f their boldest exploits were performed. They slew
the king's deer, and plundered rich travellers, but spared the humble,
relieved the distressed, and were courteous to all who did not offend
them.

Robyn was a proude outlaw
Whyles he walked on ground;
So curtyse an outlaw as he was one,
Was never none yfound.

All the ballads agree in ascribing to the outlaw chief a manly bearing
and a generous disposition, such as might be expected to distinguish a
respectable yeoman of a class somewhat above the ordinary, whom the
fortune of war had driven from his home to a lawless life in the
forest. That this was Robin Hood's condition, may be inferred from the
general language of the ballads; but the important question is,
whether any other testimony can be found to confirm this conjecture,
and to give us any definite and authentic information about the fact.
This is the question which Mr Hunter has undertaken to answer. The
clue which first catches his experienced eye, is _the name of an
English king_. One of the most remarkable adventures which the ballads
record of Robin Hood, is his meeting with the king, who induced him,
for a time, to take service in his household. The king, according to
this authority, was exasperated with Robin and his men chiefly on
account of the destruction which they had made of his deer. Finding
that it was impossible to capture the outlaw by force, the king
consented to practise a stratagem, suggested by a forester who was
well acquainted with the outlaw's habits. He disguised himself as an
abbot, and with five knights habited as monks, and a man leading
sumpter-horses, rode into the greenwood. A wealthy abbot's baggage,
and his ransom, would be just the bait most tempting to Robin and his
men. The king, as he had expected, was seized by them, and led away to
their lodge in the forest. The outlaws, however, behave courteously as
usual; and when the abbot announces that he comes from the king at
Nottingham, and brings a letter from his majesty, inviting Robin to
come to that town, the latter receives the information joyously, and
declares that 'he loves no man in all the world so well as he does his
king.' Presently the monarch discovers himself, and the outlaw chief
and his men kneel, and profess their loyalty--Robin at the same time
asking for mercy for him and his. The king grants it on condition that
Robin will leave the greenwood, and will come to court and enter his
serv