[238] This is from the old ballad, "The Jolly Pinder of Wakefield, with Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John," with variations—
"At Michaelmas next my cov'nant comes out
When every man gathers his fee;
Then I'll take my blue blade all in my hand,
And plod to the greenwood with thee."
—Ritson's "Robin Hood," ii. 18.
[239] It is evident that Friar Tuck here gives John a sword.
[240] [Light, active. See Nares, edit. 1859, in v.]
[241] The origin of amort is French, and sometimes it is written Tout-a-la-mort, as in "The Contention between Liberality and Prodigality," 1602, sig. B, as pointed out in a note to "Ram Alley."
[242] [Query, best hanged? He refers to the ex-sheriff.]
[243] Defy is here used in the sense of refuse, which was not uncommon: thus in the "Death of Robert Earl of Huntington," we have this passage, "Or, as I said, for ever I defy your company." In the "Four 'Prentices of London," act i. sc. 1, the old Earl of Boulogne says—
"Vain pleasures I abhor, all things defy,
That teach not to despair, or how to die."
Other instances are collected in a note to the words, "I do defy thy conjuration," from "Romeo and Juliet," act v. sc. 3.