be said, that a messenger shall be sent by such great persons to the town of Wakefield, and that none would be so kind as to make him drink, therefore here (saith he) Mannering, is a health to the confusion of the traitor thy master, and all his rebellious army, and pledge it me without evasion or delay, or I vow by the allegiance which I owe to my prince and sovereign, that thou hast drunk thy last already. Mannering, seeing there was no remedy, and feeling the wax still sticking in his throat, drank it off supernaculum; which the other seeing, Now (saith he) commend me to thy master, and the rest, and tell them one George A Green, no better man than the Pindar of the town of Wakefield, who tho' I have torn their commission, yet I have sent them their seals safe back again by their servant. Whatsoever Mannering thought, little was he heard to speak, but went away muttering the devil's Pater Noster, and so left them. Every body commended the resolution of George, and, by his sole encouragement, purposed henceforward to oppose themselves against the insurrection of the rebels."-Thoms's Early Romances, vol. ii. p. 16. BALLAD: see p.197.-" The Jolly Pinder of Wakefield, with Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John. FROM an old black letter copy in A. à Wood's collection, compared with two other copies in the British Museum, one in black letter. It should be sung 'to an excellent tune,' which has not been recovered. Several lines of this ballad are quoted in the two old plays of the Downfall' and 'Death of Robert earle of Huntington,' 1601, 4to. b. 1. but acted many years before. It is also alluded to in Shakspeare's Merry Wives of Windsor, Act. 1. sc. 1. and again in his second part of K. Henry IV. Act. V. sc. 3. In Wakefield there lives a jolly pinder, In Wakefield all on a green, In Wakefield all on a green : There is neither knight nor squire, said the pindèr, Nor baron that is so bold, Nor baron that is so bold, Dare make a trespass to the town of Wakefield, All this be heard three witty young men, Now turn again, turn again, said the pindèr, O that were a shame, said jolly Robin, The pinder leapt back then thirty good foot, He leaned his back fast unto a thorn, And there he fought a long summers day, A summers day so long, Till that their swords on their broad bucklèrs, Were broke fast into their hands. Hold thy hand, hold thy hand, said bold Robin Hood, And my merry men every one; For this is one of the best pindèrs, And wilt thou forsake thy pinder's craft, "At Michaelmas next my cov❜nant comes out, Then I'le take my blew blade all in my hand, I have both bread and beef said the pindèr, And good ale of the best. And that is meat good enough, said Robin Hood, "O wilt thou forsake the pinder his craft, "If Michaelmas day was come and gone, And my master had paid me my fee, Then would I set as little by him As my master doth by me." |