1622 - Taylor, John - Errant Thiefe

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2013-08-07. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2018-07-28.

Allusion

England still hath bin a fruitfull Land
Of valiant Thieves, that durst bid true men stand.
One Bellin Dun, a famous Thiefe surviv'd,
From whom the towne of Dunstable's deriv'd;
And Robin Hood with little John agreed
To rob rich men, and the poore to feede.

[...]
Once the fift Henry could rob ex'lent well,
When he was Prince of Wales, as stories tell.
Then Fryer Tucke, a tall stout Thiefe indeed,
Could better rob and steale, then preach or read.

Source notes

The original edition, published 1630, has "cowne" for "towne" in the third line, and no comma after "Tucke" in the last line.

Lists

• Not included in Dobson, R. B., ed.; Taylor, J., ed. Rymes of Robyn Hood: an Introduction to the English Outlaw (London, 1976), pp. 315-19.
• Outside scope of Sussex, Lucy, compil. 'References to Robin Hood up to 1600', in: Knight, Stephen. Robin Hood: A Complete Study of the English Outlaw (Oxford, UK; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Blackwell, 1994), pp. 262-88.

Sources

• Taylor, John. An Errant Thiefe, whom euery Man may Trust: in Word and Deed, exceeding true and Iust. With a Comparison betweene a Thiefe and a Booke (London, 1622). Not seen.
• in Taylor, John. All the vvorkes of Iohn Taylor the water-poet (London, 1630). Not seen.
• Taylor, John; Hindley, Charles, ed. Works of John Taylor, the Water Poet (London and Westminster, 1872), p. v, No. 32, also notes an edition of 1625 or in a work printed in 1625 but gives no particulars. This is unknown to ESTC.
• Spraggs, Gillian. Outlaws & Highwaymen: The Cult of the Robber in England from the Middle Ages to the Nineteenth Century (London, 2001), p. 12, pp. 294-95 n. 23.

Notes