withall. And no marvaile; for there is a great lord present amongst them as superintendent and lorde over their pastymes and sportes; namely Sathan, prince of hell. But their cheefest jewell they bring from thence is their Maie poole, which they bringe home with greate veneration, as thus: They have twentie or fourtie yoke of oxen, every oxe havyng a sweete nosegaie of flowers tyed on the tippe of his hornes; and these oxen drawe home this Maie poole-this stinking idoll rather--which is covered all over with flowers and herbes bounde rounde aboute with stringes, from the top to the bottome, and sometyme painted with variable colours, with twoo or three hundred me, women, and children followyng it with greate devotion. And thus beyng reared up, with handkercheifes and flagges streamyng on the toppe, they strawe the grounde aboute, binde greene boughes about it, sett up sommer haulles, bowers, and arbours hard by it. And then fall they to banquet and feast, to leape and daunce aboute it, as y heathen people did at the dedication of their idolles, whereof this is a perfect patterne, or rather the thyng itself. I have heard it credibly reported, —and that vivâ voce-by men of great gravitie, credite, and reputation, that of fourtie, threescore, or a hundred maides goyng to the woode over night, there have scarcely the third parte of them returned home againe undefiled." "'*

It is curious enough to contrast the effusions of this rabid fanatic with the pleasing picture of the same custom left to us by Stowe. "In the moneth of May," says the cheerful old man," namely on May-day in the morning, every man, except impediment, would walke into the sweete meadows and greene woods, there to rejoyce their spirites with the beauty and savour of

Anatomie of Abuses, folio 54. 12mo. London, 1585.

sweete flowers, and with the harmony of birds praysing God in their kind; and for example hereof Edward Hall hath noted that K. Henry the Eight, as in the 3 of his reigne and divers other years, so namely on the seventh of his reigne on May-day in the morning with Queene Katheren his wife, accompanied with many Lords and Ladies, rode a Maying from Greenwitch to the high ground of Shooter's hill, where as they passed by the way they espied a company of tall yeomen clothed all in Greene, with greene whoodes and with bowes and arrowes to the number of 100. One being their chieftaine was called Robin Hoode, who required the king and his companie to stay and see his men shoote, whereunto the king graunting, Robin Hoode whistled, and all the 200 archers shot off losing all at once ; and when he whistled againe, they likewise shot againe; their arrowes whistled by craft of the head, so that the noyse was strange and loude, which greatly delighted the king, queene, and their companie."*

It may seem strange that Robin Hood should be so prominent a figure in a festival, which originated long before he was born, since we first find mention of him and his forest companions in the reign of King John, while the Floral games of England, as we have seen, had their rise with the Druids, whose connection with the East we have elsewhere noticed. But this knot may be untied without much difficulty. The sports of Robin Hood were no doubt first instituted for the encouragement of archery, and there is little to surprize us if a recreation, so especially connected with summer and the forest, was celebrated in the opening of the year-the opening that is so far as it related to rural sports and pleasures. By degrees it would naturally

* Stow's Survey of London, p. 99, 4to. 1603.

enough become blended with the festival already existing, and in a short time from its superior attractions it would become the principal feature of it; for, as we shall presently see, a May-day festival consisted of various sports, derived from different sources, and having no bond of union beyond a common relation to the

season.

In the earlier periods it had ever been the custom to elect a Lord and Lady of the May, who in all likelihood presided over the sports, the Lady being unquestionably a descendant of the Goddess Flora, while the Lord was the addition of after times; the giving to her such an associate was the natural result of her ceasing to be worshipped as a deity. But in the sixteenth century the names of Robin Hood and his companions had become exceedingly popular, the ballads, which recounted their exploits, being for ever in the mouths of the people, while archery was the delight of all classes; men besides were still too much accustomed to acts of violence to regard lawlessness as any very grievous moral offence, although they might visit it with punishment; a depredator therefore of the Robin Hood species, who was brave, generous, and skilful almost to a miracle in the use of the national weapon, was looked upon not so much as a criminal as a gallant enemy, who was to be destroyed if possible, but who was not the less a subject of admiration; and hence by a process intelligible enough, though we are no longer able to trace the details, Robin Hood became the Lord, and Maid Marian the Lady of the May while their companions grouped about them, and helped to give a sort of rude dramatic character to the festival.

Clear as this theory is—as clear as any theory can be that will not admit of positive proof-it has been disputed. Mr. Douce says, "the introduction of Robin

Hood into the celebration of May probably suggested the addition of a king or lord of May."* One would think that common sense alone, without any help from research, was sufficient to show the fallacy of such a notion 1; but to set the question beyond all doubt we have mention of a king in the popular sports long before the time of Robin Hood's introduction.†

It is in the same spirit that he observes of Maid Marian, "none of the materials that constitute the more authentic history of Robin Hood, prove the existence of such a character in the shape of his mistress." I must confess I do not understand what he means by 66 more authentic records." The whole life of Robin Hood, as we have it, is a mere legendary tradition, the theme of plays and ballads, and though Maid Marian is never mentioned in the latter, it is surely quite enough that we find her recorded in the two old plays of The death and downfall of Robert, Earl of Huntington, written before 1600, and also in other dramatic compositions about the same period. But Mr. Douce, though a man of much research, was not particularly remarkable for clearness or length of vision.

At the same time, it must in common fairness be remarked that Warton, a high authority, seems to have entertained something of the same idea, for he observes

* Douce's Illustrations of Shakespeare, vol ii. p. 454.

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Thus we find that a strict command was given in the Synod at Worcester, A.D. 1240. Can. 38, ne intersint ludis inhonestis, nec sustineant ludos fieri de REGE ET REGINA." Kennett's Parochial Antiquities-Glossary-sub voce Arietum Levatio, 4to. Oxford. 1695.

Of course it will be understood that my remark is limited to the life and doings of the merry outlaw, and not to Robin Hood as Earl of Huntington, for whom the antiquarians have made out a pedigree, which I have no doubt is as true as half the pedigrees in England.

that the name of Marian might have been suggested by a French Pastoral Drama of the eleventh or twelfth century, in which Robin and Marian, a shepherd and shepherdess, are the principal characters. This piece, called Le Jeu de Berger et de la Bergere, was highly popular amongst the French, and it must he admitted that there is something startling in the juxta-position of the two names, but here all likeness ends; there is nothing else in common to the French Pastoral and the English May-games. I am inclined therefore to think that the coincidence is merely accidental.

But however this may be, it would appear as if with the decline of archery this part of the May-games declined also and became a merely grotesque exhibition. Marian, the queen, or Lady of the May, degenerated into Malkin, and was personated by a clown; many of the characters dropt off-Friar Tuck does not appear after the time of Elizabeth—and the game, now a mere burlesque, was not confined to May-day, but was transferred to Whitsuntide, and bride-ales, and other festivals.

The next class of May-day festivals to be considered is the Morris-dance, of which Robin Hood and his companions often, but not always, nor of necessity, formed the principal characters. It is generally supposed to be of Moorish origin, and to be derived to us from Spain. Hence its name. And in confirmation of this opinion we are told by Junius, that at one time the dancers blackened their faces to resemble Moors.* Strutt indeed, thinks differently; but his arguments, which are not very strong in themselves, seem to be altogether set aside by the fact of the word, Morris, being applied in

* "Faciem plerumque inficiunt fuligine, et peregrinum vestium cultum assumunt, qui ludicris talibus indulgent, ut Mauri esse videantur, aut è longius remotâ patriâ credantur advolasse." F. Junii Etymologicum Anglicanum, sub voce.