136: Robin Hood's Delight

This ballad was printed in the 1663 and 1670 Garlands and is on broadsides in the Wood (1660) and Pepys (1689) Collections. It was reprinted by Sheppard and by Evans, both of London, in the late eighteenth century. The Sheppard sheet (dated 1792) is an upmarket one with a large engraving.

Bronson gives no versions but comments on the designated tunes of 135 ‘RH and the Shepherd’ and 145 ‘RH and Queen Katherine’ which appear to be the same tune. He also refutes Ritson’s suggestion of a Scottish fiddle tune of the same name being used for this ballad on the grounds it is ‘unsingable’ and ‘it does not in the least match the stanza-form of the ballad.’

No oral versions found.