has prevailed, in England, Scotland, and Ireland, in the Fatherland, and in all the North. Who has not been delighted with the goblin deeds of Robin Goodfellow? In the words of Bruno Seidelius, Quis non legit, quid Frater Rauschius egit?

In the commencement of this romance, we are told how Rush, being sent by the devil, entered into the service of a cloister "edified beyond the sea," the monks whereof were lewd and licentious, "for oftentimes they said neither Mattins nor Evensong; and through their great negligence they forgat cleane the charge that they were bound to, when they entered into their religion, and they lived more like beasts without reason, than like men of good and holy conversation." Here he is made under-cook and pander withal. He soon contrives to pitch the master-cook into a kettle of water upon the fire, and being invested with his functions, jeopardizes the souls of the brotherhood by putting bacon into their pottage-pot on Fridays and other meagre days. In this capacity he passed seven years; at the end of which time he took the habit of the brotherhood and became Friar Rush. He then worked more mischief than ever in the convent, causing many a brawl and contention among the friars, and much noise and disturbance in the neighbourhood.

At length he is discovered to be an evil spirit by a poor farmer who passed the night in a hollow tree, around which the head devils held a midnight symposium. The romance concludes with the incarceration of poor Rush in an old castle that stood far within the forest, he being ordered to go thither," and never more to come out, but to remaine there for ever."

V.

VIRGILIUS. "This Boke treateth of the life of Virgilius; and of his deth, and many marvayles that he dyd in his lyfe

This

tyme by whychcrafte and nygramancye thorowgh the helpe of the devyls of hell." This very curious romance affords another proof of the misconceptions to which genius is exposed; for here we have an ancient poet dragged from nis grave and exhibited to the world as a necromancer. The work is certainly a very curious one, but as it is a translation from the French, I shall notice it very briefly. In the first chapter, Remus jumps over the walls of Rome and is slain by his brother Romulus, in accordance with the old tradition. Then the son of Remus kills his uncle Romulus, according to the lex talionis made and provided for such emergencies in all the old romances. Immediately after this-sad anachronism !—Virgil is ushered into the world, and his birth announced by an earthquake. He is soon sent to school; and, rambling about the fields on a holiday, enters a deep cavern, where he finds a devil in a hole under a little board, held prisoner there by enchantment. evil spirit begs Virgil to raise the board and release him, and in recompense promises to give him many books of magic and to teach him the whole science of necromancy. The books are straightway produced, "and than Virgilius pulled open a boarde, and there was a lytele hole, and thereat wrange the deuyll out like a yeel, and cam and stode by fore Virgilius lyke a bigge man." The spirit then consents to creep into the hole againe, merely to show that he can do it; and when he is in, Virgil covers him over with the board againe, thereby showing qu'il en sait plus qui le diable. He then commences the practice of the black art upon a large scale: he makes a besieging army stand still upon their scaling-ladders, "one fote uppe, and another downe;" he makes a copper horse, with a copper man upon his back, holding in his hand an iron flail, who patrols the streets of the city by night and slays all who are found abroad after the ringing of a bell at ten o'clock; he lights the city of Rome with a perpetual lamp; he builds a bridge

in the air, and brings thereupon the Sultan's daughter from Babylon to Rome; then "he thoughte in his mynde, howe hee myght mareye hyr, and thoughte in his mynde to founde in the myddes of the see a fayer towne with great landes belonging to it; and so he dyd by his cunnynge, and called it Napells: and the foundacyon of it was of egges; and in that towne of Napells he made a tower with iiij. corners, and in the toppe he set a napyll upon a yron yarde, and no man culde pull away that apell without he brake it and thorowghe that yron set he a botel, and on that botel set he an egge; and he henge the apell by the stauke upon a cheyne, and so hangyth it styll. And whenne the egge styrreth so should the towne of Napells quake, and when the egge brake than should the towne synke."-Apple, an apple, a napple, napple, Naples !—a curious etymology of the name of that fair city! The romance afterwards relates that Virgil studied how he might make himself young again, and caused himself to be cut in pieces by his servant and salted down in a barrel, where he remains to this day. And "thus endethe the lyfe of Virgilius, with many dyers consaytes that he dyd."

VI.

THE NOBLE BIRTH AND GALLANT ATCHIEVEMENTS OF THAT REMARKABLE OUTLAW ROBIN HOOD. "Together with a true account of the many merry and extravagant exploits he played, in twelve several stories." The tales composing this romance are nothing more than a bare and unskilful prose version of as many fine old ballads. They contain, in as many several chapters, an account of the noble parentage of Robin Hood; the battle fought by him, Little John, and Scarlet, against three keepers of the king's deer in Sherwood Forest; his killing the fifteen foresters; his bout at quarter-staff with the tanner of Nottingham; his adventure with the butcher and the sheriff; his battle with the beggar; his gallant combat with the stranger; his comic

encounter with the Bishop; his famous archery before Queen Catherine; his contest with the curtal friar; his prize at sea; and the "merry progress" between him and King Henry.

With all these tales, the ballads above alluded to have rendered us familiar. Their translation from poetry to prose has by no means enchanced their beauty; and still, the adventures of the merry outlaw of Sherwood forest, of Scarlet, and Little John, and "his hundred tall men in gowns of green," make so important a part of the old traditionary lore of England, that they are always interesting in whatever garb they may present themselves. The work is valuable, too, from its being the only prose romance of Robin Hood that has yet been discovered; but as I have already given the contents of the several chapters of the book, it will not be necessary to analyze it more particularly.

The romance itself gives no account of the death of its hero; but a life of Robin Hood, printed as an appendix to the romance, and evidently of a much earlier date, informs us that, falling sick, he suffered himself to be bled by the prioress of Kyrkesly, who took revenge upon him as an enemy to religion, by letting him bleed to death. This account nearly coincides with that given in the ballad of his death aud burial, which tells us how he hied

"To the green wood,

And there he was taken ill,

And he sent for a monk to let him blood,
Who took his lite away;

Now this being done, his archers did run,
It was not time to stay."

VII.

THE HISTORY OF GEORGE A GREEN, PINDAR OF THE TOWN OF WAKEFIELD. "His birth, calling, valor, and reputation in the country. With divers pleasant, as well as serious passages in the course of his life and fortune." Like

Thomas of Reading and Robin Hood, this romance of the Pindar, or Pound-keeper, of Wakefield is wholly the growth of the English soil. Here is another of England's popular heroes written down immortal, and upon whose immortality the press has set its seal. The first chapter gives us an account of his birth and parentage, and of his being sent to school, where he soon became famous for his bodily strength, and "almost spoiled the schoolmaster," leaving him with a "creek in his neck." In the next chapter the tale steps forward some dozen years or more, and we find George A Green grown to the age of twenty, and writing himself full man. Then we are told in what manner he was elected Pindar of the town of Wakefield, and how he fell in love with Beatrice Grymes, daughter of old Mr Grymes, Justice of the Peace and Quorum. In the meantime, the civil wars of the reign of Richard Coeur-de-Lion break out. The rebels send a messenger to the town of Wakefield. demanding supplies; which messenger George A Green forces to devour the seals of his own commission.

He next catches

a spy, whom he hangs in a sack to the branch of a tree; and here it may not be out of place to mention, that this idea, of suspending people between heaven and earth, either in a basket or a sack, seems to have been a very popular one with all the old romance writers. It is found in the Fabliaux of the Norman Trouvères, in the Lieder of the German Minnesingers, and not only in the romance now under consideration, but in Friar Rush, and Virgilius. It is, however, omitted in the play of George A Green,* which follows the romance in most of its incidents. After this "witty conceit," as the author terms it, we are regaled with a bout at quarter-staff between George A Green and Robin Hood, and a bout at pulling caps between Beatrice Grymes and Maid Mariana. These and similar incidents lead the

A pleasant conceyted Comedie of George A Green the Pinner of Wakefield. See Dodsley's Old Plays, Vol. III.

G