Thomas Love Peacock (1785–1866) was an English novelist, poet, and offi cial of the East India Company. Peacock’s retelling of the legend of Robin Hood is as fresh today as it was when he penned it, nearly two hundred years ago. Here are all the heroes and villains we know and love, recast by a keen Victorian wit: Robin Hood and Maid Marian; Friar Tuck, Little John, and Richard the Lionhearted; Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham. The heroes are heroic and just a little self-serving, though generous the villains are villainous. The tale is told as keenly as it can be.