Ballad Collections of the Eighteenth Century
by Grace R. Trenery
The Modern Language Review, Vol. 10, No. 3 (Jul., 1915), pp. 283-303
BALLAD COLLECTIONS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
The folk-ballad had to wait long in this country before coming in to its own. Professor Child's collection is the consummation of work begun two centuries earlier. His volumes represent the total achievement of all previous toilers in the same field; their scattered gleanings are absorbed in his patiently garnered harvest, a harvest which involved much sifting of wheat from tares, and the tares were false growths of many kinds. A glance through his pages is enough to show the peculiar difficulties that beset ballad editors. From the beginning they have had no easy task, but the motives and ideals which actuated their work have varied from age to age; hence the differences discernible in their methods.
It is unnecessary here to follow the ballad through the earlier stages of confusion. The course of its struggle for existence and recognition has been traced already more than once'. Briefly, the steps were these. First came the gradual decay of traditional ballads, when, from the changed conditions of social life, the composition of 'folk poetry' became almost an impossibility. Then followed the rise of a debased kind of balladry, not dependent on oral tradition, but offered to the public in the form of chap-book versions and broadsides. Neither popular nor literary in style, these productions were commonly regarded as one species with the folk-ballads and brought them under the same condemnation. At length, in the opening years of the eighteenth century, may be seen a tardy recognition of the claims of popular poetry, resulting in a few cautious eulogies, some rather disappointing collections, and a handful of imitations.
This was the position when Allan Ramsay took the field, and he did less for the cause of the popular ballad than has generally been supposed. The collections of James Watson (1706, 1709, 1711), of Thomas D'Urfey (1719) and of the anonymous editor of A Collection of Old Ballads (1723, 1725, 1727), though not of great intrinsic value, had all helped to break ground for succeeding explorers. But Ramsay did not venture far into the untried ballad territory; his collections served mainly to bring the ancient songs of Scotland into notice. In the Bannatyne MS., whence he gathered 'that store which fills his Ever Green,' there is not a single folk-ballad, and the few which he saw fit to add are of suspicious authenticity. 'The Battle of Harlaw' is quite unlike the traditional poem on the same subject. Of his version of 'Johnie Armstrang' Ramsay says that it is the 'true old ballad,' and that he has been informed that 'it was ever esteemed the genuine Ballad, the common one, false.' But Motherwell remarks that 'the common ballad alluded to by Ramsay is the one which is in the mouths of the people'.[2] 'The Ballat of the Reid Square,' first published in The Ever Green, was altered by Ramsay from the Bannatyne MS., and 'what is altogether unpardonable,' as Scott tells us, 'the MS., which is itself rather inaccurate, has been interpolated to favour his readings[3].
The chief contributions to ballad poetry in The Tea-Table Miscellany are the first versions printed of 'Johnny Faa' and 'Sweet William's Ghost,' which has a few modern touches, notably in the last two stanzas; a short and very beautiful copy of 'Rare Willie drown'd in Yarrow' from the Orpheus Caledonius; and good, uncorrupted versions of' Bonny Barbara Allan' and 'The Bonny Earl of Murray.'
It is hardly too much to say that the modern imitations published by Ramsay did more than the genuine ballads to awaken interest in the traditional poetry of Scotland. Two of these imitations, 'The Braes of Yarrow' and 'Hardyknute,' are the most pleasing artificial ballads that appeared before the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. This seems inexplicable considering that the writers of the last half of the century had many more genuine models than were available in the first quarter. It may be that Percy's tinkering did more harm than has been estimated and that public taste, depraved by his polished specimens, neglected the finer pieces in his collection and demanded sentiment and elegance at all costs. It may be that Lady Wardlaw had more traditional stuff to work on than has come to light; Hamilton's poem, we know, was founded upon an ancient fragment. Whatever the reason, no imitation of the century has the spirited swing of 'Hardyknute,' or the pathos and strangeness of 'The Braes of Yarrow.'
Neither piece, it is true, succeeds very well as an echo of the old style. The latter is sometimes commended as having caught the very breath of popular song'. But what ancient ballad of love and murder and despair, and there are many such to choose from, is told in this melancholy, fantastic strain of grief, in these echoing, dirge-like lines, which so slowly unfold the tragedy? Something of the mysterious reserve of a folk-ballad is rendered in 'The Braes of Yarrow,' but nothing of its speed and directness.
'Hardyknute,' printed by Ramsay in both his collections, has a rather complicated history and the truth concerning its authorship
never seems to have been satisfactorily cleared up [2]. Whatever the exact facts may be, and there is little reason to doubt that Lady Wardlaw was responsible for the fragment as it first appeared, this is a surprisingly good poem, considering the date of its composition. The language is picturesque and seldom over-strained, the story, so far as it goes-not too far, fortunately-is interesting and the metre well managed. But there is too much padding and too little energy. Compared with ancient battle pieces the style lacks virility, and the tale moves forward too leisurely.
Many failures, less creditable than these two early attempts, showhow difficult a task it is to imitate the manner of the traditional ballad. It seems easy. Andrew Lang gives the following 'Recipe to forge a Border Balladl' - 'Take the Border Papers, edited by Joseph Bain (1890). Select a good, rousing incident, say the slaying of Ridley at the Newcastle football match (May, 1599). Write it with as many rhymes in "e" as possible. Avoid profusion of obsolete words. Carefully abstain from dropping into poetry. Add a few anachronisms and distort historical facts to taste; employ the regular ballad formulae sparingly and with caution, strain off, dish, and serve up with historical notes, adding to taste fables about your source, a la Surtees. Remember
that nothing can be less like an old ballad than the ballads of Mr D. G. Rossetti.' This is a flippant way of approaching the subject; moreover the instructions are inadequate. A cook might as well have all the ingredients of a cake ready to hand, without the fire to bake it. It is because modern balladists have relied too much on the externals of metre and style that they have failed. How is the old vividness to be revived; the old, fierce cry of eager hearts, storm-swept by the elemental
passions of mankind; the child-like, unquestioning outlook on life which, once gone, is gone for ever? A modern poet may perhaps be fairly successful in describing some such 'rousing incident' as Mr Lang suggests, for in this an impersonal attitude is more easily maintained. But let him try his hand on some theme, not of combat, but of human emotion, and he will find it impossible to combine the stark simplicity of the popular ballads with their force and intensity. The old world has passed away and with it the wild, semi-barbarous conditions of life which made the composition of folk-ballads possible. In the most carefully faked counterfeits the deliberate literary intention is evident; the first fine careless rapture cannot be recaptured. Percy
failed in his attempts, so did Pinkerton and Chatterton and Hogg and Surtees and many others. And at last even Scott failed, and what Scott failed to do with his magic sympathy and his delicate, supple handling of forgotten legends, no other poet need hope to accomplish.
The other modern compositions included in The Tea-Table Miscellany do not need lengthy consideration. 'William and Margaret,' claimed by Mallet, turns out to be a genuine old ballad, revised and spoilt for the
printing press[2]. 'Lucy and Colin,' by Thomas Tickell, and 'Henry and
Katharine' both belong to the type of imitation that is frankly modern
in style and diction and makes no attempt to catch the ancient manner.
GRACE R. TRENERY
Many scores of such poems were turned out later in the century, and
may best be studied in the pages of Evans's collection. Scott draws a
distinction between these 'legendary tales,' as they came to be called,
and the deliberately wrought pastiches of the old style, such as were
attempted by Pinkerton, Hogg and Jamieson'. Scott himself essayed
both types.
Popular as Ramsay's books were it seems strange that no further
attempt at ballad editing should have been made for nearly half a
century. Probably the learned men of the time thought such a task
beneath them, while the few whose spirits might have been stirred by
the rousing echoes of early song had not material enough to work upon.
Herein lies the supreme importance of the Reliques. For future generations
a starting point was given, a priceless foundation of genuine
traditional verse upon which to build up other collections. Herd,
Pinkerton and Evans, as well as Ritson, who was malignantly anxious
to show the world how ancient poetry ought to be edited, all owed to
Percy the impulse which set them collecting. And the Minstrelsy of the
Scottish Border, with its far-reaching influence, was directly inspired by
the Reliques.
Percy's editorial methods are well known, but, before condemning
them too harshly, it should be remembered that he was aiming at
something quite different from the modern ideal of faithful reproduction.
His object was to publish a book which should appeal to the
general reader of his day. He himself had been unexpectedly interested
in the torn pages of his folio manuscript and it occurred to him that
some of the pieces were worth printing2. At the same time he realised
that it would be useless to offer them to the public in their rough and
fragmentary condition. So he set to work to repair them. Possibly
the pleasure and amusement afforded by this occupation led Percy
further than he intended, for it cannot be denied that his handling of
many of the old pieces is little less than profane.
Only one poem, 'The Boy and the Mantle,' is given verbatim from
his manuscript, and 'a more modern copy of this ballad' is appended
for such readers 'as have no relish for pure antiquity.' Several poems
1 Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, ed. Henderson, Essay on Imitations of the Ancient
Ballad, vol. iv, pp. 13, 14.
2 Forty,five of the 175 pieces printed in the Reliques were extracted from the folio MS.,
which itself contains 150 poems. (Bishop Percy's Folio MS., ed. Hales and Furnivall,
vol. i, Forewords, p. xxii.) The other chief sources drawn upon were the printed broad
sheets, Scottish ballads sent by Lord Hailes, and various collections, printed and
manuscript. In addition to the 'reliques' were included 'little elegant pieces of the
lyric kind,' a concession to the polite readers of the day.
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288 Ballad Collections of the Eighteenth Century
have not one stanza exactly as in the original, others are twisted into
quite new settings, while the vivacity of nearly all is weakened by
unnecessary emendations.
There is a curious conflict of taste visible, not only in the many
notes and illustrations scattered through the book, but also in the very
various handling meted out to the ballads. As a rule the eighteenth
century craze for elegance and smoothness swept away all scruples and
Percy pruned with a heavy hand. Occasionally, however, his conscience
asserted itself and forbade any interference. The matchlessly beautiful
'Child Waters' is hardly touched, and one notes this with especial
gratitude, remembering the way in which later editors treated this
ballad, remembering also that Percy could seldom resist a sentimental
opening, which is clearly offered here. There are about half a dozen
other poems from the manuscript with only slight verbal alterationsrhymes
corrected, constructions made clearer, metrical roughnesses
smoothed away. Less excusable emendations are in the cause of refinement
or ingenuity. The 'salt water' within fair Bessye's eyes is
crystallised into 'pearlie dropps'; the three messengers of the queen,
slandered by Sir Aldingar, become a 'faire damselle'; old Robin of
Portingale hides twenty knights within his chamber, and so the irony
of the original situation is lost.
Emendations and corrections, however extensive, do not cover the
whole extent of Percy's handiwork. Some of the ballads he made over
again into quite new poems; 'Valentine and Ursine' is entirely his
own composition; there is only one verse in 'The Child of Elle' given
exactly from the MS.; the latter half of 'Sir Cauline' is invention, and
the conclusion of 'The Heir of Linne' a clever piece of forgery. The
different quality of editorial workmanship in these three poems is
remarkable. There is hardly a false note in the last named. Though
only a few lines of the original are given verbatim, there is no impression
of unreality in the diction; the ballad manner is copied
carefully and with excellent effect. On a much lower plane are the
modern parts of' Sir Cauline' and 'The Child of Elle': it was generally
the primrose path of romance that led Percy astray. The style of the
former throughout is hopelessly artificial. The inappropriately tragic
conclusion illustrates the eighteenth century inability to realise how
a ballad should end, a weakness apparent also in 'The Child of Elle,'
where a happy finish is tacked on to an obviously tragic story. This is
an even more depressing example of Percy's worst manner than 'Sir
Cauline,' though Scott says that the emendations are 'in the truest
GRACE R. TRENERY
style of Gothic embellishment'.' This may be taken as a fair sample
of the embellishing process.
The strong and moving lines:
he leaned ore his saddle bow
to kisse this Lady good;
the teares that went them 2 betweene
were blend water and blood.
are replaced by the following stanza:
And thrice he claspde her to his breste,
And kiste her tenderlie:
The teares that fell from her fair eyes,
Ranne like the fountayne free.
Of course it was much that Percy should himself have seen the beauty
of the fragment and it was clearly impossible for him to have printed it
without a certain amount of manipulation. In 1765 public taste was
divided against itself; it demanded two things not easily reconcilable,
romantic wildness and a smooth, elegant style. The old ballads provided
situations picturesque and thrilling enough to gratify the most exacting
palate. But their style was rough and unpolished, entirely without
ornament and the conventional graces of poetic diction. Percy understood
the taste of his time and, only half realising that it was a perverted
and jaded taste, he set himself to make his 'parcel of old
ballads' as attractive as might be. Scott puts the matter with his
usual fairness when defending Percy from the violent attacks of Ritson2.
'It is, no doubt, highly desirable that the text of ancient poetry
should be given untouched and uncorrupted. But this is a point which
did not occur to the editor of the Reliques in 1765, whose object it was
to win the favour of the public, at a period when the great difficulty
was not how to secure the very words of the old ballads, but how to
arrest attention upon the subject at all.' This needs emphasis: had
Percy printed his manuscript with absolute faithfulness its influence
would have been delayed quite half a century, if indeed it had not
been discounted completely at the outset3.
It is surprising that the first collection directly inspired by the
Reliques should contain some of the most trustworthy work of the
1 Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, Introduction to 'Erlinton.'
2 Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, ed. Henderson, Introductory Remarks on Popular
Poetry, vol. I, p. 38.
3 The folio MS. itself is of course priceless. But of all the ballads in the Reliques
only five are accepted by Child as Percy prints them, and these five perforce, because the
originals are lost. 'Edward,' 'Sir Patrick Spens,' 'The Jew's Daughter' and 'Lord
Thomas and Fair Annet' were contributed by Lord Hailes. 'King Estmere' was torn
from the folio by Percy, sent to the press and never recovered.
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290 Ballad Collections of the Eighteenth Century
century. David Herd's Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs was published
anonymously in 1769. A second edition in two volumes came
out in 1776. This would have appeared earlier, but the MSS. had been
lent to Percy, who promised not only to furnish 'a good number of old
Scots songs and poems' transcribed from the Maitland MS., but also to
fill up some of the imperfect pieces 'in the manner that old broken
fragments of antique statues have been repaired and compleated by
modern masters' (letter to Paton, August 22, 1774). It all came to
nothing. After nearly a year Percy returned the papers, with no poems
from the Maitland MS. and, fortunately, no emendations from his own
facile pen. He had been appreciative of the value of the first edition,
and wrote in praise of it to Paton, not knowing then who was the
editor (Feb. 9, 1769)2. In the same letter he suggested that notes
would have been useful, giving the sources, history, locality and authorship
of the poems whenever possible. Both in the Preface and Advertisement
to the 1769 edition Herd promised notes, to be inserted in
the second volume, which he intended to appear as an additional series
of poems, though it finally entailed an entire re-arrangement of the
collection. However, when the second edition appeared, there were
no notes, and the Glossary, also promised, was hastily compiled by
Wotherspoon3. This is typical of Herd's casual methods: to use
Dr Hecht's words, 'it shows how little interest Herd himself took in the
publication of the volumes. He collected carefully and transcribed
carefully but could not be bothered with editorial cares.' He laboured
for his own delight and disregarded equally public praise and censure.
His volumes are a mixture of good and bad, genuine old fragments and
modern trash, thrown together without distinction and with no account
of authorship or sources. It was too early to leave the general reader
to discriminate for himself and the value of Herd's zeal as a collector is
impaired by his negligence as an editor.
A later generation can better appreciate the importance of Herd's
work. Whether borrowed from some earlier printed collection or copied
from his manuscripts, the poems in his book are nearly always given with
perfect fidelity. Occasionally slight alterations are made, but these are
of trifling importance and it is significant that they occur far more
frequently in the poems taken from printed than from manuscript
smurces. From Ramsay and Percy he borrows a good deal. 'Edom o'
Gordon,' with the orthography slightly changed, 'Young Waters,'
1 Songstfrom David Herd's Manuscripts, ed. Hans Hecht, 1904. Introduction, pp. 20-22.
2 Ibid., pp. 11, 12. 3 Ibid., p. 28.
GRACE R. TRENERY
'Edward,' 'Waly, Waly,' and 'Gil Morice,' with its ugly modern
excrescences, all come from the Reliques. In his choice between the
two versions given by Percy of 'Bonny Barbara Allan 'and 'Lord
Thomas and Fair Annet,' Herd shows his fine taste, selecting the more
dramatic piece in each case. 'Sir Patrick Spens' he also gives from
the Reliques, though he had another unpublished copy among his MSS.,
a longer and less poetically perfect version. What other ballad editor
would have had the same self-restraint? From Ramsay he borrows
'Johnie Armstrang' (this also with the spelling changed), 'The Bonny
Earl of Murray,' 'The Battle of Harlaw,' 'Sweet William's Ghost,' and
'The Battle of Reid-Squair.' He also gives 'Lady Anne Bothwell's
Lament' in its most lengthy form from The Tea-Table Miscellany;
Percy wisely printed only seven verses; Pinkerton, more wisely still,
only four.
Among the ballads first printed by Herd are 'The Braes of Yarrow,'
'Fine Flowers of the Valley,' 'Bothwell,' 'Lizie Wan,' 'May Colvin'
and 'The Wee Wee Man.' In the interesting group of 'Fragments of
Heroic Ballads' are also found for the first time in any printed collection:
'Lammikin' (there was an older version among the Percy
papers but it was not published), 'The Bonny Lass of Lochroyan,'
'Clerk Colvill,' 'Kertonha,' 'Earl Douglas than quham nevir knicht'
('Jamie Douglas'), 'She has call'd to her bower maidens' ('Young
Hunting' or 'Earl Richard'), 'Who will bake' (' Fair Annie') and
'The Cruel Knight.' The 'Fragments of Comic and Humourous Songs'
include 'The Bonny Lass of Anglesey' and, very strangely, a few verses
from the tragic piece known as 'The Cruel Mother'-'And she's lean'd
her back to a thorn.'
This long list of traditional ballads first published by Herd is
sufficient proof of the value of his work. In however fragmentary a
state the poems may be, they are all precious and are transcribed by
the editor from his manuscripts with scrupulous accuracy. Together
with other good versions of ballads printed earlier, they all find a place
in Child's collection, where the printed copies are named with the MS.
versions as being equally reliable. Had the volumes been edited more
carefully they would have proved a useful antidote to the Reliques.
The evil effect of Percy's upholstering was already evident, and Herd's
promiscuous arrangement of ancient and modern compositions doubtless
helped to strengthen that false conception of folk-poetry which gave
rise to the prolific growth of the 'legendary tale,' now beginning to
flourish apace.
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292 Ballad Collections of the Eighteenth Century
Of these imitations included by Herd, the most important-' Hardyknute'
and 'The Braes of Yarrow'-had been several times published.
'Duncan' and 'Kenneth' are the work of Henry Mackenzie, as Scott
informs us', and in both poems the man of feeling is more apparent
than the man of action. In each, just as the story reaches the climax
and we expect the clash of arms, there is a significant hiatus and the
narrative returns with relief, in the one case to the 'weeping Mary'
and in the other to 'fair Margaret with her maidens.'
'The modem and extremely vapid ballad of Frennet Hall,' as Child
characterises it, is an anonymous poem on the mysterious fire of Frendraught.
It deserves harsh criticism so far as the diction is concerned,
but the conclusion is unusually restrained. The whole catastrophe is
implied in the last verse:
The lady slee with honeyed words
Entic'd thir youths to stay:
But morning sun ne'er shone upon
Lord John nor Rothemay.
Certainly, this is not exactly what we should find in a traditional ballad,
but it is better than the protracted scenes of anguish or the ill-timed
moralisings with which most imitations end. Modern writers have failed
nearly always in the conclusions of their ballads. To begin in the old,
reckless manner, plunging straight 'in medias res,' is a difficult task.
But it is infinitely harder to end in the rapid, unexpected way of
popular song-to pull up short without any comments on the story or
any reflections on life and its vicissitudes. Almost invariably a modern
poet betrays himself by some conventional mannerism, by a desire to
moralise his song, by a mistaken notion of emphasis or by some irrepressible
note of egotism breaking through the reserve that should
hide a singer of ballads.
The Reprint of 1791 includes most of Pinkerton's forgeries, also the
version of 'The Child of Elle,' published in the Reliques: the substitution
of these pieces for much genuine stuff seems to show that this
issue did not receive Herd's personal supervision. The only poem in the
first edition, omitted from the second, is 'The Heir of Linne,' Percy's
most successful piece of patchwork.
One looks in vain for any hopeful signs of integrity in John
Pinkerton's collection, first published in 1781 as Scottish Traqic
Ballads. A second edition in two volumes came out in 1783, under
I Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, ed. Henderson, Introductory Remarks, vol. i,
p. 43.
GRACE R. TRENERY
a slightly different title-Select Scotish Ballads. Translations of four
Spanish romances were added in the second edition'; also the following
ballads: 'Gilderoy,' 'The Child of Elle,' 'The Gypsies came,' 'The
Cruel Knight,' and 'Young Waters.' Pinkerton gave no account of
his authorities, borrowed from Percy, Herd and Ramsay without acknowledgment;
and, to the intense wrath of Ritson, who exposed him
in The Geltleman's Magazine2, he palmed off several inventions of his
own as traditional ballads.
Considering the style of these forgeries it is surprising that
Pinkerton did not alter the genuine ballads more extensively. 'Child
Maurice,' ' Edom o' Gordon' and 'The Child of Elle' are given almost
verbatim from Percy or Herd. From 'Young Waters,' from 'Lady
Bothwell's Lament' and probably from 'Sir James the Rose,' verses
are judiciously dropped, the last being handled freely but with discretion.
'The Earl of Murray' and 'The Gypsy Laddie' are close to
Ramsay's versions. The most unforgivable corrections are those in
'Edward,' which, as given by Percy, is perfect and unapproachable,
though the archaic spelling was better simplified. 'The Earl of
Murray' is similarly tampered with, though here the spelling is Scotticised
and that with better effect than usual. Already it is clear that
different motives are beginning to animate the collectors. Percy
altered for greater elegance and ingenuity; he hoped to make silk
purses out of sow's ears, but, mistaking his material, too often he
reversed the process. Pinkerton's emendations were for the sake of
consistency and common sense. He liked a Scottish ballad to live up
to its name and changed the 'gates of London' into the 'hichts of
Lundie,' ' Highlands' into 'Hielands' and so on. He lends a few corrections
to 'Sir Patrick Spens,' where 'palpable absurdity seemed to
require them,' and the things which struck him as palpably absurd
were cork-heild shoon; hats, wet in the sea; ladies with fans in their
hands and gold kems in their hair. Again, in 'Sir James the Rose,'
he supplies a motive for the woman's perfidy, so following the common
practice of eighteenth century editors, who could not digest the
causeless acts of treachery and violence so often related in ballad
poetry and felt constrained to make events seem at least possible.
1 These four romances were translated by Pinkerton from the Historia de las Guerras
Civiles de Granada. Percy had already published two translations from the same source
in the Reliques (Series I, Book ir, Nos. 16 and 17). In Evans's Old Ballads is found
another and much worse rendering by Carter of the third romance attempted by Pinkerton.
(Vol. m, No. 18.)
2 November, 1784.
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294 Ballad Collections of the Eighteenth Century
'Binnorie' shows Pinkerton at work in a different way. Usually he
kept fairly close to his originals or else invented entirely new poems.
'Binnorie' he acknowledged to be 'one half from tradition and one half
by the editor,' though, as Child says, 'one fourth and three fourths
would have been a more exact apportionment.' There are only about
seven verses that correspond with traditional versions; the conclusion
which recounts the elder sister's suicide and the squire's sententious
remarks upon the occurrence are Pinkerton's invention, and the whole
beautiful story is spoilt in the telling. Such lines as:
Up raise he sune in frichtfu' mude;
Busk ye, 'my meiny,' and seek the flude,
and the last stanza:
But I'll main for the my Isabel deir
Full mony a dreiry day, bot weir
stamp the thing at once as Pinkerton's. His phraseology cannot easily
be mistaken after a single perusal of the second part of 'Hardyknute.'
This is his most elaborate imposture, and so far as externals go, it
was well carried out. The notes are written guilelessly and in seeming
good faith. The passages chosen for special commendation are, it is
true, from the original fragment, but, in the extravagant praise bestowed
upon the poem as a whole, naturally no distinctions are drawn. To
make the two parts hang together Pinkerton changed the second half
of verse eighteen and inserted another stanza, with the remark that it
'was surprising its omission was not marked in the fragment formerly
published.' As a poetical achievement the continuation is far below the
original. The story is incoherent and leads on to an impossible conclusion,
and the language is pitched in a theatrical key that merits
Ritson's scorn. 'Neither the lady, nor the common people of Lanarkshire,
from whom you pretend to have recovered most of the stanzas,
will deprive you of the honour of its procreation. The poetry is too
artificial, too contemptible, the forgery too evident .'
Pinkerton's other forgeries are on a par with this. 'The Laird of
Woodhouselie' seems to have been founded on the grim story of the
murder of the Lord of Wariston. Genuine ballads on this subject
were later printed by Jamieson and Kinloch, and it is probable that
Pinkerton was familiar with some traditional scraps and on them
embroidered his own handiwork. Many of the lines seem genuine
1 Gentleman's Magazine, November, 1784.
GRACE R. TRENERY
but the treatment is laboured and the metre gives a very different
effect from the usual ballad swing:
Shyning was the painted ha
Wi gladsum torches bricht:
Full twenty gowden dames sat there
And ilk ane by a knicht:
Wi music cheir,
To pleise the eir.
Whan beautie pleased the sicht.
'Lord Livingston,' containing the reconciliation between the two knights,
is worse than this; the sentimental note is more pronounced. Again,
in 'The Death of Menteith' and 'Lord Airth's Complaint' we find the
same conventional ideas expressed in the same spuriously archaic Scots,
with the constant recurrence of favourite phrases and words. One
cannot escape the conviction, when reading this sophisticated language,
that the author was well pleased with it. The poem beginning-'I wish
I were where Helen lies' is one of the many imitations inspired by the
haunting elegy, of which this is the first line.
There was no gainsaying Ritson's charge, and in the List of Scottish
Poets, prefixed to a Selection of Poems from the Maitland MS. (vol. I,
1786), Pinkerton acknowledged his forgeries. He was a learned man,
but so devoid of both taste and integrity that his collection is the most
worthless of the century.
Thomas Evans's Old Ballads, published in two volumes in 1777,
and in four volumes in 1784, is more interesting than many collections
of greater intrinsic value. One wonders much what the editor was
aiming at, his one apparent object being to exclude everything that
Percy published, and to include everything he did not. Herd frankly
calls his collection Ancient and Modern Scots Songs; Evans gives his
the misleading label of Old Ballads, though to this is added on the
title page: 'Historical and Narrative, with some of modern date and
several originals, none of which are inserted in Dr Percy's collection.'
His Preface adopts the usual apologetic tone towards eighteenth century
readers. 'A polished age will make allowances for the rude
productions of their ancestors.' After all, this cringing humility on the
part of the editors was unnecessary. The general mass of the people
needed no propitiation, they were ready to accept any 'parcel of old
ballads' on its own merits; while the austere scholars who, like
Dr Johnson, could not tolerate ballad poetry, would be proof
against the deprecatory appeals of Percy, Herd, Pinkerton, Evans
and Ritson.
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296 Ballad Collections of the Eighteenth Century
The contents of the first of Evans's volumes and part of the second
are arranged in chronological order, the poems covering the ground of
English history from King Arthur to George III. The most valuable
part of the first volume consists in the twenty-seven Robin Hood
ballads, all of which, with one exception-'Robin Hood, Wil Scarlet
and Little John'-were later printed by Ritson and in exactly the same
order. The majority of these ballads are immeasurably below the
'Little Geste,' and barely deserve the name of popular poetry, but they
form the one contribution of any worth in the whole of this collection.
The sources are not given, but, so far as they have been traced by
Professor Child, it seems that Evans copied the poems carefully and
abstained from emendations. Indeed, he was even more precise than
Ritson, who named his originals and so laid himself open to ready
detection. The first volume also contains a number of poems found by
the editor in The Garland of Delight, but first published in Deloney's
Strange Histories.
The second volume contains the only two genuine folk-poems, except
those already mentioned, in this collection of Old Ballads. One of these,
'Johnny Armstrang's Last Goodnight,' is the same version as appeared
in A Collection of Old Ballads, 1723. The other, 'Child Waters,' is
given also by Percy, so one may suppose that it was included by Evans
for the sake of comparison with the paraphrase that follows, an instructive
example of the eighteenth century ideal of refined simplicity.
One quotation will suffice. In the original Burd Ellen says:
And I had rather have a twinkling
Child Waters of your eye,
Than I would have Cheshirea nd Lancashireb oth,
To take them mine own to be.
Mrs Pye's version reads thus, and it is significant that she borrows the
first line straight from Pope's 'Eloisa':
One glance of those deluding eyes
More rapture can bestow
Than should our monarch quit his throne
And that to me forego.
The semi-historical ballads come to an end half way through the
second volume, which is filled out with modern imitations. The third
volume opens inauspiciously with two lengthy productions, Percy's
'Hermit of Warkworth' and Blacklock's ' The Graham,' but there is a
certain interest attaching to this volume in the testimony it bears to the
GRACE R. TRENERY
newly awakened enthusiasm for foreign literature. There are several
poems from the French, two of Gray's translations from the Welsh, and
a very bad version, taken from Carter's Journey from Gibraltar to
Malaga, of one of the Spanish romances previously attempted by
Pinkerton. In the fourth volume there is also a translation by
Sir W. Jones from the Persian of Hafiz. Both the third and fourth
volumes contain a number of seventeenth century ballads printed from
stall copies and garlands, some very interesting Elizabethan poems, and
a whole host of imitations.
Of all the collections of the century this of Evans contains the
largest number of artificial ballads, and the characteristics of this
tedious species may best be considered in connection with his work.
With two exceptions, both forgeries, not one of these poems makes any
serious attempt to reproduce the old style; or, if it does, the attempt
fails ludicrously. Most are vaguely historical, as stray references to
battles and kings serve to indicate, but the atmosphere of the past is
never revived. The all-pervading moral tone is entirely opposed to the
spirit of popular poetry, in which the narrator effaced himself, offering
no personal reflections, intent only on getting his story told. The
anticipated joys of a future world, the stress laid on the obligations of
filial piety, and the unconvincing praises of rusticity, are all out of
harmony with the frankly pagan conception of life found in the old
ballads. In this vanished world death brought pain and separation,
but no gladness of reunion; children most often mated against their
parents' wishes and would turn with a curse on their lips against either
father or mother who had crossed their hopes; and the men and women
lived the simple life without knowing it, so that they saw no delights
in poverty, no beauty in asceticism. Even the supernaturalism, so consciously
revelled in by many of the eighteenth century balladists, is
very different from that abiding fear and fascination of the unknown
which inspired such poems as 'Tam Lin,' 'True Thomas,' or 'The Wife
of Usher's Well.'
But the worst feature of these legendary tales is the characteristically
feeble use made of the ballad metre. The old ruggedness is planed
away-the old irregularity that added so much to the blithe vigour of
popular ballads and saved them from monotony. An intolerable singsong
is the result. The favourite mark of punctuation is the dash.
The pitch generally rises towards the end of the poems and the death
of the heroine-for the heroine almost invariably dies, and the hero
too, if he is faithful and virtuous-is described in short, jerky clauses,
M. L. R. X. 20
297
298 Ballad Collections of the Eighteenth Century
presumably meant to convey the stress and hurry of emotion. Such
verses as the following are common:
She knew-she sunk-the night-bird screamed;
-The moon withdrew her troubled light,
And left the fair-though fall'n she seemed-
To worse than death-and endless night1.
This is another example, open to criticism on more grounds than one:
'And art thou him ? '--exclaimed the mayde,
'And dost thou live?'-she cry'd:
'Too cruel love! '-she faintly sayd-
Then wrung his hand-and dy'd-2
We may compare this hysterical movement with the nervous, onward
rush of ancient verse:
Late at e'en, drinking the wine,
And ere they paid the lawing,
They set a combat them between,
To fight in the dawing3,
or with the swift-flowing rhythm of The Ancient Mariner, which is the
supreme triumph of modern ballad poetry:
The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared,
Merrily did we drop,
Below the kirk, below the hill,
Below the lighthouse top.
There is no need to give further examples illustrating the various
peculiarities of the artificial ballad; almost any single poem would serve
to display them all. 'Edwin and Ethelinde,' 'Edwin and Emma,' by
Mallet, 'Edwin and Eltruda' (Edwin was a favourite name, we have
also the famous 'Edwin and Angelina'), 'Matilda,' 'William and
Fanny'--their titles betray them. In them all there is the same
sentimentality, the straining after effect, the superficial morality, and
the false, colourless diction.
The Reliques form the connecting link between the legendary tales
and the genuine old ballads. Percy cannot be held entirely responsible
for the former. Polished and refined as his specimens undoubtedly
were, they yet retained virility enough to have inspired something
better than these effusions. Had their authors possessed traditional
versions of every folk-ballad, then or since published, it is not likely
that they would have written anything very closely resembling 'Clerk
1 The Field of Battle.' Penrose, Old Ballads, vol. in, no. 2.
2 'The Brydal Bed.' Old Ballads, vol. iv, no. 14.
3 'The Braes of Yarrow.' Popular Ballads, ed. Child, 214 (E).
GRACE R. TRENERY
Saunders' or 'Sir Patrick Spens.' Nevertheless, it was the style of
the more extensively 'improved' ballads in the Reliques, which served
as a model for the majority of imitations published after 1765, and
which was to blame for their artificial diction, if not for their weakness
in narrative power.
Neither of the two deliberate attempts to copy the old style deserves
more than passing mention, though both forgeries were accepted by
Evans as genuine. Chatterton's Bristowe Tragedy; or the Dethe of
Sir Charles Bawdin shows the influence of the Reliques only too clearly.
It is written in the manner of the stall copies, overlaid with a coating
of Percy's false refinement. 'The Laidley Worm of Spindleston Heughs'
is printed by Evans as a 'ballad, five hundred years old, made by the
mountain bard, Duncan Frasier, living in Cheviot, A.D. 1270.' This
minute account of the authorship of what purports to be an ancient
ballad is enough to betray the hand of the impostor. The poem was
sent by the Rev. Mr Lambe, of Norham, to Mr Hutchinson, who
inserted it as genuine in his History of Northumberland. The author
must have heard some traditional lines, for the story has traces of
several genuine ballads which were printed later ('Kempion,' 'Allison
Gross,' The Laily Worm and the Mackrel of the Sea '). The modern
workmanship is, however, unmistakable, especially in the conclusion,
which is contrary to the unwritten law forbidding a ballad singer to
speak in the first person.
This collection of Evans is worthless from the point of view of the
antiquarian, but it is an interesting storehouse of miscellaneous poetry,
and not without value as an indication of the taste and judgment of
the timel.
Very different is the work of Joseph Ritson, the last of the eighteenth
century editors. His 'atrabilious, furious and obstreperous abhorrence
of every kind of forgery2' made him a much hated man among his contemporaries,
but his editorial methods, if not his temper in debate, are
above reproach. His Select Collection of English Songs (1783), Pieces
of Ancient Popular Poetry (1791), Ancient Songs (dated 1790, published
1792), Scottish Songs (1794), and Robin Hood (1795), are among
the few works of the century which unite enthusiasm with scholarly
methods of editing.
1 In 1810, R. H. Evans, the son of Thomas, issued another four-volume edition of
Old Ballads, of great interest as showing the advance made during the past quarter
century. This edition is 'considerably enlarged from public and private collections';
many of the modern pieces are omitted, and the older poems carefully revised.
2 Jamieson, Popular Ballads. Advertisement, p. xv.
20-2
299
300 Ballad Collections of the Eighteenth Century
There are comparatively few popular pieces in The Select Collection
of English Songs, and they serve mainly to show how far superior
Scottish ballad poetry is to English. The volume entitled Pieces of
Ancient Popular Poetry contains only one ballad, 'The King and the
Barker,' and the editor of the second edition states that Ritson had
intended to suppress it. The text is very corrupt and the ballad metre
seldom recognisable. Ancient Songs and Ballads is perhaps the most
interesting of Ritson's publications. It is arranged chronologically in
five classes and contains some fragrant old English lyrics, some battle
songs, and a number of carols and later love songs. But the book, as
first published, was not rich in ballads; in the second edition a number
from the Select Collection of English Songs were incorporated with the
poems in Class IV. 'The Ungrateful Knight and the Flower of
Northumberland' is put down to the account of Thomas Deloney, but,
though first published by that writer in his Jack of Newberie, this poem
undoubtedly belongs to the folk. Class IV also contains 'The Heir of
Linne,' with a prefatory note to the effect that Percy had restored
several ancient readings from his folio MS. in the 1794 edition of the
Reliques and that 'if one could obtain a sight of that tattered fragment,
it is highly probable that some modern interpolations still remain.'
Had Ritson realised how large was the proportion of editorial workmanship
in this poem he would hardly have printed it; it is a distinct tribute
to Percy's powers that he did so.
Another testimony to the patience and zeal of Ritson is his Robin
Hood. These two volumes contain thirty-three ballads, and Child was
able to add only five more in his collection. One of these five, 'The
Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood',' was known by Ritson to be in existence,
and he twice asked Scott for it, apparently with no result2. Another,
'Robin Hood and the Monk,' was added in the Appendix of the 1832
edition, the editor stating that Mr Ritson 'had anxiously preserved' a
small fragment of the poem. The other three pieces are not of importance.
They are 'Robin Hood and the Pedlars' (printed from a
MS. in a nineteenth century hand, containing some ballads supposed to
be forgeries, of which this may be one), a feeble production called
'Robin Hood and the Scotchman,' and the piece already mentioned,
'Robin Hood, Will Scarlet and Little John' (otherwise 'Robin Hood
1 'The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood,' and we may presume this is the ballad that
Ritson was seeking, is given by Child as a traditional version of 'Robin Hood Newly
Revived,' which Ritson has under the title, ' Robin Hood and the Stranger.'
2 The Letters of Joseph Ritson, Esq., 2 vols. 1833. 1. Letter to Scott, April 10, 1802
(p. 220). 2. Letter to Scott, July 2, 1803 (p. 241).
GRACE R. TRENERY
and the Prince of Arragon'), probably excluded by Ritson because he
thought it spurious.
Ritson aimed solely at accuracy. 'Truth-simple majestic Truthwas
the goddess whom he worshipped',' as Sir H. Nicolas elegantly
expressed it in his Memoir. In consequence, his publications failed to
please the public ear. That sensitive organ was not yet attuned to the
wild music of popular poetry and inclined rather to the softened strains
piped by the less scrupulous editors of the century. They, and the
majority of nineteenth century collectors, made a bid for popularity
and won it. It is easy to judge their work too harshly. They had to
face a position whose difficulties they hardly realised themselves. Folkpoetry,
as soon as ever it is written down, ceases to be folk-poetry in
the strictest sense. Written words never have precisely the same effect
as words chanted or sung; they become a different, to some extent
a new thing. However dimly the editors may have realised this, at
least it was clear to them that some manipulation was necessary before
the majority of popular ballads could find acceptance with the public.
In their newly acquired, uncongenial form of print, gaps and inconsistencies
were apparent which would have passed unnoticed in recitation,
which indeed, might not have existed in earlier stages of oral transmission.
It was a difficult question for the editors to decide how far
they were justified in removing these defects. Ritson was right in
denouncing the depravity of those editors who mingled so much of
their own handiwork with the ancient texts that the two styles of
writing were confused and the public wholly deluded. On the other
hand, the general reader of the eighteenth century preferred well
rounded poems to incomplete fragments, however carefully transcribed.
In the Gentleman's Magazine for August, 1793, 'Nugator,' referring to
the Reliques, ventures to predict that it 'will remain a standard book,
while the more strictly accurate compilations of a peevish antiquary or
two are forgotten.' Nugator was right; Percy's diluted specimens
remained first favourites with the people until ousted by Scott's, and it
must be remembered that the texts of the old poems were treated with
as much freedom in the Border Minstrelsy as in the Reliques, though
with infinitely finer taste.
A list of ballad collections from Ramsay's to Child's would serve as
a fruitful text for a sermon on the growth of the literary conscience.
The eighteenth century closed hopefully with the scientific methods of
Ritson, but the good effects which his example might have produced
1 Letters of Joseph Ritson. Memoir, p. xix.
301
302 Ballad Collections of the Eighteenth Century
were swept away by the success of Scott's brilliant but unfaithful workmanship.
Most of the collections inspired by The Minstrelsy of the
Scottish Border were edited on the same somewhat lax principles. Not
until the publication of Child's great collection were the rights of the
popular ballad fully established. Then, for the first time, the anonymous
old poems were treated with the same respect as is paid to the
writings of known authors. Every extant version of each ballad is
given and, wherever possible, modern growths are ruthlessly lopped
away. But in cases where the originals are lost, as happened with
some of the pieces published by Percy and Buchan, ballads are necessarily
given entire though the hand of the interpolator is evident.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
(1) Collections
ALLAN RAMSAY. The Ever Green, being a collection of Scots poems, wrote by the ingenious before 1600. 2 vols. Edinburgh, 1724.
ALLAN RAMSAY. The Tea-Table Miscellany, or a collection of choice songs, Scots and English. 3 vols. Edinburgh, 1724, 1727; 9th edition, enlarged with a fourth volume. London, 1740.
THOMAS PERCY. Reliques of Ancient English Poetry: consisting of old heroic ballads, songs, and other pieces of our earlier poets, together with some few of later date. 3 vols. London, 1765; 2nd ed., 1767; 3rd ed., 1775; 4th ed., 1794.
(Bishop Percy's Folio Manuscript. Edited by J. W. Hales and F. J. Furnivall. 3 vols. 1867, 1868.)
DAVID HERD. The Ancient and Moder Scots Songs, Heroic Ballads, etc., now first collected into one body from the various miscellanies wherein they formerly lay dispersed, containing likewise a great number of original songs from manuscripts never before published. Edinburgh, 1769.
Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs, Heroic Ballads, etc., collected from memory, tradition and ancient authors. 2nd ed. 2 vols. Edinburgh, 1776.
THOMAS EVANS. Old Ballads, historical and narrative, with some of modern date, now first collected and reprinted from rare copies. With notes. 2 vols. London, 1777; 2nd ed. 4 vols. London, 1784.
A new edition, revised and considerably enlarged from public and private collections, by his son, R. H. Evans. 4 vols. London, 1810.
JOHN PINKERTON. Scottish Tragic Ballads. London, 1781.
2nd ed. Select Scotish Ballads. Hardyknute: an Heroic Ballad, now first
published complete; with other nine approved Scotish Ballads and some not
hitherto made public, in the Tragic Style. 2 vols. (vol. I, Tragic Ballads; vol. Ii,
Comic Ballads). London, 1783.
GRACE R. TRENERY 303
JOSEPH RITSON. A Select Collection of English Songs, with their original airs,
and a historical essay on the origin and progress of national song. 3 vols.
London, 1783.
The second edition, with additional songs, and notes. By Thomas Park.
3 vols. London, 1813.
JOSEPH RITSON. Ancient Songs, from the time of King Henry the Third to the
Revolution. London, 1790 (Printed, 1787; dated, 1790; published, 1792).
2nd ed. Ancient Songs and Ballads from the Reign of King Henry the
Second to the Revolution. 2 vols. London, 1829.
JOSEPH RITSON. Pieces of Ancient Popular Poetry: from authentic manuscripts
and old printed copies. London, 1791; 2nd ed. London, 1833.
JOSEPH RITSON. Robin Hood: A collection of all the ancient poems, songs, and
ballads, now extant, relative to that outlaw: to which are prefixed historical
anecdotes of his life. 2 vols. London, 1795: 2nd ed. London, 1832.
(ii) Authorities.
WALTERS COTT.( In his Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border.) (i) Essay on Imitations
of the Ancient Ballad. 1802. (ii) Introductory Remarks on Popular
Poetry. 1830.
WILLIAMM OTHERWELLM. instrelsy, Ancient and Modern, 1827. With an historical
Introduction.
HALES and FURNIVALL. (In their edition of Bishop Percy's Folio Manuscript,
vol. i.) Essay on the Revival of Ballad Poetry in the eighteenth century.
London, 1868.
HUGH WALKER. Three Centuries of Scottish Literature. 2 vols. Glasgow, 1893.
(Vol. I, Chap. v.)
W. L. PHELPS. The Beginnings of the English Romantic Movement. Boston,
1893. (Chap. viii.)
T. F. IENDERSON. Scottish Vernacular Literature. A history. London, 1900.
(Chap. xi.)
FRANK SIDGWICK. Popular Ballads of the Olden Time. First series. London,
1903. (Introduction.)
HENRY A. BEERS. A History of English Romanticism in the Eighteenth Century.
London, 1899. (Chap. vmII.)
HANS HECHT. Songs from David Iterd's Manuscripts. 1904. (Introduction.)
GRACE R. TRENERY.
LIVERPOOL.
____________________
Footnotes:
1 Courthope, History of English Poetry, vol. v, p. 410; vol. vI, p. 111 (note).
2 'Hardyknute' was first published by James Watson in Edinburgh, 1719. It was printed by Ramsay in The Ever Green, 1724, with two additional stanzas and some minor alterations. In the first edition of the Reliques Percy gave an account of the authorship of the poem, supplied by Lord Hailes, who stated that Lady Wardlaw had acknowledged it to be her own composition and as proof had produced three more stanzas (Reliques, ed. 1765, II, pp. 87-88). Lady Wardlaw died in 1727. A new edition of the poem was prepared for the press by John Clerk, M.D. of Edinburgh. This included twelve new stanzas. Pinkerton, in his Scottish Tragic Ballads, 1781, published a continuation of the poem and, with it, another account of the authorship, also supplied by Lord Hailes. This nobleman sent to Pinkerton a letter, supposed to have been written by Sir John Bruce of Kinross to Lord Binning about the year 1719. Sir John states that he is sending a 'true copy' of the poem, which he had found in a vault at Dunfermline, 'written on vellum in a fair Gothic character.' This letter is clearly a forgery: the passion for vaults and Gothic characters had not yet arisen in 1719, but it is not easy to decide whether Pinkerton or Lord Hailes was responsible for it. The former seems the more likely culprit; he would be anxious to establish the authenticity of the piece so that his own forgery might pass undetected. But Lord Hailes was still alive in 1781, and the double forgery would seem too daring even for Pinkerton. Percy believed in the story and remarked in the 1794 edition of the Reliques that the letter 'plainly proves the pretended discoverer of the fragment to have been Sir John Bruce himself.' Ritson did not attempt to decide between the rival claimants; it was enough for him that 'the bantliig is certainlyspurious' (Gentleman's Magazine, November, 1784) In the introduction to 'Sir James the Ross' in Andersou's Poets (p. 290), the editor says of this poem of Bruce that 'it challenges a place with the 'Hardyknute' of his countryman, Sir John Bruce of Kinross.' Scott took it for granted that Pinkerton invented the story of Bruce and ignored Lord Hailes' part in the affair. (Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, ed. Henderson, Introductory Remarks on Popular Poetry, p. 44.) Since Scott's time Lady Wardlaw seems to have been left in possession.
3. J. A. Farrer, Literary Forgeries, 1907. Introduction by Lang, p. xxv.
4. Phelps, The Beginnings of the English Romantic Movement, Appendix.
1 See Bibliographyi,i .
2 Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern, 1827. Introduction, p. Ixii, note 3.
3 Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, 1802. Introduction to ' The Raid of Reidswire.'