Then Robin took Little John by the hand,
And danced about the oak tree:
"If we drink water while this doth last,
Then an il death may we die."
So to conclude my merry new song,85
All you that delight it to sing,
'Tis of Robin Hood, that archer good,
And how Little John went a beggìng.
[35, 36]. The allusion is of course to the dole at funerals.
[51], that could not.
THE NOBLE FISHER-MAN,
OR, ROBIN HOODS PREFERMENT:
Shewing how he won a prize on the sea, and how he gave the one halfe to his dame, and the other to the building of almes-houses. The tune is, In summer time, etc.
"From three old black-letter copies; one in the collection of Anthony à Wood, another in the British Museum, and the third in a private collection." Ritson's Robin Hood, ii. 114.
In summer time, when leaves grow green,
When they doe grow both green and long,—
Of a bold outlaw, call'd Robin Hood,
It is of him I do sing this song,—
When the lilly leafe, and the [eglantine],5
Doth bud and spring with a merry cheere,
This outlaw was weary of the wood-side,
And chasing of the fallow-deere.