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Professor Child and the Ballad

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Extract

In the course of his insistence upon the necessity of a continued recognition of the popular ballad as a distinct literary type, Professor Gummere points out the value of a collection of Professor Child's critical remarks on the ballad and an attempt to determine their general drift. Such is the purpose of the present paper. Aside from the article in the Universal Cyclopædia, Professor Child's comments are mere obiter dicta, based upon no underlying principle and forming no part of a set purpose. They are, therefore, not easy to classify; the attempt to reduce them to order can be only partially successful, and any arrangement must appear more or less arbitrary. Yet some arrangement has seemed advisable and they have been roughly grouped under the following headings: (1) Authorship and Transmission; (2) Subject-Matter; (3) Technique; (4) A Comparison of the Ballads of 1857–1859 and The English and Scottish Popular Ballads of 1882–1898; (5) A Collection of General Comments upon Specific Ballads; (6) Summary.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1906

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References

page 755 note 1 Modern Philology, i, 377 f.

page 756 note 1 Professor Gummere in Modern Philology, i, 378.

page 759 note 1 iii, 303.

page 759 note 2 ii, 136.

page 759 note 3 i, vii.

page 759 note 4 ii, 296.

page 760 note 1 ii, 263. An old woman (the reciter of E) knew Chield Morice as a child, but later learned Gil Morice which began to be more fashionable. ii, 264.

page 760 note 2 ii, 464, n.

page 760 note 3 v, 178.

page 760 note 4 i, 119.

page 761 note 1 iv, 231.

page 761 note 2 i, 89. See also the comment on Apollodorus and the Cretan fairy-tale, i, 337, quoted, p. 774, below.

page 761 note 3 ii, 346.

page 761 note 4 i, 435.

page 761 note 5 Quoted, iii, 254.

page 762 note 1 i, 360.

page 762 note 2 ii, 173.

page 762 note 3 ii, 170.

page 762 note 4 ii, 368.

page 762 note 5 iv, 255, n.

page 762 note 6 iv, 255.

page 763 note 1 iv, 256. Cf. B 10, D 10, E 19; F 11; E 10, F 6.

page 763 note 2 ii, 441.

page 763 note 3 iv, 144.

page 764 note 1 i, 391.

page 764 note 2 i, 34.

page 764 note 3 i, 257.

page 765 note 1 ii, 478.

page 765 note 2 Cf. i, 444 f.

page 765 note 3 iii, 403.

page 765 note 4 iii, 410.

page 765 note 5 ii, 441.

page 765 note 6 iii, 305.

page 765 note 7 iii, 334.

page 765 note 8 iii, 334, n.

page 766 note 1 v, 21.

page 766 note 2 i, 404.

page 766 note 3 i, 455.

page 766 note 4 i, 391.

page 766 note 5 ii, 180.

page 766 note 6 ii, 424.

page 767 note 1 ii, 480.

page 767 note 2 The comparison of broadsides with traditional versions is instructive. See i, A, a, b, c; 10, A, a; 45, B; 53, L, M; 73, D; 104, B, 112, E (and ii, 491); 110, A; 145, C; 151; 152; 153; 162, B; 167, B; 268. Much of the later Robin Hood poetry looks like “char-work done for the petty press” (iii, 42). Robin Hood Rescuing Will Study (141) “is a ballad made for print, with little of the traditional in the matter and nothing in the style” (iii, 185).

page 767 note 3 ii, 480.

page 767 note 4 i, 335.

page 767 note 5 “Jamieson was not always precise in the account he gave of the changes he made in his texts” (iv, 255). Cf. also i, 138.

page 768 note 1 Stanzas 20, 21, 27, etc. i, 119. Cf. ii, 83.

page 768 note 2 i, 297.

page 768 note 3 ii, 63 f.

page 768 note 4 i, 335.

page 768 note 5 ii, 302.

page 768 note 6 i, 112.

page 768 note 7 iv, 5.

page 768 note 8 i, 138.

page 768 note 9 iii, 472.

page 769 note 1 ii, 428.

page 769 note 2 iv, 39. Cf. ii, 317.

page 769 note 3 ii, 226.

page 769 note 4 iii, 276.

page 769 note 5 v, 2.

page 769 note 6 ii, 19.

page 769 note 7 iii, 96.

page 770 note 1 iv, 156.

page 770 note 2 iv, 178.

page 770 note 3 v, 309.

page 770 note 4 iii, 42.

page 771 note 1 iii, 103.

page 771 note 2 iii, 159.

page 771 note 3 i, 320.

page 771 note 4 iii, 206.

page 771 note 5 v, 168.

page 771 note 6 iii, 305.

page 771 note 7 i, 455.

page 771 note 8 v, 1.

page 771 note 9 iv, 437.

page 771 note 10 i, 335.

page 771 note 11 ii, 302.

page 771 note 12 iii, 486.

page 772 note 1 v 12. Cf. also i, 35, iv, 10, 142, 401, for passages condemned as “modern.”

page 772 note 2 iii, 140.

page 772 note 3 ii, 342.

page 772 note 4 v, 182.

page 772 note 5 Communicated by the Rev. Mr Lamb to Hutchinson “with this harmless preamble: ‘a song 500 years old, made by the old Mountain Bard, Duncan Frasier, living on Cheviot, a. d. 1270.’

page 772 note 6 i, 308.

page 773 note 1 iii, 42.

page 773 note 2 i, 46; examples follow.

page 773 note 3 ii, 170, n.

page 774 note 1 i, 336.

page 774 note 2 i, 337.

page 774 note 3 v, 59.

page 774 note 4 v, 48.

page 774 note 5 ii, 7.

page 774 note 6 ii, 416.

page 775 note 1 i, 142.

page 775 note 2 Examples, i, 143.

page 775 note 3 i, 1.

page 775 note 4 ii, 478.

page 775 note 5 iii, 159.

page 775 note 6 iii, 235.

page 775 note 7 i, 121.

page 775 note 8 ii, 19.

page 775 note 9 iii, 366.

page 775 note 10 iv, 51.

page 776 note 1 iii, 317.

page 776 note 2 iii, 304.

page 776 note 3 iii, 417.

page 776 note 4 iii. 410.

page 776 note 5 iv, 359.

page 776 note 6 iii, 265 f.

page 776 note 7 i, 320.

page 777 note 1 i, 193.

page 777 note 2 ii, 67.

page 777 note 3 i, 67.

page 777 note 4 iii, 417.

page 777 note 5 iv, 401.

page 777 note 6 v, 182.

page 778 note 1 iii, 49 f.

page 778 note 2 iii, 51.

page 778 note 3 iii, 293.

page 778 note 4 iii, 220.

page 778 note 5 v, 166.

page 778 note 6 iv, 391.

page 778 note 7 iv, 393.

page 779 note 1 iv, 401.

page 779 note 2 iv, 415.

page 779 note 3 iv, 423.

page 779 note 4 iv, 434.

page 779 note 5 iii, 49.

page 779 note 6 iii, 40.

page 780 note 1 iv, 10.

page 780 note 2 Cf. iii, 225.

page 780 note 3 iii, 381.

page 780 note 4 iii, 165.

page 780 note 5 iii, 197.

page 780 note 6 ii, 296.

page 780 note 7 iv, 161.

page 780 note 8 i, 253. Cf. also iii, 258.

page 780 note 9 ii, 263.

page 781 note 1 iii, 381.

page 781 note 2 ii, 83.

page 781 note 3 i, 34.

page 781 note 4 ii, 302.

page 781 note 5 v, 156 f.

page 781 note 6 Universal Cyclopaedia, “Ballad Poetry.” The lyrical element is of equal importance; see p. 790, below.

page 781 note 7 iv, 126.

page 782 note 1 v, 165.

page 782 note 2 iv, 192. [The Broom of Cowdenknows (217)].

page 782 note 3 iv, 63. [The Gypsie Laddie (200)].

page 782 note 4 i, 82.

page 782 note 5 ii, 260.

page 782 note 6 Surely better as ballad. Cf. p. 796, below.

page 782 note 7 ii, 18.

page 782 note 8 ii, 7.

page 782 note 9 v, 178.

page 783 note 1 iv, 435.

page 783 note 2 iv, 145.

page 783 note 3 iii, 317.

page 783 note 4 ii, 373.

page 783 note 5 ii, 342.

page 783 note 6 ii, 355.

page 783 note 7 ii, 302.

page 784 note 1 iii, 51.

page 784 note 2 iii, 486.

page 784 note 3 iii, 95.

page 784 note 4 iv, 362.

page 785 note 1 ii, 378.

page 785 note 2 v, 59.

page 785 note 3 iv, 301, n.

page 786 note 1 iv, 301, n.

page 786 note 2 iv, 434.

page 786 note 3 i, 320, n.

page 786 note 4 iv, 186.

page 786 note 5 i, 167.

page 786 note 6 i, 88.

page 787 note 1 i, 112.

page 787 note 2 [The true ballad has little to say of mental states.]

page 787 note 3 iv, 5. The stanza reads:

But he's taen aff his gude steel cap,
And thrice he's waved it in the air;
The Dinlay snaw was neer mair white
Nor the lyart locks of Harden's hair.

page 787 note 4 iv, 10.

page 787 note 5 ii, 430.

page 787 note 6 ii, 428.

page 787 note 7 iv, 145.

page 788 note 1 i, 297.

page 788 note 2 Cf. ii, 83, 317; iv, 39.

page 788 note 3 See the Index of Matters and Literature, v, 474 f.

page 788 note 4 ii, 309, n.

page 788 note 5 iii, 96.

page 789 note 1 iv, 426.

page 789 note 2 iv, 391.

page 789 note 3 iv, 435.

page 789 note 4 ii, 227.

page 789 note 5 ii, 238.

page 789 note 6 v, 59.

page 789 note 7 iv, 145.

page 789 note 8 v, 168.

page 789 note 9 i, 329.

page 790 note 1 iv, 301.

page 790 note 2 i, 253.

page 790 note 3 iii, 53.

page 790 note 4 iii, 258.

page 790 note 5 ii, 296.

page 790 note 6 v, 59.

page 790 note 7 iii, 305.

page 790 note 8 ii, 67.

page 791 note 1 ii, 260.

page 791 note 2 i, 358.

page 791 note 3 iii, 129.

page 791 note 4 v, 201.

page 791 note 5 iv, 75.

page 791 note 6 ii, 204, n.

page 791 note 7 i, 7. See the foot-note for Professor Child's longest discussion of the burden.

page 792 note 1 Sheath and Knife (16), also, was accessible but omitted.

page 793 note 1 Ballads, i, xi, n. “Certain short romances which formerly stood in the First Book, have been dropped from this second Edition [1860], in order to give the collection a homogeneous character.” Ballads [1860], i, xii.

page 793 note 2 “A song,” ii, 317. (Where merely volume and page are given the reference is still to the later collection; references to the earlier are preceded by the word Ballads.)

page 794 note 1 ii, 16.

page 794 note 2 ii, 429.

page 794 note 3 v, 34, n.

page 794 note 4 Ballads, iii, 360.

page 794 note 5 Ballads, vi, 263.

page 794 note 6 Ballads, iii, 61.

page 795 note 1 iv, 142.

page 795 note 2 Ballads, i, 341.

page 795 note 3 i, 218, n.

page 795 note 4 Ballads, iii, 293.

page 795 note 5 Ballads, vi, 220. Cf. Mr Andrew Lang's plea for Auld Maitland, Folk-Lore, xiii, 191 ff.

page 795 note 6 See also the comments on the Rev. Mr Lamb's Laidley Worm of Spindleston Heugh, Ballads, i, 386, and cf. p. 772, above.

page 795 note 7 Ballads, iii, 128.

page 796 note 1 Ballads, iv, 161.

page 796 note 2 Ballads, iv, 143 f.

page 796 note 3 Cf. p. 757, above.

page 796 note 4 Ballads, v, iv.

page 797 note 1 Ballads, iii, 148–149.

page 797 note 2 Cf. p. 767, above.

page 797 note 3 Ballads, iii, 225.

page 797 note 4 i, 88.

page 797 note 5 Ballads, iii, 173.

page 797 note 6 ii, 56.

page 797 note 7 Ballads, ii, 30.

page 797 note 8 ii, 275.

page 797 note 9 Ballads, i, ix, n.

page 797 note 10 Cf. p. 762, above.

page 798 note 1 Ballads, i, 306 n.

page 798 note 2 Ballads, ii, 220.

page 798 note 3 Ballads, i, 270.

page 798 note 4 See i, 62, and, for the omitted couplets, i, 80–81.

page 798 note 5 Ballads, i, 265.

page 798 note 6 Ballads, ii, 22.

page 798 note 7 ii, 260. See, also, the comments on Jamieson's Child Rowland and Burd Ellen, Ballads, i, 416, and English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v, 201, n.

page 798 note 8 Cf. p. 769, above.

page 798 note 9 Ballads, i, 256.

page 798 note 10 Ballads, ii, 115.

page 799 note 1 Ballads, ii, 64.

page 799 note 2 Ballads, ii, 45.

page 799 note 3 Ballads, vii, 194.

page 799 note 4 Cf. the comment on The Hunting of the Cheviot, Ballads, vii, 25.

page 799 note 5 Ballads, iv, 17. For the later comment, see p. 777, above.

page 799 note 6 Ballads, vi, 22.

page 799 note 7 Ballads, iii, 148–149.

page 801 note 1 “Excepting the two satirical stanzas with which Scott's version (C) concludes.”

page 802 note 1 See also the comment in the Ballads, quoted p. 804, below.

page 804 note 1 The numbers in brackets are those affixed to the ballads in the later collection.