ROBIN HOOD. 349

and saddle: the sun is rising, so pray make haste, for to-morrow
will be Christmas-day.” The good-wife then made no more ado,
but put on her holiday petticoat and gown, which were green ;
Robin got his basket-hilt sword and dagger, and his new
suit of clothes, and so rode, with his mother behind him, till he
came to Gamewell Hall. Squire Gamewell made them wel-
come twenty times, and the next day six tables were set out
in the hall for dinner; and when the company was come, the
squire said to them, “ You arcall welcome, but not a man here
shall taste my ale till he has sung a Christmas carol.” ‘They
now clapped their hands, and shouted and sang till the hall and
the parlour rang again. After dinner the chaplain said grace,
and the squire once more bid his friends be merry.‘ It snows
and it blows out of doors,” said he, “but we are snug here:
let us have more ale, and lay some logs upon the fire.” He
then called for Little John; “ for,” said he, “ Little John is a
fine lad at gambols, and all sotts of tricks, and it will do your
hearts good to see him.” When Little John came, he was
indeed as clever as the squire had said; but Robin Hood got up,
and played all the very same tricks, and better still. ‘Cousin
Robin, you shall go no more home, but shall stay and live with
me; you shall have my estate when I die, and till then you
shall be the comfort of my age.” Robin Hood agreed to this, if
his uncle would but give him Little John to be his servant.
One time when Robin Hood was gone to spend a week with his
father and mother, Squire Gamewell was taken ill. In those
days the people of this country were of the Roman Catholic
religion : there was a convent of priests near Gamewell Hall,
called Fountain Abbey ; and the squire sent for one of the priests
or monks to come and read prayers by his bed-side. Fountain
Abbey was a very fine building: it had a large mansion in the
centre, and a capital wing on the right side; but there was no