In bounteous liberality
He too much did excell,
And loved men of quality
More than exceeding well.20
His great revennues all he sould
For wine and costly cheere;
He kept three hundred bowmen bold,
He shooting loved so deare.
No archer living in his time25
With him might well compare:
He practis'd all his youthfull prime
That exercise most rare.
At last, by his profuse expence,
He had consum'd his wealth;30
And being outlawed by his prince,
In woods he liv'd by stealth.
The abbot of Saint Maries rich,
To whom he mony ought,
His hatred to the earle was such35
That he his downefall wrought.
So being outlaw'd (as 'tis told)
He with a crew went forth
Of lusty cutters stout and bold,
And robbed in the North.40
Among the rest one Little John,
A yeoman bold and free,
Who could (if it stood him upon)
With ease encounter three.
One hundred men in all he got,45
With whom (the story sayes)
Three hundred commen men durst not
Hold combat any wayes.
They Yorkshire woods frequented much,
And Lancashire also,50
Wherein their practises were such
That they wrought mickle woe.
None rich durst travell to and fro,
Though nere so strongly arm'd,
But by these theeves (so strong in show)55
They still were rob'd and harm'd.