Morning journal and courier., 1891-02-07

in the fourteenth century for both piety and wealth. Robin Hood and his men had captured the abbot and his money-bags- In return the outlaw SO royalty entertained him that the abbot fell from grace. The love for flesh and ale grew so strong upon him that he renouneed his orders and be came butcher and yintner in Nottingham. The outlaws, now his friends, supplied his stall. with meat from the kings forest of Sherwood and his butts with wine of which the neighboring monasteries and priories had been despoiled. Hence the clerical mold of form, face and character, as the butchers say in raillery, and certain ly as tradition has transmitted, of the Iol- ly butchers of Nottingham.
 Soon the spires and chimneys of the an cient city pushed through the line of saf- irony night-light above it. Then the strange cavalcade thundered along the cobbled streets. and, after trayersing seve ral narrow closes, drew up with a crash in front of q curious old structure near the market place. After much shouting, pounding and ringing, and old servitOr ap- peared. Then the butchers deposited me from the cart, much the same as they had shot me into it. Despite my protests that I was domiciled at an inn in Peck Lane, was under their charge. To an inn of their choosing must go; and with terri ble threats of reprisal to the little old man to whom I was given in charge, should slight be put on me, or reckoning be wrong, they departed with a rush and roar; the huge inn-door was locked and bolted, as if against siege; and we climbed the stone stairs to quaint old chamber, into whose tiny-paned gable window the first hesitant light of day was faintly trembling from the east.
 Wholly in the spirit of the oddity of the nights adventure, 1 related the preten- sions Of the butchers ballads, and asked the old servant if everybody in Noting ham was descended from Robin Hood, or some one of his noble victims. The old mans pride was touched.
 ''Indeed no, siI!" he answered indig nantly. ''None comes O that stock save h'us as serves in public 'ouses.''
 Then he stood there, candle in hand, his gourd-like nose flaming and paling with awakening spirit, while he reeled off sun dry other ballads of interminable stanzas and iteration, showing with undoubted historic accuracy and outlawed rhyme and rythm, pretty nearly the same collection of incidents in Robin Hoods career, ac- counting for the prestige, rights and per quisites of serving men in English inns, as were vouched fer in the butchers ga- laxy of song. All of which is related, be- cause it suggested to me new line of in ouiry in the identification of Robin Hood with Robin Hoods land: and hinted a uni yersality of traditional linking of the &C., tual parsonage of the famous outlaw to our own time, of which literature gives but the faintest insight.
 As is well understood, all the legends, tales and ballads known to literature as of an1 founded EnnrNOEifl- tiously authentic incidents in the life of Robin Hood were collected and published in 1795, by Joseph Ritson, High Bailiff of the Liberties of Savoy, of whom 1t was said: He never appeared human except when he was boring over Gothic books " He was undoubtedly one of the most crit ical and pains taking antiquarians of his time The entire collection numbers scarcely more than fifty pieces. These were reproduced from ancient black-letter copies, absolutely authenticated. Yet in this one night I had listened to one-third as many as the famous Ritson collection contained. If those, the work of writers from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries, could be regarded as possessing many inherent evidences of having been based on actualities, why should not those lingering among the masses be regarded with at least that strong presumption ot an original source in fact, attributed to most of the traditionary lore handed down from father to son through many genera tions. And if but two classes, the butch CTS and inn-servers, were so fruitful in this sort of lore, why could not similar discoveries be made among others of their ilk. I pushed the investigation in Not tingham and shire with extraordinary re suits. Briefly, the members of every craft and vocation whose origin antedates, or is contemporaneous with, Robin Hoods time, possess and retain with secret treas uring and pride, very many of these bal lads. Each builds, in warm and loving way. a relationship with the outlaw him self: with his deeds of cunning, ValOr or chivalry: or with the unfortunate sub iects of his mad and merry pranks. have certainly counted different ballads Of this class to above three hundred in mum Der. believe in NOttinghsmshire alone fully one thousand distinct Robin Hood ballads cuuld be secured among the lOwly for printing Nor do they comprise mod ern ideas and situations clad in ancient garb In verbal garniiurr, simile, con struction, incident, and in what may be termed their indestTuctible wholsness, they possess every evidence of great antiq- uity.
 But this Is by no means the most inter esting identification Cf actual or legendary hero with his haunts afforded the patient pilgrim in Nottingham. In the ancient books of the old city and the ancient hooks of the old shire is much curious in formation to be dug up regarding Sher- wood forest, and abundant folklore, le- gends and superstitions, pointing as un- erringly as the flight of an arrow from his own bent bow to the One-time existence of the unconuuerable archer behind The forest of Sherwood was first mentioned by writers during the reign of Henry Il, be- tween 1lj4 and 1lS9: and was then a place of royal resort for hunting. In that time the archbishop of York also claimed the right of hunting in Sherwood three days at Christmas, three at Easter, and three at Whitsuntide, and kept in the for est his foresters "aeryles of hawks and panage." John, before ascending the throne in 1199, while still Earl of Mon teyn. executed a charter of all the hber- ties and free customs of the forests of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, specih- cally including Sherwood. But it was not until 1231, in the reign of Henry III, that the exact limits of Sherwood forest were fixed The "perambulation" under royal writ then held gave Sherwood forest pro per g length of nearly thirty miles, ex- tending due north from a short distance below Nottingham 10 Just aoofc "oIksoPs with a mean breadth of nine miles. These boundaries were resffirmed in l612, and as late as fifty years since gave opportunity for continuing horde of titled Forest Officers" The chief of these were a Lord Warden" |" a Bow Bearer and Ran ger" four ''Verdurers" Steward" and nine ''Keepers;" and it is an interesting fact that Lord Byron. the poet, held office as one of the last Bow Bearers and Ran gers" of this historic forest. It has been frequently stated that all traces of Sher- wood forest had entirely disappeared. This is not true. 1 found near Newstead Abbey several groups of its original oaks.