The Lady of the Lake [100]
Cf. also M. of V. iii. 2. 142: "Like one of two contending in a prize," etc.
575. The Castle gates. The main entrance to the Castle, not the postern gate of 532 above.
580. Fair Scotland's King, etc. The MS. reads:
"King James and all his nobles went ... Ever the King was bending low To his white jennet's saddle-bow, Doffing his cap to burgher dame, Who smiling blushed for pride and shame."
601. There nobles, etc. The MS. reads:
"Nobles who mourned their power restrained, And the poor burgher's joys disdained; Dark chief, who, hostage for his clan, Was from his home a banished man, Who thought upon his own gray tower, The waving woods, his feudal bower, And deemed himself a shameful part Of pageant that he cursed in heart."
611. With bell at heel. Douce says that "the number of bells round each leg of the morris-dancers amounted from twenty to forty;" but Scott, in a note to The Fair Maid of Perth, speaks of 252 small bells in sets of twelve at regular musical intervals.
612. Their mazes wheel. The MS. adds:
"With awkward stride there city groom Would part of fabled knight assume."
614. Robin Hood. Scott says here: "The exhibition of this renowned outlaw and his band was a favorite frolic at such festivals as we are describing. This sporting, in which kings did not disdain to be actors, was prohibited in Scotland upon the Reformation, by a statute of the 6th Parliament of Queen Mary, c. 61, A. D. 1555, which ordered, under heavy penalties that 'na manner of person be chosen Robert Hude, nor Little John, Abbot of Unreason, Queen of May, nor otherwise.' But in 1561, the 'rascal multitude,' says John Knox, 'were stirred up to make a Robin Hude, whilk enormity was of mony years left and damned by statute and act of Paliament; yet would they not be forbidden.' Accordingly they raised a very serious tumult, and at length made prisoners the magistrates who endeavored to suppress it, and would not release them till they extorted a formal promise that no one should be punished for his share of the disturbance. It would seem, from the complaints of the General Assembly of the Kirk, that these profane festivities were continued down to 1592 (Book of the Universal Kirk, p. 414). Bold Robin was, to say the least, equally successful in maintaining his ground against the reformed clergy of England; for the simple and evangelical Latimer complains of coming to a country church where the people refused to hear him because it was Robin Hood's day, and his mitre and rochet were fain to give way to the village pastime. Much curious information on this subject may be found in the Preliminary Dissertation to the late Mr. Ritson's edition of the songs respecting this memorable outlaw. The game of Robin Hood was usually acted in May; and he was associated with the morrice- dancers, on whom so much illustration has been bestowed by the commentators on Shakespeare. A very lively picture of these festivities, containing a great deal of curious information on the subject of the private life and amusements of our ancestors, was thrown, by the late ingenious Mr. Strutt, into his romance entitled Queen-hoo Hall, published after his death, in 1808."
615. Friar Tuck. "Robin Hood's fat friar," as Shakespeare calls him (T. G. of V. iv. 1. 36), who figures in the Robin Hood ballads and in Ivanhoe. Scarlet and Little John are mentioned in one of Master Silence's snatches of song in 2 Hen. IV. v. 3. 107: "And Robin, Scarlet, and John." Scathelocke is a brother of Scarlet in Ben Jonson's Sad Shepherd, which is a "Tale of Robin Hood," and Mutch is a bailiff in the same play.
626. Stake. Prize.
627. Fondly he watched, etc. The MS. reads:
"Fondly he watched, with watery eye, For answering glance of sympathy, But no emotion made reply! Indifferent as to unknown | wight, Cold as to unknown yeoman | The King gave forth the arrow bright."
630. To archer wight. That is, to any
575. The Castle gates. The main entrance to the Castle, not the postern gate of 532 above.
580. Fair Scotland's King, etc. The MS. reads:
"King James and all his nobles went ... Ever the King was bending low To his white jennet's saddle-bow, Doffing his cap to burgher dame, Who smiling blushed for pride and shame."
601. There nobles, etc. The MS. reads:
"Nobles who mourned their power restrained, And the poor burgher's joys disdained; Dark chief, who, hostage for his clan, Was from his home a banished man, Who thought upon his own gray tower, The waving woods, his feudal bower, And deemed himself a shameful part Of pageant that he cursed in heart."
611. With bell at heel. Douce says that "the number of bells round each leg of the morris-dancers amounted from twenty to forty;" but Scott, in a note to The Fair Maid of Perth, speaks of 252 small bells in sets of twelve at regular musical intervals.
612. Their mazes wheel. The MS. adds:
"With awkward stride there city groom Would part of fabled knight assume."
614. Robin Hood. Scott says here: "The exhibition of this renowned outlaw and his band was a favorite frolic at such festivals as we are describing. This sporting, in which kings did not disdain to be actors, was prohibited in Scotland upon the Reformation, by a statute of the 6th Parliament of Queen Mary, c. 61, A. D. 1555, which ordered, under heavy penalties that 'na manner of person be chosen Robert Hude, nor Little John, Abbot of Unreason, Queen of May, nor otherwise.' But in 1561, the 'rascal multitude,' says John Knox, 'were stirred up to make a Robin Hude, whilk enormity was of mony years left and damned by statute and act of Paliament; yet would they not be forbidden.' Accordingly they raised a very serious tumult, and at length made prisoners the magistrates who endeavored to suppress it, and would not release them till they extorted a formal promise that no one should be punished for his share of the disturbance. It would seem, from the complaints of the General Assembly of the Kirk, that these profane festivities were continued down to 1592 (Book of the Universal Kirk, p. 414). Bold Robin was, to say the least, equally successful in maintaining his ground against the reformed clergy of England; for the simple and evangelical Latimer complains of coming to a country church where the people refused to hear him because it was Robin Hood's day, and his mitre and rochet were fain to give way to the village pastime. Much curious information on this subject may be found in the Preliminary Dissertation to the late Mr. Ritson's edition of the songs respecting this memorable outlaw. The game of Robin Hood was usually acted in May; and he was associated with the morrice- dancers, on whom so much illustration has been bestowed by the commentators on Shakespeare. A very lively picture of these festivities, containing a great deal of curious information on the subject of the private life and amusements of our ancestors, was thrown, by the late ingenious Mr. Strutt, into his romance entitled Queen-hoo Hall, published after his death, in 1808."
615. Friar Tuck. "Robin Hood's fat friar," as Shakespeare calls him (T. G. of V. iv. 1. 36), who figures in the Robin Hood ballads and in Ivanhoe. Scarlet and Little John are mentioned in one of Master Silence's snatches of song in 2 Hen. IV. v. 3. 107: "And Robin, Scarlet, and John." Scathelocke is a brother of Scarlet in Ben Jonson's Sad Shepherd, which is a "Tale of Robin Hood," and Mutch is a bailiff in the same play.
626. Stake. Prize.
627. Fondly he watched, etc. The MS. reads:
"Fondly he watched, with watery eye, For answering glance of sympathy, But no emotion made reply! Indifferent as to unknown | wight, Cold as to unknown yeoman | The King gave forth the arrow bright."
630. To archer wight. That is, to any