[16] Gamwell of Gamwell Hall. The family of Gamwell to which this lady belonged, was, I believe, of Cheshire, not of Nottinghamshire.
[17] Clorinda is, I presume, the same personage as the one so often alluded to as "Maid Marion."
[18] "Titbury day:" the day on which the "Minstrels' Court," with its "Bull-running," and other wild amusements, was held. The Minstrels Court at Tutbury, to which all minstrels living in the counties of Stafford and Derby did service, was presided over by a "King of the Minstrels," who was selected yearly by the four stewards, two of whom were chosen from the minstrels of Derbyshire, and the other two from those of Staffordshire. The court was held before the Stewards of the honour of Tutbury, on the morrow after the Assumption. A deed of "John of Gaunt, King of Castile and Leon, Duke of Lancaster," dated in the fourth of Richard II., confers certain powers on the "King of the Minstrels in our honour of Tutbury," and speaks of service and homage which even then had been performed by the Minstrels "from ancient times." By a later instrument it was ordered "that no person shall use or exercise the art and science of music within the said counties, as a common musician or minstrel, for benefit and gains, except he have served and been brought up in the same art and science by the space of seven years, and be allowed and admitted so to do at the said court by the jury thereof," under certain fines; that he shall not teach or instruct any one for a less time than seven years; and that he shall, under pain of forfeit, appear yearly at the "Minstrels' Court." On the day of holding the court,—"Tutbury Day," as it is called in the ballad,—all the minstrels within the honour came to the Bailiff of the Manor and proceeded in procession to the parish church, the "King" walking between the Bailiff of the Manor and the Steward of the Minstrel's Court, and attended by his own four stewards, bearing white wands. From church they proceeded in the same order to the Castle hall, where the "King" took his seat, with the Bailiff and steward on either side. The court was then opened by proclamation ordering that every minstrel dwelling within the honour of Tutbury, either in the counties of Derby, Stafford, Nottingham, Warwick, or Lancaster, should draw near and give his attendance, and that all pleas would be heard, and fines and amercements made. The musicians having been called over by court roll, two juries were empanelled and charged. The jurors then proceeded to the selection of officers for the ensuing year. The jurors having left the court for the purpose, the King and Stewards partook of a banquet, while the musicians played their best on their respective instruments. On the return of the Jurors they presented the new King whom they had chosen from the four Stewards, upon which the old King, rising, delivered to him his wand of office, and drank a cup of wine to his health and prosperity. In like manner the old Stewards saluted, and resigned their offices to their successors. This ended, the court rose, and adjourned to a general banquet, in another part of the castle. The sports of the day then commenced by a wild and infuriated bull being turned loose for the minstrels to catch. The bull was thus prepared: his horns were sawed off close to the head; his tail cut off to the stump; his ears cropped; his body rubbed all over with grease; and his nostrils, to madden him still further, blown full of pepper. While these preparations were being made, the Steward made proclamation that all manner of persons should give way to the bull, no person coming nearer to it than forty feet, except the minstrels, but that all should attend to their own safety, every one at his peril. The bull being then turned out, was to be caught by some one of the minstrels, and no one else, between that hour and sunset on the same day, within the county of Stafford. If he escaped, he remained the property of the person who gave it (formerly the Prior of Tutbury); but if any of the minstrels could lay hold of him so as to cut off a portion of his hair and bring it to the Market Cross, he was caught and taken to the Bailiff, by whom he was fastened with a rope, &c., and then brought to the bull-ring in the High Street, where he was baited by dogs. After this, the minstrels could either sell him or divide him amongst themselves. This custom appears to have prevailed from 1377 to 1778, when it was very properly discontinued. The day was one of feasting, revelry, and great excitement, for the whole district.
[19] "Arthur a Bradly." This curious ballad, I have reason to believe, is a purely Derbyshire one, the locality being Bradley near Ashborne, within only a few miles of Tutbury. Of this ballad I shall probably have more to say in another part of the present volume.
[20] "Dubberidge." This is Doveridge, a village in Derbyshire, about seven miles from Tutbury.
[21] Combs Moss, one of the highest hills in the neighbourhood, between Chapel-en-le-Frith and Buxton.
[22] A large village closely adjoining Buxton.
[23] In a copy of an ancient map made at the time of the enclosure of the wastes and commons in the parish of Chapel-en-le-Frith, (part of the ancient Forest of the High Peak,) in the year 1707, an old wall is traced, which is still a boundary fence of the wild moor called Combs Moss. This wall is named on the map "the Archer's Wall," and the length of it is traditionally called "Robin Hood's Marks."
[24] Another version has—
"The Wool upon his back, Sir,
Was worth a thousand pound,
The Wool upon his belly, Sir,
It trailed upon the ground."