_Adam Bell, &c._, was also entered at Stationers' Hall in 1557-8, as licensed to John King. Another entry occurs in the same registers under 1582, and in 1586 mention is made of "A ballad of Willm. Clowdisley never printed before." No one of these three impressions is known to be extant. Percy inserted this piece in his _Reliques_, (i. 158,) following Copland's edition, with corrections from his folio manuscript. Ritson adhered to Copland's text with his usual fidelity, (_Pieces of Popular Poetry_, p. 1.) We have printed the ballad from Ritson, with some important improvements derived from a transcript of Mr. Collier's fragment most kindly furnished by that gentleman. This fragment extends from the 7th verse of the second fit to the 55th of the third, but is somewhat mutilated. "Allane Bell" is mentioned by Dunbar in company with Robin Hood, Guy of Gisborne, and others. The editor of the _Reliques_ has pointed out several allusions to the ballad in our dramatic poets, which show the extreme popularity of the story. "Shakespeare, in his comedy of _Much Ado about Nothing_, act i. makes Benedick confirm his resolves of not yielding to love, by this protestation: 'If I do, hang me in a bottle like a cat, and shoot at me, and he that hits me, let him be clapt on the shoulder, and called Adam:'--meaning Adam Bell, as Theobald rightly observes, who refers to one or two other passages in our old poets, wherein he is mentioned. The Oxford editor has also well conjectured, that 'Abraham Cupid,'in _Romeo and Juliet_, act ii. sc. 1, should be 'Adam Cupid,' in allusion to our archer. Ben Jonson has mentioned Clym o' the Clough in his _Alchemist_, act i. sc. 2. And Sir William Davenant, in a mock poem of his, called _The Long Vacation in London_, describes the attorneys and proctors as making matches to meet in Finsbury Fields. 'With loynes in canvas bow-case tyde, Where arrowes stick with mickle pride; Like ghosts of Adam Bell and Clymme; Sol sits for fear they'l shoot at him.'-- _Works_, 1673, fol. p. 291." The place of residence ascribed in the present ballad to these outlaws is Englewood or Inglewood, a forest in Cumberland sixteen miles in length, and extending from Carlisle to Penrith, which, according to Wyntown, was also frequented by Robin Hood, (_Cronykil_, vii. 10, 431.) By the author of the ballad of _Robin Hood's Birth, Breeding, Valour, and Marriage_, they are made contemporary with Robin Hood's father. "The father of Robin a forrester was, And he shot in a lusty strong bow Two north-country miles and an inch at a shot, As the Pinder of Wakefield does know. For he brought Adam Bell, and Clim of the Clugh, And William of Clowdesle To shoot with our forrester for forty mark, And the forrester beat them all three."