swore that he would be at the next shire court to uphold their cause, and he was as good as his word. Gamelyn went to the shire court alone, and as an outlaw he had no right at law (it is clear that the author of this poem knew the law quite well): when he walked into the ‘moot hall’, he had put himself in the sheriff's power. He had no right to speak in his own defence, he was allowed no chance to; he was bound and fettered and cast into the sheriff's prison to await the assize. Although he was in the sheriff's power, he still had some use of the law; he had another brother, Sir Ote, the ‘myddeleste’ of Sir John's sons, and he received word of Gamelyn's imprisonment. Ote was as honourable as his elder brother was treacherous; as soon as he heard the news he saddled his horse and rode to the sheriff. The elder brother was deaf to his pleas for family feeling, but he could not refuse to bail Gamelyn if his brother stood surety for him. Gamelyn was released, and returned to Sir Ote's house with him. As he was still King of the outlaws, he planned to return to the forest to see how things stood with them: Ote tried to dissuade him; he was afraid that once with his men in the forest, Gamelyn would not return, and as his mainpernor he himself would be bound and tried in his place. Gamelyn swore that he would be back on the day of the assize, and so he sets off and finds ‘his mery men under woode bough.’ He stays in the forest until the day of the assize, adding to his list of charges by the plunder of any rich churchmen who pass his way. In the meantime his elder brother set about packing the jury with one or more bribed men to hang Gamelyn: The day of the assize arrived; the lords of the county came to the ‘moot hall’, the King's justice was sitting, and Sir Ote was taken and brought to court in fetters. The case was dealt with briefly; the jury delivered their verdict, and the judge of assize gave his sentence that Sir Ote should hang as an outlaw. Gamelyn had not failed his brother; when the verdict was delivered, Adam the Spencer was