curious coincidence. Mr Hunter says: 'The ballad testimony
is--not the Lytel Geste, but other ballads of uncertain
antiquity--that the outlaw's wife was named Matilda, which name she
changed for Marian when she joined him in the greenwood.'

But what cause could have driven a respectable yeoman like Robin Hood,
along with so many others, apparently not much below him in rank, to
the fastnesses of the forest? It is evident that only a great civil
convulsion could have made, in one district, so large a number of
outlaws of this peculiar character. Now, the rising of the
discontented barons under the Earl of Lancaster, provoked by the
king's favouritism and misgovernment, took place in the early part of
the year 1322. By the battle of Boroughbridge, fought on the 16th of
March in that year, the insurrection was suppressed. It was punished
with great severity. The Earl of Lancaster and many of his adherents
were beheaded, and their property was confiscated. Some
offenders--probably persons who were not conspicuous in the
outbreak--escaped with heavy fines; and among these are mentioned two
members of the Staynton family, Robin Hood's supposed connections. We
may thence infer the part which he himself probably took in the
movement. From his skill with the bow, and from the personal esteem in
which he was held, it is likely that he would be a leader of the
archers in the rebel force, and would consequently be of importance
enough to become specially obnoxious to the king's party. Many
others--perhaps the whole company which followed him to the
battle--might be in the same plight. If so, it would account not only
for their outlawry, but for the goodwill with which they were regarded
by the people of their neighbourhood, who were generally favourable to
the cause of the Earl of Lancaster, and looked upon him as a martyr.
The battle of Boroughbridge, it should be observed, was fought in the
year preceding that in which the king made his progress through the
north, and rested for a fortnight at Nottingham.

Mr Hunter, in conclusion, sums up the results of his investigation in
what he cautiously styles his 'theory' concerning the career of the
famous ballad-hero. He considers that Robin Hood was one of the
'contrariantes,' or malcontents, of the reign of King Edward II., and
that he was still living in the early years of King Edward III.; but
that his birth must 'be carried back into the reign of King Edward I.,
and fixed in the