_, painted at the doors
of vintners, and still preserved at almost every public-house. See note
24 to "The Miseries of Enforced Marriage."

[285] The 4to reads--

"In the highway
That joineth to the _power_."

[286] Robin Hood advises his uncle to insist upon his plea of
_privilegium clericale_, or benefit of clergy--

"Stand to your clergy, uncle; save your life."

"Originally the law was held that no man should be admitted to the
privilege of clergy, but such as had the _habitum et tonsuram
clericalem_. But in process of time a much wider and more comprehensive
criterion was established; every one that could read (a mark of great
learning in those days of ignorance and her sister superstition) being
accounted a clerk or _clericus_, and allowed the benefit of clerkship,
though neither initiated in holy orders, nor trimmed with the clerical
tonsure."--Blackstone's "Com.," iv. b. iv, ch. 28. We have already seen
that the king and nobles in this play called in the aid of Friar Tuck to
read the inscription on the stag's collar, though the king could
ascertain that it was in Saxon characters.

[287] This account of the death of Robin Hood varies from all the
popular narratives and ballads. The MS. Sloan, 715, nu. 7, f. 157,
agrees with the ballad in Ritson, ii. 183, that he was treacherously
bled to death by the Prioress of Kirksley.

[288] The first act has already occupied too much space, but it was
difficult to divide it: in fact, as Friar Tuck says, it is a "short
play," complete in itself. What follows is an induction to the rest of
the story, the Friar continuing on the stage after the others have gone
out.

[289] The 4to. reads thus--

"Apollo's _master doone_ I invocate,"

but probably we ought to read--

"Apollo's _masterdom_ I invocate,"

and the text has been altered accordingly. _Masterdom_ means _power,
rule_; to invocate Apollo's masterdom is therefore to invocate Apollo's
power to assist the Friar in his undertaking.

[290] _Enter in black_ is the whole of the stage direction, and those
who enter are afterwards designated by the letters _Cho_. Perhaps the
principal performers arrive attired in black, and are mentioned as
_Chorus_, one speaking for the rest. _Cho_. may, however, be a misprint
for _Chester_, who was sent in to "attire him."

[291] [In the new edit. of Nares the present passage is cited for
_ill-part_, which is queried to mean _ill-condition