all countries, which emulate each other in describing the rambles of
a disguised sovereign, who, going in search of information or amusement,
into the lower ranks of life, meets with adventures diverting to the
reader or hearer, from the contrast betwixt the monarch's outward
appearance, and his real character. The Eastern tale-teller has for his
theme the disguised expeditions of Haroun Alraschid with his faithful
attendants, Mesrour and Giafar, through the midnight streets of Bagdad;
and Scottish tradition dwells upon the similar exploits of James V.,
distinguished during such excursions by the travelling name of the
Goodman of Ballengeigh, as the Commander of the Faithful, when he
desired to be incognito, was known by that of Il Bondocani. The French
minstrels are not silent on so popular a theme. There must have been
a Norman original of the Scottish metrical romance of Rauf Colziar, in
which Charlemagne is introduced as the unknown guest of a charcoal-man.
[2]

It seems to have been the original of other poems of the kind.

In merry England there is no end of popular ballads on this theme. The
poem of John the Reeve, or Steward, mentioned by Bishop Percy, in
the Reliques of English Poetry, [3] is said to have turned on such an
incident; and we have besides, the King and the Tanner of Tamworth, the
King and the Miller of Mansfield, and others on the same topic. But
the peculiar tale of this nature to which the author of Ivanhoe has to
acknowledge an obligation, is more ancient by two centuries than any of
these last mentioned.

It was first communicated to the public in that curious record of
ancient literature, which has been accumulated by the combined exertions
of Sir Egerton Brydges. and Mr Hazlewood, in the periodical work
entitled the British Bibliographer. From thence it has been transferred
by the Reverend Charles Henry Hartsborne, M.A., editor of a very curious
volume, entitled "Ancient Metrical Tales, printed chiefly from original
sources, 1829." Mr Hartshorne gives no other authority for the present
fragment, except the article in the Bibliographer, where it is entitled
the Kyng and the Hermite. A short abstract of its contents will show its
similarity to the meeting of King Richard and Friar Tuck.

King Edward (we are not told which among the monarchs of that name, but,
from his temper and habits, we may suppose Edward IV.) sets forth with
his court to a gallant hunting-match in Sherwood Forest, in w