ice. We quote the following after Mr Hunter, merely modernising
the orthography:--

'Yes, fore God!' then said our king,
'Thy petition I grant thee,
With that thou leave the greenwood,
And all thy company;

'And come home, sir, to my court,
And there dwell with me.'
'I make mine avow to God,' said Robin,
'And right so shall it be:

'I will come to your court
Your service for to see.'

Accordingly, Robin left the greenwood and his company, entered the
king's household, went with him to the court at London, and remained
in his service for a year and three months. Having by that time become
weary of this uncongenial mode of life, he obtained permission from
the king to pay a visit to his old residence at Barnesdale. Here he
resumes once more his former way of life 'under the greenwood-tree,'
and becomes again chief of the outlaws of Barnesdale and Sherwood.

Now if, among the adventures ascribed to Robin by the old ballads,
there is one far more improbable than all the rest, and one which an
ordinary commentator would set down at once as a pure fiction of the
poet, it is certainly that which has just been related. Mr Hunter,
however, is not an ordinary commentator. If the story is a strange
one, he doubtless reflected, 'truth is stranger than fiction;' and if
it is intrinsically and evidently improbable, that is the very reason
why a poet would not have invented it. Mr Hunter, therefore, did what
no other inquirer had before thought of doing--he examined the
historical and documentary evidence which might throw light upon the
subject. The ballad, fortunately, gives the name of the king who was
concerned in this singular adventure. He is repeatedly spoken of as
'Edward, our comely king'--a phrase, by the way, which clearly implies
that the ballad was composed while the monarch was still living. This
circumstance is not noticed by Mr Hunter, but it is one of some
importance, inasmuch as a poet would hardly have ventured to introduce
the name of the reigning monarch into a purely fictitious narrative.
But there are three Edwards--the first, second, and third of the name,
among whom it is necessary to distinguish the one to whom the poet
referred. Now, according to the ballad, this 'comely king,' before he
fell in with Robin, had journeyed through the county of Lancaster:

All the pass of Lancashire,
He went both far and near,
Till he came to Plumpton P