Thomas Rymer (37): “B ... has been corrupted here and there, but only by tradition.” I, 317.
“The fairy adventures of Thomas and of Ogier have the essential points in common, and even the particular trait that the fairy is taken to be the Virgin. The occurrence of this trait again in the ballad, viewed in connection with the general similarity of the two, will leave no doubt that the ballad had its source in the romance. Yet it is an entirely popular ballad as to style,[391] and must be of considerable age, though the earliest version (A) can be traced at furthest only into the first half of the last century.” I, 319 f.
Captain Car (178): “F is purely traditional and has one fine stanza not found in any of the foregoing:@
Out then spake the lady Margaret,
As she stood on the stair;
The fire was at her goud garters,
The lowe was at her hair.” III, 429.@
Queen Eleanor’s Confession (156): “There is reason to question whether this [F] and the other recited versions are anything more than traditional variations of printed copies. The ballad seems first to have got into print in the latter part of the seventeenth century, but was no doubt circulating orally sometime before that, for it is in the truly popular tone.” III, 255.
Robin Hood and the Tanner (126): “The sturdy Arthur a Bland is well hit off, and, bating the sixteenth and thirty-fifth stanzas, the ballad has a good popular ring. There is corruption at 83, 123, and perhaps 133.” III, 137.
The earliest Robin Hood ballads (117-121) “are among the best of all ballads, and perhaps none in English please so many and please so long.” III, 42.