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"By God's mercy!" he cried, "with such a troop of gallant hearts to back me as you have here, I'd keep the whole country in subjection. Wilt thou, Robin, and thy men, with me to Nottingham? I have much to do there; I give thee my royal word thou shalt be treated nobly, and thy trust shall be safe and true. I may perhaps need thy aid, and in return ask of me any boon thou wilt, and it shall be thine." Thy word is pledge strong enough for me," said Robin. "I will readily, with seven score men, attend thee; and in thine whole army thou wilt find no truer followers than Robin Hood and the merrie men of Sherwood Forest."

"Thy readiness has my thanks, Robin Hood, and you shall find Richard of England knows how to reward a good service, willingly and promptly accorded," exclaimed the king; "now let thy people to thy sports again, and hand me that flagon of red wine, which I warrant me came out of some churchman's cellar, for it is too good to have come from any other place. And now tell me who is yonder giant, for I have no other name for him. Beshrew me, but I thought Richard Coeur de Lion no very small bird, but yon fellow makes me look like a chicken."

"That is a follower of mine," returned Robin Hood; "he is next in command to myself, but he has a title far higher, for he is my dearest friend-the noblest, proudest, most gallant, and yet most gentle spirit of any man I ever met with since I could discriminate { between an honest heart and a knave; he would shed a tear at a sad story, but stand opposed to an army, and fight unflinchingly until he was cut to pieces, without budging an inch or winking an eyelid; his heart's as true as steel and as pure as gold; he is the best quarter-staff player in the world, and an expert and accurate archer, as you have seen: in truth, he is a friend to be proud of; for he is a man in every sense of the word, back and edge."

"Ha! that is praise indeed," replied the king, scanning Little John, who was the person in question, with an admiring eye. "I would speak with the yeoman. How do you distinguish him?”

"His name, your majesty, is John Naylor; but we call him Little John, as you may guess, from his size," returned Robin.

"By the Mass! but a band of such Little Johns would have astonished the infidel dogs in no small degree," exclaimed Richard, laughing. "Ho! you forest tree-you Tower of Babylon-Little John as they call thee! Come hither, man; I would speak with thee."

there who had no rank to lay aside. At length, when the sun began to decline, and the soft twilight began to take the place of daylight, and the heat of the day had subsided into a refreshing coolness, dances were indulged in, songs were poured forth, and all pastimes, which might be more pleasant, and receive additional charms by being lighted by the moon's mild beams, were partaken and performed. That night the king of England slept soundly and sweetly beneath the branches of the trysting-tree; and in the morning when he arose, after partaking heartily of a repast spread before him, declared his intention of at once returning to Nottingham.

"Hast thou any garbs similar to those worn by thy men, Robin ?" inquired Richard. "If thou hast, and will supply myself and knights with them, I think we shall meet with some sport on our return to Notting. ham. Your people in office are ever extra officious when they deem their superiors near to scrutinise their conduct, and I doubt not that we shall see some choice specimens of bravery exhibited on the part of the high sheriff and his gallant followers."

"We have plenty of dresses," replied Robin, laughing. "Your majesty and followers can, if you list, change the semblance of knavery into that of honesty, and from churchmen be transformed into yeomen; but, if you look for bravery in the high sheriff or his men, you may as well search for a herd of deer in a hostel, charity in an abbot, or virtue in a Norman."

"Thou think'st but lightly of priests and Normans," returned Richard, with a laugh: "but let me tell thee, friend Robin, I have found gallant hearts among the latter, and considerable virtue in many of the former."

"Cases of exception," exclaimed Robin, merrily, "which only makes my assertion the stronger."

"I care not to argue the point, Robin Hood," remarked the king, shaking his head with a smile; "so we will, as I know my presence to be needed, on to the town."

His request was complied with; he was clothed in a dress similar to those worn by the merrie men, and all his accoutrements were in every respect the same. His five attendants were also habited in the like manner, and, after bidding a merry farewell to Marian and the damsels assembled to witness his departure, he proceeded on his way, accompanied by Robin Hood, Little John, Will Scarlet, Much, and seven score of the merrie men. As they rode along, Richard, who was no mean hand in the use of the bow, tried his skill in opposition to Robin's, but with so little success, that he cried out at length

given me every odds, and yet hath defeated me; it is no game to play with thee-were I to shoot from this to doomsday, I should not get a game of thee."

"An' your majesty had had the practice I have, you might shoot as well as I," returned Robin.

Little John approached, and, doffing his cap, stood in front of the king, quietly waiting his commands. Richard put several questions to him respecting his "God help me! it is of no use to attempt to strength, inspected his limbs with an air of astonish-compete with thee in the use of the bow; thou hast ment, and tried feats of strength with him. Richard, who was immensely strong, however, found himself greatly inferior in strength to Little John, particularly in one instance, where Richard bade him hold him in as firm a grasp as he could, and he would endeavour to wrest himself out of it. Little John obeyed him, and held him as if he had been screwed in a vice; the king made tremendous efforts, but could not move, and at length declared Little John to be the strongest man he ever met with, and Little John told him in return that he had no reason to complain of want of strength, as he had no easy job in holding him. Richard then joined in many of the sports, only to prove how the merrie men, one and all, excelled in everything they practised, as a sport or requisite accomplishment; Richard declared the scene to be the happiest and most festive he had ever witnessed, and entered into the full enjoyment of it with as much zest as any one

"I doubt it mightily," observed Little John; "each man has some gift in which he excels beyond any other, and it is of no use to try to compete with him in it. I have practised at the bow longer than thee, Robin, but cannot shoot like thee; but with the quarter-staff and I say it modestly-I think no man is better, perhaps not so good; but then it is my gift, and that's the secret of it."

"That's the philosophy of it," said the ring, laughing.

"Yes," replied Robin, "Little John is our forest philosopher."

"It is the reason of it," remarked Little John, quietly.

out, but the high sheriff was nowhere to be found; full speed; and yet these same churls, when we entered the troops in the castle were summoned, but they { the town to bring our graceless brother at our feet, were ordered by the knights to remain until there were wondrous sluggish, and showed but very was some foundation for the rumour; but when it cautious symptoms of joy at our return to England, was seen that they were marching up the town, then fearing, we suppose, with our handful of men, that we they turned out and prepared to oppose them. should not be able to reduce the castle, and John still be in the ascendant. But we taught them different, and now you see how the curs bespatter us with their beastly flattery. Pah! it sickens us. we had rather John had their praise and dust-licking services than ourselves. Face of God! their hate would sit more pleasantly on us than their love. Had we been unable to make the castle surrender, we should not have received the service of one of these same rogues, who seem as if they are now ready to lay down their lives for us. By-the-bye, that reminds us that to your timely aid we owe that victory, and for that service we are indebted to you a boon, which, ask of us when you will, we grant it."

Conversing thus, they took their way up the town to Nottingham castle; it was gratifying to Robin Hood, in the highest degree, to see himself thus in juxta-position with a monarch renowned for his prowess and gallantry, surrounded by his truehearted Saxon followers, and marching through the town amid the cheers and acclamations of a populace who had but a very short while preceding been expecting to see him led past them to grace a gallows. { Had all his acts been those of a knight, and done under the eye of noble dames and crowned heads, he could not have been treated with more courtesy, or hear his deeds spoken of with greater enthusiasm ; it made him smile as he heard some one relate to another the way he had treated several dignitaries of the church, and laud his conduct to the skies for having done so. Then came tales of his charities and kindly considerations for his poorer brethren, and blessings might have been heard on all sides; in short, had he been an emperor celebrated for noble and good acts, instead of an outlaw dwelling in the wild wood, he could not have received a heartier or more

T was perhaps a fortunate resolve which determined Robin Hood to remain in his old dwelling-place, until all things had been laid in a train to insure him and his men a safe abode in Huntingdon Castle. Inasmuch, that when Richard arrived in London, he was so plunged into affairs of all descriptions, that he had not an opportunity of scarce even inquiring whether his mandate had been fulfilled, and our hero placed in the halls of his forefathers.

His coronation, which took place at Winchester, soon after he had quitted Nottingham, necessarily involved much of his time, and but a very short period subsequent to that, he quitted England, at the head of a body of troops, to revenge himself upon Philip of France, for the injuries he had inflicted upon him while away from England.

Once Robin Hood urged his claims to Hubert Walter, whom the king had advanced from the Bishopric of Salisbury to the Archbishopric of Canterbury, and had appointed him Guardian of England and Grand Justiciary; and his claims, though not treated with contumely, met with the greatest indifference. He speedily found that opposition against so wealthy a churchman, and so influential a noble as the Abbot of Ramsey and Baron of Broughton, who in one person united those titles, in addition to the Earldom of Huntingdon, was vain and futile; so, after a slight mental struggle, which the hopes of being looked upon by his fellow-countrymen as a noble without taint had created, he wisely determined to give up all thoughts of it, and live in the green wood in the old manner, and, if possible, with equal happiness.

He summoned his people together, and told them this. He concluded by saying that, taking everything into consideration, it was, perhaps, for the best, because they had been as a little community which was completely, as it were, isolated in society. They had lived together without mixing with any but those of the band, and did they go once more into society, they would, probably, frequently have reflections cast upon their former mode of life; they would be disunited, and compelled to be subservient to laws and customs which a habit of living freely and simply in the green wood would render highly distasteful and oppressive. They had for years looked up to him, as a large family would look up to a loved and honoured head of the house; they had been accustomed to his sway, and ever cheerfully obeyed its dictates; they had been very happy as they had lived, and they might almost insure, if they still followed the same mode of life, that they would still receive the same amount of happiness which they had hitherto experienced, and, therefore, they would live on in the old way, nor change their acts and manners in any one way but where they might be improved. There was still the same shelter-still the green leaves and flowers to dwell among; and he believed that, after a cool consideration, he should lay his head down with calmer contentment, and sleep more lightly, than he should have done had he made the change in his condition which he had expected.

who stood around him, beneath the old trysting-tree, but what could read in the deep, rich, trembling tones of his voice, that in all his thoughts and wishes his heart was with them, his old companions.

How highly, how fondly they appreciated it, was evident in their clasping hands, and swearing by our Dear Lady, upon the hilt of their swords, to live and die with him, and be true and constant as they had ever been. They were glad in their hearts that they had not to quit the wood, for associations had rendered it so dear to them, that it would have been the same pain to them to quit it as it would have been for a band of patriots, unjustly exiled, to quit their native land.

His discourse had a great effect upon his followers. He spoke to them in the terms and endearing manner of a loving brother. His language was of the most The Baron of Broughton, who still retained Hun-earnest and affectionate nature, and there was not one tingdon Castle, as well as the title, possessed likewise of enormous revenues, independent of those which the estates pertaining to the title produced, exerted the whole of his influence, backed by no mean disbursement of wealth, to evade Richard's decree, and retain the earldom. "Possession is nine points of the law," says the adage, and the crafty Abbot of Romsey tried hard to make it ten; he did not attempt open opposition to the will of Richard, but he craved time to enable him to retire to his other estates; and during that time he employed every means to gain the Chancellor to his side, by making him presents of great value, and offering his assistance in any way, should it be required; and by these means the decree of Richard was evaded, and Robin in his greenwood home awaited patiently the tidings which should tell him impediments no longer existed to his assuming his title, and transferring his home from a forest to a castle, until long after Richard had left England; but there seemed no evidence whatever of his being nearer to the restoration of his rights than he was before he met with the Lion Heart, who was, at the expiration of a year after he had given Robin the deed of restoration, still in Normandy.

In all things the band resumed their usual occupations, and Robin Hood sent a notice to Hubert Walter, that as his claim, sanctioned by the King of England, had been treated with the most marked indifference, and as there was every disposition to retain the present holder of the titles and estates in his usurpation, he should, in conjunction with his merrie men, act as they had hitherto done, ere they had rendered the king unasked an important service.

The Grand Justiciary took no notice of the docu