Spenser introduces Sir Tristram in his “Faery Queene.” In Book VI., Canto ii., Sir Calidore encounters in the forest a young hunter, whom he thus describes:
“Him steadfastly he marked, and saw to be
A goodly youth of amiable grace,
Yet but a slender slip, that scarce did see
Yet seventeen yeares; but tall and faire of face,
That sure he deemed him borne of noble race.
All in a woodman’s jacket he was clad
Of Lincoln greene, belayed with silver lace;
And on his head an hood with aglets[[52]] sprad,
And by his side his hunter’s horne he hanging had.