[Annotations: 1.1: ‘shaws,’ woods, thickets: ‘sheen,’ beautiful. 2.2: ‘hee,’ high. Cf. 84.2. 3.3: ‘can,’ did. 7.2: _i.e._, since I took the sacrament. 8.1: ‘milner son,’ = miller’s son: cp. 24.3. 8.5: ‘slon,’ slay. 10.4: ‘lyne,’ tree: so ‘lynd’ in 23.2. Cf. 76.4, 78.3, etc. 11.4: _i.e._, I will give you odds of three to one. 13.1: ‘ferly,’ strange. 14.1: ‘lied,’ gave the lie to. 15.2: ‘by,’ aby, atone for. 16.4: ‘ilkone’ = each one: cf. 30.2. 17.2: Another form of ‘certain without leasing’ = forsooth without lying. Cf. 81.2. 20.4: ‘sparred,’ shut: ‘everychone,’ every one (cf. 16.4). 21.2: _i.e._, make ready: cf. _Guy of Gisborne_, 5.1. 22.4: ‘And’ = if: ‘it will be your fault if he escapes us.’ 23.1: ‘traitor’ is genitive: cf. ‘milner son,’ 8.1, and ‘mother son,’ 24.3. 24.2: ‘radly,’ quickly: ‘yare,’ ready. 24.3: See notes 8.1, 23.1. 25.1: ‘throly thrast,’ strenuously pressed. 25.2: ‘wone,’ plenty. 26.3: ‘Thereas’ = where. Cf. 72.3. 29.3: ‘But if’ = unless. 30.2: Cf. 16.4. Probably six stanzas are lost here. 32.1: ‘rule,’ behaviour, conduct. 34.2: ‘securly’ = surely. 37.1: ‘tristel-tree,’ trysting-tree. 38.2: ‘on fere,’ in company. 38.3: ‘Much emës house,’ the house of Much’s uncle. 39.2: ‘at a stage’: ? from an upper story. 41.2: ‘hand,’ gallant. 41.3: ‘spyrrëd . . . at,’ asked . . . of. (Cf. Scottish ‘speir.’) 41.4: ‘friende’ is plural. 48.4: ‘For’ = for the purpose that. Cp. ‘for’ in _Child Waters_, 28.6, First Series, p. 41. 49.3: ‘of him agast,’ afraid of the consequences to him. 51.2: ‘bale,’ trouble. 54.4: ‘see,’ protect. 56.2: Cf. _Gest_, 234.2. 57.4: ‘after’: ‘by,’ as we should say. 59.4: ‘dere,’ injury. 60.4: ‘yede’ ( = gaed), went. 61.2: ‘sparred’: cp. 20.4. 63.4: ‘sauten,’ assault. 64.1: Cp. 41.3. 73.4: ‘comyn’ = commons’: _i.e._ the town bell. 74.4: ‘warison,’ reward. 76.2: ‘sty,’ alley. 77.4: ‘Quite thee,’ acquit yoursle, _i.e._ reward me. But the Baford MS. reads ‘Quit me.’ 80.4: ‘keep I be,’ I care to be. 81.4: ‘fain,’ glad. 84.2: ‘hee’: see 2.2. 86.3: ‘grith,’ peace (Norse, ‘grið’). 87.2: See 56.2. 89.2: _i.e._ whether on the road, or housed.] ROBIN HOOD AND THE POTTER +The Text+ is modernised, as far as is possible, from a MS. of about 1500 in the University Library at Cambridge (Ee. 4, 35). The ballad was first printed therefrom by Ritson in his _Robin Hood_ (1795), vol. i. p. 81, on the whole very accurately, and with a few necessary emendations. He notes that the scribe was evidently ‘a vulgar and illiterate person’ who ‘irremediably corrupted’ the ballad. In several places, however, a little ingenuity will restore a lost rhyme.