Chapter VII: Book 1: , there is no No. 19; in the Douce copy this is filled by The

Song-birds_. In Vol. II., Book 3, there are no Nos. 10 and 11; but in the Douce copy, Nos. 9, 10, and 11 are _Cock Lorrell's Treat_, _The Moral Uses of Tobacco_, and _Old Simon the Kinge_. Besides these omissions it will be seen that in Book 3 of Vol. III. there are two Nos. 2; and that _George Barnwell_ must have been inserted at the last moment, as it occupies a duplicate series of pages 225-240, which are printed between brackets. In 1765 the volumes were published in London. In the following year a surreptitious edition was published in Dublin, and in 1767 appeared a second edition in London. In 1775 was published the third edition, which was reprinted at Frankfort in 1790. The fourth edition, ostensibly edited by the Rev. Thomas Percy, but really the work of the bishop himself, was published in 1794. Many improvements were made in this edition, and it contains Percy's final corrections; the fifth edition, published in 1812, being merely a reprint of the fourth.

The year 1765 was then a memorable one in the history of literature. The current ballads which were bawled in the street, or sung in the ale-house, were so mean and vulgar that the very name of ballad had sunk into disrepute. It was therefore a revelation to many to find that a literature of nature still existed which had descended from mother to child in remote districts, or was buried in old manuscripts, covered with the dust of centuries. It is necessary to realize this state of things in order to understand Percy's apologetic attitude. He collected his materials from various sources with great labour, and spared no pains in illustrating the poetry by instructive prose. Yet after welding with the force of genius the various parts into an harmonious whole, he was doubtful of the reception it was likely to obtain, and he called the contents of his volumes "the barbarous productions of unpolished ages." He backed his own opinion of their interest by bringing forward the names of the chiefs of the republic of letters, and ill did they requite him. Johnson parodied his verses, and Warburton sneered at him as the man "who wrote about the Chinese." Percy looked for his reward where he received nothing but laughter; but the people accepted his book with gladness, and the young who fed upon the food he presented to them grew up to found new schools of poetry.

Few books have exerted such extended influence over English literature as Percy's _Reliques_. Beattie's _Minstrel_ was inspired by a perusal of the _Essay on the Ancient Minstrels_; and many authors have expressed with gratitude their obligations to the bishop and his book.

How profoundly the poetry of nature, which lived on in the ballads of the country, stirred the souls of men is seen in the instance of two poets of strikingly different characteristics. Scott made his first acquaintance with the _Reliques_ at the age of thirteen, and the place where he read them was ever after imprinted upon his memory. The bodily appetite of youth was unnoticed while he mentally devoured the volumes under the huge leaves of the plantain tree. Wordsworth was not behind Scott in admiration of the book. He wrote: "I have already stated how much Germany is indebted to this work, and for our own country, its poetry has been absolutely redeemed by it. I do not think there is an able writer in verse of the present day who would not be proud to acknowledge his obligation to the _Reliques_. I know that it is so with my friends; and for myself, I am happy in this occasion to make a public avowal of my own." After such men as these have spoken, who can despise our old ballads?

BALLAD LITERATURE SINCE PERCY.

The impetus given to the collection of old ballads by the publication of _Reliques_ showed itself in the rapid succession of volumes of the same class which issued from the press. Most of these were devoted to the publication of Scottish ballads exclusively. In 1769, David Herd, a native of St. Cyrus, in Kincardineshire, who had spent most of his life as clerk in an accountant's office in Edinburgh, published his _Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs, Heroic Ballads_, &c., a work which was enlarged into two volumes in 1776.[55] He was a most successful and faithful collector, and not being a poet, he was preserved from the temptation of tampering with his stores. Motherwell mentions twenty ballads which had not appeared in a collected form before the publication of this work. Herd was assisted in his editorial labours by George Paton.

In 1777 appeared the first edition of Evans's _Old Ballads, Historical and Narrative_, in two volumes. The best edition of this work, edited by the son of the original compiler, was published in 4 vols., 1810.

In 1781 Pinkerton published his _Scottish Tragic Ballads_, which was followed in 1783 by _Select Scottish Ballads_. These volumes contained several fabrications by the editor, as already stated on a previous page.

In 1783 Ritson commenced the publication of that long series of volumes which is of such inestimable value to the literary antiquary, with _A Select Collection of English Songs_. _The Bishopric Garland, or_ _Durham Minstrel_, followed, in 1784; _The Yorkshire Garland_, in 1788; the _Pieces of Ancient Popular Poetry_, in 1791; _Ancient Songs and Ballads from the reign of Henry II. to the Revolution_, in 1787; _The Northumberland Garland_, in 1793; _Scottish Songs_, in 1794; and _Robin Hood_, in 1795.

In 1787 was commenced _The Scots Musical Museum_, by James Johnson. Johnson was a music-seller and engraver in Edinburgh, and the work was really projected by William Tytler of Woodhouselee, Dr. Blacklock, and Samuel Clark. The first volume was partly printed, when Burns became acquainted with the object of the work. He then entered into the scheme with enthusiasm, and besides "begging and borrowing" old songs, wrote many new songs himself.

In 1801 was published at Edinburgh, _Scottish Poems of the XVIth Century_, edited by J. G. Dalzell, which contains a reprint of _Ane Compendious Booke of Godly and Spirituall Songs_, already referred to above.

In 1802 appeared the first two volumes of the only work which is worthy to stand side by side with the _Reliques_. Sir Walter Scott's _Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_ is a book that can be read through, and it and the _Reliques_ are the only works of the class in which the materials are welded into a whole, so as no longer to appear a collection of units.

In 1806, Robert Jamieson published at Edinburgh his _Popular Ballads and Songs, from Tradition, Manuscripts, and scarce editions_. He was working upon this book at the same time that Scott was engaged upon his _Minstrelsy_, and he obtained much of his material from the same source as Scott, viz. Mrs. Brown, of Falkland; but he, nevertheless, was able to print seventeen ballads that had not before appeared in any published collection. Jamieson has the following remarks on himself in the Introduction to the first volume:--

"Being obliged to go, at a few weeks' warning, to a distant part of the world, and to seek, on the shores of the frozen Baltic, for (which his own country seems to deny him) the means of employing his talents and industry in some such manner as may enable him to preserve (for a time, at least) his respectability and a partial independence in the world, the following sheets have been prepared for the press, amidst all the anxiety and bustle of getting ready and packing up for a voyage." (Vol. i. p. xvii.)

John Finlay of Glasgow published in 1808 his _Scottish Historical and Romantic Ballads_. These volumes only contain twenty-six ballads in all.

John Gilchrist's _Collection of Ancient and Modern Scottish Ballads, Tales, and Songs_, (Edinburgh 1815) is a carefully edited work, compiled from former books.

In 1822 David Laing published his valuable _Select Remains of the Ancient Popular Poetry of Scotland_, and in 1824 C. K. Sharpe printed privately a little volume which he entitled _A Ballad Book_. James Maidment printed also privately _A North Countrie Garland_ in the same year (1824).

In 1825 E. V. Utterson printed "Select Pieces of Early English Poetry, republished principally from early printed copies in Black Letter."

Peter Buchan commenced his ballad career by publishing at Peterhead, in 1825, a little volume entitled "Gleanings of Scotch, English, and Irish scarce old ballads, chiefly tragical and historical, many of them connected with the localities of Aberdeenshire." In 1828 he published his "Ancient Ballads and Songs of the North of Scotland, hitherto unpublished." He affirmed that his materials were faithfully and honestly transcribed, and "they have suffered no change since they fortunately were consigned to me by their foster parents." A portrait is given in this book, which represents the compiler as a wild-looking, unkempt, man. Besides these two books Buchan made a large collection of ballads, songs, and poems, which he took down from the oral recitation of the peasantry. These were pronounced by Scott to be "decidedly and indubitably original." The two folio MS. volumes in which they were contained came into the possession of the Percy Society, and a selection was made from them by J. H. Dixon, in 1845, who entitled his work _Scottish Traditional Versions of Ancient Ballads_ (Percy Society Publications, vol. xvii.).

In 1826 Allan Cunningham published _The Songs of Scotland_, to which reference has already been made.

George R. Kinloch published in 1827, "Ancient Scottish Ballads, recovered from tradition, and never before published." He states in his introduction that "the present collection is almost entirely composed of ballads obtained in the 'North Countrie,' a district hitherto but little explored, though by no means destitute of traditional poetry."

In this same year appeared William Motherwell's _Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern_, a work of the most sterling character, which contains the best account of ballad literature extant.

In 1829 Robert Chambers published his collection of _Scottish Ballads_, which contains eighty pieces, of which number twelve are modern, or imitations. At this period the editor had not elaborated his theory that _Sir Patrick Spence_ and certain other ballads were modern imitations.

Peter Cunningham published _The Songs of England and Scotland_, in 1835, and Thomas Wright printed _The Political Songs of England from the reign of John to that of Edward II._ in 1839, for the Camden Society.

In 1840 was founded, in honour of Bishop Percy, the Percy Society, which continued to print some of the old Garlands and various collections of old Ballads until 1852.

William Chappell published in 1840 his valuable _Collection of National English Airs, consisting of Ancient Song, Ballad and Dance Tunes_, which work was re-arranged and enlarged, and issued in 1855 as _Popular Music of the Olden Time_. This work is a mine of wealth concerning both the airs and the words of our ballad treasures. It was a truly national undertaking, and has been completed with great skill. No ballad lover can get on without it.

In 1844 Alexander Whitelaw published _The Book of Scottish Ballads_, and _The Book of Scottish Song_. An edition of the former was printed in 1875, and one of the latter in 1866, which contains about twelve hundred and seventy songs.

In 1847 John Matthew Gutch published "_A Lytell Geste of Robin Hode_, with other Ancient and Modern Ballads and Songs relating to this celebrated yeoman."

In the same year appeared Frederick Sheldon's _Minstrelsy of the English Border_, but it is a work of very little value.

Dr. Rimbault printed in 1850 those valuable _Musical Illustrations of Bishop Percy's Reliques_, which are so frequently quoted in the following pages.

Professor Francis James Child, of Harvard College, one of our greatest authorities on Ballad lore, published at Boston, U.S., a very complete collection of _English and Scottish Ballads_, in eight volumes. The first volume contains a full list of the principal collections of Ballads and Songs.

In 1858 William Edmondstoune Aytoun published his _Ballads of Scotland_, which contain collated versions of one hundred and thirty-nine ballads, with short introductions.

The year 1867 was memorable as seeing the publication of the first instalment of the Folio Manuscript under the editorship of J. W. Hales and F. J. Furnivall.

In 1868 appeared "Scottish Ballads and Songs, historical and traditionary, edited by James Maidment, Edinburgh, 1868," 2 vols. The number of pieces is small but select, and the introductions are full and elaborate.

In 1871 Messrs. Ogle of Glasgow published a well edited collection of Scottish Ballads, with an interesting introduction and notes, entitled "The Ballad Minstrelsy of Scotland. Romantic and Historical. Collated and Annotated."

Upon the completion of the Percy Folio, Mr. Furnivall started the Ballad Society, for the publication of the various collections of ballads that exist. Mr. Chappell has edited half of the Roxburghe Ballads in several parts, and Mr. Furnivall himself has printed some interesting ballads from manuscripts. All these have been presented to readers with a wealth of illustrative notes.

The books referred to above form but a portion of the literature of the subject. So mighty has been the growth of the small seed set by Percy, that the despised outcasts which the literary leaders attempted to laugh out of existence have made good their right to a high position among the poetry of the nation, and proved that they possessed the germs of a long and vigorous life.

H. B. W.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See article on "Waits' Badges," by Llewellyn Jewitt, in _Reliquary_, vol. xii. p. 145.

[2] Chant of Richard Sheale, Brydges' _British Bibliographer_, vol. iv. p. 100.

[3] Ellis's _Original Letters_, Second Series, vol. iii. p. 49.

[4] See Percy's remarks on this line at p. 379 (note).

[5] Ritson's _Ancient Songs and Ballads_, ed. 1829, vol. i. p. xxvi.

[6] Marjoreybank's _Annals of Scotland_, Edinb. 1814, p. 5, quoted in Motherwell's _Minstrelsy_, p. xxx. (note).

[7] Motherwell's _Minstrelsy_, 1827, p. xlvii.

[8] Motherwell's _Minstrelsy_, p. xv.

[9] See below. p. 148.

[10] Vol. ii. p. 172.

[11] Vol. iii. bk. ii. art. 18.

[12] Motherwell's _Minstrelsy_, p. xiii.

[13] See below, p. 380.

[14] See below, p. 70.

[15] See below, p. 23.

[16] See vol. ii. p. 158.

[17] Ritson's _Ancient Songs and Ballads_, ed. 1829, vol. i. p. xxxiii.

[18] See below, p. 378.

[19] _Popular Music of the Olden Time_, vol. i. p. 106.

[20] _Pierce Penilesse, his Supplication to the Devill_, 1592.

[21] Kemp's _Nine Daies' Wonder_, 1600, sign. d 3.

[22] Dryden's _Prologue_ to Lee's _Sophonisba_.

[23] _Richard of Almaigne_, see vol. ii. p. 3.

[24] _Notes and Queries_, 5th series, vol. v. p. 524.

[25] See _Ancient Scottish Poems_, 1786, vol. i. p. cxxxi.

[26] _Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern_, 1827, p. xcvii.

[27] _Scottish Ballads_, vol. i. p. 46.

[28] Mr. Laing, with his usual kindness, has been so good as to answer my inquiry whether he still held the opinion he published in 1839. He writes (June 2, 1876): "I still adhere to the general inference that this ballad is comparatively a modern imitation, and although we have no positive evidence as to the authorship, I can think of no one that was so likely to have written it as Elizabeth Halket, Lady Wardlaw of Pitreavie, who died in 1727, aged fifty. Had Bishop Percy's correspondence with Sir David Dalrymple, Lord Hailes, been preserved, some interesting information would no doubt have been obtained regarding these ballads sent from Scotland."

[29] _Scottish Traditional Versions of Ancient Ballads_ (Percy Society, vol. xvii. p. xi.).

[30] Neither of these lines occur in Percy's version, but they are both in the one printed by Scott.

[31] _Ballads from Scottish History_, 1863, pp. 223-4.

[32] "An ingenious friend thinks the author of _Hardyknute_ has borrowed several expressions and sentiments from the foregoing and other old Scottish songs in this collection."

[33] See vol. ii. p. 105, of the present edition.

[34] It has been necessary in the foregoing remarks to give reasons why the opinions of the late Dr. Robert Chambers on this subject are not to be taken on trust, but it is hoped that these criticisms will not be understood as written with any wish to detract from the literary character of one who did so much good work during a laborious and ever active life.

[35] _Minstrelsy_, p. xlvi.

[36] _Parliament of Love._

[37] _Queen of Corinth._

[38] Dekker's _Honest W._, 1604, act i. sc. 1.

[39] Scott's _Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_.

[40] The following is a list of these ballads:--

Vol. I. "Fair Rosamond and King Henry II.," "Queen Eleanor's Confession," "St. George and the Dragon," "The Dragon of Wantley," "Chevy Chace," "The Lamentation of Jane Shore," "Sir Andrew Barton's Death," "Prince of England's Courtship to the King of France's Daughter," "The Lady turn'd Serving-Man," "The Children in the Wood," "The Bride's Burial," "The Lady's Fall," "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellinor," "Gilderoy."

Vol. II. "King Leir and his Three Daughters," "King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table," "King John and the Abbot of Canterbury," "The Wanton Wife of Bath," "The Spanish Lady's Love," "The Blind Beggar of Bednal Green."

Vol. III. "The Baffled Knight," "William and Margaret," "The Gaberlunzie Man."

[41] Percy communicated to Dr. Nash, for the _History of Worcestershire_ (vol. ii. p. 318), a pedigree in which he attempted to identify his family with that of the descendants of Ralph, third Earl of Northumberland. Nash subjoined a note to the effect that he had examined the proofs of all the particulars above mentioned, and Boswell, in his _Life of Johnson_, expressed the opinion that, "both as a lawyer accustomed to the consideration of evidence, and as a genealogist versed in the study of pedigrees," he was fully satisfied. Mr. Furnivall is rather unjust to Percy when he suggests that the pedigree was treated like the ballads, and the gaps filled up, for the cases are not quite analogous. The pedigree may not be of greater authenticity than many other doubtful ones, but at all events his Patrons the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland acknowledged the connection between them when he was in some way distinguished.

[42] On Percy's tomb his wife's name is spelt _Goodriche_.

[43] _Illustrations of the Lyric Poetry and Music of Scotland_, 1853, p. 29.

[44] Stenhouse's Illustrations, p. 112.

[45] Bishop Percy's Folio MS. vol. i. p. xli. (note).

[46] The book was reprinted entire in the fourth volume of the _Antiquarian Repertory_, 1809; and a second edition was published by Pickering in 1827.

[47] In 1810 he was the only survivor of the original members of the Literary Club, founded by Johnson and Reynolds in 1764.

[48] Percy Folio MS., vol. i. p. lv.

[49] The chief particulars of the above sketch of Percy's life are taken from the interesting life by the Rev. J. Pickford in Hales and Furnivall's edition of the Folio MS., vol. i. p. xxvii.

[50] Ancient Songs, 1790, p. xix.

[51] _Bishop Percy Folio Manuscript: Ballads and Romances._ Edited by John W. Hales, M.A., and Frederick J. Furnivall, M.A., London (Trübner and Co.), 1867-68, 3 vols.

[52]

"ffull 40 yeeres his royall crowne
hath beene his fathers and his owne."

_Percy Folio MS_. (ii. 25/17-18.)

[53] Furnivall's Forewords, p. xiii.

[54] The following is a list of these, taken from Mr. Furnivall's _Forewords_:--

Sir Cauline.
King Estmere.
Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne.
The Child of Elle.
Edom O'Gordon (or Captaine Carre).
Adam Bell, Clym o' the Clough, and William of Cloudesly.
Take thy old Cloak about thee (or Bell my wife).
Sir Lancelot du Lake.
The more modern Ballad of Chevy Chase.
The Rising in the North.
Northumberland betrayed by Douglas.
The Not-browne Mayd.
Sir Aldingar.
Gentle Heardsman, tell to me.
The Beggar's Daughter of Bednal Green.
Sir Andrew Barton.
Lady Bothwell's Lament.
The Murder of the King of Scots.
The King of Scots and Andrew Browne, though in the Folio, was
printed by Percy from the Antiquaries' copy.
Mary Ambree.
The Winning of Cales.
The Spanish Lady's Love.
The Complaint of Conscience.
K. John and the Abbot of Canterbury.
The Heir of Lynne.
To Althea from Prison (When Love with unconfined wings).
Old Tom of Bedlam.
The Boy and the Mantle.
The Marriage of Sir Gawaine.
King Arthur's Death.
The Legend of King Arthur.
Glasgerion.
Old Robin of Portingale.
Child Waters.
Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard.
Gil Morrice.
Legend of Sir Guy.
Guy and Amarant.
The Shepherd's Resolution.
The Lady's Fall.
The King of France's Daughter.
A Lover of Late.
The King and Miller of Mansfield.
Dulcina.
The Wandering Prince of Troy.
The Aspiring Shepherd.

[55] This work was reprinted twice during the year 1869: 1. at Edinburgh under the editorial care of Mr. Sidney Gilpin; 2. at Glasgow.

TO
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
ELIZABETH,
COUNTESS OF NORTHUMBERLAND;
IN HER OWN RIGHT,
BARONESS PERCY, LUCY, POYNINGS, FITZ-PAYNE,
BRYAN, AND LATIMER.

MADAM,--

Those writers, who solicit the protection of the noble and the great, are often exposed to censure by the impropriety of their addresses: a remark that will, perhaps, be too readily applied to him, who, having nothing better to offer than the rude songs of ancient minstrels, aspires to the patronage of the Countess of Northumberland, and hopes that the barbarous productions of unpolished ages can obtain the approbation or notice of her, who adorns courts by her presence, and diffuses elegance by her example.

But this impropriety, it is presumed, will disappear, when it is declared that these poems are presented to your Ladyship, not as labours of art, but as effusions of nature, showing the first efforts of ancient genius, and exhibiting the customs and opinions of remote ages: of ages that had been almost lost to memory, had not the gallant deeds of your illustrious ancestors preserved them from oblivion.

No active or comprehensive mind can forbear some attention to the reliques of antiquity. It is prompted by natural curiosity to survey the progress of life and manners, and to inquire by what gradations barbarity was civilized, grossness refined, and ignorance instructed; but this curiosity, Madam, must be stronger in those who, like your Ladyship, can remark in every period the influence of some great progenitor, and who still feel in their effects the transactions and events of distant centuries.

By such bonds, Madam, as I am now introducing to your presence, was the infancy of genius nurtured and advanced, by such were the minds of unlettered warriors softened and enlarged, by such was the memory of illustrious actions preserved and propagated, by such were the heroic deeds of the Earls of Northumberland sung at festivals in the hall of Alnwick; and those songs, which the bounty of your ancestors rewarded, now return to your Ladyship by a kind of hereditary right; and, I flatter myself, will find such reception as is usually shown to poets and historians, by those whose consciousness of merit makes it their interest to be long remembered.

I am,
Madam,
Your Ladyship's
Most humble,
And most devoted Servant,
THOMAS PERCY.[56]

TO
ELIZABETH,
LATE DUCHESS AND COUNTESS OF NORTHUMBERLAND,
IN HER OWN RIGHT BARONESS PERCY,
ETC. ETC. ETC.
WHO, BEING SOLE HEIRESS TO MANY GREAT FAMILIES
OF OUR ANCIENT NOBILITY, EMPLOYED THE PRINCELY
FORTUNE, AND SUSTAINED THE ILLUSTRIOUS
HONOURS, WHICH SHE DERIVED FROM THEM,
THROUGH HER WHOLE LIFE WITH THE
GREATEST DIGNITY, GENEROSITY, AND SPIRIT; AND
WHO FOR HER MANY PUBLIC AND PRIVATE VIRTUES
WILL EVER BE REMEMBERED AS ONE OF THE
FIRST CHARACTERS OF HER TIME, THIS
LITTLE WORK WAS ORIGINALLY
DEDICATED; AND, AS IT SOMETIMES AFFORDED HER
AMUSEMENT, AND WAS HIGHLY DISTINGUISHED
BY HER INDULGENT APPROBATION, IT IS
NOW, WITH THE UTMOST REGARD,
RESPECT, AND GRATITUDE, CONSECRATED
TO HER BELOVED AND HONOURED
MEMORY.[57]

FOOTNOTES:

[56] This dedication is prefixed to the first edition of the _Reliques_, (1765), the second edition (1767), and the third edition (1775).

[57] The Duchess of Northumberland died in the year 1776, and the above inscription appears in the fourth edition (1794) and the fifth edition (1812), besides many subsequent editions.

ADVERTISEMENT TO THE FOURTH EDITION.[58]

Twenty years have near elapsed since the last edition of this work appeared. But, although it was sufficiently a favourite with the public, and had long been out of print, the original editor had no desire to revive it. More important pursuits had, as might be expected, engaged his attention; and the present edition would have remained unpublished, had he not yielded to the importunity of his friends, and accepted the humble offer of an editor in a nephew, to whom, it is feared, he will be found too partial.

These volumes are now restored to the public with such corrections and improvements as have occurred since the former impression; and the text in particular hath been emended in many passages by recurring to the old copies. The instances, being frequently trivial, are not always noted in the margin; but the alteration hath never been made without good reason; and especially in such pieces as were extracted from the folio manuscript so often mentioned in the following pages, where any variation occurs from the former impression, it will be understood to have been given on the authority of that MS.

The appeal publicly made to Dr. Johnson in the first page of the following Preface, so long since as in the year 1765, and never once contradicted by him during so large a portion of his life, ought to have precluded every doubt concerning the existence of the MS. in question. But such, it seems, having been suggested, it may now be mentioned, that, while this edition passed through his press, the MS. itself was left for near a year with Mr. Nichols, in whose house, or in that of its possessor, it was examined with more or less attention by many gentlemen of eminence in literature. At the first publication of these volumes it had been in the hands of all, or most of, his friends; but, as it could hardly be expected that he should continue to think of nothing else but these amusements of his youth, it was afterwards laid aside at his residence in the country. Of the many gentlemen above-mentioned, who offered to give their testimony to the public, it will be sufficient to name the Honourable Daines Barrington, the Reverend Clayton Mordaunt Cracherode, and those eminent Critics on Shakespeare, the Reverend Dr. Farmer, George Steevens, Esq., Edmund Malone, Esq., and Isaac Reed, Esq., to whom I beg leave to appeal for the truth of the following representation.

The MS. is a long narrow folio volume, containing 195 Sonnets, Ballads, Historical Songs, and Metrical Romances, either in the whole or in part, for many of them are extremely mutilated and imperfect. The first and last leaves are wanting; and of fifty-four pages near the beginning half of every leaf hath been torn away, and several others are injured towards the end; besides that through a great part of the volume the top or bottom line, and sometimes both have been cut off in the binding.

In this state is the MS. itself: and even where the leaves have suffered no injury, the transcripts, which seem to have been all made by one person (they are at least all in the same kind of hand), are sometimes extremely incorrect and faulty, being in such instances probably made from defective copies, or the imperfect recitation of illiterate fingers; so that a considerable portion of the song or narrative is sometimes omitted; and miserable trash or nonsense not unfrequently introduced into pieces of considerable merit. And often the copyist grew so weary of his labour as to write on without the least attention to the sense or meaning; so that the word which should form the rhyme is found misplaced in the middle of the line; and we have such blunders as these, _want and will_ for _wanton will_;[59] even _pan and wale_ for _wan and pale_,[60] &c., &c.

Hence the public may judge how much they are indebted to the composer of this collection; who, at an early period of life, with such materials and such subjects, formed a work which hath been admitted into the most elegant libraries; and with which the judicious antiquary hath just reason to be satisfied, while refined entertainment hath been provided for every reader of taste and genius.

THOMAS PERCY,
FELLOW OF ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD.

FOOTNOTES:

[58] Published in three volumes small octavo in 1794. "Printed by John Nichols for F. and C. Rivington."

[59] [Fol. MS.] Page 130, ver. 117. (This must have been copied from a reciter.)

[60] [Fol. MS.] Page 139, ver. 164, viz.

"his visage waxed pan and wale."

THE PREFACE

The reader is here presented with select remains of our ancient English bards and minstrels, an order of men, who were once greatly respected by our ancestors, and contributed to soften the roughness of a martial and unlettered people by their songs and by their music.

The greater part of them are extracted from an ancient folio manuscript, in the editor's possession, which contains near 200 poems, songs, and metrical romances. This MS. was written about the middle of the last century; but contains compositions of all times and dates, from the ages prior to Chaucer, to the conclusion of the reign of Charles I.[61]

This manuscript was shewn to several learned and ingenious friends, who thought the contents too curious to be consigned to oblivion, and importuned the possessor to select some of them, and give them to the press. As most of them are of great simplicity, and seem to have been merely written for the people, he was long in doubt, whether, in the present state of improved literature, they could be deemed worthy the attention of the public. At length the importunity of his friends prevailed, and he could refuse nothing to such judges as the author of the _Rambler_ and the late Mr. Shenstone.

Accordingly such specimens of ancient poetry have been selected, as either shew the gradation of our language, exhibit the progress of popular opinions, display the peculiar manners and customs of former ages, or throw light on our earlier classical poets.

They are here distributed into volumes, each of which contains an independent series of poems, arranged chiefly according to the order of time, and shewing the gradual improvements of the English language and poetry from the earliest ages down to the present. Each volume, or series, is divided into three books, to afford so many pauses, or resting-places to the reader, and to assist him in distinguishing between the productions of the earlier, the middle, and the latter times.

In a polished age, like the present, I am sensible that many of these reliques of antiquity will require great allowances to be made for them. Yet have they, for the most part, a pleasing simplicity, and many artless graces, which in the opinion of no mean critics[62] have been thought to compensate for the want of higher beauties, and, if they do not dazzle the imagination, are frequently found to interest the heart.

To atone for the rudeness of the more obsolete poems, each volume concludes with a few modern attempts in the same kind of writing: and, to take off from the tediousness of the longer narratives, they are everywhere intermingled with little elegant pieces of the lyric kind. Select ballads in the old Scottish dialect, most of them of the first-rate merit, are also interspersed among those of our ancient English minstrels; and the artless productions of these old rhapsodists are occasionally confronted with specimens of the composition of contemporary poets of a higher class; of those who had all the advantages of learning in the times in which they lived, and who wrote for fame and for posterity. Yet perhaps the palm will be frequently due to the old strolling minstrels, who composed their rhymes to be sung to their harps, and who looked no farther than for present applause, and present subsistence.

The reader will find this class of men occasionally described in the following volumes, and some particulars relating to their history in an Essay subjoined. (Appendix I.)

It will be proper here to give a short account of the other collections that were consulted, and to make my acknowledgements to those gentlemen who were so kind as to impart extracts from them; for, while this selection was making, a great number of ingenious friends took a share in the work, and explored many large repositories in its favour.

The first of these that deserved notice was the Pepysian library at Magdalen College, Cambridge. Its founder, Sam. Pepys, Esq.,[63] Secretary of the Admiralty in the reigns of Charles II. and James II. had made a large collection of ancient English ballads, near 2,000 in number, which he has left pasted in five volumes in folio; besides Garlands and other smaller miscellanies. This collection he tells us was "begun by Mr. Selden; improved by the addition of many pieces elder thereto in time; and the whole continued down to the year 1700; when the form peculiar till then thereto, viz., of the black letter with pictures, seems (for cheapness sake) wholly laid aside for that of the white letter without pictures."

In the Ashmole Library at Oxford is a small collection of ballads made by Anthony Wood in the year 1676, containing somewhat more than 200. Many ancient popular poems are also preserved in the Bodleyan library.

The archives of the Antiquarian Society at London contain a multitude of curious political poems in large folio volumes, digested under the several reigns of Hen. VIII., Edw. VI., Mary, Elizabeth, James I., &c.[65]

In the British Museum is preserved a large treasure of ancient English poems in MS. besides one folio volume of printed ballads.

From all these some of the best pieces were selected; and from many private collections, as well printed, as manuscript, particularly from one large folio volume which was lent by a lady.

Amid such a fund of materials, the editor is afraid he has been sometimes led to make too great a parade of his authorities. The desire of being accurate has perhaps seduced him into too minute and trifling an exactness; and in pursuit of information he may have been drawn into many a petty and frivolous research. It was, however, necessary to give some account of the old copies; though often, for the sake of brevity, one or two of these only are mentioned, where yet assistance was received from several. Where any thing was altered that deserved particular notice, the passage is generally distinguished by two inverted 'commas.' And the editor has endeavoured to be as faithful as the imperfect state of his materials would admit. For, these old popular rhymes being many of them copied only from illiterate transcripts, or the imperfect recitation of itinerant ballad-singers, have, as might be expected, been handed down to us with less care than any other writings in the world. And the old copies, whether MS. or printed, were often so defective or corrupted, that a scrupulous adherence to their wretched readings would only have exhibited unintelligible nonsense, or such poor meagre stuff, as neither came from the bard, nor was worthy the press; when, by a few slight corrections or additions, a most beautiful or interesting sense hath started forth, and this so naturally and easily, that the editor could seldom prevail on himself to indulge the vanity of making a formal claim to the improvement; but must plead guilty to the charge of concealing his own share in the amendments under some such general title, as a _Modern Copy_, or the like. Yet it has been his design to give sufficient intimation where any considerable liberties[66] were taken with the old copies, and to have retained either in the text or margin any word or phrase which was antique, obsolete, unusual, or peculiar, so that these might be safely quoted as of genuine and undoubted antiquity. His object was to please both the judicious antiquary, and the reader of taste; and he hath endeavoured to gratify both without offending either.

The plan of the work was settled in concert with the late elegant Mr. Shenstone, who was to have borne a joint share in it had not death unhappily prevented him[67]: most of the modern pieces were of his selection and arrangement, and the editor hopes to be pardoned if he has retained some things out of partiality to the judgment of his friend. The old folio MS. above-mentioned was a present from Humphrey Pitt, Esq., of Prior's-Lee, in Shropshire,[68] to whom this public acknowledgement is due for that, and many other obliging favours. To Sir David Dalrymple, Bart., of Hailes, near Edinburgh, the editor is indebted for most of the beautiful Scottish poems with which this little miscellany is enriched, and for many curious and elegant remarks with which they are illustrated. Some obliging communications of the same kind were received from John MacGowan, Esq., of Edinburgh; and many curious explanations of Scottish words in the glossaries from John Davidson, Esq., of Edinburgh, and from the Rev. Mr. Hutchinson, of Kimbolton. Mr. Warton, who has twice done so much honour to the Poetry Professor's chair at Oxford, and Mr. Hest, of Worcester College, contributed some curious pieces from the Oxford libraries. Two ingenious and learned friends at Cambridge deserve the editor's warmest acknowledgements: to Mr. Blakeway, late fellow of Magdalen College, he owes all the assistance received from the Pepysian library: and Mr. Farmer, fellow of Emanuel, often exerted, in favour of this little work, that extensive knowledge of ancient English literature for which he is so distinguished.[69] Many extracts from ancient MSS. in the British Museum, and other repositories, were owing to the kind services of Thomas Astle, Esq., to whom the public is indebted for the curious Preface and Index annexed to the Harleyan Catalogue.[70] The worthy Librarian of the Society of Antiquaries, Mr. Norris, deserved acknowledgement for the obliging manner in which he gave the editor access to the volumes under his care. In Mr. Garrick's curious collection of old plays are many scarce pieces of ancient poetry, with the free use of which he indulged the editor in the politest manner. To the Rev. Dr. Birch he is indebted for the use of several ancient and valuable tracts. To the friendship of Dr. Samuel Johnson he owes many valuable hints for the conduct of the work. And, if the Glossaries are more exact and curious than might be expected in so slight a publication, it is to be ascribed to the supervisal of a friend, who stands at this time the first in the world for northern literature, and whose learning is better known and respected in foreign nations than in his own country. It is, perhaps, needless to name the Rev. Mr. Lye, editor of _Junius's Etymologicum_, and of the _Gothic Gospels_.

The names of so many men of learning and character the editor hopes will serve as an amulet to guard him from every unfavourable censure, for having bestowed any attention on a parcel of old ballads. It was at the request of many of these gentlemen, and of others eminent for their genius and taste, that this little work was undertaken. To prepare it for the press has been the amusement of now and then a vacant hour amid the leisure and retirement of rural life, and hath only served as a relaxation from graver studies. It has been taken up at different times, and often thrown aside for many months, during an interval of four or five years. This has occasioned some inconsistencies and repetitions, which the candid reader will pardon. As great care has been taken to admit nothing immoral and indecent, the editor hopes he need not be ashamed of having bestowed some of his idle hours on the ancient literature of our own country, or in rescuing from oblivion some pieces (though but the amusements of our ancestors) which tend to place in a striking light their taste, genius, sentiments, or manners.

* * * * *

Except in one paragraph, this Preface is given with little
variation from the first edition in MDCCLXV.

FOOTNOTES:

[61] Chaucer quotes the old Romance of _Libius Disconius_, and some others, which are found in this MS. (See the _Essay_, vol. iii. Appendix I.) It also contains several songs relating to the civil war in the last century, but not one that alludes to the Restoration.

[62] Mr. Addison, Mr. Dryden, and the witty Lord Dorset, &c. See the _Spectator_, No. 70. To these might be added many eminent judges now alive. The learned Selden appears also to have been fond of collecting these old things. See below.

[63] A life of our curious collector Mr. Pepys may be seen in the continuation of Mr. Collier's Supplement to his _Great Diction._ 1715, at the end of vol. iii. folio. Art. Pep.[64]

[64] [In Percy's time Pepys was not known as the author of that _Diary_ which will keep his name in remembrance so long as English literature continues to exist.]

[65] [The Society of Antiquaries have published a catalogue of this collection by Robert Lemon, 8vo. 1866.]

[66] Such liberties have been taken with all those pieces which have three asterisks subjoined, thus [***].

[67] That the editor hath not here under-rated the assistance he received from his friend, will appear from Mr. Shenstone's own letter to the Rev. Mr. Graves, dated March 1, 1761. See his _Works_, vol. iii. letter cii. It is doubtless a great loss to this work that Mr. Shenstone never saw more than about a third of one of these volumes, as prepared for the press.

[68] Who informed the editor that this MS. had been purchased in a library of old books, which was thought to have belonged to Thomas Blount, Author of the _Jocular Tenures_, 1679, 4to. and of many other publications enumerated in Wood's _Athenæ_, ii. 73; the earliest of which is _The Art of making Devises_, 1646, 4to. wherein he is described to be "of the Inner Temple." If the collection was made by this lawyer (who also published the _Law Dictionary_, 1671, folio), it should seem, from the errors and defects with which the MS. abounds, that he had employed his clerk in writing the transcripts, who was often weary of his task.

[69] To the same learned and ingenious friend, since Master of Emanuel College, the editor is obliged for many corrections and improvements in his second and subsequent editions; as also to the Rev. Mr. Bowle, of Idmistone, near Salisbury, editor of the curious edition of _Don Quixote_, with Annotations in Spanish, in 6 vols. 4to.; to the Rev. Mr. Cole, formerly of Blecheley, near Fenny-Stratford, Bucks; to the Rev. Mr. Lambe, of Noreham, in Northumberland (author of a learned _History of Chess_, 1764, 8vo. and editor of a curious _Poem on the Battle of Flodden Field_, with learned Notes, 1774, 8vo.); and to G. Paton, Esq., of Edinburgh. He is particularly indebted to two friends, to whom the public as well as himself, are under the greatest obligations; to the Honourable Daines Barrington, for his very learned and curious _Observations on the Statutes_, 4to.; and to Thomas Tyrwhitt, Esq., whose most correct and elegant edition of Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_, 5 vols. 8vo. is a standard book, and shows how an ancient English classic should be published. The editor was also favoured with many valuable remarks and corrections from the Rev. Geo. Ashby, late fellow of St. John's College, in Cambridge, which are not particularly pointed out because they occur so often. He was no less obliged to Thomas Butler, Esq., F.A.S., agent to the Duke of Northumberland, and Clerk of the Peace for the County of Middlesex, whose extensive knowledge of ancient writings, records, and history, have been of great use to the editor in his attempts to illustrate the literature or manners of our ancestors. Some valuable remarks were procured by Samuel Pegge, Esq., author of that curious work the _Curialia_, 4to.; but this impression was too far advanced to profit by them all; which hath also been the case with a series of learned and ingenious annotations inserted in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for August, 1793, April, June, July, and October, 1794, and which, it is hoped, will be continued.

[70] Since Keeper of the Records in the Tower.

RELIQUES OF ANCIENT POETRY, ETC.

SERIES THE FIRST.