. + +So passed the night. In the morning a forester came to the friar, with +intelligence that Prince John had been compelled, by the urgency of +his affairs in other quarters, to disembarrass Nottingham Castle of +his royal presence. Our wanderers returned joyfully to their +forest-dominion, being thus relieved from the vicinity of any more +formidable belligerent than their old bruised and beaten enemy the +sheriff of Nottingham. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + Oh! this life + Is nobler than attending for a check, + Richer than doing nothing for a bribe + Prouder than rustling in unpaid-for silk.--Cymbeline. + + +So Robin and Marian dwelt and reigned in the forest, ranging the glades +and the greenwoods from the matins of the lark to the vespers of the +nightingale, and administering natural justice according to Robin's +ideas of rectifying the inequalities of human condition: raising +genial dews from the bags of the rich and idle, and returning them in +fertilising showers on the poor and industrious: an operation which more +enlightened statesmen have happily reversed, to the unspeakable benefit +of the community at large. The light footsteps of Marian were impressed +on the morning dew beside the firmer step of her lover, and they shook +its large drops about them as they cleared themselves a passage through +the thick tall fern, without any fear of catching cold, which was not +much in fashion in the twelfth century. Robin was as hospitable as +Cathmor; for seven men stood on seven paths to call the stranger to his +feast. It is true, he superadded the small improvement of making the +stranger pay for it: than which what could be more generous? For Cathmor +was himself the prime giver of his feast, whereas Robin was only +the agent to a series of strangers, who provided in turn for +the entertainment of their successors; which is carrying the +disinterestedness of hospitality to its acme. Marian often killed the +deer, + + Which Scarlet dressed, and Friar Tuck blessed + While Little John wandered in search of a guest. + +Robin was very devout, though there was great unity in his religion: it +was exclusively given to our Lady the Virgin, and he never set forth in +a morning till he had said three prayers, and had heard the sweet voice +of his Marian singing a hymn to their mutual patroness. Each of his men +had, as usual, a patron saint according to his name or taste. The +friar chose a saint for himself, and fixed on Saint Botolph, whom he +euphonised into Saint Bottle, and maintained that he was that very +Panomphic Pantagruelian saint, well known in ancient France as a female +divinity, by the name of La Dive Bouteille, whose oracular monosyllable +"Trincq," is celebrated and under-stood by all nations, and is +expounded by the learned doctor Alcofribas, [6] who has treated at large +on the subject, to signify "drink." Saint Bottle, then, was the saint of +Friar Tuck, who did not yield even to Robin and Marian in the assiduity +of his devotions to his chosen patron. Such was their summer life, and +in their winter caves they had sufficient furniture, ample provender, +store of old wine, and assuredly no lack of fuel, with joyous music and +pleasant discourse to charm away the season of darkness and storms. + + +The reader who desires to know more about this oracular divinity, may +consult the said doctor Alcofribas Nasier, who will usher him into the +adytum through the medium of the high priestess Bacbuc. + + +Many moons had waxed and waned, when on the afternoon of a lovely +summer day a lusty broad-boned knight was riding through the forest +of Sherwood. The sun shone brilliantly on the full green foliage, and +afforded the knight a fine opportunity of observing picturesque effects, +of which it is to be feared he did not avail himself. But he had not +proceeded far, before he had an opportunity of observing something +much more interesting, namely, a fine young outlaw leaning, in the true +Sherwood fashion, with his back against a tree. The knight was preparing +to ask the stranger a question, the answer to which, if correctly given, +would have relieved him from a doubt that pressed heavily on his mind, +as to whether he was in the right road or the wrong, when the youth +prevented the inquiry by saying: "In God's name, sir knight, you are +late to your meals. My master has tarried dinner for you these three +hours." + +"I doubt," said the knight, "I am not he you wot of. I am no where +bidden to day and I know none in this vicinage." + +"We feared," said the youth, "your memory would be treacherous: +therefore am I stationed here to refresh it." + +"Who is your master?" said the knight; "and where does he abide?" + +"My master," said the youth, "is called Robin Hood, and he abides hard +by." + +"And what knows he of me?" said the knight. + +"He knows you," answered the youth "as he does every way-faring knight +and friar, by instinct." + +"Gramercy," said the knight; "then I understand his bidding: but how if +I say I will not come?" + +"I am enjoined to bring you," said the youth. "If persuasion avail not, +I must use other argument." + +"Say'st thou so?" said the knight; "I doubt if thy stripling rhetoric +would convince me." + +"That," said the young forester, "we will see." + +"We are not equally matched, boy," said the knight. "I should get less +honour by thy conquest, than grief by thy injury." + +"Perhaps," said the youth, "my strength is more than my seeming, and my +cunning more than my strength. Therefore let it please your knighthood +to dismount." + +"It shall please my knighthood to chastise thy presumption," said the +knight, springing from his saddle. + +Hereupon, which in those days was usually the result of a meeting +between any two persons anywhere, they proceeded to fight. + +The knight had in an uncommon degree both strength and skill: the +forester had less strength, but not less skill than the knight, and +showed such a mastery of his weapon as reduced the latter to great +admiration. + +They had not fought many minutes by the forest clock, the sun; and had +as yet done each other no worse injury than that the knight had wounded +the forester's jerkin, and the forester had disabled the knight's plume; +when they were interrupted by a voice from a thicket, exclaiming, "Well +fought, girl: well fought. Mass, that had nigh been a shrewd hit. Thou +owest him for that, lass. Marry, stand by, I'll pay him for thee." + +The knight turning to the voice, beheld a tall friar issuing from the +thicket, brandishing a ponderous cudgel. + +"Who art thou?" said the knight. + +"I am the church militant of Sherwood," answered the friar. "Why art +thou in arms against our lady queen?" + +"What meanest thou?" said the knight. + +"Truly, this," said the friar, "is our liege lady of the forest, against +whom I do apprehend thee in overt act of treason. What sayest thou for +thyself?" + +"I say," answered the knight, "that if this be indeed a lady, man never +yet held me so long." + +"Spoken," said the friar, "like one who hath done execution. Hast thou +thy stomach full of steel? Wilt thou diversify thy repast with a taste +of my oak-graff? Or wilt thou incline thine heart to our venison which +truly is cooling? Wilt thou fight? or wilt thou dine? or wilt thou fight +and dine? or wilt thou dine and fight? I am for thee, choose as thou +mayest." + +"I will dine," said the knight; "for with lady I never fought before, +and with friar I never fought yet, and with neither will I ever fight +knowingly: and if this be the queen of the forest, I will not, being in +her own dominions, be backward to do her homage." + +So saying, he kissed the hand of Marian, who was pleased most graciously +to express her approbation. + +"Gramercy, sir knight," said the friar, "I laud thee for thy courtesy, +which I deem to be no less than thy valour. Now do thou follow me, while +I follow my nose, which scents the pleasant odour of roast from the +depth of the forest recesses. I will lead thy horse, and do thou lead my +lady." + +The knight took Marian's hand, and followed the friar, who walked before +them, singing: + + When the wind blows, when the wind blows + From where under buck the dry log glows, + What guide can you follow, + O'er brake and o'er hollow, + So true as a ghostly, ghostly nose? + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + Robin and Richard were two pretty men. + --Mother Goose's Melody. + + +They proceeded, following their infallible guide, first along a light +elastic greensward under the shade of lofty and wide-spreading trees +that skirted a sunny opening of the forest, then along labyrinthine +paths, which the deer, the outlaw, or the woodman had made, through the +close shoots of the young coppices, through the thick undergrowth of +the ancient woods, through beds of gigantic fern that filled the narrow +glades and waved their green feathery heads above the plume of the +knight. Along these sylvan alleys they walked in single file; the friar +singing and pioneering in the van, the horse plunging and floundering +behind the friar, the lady following "in maiden meditation fancy free," +and the knight bringing up the rear, much marvelling at the strange +company into which his stars had thrown him. Their path had expanded +sufficiently to allow the knight to take Marian's hand again, when they +arrived in the august presence of Robin Hood and his court. + +Robin's table was spread under a high overarching canopy of living +boughs, on the edge of a natural lawn of verdure starred with flowers, +through which a swift transparent rivulet ran sparkling in the sun. The +board was covered with abundance of choice food and excellent liquor, +not without the comeliness of snow-white linen and the splendour +of costly plate, which the sheriff of Nottingham had unwillingly +contributed to supply, at the same time with an excellent cook, whom +Little John's art had spirited away to the forest with the contents of +his master's silver scullery. + +An hundred foresters were here assembled over-ready for their dinner, +some seated at the table and some lying in groups under the trees. + +Robin bade courteous welcome to the knight, who took his seat between +Robin and Marian at the festal board; at which was already placed one +strange guest in the person of a portly monk, sitting between Little +John and Scarlet, with, his rotund physiognomy elongated into an +unnatural oval by the conjoint influence of sorrow and fear: sorrow for +the departed contents of his travelling treasury, a good-looking valise +which was hanging empty on a bough; and fear for his personal safety, +of which all the flasks and pasties before him could not give him +assurance. The appearance of the knight, however, cheered him up with +a semblance of protection, and gave him just sufficient courage to +demolish a cygnet and a rumble-pie, which he diluted with the contents +of two flasks of canary sack. + +But wine, which sometimes creates and often increases joy, doth also, +upon occasion, heighten sorrow: and so it fared now with our portly +monk, who had no sooner explained away his portion of provender, than he +began to weep and bewail himself bitterly. + +"Why dost thou weep, man?" said Robin Hood. "Thou hast done thine +embassy justly, and shalt have thy Lady's grace." + +"Alack! alack!" said the monk: "no embassy had I, luckless sinner, +as well thou wottest, but to take to my abbey in safety the treasure +whereof thou hast despoiled me." + +"Propound me his case," said Friar Tuck, "and I will give him ghostly +counsel." + +"You well remember," said Robin Hood, "the sorrowful knight who dined +with us here twelve months and a day gone by." + +"Well do I," said Friar Tuck. "His lands were in jeopardy with a certain +abbot, who would allow him no longer day for their redemption. Whereupon +you lent to him the four hundred pounds which he needed, and which he +was to repay this day, though he had no better security to give than our +Lady the Virgin." + +"I never desired better," said Robin, "for she never yet failed to +send me my pay; and here is one of her own flock, this faithful and +well-favoured monk of St. Mary's, hath brought it me duly, principal and +interest to a penny, as Little John can testify, who told it forth. To +be sure, he denied having it, but that was to prove our faith. We sought +and found it." + +"I know nothing of your knight," said the monk: "and the money was our +own, as the Virgin shall bless me." + +"She shall bless thee," said Friar Tuck, "for a faithful messenger." + +The monk resumed his wailing. Little John brought him his horse. Robin +gave him leave to depart. He sprang with singular nimbleness into the +saddle, and vanished without saying, God give you good day. + +The stranger knight laughed heartily as the monk rode off. + +"They say, sir knight," said Friar Tuck, "they should laugh who win: but +thou laughest who art likely to lose." + +"I have won," said the knight, "a good dinner, some mirth, and some +knowledge: and I cannot lose by paying for them." + +"Bravely said," answered Robin. "Still it becomes thee to pay: for it is +not meet that a poor forester should treat a rich knight. How much money +hast thou with thee?" + +"Troth, I know not," said the knight. "Sometimes much, sometimes little, +sometimes none. But search, and what thou findest, keep: and for the +sake of thy kind heart and open hand, be it what it may, I shall wish it +were more." + +"Then, since thou sayest so," said Robin, "not a penny will I touch. +Many a false churl comes hither, and disburses against his will: and +till there is lack of these, I prey not on true men." + +"Thou art thyself a true man, right well I judge, Robin," said the +stranger knight, "and seemest more like one bred in court than to thy +present outlaw life." + +"Our life," said the friar, "is a craft, an art, and a mystery. How much +of it, think you, could be learned at court?" + +"Indeed, I cannot say," said the stranger knight: "but I should +apprehend very little." + +"And so should I," said the friar: "for we should find very little +of our bold open practice, but should hear abundance of praise of our +principles. To live in seeming fellowship and secret rivalry; to have a +hand for all, and a heart for none; to be everybody's acquaintance, and +nobody's friend; to meditate the ruin of all on whom we smile, and to +dread the secret stratagems of all who smile on us; to pilfer honours +and despoil fortunes, not by fighting in daylight, but by sapping in +darkness: these are arts which the court can teach, but which we, by 'r +Lady, have not learned. But let your court-minstrel tune up his throat +to the praise of your court-hero, then come our principles into play: +then is our practice extolled not by the same name, for their Richard +is a hero, and our Robin is a thief: marry, your hero guts an exchequer, +while your thief disembowels a portmanteau, your hero sacks a city, +while your thief sacks a cellar: your hero marauds on a larger scale, +and that is all the difference, for the principle and the virtue are +one: but two of a trade cannot agree: therefore your hero makes laws to +get rid of your thief, and gives him an ill name that he may hang him: +for might is right, and the strong make laws for the weak, and they that +make laws to serve their own turn do also make morals to give colour to +their laws." + +"Your comparison, friar," said the stranger, "fails in this: that your +thief fights for profit, and your hero for honour. I have fought under +the banners of Richard, and if, as you phrase it, he guts exchequers, +and sacks cities, it is not to win treasure for himself, but to furnish +forth the means of his greater and more glorious aim." + +"Misconceive me not, sir knight," said the friar. "We all love and +honour King Richard, and here is a deep draught to his health: but I +would show you, that we foresters are miscalled by opprobrious names, +and that our virtues, though they follow at humble distance, are yet +truly akin to those of Coeur-de-Lion. I say not that Richard is a +thief, but I say that Robin is a hero: and for honour, did ever yet man, +miscalled thief, win greater honour than Robin? Do not all men grace him +with some honourable epithet? The most gentle thief, the most courteous +thief, the most bountiful thief, yea, and the most honest thief? Richard +is courteous, bountiful, honest, and valiant: but so also is Robin: +it is the false word that makes the unjust distinction. They are +twin-spirits, and should be friends, but that fortune hath differently +cast their lot: but their names shall descend together to the latest +days, as the flower of their age and of England: for in the pure +principles of freebootery have they excelled all men; and to the +principles of freebootery, diversely developed, belong all the qualities +to which song and story concede renown." + +"And you may add, friar," said Marian, "that Robin, no less than +Richard, is king in his own dominion; and that if his subjects be fewer, +yet are they more uniformly loyal." + +"I would, fair lady," said the stranger, "that thy latter observation +were not so true. But I nothing doubt, Robin, that if Richard could hear +your friar, and see you and your lady, as I now do, there is not a man +in England whom he would take by the hand more cordially than yourself." + +"Gramercy, sir knight," said Robin---- But his speech was cut short by +Little John calling, "Hark!" + +All listened. A distant trampling of horses was heard. The sounds +approached rapidly, and at length a group of horsemen glittering in +holyday dresses was visible among the trees. + +"God's my life!" said Robin, "what means this? To arms, my merrymen +all." + +"No arms, Robin," said the foremost horseman, riding up and springing +from his saddle: "have you forgotten Sir William of the Lee?" + +"No, by my fay," said Robin; "and right welcome again to Sherwood." + +Little John bustled to re-array the disorganised economy of the table, +and replace the dilapidations of the provender. + +"I come late, Robin," said Sir William, "but I came by a wrestling, +where I found a good yeoman wrongfully beset by a crowd of sturdy +varlets, and I staid to do him right." + +"I thank thee for that, in God's name," said Robin, "as if thy good +service had been to myself." + +"And here," said the knight, "is thy four hundred pound; and my men have +brought thee an hundred bows and as many well-furnished quivers; which +I beseech thee to receive and to use as a poor token of my grateful +kindness to thee: for me and my wife and children didst thou redeem from +beggary." + +"Thy bows and arrows," said Robin, "will I joyfully receive: but of thy +money, not a penny. It is paid already. My Lady, who was thy security, +hath sent it me for thee." + +Sir William pressed, but Robin was inflexible. + +"It is paid," said Robin, "as this good knight can testify, who saw my +Lady's messenger depart but now." + +Sir William looked round to the stranger knight, and instantly fell on +his knee, saying, "God save King Richard." + +The foresters, friar and all, dropped on their knees together, and +repeated in chorus: "God save King Richard." + +"Rise, rise," said Richard, smiling: "Robin is king here, as his lady +hath shown. I have heard much of thee, Robin, both of thy present and +thy former state. And this, thy fair forest-queen, is, if tales say +true, the lady Matilda Fitzwater." + +Marian signed acknowledgment. + +"Your father," said the king, "has approved his fidelity to me, by +the loss of his lands, which the newness of my return, and many public +cares, have not yet given me time to restore: but this justice shall be +done to him, and to thee also, Robin, if thou wilt leave thy forest-life +and resume thy earldom, and be a peer of Coeur-de-Lion: for braver heart +and juster hand I never yet found." + +Robin looked round on his men. + +"Your followers," said the king, "shall have free pardon, and such of +them as thou wilt part with shall have maintenance from me; and if ever +I confess to priest, it shall be to thy friar." + +"Gramercy to your majesty," said the friar; "and my inflictions shall +be flasks of canary; and if the number be (as in grave cases I may, +peradventure, make it) too great for one frail mortality, I will relieve +you by vicarious penance, and pour down my own throat the redundancy of +the burden." + +Robin and his followers embraced the king's proposal. A joyful meeting +soon followed with the baron and Sir Guy of Gamwell: and Richard himself +honoured with his own presence a formal solemnization of the nuptials of +our lovers, whom he constantly distinguished with his peculiar regard. + +The friar could not say, Farewell to the forest, without something of +a heavy heart: and he sang as he turned his back upon its bounds, +occasionally reverting his head: + + Ye woods, that oft at sultry noon + Have o'er me spread your messy shade: + Ye gushing streams, whose murmured tune + Has in my ear sweet music made, + While, where the dancing pebbles show + Deep in the restless fountain-pool + The gelid water's upward flow, + My second flask was laid to cool: + + Ye pleasant sights of leaf and flower: + Ye pleasant sounds of bird and bee: + Ye sports of deer in sylvan bower: + Ye feasts beneath the greenwood tree: + Ye baskings in the vernal sun: + Ye slumbers in the summer dell: + Ye trophies that this arm has won: + And must ye hear your friar's farewell? + + +But the friar's farewell was not destined to be eternal. He was +domiciled as the family confessor of the earl and countess of +Huntingdon, who led a discreet and courtly life, and kept up old +hospitality in all its munificence, till the death of King Richard and +the usurpation of John, by placing their enemy in power, compelled them +to return to their greenwood sovereignty; which, it is probable, they +would have before done from choice, if their love of sylvan liberty +had not been counteracted by their desire to retain the friendship +of Coeur-de-Lion. Their old and tried adherents, the friar among the +foremost, flocked again round their forest-banner; and in merry Sherwood +they long lived together, the lady still retaining her former name of +Maid Marian, though the appellation was then as much a misnomer as that +of Little John. + + +THE END. + + + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 1: Roasting by a slow fire for the love of God.] + +[Footnote 2: Of these lines all that is not in italics belongs to Mr. +Wordsworth: Resolution and Independence.] + +[Footnote 3: Harp-it-on: or, a corruption of (greek 'Erpeton), a +creeping thing.] + +[Footnote 4: + + And therefore is she called Maid Marian + Because she leads a spotless maiden life + And shall till Robin's outlaw life have end. + --Old Play.] + +[Footnote 5: + + "These byshoppes and these archbyshoppes + Ye shall them bete and bynde," + +says Robin Hood, in an old ballad. Perhaps, however, thus is to be taken +not in a literal, but in a figurative sense from the binding and beating +of wheat: for as all rich men were Robin's harvest, the bishops and +archbishops must have been the finest and fattest ears among them, from +which Robin merely proposes to thresh the grain when he directs them to +be bound and beaten: and as Pharaoh's fat kine were typical of fat ears +of wheat, so may fat ears of wheat, mutatis mutandis, be typical of fat +kine.] + +[Footnote 6: Alcofribas Nasier: an anagram of Francois Rabelais, and his +assumed appellation.] + + + + +VARIANTS IN THE TEXT + +Changes in spelling, use of capitals, punctuation and type are not +recorded. + +P. 15, ll. 12-13. and the bishops: and bishops 1822. + +P. 46, l. 12. united: re-united 1822. + +P. 63, l. 14. a posse of men: fifty men 1822. + +P. 74, l. 6. privation: imprisonment and privation 1822. + +P. 80, l. 29. tone: toll 1822. + +P. 153, ll. 21-23. daily of bad wine... more fastidious relish: every +day I grow more intolerant of bad, and have a keener and more fastidious +relish of good wine 1822. + +P. 159, l. 20. passed: past 1822. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Maid Marian, by Thomas Love Peacock + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MAID MARIAN *** + +***** This file should be named 966.txt or 966.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/9/6/966/ + +Produced by Charles Keller + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Association/Carnegie-Mellon + University" within the 60 days following each + date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) + your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution +you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Carnegie-Mellon University". + +*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +Maid Marian by Thomas Love Peacock + + + + + +Scanned by Charles Keller with OmniPage Professional OCR software + + + + + +MAID MARIAN + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +Now come ye for peace here, or come ye for war? SCOTT. + + +"The abbot, in his alb arrayed," stood at the altar in the abbey-chapel +of Rubygill, with all his plump, sleek, rosy friars, in goodly lines disposed, +to solemnise the nuptials of the beautiful Matilda Fitzwater, daughter of +the Baron of Arlingford, with the noble Robert Fitz-Ooth, Earl of Locksley +and Huntingdon. The abbey of Rubygill stood in a picturesque valley, +at a little distance from the western boundary of Sherwood Forest, in a spot +which seemed adapted by nature to be the retreat of monastic mortification, +being on the banks of a fine trout-stream, and in the midst of woodland +coverts, abounding with excellent game. The bride, with her father +and attendant maidens, entered the chapel; but the earl had not arrived. +The baron was amazed, and the bridemaidens were disconcerted. +Matilda feared that some evil had befallen her lover, but felt no diminution +of her confidence in his honour and love. Through the open gates of the +chapel she looked down the narrow road that wound along the side of the hill; +and her ear was the first that heard the distant trampling of horses, +and her eye was the first that caught the glitter of snowy plumes, +and the light of polished spears. "It is strange," thought the baron, +"that the earl should come in this martial array to his wedding;" +but he had not long to meditate on the phenomenon, for the foaming steeds +swept up to the gate like a whirlwind, and the earl, breathless with speed, +and followed by a few of his yeomen, advanced to his smiling bride. +It was then no time to ask questions, for the organ was in full peal, +and the choristers were in full voice. + +The abbot began to intone the ceremony in a style of modulation impressively +exalted, his voice issuing most canonically from the roof of his mouth, +through the medium of a very musical nose newly tuned for the occasion. +But he had not proceeded far enough to exhibit all the variety and compass +of this melodious instrument, when a noise was heard at the gate, and a party +of armed men entered the chapel. The song of the choristers died away +in a shake of demisemiquavers, contrary to all the rules of psalmody. +The organ-blower, who was working his musical air-pump with one hand, +and with two fingers and a thumb of the other insinuating a peeping-place +through the curtain of the organ-gallery, was struck motionless by the +double operation of curiosity and fear; while the organist, intent only +on his performance, and spreading all his fingers to strike a swell +of magnificent chords, felt his harmonic spirit ready to desert his body +on being answered by the ghastly rattle of empty keys, and in the consequent +agitato furioso of the internal movements of his feelings, was preparing +to restore harmony by the segue subito of an appoggiatura con foco with +the corner of a book of anthems on the head of his neglectful assistant, +when his hand and his attention together were arrested by the scene below. +The voice of the abbot subsided into silence through a descending scale +of long-drawn melody, like the sound of the ebbing sea to the explorers +of a cave. In a few moments all was silence, interrupted only by the iron +tread of the armed intruders, as it rang on the marble floor and echoed +from the vaulted aisles. + +The leader strode up to the altar; and placing himself opposite to the abbot, +and between the earl and Matilda, in such a manner that the four together +seemed to stand on the four points of a diamond, exclaimed, "In the name +of King Henry, I forbid the ceremony, and attach Robert Earl of Huntingdon as +a traitor!" and at the same time he held his drawn sword between the lovers, +as if to emblem that royal authority which laid its temporal ban upon +their contract. The earl drew his own sword instantly, and struck down +the interposing weapon; then clasped his left arm round Matilda, who sprang +into his embrace, and held his sword before her with his right hand. +His yeomen ranged themselves at his side, and stood with their swords drawn, +still and prepared, like men determined to die in his defence. +The soldiers, confident in superiority of numbers, paused. The abbot took +advantage of the pause to introduce a word of exhortation. "My children," +said he, "if you are going to cut each other's throats, I entreat you, +in the name of peace and charity, to do it out of the chapel." + +"Sweet Matilda," said the earl, "did you give your love to +the Earl of Huntingdon, whose lands touch the Ouse and the Trent, +or to Robert Fitz-Ooth, the son of his mother?" + +"Neither to the earl nor his earldom," answered Matilda firmly, +"but to Robert Fitz-Ooth and his love." + +"That I well knew," said the earl; "and though the ceremony +be incomplete, we are not the less married in the eye +of my only saint, our Lady, who will yet bring us together. +Lord Fitzwater, to your care, for the present, I commit +your daughter.--Nay, sweet Matilda, part we must for a while; +but we will soon meet under brighter skies, and be this the seal +of our faith." + +He kissed Matilda's lips, and consigned her to the baron, who glowered +about him with an expression of countenance that showed he was mortally +wroth with somebody; but whatever he thought or felt he kept to himself. +The earl, with a sign to his followers, made a sudden charge +on the soldiers, with the intention of cutting his way through. +The soldiers were prepared for such an occurrence, and a desperate +skirmish succeeded. Some of the women screamed, but none of them fainted; +for fainting was not so much the fashion in those days, when the ladies +breakfasted on brawn and ale at sunrise, as in our more refined age +of green tea and muffins at noon. Matilda seemed disposed to fly again +to her lover, but the baron forced her from the chapel. The earl's +bowmen at the door sent in among the assailants a volley of arrows, +one of which whizzed past the ear of the abbot, who, in mortal fear +of being suddenly translated from a ghostly friar into a friarly ghost, +began to roll out of the chapel as fast as his bulk and his holy robes +would permit, roaring "Sacrilege!" with all his monks at his heels, +who were, like himself, more intent to go at once than to stand upon +the order of their going. The abbot, thus pressed from behind, +and stumbling over his own drapery before, fell suddenly prostrate +in the door-way that connected the chapel with the abbey, +and was instantaneously buried under a pyramid of ghostly carcasses, +that fell over him and each other, and lay a rolling chaos of +animated rotundities, sprawling and bawling in unseemly disarray, +and sending forth the names of all the saints in and out of heaven, +amidst the clashing of swords, the ringing of bucklers, the clattering +of helmets, the twanging of bow-strings, the whizzing of arrows, +the screams of women, the shouts of the warriors, and the vociferations +of the peasantry, who had been assembled to the intended nuptials, +and who, seeing a fair set-to, contrived to pick a quarrel among +themselves on the occasion, and proceeded, with staff and cudgel, +to crack each other's skulls for the good of the king and the earl. +One tall friar alone was untouched by the panic of his brethren, +and stood steadfastly watching the combat with his arms a-kembo, +the colossal emblem of an unarmed neutrality. + +At length, through the midst of the internal confusion, the earl, +by the help of his good sword, the staunch valour of his men, +and the blessing of the Virgin, fought his way to the chapel-gate-- +his bowmen closed him in--he vaulted into his saddle, clapped spurs to +his horse, rallied his men on the first eminence, and exchanged his sword +for a bow and arrow, with which he did old execution among the pursuers, +who at last thought it most expedient to desist from offensive warfare, +and to retreat into the abbey, where, in the king's name, they broached +a pipe of the best wine, and attached all the venison in the larder, +having first carefully unpacked the tuft of friars, and set the fallen +abbot on his legs. + +The friars, it may be well supposed, and such of the king's men +as escaped unhurt from the affray, found their spirits a cup too low, +and kept the flask moving from noon till night. The peaceful brethren, +unused to the tumult of war, had undergone, from fear and discomposure, +an exhaustion of animal spirits that required extraordinary refection. +During the repast, they interrogated Sir Ralph Montfaucon, the leader +of the soldiers, respecting the nature of the earl's offence. + +"A complication of offences," replied Sir Ralph, "superinduced on the original +basis of forest-treason. He began with hunting the king's deer, in despite +of all remonstrance; followed it up by contempt of the king's mandates, +and by armed resistance to his power, in defiance of all authority; +and combined with it the resolute withholding of payment of certain moneys +to the abbot of Doncaster, in denial of all law; and has thus made himself the +declared enemy of church and state, and all for being too fond of venison." +And the knight helped himself to half a pasty. + +"A heinous offender," said a little round oily friar, +appropriating the portion of pasty which Sir Ralph had left. + +"The earl is a worthy peer," said the tall friar whom we have already +mentioned in the chapel scene, "and the best marksman in England." + +"Why this is flat treason, brother Michael," said the little round friar, +"to call an attainted traitor a worthy peer." + +"I pledge you," said brother Michael. The little friar +smiled and filled his cup. "He will draw the long bow," +pursued brother Michael, "with any bold yeoman among them all." + +"Don't talk of the long bow," said the abbot, who had the sound +of the arrow still whizzing in his ear: "what have we pillars +of the faith to do with the long bow?" + +"Be that as it may," said Sir Ralph, "he is an outlaw from this moment." + +"So much the worse for the law then," said brother Michael. "The law +will have a heavier miss of him than he will have of the law. +He will strike as much venison as ever, and more of other game. +I know what I say: but basta: Let us drink." + +"What other game?" said the little friar. "I hope he won't poach +among our partridges." + +"Poach! not he," said brother Michael: "if he wants your partridges, +he will strike them under your nose (here's to you), and drag your +trout-stream for you on a Thursday evening." + +"Monstrous! and starve us on fast-day," said the little friar. + +"But that is not the game I mean," said brother Michael. + +"Surely, son Michael," said the abbot, "you do not mean to insinuate +that the noble earl will turn freebooter?" + +"A man must live," said brother Michael, "earl or no. If the law +takes his rents and beeves without his consent, he must take beeves +and rents where he can get them without the consent of the law. +This is the lex talionis." + +"Truly," said Sir Ralph, "I am sorry for the damsel: +she seems fond of this wild runagate." + +"A mad girl, a mad girl," said the little friar. + +"How a mad girl?" said brother Michael. "Has she not beauty, +grace, wit, sense, discretion, dexterity, learning, and valour?" + +"Learning!" exclaimed the little friar; "what has a woman to do +with learning? And valour! who ever heard a woman commended for valour? +Meekness and mildness, and softness, and gentleness, and tenderness, +and humility, and obedience to her husband, and faith in her confessor, +and domesticity, or, as learned doctors call it, the faculty +of stayathomeitiveness, and embroidery, and music, and pickling, +and preserving, and the whole complex and multiplex detail of +the noble science of dinner, as well in preparation for the table, +as in arrangement over it, and in distribution around it to knights, +and squires, and ghostly friars,--these are female virtues: +but valour--why who ever heard----?" + +"She is the all in all," said brother Michael, "gentle as a ring-dove, +yet high-soaring as a falcon: humble below her deserving, +yet deserving beyond the estimate of panegyric: an exact economist +in all superfluity, yet a most bountiful dispenser in all liberality: +the chief regulator of her household, the fairest pillar of +her hall, and the sweetest blossom of her bower: having, in all +opposite proposings, sense to understand, judgment to weigh, +discretion to choose, firmness to undertake, diligence to conduct, +perseverance to accomplish, and resolution to maintain. +For obedience to her husband, that is not to be tried till she has one: +for faith in her confessor, she has as much as the law prescribes: +for embroidery an Arachne: for music a Siren: and for pickling +and preserving, did not one of her jars of sugared apricots give +you your last surfeit at Arlingford Castle?" + +"Call you that preserving?" said the little friar; "I call it destroying. +Call you it pickling? Truly it pickled me. My life was saved by miracle." + +"By canary," said brother Michael. "Canary is the only life preserver, +the true aurum potabile, the universal panacea for all diseases, thirst, +and short life. Your life was saved by canary." + +"Indeed, reverend father," said Sir Ralph, "if the young +lady be half what you describe, she must be a paragon: +but your commending her for valour does somewhat amaze me." + +"She can fence," said the little friar, "and draw the long bow, +and play at singlestick and quarter-staff." + +"Yet mark you," said brother Michael, "not like a virago or a hoyden, +or one that would crack a serving-man's head for spilling gravy on her ruff, +but with such womanly grace and temperate self-command as if those manly +exercises belonged to her only, and were become for her sake feminine." + +"You incite me," said Sir Ralph, "to view her more nearly. +That madcap earl found me other employment than to remark her +in the chapel." + +"The earl is a worthy peer," said brother Michael; "he is worth +any fourteen earls on this side Trent, and any seven on the other." +(The reader will please to remember that Rubygill Abbey was +north of Trent.) + +"His mettle will be tried," said Sir Ralph. "There is many a courtier +will swear to King Henry to bring him in dead or alive." + +"They must look to the brambles then," said brother Michael. + + "The bramble, the bramble, the bonny forest bramble, + Doth make a jest + Of silken vest, + That will through greenwood scramble: + The bramble, the bramble, the bonny forest bramble." + + +"Plague on your lungs, son Michael," said the abbot; "this is your old coil: +always roaring in your cups." + +"I know what I say," said brother Michael; "there is often more sense +in an old song than in a new homily. + + The courtly pad doth amble, + When his gay lord would ramble: + But both may catch + An awkward scratch, + If they ride among the bramble: + The bramble, the bramble, the bonny forest bramble." + + +"Tall friar," said Sir Ralph, "either you shoot the shafts of your merriment +at random, or you know more of the earl's designs than beseems your frock." + +"Let my frock," said brother Michael, "answer for its own sins. +It is worn past covering mine. It is too weak for a shield, +too transparent for a screen, too thin for a shelter, +too light for gravity, and too threadbare for a jest. +The wearer would be naught indeed who should misbeseem such +a wedding garment. + + But wherefore does the sheep wear wool? + That he in season sheared may be, + And the shepherd be warm though his flock be cool: + So I'll have a new cloak about me." + + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +Vray moyne si oncques en feut depuis que le monde moynant moyna +de moynerie.--RABELAIS. + + +The Earl of Huntingdon, living in the vicinity of a royal forest, +and passionately attached to the chase from his infancy, +had long made as free with the king's deer as Lord Percy +proposed to do with those of Lord Douglas in the memorable +hunting of Cheviot. It is sufficiently well known how severe +were the forest-laws in those days, and with what jealousy +the kings of England maintained this branch of their prerogative; +but menaces and remonstrances were thrown away on the earl, +who declared that he would not thank Saint Peter for admission +into Paradise, if he were obliged to leave his bow and hounds +at the gate. King Henry (the Second) swore by Saint Botolph +to make him rue his sport, and, having caused him to be duly +and formally accused, summoned him to London to answer the charge. +The earl, deeming himself safer among his own vassals than +among king Henry's courtiers, took no notice of the mandate. +King Henry sent a force to bring him, vi et armis, to court. +The earl made a resolute resistance, and put the king's force +to flight under a shower of arrows: an act which the courtiers +declared to be treason. At the same time, the abbot of Doncaster +sued up the payment of certain moneys, which the earl, +whose revenue ran a losing race with his hospitality, +had borrowed at sundry times of the said abbot: for the abbots +and the bishops were the chief usurers of those days, and, +as the end sanctifies the means, were not in the least scrupulous +of employing what would have been extortion in the profane, +to accomplish the pious purpose of bringing a blessing on the land +by rescuing it from the frail hold of carnal and temporal +into the firmer grasp of ghostly and spiritual possessors. +But the earl, confident in the number and attachment of +his retainers, stoutly refused either to repay the money, +which he could not, or to yield the forfeiture, which he would not: +a refusal which in those days was an act of outlawry in a gentleman, +as it is now of bankruptcy in a base mechanic; the gentleman +having in our wiser times a more liberal privilege of gentility, +which enables him to keep his land and laugh at his creditor. +Thus the mutual resentments and interests of the king and the abbot +concurred to subject the earl to the penalties of outlawry, +by which the abbot would gain his due upon the lands +of Locksley, and the rest would be confiscate to the king. +Still the king did not think it advisable to assail the earl +in his own strong-hold, but caused a diligent watch +to be kept over his motions, till at length his rumoured +marriage with the heiress of Arlingford seemed to point +out an easy method of laying violent hands on the offender. +Sir Ralph Montfaucon, a young man of good lineage and of an +aspiring temper, who readily seized the first opportunity +that offered of recommending himself to King Henry's favour +by manifesting his zeal in his service, undertook the charge: +and how he succeeded we have seen. + +Sir Ralph's curiosity was strongly excited by the friar's description +of the young lady of Arlingford; and he prepared in the morning +to visit the castle, under the very plausible pretext of giving +the baron an explanation of his intervention at the nuptials. +Brother Michael and the little fat friar proposed to be his guides. +The proposal was courteously accepted, and they set out together, +leaving Sir Ralph's followers at the abbey. The knight was mounted +on a spirited charger; brother Michael on a large heavy-trotting horse; +and the little fat friar on a plump soft-paced galloway, +so correspondent with himself in size, rotundity, and sleekness, +that if they had been amalgamated into a centaur, there would +have been nothing to alter in their proportions. + +"Do you know," said the little friar, as they wound along the banks +of the stream, "the reason why lake-trout is better than river-trout, +and shyer withal?" + +"I was not aware of the fact," said Sir Ralph. + +"A most heterodox remark," said brother Michael: "know you not, +that in all nice matters you should take the implication for absolute, +and, without looking into the FACT WHETHER, seek only the reason why? +But the fact is so, on the word of a friar; which what layman will venture +to gainsay who prefers a down bed to a gridiron?" + +"The fact being so," said the knight, "I am still at a loss for the reason; +nor would I undertake to opine in a matter of that magnitude: since, in all +that appertains to the good things either of this world or the next, +my reverend spiritual guides are kind enough to take the trouble of thinking +off my hands." + +"Spoken," said brother Michael, "with a sound Catholic conscience. +My little brother here is most profound in the matter of trout. +He has marked, learned, and inwardly digested the subject, twice a +week at least for five-and-thirty years. I yield to him in this. +My strong points are venison and canary." + +"The good qualities of a trout," said the little friar, +"are firmness and redness: the redness, indeed, being the visible +sign of all other virtues." + +"Whence," said brother Michael, "we choose our abbot by his nose: + + The rose on the nose doth all virtues disclose: + For the outward grace shows + That the inward overflows, + When it glows in the rose of a red, red nose." + + +"Now," said the little friar, "as is the firmness so is the redness, +and as is the redness so is the shyness." + +"Marry why?" said brother Michael. "The solution is not physical-natural, +but physical-historical, or natural-superinductive. And thereby hangs a tale, +which may be either said or sung: + + The damsel stood to watch the fight + By the banks of Kingslea Mere, + And they brought to her feet her own true knight + Sore-wounded on a bier. + + She knelt by him his wounds to bind, + She washed them with many a tear: + And shouts rose fast upon the wind, + Which told that the foe was near. + + "Oh! let not," he said, "while yet I live, + The cruel foe me take: + But with thy sweet lips a last kiss give, + And cast me in the lake." + + Around his neck she wound her arms, + And she kissed his lips so pale: + And evermore the war's alarms + Came louder up the vale. + + She drew him to the lake's steep side, + Where the red heath fringed the shore; + She plunged with him beneath the tide, + And they were seen no more. + + Their true blood mingled in Kingslea Mere, + That to mingle on earth was fain: + And the trout that swims in that crystal clear + Is tinged with the crimson stain. + + +"Thus you see how good comes of evil, and how a holy friar may fare +better on fast-day for the violent death of two lovers two hundred +years ago. The inference is most consecutive, that wherever you +catch a red-fleshed trout, love lies bleeding under the water: +an occult quality, which can only act in the stationary waters of a lake, +being neutralised by the rapid transition of those of a stream." + +"And why is the trout shyer for that?" asked Sir Ralph. + +"Do you not see?" said brother Michael. "The virtues of both +lovers diffuse themselves through the lake. The infusion +of masculine valour makes the fish active and sanguineous: +the infusion of maiden modesty makes him coy and hard to win: +and you shall find through life, the fish which is most +easily hooked is not the best worth dishing. But yonder are +the towers of Arlingford." + +The little friar stopped. He seemed suddenly struck with an awful thought, +which caused a momentary pallescence in his rosy complexion; and after +a brief hesitation, he turned his galloway, and told his companions +he should give them good day. + +"Why, what is in the wind now, brother Peter?" said Friar Michael. + +"The lady Matilda," said the little friar, "can draw the long-bow. She +must bear no goodwill to Sir Ralph; and if she should espy him from +her tower, she may testify her recognition with a cloth-yard shaft. +She is not so infallible a markswoman, but that she might shoot at a crow +and kill a pigeon. She might peradventure miss the knight, and hit me, +who never did her any harm." + +"Tut, tut, man," said brother Michael, "there is no such fear." + +"Mass," said the little friar, "but there is such a fear, +and very strong too. You who have it not may keep your way, +and I who have it shall take mine. I am not just now in the vein +for being picked off at a long shot." And saying these words, +he spurred up his four-footed better half, and galloped off +as nimbly as if he had had an arrow singing behind him. + +"Is this lady Matilda, then, so very terrible a damsel?" +said Sir Ralph to brother Michael. + +"By no means," said the friar. "She has certainly a high spirit; +but it is the wing of the eagle, without his beak or his claw. +She is as gentle as magnanimous; but it is the gentleness of the +summer wind, which, however lightly it wave the tuft of the pine, +carries with it the intimation of a power, that, if roused +to its extremity, could make it bend to the dust." + +"From the warmth of your panegyric, ghostly father," said the knight, +"I should almost suspect you were in love with the damsel." + +"So I am," said the friar, "and I care not who knows it; +but all in the way of honesty, master soldier. I am, +as it were, her spiritual lover; and were she a damsel errant, +I would be her ghostly esquire, her friar militant. +I would buckle me in armour of proof, and the devil might thresh me +black with an iron flail, before I would knock under in her cause. +Though they be not yet one canonically, thanks to your soldiership, +the earl is her liege lord, and she is his liege lady. +I am her father confessor and ghostly director: +I have taken on me to show her the way to the next world; +and how can I do that if I lose sight of her in this? seeing +that this is but the road to the other, and has so many +circumvolutions and ramifications of byeways and beaten paths +(all more thickly set than the true one with finger-posts +and milestones, not one of which tells truth), that a traveller +has need of some one who knows the way, or the odds go hard +against him that he will ever see the face of Saint Peter." + +"But there must surely be some reason," said Sir Ralph, +"for father Peter's apprehension." + +"None," said brother Michael, "but the apprehension itself; fear being +its own father, and most prolific in self-propagation. The lady did, +it is true, once signalize her displeasure against our little brother, +for reprimanding her in that she would go hunting a-mornings instead +of attending matins. She cut short the thread of his eloquence by +sportively drawing her bow-string and loosing an arrow over his head; +he waddled off with singular speed, and was in much awe of her for +many months. I thought he had forgotten it: but let that pass. +In truth, she would have had little of her lover's company, if she had +liked the chaunt of the choristers better than the cry of the hounds: +yet I know not; for they were companions from the cradle, and reciprocally +fashioned each other to the love of the fern and the foxglove. +Had either been less sylvan, the other might have been more saintly; +but they will now never hear matins but those of the lark, +nor reverence vaulted aisle but that of the greenwood canopy. +They are twin plants of the forest, and are identified with its growth. + + For the slender beech and the sapling oak, + That grow by the shadowy rill, + You may cut down both at a single stroke, + You may cut down which you will. + + But this you must know, that as long as they grow + Whatever change may be, + You never can teach either oak or beech + To be aught but a greenwood tree." + + + + + +CHAPTER III + +Inflamed wrath in glowing breast.--BUTLER. + + +The knight and the friar arriving at Arlingford Castle, +and leaving their horses in the care of lady Matilda's groom, +with whom the friar was in great favour, were ushered +into a stately apartment, where they found the baron alone, +flourishing an enormous carving-knife over a brother baron--of beef-- +with as much vehemence of action as if he were cutting down an enemy. +The baron was a gentleman of a fierce and choleric temperament: +he was lineally descended from the redoubtable Fierabras +of Normandy, who came over to England with the Conqueror, +and who, in the battle of Hastings, killed with his own +hand four-and-twenty Saxon cavaliers all on a row. +The very excess of the baron's internal rage on the preceding day +had smothered its external manifestation: he was so equally angry +with both parties, that he knew not on which to vent his wrath. +He was enraged with the earl for having brought himself into +such a dilemma without his privily; and he was no less enraged +with the king's men for their very unseasonable intrusion. +He could willingly have fallen upon both parties, but, he must +necessarily have begun with one; and he felt that on whichever +side he should strike the first blow, his retainers would +immediately join battle. He had therefore contented himself +with forcing away his daughter from the scene of action. +In the course of the evening he had received intelligence that +the earl's castle was in possession of a party of the king's men, +who had been detached by Sir Ralph Montfaucon to seize on it during +the earl's absence. The baron inferred from this that the earl's +case was desperate; and those who have had the opportunity +of seeing a rich friend fall suddenly into poverty, may easily +judge by their own feelings how quickly and completely the whole +moral being of the earl was changed in the baron's estimation. +The baron immediately proceeded to require in his daughter's mind +the same summary revolution that had taken place in his own, +and considered himself exceedingly ill-used by her non-compliance. +The lady had retired to her chamber, and the baron had passed +a supperless and sleepless night, stalking about his apartments +till an advanced hour of the morning, when hunger compelled +him to summon into his presence the spoils of the buttery, +which, being the intended array of an uneaten wedding feast, +were more than usually abundant, and on which, when the knight +and the friar entered, he was falling with desperate valour. +He looked up at them fiercely, with his mouth full of beef +and his eyes full of flame, and rising, as ceremony required, +made an awful bow to the knight, inclining himself forward +over the table and presenting his carving-knife en militaire, +in a manner that seemed to leave it doubtful whether he meant +to show respect to his visitor, or to defend his provision: +but the doubt was soon cleared up by his politely motioning +the knight to be seated; on which the friar advanced to the table, +saying, "For what we are going to receive," and commenced operations +without further prelude by filling and drinking a goblet of wine. +The baron at the same time offered one to Sir Ralph, +with the look of a man in whom habitual hospitality and courtesy +were struggling with the ebullitions of natural anger. +They pledged each other in silence, and the baron, having completed +a copious draught, continued working his lips and his throat, +as if trying to swallow his wrath as he had done his wine. +Sir Ralph, not knowing well what to make of these ambiguous signs, +looked for instructions to the friar, who by significant +looks and gestures seemed to advise him to follow his example +and partake of the good cheer before him, without speaking +till the baron should be more intelligible in his demeanour. +The knight and the friar, accordingly, proceeded to refect +themselves after their ride; the baron looking first at the one +and then at the other, scrutinising alternately the serious looks +of the knight and the merry face of the friar, till at length, +having calmed himself sufficiently to speak, he said, +"Courteous knight and ghostly father, I presume you have some +other business with me than to eat my beef and drink my canary; +and if so, I patiently await your leisure to enter on the topic." + +"Lord Fitzwater," said Sir Ralph, "in obedience to my royal master, +King Henry, I have been the unwilling instrument of frustrating +the intended nuptials of your fair daughter; yet will you, I trust, +owe me no displeasure for my agency herein, seeing that the noble +maiden might otherwise by this time have been the bride of an outlaw." + +"I am very much obliged to you, sir," said the baron; +"very exceedingly obliged. Your solicitude for my daughter is +truly paternal, and for a young man and a stranger very singular +and exemplary: and it is very kind withal to come to the relief +of my insufficiency and inexperience, and concern yourself +so much in that which concerns you not." + +"You misconceive the knight, noble baron," said the friar. +"He urges not his reason in the shape of a preconceived intent, +but in that of a subsequent extenuation. True, he has done +the lady Matilda great wrong----" + +"How, great wrong?" said the baron. "What do you mean by great wrong? +Would you have had her married to a wild fly-by-night, that accident +made an earl and nature a deer-stealer? that has not wit enough to eat +venison without picking a quarrel with monarchy? that flings away his +own lands into the clutches of rascally friars, for the sake of hunting +in other men's grounds, and feasting vagabonds that wear Lincoln green, +and would have flung away mine into the bargain if he had had my daughter? +What do you mean by great wrong?" + +"True," said the friar, "great right, I meant." + +"Right!" exclaimed the baron: "what right has any man to do my daughter +right but myself? What right has any man to drive my daughter's +bridegroom out of the chapel in the middle of the marriage ceremony, +and turn all our merry faces into green wounds and bloody coxcombs, +and then come and tell me he has done us great right?" + +"True," said the friar: "he has done neither right nor wrong." + +"But he has," said the baron, "he has done both, and I will maintain it +with my glove." + +"It shall not need," said Sir Ralph; "I will concede any thing in honour." + +"And I," said the baron, "will concede nothing in honour: +I will concede nothing in honour to any man." + +"Neither will I, Lord Fitzwater," said Sir Ralph, "in that sense: +but hear me. I was commissioned by the king to apprehend +the Earl of Huntingdon. I brought with me a party of soldiers, +picked and tried men, knowing that he would not lightly yield. +I sent my lieutenant with a detachment to surprise the earl's +castle in his absence, and laid my measures for intercepting +him on the way to his intended nuptials; but he seems to +have had intimation of this part of my plan, for he brought +with him a large armed retinue, and took a circuitous route, +which made him, I believe, somewhat later than his appointed hour. +When the lapse of time showed me that he had taken another track, +I pursued him to the chapel; and I would have awaited the close +of the ceremony, if I had thought that either yourself or your +daughter would have felt desirous that she should have been +the bride of an outlaw." + +"Who said, sir," cried the baron, "that we were desirous of any such thing? +But truly, sir, if I had a mind to the devil for a son-in-law, I would fain +see the man that should venture to interfere." + +"That would I," said the friar; "for I have undertaken to make +her renounce the devil." + +"She shall not renounce the devil," said the baron, "unless I please. +You are very ready with your undertakings. Will you undertake to make +her renounce the earl, who, I believe, is the devil incarnate? +Will you undertake that?" + +"Will I undertake," said the friar, "to make Trent run westward, +or to make flame burn downward, or to make a tree grow with its head +in the earth and its root in the air?" + +"So then," said the baron, "a girl's mind is as hard to change as nature and +the elements, and it is easier to make her renounce the devil than a lover. +Are you a match for the devil, and no match for a man?" + +"My warfare," said the friar, "is not of this world. +I am militant not against man, but the devil, who goes about +seeking what he may devour." + +"Oh! does he so?" said the baron: "then I take it that makes you look for him +so often in my buttery. Will you cast out the devil whose name is Legion, +when you cannot cast out the imp whose name is Love?" + +"Marriages," said the friar, "are made in heaven. Love is God's work, +and therewith I meddle not." + +"God's work, indeed!" said the baron, "when the ceremony was +cut short in the church. Could men have put them asunder, +if God had joined them together? And the earl is now no earl, +but plain Robert Fitz-Ooth: therefore, I'll none of him." + +"He may atone," said the friar, "and the king may mollify. +The earl is a worthy peer, and the king is a courteous king." + +"He cannot atone," said Sir Ralph. "He has killed the king's men; +and if the baron should aid and abet, he will lose his castle and land." + +"Will I?" said the baron; "not while I have a drop of blood in my veins. +He that comes to take them shall first serve me as the friar serves my +flasks of canary: he shall drain me dry as hay. Am I not disparaged? +Am I not outraged? Is not my daughter vilified, and made a mockery? +A girl half-married? There was my butler brought home with a broken head. +My butler, friar: there is that may move your sympathy. +Friar, the earl-no-earl shall come no more to my daughter." + +"Very good," said the friar. + +"It is not very good," said the baron, "for I cannot get her to say so." + +"I fear," said Sir Ralph, "the young lady must be much +distressed and discomposed." + +"Not a whit, sir," said the baron. "She is, as usual, in a most +provoking imperturbability, and contradicts me so smilingly that it +would enrage you to see her." + +"I had hoped," said Sir Ralph, "that I might have seen her, +to make my excuse in person for the hard necessity of my duty." + +He had scarcely spoken, when the door opened, and the lady +made her appearance. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +Are you mad, or what are you, that you squeak out your catches +without mitigation or remorse of voice? Twelfth Night. + + +Matilda, not dreaming of visitors, tripped into the apartment +in a dress of forest green, with a small quiver by her side, +and a bow and arrow in her hand. Her hair, black and glossy as +the raven's wing, curled like wandering clusters of dark ripe grapes +under the edge of her round bonnet; and a plume of black feathers fell +back negligently above it, with an almost horizontal inclination, +that seemed the habitual effect of rapid motion against the wind. +Her black eyes sparkled like sunbeams on a river: +a clear, deep, liquid radiance, the reflection of ethereal fire,-- +tempered, not subdued, in the medium of its living and gentle mirror. +Her lips were half opened to speak as she entered the apartment; +and with a smile of recognition to the friar, and a courtesy +to the stranger knight, she approached the baron and said, +"You are late at your breakfast, father." + +"I am not at breakfast," said the baron. "I have been at supper: +my last night's supper; for I had none." + +"I am sorry," said Matilda, "you should have gone to bed supperless." + +"I did not go to bed supperless," said the baron: +"I did not go to bed at all: and what are you doing with that +green dress and that bow and arrow?" + +"I am going a-hunting," said Matilda. + +"A-hunting!" said the baron. "What, I warrant you, to meet with the earl, +and slip your neck into the same noose?" + +"No," said Matilda: "I am not going out of our own woods to-day." + +"How do I know that?" said the baron. "What surety have I of that?" + +"Here is the friar," said Matilda. "He will be surety." + +"Not he," said the baron: "he will undertake nothing but where the devil +is a party concerned." + +"Yes, I will," said the friar: "I will undertake any thing +for the lady Matilda." + +"No matter for that," said the baron: "she shall not go hunting to day." + +"Why, father," said Matilda, "if you coop me up here in this odious castle, +I shall pine and die like a lonely swan on a pool. + +"No," said the baron, "the lonely swan does not die on the pool. +If there be a river at hand, she flies to the river, and finds her a mate; +and so shall not you." + +"But," said Matilda, "you may send with me any, or as many, +of your grooms as you will." + +"My grooms," said the baron, "are all false knaves. +There is not a rascal among them but loves you better than me. +Villains that I feed and clothe." + +"Surely," said Matilda, "it is not villany to love me: +if it be, I should be sorry my father were an honest man." +The baron relaxed his muscles into a smile. "Or my lover either," added +Matilda. The baron looked grim again. + +"For your lover," said the baron, "you may give God thanks of him. +He is as arrant a knave as ever poached." + +"What, for hunting the king's deer?" said Matilda. "Have I not heard +you rail at the forest laws by the hour?" + +"Did you ever hear me," said the baron, "rail myself out of house and land? +If I had done that, then were I a knave." + +"My lover," said Matilda, "is a brave man, and a true man, and a generous man, +and a young man, and a handsome man; aye, and an honest man too." + +"How can he be an honest man," said the baron, "when he has neither +house nor land, which are the better part of a man?" + +"They are but the husk of a man," said Matilda, "the worthless coat +of the chesnut: the man himself is the kernel." + +"The man is the grape stone," said the baron, "and the pulp of the melon. +The house and land are the true substantial fruit, and all that give him +savour and value." + +"He will never want house or land," said Matilda, "while the meeting +boughs weave a green roof in the wood, and the free range of the hart +marks out the bounds of the forest." + +"Vert and venison! vert and venison!" exclaimed the baron. +"Treason and flat rebellion. Confound your smiling face! +what makes you look so good-humoured? What! you think I can't +look at you, and be in a passion? You think so, do you? +We shall see. Have you no fear in talking thus, when here +is the king's liegeman come to take us all into custody, +and confiscate our goods and chattels?" + +"Nay, Lord Fitzwater," said Sir Ralph, "you wrong me in your report. +My visit is one of courtesy and excuse, not of menace and authority." + +"There it is," said the baron: "every one takes a pleasure +in contradicting me. Here is this courteous knight, who has +not opened his mouth three times since he has been in my house +except to take in provision, cuts me short in my story with +a flat denial." + +"Oh! I cry you mercy, sir knight," said Matilda; "I did not mark you before. +I am your debtor for no slight favour, and so is my liege lord." + +"Her liege lord!" exclaimed the baron, taking large strides +across the chamber. + +"Pardon me, gentle lady," said Sir Ralph. "Had I known you +before yesterday, I would have cut off my right hand ere it +should have been raised to do you displeasure. + +"Oh sir," said Matilda, "a good man may be forced on an ill office: +but I can distinguish the man from his duty." She presented to him +her hand, which he kissed respectfully, and simultaneously with the +contact thirty-two invisible arrows plunged at once into his heart, +one from every point of the compass of his pericardia. + +"Well, father," added Matilda, "I must go to the woods." + +"Must you?" said the baron; "I say you must not." + +"But I am going," said Matilda + +"But I will have up the drawbridge," said the baron. + +"But I will swim the moat," said Matilda. + +"But I will secure the gates," said the baron. + +"But I will leap from the battlement," said Matilda. + +"But I will lock you in an upper chamber," said the baron. + +"But I will shred the tapestry," said Matilda, "and let myself down." + +"But I will lock you in a turret," said the baron, "where you +shall only see light through a loophole." + +"But through that loophole," said Matilda, "will I take my flight, +like a young eagle from its eerie; and, father, while I go out freely, +I will return willingly: but if once I slip out through a loop-hole----" +She paused a moment, and then added, singing,-- + + The love that follows fain + Will never its faith betray: + But the faith that is held in a chain + Will never be found again, + If a single link give way. + + +The melody acted irresistibly on the harmonious propensities of the friar, +who accordingly sang in his turn,-- + + For hark! hark! hark! + The dog doth bark, + That watches the wild deer's lair. + The hunter awakes at the peep of the dawn, + But the lair it is empty, the deer it is gone, + And the hunter knows not where. + +Matilda and the friar then sang together,-- + + Then follow, oh follow! the hounds do cry: + The red sun flames in the eastern sky: + The stag bounds over the hollow. + He that lingers in spirit, or loiters in hall, + Shall see us no more till the evening fall, + And no voice but the echo shall answer his call: + Then follow, oh follow, follow: + Follow, oh follow, follow! + + +During the process of this harmony, the baron's eyes wandered from +his daughter to the friar, and from the friar to his daughter again, +with an alternate expression of anger differently modified: +when he looked on the friar, it was anger without qualification; +when he looked on his daughter it was still anger, but tempered +by an expression of involuntary admiration and pleasure. +These rapid fluctuations of the baron's physiognomy--the habitual, +reckless, resolute merriment in the jovial face of the friar,-- +and the cheerful, elastic spirits that played on the lips +and sparkled in the eyes of Matilda,--would have presented +a very amusing combination to Sir Ralph, if one of the three +images in the group had not absorbed his total attention +with feelings of intense delight very nearly allied to pain. +The baron's wrath was somewhat counteracted by the reflection +that his daughter's good spirits seemed to show that they +would naturally rise triumphant over all disappointments; +and he had had sufficient experience of her humour to know +that she might sometimes be led, but never could be driven. +Then, too, he was always delighted to hear her sing, though he was +not at all pleased in this instance with the subject of her song. +Still he would have endured the subject for the sake of the melody +of the treble, but his mind was not sufficiently attuned to unison +to relish the harmony of the bass. The friar's accompaniment +put him out of all patience, and--"So," he exclaimed, "this is +the way, you teach my daughter to renounce the devil, is it? +A hunting friar, truly! Who ever heard before of a hunting friar? +A profane, roaring, bawling, bumper-bibbing, neck-breaking, +catch-singing friar?" + +"Under favour, bold baron," said the friar; but the friar was warm +with canary, and in his singing vein; and he could not go on in plain +unmusical prose. He therefore sang in a new tune,-- + + Though I be now a grey, grey friar, + Yet I was once a hale young knight: + The cry of my dogs was the only choir + In which my spirit did take delight. + Little I recked of matin bell, + But drowned its toll with my clanging horn: + And the only beads I loved to tell + Were the beads of dew on the spangled thorn. + + +The baron was going to storm, but the friar paused, and Matilda +sang in repetition,-- + + Little I reck of matin bell, + But drown its toll with my clanging horn: + And the only beads I love to tell + Are the beads of dew on the spangled thorn. + + +And then she and the friar sang the four lines together, +and rang the changes upon them alternately. + +Little I reck of matin bell, + +sang the friar. + +"A precious friar," said the baron. + + +But drown its toll with my clanging horn, sang Matilda. + +"More shame for you," said the baron. + + And the only beads I love to tell + Are the beads of dew on the spangled thorn, + +sang Matilda and the friar together. + +"Penitent and confessor," said the baron: "a hopeful pair truly." + +The friar went on,-- + + An archer keen I was withal, + As ever did lean on greenwood tree; + And could make the fleetest roebuck fall, + A good three hundred yards from me. + Though changeful time, with hand severe, + Has made me now these joys forego, + Yet my heart bounds whene'er I hear + Yoicks! hark away! and tally ho! + + +Matilda chimed in as before. + +"Are you mad?" said the baron. "Are you insane? Are you possessed? +What do you mean? What in the devil's name do you both mean?" + +Yoicks! hark away! and tally ho! + +roared the friar. + +The baron's pent-up wrath had accumulated like the waters above the dam +of an overshot mill. The pond-head of his passion being now filled to +the utmost limit of its capacity, and beginning to overflow in the quivering +of his lips and the flashing of his eyes, he pulled up all the flash-boards +at once, and gave loose to the full torrent of his indignation, by seizing, +like furious Ajax, not a messy stone more than two modern men could raise, +but a vast dish of beef more than fifty ancient yeomen could eat, +and whirled it like a coit, in terrorem, over the head of the friar, +to the extremity of the apartment, + + Where it on oaken floor did settle, + With mighty din of ponderous metal. + + +"Nay father," said Matilda, taking the baron's hand, "do not harm the friar: +he means not to offend you. My gaiety never before displeased you. +Least of all should it do so now, when I have need of all my spirits +to outweigh the severity of my fortune." + +As she spoke the last words, tears started into her eyes, which, as if +ashamed of the involuntary betraying of her feelings, she turned away +to conceal. The baron was subdued at once. He kissed his daughter, +held out his hand to the friar, and said, "Sing on, in God's name, +and crack away the flasks till your voice swims in canary." +Then turning to Sir Ralph, he said, "You see how it is, sir knight. +Matilda is my daughter; but she has me in leading-strings, that is +the truth of it." + + + + +CHAPTER V + + 'T is true, no lover has that power + To enforce a desperate amour + As he that has two strings to his bow + And burns for love and money too.--BUTLER. + + +The friar had often had experience of the baron's testy humour; +but it had always before confined itself to words, +in which the habit of testiness often mingled more expression +of displeasure than the internal feeling prompted. +He knew the baron to be hot and choleric, but at the same time +hospitable and generous; passionately fond of his daughter, +often thwarting her in seeming, but always yielding to her in fact. +The early attachment between Matilda and the Earl of Huntingdon +had given the baron no serious reason to interfere with her habits +and pursuits, which were so congenial to those of her lover; +and not being over-burdened with orthodoxy, that is to say, +not being seasoned with more of the salt of the spirit than was +necessary to preserve him from excommunication, confiscation, +and philotheoparoptesism,[1] he was not sorry to encourage +his daughter's choice of her confessor in brother Michael, +who had more jollity and less hypocrisy than any of his fraternity, +and was very little anxious to disguise his love of the good things +of this world under the semblance of a sanctified exterior. +The friar and Matilda had often sung duets together, and had been +accustomed to the baron's chiming in with a stormy capriccio, +which was usually charmed into silence by some sudden turn +in the witching melodies of Matilda. They had therefore +naturally calculated, as far as their wild spirits calculated at all, +on the same effects from the same causes. But the circumstances +of the preceding day had made an essential alteration in the case. +The baron knew well, from the intelligence he had received, +that the earl's offence was past remission: which would +have been of less moment but for the awful fact of his castle +being in the possession of the king's forces, and in those days +possession was considerably more than eleven points of the law. +The baron was therefore convinced that the earl's outlawry +was infallible, and that Matilda must either renounce +her lover, or become with him an outlaw and a fugitive. +In proportion, therefore, to the baron's knowledge of the strength +and duration of her attachment, was his fear of the difficulty +of its ever being overcome: her love of the forest and the chase, +which he had never before discouraged, now presented itself +to him as matter of serious alarm; and if her cheerfulness +gave him hope on the one hand by indicating a spirit superior +to all disappointments, it was suspicious to him on the other, +as arising from some latent certainty of being soon united +to the earl. All these circumstances concurred to render +their songs of the vanished deer and greenwood archery and +Yoicks and Harkaway, extremely mal-a-propos, and to make +his anger boil and bubble in the cauldron of his spirit, +till its more than ordinary excitement burst forth with sudden +impulse into active manifestation. + +[1] Roasting by a slow fire for the love of God. + + + But as it sometimes happens, from the might + Of rage in minds that can no farther go, + As high as they have mounted in despite + In their remission do they sink as low, + To our bold baron did it happen so.[2] + + +[2] Of these lines all that is not in italics belongs to +Mr. Wordsworth: Resolution and Independence. + + +For his discobolic exploit proved the climax of his rage, and was +succeeded by an immediate sense that he had passed the bounds +of legitimate passion; and he sunk immediately from the very +pinnacle of opposition to the level of implicit acquiescence. +The friar's spirits were not to be marred by such a little incident. +He was half-inclined, at first, to return the baron's compliment; +but his love of Matilda checked him; and when the baron held out his hand, +the friar seized it cordially, and they drowned all recollection +of the affair by pledging each other in a cup of canary. + +The friar, having stayed long enough to see every thing replaced +on a friendly footing, rose, and moved to take his leave. +Matilda told him he must come again on the morrow, for she +had a very long confession to make to him. This the friar +promised to do, and departed with the knight. + +Sir Ralph, on reaching the abbey, drew his followers together, and led them +to Locksley Castle, which he found in the possession of his lieutenant; +whom he again left there with a sufficient force to hold it in safe +keeping in the king's name, and proceeded to London to report the results +of his enterprise. + +Now Henry our royal king was very wroth at the earl's evasion, +and swore by Saint Thomas-a-Becket (whom he had himself translated +into a saint by having him knocked on the head), that he would +give the castle and lands of Locksley to the man who should bring +in the earl. Hereupon ensued a process of thought in the mind +of the knight. The eyes of the fair huntress of Arlingford had +left a wound in his heart which only she who gave could heal. +He had seen that the baron was no longer very partial +to the outlawed earl, but that he still retained his old +affection for the lands and castle of Locksley. Now the lands +and castle were very fair things in themselves, and would be +pretty appurtenances to an adventurous knight; but they would +be doubly valuable as certain passports to the father's favour, +which was one step towards that of the daughter, or at least +towards obtaining possession of her either quietly or perforce; +for the knight was not so nice in his love as to consider +the lady's free grace a sine qua non: and to think of being, +by any means whatever, the lord of Locksley and Arlingford, +and the husband of the bewitching Matilda, was to cut in the shades +of futurity a vista very tempting to a soldier of fortune. +He set out in high spirits with a chosen band of followers, +and beat up all the country far and wide around both the Ouse +and the Trent; but fortune did not seem disposed to second +his diligence, for no vestige whatever could he trace of the earl. +His followers, who were only paid with the wages of hope, +began to murmur and fall off; for, as those unenlightened +days were ignorant of the happy invention of paper machinery, +by which one promise to pay is satisfactorily paid with another +promise to pay, and that again with another in infinite series, +they would not, as their wiser posterity has done, +take those tenders for true pay which were not sterling; +so that, one fine morning, the knight found himself sitting +on a pleasant bank of the Trent, with only a solitary squire, +who still clung to the shadow of preferment, because he did +not see at the moment any better chance of the substance. + +The knight did not despair because of the desertion of his followers: +he was well aware that he could easily raise recruits if he could +once find trace of his game; he, therefore, rode about indefatigably +over hill and dale, to the great sharpening of his own appetite +and that of his squire, living gallantly from inn to inn when +his purse was full, and quartering himself in the king's name +on the nearest ghostly brotherhood when it happened to be empty. +An autumn and a winter had passed away, when the course of his +perlustations brought him one evening into a beautiful sylvan valley, +where he found a number of young women weaving garlands of flowers, +and singing over their pleasant occupation. He approached them, +and courteously inquired the way to the nearest town. + +"There is no town within several miles," was the answer. + +"A village, then, if it be but large enough to furnish an inn?" + +"There is Gamwell just by, but there is no inn nearer than the nearest town." + +"An abbey, then?" + +"There is no abbey nearer than the nearest inn." + +"A house then, or a cottage, where I may obtain hospitality for the night?" + +"Hospitality!" said one of the young women; "you have not far to seek +for that. Do you not know that you are in the neighbourhood of Gamwell-Hall?" + +"So far from it," said the knight, "that I never heard the name +of Gamwell-Hall before." + +"Never heard of Gamwell-Hall?" exclaimed all the young women together, +who could as soon have dreamed of his never having heard of the sky. + +"Indeed, no," said Sir Ralph; "but I shall be very happy to get +rid of my ignorance." + +"And so shall I," said his squire; "for it seems that in this +case knowledge will for once be a cure for hunger, wherewith I +am grievously afflicted." + +"And why are you so busy, my pretty damsels, weaving these garlands?" +said the knight. + +"Why, do you not know, sir," said one of the young women, +"that to-morrow is Gamwell feast?" + +The knight was again obliged, with all humility, to confess his ignorance. + +"Oh! sir," said his informant, "then you will have something to see, +that I can tell you; for we shall choose a Queen of the May, and we +shall crown her with flowers, and place her in a chariot of flowers, +and draw it with lines of flowers, and we shall hang all the trees +with flowers, and we shall strew all the ground with flowers, +and we shall dance with flowers, and in flowers, and on flowers, +and we shall be all flowers." + +"That you will," said the knight; "and the sweetest and +brightest of all the flowers of the May, my pretty damsels." +On which all the pretty damsels smiled at him and each other. + +"And there will be all sorts of May-games, and there will +be prizes for archery, and there will be the knight's ale, +and the foresters' venison, and there will be Kit Scrapesqueak +with his fiddle, and little Tom Whistlerap with his fife and tabor, +and Sam Trumtwang with his harp, and Peter Muggledrone with +his bagpipe, and how I shall dance with Will Whitethorn!" +added the girl, clapping her hands as she spoke, and bounding +from the ground with the pleasure of the anticipation. + +A tall athletic young man approached, to whom the rustic maidens +courtesied with great respect; and one of them informed Sir Ralph +that it was young Master William Gamwell. The young gentleman +invited and conducted the knight to the hall, where he introduced +him to the old knight his father, and to the old lady his mother, +and to the young lady his sister, and to a number of bold yeomen, +who were laying siege to beef, brawn, and plum pie around a ponderous table, +and taking copious draughts of old October. A motto was inscribed +over the interior door,-- + +EAT, DRINK, AND BE MERRY: + +an injunction which Sir Ralph and his squire showed remarkable alacrity +in obeying. Old Sir Guy of Gamwell gave Sir Ralph a very cordial welcome, +and entertained him during supper with several of his best stories, enforced +with an occasional slap on the back, and pointed with a peg in the ribs; +a species of vivacious eloquence in which the; old gentleman excelled, +and which is supposed by many of that pleasant variety of the human spectes, +known by the name of choice fellows and comical dogs, to be the genuine +tangible shape of the cream of a good joke. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +What! shall we have incision? shall we embrew? Henry IV. + + +Old Sir Guy of Gamwell, and young William Gamwell, and fair +Alice Gamwell, and Sir Ralph Montfaucon and his squire, +rode together the next morning to the scene of the feast. +They arrived on a village green, surrounded with cottages peeping +from among the trees by which the green was completely encircled. +The whole circle was hung round with one continuous garland +of flowers, depending in irregular festoons from the branches. +In the centre of the green was a May-pole hidden in boughs +and garlands; and a multitude of round-faced bumpkins and +cherry-checked lasses were dancing around it, to the quadruple +melody of Scrapesqueak, Whistlerap, Trumtwang, and Muggledrone: +harmony we must not call it; for, though they had agreed to a partnership +in point of tune, each, like a true painstaking man, seemed determined +to have his time to himself: Muggledrone played allegretto, +Trumtwang allegro, Whistlerap presto, and Scrapesqueak prestissimo. +There was a kind of mathematical proportion in their discrepancy: +while Muggledrone played the tune four times, Trumtwang played +it five, Whistlerap six, and Scrapesqueak eight; for the latter +completely distanced all his competitors, and indeed worked his +elbow so nimbly that its outline was scarcely distinguishable +through the mistiness of its rapid vibration. + +While the knight was delighting his eyes and ears with these +pleasant sights and sounds, all eyes were turned in one direction; +and Sir Ralph, looking round, saw a fair lady in green and +gold come riding through the trees, accompanied by a portly +friar in grey, and several fair damsels and gallant grooms. +On their nearer approach, he recognised the lady Matilda and her +ghostly adviser, brother Michael. A party of foresters arrived +from another direction, and then ensued cordial interchanges +of greeting, and collisions of hands and lips, among the Gamwells +and the new-comers,--"How does my fair coz, Mawd?" and "How does +my sweet coz, Mawd?" and "How does my wild coz, Mawd?" And "Eh! +jolly friar, your hand, old boy:" and "Here, honest friar:" +and "To me, merry friar:" and "By your favour, mistress Alice:" +and "Hey! cousin Robin:" and "Hey! cousin Will:" +and "Od's life! merry Sir Guy, you grow younger every year,"-- +as the old knight shook them all in turn with one hand, and slapped +them on the back with the other, in token of his affection. +A number of young men and women advanced, some drawing, +and others dancing round, a floral car; and having placed a crown +of flowers on Matilda's head, they saluted her Queen of the May, +and drew her to the place appointed for the rural sports. + +A hogshead of ale was abroach under an oak, and a fire was blazing +in an open space before the trees to roast the fat deer which the +foresters brought. The sports commenced; and, after an agreeable series +of bowling, coiling, pitching, hurling, racing, leaping, grinning, +wrestling or friendly dislocation of joints, and cudgel-playing +or amicable cracking of skulls, the trial of archery ensued. +The conqueror was to be rewarded with a golden arrow from the hand +of the Queen of the May, who was to be his partner in the dance till +the close of the feast. This stimulated the knight's emulation: +young Gamwell supplied him with a bow and arrow, and he took his +station among the foresters, but had the mortification to be out-shot +by them all, and to see one of them lodge the point of his arrow +in the golden ring of the centre, and receive the prize from the hand +of the beautiful Matilda, who smiled on him with particular grace. +The jealous knight scrutinised the successful champion with +great attention, and surely thought he had seen that face before. +In the mean time the forester led the lady to the station. +The luckless Sir Ralph drank deep draughts of love from the matchless +grace of her attitudes, as, taking the bow in her left hand, +and adjusting the arrow with her right, advancing her left foot, +and gently curving her beautiful figure with a slight motion of her head +that waved her black feathers and her ringleted hair, she drew the arrow +to its head, and loosed it from her open fingers. The arrow struck +within the ring of gold, so close to that of the victorious forester +that the points were in contact, and the feathers were intermingled. +Great acclamations succeeded, and the forester led Matilda to the dance. +Sir Ralph gazed on her fascinating motions till the torments of baffled +love and jealous rage became unendurable; and approaching young Gamwell, +he asked him if he knew the name of that forester who was leading +the dance with the Queen of the May? + +"Robin, I believe," said young Gamwell carelessly; "I think they +call him Robin." + +"Is that all you know of him?" said Sir Ralph. + +"What more should I know of him?" said young Gamwell. + +"Then I can tell you," said Sir Ralph, "he is the outlawed Earl of Huntingdon, +on whose head is set so large a price." + +"Ay, is he?" said young Gamwell, in the same careless manner. + +"He were a prize worth the taking," said Sir Ralph. + +"No doubt," said young Gamwell. + +"How think you?" said Sir Ralph: "are the foresters his adherents?" + +"I cannot say," said young Gamwell. + +"Is your peasantry loyal and well-disposed?" said Sir Ralph. + +"Passing loyal," said young Gamwell. + +"If I should call on them in the king's name," said Sir Ralph, +"think you they would aid and assist?" + +"Most likely they would," said young Gamwell, "one side or the other." + +"Ay, but which side?" said the knight. + +"That remains to be tried," said young Gamwell. + +"I have King Henry's commission," said the knight, "to apprehend this +earl that was. How would you advise me to act, being, as you see, +without attendant force?" + +"I would advise you," said young Gamwell, "to take yourself off without delay, +unless you would relish the taste of a volley of arrows, a shower of stones, +and a hailstorm of cudgel-blows, which would not be turned aside by a God +save King Henry." + +Sir Ralph's squire no sooner heard this, and saw by the looks +of the speaker that he was not likely to prove a false prophet, +than he clapped spurs to his horse and galloped off with might +and main. This gave the knight a good excuse to pursue him, +which he did with great celerity, calling, "Stop, you rascal." +When the squire fancied himself safe out of the reach of pursuit, +he checked his speed, and allowed the knight to come up with him. +They rode on several miles in silence, till they discovered +the towers and spires of Nottingham, where the knight introduced +himself to the sheriff, and demanded an armed force to assist in +the apprehension of the outlawed Earl of Huntingdon. The sheriff, +who was willing to have his share of the prize, determined to accompany +the knight in person, and regaled him and his man with good store +of the best; after which, they, with a stout retinue of fifty men, +took the way to Gamwell feast. + +"God's my life," said the sheriff, as they rode along, +"I had as lief you would tell me of a service of plate. +I much doubt if this outlawed earl, this forester Robin, +be not the man they call Robin Hood, who has quartered +himself in Sherwood Forest, and whom in endeavouring +to apprehend I have fallen divers times into disasters. +He has gotten together a band of disinherited prodigals, +outlawed debtors, excommunicated heretics, elder sons that +have spent all they had, and younger sons that never had any +thing to spend; and with these he kills the king's deer, +and plunders wealthy travellers of five-sixths of their money; +but if they be abbots or bishops, them he despoils utterly." + +The sheriff then proceeded to relate to his companion the adventure +of the abbot of Doubleflask (which some grave historians have +related of the abbot of Saint Mary's, and others of the bishop +of Hereford): how the abbot, returning to his abbey in company +with his high selerer, who carried in his portmanteau the rents +of the abbey-lands, and with a numerous train of attendants, +came upon four seeming peasants, who were roasting the king's +venison by the king's highway: how, in just indignation at +this flagrant infringement of the forest laws, he asked them +what they meant, and they answered that they meant to dine: +how he ordered them to be seized and bound, and led captive +to Nottingham, that they might know wild-flesh to have been destined +by Providence for licensed and privileged appetites, and not for +the base hunger of unqualified knaves: how they prayed for mercy, +and how the abbot swore by Saint Charity that he would show them none: +how one of them thereupon drew a bugle horn from under his +smock-frock and blew three blasts, on which the abbot and his +train were instantly surrounded by sixty bowmen in green: +how they tied him to a tree, and made him say mass for their sins: +how they unbound him, and sate him down with them to dinner, +and gave him venison and wild-fowl and wine, and made him pay +for his fare all the money in his high selerer's portmanteau, +and enforced him to sleep all night under a tree in his cloak, +and to leave the cloak behind him in the morning: how the abbot, +light in pocket and heavy in heart, raised the country upon +Robin Hood, for so he had heard the chief forester called +by his men, and hunted him into an old woman's cottage: +how Robin changed dresses with the old woman, and how the abbot rode +in great triumph to Nottingham, having in custody an old woman in a +green doublet and breeches: how the old woman discovered herself: +how the merrymen of Nottingham laughed at the abbot: +how the abbot railed at the old woman, and how the old woman +out-railed the abbot, telling him that Robin had given her food +and fire through the winter, which no abbot would ever do, +but would rather take it from her for what he called the good +of the church, by which he meant his own laziness and gluttony; +and that she knew a true man from a false thief, and a free +forester from a greedy abbot. + +"Thus you see," added the sheriff, "how this villain perverts +the deluded people by making them believe that those who tithe +and toll upon them for their spiritual and temporal benefit are not +their best friends and fatherly guardians; for he holds that in +giving to boors and old women what he takes from priests and peers, +he does but restore to the former what the latter had taken from them; +and this the impudent varlet calls distributive justice. +Judge now if any loyal subject can be safe in such neighbourhood." + +While the sheriff was thus enlightening his companion concerning +the offenders, and whetting his own indignation against them, +the sun was fast sinking to the west. They rode on till they +came in view of a bridge, which they saw a party approaching +from the opposite side, and the knight presently discovered +that the party consisted of the lady Matilda and friar Michael, +young Gamwell, cousin Robin, and about half-a-dozen foresters. +The knight pointed out the earl to the sheriff, who exclaimed, +"Here, then, we have him an easy prey;" and they rode on manfully +towards the bridge, on which the other party made halt. + +"Who be these," said the friar, "that come riding so fast this way? +Now, as God shall judge me, it is that false knight Sir Ralph Montfaucon, +and the sheriff of Nottingham, with a posse of men. We must make good +our post, and let them dislodge us if they may." + +The two parties were now near enough to parley; and the sheriff +and the knight, advancing in the front of the cavalcade, +called on the lady, the friar, young Gamwell, and the foresters, +to deliver up that false-traitor, Robert, formerly Earl +of Huntingdon. Robert himself made answer by letting fly +an arrow that struck the ground between the fore feet of +the sheriff's horse. The horse reared up from the whizzing, +and lodged the sheriff in the dust; and, at the same time, +the fair Matilda favoured the knight with an arrow in his +right arm, that compelled him to withdraw from the affray. +His men lifted the sheriff carefully up, and replaced him on +his horse, whom he immediately with great rage and zeal urged +on to the assault with his fifty men at his heels, some of whom +were intercepted in their advance by the arrows of the foresters +and Matilda; while the friar, with an eight-foot staff, +dislodged the sheriff a second time, and laid on him with all +the vigour of the church militant on earth, in spite of his +ejaculations of "Hey, friar Michael! What means this, honest friar? +Hold, ghostly friar! Hold, holy friar!"--till Matilda interposed, +and delivered the battered sheriff to the care of the foresters. +The friar continued flourishing his staff among the sheriff's men, +knocking down one, breaking the ribs of another, dislocating +the shoulder of a third, flattening the nose of a fourth, +cracking the skull of a fifth, and pitching a sixth into the river, +till the few, who were lucky enough to escape with whole bones, +clapped spurs to their horses and fled for their lives, +under a farewell volley of arrows. + +Sir Ralph's squire, meanwhile, was glad of the excuse of +attending his master's wound to absent himself from the battle; +and put the poor knight to a great deal of unnecessary pain +by making as long a business as possible of extracting the arrow, +which he had not accomplished when Matilda, approaching, extracted it +with great facility, and bound up the wound with her scarf, +saying, "I reclaim my arrow, sir knight, which struck where I +aimed it, to admonish you to desist from your enterprise. +I could as easily have lodged it in your heart." + +"It did not need," said the knight, with rueful gallantry; +"you have lodged one there already." + +"If you mean to say that you love me," said Matilda, "it is more than I +ever shall you: but if you will show your love by no further interfering +with mine, you will at least merit my gratitude." + +The knight made a wry face under the double pain of heart and body caused +at the same moment by the material or martial, and the metaphorical +or erotic arrow, of which the latter was thus barbed by a declaration +more candid than flattering; but he did not choose to put in any such +claim to the lady's gratitude as would bar all hopes of her love: +he therefore remained silent; and the lady and her escort, leaving him +and the sheriff to the care of the squire, rode on till they came +in sight of Arlingford Castle, when they parted in several directions. +The friar rode off alone; and after the foresters had lost sight of him +they heard his voice through the twilight, singing,-- + + A staff, a staff, of a young oak graff, + That is both stoure and stiff, + Is all a good friar can needs desire + To shrive a proud sheriffe. + And thou, fine fellowe, who hast tasted so + Of the forester's greenwood game, + Wilt be in no haste thy time to waste + In seeking more taste of the same: + Or this can I read thee, and riddle thee well, + Thou hadst better by far be the devil in hell, + Than the sheriff of Nottinghame. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Now, master sheriff, what's your will with me? Henry IV. + + +Matilda had carried her point with the baron of ranging at liberty +whithersoever she would, under her positive promise to return home; +she was a sort of prisoner on parole: she had obtained this indulgence +by means of an obsolete habit of always telling the truth and keeping +her word, which our enlightened age has discarded with other barbarisms, +but which had the effect of giving her father so much confidence in her, +that he could not help considering her word a better security than +locks and bars. + +The baron had been one of the last to hear of the rumours of +the new outlaws of Sherwood, as Matilda had taken all possible +precautions to keep those rumours from his knowledge, fearing that +they might cause the interruption of her greenwood liberty; +and it was only during her absence at Gamwell feast, that the butler, +being thrown off his guard by liquor, forgot her injunctions, +and regaled the baron with a long story of the right merry +adventure of Robin Hood and the abbot of Doubleflask. + +The baron was one morning, as usual, cutting his way valorously +through a rampart of cold provision, when his ears were +suddenly assailed by a tremendous alarum, and sallying forth, +and looking from his castle wall, he perceived a large party +of armed men on the other side of the moat, who were calling on +the warder in the king's name to lower the drawbridge and raise +the portcullis, which had both been secured by Matilda's order. +The baron walked along the battlement till he came opposite +to these unexpected visitors, who, as soon as they saw him, +called out, "Lower the drawbridge, in the king's name." + +"For what, in the devil's name?" said the baron. + +"The sheriff of Nottingham," said one, "lies in bed grievously bruised, +and many of his men are wounded, and several of them slain; +and Sir Ralph Montfaucon, knight, is sore wounded in the arm; +and we are charged to apprehend William Gamwell the younger, +of Gamwell Hall, and father Michael of Rubygill Abbey, +and Matilda Fitzwater of Arlingford Castle, as agents and +accomplices in the said breach of the king's peace." + +"Breach of the king's fiddlestick!" answered the baron. +"What do you mean by coming here with your cock and bull, stories of my +daughter grievously bruising the sheriff of Nottingham? You are a set +of vagabond rascals in disguise; and I hear, by the bye, there is +a gang of thieves that has just set up business in Sherwood Forest: +a pretty presence, indeed, to get into my castle with force and arms, +and make a famine in my buttery, and a drought in my cellar, +and a void in my strong box, and a vacuum in my silver scullery." + +"Lord Fitzwater," cried one, "take heed how you resist lawful authority: +we will prove ourselves----" + +"You will prove yourselves arrant knaves, I doubt not," answered the baron; +"but, villains, you shall be more grievously bruised by me than ever was +the sheriff by my daughter (a pretty tale truly!), if you do not forthwith +avoid my territory." + +By this time the baron's men had flocked to the battlements, +with long-bows and cross-bows, slings and stones, +and Matilda with her bow and quiver at their head. +The assailants, finding the castle so well defended, deemed it +expedient to withdraw till they could return in greater force, +and rode off to Rubygill Abbey, where they made known their +errand to the father abbot, who, having satisfied himself +of their legitimacy, and conned over the allegations, +said that doubtless brother Michael had heinously offended; +but it was not for the civil law to take cognizance of the misdoings +of a holy friar; that he would summon a chapter of monks, +and pass on the offender a sentence proportionate to his offence. +The ministers of civil justice said that would not do. +The abbot said it would do and should; and bade them not +provoke the meekness of his catholic charity to lay them under +the curse of Rome. This threat had its effect, and the party +rode off to Gamwell-Hall, where they found the Gamwells +and their men just sitting down to dinner, which they saved +them the trouble of eating by consuming it in the king's +name themselves, having first seized and bound young Gamwell; +all which they accomplished by dint of superior numbers, +in despite of a most vigorous stand made by the Gamwellites +in defence of their young master and their provisions. + +The baron, meanwhile, after the ministers of justice had departed, +interrogated Matilda concerning the alleged fact of the grievous +bruising of the sheriff of Nottingham. Matilda told him the whole +history of Gamwell feast, and of their battle on the bridge, +which had its origin in a design of the sheriff of Nottingham +to take one of the foresters into custody. + +"Ay! ay!" said the baron, "and I guess who that forester was; +but truly this friar is a desperate fellow. I did not think +there could have been so much valour under a grey frock. +And so you wounded the knight in the arm. You are a +wild girl, Mawd,--a chip of the old block, Mawd. A wild girl, +and a wild friar, and three or four foresters, wild lads all, +to keep a bridge against a tame knight, and a tame sheriff, +and fifty tame varlets; by this light, the like was never heard! +But do you know, Mawd, you must not go about so any more, +sweet Mawd: you must stay at home, you must ensconce; +for there is your tame sheriff on the one hand, that will take +you perforce; and there is your wild forester on the other hand, +that will take you without any force at all, Mawd: your wild +forester, Robin, cousin Robin, Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest, +that beats and binds bishops, spreads nets for archbishops, +and hunts a fat abbot as if he were a buck: excellent game, +no doubt, but you must hunt no more in such company. I see it now: +truly I might have guessed before that the bold outlaw Robin, +the most courteous Robin, the new thief of Sherwood Forest, +was your lover, the earl that has been: I might have guessed +it before, and what led you so much to the woods; but you hunt +no more in such company. No more May games and Gamwell feasts. +My lands and castle would be the forfeit of a few more such pranks; +and I think they are as well in my hands as the king's, +quite as well." + +"You know, father," said Matilda, "the condition of keeping me at home: +I get out if I can, and not on parole." + +"Ay! ay!" said the baron, "if you can; very true: +watch and ward, Mawd, watch and ward is my word: if you can, +is yours. The mark is set, and so start fair." + +The baron would have gone on in this way for an hour; but the friar +made his appearance with a long oak staff in his hand, singing,-- + + Drink and sing, and eat and laugh, + And so go forth to battle: + For the top of a skull and the end of a staff + Do make a ghostly rattle. + + +"Ho! ho! friar!" said the baron--"singing friar, +laughing friar, roaring friar, fighting friar, hacking friar, +thwacking friar; cracking, cracking, cracking friar; +joke-cracking, bottle-cracking, skull-cracking friar!" + +"And ho! ho!" said the friar,--"bold baron, old baron, +sturdy baron, wordy baron, long baron, strong baron, +mighty baron, flighty baron, mazed baron, crazed baron, +hacked baron, thwacked baron; cracked, cracked, cracked baron; +bone-cracked, sconce-cracked, brain-cracked baron!" + +"What do you mean," said the baron, "bully friar, by calling me +hacked and thwacked?" + +"Were you not in the wars?" said the friar, "where he who +escapes untracked does more credit to his heels than his arms. +I pay tribute to your valour in calling you hacked and thwacked." + +"I never was thwacked in my life," said the baron; "I stood +my ground manfully, and covered my body with my sword. +If I had had the luck to meet with a fighting friar indeed, +I might have been thwacked, and soundly too; but I hold myself +a match for any two laymen; it takes nine fighting laymen +to make a fighting friar." + +"Whence come you now, holy father?" asked Matilda. + +"From Rubygill Abbey," said the friar, "whither I never return: + + For I must seek some hermit cell, + Where I alone my beads may tell, + And on the wight who that way fares + Levy a toll for my ghostly pray'rs, + Levy a toll, levy a toll, + Levy a toll for my ghostly pray'rs." + + +"What is the matter then, father?" said Matilda. + +"This is the matter," said the friar: "my holy brethren have held +a chapter on me, and sentenced me to seven years' privation of wine. +I therefore deemed it fitting to take my departure, which they would +fain have prohibited. I was enforced to clear the way with my staff. +I have grievously beaten my dearly beloved brethren: I grieve thereat; +but they enforced me thereto. I have beaten them much; I mowed them +down to the right and to the left, and left them like an ill-reaped field +of wheat, ear and straw pointing all ways, scattered in singleness and +jumbled in masses; and so bade them farewell, saying, Peace be with you. +But I must not tarry, lest danger be in my rear: therefore, farewell, +sweet Matilda; and farewell, noble baron; and farewell, sweet Matilda again, +the alpha and omega of father Michael, the first and the last." + +"Farewell, father," said the baron, a little softened; +"and God send you be never assailed by more than fifty men +at a time." + +"Amen," said the friar, "to that good wish." + +"And we shall meet again, father, I trust," said Matilda. + +"When the storm is blown over," said the baron. + +"Doubt it not," said the friar, "though flooded Trent were between us, +and fifty devils guarded the bridge." + +He kissed Matilda's forehead, and walked away without a song. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Let gallows gape for dog: let man go free. Henry V. + + +A page had been brought up in Gamwell-Hall, who, while he was little, +had been called Little John, and continued to be so called after +he had grown to be a foot taller than any other man in the house. +He was full seven feet high. His latitude was worthy of his longitude, +and his strength was worthy of both; and though an honest man by profession, +he had practiced archery on the king's deer for the benefit of his +master's household, and for the improvement of his own eye and hand, +till his aim had become infallible within the range of two miles. +He had fought manfully in defence of his young master, took his captivity +exceedingly to heart, and fell into bitter grief and boundless rage +when he heard that he had been tried in Nottingham and sentenced to die. +Alice Gamwell, at Little John's request, wrote three letters of one tenour; +and Little John, having attached them to three blunt arrows, saddled the +fleetest steed in old Sir Guy of Gamwell's stables, mounted, and rode first to +Arlingford Castle, where he shot one of the three arrows over the battlements; +then to Rubygill Abbey, where he shot the second into the abbey-garden; +then back past Gamwell-Hall to the borders of Sherwood Forest, +where he shot the third into the wood. Now the first of these arrows +lighted in the nape of the neck of Lord Fitzwater, and lodged itself firmly +between his skin and his collar; the second rebounded with the hollow +vibration of a drumstick from the shaven sconce of the abbot of Rubygill; +and the third pitched perpendicularly into the centre of a venison pasty +in which Robin Hood was making incision. + +Matilda ran up to her father in the court of Arlingford Castle, +seized the arrow, drew off the letter, and concealed it in her +bosom before the baron had time to look round, which he did +with many expressions of rage against the impudent villain +who had shot a blunt arrow into the nape of his neck. + +"But you know, father," said Matilda, "a sharp arrow in the same place would +have killed you; therefore the sending a blunt one was very considerate." + +"Considerate, with a vengeance!" said the baron. +"Where was the consideration of sending it at all? +This is some of your forester's pranks. He has missed you +in the forest, since I have kept watch and ward over you, +and by way of a love-token and a remembrance to you takes +a random shot at me." + +The abbot of Rubygill picked up the missile-missive or messenger arrow, +which had rebounded from his shaven crown, with a very unghostly +malediction on the sender, which he suddenly checked with a pious +and consolatory reflection on the goodness of Providence in having +blessed him with such a thickness of skull, to which he was now indebted +for temporal preservation, as he had before been for spiritual promotion. +He opened the letter, which was addressed to father Michael; +and found it to contain an intimation that William Gamwell was to be +hanged on Monday at Nottingham. + +"And I wish," said the abbot, "father Michael were to be hanged with him: +an ungrateful monster, after I had rescued him from the fangs of +civil justice, to reward my lenity by not leaving a bone unbruised +among the holy brotherhood of Rubygill." + +Robin Hood extracted from his venison pasty a similar intimation +of the evil destiny of his cousin, whom he determined, if possible, +to rescue from the jaws of Cerberus. + +The sheriff of Nottingham, though still sore with his bruises, +was so intent on revenge, that he raised himself from his bed +to attend the execution of William Gamwell. He rode to the august +structure of retributive Themis, as the French call a gallows, +in all the pride and pomp of shrievalty, and with a splendid +retinue of well-equipped knaves and varlets, as our ancestors +called honest serving-men. + +Young Gamwell was brought forth with his arms pinioned behind him; +his sister Alice and his father, Sir Guy, attending him in disconsolate mood. +He had rejected the confessor provided by the sheriff, and had insisted on +the privilege of choosing his own, whom Little John had promised to bring. +Little John, however, had not made his appearance when the fatal +procession began its march; but when they reached the place of execution, +Little John appeared, accompanied by a ghostly friar. + +"Sheriff," said young Gamwell, "let me not die with my hands pinioned: +give me a sword, and set any odds of your men against me, and let +me die the death of a man, like the descendant of a noble house, +which has never yet been stained with ignominy." + +"No, no," said the sheriff; "I have had enough of setting odds against you. +I have sworn you shall be hanged, and hanged you shall be." + +"Then God have mercy on me," said young Gamwell; "and now, holy friar, +shrive my sinful soul." + +The friar approached. + +"Let me see this friar," said the sheriff: "if he be the friar +of the bridge, I had as lief have the devil in Nottingham; +but he shall find me too much for him here." + +"The friar of the bridge," said Little John, "as you very +well know, sheriff, was father Michael of Rubygill Abbey, +and you may easily see that this is not the man." + +"I see it," said the sheriff; "and God be thanked for his absence." + +Young Gamwell stood at the foot of the ladder. The friar approached him, +opened his book, groaned, turned up the whites of his eyes, +tossed up his arms in the air, and said "Dominus vobiscum." +He then crossed both his hands on his breast under the folds +of his holy robes, and stood a few moments as if in inward prayer. +A deep silence among the attendant crowd accompanied this action +of the friar; interrupted only by the hollow tone of the death-bell, +at long and dreary intervals. Suddenly the friar threw off +his holy robes, and appeared a forester clothed in green, +with a sword in his right hand and a horn in his left. +With the sword he cut the bonds of William Gamwell, who instantly +snatched a sword from one of the sheriff's men; and with the horn +he blew a loud blast, which was answered at once by four bugles +from the quarters of the four winds, and from each quarter came +five-and-twenty bowmen running all on a row. + +"Treason! treason!" cried the sheriff. Old Sir Guy sprang to his +son's side, and so did Little John; and the four setting back +to back, kept the sheriff and his men at bay till the bowmen came +within shot and let fly their arrows among the sheriff's men, who, +after a brief resistance, fled in all directions. The forester, +who had personated the friar, sent an arrow after the flying sheriff, +calling with a strong voice, "To the sheriff's left arm, +as a keepsake from Robin Hood." The arrow reached its destiny; +the sheriff redoubled his speed, and, with the one arrow in his arm, +did not stop to breathe till he was out of reach of another. + +The foresters did not waste time in Nottingham, but were soon at a distance +from its walls. Sir Guy returned with Alice to Gamwell-Hall; but thinking +he should not be safe there, from the share he had had in his son's rescue, +they only remained long enough to supply themselves with clothes and money, +and departed, under the escort of Little John, to another seat of the Gamwells +in Yorkshire. Young Gamwell, taking it for granted that his offence +was past remission, determined on joining Robin Hood, and accompanied him +to the forest, where it was deemed expedient that he should change his name; +and he was rechristened without a priest, and with wine instead of water, +by the immortal name of Scarlet. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + Who set my man i' the stocks?---- + I set him there, Sir but his own disorders + Deserved much less advancement.--Lear. + + +The baron was inflexible in his resolution not to let Matilda leave +the castle. The letter, which announced to her the approaching +fate of young Gamwell, filled her with grief, and increased +the irksomeness of a privation which already preyed sufficiently +on her spirits, and began to undermine her health. She had no longer +the consolation of the society of her old friend father Michael: +the little fat friar of Rubygill was substituted as the castle confessor, +not without some misgivings in his ghostly bosom; but he was more +allured by the sweet savour of the good things of this world at +Arlingford Castle, than deterred by his awe of the lady Matilda, +which nevertheless was so excessive, from his recollection of the twang +of the bow-string, that he never ventured to find her in the wrong, +much less to enjoin any thing in the shape of penance, as was +the occasional practice of holy confessors, with or without cause, +for the sake of pious discipline, and what was in those days +called social order, namely, the preservation of the privileges +of the few who happened to have any, at the expense of the swinish +multitude who happened to have none, except that of working and +being shot at for the benefit of their betters, which is obviously +not the meaning of social order in our more enlightened times: +let us therefore be grateful to Providence, and sing Te Deum laudamus +in chorus with the Holy Alliance. + +The little friar, however, though he found the lady spotless, +found the butler a great sinner: at least so it was conjectured, +from the length of time he always took to confess him in the buttery. + +Matilda became every day more pale and dejected: her spirit, +which could have contended against any strenuous affliction, +pined in the monotonous inaction to which she was condemned. +While she could freely range the forest with her lover in +the morning, she had been content to return to her father's +castle in the evening, thus preserving underanged the balance +of her duties, habits, and affections; not without a hope that +the repeal of her lover's outlawry might be eventually obtained, +by a judicious distribution of some of his forest spoils among +the holy fathers and saints that-were-to-be,--pious proficients +in the ecclesiastic art equestrian, who rode the conscience +of King Henry with double-curb bridles, and kept it well in hand +when it showed mettle and seemed inclined to rear and plunge. +But the affair at Gamwell feast threw many additional +difficulties in the way of the accomplishment of this hope; +and very shortly afterwards King Henry the Second went to make +up in the next world his quarrel with Thomas-a-Becket; +and Richard Coeur de Lion made all England resound with +preparations for the crusade, to the great delight of many +zealous adventurers, who eagerly flocked under his banner +in the hope of enriching themselves with Saracen spoil, +which they called fighting the battles of God. Richard, who was +not remarkably scrupulous in his financial operations, +was not likely to overlook the lands and castle of Locksley, +which he appropriated immediately to his own purposes, and sold +to the highest bidder. Now, as the repeal of the outlawry would +involve the restitution of the estates to the rightful owner, +it was obvious that it could never be expected from that +most legitimate and most Christian king, Richard the First +of England, the arch-crusader and anti-jacobin by excellence,-- +the very type, flower, cream, pink, symbol, and mirror +of all the Holy Alliances that have ever existed on earth, +excepting that he seasoned his superstition and love +of conquest with a certain condiment of romantic generosity +and chivalrous self-devotion, with which his imitators +in all other points have found it convenient to dispense. +To give freely to one man what he had taken forcibly from another, +was generosity of which he was very capable; but to restore +what he had taken to the man from whom he had taken it, +was something that wore too much of the cool physiognomy +of justice to be easily reconcileable to his kingly feelings. +He had, besides, not only sent all King Henry's saints +about their business, or rather about their no-business-- +their faineantise--but he had laid them under rigorous +contribution for the purposes of his holy war; and having +made them refund to the piety of the successor what they had +extracted from the piety of the precursor, he compelled them, +in addition, to give him their blessing for nothing. +Matilda, therefore, from all these circumstances, felt little +hope that her lover would be any thing but an outlaw for life. + +The departure of King Richard from England was succeeded by the episcopal +regency of the bishops of Ely and Durham. Longchamp, bishop of Ely, +proceeded to show his sense of Christian fellowship by arresting his +brother bishop, and despoiling him of his share in the government; +and to set forth his humility and loving-kindness in a retinue of nobles +and knights who consumed in one night's entertainment some five years' +revenue of their entertainer, and in a guard of fifteen hundred +foreign soldiers, whom he considered indispensable to the exercise +of a vigour beyond the law in maintaining wholesome discipline over +the refractory English. The ignorant impatience of the swinish multitude +with these fruits of good living, brought forth by one of the meek who +had inherited the earth, displayed itself in a general ferment, of which +Prince John took advantage to make the experiment of getting possession +of his brother's crown in his absence. He began by calling at Reading +a council of barons, whose aspect induced the holy bishop to disguise himself +(some say as an old woman, which, in the twelfth century, perhaps might +have been a disguise for a bishop), and make his escape beyond sea. +Prince John followed up his advantage by obtaining possession of several +strong posts, and among others of the castle of Nottingham. + +While John was conducting his operations at Nottingham, he rode +at times past the castle of Arlingford. He stopped on one occasion +to claim Lord Fitzwater's hospitality, and made most princely +havoc among his venison and brawn. Now it is a matter of record +among divers great historians and learned clerks, that he was then +and there grievously smitten by the charms of the lovely Matilda, +and that a few days after he despatched his travelling minstrel, +or laureate, Harpiton,[3] (whom he retained at moderate wages, +to keep a journal of his proceedings, and prove them all just and +legitimate), to the castle of Arlingford, to make proposals to the lady. +This Harpiton was a very useful person. He was always ready, +not only to maintain the cause of his master with his pen, and to sing +his eulogies to his harp, but to undertake at a moment's notice +any kind of courtly employment, called dirty work by the profane, +which the blessings of civil government, namely, his master's pleasure, +and the interests of social order, namely, his own emolument, +might require. In short, + + Il eut l'emploi qui certes n'est pas mince, + Et qu'a la cour, ou tout se peint en beau, + On appelloit etre l'ami du prince; + Mais qu'a la ville, et surtout en province, + Les gens grossiers ont nomme maquereau. + + +[3] Harp-it-on: or, a corruption of <greek 'Erpeton>, a creeping thing. + + + +Prince John was of opinion that the love of a prince actual and +king expectant, was in itself a sufficient honour to the daughter +of a simple baron, and that the right divine or royalty would +make it sufficiently holy without the rite divine of the church. +He was, therefore, graciously pleased to fall into an exceeding +passion, when his confidential messenger returned from his +embassy in piteous plight, having been, by the baron's order, +first tossed in a blanket and set in the stocks to cool, +and afterwards ducked in the moat and set again in the stocks +to dry. John swore to revenge horribly this flagrant outrage +on royal prerogative, and to obtain possession of the lady +by force of arms; and accordingly collected a body of troops, +and marched upon Arlingford castle. A letter, conveyed as before +on the point of a blunt arrow, announced his approach to Matilda: +and lord Fitzwater had just time to assemble his retainers, +collect a hasty supply of provision, raise the draw-bridge, and drop +the portcullis, when the castle was surrounded by the enemy. +The little fat friar, who during the confusion was asleep in the buttery, +found himself, on awaking, inclosed in the besieged castle, +and dolefully bewailed his evil chance. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +A noble girl, i' faith. Heart! I think I fight with a familiar, +or the ghost of a fencer. Call you this an amorous visage? +Here's blood that would have served me these seven years, +in broken heads and cut fingers, and now it runs out +all together.--MIDDLETON. Roaring Girl. + + +Prince John sat down impatiently before Arlingford castle in the hope +of starving out the besieged; but finding the duration of their supplies +extend itself in an equal ratio with the prolongation of his hope, +he made vigorous preparations for carrying the place by storm. +He constructed an immense machine on wheels, which, being advanced +to the edge of the moat, would lower a temporary bridge, of which +one end would rest on the bank, and the other on the battlements, +and which, being well furnished with stepping boards, would enable +his men to ascend the inclined plane with speed and facility. +Matilda received intimation of this design by the usual friendly channel +of a blunt arrow, which must either have been sent from some secret +friend in the prince's camp, or from some vigorous archer beyond it: +the latter will not appear improbable, when we consider that Robin Hood +and Little John could shoot two English miles and an inch point-blank, + +Come scrive Turpino, che non erra. + + +The machine was completed, and the ensuing morning fixed for the assault. +Six men, relieved at intervals, kept watch over it during the night. +Prince John retired to sleep, congratulating himself in the expectation +that another day would place the fair culprit at his princely mercy. +His anticipations mingled with the visions of his slumber, and he dreamed +of wounds and drums, and sacking and firing the castle, and bearing off +in his arms the beautiful prize through the midst of fire and smoke. +In the height of this imaginary turmoil, he awoke, and conceived for a few +moments that certain sounds which rang in his ears, were the continuation +of those of his dream, in that sort of half-consciousness between +sleeping and waking, when reality and phantasy meet and mingle in dim +and confused resemblance. He was, however, very soon fully awake +to the fact of his guards calling on him to arm, which he did in haste, +and beheld the machine in flames, and a furious conflict raging around it. +He hurried to the spot, and found that his camp had been suddenly assailed +from one side by a party of foresters, and that the baron's people +had made a sortie on the other, and that they had killed the guards, +and set fire to the machine, before the rest of the camp could come +to the assistance of their fellows. + +The night was in itself intensely dark, and the fire-light +shed around it a vivid and unnatural radiance. On one side, +the crimson light quivered by its own agitation on the waveless moat, +and on the bastions and buttresses of the castle, and their +shadows lay in massy blackness on the illuminated walls: +on the other, it shone upon the woods, streaming far within +among the open trunks, or resting on the closer foliage. +The circumference of darkness bounded the scene on all sides: +and in the centre raged the war; shields, helmets, and bucklers +gleaming and glittering as they rang and clashed against each other; +plumes confusedly tossing in the crimson light, and the messy +light and shade that fell on the faces of the combatants, +giving additional energy to their ferocious expression. + +John, drawing nearer to the scene of action, observed two young warriors +fighting side by side, one of whom wore the habit of a forester, +the other that of a retainer of Arlingford. He looked intently on +them both: their position towards the fire favoured the scrutiny; +and the hawk's eye of love very speedily discovered that the +latter was the fair Matilda. The forester he did not know: +but he had sufficient tact to discern that his success would be very much +facilitated by separating her from this companion, above all others. +He therefore formed a party of men into a wedge, only taking especial +care not to be the point of it himself, and drove it between them +with so much precision, that they were in a moment far asunder. + +"Lady Matilda," said John, "yield yourself my prisoner." + +"If you would wear me, prince," said Matilda, "you must win me:" +and without giving him time to deliberate on the courtesy of fighting +with the lady of his love, she raised her sword in the air, and lowered +it on his head with an impetus that would have gone nigh to fathom +even that extraordinary depth of brain which always by divine grace +furnishes the interior of a head-royal, if he had not very dexterously +parried the blow. Prince John wished to disarm and take captive, +not in any way to wound or injure, least of all to kill, his fair opponent. +Matilda was only intent to get rid of her antagonist at any rate: +the edge of her weapon painted his complexion with streaks of very +unloverlike crimson, and she would probably have marred John's hand +for ever signing Magna Charta, but that he was backed by the advantage +of numbers, and that her sword broke short on the boss of his buckler. +John was following up his advantage to make a captive of the lady, +when he was suddenly felled to the earth by an unseen antagonist. +Some of his men picked him carefully up, and conveyed him to his tent, +stunned and stupified. + +When he recovered, he found Harpiton diligently assisting in his recovery, +more in the fear of losing his place than in that of losing his master: +the prince's first inquiry was for the prisoner he had been on the point +of taking at the moment when his habeas corpus was so unseasonably suspended. +He was told that his people had been on the point of securing the said +prisoner, when the devil suddenly appeared among them in the likeness +of a tall friar, having his grey frock cinctured with a sword-belt, +and his crown, which whether it were shaven or no they could not see, +surmounted with a helmet, and flourishing an eight-foot staff, +with which he laid about him to the right and to the left, knocking down +the prince and his men as if they had been so many nine-pins: in fine, +he had rescued the prisoner, and made a clear passage through friend and foe, +and in conjunction with a chosen party of archers, had covered the retreat +of the baron's men and the foresters, who had all gone off in a body +towards Sherwood forest. + +Harpiton suggested that it would be desirable to sack the castle, +and volunteered to lead the van on the occasion, as the defenders were +withdrawn, and the exploit seemed to promise much profit and little danger: +John considered that the castle would in itself be a great acquisition to him, +as a stronghold in furtherance of his design on his brother's throne; +and was determining to take possession with the first light of morning, +when he had the mortification to see the castle burst into flames in several +places at once. A piteous cry was heard from within, and while the prince +was proclaiming a reward to any one who would enter into the burning pile, +and elucidate the mystery of the doleful voice, forth waddled the little +fat friar in an agony of fear, out of the fire into the frying-pan; +for he was instantly taken into custody and carried before Prince John, +wringing his hands and tearing his hair. + +"Are you the friar," said Prince John, in a terrible voice, +"that laid me prostrate in battle, mowed down my men like grass, +rescued my captive, and covered the retreat of my enemies? +And, not content with this, have you now set fire to the castle +in which I intended to take up my royal quarters?" + +The little friar quaked like a jelly: he fell on his knees, +and attempted to speak; but in his eagerness to vindicate himself +from this accumulation of alarming charges, he knew not where to begin; +his ideas rolled round upon each other like the radii of a wheel; +the words he desired to utter, instead of issuing, as it were, +in a right line from his lips, seemed to conglobate themselves +into a sphere turning on its own axis in his throat: +after several ineffectual efforts, his utterance totally failed him, +and he remained gasping, with his mouth open, his lips quivering, +his hands clasped together, and the whites of his eyes turned up +towards the prince with an expression most ruefully imploring. + +"Are you that friar?" repeated the prince. + +Several of the by-standers declared that he was not that friar. The little +friar, encouraged by this patronage, found his voice, and pleaded for mercy. +The prince questioned him closely concerning the burning of the castle. +The little friar declared, that he had been in too great fear during the siege +to know much of what was going forward, except that he had been conscious +during the last few days of a lamentable deficiency of provisions, and had +been present that very morning at the broaching of the last butt of sack. +Harpiton groaned in sympathy. The little friar added, that he knew nothing +of what had passed since till he heard the flames roaring at his elbow. + +"Take him away, Harpiton," said the prince, "fill him with sack, +and turn him out." + +"Never mind the sack," said the little friar, "turn me out at once." + +"A sad chance," said Harpiton, "to be turned out without sack." + +But what Harpiton thought a sad chance the little friar thought a merry one, +and went bounding like a fat buck towards the abbey of Rubygill. + +An arrow, with a letter attached to it, was shot into the camp, +and carried to the prince. The contents were these:-- + +"Prince John,--I do not consider myself to have resisted lawful authority +in defending my castle against you, seeing that you are at present +in a state of active rebellion against your liege sovereign Richard: +and if my provisions had not failed me, I would have maintained it +till doomsday. As it is, I have so well disposed my combustibles +that it shall not serve you as a strong hold in your rebellion. +If you hunt in the chases of Nottinghamshire, you may catch other +game than my daughter. Both she and I are content to be houseless +for a time, in the reflection that we have deserved your enmity, +and the friendship of Coeur-de-Lion. "FITZWATER." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + --Tuck, the merry friar, who many a sermon made + In praise of Robin Hood, his outlaws, and their trade. + DRAYTON. + + +The baron, with some of his retainers and all the foresters, halted at +daybreak in Sherwood forest. The foresters quickly erected tents, +and prepared an abundant breakfast of venison and ale. + +"Now, Lord Fitzwater," said the chief forester, "recognise your son-in-law +that was to have been, in the outlaw Robin Hood." + +"Ay, ay," said the baron, "I have recognised you long ago." + +"And recognise your young friend Gamwell," said the second, +"in the outlaw Scarlet." + +"And Little John, the page," said the third, "in Little John the outlaw." + +"And Father Michael, of Rubygill Abbey," said the friar, "in Friar Tuck, +of Sherwood forest. Truly, I have a chapel here hard by, in the shape +of a hollow tree, where I put up my prayers for travellers, and Little John +holds the plate at the door, for good praying deserves good paying." + +"I am in fine company," said the baron. + +"In the very best of company," said the friar, "in the high +court of Nature, and in the midst of her own nobility. +Is it not so? This goodly grove is our palace: +the oak and the beech are its colonnade and its canopy: +the sun and the moon and the stars are its everlasting lamps: +the grass, and the daisy, and the primrose, and the violet, +are its many-coloured floor of green, white, yellow, and blue; +the may-flower, and the woodbine, and the eglantine, and the ivy, +are its decorations, its curtains, and its tapestry: the lark, +and the thrush, and the linnet, and the nightingale, are its +unhired minstrels and musicians. Robin Hood is king of the forest +both by dignity of birth and by virtue of his standing army: +to say nothing of the free choice of his people, which he +has indeed, but I pass it by as an illegitimate basis of power. +He holds his dominion over the forest, and its horned multitude +of citizen-deer, and its swinish multitude or peasantry +of wild boars, by right of conquest and force of arms. +He levies contributions among them by the free consent of +his archers, their virtual representatives. If they should find +a voice to complain that we are 'tyrants and usurpers to kill +and cook them up in their assigned and native dwelling-place,' +we should most convincingly admonish them, with point of arrow, +that they have nothing to do with our laws but to obey them. +Is it not written that the fat ribs of the herd shall be fed +upon by the mighty in the land? And have not they withal my +blessing? my orthodox, canonical, and archiepiscopal blessing? +Do I not give thanks for them when they are well roasted and smoking +under my nose? What title had William of Normandy to England, +that Robin of Locksley has not to merry Sherwood? William fought +for his claim. So does Robin. With whom, both? With any +that would or will dispute it. William raised contributions. +So does Robin. From whom, both? From all that they could +or can make pay them. Why did any pay them to William? Why do +any pay them to Robin? For the same reason to both: +because they could not or cannot help it. They differ indeed, +in this, that William took from the poor and gave to the rich, +and Robin takes from the rich and gives to the poor: and therein +is Robin illegitimate; though in all else he is true prince. +Scarlet and John, are they not peers of the forest? lords temporal +of Sherwood? And am not I lord spiritual? Am I not archbishop? +Am I not pope? Do I not consecrate their banner and absolve +their sins? Are not they state, and am not I church? +Are not they state monarchical, and am not I church militant? +Do I not excommunicate our enemies from venison and brawn, +and by 'r Lady, when need calls, beat them down under my feet? +The state levies tax, and the church levies tithe. +Even so do we. Mass, we take all at once. What then? +It is tax by redemption and tithe by commutation. +Your William and Richard can cut and come again, but our Robin +deals with slippery subjects that come not twice to his exchequer. +What need we then to constitute a court, except a fool and a laureate? +For the fool, his only use is to make false knaves merry by art, +and we are true men and are merry by nature. For the laureate, +his only office is to find virtues in those who have none, +and to drink sack for his pains. We have quite virtue enough +to need him not, and can drink our sack for ourselves." +"Well preached, friar," said Robin Hood: "yet there is one +thing wanting to constitute a court, and that is a queen. +And now, lovely Matilda, look round upon these sylvan shades +where we have so often roused the stag from his ferny covert. +The rising sun smiles upon us through the stems of that beechen knoll. +Shall I take your hand, Matilda, in the presence of this my court? +Shall I crown you with our wild-wood coronal, and hail you +queen of the forest? Will you be the queen Matilda of your own +true king Robin?" + +Matilda smiled assent. + +"Not Matilda," said the friar: "the rules of our holy alliance +require new birth. We have excepted in favour of Little John, +because he is great John, and his name is a misnomer. +I sprinkle, not thy forehead with water, but thy lips with wine, +and baptize thee MARIAN." + +"Here is a pretty conspiracy," exclaimed the baron. +"Why, you villanous friar, think you to nickname and marry +my daughter before my face with impunity?" + +"Even so, bold baron," said the friar; "we are strongest here. +Say you, might overcomes right? I say no. There is no right but might: +and to say that might overcomes right is to say that right overcomes itself: +an absurdity most palpable. Your right was the stronger in Arlingford, +and ours is the stronger in Sherwood. Your right was right as long +as you could maintain it; so is ours. So is King Richard's, with +all deference be it spoken; and so is King Saladin's; and their two +mights are now committed in bloody fray, and that which overcomes +will be right, just as long as it lasts, and as far as it reaches. +And now if any of you know any just impediment----" + +"Fire and fury," said the baron. + +"Fire and fury," said the friar, "are modes of that might which +constitutes right, and are just impediments to any thing against which +they can be brought to bear. They are our good allies upon occasion, +and would declare for us now if you should put them to the test." + +"Father," said Matilda, "you know the terms of our compact: +from the moment you restrained my liberty, you renounced your +claim to all but compulsory obedience. The friar argues well. +Right ends with might. Thick walls, dreary galleries, +and tapestried chambers, were indifferent to me while I could leave +them at pleasure, but have ever been hateful to me since they +held me by force. May I never again have roof but the blue sky, +nor canopy but the green leaves, nor barrier but the forest-bounds; +with the foresters to my train, Little John to my page, +Friar Tuck to my ghostly adviser, and Robin Hood to my liege lord. +I am no longer lady Matilda Fitzwater, of Arlingford Castle, +but plain Maid Marian, of Sherwood Forest." + +"Long live Maid Marian!" re-echoed the foresters. + +"Oh false girl!" said the baron, "do you renounce your name and parentage?" + +"Not my parentage," said Marian, "but my name indeed: +do not all maids renounce it at the altar?" + +"The altar!" said the baron: "grant me patience! what do you +mean by the altar?" + +"Pile green turf," said the friar, "wreathe it with flowers, +and crown it with fruit, and we will show the noble baron what we +mean by the altar." + +The foresters did as the friar directed. + +"Now, Little John," said the friar, "on with the cloak +of the abbot of Doubleflask. I appoint thee my clerk: +thou art here duly elected in full mote." + +"I wish you were all in full moat together," said the baron, +"and smooth wall on both sides." + +"Punnest thou?" said the friar. "A heinous anti-christian offence. +Why anti-christian? Because anti-catholic? Why anti-catholic? Because +anti-roman. Why anti-roman? Because Carthaginian. Is not pun from +Punic? punica fides: the very quint-essential quiddity of bad faith: +double-visaged: double-tongued. He that will make a pun will---- I say +no more. Fie on it. Stand forth, clerk. Who is the bride's father?" + +"There is no bride's father," said the baron. "I am the father +of Matilda Fitzwater." + +"There is none such," said the friar. "This is the fair +Maid Marian. Will you make a virtue of necessity, or will you give +laws to the flowing tide? Will you give her, or shall Robin take her? +Will you be her true natural father, or shall I commute paternity? +Stand forth, Scarlet." + +"Stand back, sirrah Scarlet," said the baron. "My daughter shall +have no father but me. Needs must when the devil drives." + +"No matter who drives," said the friar, "so that, like a +well-disposed subject, you yield cheerful obedience to those +who can enforce it." + +"Mawd, sweet Mawd," said the baron, "will you then forsake +your poor old father in his distress, with his castle in ashes, +and his enemy in power?" + +"Not so, father," said Marian; "I will always be your true daughter: +I will always love, and serve, and watch, and defend you: but neither +will I forsake my plighted love, and my own liege lord, who was your +choice before he was mine, for you made him my associate in infancy; +and that he continued to be mine when he ceased to be yours, does not +in any way show remissness in my duties or falling off in my affections. +And though I here plight my troth at the altar to Robin, in the presence +of this holy priest and pious clerk, yet.... Father, when Richard +returns from Palestine, he will restore you to your barony, and perhaps, +for your sake, your daughter's husband to the earldom of Huntingdon: +should that never be, should it be the will of fate that we must live +and die in the greenwood, I will live and die MAID MARIAN."[4] + + +[4] And therefore is she called Maid Marian + Because she leads a spotless maiden life + And shall till Robin's outlaw life have end. + Old Play. + + +"A pretty resolution," said the baron, "if Robin will let you keep it." + +"I have sworn it," said Robin. "Should I expose her tenderness +to the perils of maternity, when life and death may hang on shifting +at a moment's notice from Sherwood to Barnsdale, and from Barnsdale +to the sea-shore? And why should I banquet when my merry men starve? +Chastity is our forest law, and even the friar has kept it since +he has been here." + +"Truly so," said the friar: "for temptation dwells with ease and luxury: +but the hunter is Hippolytus, and the huntress is Dian. And now, +dearly beloved----" + +The friar went through the ceremony with great unction, +and Little John was most clerical in the intonation of his responses. +After which, the friar sang, and Little John fiddled, and the +foresters danced, Robin with Marian, and Scarlet with the baron; +and the venison smoked, and the ale frothed, and the wine sparkled, +and the sun went down on their unwearied festivity: +which they wound up with the following song, the friar leading +and the foresters joining chorus: + + Oh! bold Robin Hood is a forester good, + As ever drew bow in the merry greenwood: + At his bugle's shrill singing the echoes are ringing, + The wild deer are springing for many a rood: + Its summons we follow, through brake, over hollow, + The thrice-blown shrill summons of bold Robin Hood. + + And what eye hath e'er seen such a sweet Maiden Queen, + As Marian, the pride of the forester's green? + A sweet garden-flower, she blooms in the bower, + Where alone to this hour the wild rose has been: + We hail her in duty the queen of all beauty: + We will live, we will die, by our sweet Maiden queen. + + And here's a grey friar, good as heart can desire, + To absolve all our sins as the case may require: + Who with courage so stout, lays his oak-plant about, + And puts to the rout all the foes of his choir: + For we are his choristers, we merry foresters, + Chorussing thus with our militant friar + + And Scarlet cloth bring his good yew-bough and string, + Prime minister is he of Robin our king: + No mark is too narrow for little John's arrow, + That hits a cock sparrow a mile on the wing; + Robin and Marion, Scarlet, and Little John, + Long with their glory old Sherwood shall ring. + + Each a good liver, for well-feathered quiver + Doth furnish brawn, venison, and fowl of the river: + But the best game we dish up, it is a fat bishop: + When his angels we fish up, he proves a free giver: + For a prelate so lowly has angels more holy, + And should this world's false angels to sinners deliver. + + Robin and Marion, Scarlet and Little John, + Drink to them one by one, drink as ye sing: + Robin and Marion, Scarlet and Little John, + Echo to echo through Sherwood shall fling: + Robin and Marion, Scarlet and Little John, + Long with their glory old Sherwood shall ring. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + A single volume paramount: a code: + A master spirit: a determined road. + WORDSWORTH. + + +The next morning Robin Hood convened his foresters, and desired Little John, +for the baron's edification, to read over the laws of their forest society. +Little John read aloud with a stentorophonic voice. + +"At a high court of foresters, held under the greenwood tree, +an hour after sun-rise, Robin Hood President, William Scarlet +Vice-President, Little John Secretary: the following articles, +moved by Friar Tuck in his capacity of Peer Spiritual, +and seconded by Much the Miller, were unanimously agreed to. + +"The principles of our society are six: +Legitimacy, Equity, Hospitality, Chivalry, Chastity, and Courtesy. + +"The articles of Legitimacy are four: + +"I. Our government is legitimate, and our society is founded on the one +golden rule of right, consecrated by the universal consent of mankind, +and by the practice of all ages, individuals, and nations: namely, To keep +what we have, and to catch what we can. + +"II. Our government being legitimate, all our proceedings shall +be legitimate: wherefore we declare war against the whole world, +and every forester is by this legitimate declaration legitimately +invested with a roving commission, to make lawful prize of every +thing that comes in his way. + +"III. All forest laws but our own we declare to be null and void. + +"IV. All such of the old laws of England as do not in any +way interfere with, or militate against, the views of this +honourable assembly, we will loyally adhere to and maintain. +The rest we declare null and void as far as relates to ourselves, +in all cases wherein a vigour beyond the law may be conducive +to our own interest and preservation." + +"The articles of Equity are three: + +"I. The balance of power among the people being very much deranged, +by one having too much and another nothing, we hereby resolve ourselves +into a congress or court of equity, to restore as far as in us lies +the said natural balance of power, by taking from all who have +too much as much of the said too much as we can lay our hands on; +and giving to those who have nothing such a portion thereof as it +may seem to us expedient to part with. + +"II. In all cases a quorum of foresters shall constitute a court of equity, +and as many as may be strong enough to manage the matter in hand shall +constitute a quorum. + +"III. All usurers, monks, courtiers, and other drones of the great hive +of society, who shall be found laden with any portion of the honey +whereof they have wrongfully despoiled the industrious bee, shall be +rightfully despoiled thereof in turn; and all bishops and abbots +shall be bound and beaten,[5] especially the abbot of Doncaster; +as shall also all sheriffs, especially the sheriff of Nottingham. + + +[5] "These byshoppes and these archbyshoppes Ye shall them bete and bynde," + +says Robin Hood, in an old ballad. Perhaps, however, thus is to be +taken not in a literal, but in a figurative sense from the binding +and beating of wheat: for as all rich men were Robin's harvest, +the bishops and archbishops must have been the finest and fattest +ears among them, from which Robin merely proposes to thresh +the grain when he directs them to be bound and beaten: +and as Pharaoh's fat kine were typical of fat ears of wheat, +so may fat ears of wheat, mutatis mutandis, be typical of fat kine. + + +"The articles of Hospitality are two: + +"I. Postmen, carriers and market-folk, peasants and mechanics, +farmers and millers, shall pass through our forest dominions +without let or molestation. + +"II. All other travellers through the forest shall be graciously invited +to partake of Robin's hospitality; and if they come not willingly they +shall be compelled; and the rich man shall pay well for his fare; +and the poor man shall feast scot free, and peradventure receive bounty +in proportion to his desert and necessity. + +"The article of Chivalry is one: + +"I. Every forester shall, to the extent of his power, aid and protect maids, +widows, and orphans, and all weak and distressed persons whomsoever: +and no woman shall be impeded or molested in any way; nor shall any company +receive harm which any woman is in. + +"The article of Chastity is one: + +"I. Every forester, being Diana's forester and minion of +the moon, shall commend himself to the grace of the Virgin, +and shall have the gift of continency on pain of expulsion: +that the article of chivalry may be secure from infringement, +and maids, wives, and widows pass without fear through the forest. + +"The article of Courtesy is one: + +"I. No one shall miscall a forester. He who calls Robin Robert of Huntingdon, +or salutes him by any other title or designation whatsoever except +plain Robin Hood; or who calls Marian Matilda Fitzwater, or salutes her +by any other title or designation whatsoever except plain Maid Marian; +and so of all others; shall for every such offence forfeit a mark, +to be paid to the friar. + +"And these articles we swear to keep as we are good men and true. +Carried by acclamation. God save King Richard. "LITTLE JOHN, Secretary." + +"Excellent laws," said the baron: "excellent, by the holy rood. +William of Normandy, with my great great grandfather Fierabras +at his elbow, could not have made better. And now, sweet Mawd----" + +"A fine, a fine," cried the friar, "a fine, by the article of courtesy." + +"Od's life," said the baron, "shall I not call my own +daughter Mawd? Methinks there should be a special exception +in my favour." + +"It must not be," said Robin Hood: "our constitution admits no privilege." + +"But I will commute," said the friar; "for twenty marks a year +duly paid into my ghostly pocket you shall call your daughter +Mawd two hundred times a day." + +"Gramercy," said the baron, "and I agree, honest friar, when I can get +twenty marks to pay: for till Prince John be beaten from Nottingham, +my rents are like to prove but scanty." + +"I will trust," said the friar, "and thus let us ratify the stipulation; +so shall our laws and your infringement run together in an amicable parallel." + +"But," said Little John, "this is a bad precedent, master friar. +It is turning discipline into profit, penalty into perquisite, +public justice into private revenue. It is rank corruption, master friar." + +"Why are laws made?" said the friar. "For the profit of somebody. +Of whom? Of him who makes them first, and of others as it may happen. +Was not I legislator in the last article, and shall I not thrive +by my own law?" + +"Well then, sweet Mawd," said the baron, "I must leave you, Mawd: +your life is very well for the young and the hearty, but it squares +not with my age or my humour. I must house, Mawd. I must find refuge: +but where? That is the question." + +"Where Sir Guy of Gamwell has found it," said Robin Hood, "near the borders +of Barnsdale. There you may dwell in safety with him and fair Alice, +till King Richard return, and Little John shall give you safe conduct. +You will have need to travel with caution, in disguise and without attendants, +for Prince John commands all this vicinity, and will doubtless lay the country +for you and Marian. Now it is first expedient to dismiss your retainers. +If there be any among them who like our life, they may stay with us +in the greenwood; the rest may return to their homes." + +Some of the baron's men resolved to remain with Robin and Marian, +and were furnished accordingly with suits of green, of which Robin +always kept good store. + +Marian now declared that as there was danger in the way to Barnsdale, +she would accompany Little John and the baron, as she should not +be happy unless she herself saw her father placed in security. +Robin was very unwilling to consent to this, and assured +her that there was more danger for her than the baron: +but Marian was absolute. + +"If so, then," said Robin, "I shall be your guide instead of Little John, +and I shall leave him and Scarlet joint-regents of Sherwood during my absence, +and the voice of Friar Tuck shall be decisive between them if they +differ in nice questions of state policy." Marian objected to this, +that there was more danger for Robin than either herself or the baron: +but Robin was absolute in his turn. + +"Talk not of my voice," said the friar; "for if Marian be a damsel errant, +I will be her ghostly esquire." + +Robin insisted that this should not be, for number would +only expose them to greater risk of detection. The friar, +after some debate, reluctantly acquiesced. + +While they were discussing these matters, they heard the distant +sound of horses' feet. + +"Go," said Robin to Little John, "and invite yonder horseman to dinner." + +Little John bounded away, and soon came before a young man, who was riding +in a melancholy manner, with the bridle hanging loose on the horse's neck, +and his eyes drooping towards the ground. + +"Whither go you?" said Little John. + +"Whithersoever my horse pleases," said the young man. + +"And that shall be," said Little John, "whither I please to lead him. +I am commissioned to invite you to dine with my master." + +"Who is your master?" said the young man. + +"Robin Hood," said Little John. + +"The bold outlaw?" said the stranger. "Neither he nor you should have made +me turn an inch aside yesterday; but to-day I care not." + +"Then it is better for you," said Little John, "that you came +to-day than yesterday, if you love dining in a whole skin: +for my master is the pink of courtesy: but if his guests +prove stubborn, he bastes them and his venison together, +while the friar says mass before meat." + +The young man made no answer, and scarcely seemed to hear what +Little John was saying, who therefore took the horse's bridle and led +him to where Robin and his foresters were setting forth their dinner. +Robin seated the young man next to Marian. Recovering a little +from his stupor, he looked with much amazement at her, and the baron, +and Robin, and the friar; listened to their conversation, and seemed +much astonished to find himself in such holy and courtly company. +Robin helped him largely to rumble-pie and cygnet and pheasant, +and the other dainties of his table; and the friar pledged +him in ale and wine, and exhorted him to make good cheer. +But the young man drank little, ate less, spake nothing, and every +now and then sighed heavily. + +When the repast was ended, "Now," said Robin, "you are at liberty to pursue +your journey: but first be pleased to pay for your dinner." + +"That would I gladly do, Robin," said the young man, +"but all I have about me are five shillings and a ring. +To the five shillings you shall be welcome, but for the ring +I will fight while there is a drop of blood in my veins." + +"Gallantly spoken," said Robin Hood. "A love-token, without doubt: +but you must submit to our forest laws. Little John must search; +and if he find no more than you say, not a penny will I touch; +but if you have spoken false, the whole is forfeit to our fraternity." + +"And with reason," said the friar; "for thereby is the truth maintained +The abbot of Doubleflask swore there was no money in his valise, +and Little John forthwith emptied it of four hundred pounds. +Thus was the abbot's perjury but of one minute's duration; +for though his speech was false in the utterance, yet was it no sooner +uttered than it became true, and we should have been participes +criminis to have suffered the holy abbot to depart in falsehood: +whereas he came to us a false priest, and we sent him away +a true man. Marry, we turned his cloak to further account, +and thereby hangs a tale that may be either said or sung; +for in truth I am minstrel here as well as chaplain; +I pray for good success to our just and necessary warfare, +and sing thanks-giving odes when our foresters bring in booty: + + Bold Robin has robed him in ghostly attire, + And forth he is gone like a holy friar, + Singing, hey down, ho down, down, derry down: + And of two grey friars he soon was aware, + Regaling themselves with dainty fare, + All on the fallen leaves so brown. + + "Good morrow, good brothers," said bold Robin + Hood, + "And what make you in the good greenwood, + Singing hey down, ho down, down, derry down! + Now give me, I pray you, wine and food; + For none can I find in the good greenwood, + All on the fallen leaves so brown." + + "Good brother," they said, "we would give you full fain, + But we have no more than enough for twain, + Singing, hey down, ho down, down, derry down." + "Then give me some money," said bold Robin Hood, + "For none can I find in the good greenwood, + All on the fallen leaves so brown." + + "No money have we, good brother," said they: + "Then," said he, "we three for money will pray: + Singing, hey down, ho down, down, derry down: + And whatever shall come at the end of our prayer, + We three holy friars will piously share, + All on the fallen leaves so brown." + + "We will not pray with thee, good brother, God wot: + For truly, good brother, thou pleasest us not, + Singing hey down, ho down, down, derry down:" + Then up they both started from Robin to run, + But down on their knees Robin pulled them each one, + All on the fallen leaves so brown. + + The grey friars prayed with a doleful face, + But bold Robin prayed with a right merry grace, + Singing, hey down, ho down, down, derry down: + And when they had prayed, their portmanteau he took, + And from it a hundred good angels he shook, + All on the fallen leaves so brown. + + "The saints," said bold Robin, "have hearkened our prayer, + And here's a good angel apiece for your share: + If more you would have, you must win ere you wear: + Singing hey down, ho down, down, derry down:" + Then he blew his good horn with a musical cheer, + And fifty green bowmen came trooping full near, + And away the grey friars they bounded like deer, + All on the fallen leaves so brown. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + What can a young lassie, what shall a young lassie, + What can a young lassie do wi'an auld man?--BURNS. + + +"Here is but five shillings and a ring," said Little John, +"and the young man has spoken true." + +"Then," said Robin to the stranger, "if want of money be the cause +of your melancholy, speak. Little John is my treasurer, +and he shall disburse to you." + +"It is, and it is not," said the stranger; "it is, because, had I not wanted +money I had never lost my love; it is not, because, now that I have lost her, +money would come too late to regain her." + +"In what way have you lost her?" said Robin: "let us clearly +know that she is past regaining, before we give up our wishes +to restore her to you." + +"She is to be married this day," said the stranger, "and perhaps is married +by this, to a rich old knight; and yesterday I knew it not." + +"What is your name?" said Robin. + +"Allen," said the stranger. + +"And where is the marriage to take place, Allen?" said Robin. + +"At Edwinstow church," said Allen, "by the bishop of Nottingham." + +"I know that bishop," said Robin; "he dined with me a month since, and paid +three hundred pounds for his dinner. He has a good ear and loves music. +The friar sang to him to some tune. Give me my harper's cloak, and I +will play a part at this wedding. + +"These are dangerous times, Robin," said Marian, "for playing +pranks out of the forest." + +"Fear not," said Robin; "Edwinstow lies not Nottingham-ward, +and I will take my precautions." + +Robin put on his harper's cloak, while Little John painted his eyebrows +and cheeks, tipped his nose with red, and tied him on a comely beard. +Marian confessed, that had she not been present at the metamorphosis, +she should not have known her own true Robin. Robin took his harp +and went to the wedding. + +Robin found the bishop and his train in the church porch, +impatiently expecting the arrival of the bride and bridegroom. +The clerk was observing to the bishop that the knight was somewhat gouty, +and that the necessity of walking the last quarter of a mile from +the road to the churchyard probably detained the lively bridegroom +rather longer than had been calculated upon. + +"Oh! by my fey," said the music-loving bishop, "here comes a harper +in the nick of time, and now I care not how long they tarry. +Ho! honest friend, are you come to play at the wedding?" + +"I am come to play anywhere," answered Robin, "where I can get a cup of sack; +for which I will sing the praise of the donor in lofty verse, and emblazon +him with any virtue which he may wish to have the credit of possessing, +without the trouble of practising. + +"A most courtly harper," said the bishop; "I will fill thee with sack; +I will make thee a walking butt of sack, if thou wilt delight my ears +with thy melodies." + +"That will I," said Robin; "in what branch of my art shall I exert +my faculty? I am passing well in all, from the anthem to the glee, +and from the dirge to the coranto." + +"It would be idle," said the bishop, "to give thee sack for playing +me anthems, seeing that I myself do receive sack for hearing them sung. +Therefore, as the occasion is festive, thou shalt play me a coranto." + +Robin struck up and played away merrily, the bishop all +the while in great delight, noddling his head, and beating +time with his foot, till the bride and bridegroom appeared. +The bridegroom was richly apparelled, and came slowly and +painfully forward, hobbling and leering, and pursing up his mouth +into a smile of resolute defiance to the gout, and of tender +complacency towards his lady love, who, shining like gold at the old +knight's expense, followed slowly between her father and mother, +her cheeks pale, her head drooping, her steps faltering, +and her eyes reddened with tears. + +Robin stopped his minstrelsy, and said to the bishop, "This seems +to me an unfit match." + +"What do you say, rascal?" said the old knight, hobbling up to him. + +"I say," said Robin, "this seems to me an unfit match. +What, in the devil's name, can you want with a young wife, +who have one foot in flannels and the other in the grave?" + +"What is that to thee, sirrah varlet?" said the old knight; +"stand away from the porch, or I will fracture thy sconce +with my cane." + +"I will not stand away from the porch," said Robin, "unless the bride bid me, +and tell me that you are her own true love." + +"Speak," said the bride's father, in a severe tone, and with a look +of significant menace. The girl looked alternately at her father +and Robin. She attempted to speak, but her voice failed in the effort, +and she burst into tears. + +"Here is lawful cause and just impediment," said Robin, +"and I forbid the banns." + +"Who are you, villain?" said the old knight, stamping his sound +foot with rage. + +"I am the Roman law," said Robin, "which says that there shall not be more +than ten years between a man and his wife; and here are five times ten: +and so says the law of nature." + +"Honest harper," said the bishop, "you are somewhat +over-officious here, and less courtly than I deemed you. +If you love sack, forbear; for this course will never bring you a drop. +As to your Roman law, and your law of nature, what right have they +to say any thing which the law of Holy Writ says not?" + +"The law of Holy Writ does say it," said Robin; "I expound it so to say; +and I will produce sixty commentators to establish my exposition." + +And so saying, he produced a horn from beneath his cloak, and blew +three blasts, and threescore bowmen in green came leaping from the bushes +and trees; and young Allen was the first among them to give Robin +his sword, while Friar Tuck and Little John marched up to the altar. +Robin stripped the bishop and clerk of their robes, and put them on the friar +and Little John; and Allen advanced to take the hand of the bride. +Her cheeks grew red and her eyes grew bright, as she locked her hand +in her lover's, and tripped lightly with him into the church. + +"This marriage will not stand," said the bishop, "for they have not been +thrice asked in church." + +"We will ask them seven times," said Little John, "lest three +should not suffice." + +"And in the meantime," said Robin, "the knight and the bishop +shall dance to my harping." + +So Robin sat in the church porch and played away merrily, while his +foresters formed a ring, in the centre of which the knight and bishop +danced with exemplary alacrity; and if they relaxed their exertions, +Scarlet gently touched them up with the point of an arrow. + +The knight grimaced ruefully, and begged Robin to think of his gout. + +"So I do," said Robin; "this is the true antipodagron: +you shall dance the gout away, and be thankful to me while you live. +I told you," he added to the bishop, "I would play at this wedding; +but you did not tell me that you would dance at it. +The next couple you marry, think of the Roman law." + +The bishop was too much out of breath to reply; and now the young +couple issued from church, and the bride having made a farewell +obeisance to her parents, they departed together with the foresters, +the parents storming, the attendants laughing, the bishop puffing +and blowing, and the knight rubbing his gouty foot, and uttering +doleful lamentations for the gold and jewels with which he had +so unwittingly adorned and cowered the bride. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + As ye came from the holy land + Of blessed Walsinghame, + Oh met ye not with my true love, + As by the way ye came?--Old Ballad. + + +In pursuance of the arrangement recorded in the twelfth chapter, +the baron, Robin, and Marian disguised themselves as pilgrims +returned from Palestine, and travelling from the sea-coast of +Hampshire to their home in Northumberland. By dint of staff and +cockle-shell, sandal and scrip, they proceeded in safety the greater +part of the way (for Robin had many sly inns and resting-places +between Barnsdale and Sherwood), and were already on the borders +of Yorkshire, when, one evening, they passed within view of a castle, +where they saw a lady standing on a turret, and surveying +the whole extent of the valley through which they were passing. +A servant came running from the castle, and delivered to them a message +from his lady, who was sick with expectation of news from her lord +in the Holy Land, and entreated them to come to her, that she might +question them concerning him. This was an awkward occurrence: +but there was no presence for refusal, and they followed the servant +into the castle. The baron, who had been in Palestine in his youth, +undertook to be spokesman on the occasion, and to relate his own +adventures to the lady as having happened to the lord in question. +This preparation enabled him to be so minute and circumstantial +in his detail, and so coherent in his replies to her questions, +that the lady fell implicitly into the delusion, and was delighted +to find that her lord was alive and in health, and in high favour +with the king, and performing prodigies of valour in the name +of his lady, whose miniature he always wore in his bosom. +The baron guessed at this circumstance from the customs of that age, +and happened to be in the right. + +"This miniature," added the baron, "I have had the felicity +to see, and should have known you by it among a million." +The baron was a little embarrassed by some questions of the lady +concerning her lord's personal appearance; but Robin came to his aid, +observing a picture suspended opposite to him on the wall, +which he made a bold conjecture to be that of the lord in question; +and making a calculation of the influences of time and war, +which he weighed with a comparison of the lady's age, he gave +a description of her lord sufficiently like the picture in its +groundwork to be a true resemblance, and sufficiently differing +from it in circumstances to be more an original than a copy. +The lady was completely deceived, and entreated them to partake +her hospitality for the night; but this they deemed it prudent +to decline, and with many humble thanks for her kindness, +and representations of the necessity of not delaying their +homeward course, they proceeded on their way. + +As they passed over the drawbridge, they met Sir Ralph Montfaucon +and his squire, who were wandering in quest of Marian, and were +entering to claim that hospitality which the pilgrims had declined. +Their countenances struck Sir Ralph with a kind of imperfect recognition, +which would never have been matured, but that the eyes of Marian, +as she passed him, encountered his, and the images of those stars of beauty +continued involuntarily twinkling in his sensorium to the exclusion +of all other ideas, till memory, love, and hope concurred with imagination +to furnish a probable reason for their haunting him so pertinaciously. +Those eyes, he thought, were certainly the eyes of Matilda Fitzwater; +and if the eyes were hers, it was extremely probable, if not logically +consecutive, that the rest of the body they belonged to was hers also. +Now, if it were really Matilda Fitzwater, who were her two companions? +The baron? Aye, and the elder pilgrim was something like him. +And the earl of Huntingdon? Very probably. The earl and the baron might +be good friends again, now that they were both in disgrace together. +While he was revolving these cogitations, he was introduced to the lady, +and after claiming and receiving the promise of hospitality, +he inquired what she knew of the pilgrims who had just departed? +The lady told him they were newly returned from Palestine, having been long +in the Holy Land. The knight expressed some scepticism on this point. +The lady replied, that they had given her so minute a detail of her +lord's proceedings, and so accurate a description of his person, +that she could not be deceived in them. This staggered the knight's +confidence in his own penetration; and if it had not been a heresy +in knighthood to suppose for a moment that there could be in rerum +natura such another pair of eyes as those of his mistress, +he would have acquiesced implicitly in the lady's judgment. +But while the lady and the knight were conversing, the warder blew +his bugle-horn, and presently entered a confidential messenger +from Palestine, who gave her to understand that her lord was well; +but entered into a detail of his adventures most completely at +variance with the baron's narrative, to which not the correspondence +of a single incident gave the remotest colouring of similarity. +It now became manifest that the pilgrims were not true men; +and Sir Ralph Montfaucon sate down to supper with his head full +of cogitations, which we shall leave him to chew and digest with his +pheasant and canary. + +Meanwhile our three pilgrims proceeded on their way. +The evening set in black and lowering, when Robin turned +aside from the main track, to seek an asylum for the night, +along a narrow way that led between rocky and woody hills. +A peasant observed the pilgrims as they entered that narrow pass, +and called after them: "Whither go you, my masters? there +are rogues in that direction." + +"Can you show us a direction," said Robin, "in which there are none? +If so we will take it in preference." The peasant grinned, +and walked away whistling. + +The pass widened as they advanced, and the woods grew thicker and darker +around them. Their path wound along the slope of a woody declivity, +which rose high above them in a thick rampart of foliage, +and descended almost precipitously to the bed of a small river, +which they heard dashing in its rocky channel, and saw its white foam +gleaming at intervals in the last faint glimmerings of twilight. +In a short time all was dark, and the rising voice of the wind +foretold a coming storm. They turned a point of the valley, and saw +a light below them in the depth of the hollow, shining through a +cottage-casement and dancing in its reflection on the restless stream. +Robin blew his horn, which was answered from below. The cottage +door opened: a boy came forth with a torch, ascended the steep, +showed tokens of great delight at meeting with Robin, and lighted +them down a flight of steps rudely cut in the rock, and over a series +of rugged stepping-stones, that crossed the channel of the river. +They entered the cottage, which exhibited neatness, comfort, and plenty, +being amply enriched with pots, pans, and pipkins, and adorned +with flitches of bacon and sundry similar ornaments, that gave +goodly promise in the firelight that gleamed upon the rafters. +A woman, who seemed just old enough to be the boy's mother, +had thrown down her spinning wheel in her joy at the sound +of Robin's horn, and was bustling with singular alacrity +to set forth her festal ware and prepare an abundant supper. +Her features, though not beautiful, were agreeable and expressive, +and were now lighted up with such manifest joy at the sight of Robin, +that Marian could not help feeling a momentary touch of jealousy, +and a half-formed suspicion that Robin had broken his forest law, +and had occasionally gone out of bounds, as other great men have +done upon occasion, in order to reconcile the breach of the spirit, +with the preservation of the letter, of their own legislation. +However, this suspicion, if it could be said to exist in a mind +so generous as Marian's, was very soon dissipated by the entrance +of the woman's husband, who testified as much joy as his wife +had done at the sight of Robin; and in a short time the whole of +the party were amicably seated round a smoking supper of river-fish +and wild wood fowl, on which the baron fell with as much alacrity +as if he had been a true pilgrim from Palestine. + +The husband produced some recondite flasks of wine, which were laid +by in a binn consecrated to Robin, whose occasional visits to them +in his wanderings were the festal days of these warm-hearted cottagers, +whose manners showed that they had not been born to this low estate. +Their story had no mystery, and Marian easily collected it from +the tenour of their conversation. The young man had been, like Robin, +the victim of an usurious abbot, and had been outlawed for debt, +and his nut-brown maid had accompanied him to the depths of Sherwood, +where they lived an unholy and illegitimate life, killing the king's deer, +and never hearing mass. In this state, Robin, then earl of Huntingdon, +discovered them in one of his huntings, and gave them aid and protection. +When Robin himself became an outlaw, the necessary qualification or gift +of continency was too hard a law for our lovers to subscribe to; +and as they were thus disqualified for foresters, Robin had found them +a retreat in this romantic and secluded spot. He had done similar +service to other lovers similarly circumstanced, and had disposed them +in various wild scenes which he and his men had discovered in their +flittings from place to place, supplying them with all necessaries +and comforts from the reluctant disgorgings of fat abbots and usurers. +The benefit was in some measure mutual; for these cottages served him +as resting-places in his removals, and enabled him to travel untraced +and unmolested; and in the delight with which he was always received +he found himself even more welcome than he would have been at an inn; +and this is saying very much for gratitude and affection together. +The smiles which surrounded him were of his own creation, and he participated +in the happiness he had bestowed. + +The casements began to rattle in the wind, and the rain to beat upon +the windows. The wind swelled to a hurricane, and the rain dashed +like a flood against the glass. The boy retired to his little bed, +the wife trimmed the lamp, the husband heaped logs upon the fire: +Robin broached another flask; and Marian filled the baron's cup, +and sweetened Robin's by touching its edge with her lips. + +"Well," said the baron, "give me a roof over my head, be it never so humble. +Your greenwood canopy is pretty and pleasant in sunshine; but if I were doomed +to live under it, I should wish it were water-tight." + +"But," said Robin, "we have tents and caves for foul weather, +good store of wine and venison, and fuel in abundance." + +"Ay, but," said the baron, "I like to pull off my boots of a night, which you +foresters seldom do, and to ensconce myself thereafter in a comfortable bed. +Your beech-root is over-hard for a couch, and your mossy stump is somewhat +rough for a bolster." + +"Had you not dry leaves," said Robin, "with a bishop's surplice over them? +What would you have softer? And had you not an abbot's travelling cloak +for a coverlet? What would you have warmer?" + +"Very true," said the baron, "but that was an indulgence to a guest, and I +dreamed all night of the sheriff of Nottingham. I like to feel myself safe," +he added, stretching out his legs to the fire, and throwing himself +back in his chair with the air of a man determined to be comfortable. +"I like to feel myself safe," said the baron. + +At that moment the woman caught her husband's arm, and all the party +following the direction of her eyes, looked simultaneously to the window, +where they had just time to catch a glimpse of an apparition of an armed head, +with its plumage tossing in the storm, on which the light shone from within, +and which disappeared immediately. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +O knight, thou lack'st a cup of canary. When did I see thee +so put down?--Twelfth Night. + + +Several knocks, as from the knuckles of an iron glove, were given +to the door of the cottage, and a voice was heard entreating +shelter from the storm for a traveller who had lost his way. +Robin arose and went to the door. + +"What are you?" said Robin. + +"A soldier," replied the voice: "an unfortunate adherent of Longchamp, +flying the vengeance of Prince John." + +"Are you alone?" said Robin. + +"Yes," said the voice: "it is a dreadful night. Hospitable cottagers, +pray give me admittance. I would not have asked it but for the storm. +I would have kept my watch in the woods." + +"That I believe," said Robin. "You did not reckon on the storm when you +turned into this pass. Do you know there are rogues this way?" + +"I do," said the voice. + +"So do I," said Robin. + +A pause ensued, during which Robin listening attentively caught +a faint sound of whispering. + +"You are not alone," said Robin. "Who are your companions?" + +"None but the wind and the water," said the voice, "and I would +I had them not." + +"The wind and the water have many voices," said Robin, "but I +never before heard them say, What shall we do?" + +Another pause ensued: after which, + +"Look ye, master cottager," said the voice, in an altered tone, +"if you do not let us in willingly, we will break down the door." + +"Ho! ho!" roared the baron, "you are become plural are you, rascals? How many +are there of you, thieves? What, I warrant, you thought to rob and murder +a poor harmless cottager and his wife, and did not dream of a garrison? +You looked for no weapon of opposition but spit, poker, and basting ladle, +wielded by unskilful hands: but, rascals, here is short sword and long cudgel +in hands well tried in war, wherewith you shall be drilled into cullenders +and beaten into mummy." + +No reply was made, but furious strokes from without resounded +upon the door. Robin, Marian, and the baron threw by their +pilgrim's attire, and stood in arms on the defensive. +They were provided with swords, and the cottager gave them +bucklers and helmets, for all Robin's haunts were furnished +with secret armouries. But they kept their swords sheathed, +and the baron wielded a ponderous spear, which he pointed towards +the door ready to run through the first that should enter, +and Robin and Marian each held a bow with the arrow drawn to its +head and pointed in the same direction. The cottager flourished +a strong cudgel (a weapon in the use of which he prided himself +on being particularly expert), and the wife seized the spit from +the fireplace, and held it as she saw the baron hold his spear. +The storm of wind and rain continued to beat on the roof and +the casement, and the storm of blows to resound upon the door, +which at length gave way with a violent crash, and a cluster +of armed men appeared without, seemingly not less than twelve. +Behind them rolled the stream now changed from a gentle and shallow +river to a mighty and impetuous torrent, roaring in waves of +yellow foam, partially reddened by the light that streamed through +the open door, and turning up its convulsed surface in flashes +of shifting radiance from restless masses of half-visible shadow. +The stepping-stones, by which the intruders must have crossed, +were buried under the waters. On the opposite bank the light +fell on the stems and boughs of the rock-rooted oak and ash +tossing and swaying in the blast, and sweeping the flashing +spray with their leaves. + +The instant the door broke, Robin and Marian loosed their arrows. +Robin's arrow struck one of the assailants in the juncture of the shoulder, +and disabled his right arm: Marian's struck a second in the juncture +of the knee, and rendered him unserviceable; for the night. +The baron's long spear struck on the mailed breastplate of a third, +and being stretched to its full extent by the long-armed hero, +drove him to the edge of the torrent, and plunged him into its eddies, +along which he was whirled down the darkness of the descending stream, +calling vainly on his comrades for aid, till his voice was lost +in the mingled roar of the waters and the wind. A fourth springing +through the door was laid prostrate by the cottager's cudgel: +but the wife being less dexterous than her company, though an Amazon +in strength, missed her pass at a fifth, and drove the point of the spit +several inches into the right hand door-post as she stood close to +the left, and thus made a new barrier which the invaders could not pass +without dipping under it and submitting their necks to the sword: +but one of the assailants seizing it with gigantic rage, shook it at +once from the grasp of its holder and from its lodgment in the post, +and at the same time made good the irruption of the rest of his party +into the cottage. + +Now raged an unequal combat, for the assailants fell two to one +on Robin, Marian, the baron, and the cottager; while the wife, +being deprived of her spit, converted every thing that was +at hand to a missile, and rained pots, pans, and pipkins on +the armed heads of the enemy. The baron raged like a tiger, +and the cottager laid about him like a thresher. One of the soldiers +struck Robin's sword from his hand and brought him on his knee, +when the boy, who had been roused by the tumult and had been +peeping through the inner door, leaped forward in his shirt, +picked up the sword and replaced it in Robin's hand, who instantly +springing up, disarmed and wounded one of his antagonists, +while the other was laid prostrate under the dint of a brass +cauldron launched by the Amazonian dame. Robin now turned +to the aid of Marian, who was parrying most dexterously the cuts +and slashes of her two assailants, of whom Robin delivered +her from one, while a well-applied blow of her sword struck off +the helmet of the other, who fell on his knees to beg a boon, +and she recognised Sir Ralph Montfaucon. The men who were engaged +with the baron and the peasant, seeing their leader subdued, +immediately laid down their arms and cried for quarter. +The wife brought some strong rope, and the baron tied their +arms behind them. + +"Now, Sir Ralph," said Marian, "once more you are at my mercy." + +"That I always am, cruel beauty," said the discomfited lover. + +"Odso! courteous knight," said the baron, "is this the return you +make for my beef and canary, when you kissed my daughter's hand +in token of contrition for your intermeddling at her wedding? +Heart, I am glad to see she has given you a bloody coxcomb. +Slice him down, Mawd! slice him down, and fling him into the river." + +"Confess," said Marian, "what brought you here, and how did you +trace our steps?" + +"I will confess nothing," said the knight. + +"Then confess you, rascal," said the baron, holding his sword +to the throat of the captive squire. + +"Take away the sword," said the squire, "it is too near +my mouth, and my voice will not come out for fear: +take away the sword, and I will confess all." +The baron dropped his sword, and the squire proceeded; +"Sir Ralph met you, as you quitted Lady Falkland's castle, +and by representing to her who you were, borrowed from her such +a number of her retainers as he deemed must ensure your capture, +seeing that your familiar the friar was not at your elbow. +We set forth without delay, and traced you first by means +of a peasant who saw you turn into this valley, and afterwards +by the light from the casement of this solitary dwelling. +Our design was to have laid an ambush for you in the morning, +but the storm and your observation of my unlucky face through +the casement made us change our purpose; and what followed you +can tell better than I can, being indeed masters of the subject." + +"You are a merry knave," said the baron, "and here is a cup +of wine for you." + +"Gramercy," said the squire, "and better late than never: +but I lacked a cup of this before. Had I been pot-valiant, I +had held you play." + +"Sir knight," said Marian, "this is the third time you have sought +the life of my lord and of me, for mine is interwoven with his. +And do you think me so spiritless as to believe that I can be yours +by compulsion? Tempt me not again, for the next time shall be the last, +and the fish of the nearest river shall commute the flesh of a +recreant knight into the fast-day dinner of an uncarnivorous friar. +I spare you now, not in pity but in scorn. Yet shall you swear +to a convention never more to pursue or molest my lord or me, +and on this condition you shall live." + +The knight had no alternative but to comply, and swore, +on the honour of knighthood, to keep the convention inviolate. +How well he kept his oath we shall have no opportunity of narrating: +Di lui la nostra istoria piu non parla. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +Carry me over the water, thou fine fellowe. Old Ballad. + + +The pilgrims, without experiencing further molestation, arrived at +the retreat of Sir Guy of Gamwell. They found the old knight +a cup too low; partly from being cut off from the scenes of his +old hospitality and the shouts of his Nottinghamshire vassals, +who were wont to make the rafters of his ancient hall re-echo +to their revelry; but principally from being parted from his son, +who had long been the better half of his flask and pasty. +The arrival of our visitors cheered him up; and finding that +the baron was to remain with him, he testified his delight +and the cordiality of his welcome by pegging him in the ribs +till he made him roar. + +Robin and Marian took an affectionate leave of the baron and the old knight; +and before they quitted the vicinity of Barnsdale, deeming it prudent +to return in a different disguise, they laid aside their pilgrim's attire, +and assumed the habits and appurtenances of wandering minstrels. + +They travelled in this character safely and pleasantly, till one +evening at a late hour they arrived by the side of a river, +where Robin looking out for a mode of passage perceived +a ferry-boat safely moored in a nook on the opposite bank; +near which a chimney sending up a wreath of smoke through +the thick-set willows, was the only symptom of human habitation; +and Robin naturally conceiving the said chimney and wreath of smoke +to be the outward signs of the inward ferryman, shouted "Over!" +with much strength and clearness; but no voice replied, +and no ferryman appeared. Robin raised his voice, and shouted +with redoubled energy, "Over, Over, O-o-o-over!" A faint echo +alone responded "Over!" and again died away into deep silence: +but after a brief interval a voice from among the willows, +in a strange kind of mingled intonation that was half a shout +and half a song, answered: + + Over, over, over, jolly, jolly rover, + Would you then come over? Over, over, over? + Jolly, jolly rover, here's one lives in clover: + Who finds the clover? The jolly, jolly rover. + He finds the clover, let him then come over, + The jolly, jolly rover, over, over, over, + + +"I much doubt," said Marian, "if this ferryman do not mean by clover +something more than the toll of his ferry-boat." + +"I doubt not," answered Robin, "he is a levier of toll and tithe, +which I shall put him upon proof of his right to receive, +by making trial of his might to enforce." + +The ferryman emerged from the willows and stepped into his boat. +"As I live," exclaimed Robin, "the ferryman is a friar." + +"With a sword," said Marian, "stuck in his rope girdle." + +The friar pushed his boat off manfully, and was presently half +over the river. + +"It is friar Tuck," said Marian. + +"He will scarcely know us," said Robin; "and if he do not, +I will break a staff with him for sport." + +The friar came singing across the water: the boat touched the land: +Robin and Marian stepped on board: the friar pushed off again. + +"Silken doublets, silken doublets," said the friar: +"slenderly lined, I bow: your wandering minstrel is always +poor toll: your sweet angels of voices pass current for a bed +and a supper at the house of every lord that likes to hear +the fame of his valour without the trouble of fighting for it. +What need you of purse or pouch? You may sing before thieves. +Pedlars, pedlars: wandering from door to door with the small +ware of lies and cajolery: exploits for carpet-knights; +honesty for courtiers; truth for monks, and chastity for nuns: +a good saleable stock that costs the vender nothing, defies wear +and tear, and when it has served a hundred customers is as plentiful +and as marketable as ever. But, sirrahs, I'll none of your balderdash. +You pass not hence without clink of brass, or I'll knock your +musical noddles together till they ring like a pair of cymbals. +That will be a new tune for your minstrelships." + +This friendly speech of the friar ended as they stepped on the opposite bank. +Robin had noticed as they passed that the summer stream was low. + +"Why, thou brawling mongrel," said Robin, "that whether thou be thief, friar, +or ferryman, or an ill-mixed compound of all three, passes conjecture, +though I judge thee to be simple thief, what barkest thou at thus? +Villain, there is clink of brass for thee. Dost thou see this coin? +Dost thou hear this music? Look and listen: for touch thou shalt not: +my minstrelship defies thee. Thou shalt carry me on thy back over the water, +and receive nothing but a cracked sconce for thy trouble." + +"A bargain," said the friar: "for the water is low, the labour is light, +and the reward is alluring." And he stooped down for Robin, who mounted +his back, and the friar waded with him over the river. + +"Now, fine fellow," said the friar, "thou shalt carry me back over the water, +and thou shalt have a cracked sconce for thy trouble." + +Robin took the friar on his back, and waded with him into the middle +of the river, when by a dexterous jerk he suddenly flung him off +and plunged him horizontally over head and ears in the water. +Robin waded to shore, and the friar, half swimming and +half scrambling, followed. + +"Fine fellow, fine fellow," said the friar, "now will I pay thee +thy cracked sconce." + +"Not so," said Robin, "I have not earned it: but thou hast earned it, +and shalt have it." + +It was not, even in those good old times, a sight of every day +to see a troubadour and a friar playing at single-stick by the side +of a river, each aiming with fell intent at the other's coxcomb. +The parties were both so skilled in attack and defence, that their +mutual efforts for a long time expended themselves in quick +and loud rappings on each other's oaken staves. At length Robin +by a dexterous feint contrived to score one on the friar's crown: +but in the careless moment of triumph a splendid sweep of the friar's +staff struck Robin's out of his hand into the middle of the river, +and repaid his crack on the head with a degree of vigour that might +have passed the bounds of a jest if Marian had not retarded its +descent by catching the friar's arm. + +"How now, recreant friar," said Marian; "what have you +to say why you should not suffer instant execution, +being detected in open rebellion against your liege lord? +Therefore kneel down, traitor, and submit your neck to the sword +of the offended law." + +"Benefit of clergy," said the friar: "I plead my clergy. +And is it you indeed, ye scapegraces? Ye are well disguised: +I knew ye not, by my flask. Robin, jolly Robin, he buys +a jest dearly that pays for it with a bloody coxcomb. +But here is balm for all bruises, outward and inward. +(The friar produced a flask of canary.) Wash thy wound twice +and thy throat thrice with this solar concoction, and thou shalt +marvel where was thy hurt. But what moved ye to this frolic? +Knew ye not that ye could not appear in a mask more fashioned +to move my bile than in that of these gilders and lackerers of +the smooth surface of worthlessness, that bring the gold of true +valour into disrepute, by stamping the baser metal with the fairer +im-pression? I marvelled to find any such given to fighting +(for they have an old instinct of self-preservation): but I +rejoiced thereat, that I might discuss to them poetical justice: +and therefore have I cracked thy sconce: for which, let this +be thy medicine." + +"But wherefore," said Marian, "do we find you here, when we left +you joint lord warden of Sherwood?" + +"I do but retire to my devotions," replied the friar. +"This is my hermitage, in which I first took refuge when I +escaped from my beloved brethren of Rubygill; and to which I +still retreat at times from the vanities of the world, +which else might cling to me too closely, since I have been +promoted to be peer-spiritual of your forest-court. For, +indeed, I do find in myself certain indications and admonitions +that my day has past its noon; and none more cogent than this: +that daily of bad wine I grow more intolerant, and of good wine +have a keener and more fastidious relish. There is no surer +symptom of receding years. The ferryman is my faithful varlet. +I send him on some pious errand, that I may meditate in ghostly +privacy, when my presence in the forest can best be spared: +and when can it be better spared than now, seeing that the +neighbourhood of Prince John, and his incessant perquisitions +for Marian, have made the forest too hot to hold more of us +than are needful to keep up a quorum, and preserve unbroken +the continuity of our forest-dominion? For, in truth, without your +greenwood majesties, we have hardly the wit to live in a body, +and at the same time to keep our necks out of jeopardy, +while that arch-rebel and traitor John infests the precincts +of our territory." + +The friar now conducted them to his peaceful cell, where he spread +his frugal board with fish, venison, wild-fowl, fruit, and canary. +Under the compound operation of this materia medica Robin's wounds +healed apace, and the friar, who hated minstrelsy, began as usual +chirping in his cups. Robin and Marian chimed in with his tuneful +humour till the midnight moon peeped in upon their revelry. + +It was now the very witching time of night, when they heard +a voice shouting, "Over!" They paused to listen, and the voice +repeated "Over!" in accents clear and loud, but which at +the same time either were in themselves, or seemed to be, +from the place and the hour, singularly plaintive and dreary. +The friar fidgetted about in his seat: fell into a deep musing: +shook himself, and looked about him: first at Marian, then at Robin, +then at Marian again; filled and tossed off a cup of canary, +and relapsed into his reverie. + +"Will you not bring your passenger over?" said Robin. The friar +shook his head and looked mysterious. + +"That passenger," said the friar, "will never come over. +Every full moon, at midnight, that voice calls, 'Over!' I and my +varlet have more than once obeyed the summons, and we have sometimes +had a glimpse of a white figure under the opposite trees: +but when the boat has touched the bank, nothing has been to be seen; +and the voice has been heard no more till the midnight of the +next full moon." + +"It is very strange," said Robin. + +"Wondrous strange," said the friar, looking solemn. + +The voice again called "Over!" in a long plaintive musical cry. + +"I must go to it," said the friar, "or it will give us no peace. +I would all my customers were of this world. I begin to think +that I am Charon, and that this river is Styx." + +"I will go with you, friar," said Robin. + +"By my flask," said the friar, "but you shall not." + +"Then I will," said Marian. + +"Still less," said the friar, hurrying out of the cell. +Robin and Marian followed: but the friar outstepped them, +and pushed off his boat. + +A white figure was visible under the shade of the opposite trees. +The boat approached the shore, and the figure glided away. +The friar returned. + +They re-entered the cottage, and sat some time conversing +on the phenomenon they had seen. The friar sipped his wine, +and after a time, said: + +"There is a tradition of a damsel who was drowned here some years ago. +The tradition is----" + +But the friar could not narrate a plain tale: he therefore cleared +his throat, and sang with due solemnity, in a ghostly voice: + + A damsel came in midnight rain, + And called across the ferry: + The weary wight she called in vain, + Whose senses sleep did bury. + At evening, from her father's door + She turned to meet her lover: + At midnight, on the lonely shore, + She shouted "Over, over!" + + She had not met him by the tree + Of their accustomed meeting, + And sad and sick at heart was she, + Her heart all wildly beating. + In chill suspense the hours went by, + The wild storm burst above her: + She turned her to the river nigh, + And shouted, "Over, over!" + + A dim, discoloured, doubtful light + The moon's dark veil permitted, + And thick before her troubled sight + Fantastic shadows flitted. + Her lover's form appeared to glide, + And beckon o'er the water: + Alas! his blood that morn had dyed + Her brother's sword with slaughter. + + Upon a little rock she stood, + To make her invocation: + She marked not that the rain-swoll'n flood + Was islanding her station. + The tempest mocked her feeble cry: + No saint his aid would give her: + The flood swelled high and yet more high, + And swept her down the river. + + Yet oft beneath the pale moonlight, + When hollow winds are blowing, + The shadow of that maiden bright + Glides by the dark stream's flowing. + And when the storms of midnight rave, + While clouds the broad moon cover, + The wild gusts waft across the wave + The cry of, "Over, over!" + + +While the friar was singing, Marian was meditating: +and when he had ended she said, "Honest friar, you have misplaced +your tradition, which belongs to the aestuary of a nobler river, +where the damsel was swept away by the rising of the tide, +for which your land-flood is an indifferent substitute. +But the true tradition of this stream I think I myself possess, +and I will narrate it in your own way: + + It was a friar of orders free, + A friar of Rubygill: + At the greenwood-tree a vow made he, + But he kept it very ill: + A vow made he of chastity, + But he kept it very ill. + He kept it, perchance, in the conscious shade + Of the bounds of the forest wherein it was made: + But he roamed where he listed, as free as the wind, + And he left his good vow in the forest behind: + For its woods out of sight were his vow out of mind, + With the friar of Rubygill. + + In lonely hut himself he shut, + The friar of Rubygill; + Where the ghostly elf absolved himself, + To follow his own good will: + And he had no lack of canary sack, + To keep his conscience still. + And a damsel well knew, when at lonely midnight + It gleamed on the waters, his signal-lamp-light: + "Over! over!" she warbled with nightingale throat, + And the friar sprung forth at the magical note, + And she crossed the dark stream in his trim ferryboat, + With the friar of Rubygill. + + +"Look you now," said Robin, "if the friar does not blush. +Many strange sights have I seen in my day, but never till this +moment did I see a blushing friar." + +"I think," said the friar, "you never saw one that blushed not, +or you saw good canary thrown away. But you are welcome to laugh +if it so please you. None shall laugh in my company, though it +be at my expense, but I will have my share of the merriment. +The world is a stage, and life is a farce, and he that laughs +most has most profit of the performance. The worst thing is good +enough to be laughed at, though it be good for nothing else; +and the best thing, though it be good for something else, +is good for nothing better." + +And he struck up a song in praise of laughing and quaffing, without further +adverting to Marian's insinuated accusation; being, perhaps, of opinion, +that it was a subject on which the least said would be the soonest mended. + +So passed the night. In the morning a forester came to the friar, +with intelligence that Prince John had been compelled, by the urgency +of his affairs in other quarters, to disembarrass Nottingham Castle +of his royal presence. Our wanderers returned joyfully to their +forest-dominion, being thus relieved from the vicinity of any more +formidable belligerent than their old bruised and beaten enemy +the sheriff of Nottingham. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + Oh! this life + Is nobler than attending for a check, + Richer than doing nothing for a bribe + Prouder than rustling in unpaid-for silk.--Cymbeline. + + +So Robin and Marian dwelt and reigned in the forest, ranging the glades +and the greenwoods from the matins of the lark to the vespers +of the nightingale, and administering natural justice according +to Robin's ideas of rectifying the inequalities of human condition: +raising genial dews from the bags of the rich and idle, and returning +them in fertilising showers on the poor and industrious: +an operation which more enlightened statesmen have happily reversed, +to the unspeakable benefit of the community at large. +The light footsteps of Marian were impressed on the morning dew beside +the firmer step of her lover, and they shook its large drops about them +as they cleared themselves a passage through the thick tall fern, +without any fear of catching cold, which was not much in fashion +in the twelfth century. Robin was as hospitable as Cathmor; +for seven men stood on seven paths to call the stranger to his feast. +It is true, he superadded the small improvement of making +the stranger pay for it: than which what could be more generous? +For Cathmor was himself the prime giver of his feast, +whereas Robin was only the agent to a series of strangers, +who provided in turn for the entertainment of their successors; +which is carrying the disinterestedness of hospitality to its acme. +Marian often killed the deer, + + Which Scarlet dressed, and Friar Tuck blessed + While Little John wandered in search of a guest. + +Robin was very devout, though there was great unity in his religion: +it was exclusively given to our Lady the Virgin, and he never set forth +in a morning till he had said three prayers, and had heard the sweet +voice of his Marian singing a hymn to their mutual patroness. Each of +his men had, as usual, a patron saint according to his name or taste. +The friar chose a saint for himself, and fixed on Saint Botolph, +whom he euphonised into Saint Bottle, and maintained that he was +that very Panomphic Pantagruelian saint, well known in ancient +France as a female divinity, by the name of La Dive Bouteille, +whose oracular monosyllable "Trincq,', is celebrated and under-stood +by all nations, and is expounded by the learned doctor Alcofribas,[6] +who has treated at large on the subject, to signify "drink." +Saint Bottle, then, was the saint of Friar Tuck, who did not yield +even to Robin and Marian in the assiduity of his devotions to his +chosen patron. Such was their summer life, and in their winter caves +they had sufficient furniture, ample provender, store of old wine, +and assuredly no lack of fuel, with joyous music and pleasant discourse +to charm away the season of darkness and storms. + + +[6] Alcofribas Nasier: an anagram of Francois Rabelais, +and his assumed appellation. + +The reader who desires to know more about this oracular divinity, +may consult the said doctor Alcofribas Nasier, who will usher him +into the adytum through the medium of the high priestess Bacbuc. + + + +Many moons had waxed and waned, when on the afternoon of a lovely +summer day a lusty broad-boned knight was riding through the forest +of Sherwood. The sun shone brilliantly on the full green foliage, +and afforded the knight a fine opportunity of observing picturesque +effects, of which it is to be feared he did not avail himself. +But he had not proceeded far, before he had an opportunity of observing +something much more interesting, namely, a fine young outlaw leaning, +in the true Sherwood fashion, with his back against a tree. +The knight was preparing to ask the stranger a question, the answer +to which, if correctly given, would have relieved him from a doubt +that pressed heavily on his mind, as to whether he was in the right +road or the wrong, when the youth prevented the inquiry by saying: +"In God's name, sir knight, you are late to your meals. +My master has tarried dinner for you these three hours." + +"I doubt," said the knight, "I am not he you wot of. +I am no where bidden to day and I know none in this vicinage." + +"We feared," said the youth, "your memory would be treacherous: +therefore am I stationed here to refresh it." + +"Who is your master?" said the knight; "and where does he abide?" + +"My master," said the youth, "is called Robin Hood, and he abides hard by." + +"And what knows he of me?" said the knight. + +"He knows you," answered the youth "as he does every way-faring +knight and friar, by instinct." + +"Gramercy," said the knight; "then I understand his bidding: +but how if I say I will not come?" + +"I am enjoined to bring you," said the youth. "If persuasion avail not, +I must use other argument." + +"Say'st thou so?" said the knight; "I doubt if thy stripling rhetoric +would convince me." + +"That," said the young forester, "we will see." + +"We are not equally matched, boy," said the knight. +"I should get less honour by thy conquest, than grief +by thy injury." + +"Perhaps," said the youth, "my strength is more than my seeming, +and my cunning more than my strength. Therefore let it please +your knighthood to dismount." + +"It shall please my knighthood to chastise thy presumption," +said the knight, springing from his saddle. + +Hereupon, which in those days was usually the result of a meeting +between any two persons anywhere, they proceeded to fight. + +The knight had in an uncommon degree both strength and skill: +the forester had less strength, but not less skill than the knight, +and showed such a mastery of his weapon as reduced the latter +to great admiration. + +They had not fought many minutes by the forest clock, the sun; +and had as yet done each other no worse injury than that +the knight had wounded the forester's jerkin, and the forester +had disabled the knight's plume; when they were interrupted +by a voice from a thicket, exclaiming, "Well fought, girl: +well fought. Mass, that had nigh been a shrewd hit. +Thou owest him for that, lass. Marry, stand by, I'll pay +him for thee." + +The knight turning to the voice, beheld a tall friar issuing from the thicket, +brandishing a ponderous cudgel. + +"Who art thou?" said the knight. + +"I am the church militant of Sherwood," answered the friar. +"Why art thou in arms against our lady queen?" + +"What meanest thou?" said the knight. + +"Truly, this," said the friar, "is our liege lady of the forest, +against whom I do apprehend thee in overt act of treason. +What sayest thou for thyself?" + +"I say," answered the knight, "that if this be indeed a lady, +man never yet held me so long." + +"Spoken," said the friar, "like one who hath done execution. +Hast thou thy stomach full of steel? Wilt thou diversify thy repast +with a taste of my oak-graff? Or wilt thou incline thine heart +to our venison which truly is cooling? Wilt thou fight? or wilt thou +dine? or wilt thou fight and dine? or wilt thou dine and fight? +I am for thee, choose as thou mayest." + +"I will dine," said the knight; "for with lady I never fought before, +and with friar I never fought yet, and with neither will I ever +fight knowingly: and if this be the queen of the forest, I will not, +being in her own dominions, be backward to do her homage." + +So saying, he kissed the hand of Marian, who was pleased most graciously +to express her approbation. + +"Gramercy, sir knight," said the friar, "I laud thee for +thy courtesy, which I deem to be no less than thy valour. +Now do thou follow me, while I follow my nose, which scents +the pleasant odour of roast from the depth of the forest recesses. +I will lead thy horse, and do thou lead my lady." + +The knight took Marian's hand, and followed the friar, who walked +before them, singing: + + When the wind blows, when the wind blows + From where under buck the dry log glows, + What guide can you follow, + O'er brake and o'er hollow, + So true as a ghostly, ghostly nose? + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +Robin and Richard were two pretty men. Mother Goose's Melody. + + +They proceeded, following their infallible guide, first along a light +elastic greensward under the shade of lofty and wide-spreading trees +that skirted a sunny opening of the forest, then along labyrinthine paths, +which the deer, the outlaw, or the woodman had made, through the close shoots +of the young coppices, through the thick undergrowth of the ancient woods, +through beds of gigantic fern that filled the narrow glades and waved their +green feathery heads above the plume of the knight. Along these sylvan alleys +they walked in single file; the friar singing and pioneering in the van, +the horse plunging and floundering behind the friar, the lady following +"in maiden meditation fancy free," and the knight bringing up the rear, +much marvelling at the strange company into which his stars had thrown him. +Their path had expanded sufficiently to allow the knight to take Marian's +hand again, when they arrived in the august presence of Robin Hood +and his court. + +Robin's table was spread under a high overarching canopy of living boughs, +on the edge of a natural lawn of verdure starred with flowers, +through which a swift transparent rivulet ran sparkling in the sun. +The board was covered with abundance of choice food and excellent liquor, +not without the comeliness of snow-white linen and the splendour +of costly plate, which the sheriff of Nottingham had unwillingly +contributed to supply, at the same time with an excellent cook, +whom Little John's art had spirited away to the forest with the contents +of his master's silver scullery. + +An hundred foresters were here assembled over-ready for their dinner, +some seated at the table and some lying in groups under the trees. + +Robin bade courteous welcome to the knight, who took his seat between +Robin and Marian at the festal board; at which was already placed +one strange guest in the person of a portly monk, sitting between +Little John and Scarlet, with, his rotund physiognomy elongated +into an unnatural oval by the conjoint influence of sorrow and fear: +sorrow for the departed contents of his travelling treasury, a good-looking +valise which was hanging empty on a bough; and fear for his personal safety, +of which all the flasks and pasties before him could not give him assurance. +The appearance of the knight, however, cheered him up with a semblance +of protection, and gave him just sufficient courage to demolish a cygnet +and a rumble-pie, which he diluted with the contents of two flasks +of canary sack. + +But wine, which sometimes creates and often increases joy, doth also, +upon occasion, heighten sorrow: and so it fared now with our portly monk, +who had no sooner explained away his portion of provender, than he began +to weep and bewail himself bitterly. + +"Why dost thou weep, man?" said Robin Hood. "Thou hast done +thine embassy justly, and shalt have thy Lady's grace." + +"Alack! alack!" said the monk: "no embassy had I, luckless sinner, +as well thou wottest, but to take to my abbey in safety the treasure +whereof thou hast despoiled me." + +"Propound me his case," said Friar Tuck, "and I will give +him ghostly counsel." + +"You well remember," said Robin Hood, "the sorrowful knight who dined +with us here twelve months and a day gone by." + +"Well do I," said Friar Tuck. "His lands were in jeopardy with a +certain abbot, who would allow him no longer day for their redemption. +Whereupon you lent to him the four hundred pounds which he needed, +and which he was to repay this day, though he had no better security +to give than our Lady the Virgin." + +"I never desired better," said Robin, "for she never yet failed +to send me my pay; and here is one of her own flock, this faithful and +well-favoured monk of St. Mary's, hath brought it me duly, principal and +interest to a penny, as Little John can testify, who told it forth. +To be sure, he denied having it, but that was to prove our faith. +We sought and found it." + +"I know nothing of your knight," said the monk: "and the money was our own, +as the Virgin shall bless me." + +"She shall bless thee," said Friar Tuck, "for a faithful messenger." + +The monk resumed his wailing. Little John brought him his horse. +Robin gave him leave to depart. He sprang with singular nimbleness +into the saddle, and vanished without saying, God give you good day. + +The stranger knight laughed heartily as the monk rode off. + +"They say, sir knight," said Friar Tuck, "they should laugh who win: +but thou laughest who art likely to lose." + +"I have won," said the knight, "a good dinner, some mirth, +and some knowledge: and I cannot lose by paying for them." + +"Bravely said," answered Robin. "Still it becomes thee to pay: +for it is not meet that a poor forester should treat a rich knight. +How much money hast thou with thee?" + +"Troth, I know not," said the knight. "Sometimes much, sometimes little, +sometimes none. But search, and what thou findest, keep: +and for the sake of thy kind heart and open hand, be it what it may, +I shall wish it were more." + +"Then, since thou sayest so," said Robin, "not a penny will I touch. +Many a false churl comes hither, and disburses against his will: +and till there is lack of these, I prey not on true men." + +"Thou art thyself a true man, right well I judge, Robin," +said the stranger knight, "and seemest more like one bred +in court than to thy present outlaw life." + +"Our life," said the friar, "is a craft, an art, and a mystery. +How much of it, think you, could be learned at court?" + +"Indeed, I cannot say," said the stranger knight: +"but I should apprehend very little." + +"And so should I," said the friar: "for we should find very little of our +bold open practice, but should hear abundance of praise of our principles. +To live in seeming fellowship and secret rivalry; to have a hand for all, +and a heart for none; to be everybody's acquaintance, and nobody's friend; +to meditate the ruin of all on whom we smile, and to dread the secret +stratagems of all who smile on us; to pilfer honours and despoil +fortunes, not by fighting in daylight, but by sapping in darkness: +these are arts which the court can teach, but which we, by 'r Lady, +have not learned. But let your court-minstrel tune up his throat +to the praise of your court-hero, then come our principles into play: +then is our practice extolled not by the same name, for their Richard +is a hero, and our Robin is a thief: marry, your hero guts an exchequer, +while your thief disembowels a portmanteau, your hero sacks a city, +while your thief sacks a cellar: your hero marauds on a larger scale, +and that is all the difference, for the principle and the virtue are one: +but two of a trade cannot agree: therefore your hero makes laws to get +rid of your thief, and gives him an ill name that he may hang him: +for might is right, and the strong make laws for the weak, and they +that make laws to serve their own turn do also make morals to give +colour to their laws." + +"Your comparison, friar," said the stranger, "fails in this: +that your thief fights for profit, and your hero for honour. +I have fought under the banners of Richard, and if, as you phrase it, +he guts exchequers, and sacks cities, it is not to win treasure +for himself, but to furnish forth the means of his greater +and more glorious aim." + +"Misconceive me not, sir knight," said the friar. "We all love +and honour King Richard, and here is a deep draught to his health: +but I would show you, that we foresters are miscalled by opprobrious names, +and that our virtues, though they follow at humble distance, are yet +truly akin to those of Coeur-de-Lion. I say not that Richard is a thief, +but I say that Robin is a hero: and for honour, did ever yet man, +miscalled thief, win greater honour than Robin? Do not all men grace +him with some honourable epithet? The most gentle thief, the most +courteous thief, the most bountiful thief, yea, and the most honest thief? +Richard is courteous, bountiful, honest, and valiant: but so also +is Robin: it is the false word that makes the unjust distinction. +They are twin-spirits, and should be friends, but that fortune hath +differently cast their lot: but their names shall descend together +to the latest days, as the flower of their age and of England: +for in the pure principles of freebootery have they excelled all men; +and to the principles of freebootery, diversely developed, belong all +the qualities to which song and story concede renown." + +"And you may add, friar," said Marian, "that Robin, no less than Richard, +is king in his own dominion; and that if his subjects be fewer, yet are they +more uniformly loyal." + +"I would, fair lady," said the stranger, "that thy latter observation were not +so true. But I nothing doubt, Robin, that if Richard could hear your friar, +and see you and your lady, as I now do, there is not a man in England whom +he would take by the hand more cordially than yourself." + +"Gramercy, sir knight," said Robin---- But his speech was cut +short by Little John calling, "Hark!" + +All listened. A distant trampling of horses was heard. +The sounds approached rapidly, and at length a group of horsemen +glittering in holyday dresses was visible among the trees. + +"God's my life!" said Robin, "what means this? To arms, +my merrymen all." + +"No arms, Robin," said the foremost horseman, riding up and springing +from his saddle: "have you forgotten Sir William of the Lee?" + +"No, by my fay," said Robin; "and right welcome again to Sherwood." + +Little John bustled to re-array the disorganised economy of the table, +and replace the dilapidations of the provender. + +"I come late, Robin," said Sir William, "but I came by a wrestling, +where I found a good yeoman wrongfully beset by a crowd of sturdy varlets, +and I staid to do him right." + +"I thank thee for that, in God's name," said Robin, "as if thy good service +had been to myself." + +"And here," said the knight, "is thy four hundred pound; +and my men have brought thee an hundred bows and as many +well-furnished quivers; which I beseech thee to receive +and to use as a poor token of my grateful kindness to thee: +for me and my wife and children didst thou redeem from beggary." + +"Thy bows and arrows," said Robin, "will I joyfully receive: +but of thy money, not a penny. It is paid already. +My Lady, who was thy security, hath sent it me for thee." + +Sir William pressed, but Robin was inflexible. + +"It is paid," said Robin, "as this good knight can testify, +who saw my Lady's messenger depart but now." + +Sir William looked round to the stranger knight, and instantly fell +on his knee, saying, "God save King Richard." + +The foresters, friar and all, dropped on their knees together, +and repeated in chorus: "God save King Richard." + +"Rise, rise," said Richard, smiling: "Robin is king here, as his lady +hath shown. I have heard much of thee, Robin, both of thy present and thy +former state. And this, thy fair forest-queen, is, if tales say true, +the lady Matilda Fitzwater." + +Marian signed acknowledgment. + +"Your father," said the king, "has approved his fidelity to me, +by the loss of his lands, which the newness of my return, +and many public cares, have not yet given me time to restore: +but this justice shall be done to him, and to thee also, Robin, +if thou wilt leave thy forest-life and resume thy earldom, +and be a peer of Coeur-de-Lion: for braver heart and juster +hand I never yet found." + +Robin looked round on his men. + +"Your followers," said the king, "shall have free pardon, and such +of them as thou wilt part with shall have maintenance from me; +and if ever I confess to priest, it shall be to thy friar." + +"Gramercy to your majesty," said the friar; "and my inflictions +shall be flasks of canary; and if the number be (as in grave cases +I may, peradventure, make it) too great for one frail mortality, +I will relieve you by vicarious penance, and pour down my own +throat the redundancy of the burden." + +Robin and his followers embraced the king's proposal. +A joyful meeting soon followed with the baron and Sir Guy of Gamwell: +and Richard himself honoured with his own presence a formal +solemnization of the nuptials of our lovers, whom he constantly +distinguished with his peculiar regard. + +The friar could not say, Farewell to the forest, without something +of a heavy heart: and he sang as he turned his back upon its bounds, +occasionally reverting his head: + + Ye woods, that oft at sultry noon + Have o'er me spread your messy shade: + Ye gushing streams, whose murmured tune + Has in my ear sweet music made, + While, where the dancing pebbles show + Deep in the restless fountain-pool + The gelid water's upward flow, + My second flask was laid to cool: + + Ye pleasant sights of leaf and flower: + Ye pleasant sounds of bird and bee: + Ye sports of deer in sylvan bower: + Ye feasts beneath the greenwood tree: + Ye baskings in the vernal sun: + Ye slumbers in the summer dell: + Ye trophies that this arm has won: + And must ye hear your friar's farewell? + + +But the friar's farewell was not destined to be eternal. +He was domiciled as the family confessor of the earl and +countess of Huntingdon, who led a discreet and courtly life, +and kept up old hospitality in all its munificence, +till the death of King Richard and the usurpation of John, +by placing their enemy in power, compelled them to return to +their greenwood sovereignty; which, it is probable, they would +have before done from choice, if their love of sylvan liberty +had not been counteracted by their desire to retain the friendship +of Coeur-de-Lion. Their old and tried adherents, the friar +among the foremost, flocked again round their forest-banner; +and in merry Sherwood they long lived together, the lady still +retaining her former name of Maid Marian, though the appellation +was then as much a misnomer as that of Little John. + + +THE END. + + + + + + +VARIANTS IN THE TEXT + +Changes in spelling, use of capitals, punctuation and type are not recorded. + +P. 15, ll. 12-13. and the bishops: and bishops 1822. + +P. 46, l. 12. united: re-united 1822. + +P. 63, l. 14. a posse of men: fifty men 1822. + +P. 74, l. 6. privation: imprisonment and privation 1822. + +P. 80, l. 29. tone: toll 1822. + +P. 153, ll. 21-23. daily of bad wine . . . more fastidious relish: +every day I grow more intolerant of bad, and have a keener and more +fastidious relish of good wine 1822. + +P. 159, l. 20. passed: past 1822. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Etext of Maid Marian by Thomas Love Peacock + diff --git a/old/maidm10.zip b/old/maidm10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4a6083e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/maidm10.zip |