“Robert earl of Huntington
“Lies under this little stone,
“No archer was like him so good;
“His wildness named him Robin Hood;
“Full thirteen years, and something more,
“These northern parts he vexed sore;
“Such outlaws as he and his men
“May England never know again.”
“Some other superstitious words,” he adds, “were in, which I,” says he, “thought fit to leave out.” Now, under this precise gentleman’s favour, one would be glad to know what these same “superstitious words” were; there not being anything of the {128} kind in Dr. Gale’s copy, which seems to be the original, and which is shorter by two lines than the above. Thirteen should be thirty.
Both gentlemen, and yeomen bold,