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Page 2
This reads invitingly; the writer then proceeds:--
"From such sources I have obtained may of the ballads in the present
collection. Those to which I have stood godfather, and so baptized and
remodelled, I have mostly met with in the 'broad-side' ballads, as they
are called."
Although the writer here speaks of Ritson and Percy as if he were
acquainted with their works, it is very evident that he had not looked into
their contents. The name of Evans' _Collection_ had probably never reached
him. Alas! we look in vain for the tantalising "pamphlet of songs,"--still,
perhaps, snugly resting on the "pot-head," where our author in his
"poetical dream" first saw it. The "black-lettered volume of ballads" too,
in the library of the "ancient descendant of a Border family," still
remains in its dusty repository, untouched by the hand of Frederick
Sheldon.
In support of the object of this paper I shall now point out "a few" of the
errors of _The Minstrelsy of the English Border_.
P. 201. _The Fair Flower of Northumberland_:--
"It was a knight in Scotland born,
Follow my love, come over the Strand;
Was taken prisoner, and left forlorn
Even by the good Erle Northumberland."
This is a corrupt version of Thomas Deloney's celebrated ballad of "The
Ungrateful Knight," printed in the _History of Jack of Newbery_, 1596, and
in Ritson's _Ancient Songs_, 1790. A Scottish version may be found in
Kinloch's _Ballads_, under the title of the "The Provost's Daughter." Mr.
Sheldon knows nothing of this, but says,--
"This ballad has been known about the English Border for many years,
and I can remember a version of it being sung by my grandmother!"
He also informs us that he has added the last verse but one, in order to
make the "ends of justice" more complete!
P. 232. _The Laird of Roslin's Daughter_:--
"The Laird of Roslin's daughter
Walk'd through the wood her lane;
And by her came Captain Wedderburn,
A servant to the Queen."
This is a wretched version (about half the original length) of a well-known
ballad, entitled "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship." It first appeared _in
print_ in _The New British Songster_, a collection published at Falkirk, in
1785. It was afterwards inserted in Jamieson's _Popular Ballads and Songs_,
1806; Kinloch's _Ancient Ballads_, 1826; Chambers' _Scottish Ballads_,
1829, &c. But hear what Mr. Sheldon has to say, in 1847:--
"This is a fragment of an apparently ancient ballad, related to me by a
lady of Berwick-on-Tweed, who used to sing it in her childhood. I have
given all that she was able to furnish me with. The same lady assures
me that she never remembers having seen it in print [!!], and that she
had learnt if from her nurse, together with the ballad of 'Sir Patrick
Spens,' and several Irish legends, since forgotten."
P. 274. _The Merchant's Garland_:--
"Syr Carnegie's gane owre the sea,
And's plowing thro' the main,
And now must make a lang voyage,
The red gold for to gain."
This is evidently one of those ballads which calls Mr. Sheldon "godfather."
The original ballad, which has been "baptized and remodelled," is called
"The Factor's Garland." It begins in the following homely manner:--
"Behold here's a ditty, 'tis true and no jest
Concerning a young gentleman in the East,
Who by his great gaming came to poverty,
And afterwards went many voyages to sea."
P. 329. _The rare Ballad of Johnnie Faa_:--
"There were seven gipsies in a gang,
They were both brisk and bonny O;
They rode till they came to the Earl of Castle's house,
And here they sang so sweetly O."
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