affianced was taken from him by her friends, and given to another that
was old and wealthy; Robin hearing when the marriage day would be, came
to the church as a beggar, having his own company not far off; and who
at the sound of his horn rushed in, took the bride from him that was to
marry her, and caused the priest to wed her and Scadlock together." In
shooting with the long bow, the company excelled all the men in the
land; their archery indeed was unparalleled, as both Robin Hood and
Little John, _it is said_, have frequently shot an arrow a measured
mile, or 1,760 yards.

Charlton informs us, that in one of Robin's peregrinations, he, attended
by his trusty mate, John, went to dine at Whitby Abbey, with the abbot,
Richard, who having heard them often famed for their great dexterity
in shooting with the long bow, begged them after dinner to show him a
specimen. They went up top of the abbey, and each of them shot an arrow
that fell not far from Whitby-laths. The abbot placed a pillar on the
spot where each arrow fell, and named one Robin Hood's field, the other
John's field. Their distance from Whitby is more than a measured mile.

In these forests, and with his company, Robin for many years reigned
like an independent sovereign. At perpetual war with the King of England
and all his subjects, (with the exception of the poor and needy, the
desolate and oppressed, and those who stood in need of his protection,)
he defied the power of law and government; an outlaw in those times
having no protection, owed no allegiance, his hand was against every
man, and every man's hand against him;


The world was not his friend, nor the world's law.