I have hesitated to use the term 'historical' in choosing a general
title for the ballads in this volume, although, if the word can be
applied to any popular ballads, it would be applied with most
justification to a large number of these ballads of Scottish and Border
tradition. 'Some ballads are historical, or at least are founded on
actual occurrences. In such cases, we have a manifest point of departure
for our chronological investigation. The ballad is likely to have sprung
up shortly after the event, and to represent the common rumo[u]r of the
time. Accuracy is not to be expected, and indeed too great historical
fidelity in detail is rather a ground of suspicion than a certificate
of the genuinely popular character of the piece.... Two cautionary
observations are necessary. Since history repeats itself, the
possibility and even the probability must be entertained that every now
and then a ballad which had been in circulation for some time was
adapted to the circumstances of a recent occurrence, and has come down
to us only in such an adaptation. It is also far from improbable that
many ballads which appear to have no definite localization or historical
antecedents may be founded on fact, since one of the marked tendencies
of popular narrative poetry is to alter or eliminate specific names of
persons and places in the course of oral tradition.'[1]
[Footnote 1: Introduction (p. xvi) to _English and Scottish Popular
Ballads, edited from the Collection of Francis James Child, by Helen
Child Sargent and George Lyman Kittredge_, 1905. This admirable
condensation of Child's five volumes, issued since my Second Series,
is enhanced by Professor Kittredge's _Introduction_, the best
possible substitute for the gap left in the larger book by the
death of Child before the completion of his task.]
Warned by these wise words, we may, perhaps, select the following
ballads from the present volume as 'historical, or at least founded on
actual occurrences.'
(i) This section, which we may call 'Historical,' includes _The Hunting
of the Cheviot_, _The Battle of Otterburn_, _Mary Hamilton_, _The Laird
o' Logie_, _Captain Car_, _Flodden Field_, _The Fire of Frendraught_,
_Bessy Bell and Mary Gray_, _Jamie Douglas_, _Earl Bothwell_, _Durham
Field_, _The Battle of Harlaw_, and _Lord Maxwell's Last Goodnight_.
Probably we should add _The Death of Parcy Reed_; possibly _Geordie_ and
_The Gipsy Laddie_. More doubtful still is _Sir Patrick Spence_; and
_The Baron of Brackley_ confuses two historical events.
(ii) From the above section I have eliminated those which may be
separately classified as 'Border Ballads.' _Sir Hugh in the Grime's
Downfall_ seems to have some historical foundation, but _Bewick and
Grahame_ has none. A sub-section of 'Armstrong Ballads' forms a good
quartet; _Johnie Armstrong_, _Kinmont Willie_, _Dick o' the Cow_, and
_John o' the Side_.
(iii) In the purely 'Romantic' class we may place _The Braes of Yarrow_,
_The Twa Brothers_, _The Outlyer Bold_, _Clyde's Water_, _Katharine
Jaffray_, _Lizie Lindsay_, _The Heir of Linne_, and _The Laird of
Knottington_.
(iv) There remain a lyrical ballad, _The Gardener_; a song, _Waly, waly,
gin love be bonny_; and the nondescript _Whummil Bore_. The Appendix
contains a ballad, _The Jolly Juggler_, which would have come more
fittingly in the First Series, had I known of it in time.
In the general arrangement, however, the above classes have been mixed,
in order that the reader may browse as he pleases.
I
A comparison of the first two ballads in this volume will show the
latitude with which it is possible for an historical incident to be
treated by tradition. The Battle of Otterburn was fought in 1388; but
our two versions belong to the middle of the sixteenth century. The
English _Battle of Otterburn_ is the more faithful to history, and
refers (35.2) to 'the cronykle' as authority. _The Hunting of the
Cheviot_ was in the repertory of Richard Sheale (see First Series,
_Introduction_, xxvii), who ends his version in the regular manner
traditional amongst minstrels. Also, we have the broadside _Chevy
Chase_, which well illustrates the degradation of a ballad in the hands
of the hack-writers; this may be seen in many collections of ballads.
_Mary Hamilton_ has a very curious literary history. If, _pendente
lite_, we may assume the facts to be as suggested, pp. 44-46, it
illustrates admirably Professor Kittredge's warning, quoted above, that
ballads already in circulation may be adapted to the circumstances of a
recent occurrence. But the incidents--betrayal, child-murder, and
consequent execution--cannot have been uncommon in courts, at least in
days of old; and it is quite probable that an early story was adapted,
first to the incident of 1563, and again to the Russian story of 1718.
Perhaps we may remark in passing that it is a pity that so repugnant a
story should be attached to a ballad containing such beautiful stanzas
as the last four.
_Captain Car_ is an English ballad almost contemporary with the Scottish
incident which it records; and, from the fact of its including a popular
burden, we may presume it was adapted to the tune. _Bessy Bell and Mary
Gray_, which records a piece of Scottish news of no importance whatever,
has become an English nursery rhyme. In _Jamie Douglas_ an historical
fact has been interwoven with a beautiful lyric. Indeed, the chances of
corruption and contamination are infinite.