DOCSLIB.ORG

The Long Harvest Record 1

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Long Harvest Record 1 ': ^ 'w. % ZDA 66 THb LONG HARVEST Record One (complete text inside) MM'£ Traditional Ballads in their English, L Scots and North American variants V. 1 A ^ PEGGY SEEGER and EWAN MACCOLL Accompanied by Peggy Seeger on guitar, autoharp, 5-string banjo, Appalachian dulcimer and English concertina Side One Side Two THE TWA SISTERS (Child 10) LORD RANDAL (Child 12) Band 1 Minorie (Scots) Band 1 Lord Randal (Scots) Band 2 The Swan Swan Swims sae Bonnie (Scots) Band 2 Jimmy Randal (American) Band 3 There was on Old Lord (American) Band 3 Henry my Son (English) Band 4 Peter and I (American) Band 4 Willie Doo (Scots) Band 5 Croodin Doo (American) THE CRUEL MOTHER (Child 20) Band 6 Billy Boy (American) Band 5 The Cruel Mother (Scots) Band 6 The Cruel Mother (American) THE BAFFLED KNIGHT (Child 112) Band 7 Down by the Greenwood Sidey-0 (American) Band 7 The Shepherd Lad (Scots) Band 8 The Lady from Lee (English) Band 8 Clear away the Morning Dew (English) Band 9 The Cruel Mother (American) Band 9 Katie Morey (American) One of the most encouraging features of the current British folksong revival is Not all the ballads recorded are from Professor Francis Child's great definitive the way in which the repertoire of traditional ballads is being opened up and collection THE ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH POPULAR BALLADS. Here the explored by a steadily increasing number of young singers. Audiences, too, choice of material has been made on the basis of whether a ballad has entered begin to manifest a remarkable familiarity with traditional ballads and it is not into tradition both here and in North America, and been subject to the same folk unusual for those who sing in folk clubs to find themselves, after a performance, processes that operated on most of the ballads included in the Child canon. cornered by a section of the audience and made to defend their particular Another factor which has influenced the selection of items is the singer's version of a ballad against other versions recently heard. More and more singers familiarity with the material. By and large, both singers knew at least one item report an increase in the ratio of ballads to other types of songs requested by in each set of variants long before the project was embarked upon. This was not a club audiences. Another interesting phenomenon is the speed with which matter of expediency; both singers are of the opinion that these songs work best alternative versions of ballads appear on the folk scene. A case in point: Lambkin when the singer has had time to assimilate the stylistic nuances which ultimately (Child 93) was introduced to revival audiences in the spring of 1965 and within effect the shape of a satisfactory performance. Such assimilation involves passing four months five distinct versions were in club circulation, two of them collected through a series of stages, each one of which reveals new and sometimes from field singers by revival singers. A similar proliferation of versions followed contradictory elements in the ballad. the introduction of The Broomfield Hill, Lucy Wan, The Bramble Briar, Henry Finally, as to the sources; Some of the pieces recorded here have been known My Son (Lord Randal) and The Two Sisters. to the singers from childhood and were learned from members of the family, or in Equally interesting developments have been taking place in the field of Peggy Seeger's case from recordings of traditional singers. Some were learned education where, in the last two or three years, some county authorities have directly from traditional singers encountered in the course of field-recording initiated ballad study courses for teachers. At the same time, school textbooks of trips. Still others were learned from books and recordings made by other the prose-and-poetry type now include traditional ballad texts as a matter of collectors. Almost all the pieces have undergone small textual and melodic course, and the growing practice of issuing LP discs along with textbooks has changes with the passing of the years. A small number of texts are collations meant that many children become familiar, at an early age, with ballads as songs made from two or more sources. Where possible, collation details are included in and not merely as antique recited poems. the notes to the ballads; it is not however always possible to remember which verse comes from where, and in such cases there is a bare statement of collation. There are, here and there, schools where music teachers regard the singing of traditional ballads as a necessary creative discipline and there are even schools The best collectors of field material have published the material exactly as where it is the practice to call upon a number of the school folksong club to they found it, and often excellent tunes are accompanied by inferior or fragmen¬ illustrate a history lesson with historical ballads of the period under discussion. tary texts—or an excellent text has been found with no melody. In such cases, In our Universities too, particularly in the newer ones, English faculty members melodies have been taken from other versions or, as in several instances, made are beginning to look upon the traditional ballad as a fit subject for serious study. by the singer. The two American versions of The Elfin Knight will demonstrate It was in order to satisfy the needs of this rapidly expanding ballad audience admirably the necessity of collation in certain cases. that the present project was conceived. The singers wish to acknowledge their indebtedness to Professor Bertrand It is intended that THE LONG HARVEST will consist of ten 12" LP records— Bronson's great work THE TRADITIONAL TUNES OF THE CHILD BALLADS. approximately 8i hours of traditional ballads in their British and North American This magnificent work of scholarship has not only simplified the task of producing variants. In addition to demonstrating the richness of the ballad tradition these these recordings—it has helped to inform a new generation of English, Scots and records will, it is hoped, explore literary parallels and common sources and, at the American ballad singers as to the precise nature of an important part of their same time, draw attention to specific aspects of thematic deviation, types of musical heritage. textual change and musical variation. © Peggy Seeger and Ewan MacColl, 1967 Producer: Harley J. Usill. Production Assistant: Josephine Beattie. Engineer: Stan Goodall. Cover Design: Denis Turner. THF nFr.r.A RFr.nRn COMPANY LIMITED Argo Division 115 Fulham Road London SW3 Pr/ntecf by GraphisPress Limited .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Reliques of Ancient English Poetry: Consisting Of
    I Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from National Library of Scotland http://www.archive.org/details/reliquesofancien1767perc (^y^g^*^j£^Q*"-&&&??>?sz^r THE GLEN COLLECTION OF SCOTTISH MUSIC Ruggles- Presented by Lady Dorothea of Scotland, Brise to the National Library Major Lord in memory of her brother, Watch, George Stewart Murray, Black in 1914. killed in action in France mh January 1927. H E L I Q^ U E S O F ANCIENT ENGLISH POETRY. VOL. III. Qii^v //if J R E L I Q^U E S O F ANCIENT ENGLISH POETRY: CONSISTING OF Old Heroic Ballads, Songs, and other Pieces of our earlier Poets, (Chiefly of the Lyric kind) Together with fome few of later Date. THE SECOND EDITION. VOLUME THE THIRD, LONDON: Printed for J. Dodsley in PatH-MsJL M PCCLXVIL * OF SCOTLAND • • - . 1 in CONTENTS OF VOLUME THE THIRtt BOOK THE FIRST. "VSSAT on the ancient Metrical Romances — fag, V — — I I : The Boy and the Mantle 2. The Marriage of Sir Gawaine — -—II 3. King Ryence's challenge — — 25 4. King Arthur's death. A Fragment — 2$ — 5> The Legend of King Arthur — 37 6. -^ Zty//;> *• H^i Donvne — — 42 •— 7. Glafgerion. — **¥ 43 8. Q/</ &> &>£/« ^ Portingale — — 48 9. * Child Waters — — — 54 10. Phillida and Corydon. By Ni*, Breton —? 62 11. Little Mufgrave and Lady Barnard — 63 12. 7£* Ew-bughts Marion. A Scottijh Song — 69 23* The -Knight and Shepherd's Daughter — 7 r%- The Shepherd's Addrefs to his Mufe — 76 1=5. Lord Thomas and Fair Ellinor — — 78 26.
    [Show full text]
  • Barbara Allen
    120 Charles Seeger Versions and Variants of the Tunes of "Barbara Allen" As sung in traditional singing styles in the United States and recorded by field collectors who have deposited their discs and tapes in the Archive of American Folk Song in the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. AFS L 54 Edited by Charles Seeger PROBABLY IT IS safe to say that most English-speaking people in the United States know at least one ballad-tune or a derivative of one. If it is not "The Two Sisters, " it will surely be "When Johnny Comes Marching Home"; or if not "The Derby Ram, " then the old Broadway hit "Oh Didn't He Ramble." If. the title is given or the song sung to them, they will say "Oh yes, I know tllat tune." And probably that tune, more or less as they know it, is to them, the tune of the song. If they hear it sung differently, as may be the case, they are as likely to protest as to ignore or even not notice the difference. Afterward, in their recognition or singing of it, they are as likely to incor­ porate some of the differences as not to do so. If they do, they are as likely to be aware as to be entirely unconscious of having done ·so. But if they ad­ mit the difference yet grant that both singings are of "that" tune, they have taken the first step toward the study of the ballad-tune. They have acknow­ ledged that there are enough resemblances between the two to allow both to be called by the same name.
    [Show full text]
  • Singing the Child Ballads
    Singing the Child Ballads Rosaleen Gregory This was initially going to be my final quartet of jubilant taunting as verses 7 and 8. I‟ve printed Child ballads. There are no other ballads from the last verse in Stephen Sedley‟s version, but as Child‟s canon in my repertoire but I do have a it was clearly added by a disgruntled male I leave few variants learned to illustrate Dave‟s it out in performance. As Sedley says, the story, conference papers. So there will be one last set in like “Our Goodman,” is found throughout Euro- the next issue of Canadian Folk Music. I can pean folklore (and, I would think, further afield as think of one of them already and I nearly included well). The tune was collected by Hammond from it, but as it‟s a variant of „„The Braes of Yarrow,” William Bartlett in Wimborne, Dorset, and is of which I gave a version before, I‟ll set it aside in accompanied by the comment that it is “a mixture favour of the following. None of these four of the „Morning Dew‟ and „Blow away ye ballads has previously appeared in this column. morning breezes.‟” Child #228: “Glasgow Peggie” Child #46: “Captain Wedderburn’s Courtship” Guitar accompaniment. My version of both text and tune I learned years ago as an undergraduate Guitar accompaniment, from Stephen Sedley‟s at Keele University, from whom I have The Seeds of Love (Essex Music Limited in completely forgotten, but it was one of those association with the E.F.D.S.S., 1967).
    [Show full text]
  • The Humorous Poetry of the English Language, from Chaucer to Saxe
    1 A free download from manybooks.net The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Humourous Poetry of the English Language by James Parton Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the header without written permission. Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. **Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** **eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** *****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** Title: The Humourous Poetry of the English Language Author: James Parton Release Date: October, 2004 [EBook #6652] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on January 9, 2003] Edition: 10 Language: English Character set encoding: ASCII • START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE HUMOUROUS POETRY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE *** Rose Koven, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. THE HUMOROUS POETRY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FROM CHAUCER TO SAXE. Narratives, Satires, Enigmas, Burlesques, Parodies, Travesties, Epigrams, Epitaphs, Translations, Including the Most Celebrated Comic Poems of the Anti-Jacobin, Rejected Addresses, the Ingoldsby Legends, Blackwood's Magazine, Bentley's Miscellany, and Punch.
    [Show full text]
  • Controlling Women: "Reading Gender in the Ballads Scottish Women Sang" Author(S): Lynn Wollstadt Source: Western Folklore, Vol
    Controlling Women: "Reading Gender in the Ballads Scottish Women Sang" Author(s): Lynn Wollstadt Source: Western Folklore, Vol. 61, No. 3/4 (Autumn, 2002), pp. 295-317 Published by: Western States Folklore Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1500424 . Accessed: 09/04/2013 10:20 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Western States Folklore Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Western Folklore. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 143.107.8.10 on Tue, 9 Apr 2013 10:20:12 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ControllingWomen ReadingGender in theBallads ScottishWomen Sang LYNN WOLLSTADT The Scottishballad traditionhas alwaysbeen a traditionof both sexes; since ballads startedto be collected in the eighteenthcentury, at least, both men and women have learned and passed on these traditional songs.1According to the recordingsmade of traditionalsingers by the School of ScottishStudies at the Universityof Edinburgh,however, men and women do not necessarilysing the same songs.The ten songsin the School's sound archives most often recorded from female singers between 1951 and 1997, for example, have only two titlesin common withthe ten songs mostoften recorded frommen.2 Analysis of the spe- cificballad narrativesthat were most popular among female singersin twentieth-centuryScotland suggestscertain buried themes that may underlie that popularity;these particularthemes may have appealed more than othersto manywomen singers.
    [Show full text]
  • Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} the English and Scottish Popular Ballads Vol
    Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} The English and Scottish Popular Ballads Vol. 1 by Francis James Child Francis James Child The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (1882-1898) Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads in five volumes New York: Dover, 1965. Northfield: Loomis House Press, 2001- 2011. Other books of (mostly) Child Ballads. Bertrand Harris Bronson, The Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads in four volumes. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1959, Northfield: Loomis House Press, 2009. James Kinsley (editor), The Oxford Book of Ballads . Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1969, ISBN 19 812133 4. John Jacob Niles The Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles . Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2000 ISBN 978-0813109879. Albums of (mostly) Child Ballads. A.L. Lloyd, Ewan MacColl, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Volume I , 2 LP, Riverside RLP 12-621/622, 1956. Note: These albums have been re-released in the 1960s as The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Volumes 1-8 , 8 LP, Washington WLP 715 - WLP 722. Various Artists, The Child Ballads 1 (The Folk Songs of Britain Vol. 4), LP, Caedmon TC1145, 1961; Topic 12T160, 1968; CD, Rounder 1775, 2000. Various Artists, The Child Ballads 2 (The Folk Songs of Britain Vol. 5), LP, Caedmon TC1146, 1961; Topic 12T161, 1968; CD, Rounder 1776, 2000. A.L. Lloyd, Ewan MacColl, English and Scottish Folk Ballads , LP, Topic 12T103, 1964. Various Artists, The Muckle Sangs (Scottish Tradition 5), LP, Tangent TNGM 119, 1975, CD, Greentrax CDTRAX9005, 1992. Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger, Blood & Roses Volume 1 , LP, Blackthorne ESB 79, 1979; Camsco Blackthorn CD 79; 2006.
    [Show full text]
  • Sam Larner Cruising Round Yarmouth (MTCD369-0)
    Sam Larner Cruising Round Yarmouth (MTCD369-0) CD One CD Two 1 The Ghost Ship 4:09 1 The Bold Princess Royal 4:02 2 When I Went a-Fishing 0:22 2 The Captain's Whiskers 0:24 3 Maids When Youre Young 2:36 3 The Bonny Bunch of Roses 2:27 4 Before Daylight in the Morning 1:19 4 King William & talk 1:16 5 Rhymes and Sea Lore 4:15 5 Happy and Delightful 3:39 6 The Maids of Australia 3:53 6 The Chesapeake and Shannon 0:40 7 A Reckless Young Fellow 0:43 7 Coil Away the Trawl Warp 1:58 8 The Girls Around Cape Horn 1:57 8 The Jolly Young Coachman 2:34 9 The Wild Rover 2:35 9 The Loss of the Ramillies 1:30 10 The Oyster Girl 1:40 10 She Said she was a Virgin 1:10 11 As I Lay a-Musing 1:15 11 Game of All Fours 3:36 12 A Sailor's Alphabet 3:33 12 The Wonderful Crocodile 0:49 13 Duckfoot Sue 0:45 13 Donnelly and Cooper 2:22 14 Clear Away the Morning Dew 2:22 14 Cruising Round Yarmouth 2:18 15 Sing to the Oak 2:20 15 Barbara Allan 4:56 16 No Sir, No Sir 4:14 16 Barney and Kitty 2:00 17 Old Bob Ridley-O 1:45 17 Green Grow the Laurels 0:27 18 When I was Single 0:22 18 The London Steamer 2:45 19 The Golden Fenadier 2:42 19 The Bold Young Fisherman 1:44 20 The Wild and Wicked Youth 1:07 20 Windy Old Weather & talk 2:51 21 Now Is the Time for Fishing & talk 2:36 21 The Haymakers' Courtship 1:47 22 I Wish, I Wish 1:54 22 Henry Martin 3:26 23 The Dockyard Gate 1:45 23 Just as the Tide was Flowing 2:06 24 Green Broom 2:11 24 The Dogger Bank 2:10 25 The Dolphin 2:54 25 Over There in Ireland 3:06 CD case cover 26 The Old Miser 1:09 26 The Dark-Eyed Sailor 2:54
    [Show full text]
  • Broadside Ballads
    BROADSIDE BALLADS Sabine Baring-Gould "I love a ballad in print, a' life," said Mopsa, in the "Winter's Tale," and the clown confessed to the same liking. "I love a ballad but even too well; if it be doleful matter merrily set down, or a very pleasant thing indeed and sung lamentably." In 1653 Dorothy Osborne tells Sir William Temple that she has received from her brother a ballad " much older than my Lord of Lorne, and she sends it on to him." Would that she had told us more about it. And then she writes, " The heat of the day is spent in reading or working, and about six or seven o'clock I walk out into a common that lies hard by the house, where a great many young wenches keep sheep and cows, and sit in the shade singing of ballads. I go to them and compare their voices and beauties to some ancient shepherdesses that I have read of and find a vast difference there; but, trust me, I think these are as innocent as those could be. I talk to them, and find they want nothing to make them the happiest people in the world but the knowledge that they are so." Walton in his "Complete Angler," printed in the very same year in which Dorothy Osborne wrote to her lover of the singing peasant girls, says : "I entered into the next field, and a second pleasure entertained me: 'twas a handsome milk-maid, that had cast away all care, and sung like a nightingale; her voice was good, and the ditty fitted for it ; 'twas that smooth song which was made by Kit Marlow, now at least fifty years ago ; and the milk-maid's mother sung an answer to it, which
    [Show full text]
  • La Ballad Inglesa Y Sus Funciones Socioculturales
    UNIVERSIDAD COMPLUTENSE DE MADRID FACULTAD DE FILOLOGÍA Departamento de Filología Inglesa LA BALLAD INGLESA Y SUS FUNCIONES SOCIOCULTURALES MEMORIA PRESENTADA PARA OPTAR AL GRADO DE DOCTOR POR María Asunción Martínez Cebrián Bajo la dirección de la Doctora: Josephine Bregazzi Madrid, 2004 ISBN: 84-669-2528-7 LA BALLAD INGLESA Y SUS FUNCIONES SOCIOCULTURALES TESIS DOCTORAL Dirigida por Dra. Dª Josephine Bregazzi Presentada por María Asunción Martínez Cebrián Departamento de Filología Inglesa UNIVERSIDAD COMPLUTENSE DE MADRID 2003 AGRADECIMIENTOS A la Doctora Josephine Bregazzi, Directora de esta Tesis Doctoral, . Por su apoyo, paciencia y cariño, que han hecho posible la culminación de este trabajo. Por sus acertadas indicaciones, que lo han orientado y han mejorado sus frutos. Por su buen hacer como profesora, que estimuló mis ansias de conocimiento en el inicio de mi formación universitaria, y las ha renovado algunos años después. Por su dedicación personal, que se ha convertido en un ejemplo a seguir en mi trabajo docente. ‘Gar print me ballants weel’, she said, ‘Gar print me ballants many’, ‘Gar print me ballants weel’, she said, ‘That I am a worthy ladie’ “Geordie” (Ch 209B) í N D I C E Págs. INTRODUCCIÓN 1 I ANÁLISIS FUNCIONAL DE LA BALLAD INGLESA 11 1.1 Componente Interpersonal: Participantes. Sujetos de la 11 enunciación y sujetos del enunciado. 1.1.1 Los sujetos de la enunciación. 15 1.1.1.1 El enunciador. 15 1.1.1.1.1 Narrador externo. 16 1.1.1.1.2 Narrador externo con referencia personal 37 1.1.1.1.3 Narrador personaje. 42 1.1.1.1.4 Cancelación del sujeto: no narrador.
    [Show full text]
  • Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry of England
    Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry of England Taken down from oral recitation and transcribed from private manuscripts, rare broadsides and scarce publications. INTRODUCTION. IN 1846, the Percy Society issued to its members a volume entitled ANCIENT POEMS, BALLADS, AND SONGS OF THE PEASANTRY OF ENGLAND, edited by Mr. James Henry Dixon. The sources drawn upon by Mr. Dixon are intimated in the following extract from his preface:- He who, in travelling through the rural districts of England, has made the road-side inn his resting-place, who has visited the lowly dwellings of the villagers and yeomanry, and been present at their feasts and festivals, must have observed that there are certain old poems, ballads, and songs, which are favourites with the masses, and have been said and sung from generation to generation. This traditional, and, for the most part, unprinted literature, - cherished in remote villages, resisting everywhere the invasion of modern namby-pamby verse and jaunty melody, and possessing, in an historical point of view, especial value as a faithful record of the feeling, usages, and modes of life of the rural population, - had been almost wholly passed over amongst the antiquarian revivals which constitute one of the distinguishing features of the present age. While attention was successfully drawn to other forms of our early poetry, this peasant minstrelsy was scarcely touched, and might be considered unexplored ground. There was great difficulty in collecting materials which lay scattered so widely, and which could be procured in their genuine simplicity only from the people amongst whom they originated, and with whom they are as 'familiar as household words.' It was even still more difficult to find an editor who combined genial literary taste with the local knowledge of character, customs, and dialect, indispensable to the collation of such reliques; and thus, although their national interest was universally recognised, they were silently permitted to fall into comparative oblivion.
    [Show full text]
  • The Child Ballad in Canada: a Survey1
    THE CHILD BALLAD IN CANADA: A SURVEY1 LAUREL DOUCETTE and COLIN QUIGLEY While many folklorists might find the tabulation of Child ballad statistics a tedious and somewhat anachronistic exercise, few would deny the historical value of describing in detail the results of one phase of Canadian folksong research. It is our contention, however, that such an exercise serves deeper scholarly concerns. As an examination of a regional classical ballad repertoire, this survey provides a base for comparison with other regions. Given the broad geographic distribution and time depth represented by this genre, the Child ballads are well suited for such comparative study. More­ over, as the oldest level of the Anglo-Canadian song tradition, the national Child ballad repertoire forms an important base for folk­ song study within this country. An examination of maintenance and loss of story types within the Child corpus, as well as analysis of transformations undergone by individual ballads, could reveal culturally-specific concerns which may be reflected throughout the entire Canadian folksong repertoire. In addressing this topic, we have very little to go on other than the recorded corpus of material, for most song collections were made before the concept of “context” was introduced to folklore field research. The corpus, however, is substantial, and bears close examination in terms of its composition, distribution, and narrative style. Throughout this paper, when we use the term “ballad,” we mean “Child ballad” ; and we use the titles adopted by Child, followed by the number assigned by him.2 Ballad Research in Canada The earliest record of a British traditional ballad in Canada dates to 1898 when Phillips Barry published a text of “The Gypsy Laddie” (Ch 200) collected in Nova Scotia.3 In 1910 and 1912, W.
    [Show full text]
  • The Ballad Book a Selection of the Choicest
    THE BALLAD BOOK A SELECTION OF THE CHOICEST WILLIAM ALLINGHAM The Old Ballads' suggests as distinct a set of impressions as the name of Shakspeare, Spenser, or Chaucer ; but on looking close we find ourselves puzzled ; the sharp bounding lines disappear the mountain chain so definite on the horizon is found to be a disunited and intricate region. Perhaps most people's notion of the Old Ballads is formed out of recollections of Percy's Reliques Ritson's Robin Hood set, Scott's Border Minstrelsy as re- positories ; of ' Sir Patrick Spens,' Clerk Saunders,'tions, dissertations, notes, appendices, commenta- ries, controversies, of an antiquarian, historical, or pseudo-historical nature, wherein the poetry is packed, like pots of dainties and wine-flasks in straw and sawdust. In most of the collections, lyrics and metrical tales are associated with the Ballads proper, and it has been usual, besides, to load on a heap of Modern Imitations. All honour and gratitude to the collectors and editors, greater and lesser ; (yet one must venture to say that the really fine and favourite Old Ballads have hitherto formed the vital portions of a set of volumes which are, on the whole, rather lumpish and unreadable. The feast they offer is somewhat like an olla podrida' of Spenser's Fairy Queen, Dodsles Miscellany the driest columns of Notes and Queries, and a selection from the Poet's Comer of the provincial newspapers. The Ballads which we give have, one and all, no connection of the slightest importance with history. , Things that did really happen are no doubt shadowed forth in many of them, but with such a careless confu- sion of names, places, and times, now thrice and thirty .times confounded by alterations in course of oral transmission, vaiious versions, personal and local adaptations, not to speak of editorial emendations, that it is mere waste of time and patience to read (if any one ever does read) those grave disquisitions, historical and antiquarian, wherewith it has been the fashion to encumber many of these rudely pictu- resque and pathetic poems.
    [Show full text]