_'--as the word is here spelled--who received pay from the
24th of March to the 21st of April 1324; and among these are the names
of 'Robyn Hod' and 'Simon Hod.' These names do not occur in any
previous document. The date of the record, it will be observed, is in
the spring of the year following that in which the king made his
progress through Lancashire, and stayed for some time at Nottingham on
his return southward.

The office of valet, or _porteur de la chambre_, in those days, was
probably similar to that of the present groom of the chamber, and if
so, was a highly respectable and confidential post. In the ballad,
Robin Hood is represented, while at court, as spending his money
freely with knights and squires. His profusion, indeed, soon exhausted
his purse, which the daily pay of 3d., however munificent it may have
been at that period, could not replenish. Robin became, observes Mr
Hunter, moody and melancholy:

'Alas!' then said good Robin,
'Alas, and well-a-day I
If I dwell longer with the king,
Sorrow will me slay.'

At last, he petitions the king for permission to pay a visit to his
chapel at Barnesdale; declaring, that for seven nights he has not been
able to sleep, nor for seven days to eat or drink, so sore is his
longing to see Barnesdale again. The king consents, but only for a
se'nnight; 'in which,' says Mr Hunter, 'I suspect a corruption, for
there was no Great Northern in those days.' Probably the leave of
absence was for seven weeks instead of days.

Now, it is remarkable, that in the Exchequer pay-lists, the new
porteur's name continues to appear (once under the form of Robert
Hood) until the 22d of November 1324. Under this date appears an
entry, which Mr Hunter has given in the original Norman-French, but
which we prefer to translate: 'Robyn Hod, heretofore one of the
porteurs, because he could no longer work, received as a gift, by
command, 5s.' After this, we are told, his name does not again appear.
The 22d of November 1324, was just a year from the time when the king
was at Nottingham, where he arrived on the 9th of November 1323. Robin
Hood, if he then took service, would have been in the royal household
about a twelvemonth. The ballad, however, makes his service last for a
year and three months. The discrepancy is not great; and it may,
perhaps, be explained by the circumstance, that when Robin left the
court, it was at first merely on leave of absence; and he would,