_Trumpets sound. Enter first_ KING RICHARD, _with drum and ancient, giving_ ELY _a purse and sceptre; his mother, and brother_ JOHN, CHESTER, LEICESTER, LACY, _others at the_ KING'S _appointment doing reverence. The_ KING _goes in: presently_ ELY _ascends the chair_: CHESTER, JOHN, _and the_ QUEEN _part displeasantly. Enter_ EGBERT EARL OF HUNTINGTON, _leading_ MARIAN: _follows him_ WARMAN, _and after_ WARMAN _the_ PRIOR; WARMAN _ever flattering and making courtesy, taking gifts of the_ PRIOR _behind and his master before_. PRINCE JOHN _Enters, offereth to take_ MARIAN. QUEEN ELINOR _enters, offering to pull_ ROBIN _from her; but they enfold each other, and sit down within the curtains_. WARMAN _with the_ PRIOR, SIR HUGH LACY, LORD SENTLOE, _and_ SIR GILBERT BROUGHTON _fold hands, and drawing the curtains, all (but the_ PRIOR) _enter, and are kindly received by_ ROBIN HOOD. _The curtains are again shut_. SKEL. Sir John, once more, bid your dumb shows come in, That, as they pass, I may explain them all. _Enter_ KING RICHARD, _&c_.[159] Richard, call'd Coeur de Lion, takes his leave, Like the Lord's champion, 'gainst the pagan foes, That spoil Juda and rich Palestine. The rule of England and his princely seat He leaves with Ely, then lord chancellor; To whom the Mother Queen, her son, Prince John, Chester, and all the peers are sworn. [_Exit_ RICHARD _cum militibus_. ELY _ascends the chair_. Now reverend Ely, like the deputy Of God's great deputy, ascends the throne; Which the Queen Mother and ambitious John Repining at, raised many mutinies: And how they ended, you anon shall hear. [_Exeunt omnes_. _Enter_ ROBERT EARL OF HUNTINGTON, _leading_ MARIAN, _&c_.[160] This youth that leads yon virgin by the hand (As doth the sun the morning richly clad) Is our Earl Robert or your Robin Hood, That in those days was Earl of Huntington. The ill-faced miser, bribed in either hand, Is Warman, once the steward of his house, Who, Judas-like, betrays his liberal lord Into the hands of that relentless Prior, Call'd Gilbert Hood, uncle to Huntington. Those two, that seek to part these lovely friends, Are Elinor the queen and John the prince: She loves Earl Robert, he Maid Marian; But vainly, for their dear affect is such, As only death can sunder their true loves. Long had they lov'd, and now it is agreed, This day they must be troth-plight, after wed. At Huntington's fair house a feast is held; But envy turns it to a house of tears; For those false guests, conspiring with the Prior, To whom Earl Robert greatly is in debt, Mean at the banquet to betray the earl Unto a heavy writ of outlawry. The manner and escape you all shall see. ELT. Which all, good Skelton?