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The English and Scottish popular ballads, volume 5 (of 5)
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In: Poetry·Classics of Literature·British Literature
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #71104.
About this book
The work is the concluding volume of a scholarly edition that gathers English and Scottish popular ballads, presenting each song with its text, variants, and extensive apparatus. It opens with a series of formal notices: an appendix containing Walter Morris Hart’s essay on “Professor Child and the Ballad,” a detailed account of the publication’s delays, and acknowledgments of the many collectors, editors, and institutions that supplied manuscripts and commentary. The editor, F. J. Child, explains how the final part was assembled from the Sharpe papers, the “old lady’s complete set of ballads,” and numerous other sources, and outlines the forthcoming supplementary material, glossary, indexes, bibliography, and a list of airs. The contents list then follows, enumerating over a hundred ballads, from “John Thomson and the Turk” to “The Outlaw Murray,” together with notes on additions, corrections, and musical settings.
The text reflects the late‑Victorian tradition of antiquarian folklore scholarship, written in a formal, footnote‑heavy style that assumes familiarity with earlier volumes and with the broader corpus of European balladry. Its voice is that of a meticulous editor who intersperses narrative excerpts with critical commentary, aiming to preserve both the poems and their transmission history. Readers who enjoy detailed textual criticism, historical linguistics, or the study of folk narrative will find this volume rewarding, especially those with an interest in comparative ballad studies or the cultural interchange between English, Scots, and continental traditions.
Who appears in The English and Scottish popular ballads, volume 5 (of 5)
- Walter Morris HartMiddle‑aged Victorian gentleman, dark hair, round spectacles, frock coat, waistcoat, pocket watch
- Professor ChildElderly academic, silver‑gray hair, beard, tweed jacket, scholarly demeanor, leather satchel
The opening · free to read
Numbers 266-305
The delay of the publication of this Ninth Part of the English and Scottish Ballads has been occasioned partly by disturbances of health, but principally by the necessity of waiting for texts. It was notorious that there was a considerable number of ballads among the papers of Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, and it was an important object to get possession of these, the only one of the older collections (with a slight exception) which I had not had in my hands. An unexpected opportunity occurred upon the sale of Sharpe’s manuscripts last year. All the ballads, including, besides loose sheets, several sets of pieces, were secured by Mr Macmath, and turned over to me (mostly in transcripts made by his own hand) with that entire devotion to the interests of this undertaking which I have had so frequent occasion to signalize. A particularly valuable acquisition was the “old lady’s complete set of ballads,” mentioned by Scott in his correspondence with Sharpe, which was the original of most of the pieces in the Skene MS.
This Ninth Part completes the collection of English and Scottish ballads to the extent of my knowledge of sources, saving that William Tytler’s Brown-MS. has not been recovered. Copies, from Mrs Brown’s recitation, of all the pieces in this MS. are, however, elsewhere to be found, excepting in a single instance, and that of a ballad which is probably a variety of one or another here given in several forms (No 99 or No 158).
I have to thank Mr Macmath once more for his energetic and untiring co-operation; the Rev. William Findlay, of Sabine, for permission to make use of his ballad-gatherings; the Rev. S. Baring-Gould, Mr P. Z. Round, Mr William Walker, and Mr R. Brinley Johnson, for texts; Professor Wollner, of Leipzig, for the most liberal assistance in Slavic matters; Mr Kaarle Krohn, of the University of Helsingfors, for a minute and comprehensive study of the Esthonian and Finnish forms of No 95; Dr Axel Olrik for Scandinavian texts and information relating thereto; Professor Kittredge for notes; and Mr R. B. Armstrong, of Edinburgh, Dr Åke W:son Munthe, of Upsala, Miss M. H. Mason, of London, Mr Alfred Rogers, of the Library of the University of Cambridge, Mr H. L. Koopman, late of Harvard College, and Mrs Maria Ellery MacKaye, for kind help of various descriptions.
It is intended that Part X (completing the work) shall contain a list of sources, a full and careful glossary, an index of titles and matters and other indexes, and a general preface.
F. J. C.
April, 1894.
Advertisement to Part X
For texts, information, or correction of errors, I have the pleasure of expressing my indebtedness to the following gentlemen in Europe: Mr Andrew Lang; Mr J. K. Hudson of Manchester; Professor J. Estlin Carpenter of Oxford; Messrs W. Macmath and David MacRitchie of Edinburgh; Mr W. Walker of Aberdeen; Dr Axel Olrik of Copenhagen; and in America to the following ladies and gentlemen: Miss Mary C. Burleigh of Massachusetts; Miss Louise Porter Haskell of South Carolina; Professor Kittredge, Dr W. H. Schofield, Dr W. P. Few and Mr E. E. Griffith of Harvard College; Professor W. U. Richardson of the Harvard Medical School; Dr F. A. Morrison of Indiana, and Mr W. W. Newell, editor of the Journal of American Folk-Lore. The services of Mr Leo Wiener of Harvard College have been at my full command in Slavic matters, and had time been at my disposal would have been employed for a much wider examination of the very numerous collections of Slavic popular songs. Mr G. F. Arnold, late of Harvard College Library, obligingly undertook the general bibliographical index at the end of this volume; but the labor proving too great for his delicate health, this index was completed by my friend Miss Catharine Innes Ireland, who besides has generously devoted a great deal of time to the compilation or correction of all the other indexes and the preparation of them for the press. Still further favors are acknowledged elsewhere. In conclusion I would recognize with thanks and admiration the patience, liberality and consideration shown me by my publishers from beginning to end.
F. J. C.
[The manuscript of this Tenth and final Part of the English and Scottish Ballads (including the Advertisement), was left by Professor Child substantially complete, with the exception of the Bibliography, and nearly ready for the press. The Bibliography, which Miss Ireland had in hand at the time of Professor Child’s death, has been completed by her, with some assistance. In accordance with Professor Child’s desire, and at the request of his family, I have seen the present Part through the press. My own notes, except in the Indexes and Bibliography, are enclosed within brackets, and have been confined, in the main, to entries in the Additions and Corrections. Acknowledgments are due to Mr Macmath, Professor Lanman, and Dr F. N. Robinson for Various contributions, and to Mr W. R. Spalding for Reading the Proof-sheets of the Music. Mr Leo Wiener, Instructor in Slavic Languages in Harvard University, has had the great kindness to revise the Slavic titles in the List of Ballads, the List of Collections of Ballads, and the Bibliography. To Miss Ireland I am especially indebted for material assistance of various kinds, especially in the proofreading.
G. L. K.]
January, 1898.
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