And forced them with him to pray;
For gold they prayed, and gold they had,
Enough to make bold Robin glad;
His share came to four hundred pound,
That then was told upon the ground.
Now mark, and you shall hear the jest,
You never heard the like exprest.
Tune is, Robin Hood was a tall young man, &c.”
This ballad (given from an old black letter copy in the collection of Anthony a Wood) was entered (amongst others) in the Stationers’ book, by Francis Coule, 13th June 1631, and by Francis Grove, 2d June 1656.
I have heard talk of Robin Hood,