l. 11. _ho, ho, hoh!_ This is Robin's traditional laugh. Cf. the
refrain of the broadside, p. 144.

[5] P. 93, l. 19. _bolt_, sift, pass through a sieve.

[6] P. 95, l. 5. _himpen, hampen._ Cf. "Hemton hamton" in Scot's account of
Robin, p. 135.

[7] P. 97, l. 18. _night-raven,_ proverbially a bird of ill-omen.

[8] P. 98, l. 7. _starkled_, stiffened. A dialect word, still in use.

[9] P. 98, l. 22. _quills_, spools or "bottoms" on which weavers' thread is
wound.

[10] P. 101, l. 8. _the tune of Watton Town's End_. See Chappell's _Popular
Music_, 218-20.

[11] P. 105, l. 18. _bombasting_, puffing up, frothing.

[12] P. 106, l. 1. _Obreon_. The 1639 edition spells the name in the
ordinary way, but it may be noted that the Pepysian copy of the broadside
ballad (p. 144), begins--

"From Obreon in fairyland."

[13] P. 108, l. 16. _the tune of What care I how fair she be?_ This is the
tune to George Wither's famous--

"Shall I wasting in despair
Die because a woman's fair?"

See Chappell's _Popular Music_, 315.

[14] P. 109, l. 5. _the tune of The Spanish Pavin_. (Pavin = Pavan.) See
Chappell, op. cit., 240.

[15] P. 110, l. 13. _the tune of The Jovial Tinker_. See Chappell, op.
cit., 187.

[16] P. 110, l. 25. _ax_ = ask. The form "ax" was in use till the end of
the sixteenth century, and continues in dialect.

[17] P. 111, l. 13. _the tune of Broom_. See Chappell, op. cit., 458; but
this song does not fit the metre.

* * * *

_The Romance of Thomas of Erceldoune._

(Fytte I.)

See pp. 45-7. In preparing the text, I have reduced in as simple a manner
as possible the fifteenth-century spelling to modern forms. Dr. J.A.H.
Murray's parallel texts (see note on p. 46) have been consulted, but mainly
I have followed the oldest of them--that of the Thornton MS. in Lincoln
Cathedral Library. The footnotes explain all words save those that are or
ought to be familiar to every reader.

[1] l. 1. _endris_, last.

[2] l. 6. _meaned_, moaned.

[3] l. 7. _bered_, sounded. The woodwale is some kind of wood-bird.

[4] l. 14. _wrable and ivry_, ? wriggle and twist, _i.e._ in the attempt to
describe her.

[5] l. 17. See p. 54.

[6] _Swilk_, such.

[7] l. 21. _roelle-bone;_ a commonplace in early poetry, as the material
for saddles; meaning unknown.

[8] l. 24. _crapotee_, toad-stone.

[9] l. 32. _overbegone_, overlaid.

[10] l. 33. _paytrell_ = poitrail, breast-leather