Enter ROBIN HOOD, and MARIAN, and his Train. Geo. Back again, you foolish travellers, way. R. Hood. That were great shame. my soul, proud sir, Now by Geo. Leap the ditch, or I will make you skip. We are no babes, man, look upon our limbs. Were ye as good as Robin Hood, and his three merry men, I'll drive you back the same way that ye came. Thou well mightest be a champion for a King: Scar. Ay, sirrah, that I dare. poor house? Will you to my You shall have wafer-cakes your fill, A piece of beef hung up since 31 Martlemas, [They fight, and GEORGE A GREENE beats him. I'll be thy guest to-day. 26 Trasing. Following. So, in Churchyard's Challenge, p. 180 : "All hand and hand they traced on "A tricksie ancient round, "And soone as shadowes were they gone, Macbeth, A. 4. S. 1: 27 Wend.-See "And might no more be found." give to the edge o' the sword "His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls p. 452. 28 Tall Yeomen.-The word tall in this place, and in most of our ancient writers, is not designed to give us an idea of height or bulk, but signifies stout, bold, or courageous. Thus, in Pierce Pennilesse's Supplication to the Divell, p. 9: "Ulysses was a tall man under Ajax shield: but by himselfe hee would never adventure but in the night." Hall's Chronicle, Henry IV. p. 14: " And with that word Sir Piers entered into the chamber well armed with eight tall men in harness." Ibid. p. 17: " - dyd gather a houge armye of twentie thousande talle menne and more." So Bobadil addresses Downright by the title of Tall man. See Every Man in his Humour, A. 4. S. T. and Ar Whalley's Note thereon. 29 George, wilt thou, &c.-See the ballad in Evans's Collection, vol. 1. p. 109. 30 Leefe.-See Note to Gammer Gurton's Needle, p. 114. 31 Martlemas.-Martlemas is corrupted from Martinmas, the feast of St Martin, the eleventh of November. The corruption, as Mr Steevens remarks (Note to the Second Part of Henry IV. A. 2. S. 2.) is general in all the old Plays. disguised, There is none (I know) will take us to be kings: Shoe. Down with your staves, my friends, Edw. Down with our staves! I pray thee, why so? Shoe. My friend, I see thou art a stranger here, Else would'st thou not have question'd of the thing. This is the town of merry Bradford, Shoe. 32 King or Kaisar, none shall pass this No, not the stoutest groom that haunts his court : Therefore down with your staves. Edw. What were we best to do? James. Faith, my lord, they are stout fellows; Edw. Hear'st thou, my friend? Shoe. The way lies before you, go along. Enter ROBIN HOOD and GEORGE A GREENE disguised. R. Hood. See, George, two men are passing through the town, Two lusty men, and yet they trail their staves. Along the streets? Edw. Yes, sir, we are big enough; But here is a custom kept, that none may pass His staff upon his neck, unless he trail it at the weapon's point. Sir, we are men of peace, and love to sleep best. Edw. Do you hear, my friends? and you be wise, Keep down your staves, for all the town Geo. Thou speakest like an honest quiet fellow. Or, to begin withal, I'll baste you both so well, You were never better basted in your lives. Edw. We will hold up our staves. [GEORGE A GREENE fights with the Geo. What, have you any more? The Shoemakers spy GEORGE A GREENE. Shoe. What! George a Greene, is it you? A plague found you! 34 I think you long'd to swinge me well. 32 King or Kaisar.-The expression of King and Kaisar is frequently used by Spenser. See Mr Warton's Observations, vol. 2. p. 212. where several instances are produced. Again, in Nobody and Somebody, N. D. Sigu. H 3: "My harts in my hose, but my face was never ashamed to shew itselfe yet before King or Keysar." Skelton's Works, p. 196 : Euphues, p. 65: -"No King, nor Keyser be he never so royal in birth, &c. The Return from Parnassus, A. 5. S. 1 :— "Fair fell good Orpheus, that would rather be 33 Drub. 66 King of a molehill, than a Keyser's slave." The first edition reads shrub. 34 A plague found you.-i. e. confound you. Here, Will Perkins, take my purse, Fetch me a stand of ale, and set in the marketplace, That all may drink that are athirst this day; Geo. I humbly thank your royal majesty, That which I did against the earl of Kendall, It was but a subject's duty to his sovereign, And therefore little merits such good words. Edw. But ere I go, I'll grace thee with good deeds. Say what king Edward may perform, And thou shalt have it, being in England's bounds. Geo. I have a lovely lemman, 37 As bright of blee as is the silver moon, [They bring out the Stand of Ale, and And old Grimes her father will not let her match With me, because I am a Pinner, fall a drinking. Here, Robin, sit thou here; For thou art the best man at the board this day. You that are strangers, place yourselves where you will. 36 Robin, here's a carouse to good king Edward's self, Although I love her, and she me, dearly. Geo. At home at my poor house, Ho, who saw a master of mine? Geo. Peace, ye slave, see where king Edward is. Geo. I beseech your grace pardon him, he is my man. Shoe. Sirrah, the king hath been drinking with us, And did pledge us too. Jenk. Hath he so? kneel, I dub you gentlemen. Shoe. Beg it of the king, Jenkin. Jenk. I will.-I beseech your worship grant me one thing. Edw. What is that? Jenk. Hark in your ear. [He whispers the King in the ear. Edw. Go your ways, and do it. Jenk. Marry, because you have drunk with the king, And the king hath so graciously pledged you, 35 Crush a pot. This cant expression, Mr Steevens observes, seems to have been once common among low people. It is often to be met with in ancient Plays. See some instances in Note to Romeo and Ju liet, A. i. S. 2. 36 Carouse.-A carouse seems to be a more than ordinary quantity of liquor, probably as we now say a bumper. Marston's First Part of Antonio and Melleda, A. 3. Tarlton's Newes out of Purgatory, 51: “Supper time being come, they fell to their victuals, and Lioncle was carroust unto by Mutio.' 37 As bright of blee.- So P. 452: "To sce fair Beatrice how bright she is of blee." Again Chaucer's Lamentation of Mary Magdalen, 1. 391 :— "Onely for him, which is so bright of ble. Enter MUSGROVE and CUDDY, and Master Edw. Ah, old Musgrove, stand up; My sovereign! long and happy be his days! King James at Meddellom-castle gave me this, Edw. Godamercy, Musgrove, for this friendly And for thou feld'st a king with this same weapon, Edw. 38 To mend thy living, take thou Meddel- The hold of both; and if thou want living, complain, Grime. Marry, my lord, I think this boy hath Edw. Now, George, it rests I gratify thy worth; Geo. What will your majesty do? Geo. I beseech your grace, grant me one thing. Geo. Then let me live and die a yeoman still: James. I beseech your grace dispatch with me, 38 To mend thy living, take thou Meddellom-castle.-Mr Grose, who has given two views of this Castle, and a very accurate history of the several changes of its owners, in his Antiquities of England and Wales, vol. iv. supposes, that this play hath little or no foundation in history. "The king," says he, "here is simply named Edward, without any other distinction; but as the Scots King is called James, and mention is made of Edward's son, it can only be Edward the Fourth, he being the first of that name contemporary with a James, and the last that had issue. "Having thus ascertained the king, the next step is to see, whether the other circumstances accord with the events of that reign; but in these there is very little similarity; for although there was a war with the Scots, no decisive battle was fought near Middleham, neither was the King of Scotland taken prisoner. It is true, there was an insurrection in Yorkshire towards the latter end of this reign, op account of a contribution demanded for the maintenance of an hospital at York; but this was terminated by the defeat of the rebels at Banbury. I will not object to the anachronism of introducing here Robin Hood, who lived in the reign of Richard the First. The introduction of imaginary characters was a liberty then frequently taken in old historical Plays, in order to divert the audience, and enliven the representation a compliment to the upper galleries of those times. It may also be objected, that the Castle of Middleham was, about that period, the property of Richard, Duke of Gloucester. To this it may be answered, That a man of the age old Musgrove is here described to be, would not, in all probability, hold it above a year or two, after which it might be granted to Richard.'s 3 M VOL. I. And set down my ransom: Put in pledge for these things to your grace, Edw. George a Greene, set down the king of And so return. King James, are you content? Scots His ransom. Geo. I beseech your grace pardon me, It passeth my skill. Edw. Do it, the honour's thine. Geo. Then let king James make good James. I am content, and like your majesty, Edw. I crave no more. Now George a Greene, Those towns which he hath burnt upon the bor- And for the ancient custom of Vail staff, ders; Give a small pension to the fatherless, Keep it still, claim privilege from me. Whose fathers he caused murthered in those wars; Say, English Edward vail'd his staff to you. [Exeunt EDITION. As it was A pleasant conceyted Comedie of George a Greene the Pinner of Wakefield. sundry times acted by the Servants of the Right Honourable the Earl of Sussex. Imprinted at Lon don, by Simon Stafford, for Cuthbert Burby; and are to be sold at his Shop neare the Royal Exchange, 1599, 4to. |