The meeting of King Richard with Friar Tuck in Ivanhoe, was suggested by the tale of _King Edward and the Hermit_. "The general tone of the story," says Scott, "belongs to all ranks and to all countries, which emulate each other in describing the rambles of a disguised sovereign, who, going in search of information or amusement into the lower ranks of life, meets with adventures diverting to the reader or hearer, from the contrast betwixt the monarch's outward appearance and his real character. The Eastern tale-teller has for his theme the disguised expeditions of Haroun Alraschid, with his faithful attendants Mesrour and Giafar, through the midnight streets of Bagdad, and Scottish tradition dwells upon the similar exploits of James V., distinguished during such excursions by the travelling name of the Goodman of Ballengeigh, as the Commander of the Faithful, when he desired to be _incognito_, was known by that of Il Bondocani." _The King and the Barker_ is printed in Ritson's _Anc. Pop. Poetry_, p. 61; the modern ballad of _King Alfred and the Shepherd_, in _Old Ballads_, i. 41; _King James and the Tinkler_, in Richardson's _Borderer's Table Book_, vii. 8, and in the Percy Soc. Publications, vol. xvii., _Ancient Poems, &c._ p. 109. "The following text is selected (with such other corrections as occurred) from two copies in black letter. The one in the Bodleian library, entitled _A merrie, pleasant, and delectable historie betweene King Edward the Fourth, and a Tanner of Tamworth, &c._, printed at London by John Danter, 1596. This copy, ancient as it now is, appears to have been modernized and altered at the time it was published; and many vestiges of the more ancient readings were recovered from another copy (though more recently printed) in one sheet folio, without date, in the Pepys collection." PERCY'S _Reliques_, ii. 87. The old copies, according to Ritson, contain a great many stanzas which Percy "has not injudiciously suppressed." _King_ Henry _the Fourth and the Tanner of Tamworth_ stands in the _Registers of the Stationers' Company_, as licensed in 1564-5. The Tanner of Tamworth is introduced into the First Part of Heywood's play of _Edward the Fourth_. In summer time, when leaves grow greene, And blossoms bedecke the tree, King Edward wolde a hunting ryde, Some pastime for to see. With hawke and hounde he made him bowne, 5 With horne, and eke with bowe; To Drayton Basset he tooke his waye, With all his lordes a rowe. And he had ridden ore dale and downe By eight of clocke in the day, 10 When he was ware of a bold tannèr, Come ryding along the waye. A fayre russet coat the tanner had on, Fast buttoned under his chin, And under him a good cow-hide, 15 And a mare of four shilling.[L16]