Then John he took Guyes bow in his hand,
His boltes and arrowes eche one:
When the sheriffe saw Little John bend his bow,
He fettled him to be gone.
Towards his house in Nottingham towne
He fled full fast away;
And soe did all his companye:
Not one behind wold stay.
But he cold neither runne soe fast,
Nor away soe fast cold ryde,
But Litle John with an arrowe soe broad
He shott him into the backe-syde.
***The title ofSirwas not formerly peculiar to knights; it was given to priests, and
sometimes to very inferior personages.
Dr. Johnson thinks this title was applied to such as had taken the degree of A.
B. in the universities, who are still styledDomini, "Sirs," to distinguish them from
Under-graduates, who have no prefix, and from Masters of Arts, who are styled
Magistri, "Masters."
NOTES
- Ritson notes that Gisborne is a market town in the West Riding of the county of
York, on the borders of Lancashire.-- Editor. - See Thoresby'sDucat. Leod. p. 576.Biog. Brit.vi. 3933.
- Stukeley, in hisPalæographia Britannica, No. II. 1746.
- See also the following ballad, ver. 147.
- Num. D. 5,2.
- Old Plays, 4to. K. vol. x.
- Serm. 6th before K. Ed. Apr. 12. fol. 75. Gilpin'sLife of Lat. p. 122.
- Forshawsthe MS. hasshales: andshraddsshould perhaps beswards:i.e.the
surface of the ground: viz. "when the fields are in their beauty:" or perhapsshades.
Mr. Halliwell, however, definesshaleashusk; "Theshalesor stalks of hemp;" and
shraddas a twig.
9.i.e.ways, passes, paths, ridings.Gateis a common word in the north forway.
- The common epithet for a sword or other offensive weapon, in the old metrical
romances isbrown: as "brown brand," or "brown sword: brown bill," &c and
sometimes even "bright brown sword." Chaucer applies the wordrustiein the same
sense: thus he describes the Reve:
And by his side he bare a rustie blade.
Prol. ver. 620.And even thus the god Mars:
And in his hand he had a rousty sword.
Test. of Cressid. 188.