Note 283 — Chapter I · HERBALISTS, CHARLATANS, MINSTRELS, JUGGLERS, AND TUMBLERS

The songs about him were collected by J. Ritson; “Robin Hood Ballads,” London, second edition, 1832. Most of them are only of the sixteenth century, but a few are of an earlier date. Robin Hood’s popularity was, however, well established in the fourteenth century, as shown by a line in “Piers Plowman,” Skeat’s edition, Text B, passus v., l. 79. On Robin Hood as the hero of popular songs, of many games and of plays, see Chambers, “Mediæval Stage,” i. 174.