Notes and Queries, Number 51, October 19, 1850

렎Notes and Queries, Number 51, October 19, 1850

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Notes and Queries, Number 51, October 19,
1850, by Various This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Notes and Queries, Number 51, October 19, 1850 A Medium Of Inter-Communication For Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, Etc.
Author: Various
Release Date: March 2, 2005 [EBook #15232]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NOTES AND QUERIES ***

Produced by The Internet Library of Early Journals; Jon Ingram, Keith Edkins and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team.

{321} NOTES AND QUERIES:
A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC.
* * * * *
"When found, make a note of."--CAPTAIN CUTTLE.
* * * * *
No. 51.] SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19 16. 1850. [Price, with Supplement, 6d. Stamped Edition, 7d.
* * * * *
CONTENTS.
NOTES:-- Roberd the Robber, by R.J. King 321 On a Passage in the Merry Wives of Windsor, and on Conjectural Emendation 322 Minor Notes:--Chaucer's Damascene--Long Friday--Hip, hip, Hurrah!--Under the Rose--Albanian Literature 322 QUERIES:-- Bibliographical Queries 323 Fairfax's Tasso 325 Minor Queries:--Jeremy Taylor's Ductor Dubitantium--First Earl of Roscommon--St. Cuthbert--Vavasour of Haslewood--Bells in Churches--Alteration of Title-pages--Weights for Weighing Coins--Shunamitis poema--Lachrymatories--Egg-cups used by the Romans--Meleteticks--Luther's Hymns--"Pair of Twises"--Countermarks on Roman Coin 325 REPLIES:-- Gaudentio di Lucca 327 Englemann's Bibliotheca Scriptorum Classicorum, by Professor De Morgan 328 Shakspeare's Use of the Word "Delighted," by Samuel Hickson 329 Collar of Esses, by John Gough Nichols 329 Sirloin, by T.T. Wilkinson, &c. 331 Riots of London, by E.B. Price, &c. 332 Meaning of "Gradely" 334 Pascal and his Editor Bossut, by Gustave Masson 335 Kings-skugg-sio, by E. Charlton, &c. 335 Gold in California 336 The Disputed Passage from the Tempest, by Samuel Hickson, &c. 337 "London Bridge is broken down," by Dr. E.F. Rimbault 338 Arabic Numerals 339 Caxton's Printing-office, by J. Cropp 340 Cold Harbour 340 St. Uncumber, by W.J. Thoms 342 Handfasting 342 Gray's Elegy--Droning--Dodsley's Poems 343 Replies to Minor Queries:--Zündnadel Guns--Thompson of Esholt--Minar's Books of Antiquities--Smoke Money--Holland Land--Caconac, Caconacquerie--Discourse of national Excellencies of England--Saffron Bags--Milton's Penseroso--Achilles and the Tortoise--Stepony Ale--North Side of Churchyards--Welsh Money--Wormwood--Puzzling Epitaph--Umbrella--Pope and Bishop Burgess--Book of Homilies--Roman Catholic Theology--Modum Promissionis--Bacon Family--Execution of Charles I., and Earl of Stair--Watermarks on Writing-paper--St. John Nepomuc--Satirical Medals--Passage in Gray--Cupid Crying--Anecdote of a Peal of Bells, &c. 343 MISCELLANEOUS:-- Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c. 350 Books and Odd Volumes Wanted 351 Notices to Correspondents 351 Advertisements 351
* * * * *
NOTES.
ROBERD THE ROBBER.
In the Vision of Piers Ploughman are two remarkable passages in which mention is made of "Roberd the robber," and of "Roberdes knaves."
"Roberd the robbere, On Reddite loked, And for ther was noght wherof He wepte swithe soore." Wright's ed., vol. i. p. 105.
"In glotonye, God woot, Go thei to bedde, And risen with ribaudie, The Roberdes knaves." Vol. i. p. 3.
In a note on the second passage, Mr. Wright quotes a statute of Edw. III., in which certain malefactors are classed together "qui sont appellez _Roberdesmen_, Wastours, et Dragelatche:" and on the first he quotes two curious instances in which the name is applied in a similar manner,--one from a Latin song of the reign of Henry III.:
"Competenter per _Robert_, robbur designatur; Robertus excoriat, extorquet, et minatur. Vir quicunque rabidus consors est Roberto."
It seems not impossible that we have in these passages a trace of some forgotten mythical personage. "Whitaker," says Mr. Wright, "supposes, without any reason, the 'Roberde's knaves' to be 'Robin Hood's men.'" (Vol. ii. p. 506.) It is singular enough, however, that as early as the time of Henry III. we find the term 'consors Roberto' applied generally, as designating any common thief or robber; and without asserting that there is any direct allusion to "Robin Hood's men" in the expression "Roberdes knaves," one is tempted to ask whence the hero of Sherwood got his own name?
Grimm (_Deutsche Mythol._, p. 472.) has suggested that Robin Hood may be connected with an equally famous namesake, Robin Goodfellow; and that he may have been so called from the hood or hoodikin, which is a well-known characteristic of the mischievous elves. I believe, however, it is now generally admitted that "Robin Hood" is a corruption {322} of "Robin o' th' Wood" equivalent to "silvaticus" or "wildman"--a term which, as we learn from Ordericus, was generally given to those Saxons who fled to the woods and morasses, and long held them against their Norman enemies.
It is not impossible that "Robin o' the Wood" may have been a general name for any such outlaws as these and that Robin Hood, as well as "Roberd the Robbere" may stand for some earlier and forgotten hero of Saxon tradition.