III

That is why ballad-making is a lost art. Or almost a lost art. For even

in this odd and musty world of phantoms which we call the twentieth

century, there are times when a man finds himself in a certain place at

a certain hour and something happens to him which takes him out of

himself. And a song is born, simply and sweetly, a song which other

men can sing, for all time, and forget themselves.

Such a song was once written by a master at my old school, Marlborough.

He was a Scot. But he loved Marlborough with the sort of love which the

old ballad-mongers must have had-the sort of love which takes a man on

wings, far from his foolish little body.

He wrote a song called "The Scotch Marlburian".

A Book of Old Ballads — Complete · 第 11 / 110 题