INTRODUCTION. THE ballads collected in this volume range from the close of the fourteenth to the beginning of the seventeenth century. The object of the selection is to exhibit, by a variety of specimens in a short compass, the special characteristics which distinguish our old ballad literature from other kinds of poetry, not only in its forms and diction, but in its choice of topics and modes of treatment. The quaint and primitive traits, peculiar to early poems written for music or recitation, are common to them all, from the earliest to the latest; for their distinctive traits were preserved long after the state of society to which they were originally adapted had undergone considerable changes. The gradual decline of these compositions may be traced to the accession of James I., when the Border feuds ceased to supply the bold and picturesque sources of interest which fired the imagination of the ancient minstrel. The ballads produced after that period are tame and flat in comparison with the genuine songs of the old times, and can at best be regarded only as modern imitations. The manner in which these pieces have come down to us baffles any attempt at chronological arrangement. Some are derived solely from tradition in districts where they have been orally transmitted from generation to generation, time out of mind; some from broadsides, which never can be relied upon as a clue to the date of authorship; and some from MSS., written at different periods, and presenting different versions of the same original. Nor do we obtain much assistance as to their age from internal evidence, or by comparison with other poems. They are distinguished by the peculiarities of a class, rather than of a period. One of the elementary conditious of the ballad was to embody and perpetuate certain forms with which the people were already familiar, and its structure, consequently, precluded its adaptation to transitory standards of taste. Even particular turns of expression, introduced at first, perhaps, to help the memory of the singer or reciter, and afterwards retained for the sake of their popu larity, will be found constantly reproduced, with little variation. The orthography, for which, it is scarcely necessary to observe, we have no reliable authority whatever, is everywhere capricious and uncertain; sometimes governed by the necessities of the measure or the rhyme, and often changing its shape without any apparent reason. Words of the most frequent occurrence are given in various ways: thus, we have countre, countree, countrye, and countrie; pitye, pittye, and pitie. In a few instances, AngloSaxon forms are mixed with the Elizabethan orthography, and we have the incongruity of hir, hem, and hit mingled with similar words spelt as we spell them at the present day. Another peculiarity may be observed in numerous local corruptions, traceable to the confusion arising from the collision of dialects on the Border. The authors-some of whom, probably, never committed their compositions to writing-are not responsible for this chaos of inconsistencies, which must be referred to the ignorance of scribes and the carelessness of printers; but that consideration, which throws open the whole question to conjecture, only increases the difficulty of determining the age of the text. All that can be done with a view to chronological order, under such circumstances, is to give precedence to pieces which are generally believed to be the earliest, or which, in matter and manner, appear to justify that assumption. As we advance, however, it becomes evident that the great mass of the ballads most worthy of preservation are nearly contemporaneous, or, at least, belong to a cycle marked throughout by homogeneous features. An occasional allusion here and there may help as a guide to the period of authorship; but evidence of that description must always be received with suspicion, as it was not an unusual practice, by a slight alteration in the phraseology, to adapt the old legend to current usages. The bulk of the following collection may be assigned, without much hesitation, to the sixteenth century. Many of them, as we learn from references and fragments in the plays of the time, enjoyed high popularity under the reign of Elizabeth. The earliest ballad in the volume, which bears a positive date, belongs to the latter part of the fourteenth century; and none, it is presumed, are later than the reign of James I. In the formation of the texts of so many pieces, drawn from numerous scattered sources, the introduction of a principle of uniformity would have destroyed that antique colouring which is essential to the integrity of the originals. The metrical and grammatical aberrations of the ballad may be said to be organic, and cannot be remedied without endangering its vitality, and depriving it of the wild charm it derives from its independence of scholastic laws. The reader must, therefore, be prepared to find many rhythmical and verbal eccentricities in this volume, over which no critical revision could have been safely exercised. But I have not thought it necessary to retain in all cases the unsightly orthography of the old MSS. and broadsides. The obsolete spelling, however, has been removed only where it was a mere deformity, or gratuitous hindrance to the enjoyment of the verse. Wherever the early forms of words were indispensable to the style or measure, or to the grammatical inflections, they have been strictly preserved. It is not to be expected that within the limits of a single volume such a selection of ballads could be brought together as would satisfy the anticipations of every reader. Old favourites will be missed which have been unavoidably excluded. But this is a contingency to which all similar collections are subject; and the utmost that can be reasonably looked for in a design of this nature, is that it should combine as much excellence and variety as its prescribed space will admit. This end has been carefully kept in view throughout. The old chivalry of the Marches is here amply reflected. The ancient love-ballad has its popular representative. The legends of the Round Table contribute a snatch of characteristic lore. Robin Hood and Little John are exhibited under their greenwood tree, and in some of their lawless exploits. The traditions of the feuds and raids of the North, and the local tales which repeople many an ancient fortress and crumbling ruin are abundantly scattered through our pages. The choice of these examples has been invariably governed by their intrinsic merit, or by some special claims of other kinds; and upon the whole it may be hoped that the book will be acceptable to all lovers of our ballad literature. In order to obtain the widest scope for the selections, the annotations have been compressed into as brief a compass as possible. Such historical information as appeared requisite is given in the introductions, and the notes are restricted to mere points of explanation. Several Scotch and mixed ballads are included in the collection. They were found indispensable to the completeness of the plan. The best of our English ballads are those which had their origin in the warfare of the Border, where the two races were constantly engaged in hostilities. Hence the same subjects are frequently celebrated by poets on each side of the Tweed, and become common property in a language which often partakes of the peculiarities of both. The pure English ballad is of rare occurrence in the North, being generally more or less tinged by the neighbouring dialect; and in some instances the intermixture is so considerable as to create a difficulty in deciding to which nation the production belongs. Where two pieces, Scotch and English, relate the same event, the choice has been determined by poetical superiority. Other Scotch specimens have been added to enrich the volume; for, wealthy as we are in this department, there is a vein of tenderness and romantic beauty in the Scotch ballads which we cannot afford to dispense with in an anthology of this description. |