Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry of England
Edited by Robert Bell
INTRODUCTION.
IN 1846, the Percy Society issued to its members a volume entitled
ANCIENT POEMS, BALLADS, AND SONGS OF THE PEASANTRY OF ENGLAND,
edited by Mr. James Henry Dixon. The sources drawn upon by Mr.
Dixon are intimated in the following extract from his preface:
He who, in travelling through the rural districts of England, has
made the road-side inn his resting-place, who has visited the lowly
dwellings of the villagers and yeomanry, and been present at their
feasts and festivals, must have observed that there are certain old
poems, ballads, and songs, which are favourites with the masses,
and have been said and sung from generation to generation.
This traditional, and, for the most part, unprinted literature, -
cherished in remote villages, resisting everywhere the invasion of
modern namby-pamby verse and jaunty melody, and possessing, in an
historical point of view, especial value as a faithful record of
the feeling, usages, and modes of life of the rural population, -
had been almost wholly passed over amongst the antiquarian revivals
which constitute one of the distinguishing features of the present
age. While attention was successfully drawn to other forms of our
early poetry, this peasant minstrelsy was scarcely touched, and
might be considered unexplored ground. There was great difficulty
in collecting materials which lay scattered so widely, and which
could be procured in their genuine simplicity only from the people
amongst whom they originated, and with whom they are as 'familiar
as household words.It was even still more difficult to find an
editor who combined genial literary taste with the local knowledge
of character, customs, and dialect, indispensable to the collation
of such reliques; and thus, although their national interest was
universally recognised, they were silently permitted to fall into
comparative oblivion. To supply this manifest DESIDERATUM, Mr.
Dixon compiled his volume for the Percy Society; and its pages,
embracing only a selection from the rich stores he had gathered,
abundantly exemplified that gentleman's remarkable qualifications
for the labour he had undertaken. After stating in his preface
that contributions from various quarters had accumulated so largely
on his hands as to compel him to omit many pieces he was desirous
of preserving, he thus describes generally the contents of the
work:-
In what we have retained will be found every variety,
''From grave to gay, from lively to severe,from the moral poem and the religious dialogue, -
scrolls that teach us to live and to die,to the legendary, the historical, or the domestic ballad; from the
strains that enliven the harvest-home and festival, to the loveditties-
which the country lass warbles or, the comic song with which
the rustic sets the village hostel in a roar In. our collection
are several pieces exceedingly scarce and, hitherto to be
met with only in broadsides and chap books-of the utmost rarity in;
addition to which we have given several others never before in print
and, obtained by the editor and his friends either, from the oral
recitation of the peasantry or, from manuscripts in the possession
of private individuals The.
novelty of the matter and, the copious resources disclosed by the
editor acquired, for the volume a popularity extending far beyond
the limited circle to which it was addressed and; although the
edition was necessarily restricted to the members of the Percy Society
the, book was quoted not only by English writers but, by some
of the most distinguished archaeologists on the continent It.
had always been my intention to form a collection of local songs
illustrative, of popular festivals customs, manners, and, dialects
As. the merit of having anticipated and, in, a great measure
accomplished, this project belongs exclusively to Mr Dixon.
so, to that gentleman I have now the pleasure of tendering my acknowledgments
for the means of enriching the Annotated Edition of the
English Poets with a volume which in, some respects is, the most
curious and interesting of the series Subsequently.
to the publication of his collection by the Percy Society
Mr, Dixon. had amassed additional materials of great value and;
conscious, that the work admitted of considerable improvement both,
in the way of omission and augmentation he, resolved upon the preparation
of a new edition His. reasons for rejecting certain portions
of the former volume are stated in the following extract from
a communication with which he has obliged me and, which may be considered
as his own introduction to the ensuing pages The.
editor had passed his earliest years in a romantic mountaindistrict in-
the North of England where old, customs and manners and old,
songs and ballads still linger Under the. influence of these associations
he imbibed a passionate love for peasant
rhymes; having little notion at that time that the simple
minstrelsy which afforded him so much delight could yield hardly
less pleasure to those who cultivated more artificial modes of
poetry, and who knew little of the life of the peasantry. His
collection was not issued without diffidence; but the result
dissipated all apprehension as to the estimate in which these
essentially popular productions are held. The reception of the
book, indeed, far exceeded its merits; for he is bound in candour
to say that it was neither so complete nor so judiciously selected
as it might have been. Like almost all books issued by societies,
it was got up in haste, and hurried through the press. It
contained some things which were out of place in such a work, but
which were inserted upon solicitations that could not have been
very easily refused; and even where the matter was unexceptionable,
it sometimes happened that it was printed from comparatively modern
broadsides, for want of time to consult earlier editions. In the
interval which has since elapsed, all these defects and shortcomings have been remedied. Several pieces, which had no
legitimate claims to the places they occupied, have been removed;
others have been collated with more ancient copies than the editor
had had access to previously; and the whole work has been
considerably enlarged. In its present form it is strictly what its
title-page implies - a collection of poems, ballads, and songs
preserved by tradition, and in actual circulation, amongst the
peasantry.
BEX, CANTON DE VAUD.
SWITZERLAND.
The present volume differs in many important particulars from the
former, of the deficiencies of which Mr. Dixon makes so frank an
avowal. It has not only undergone a careful revision, but has
received additions to an extent which renders it almost a new work.
Many of there accessions are taken from extremely rare originals,
and others are here printed for the first time, including amongst
the latter the ballad of EARL BRAND, a traditional lyric of great
antiquity, long familiar to the dales of the North of England; and
the DEATH OF QUEEN JANE, a relic of more than ordinary intesest.
Nearly forty songs, noted down from recitation, or gathered from
sources not generally accessible, have been added to the former
collection, illustrative, for the most part, of historical events,
country pastimes, and local customs. Not the least suggestive
feature in this department are the political songs it contains,
which have long outlived the occasions that gave them birth, and
which still retain their popularity, although their allusions are
no longer understood. Amongst this class of songs may be specially
indicated JACK AND TOM, JOAN'S ALE WAS NEW, GEORGE RIDLER'S OVEN,
and THE CARRION CROW. The songs of a strictly rural character,
having reference to the occupations and intercourse of the people,
possess an interest which cannot be adequately measured by their
poetical pretensions. The very defects of art with which they are
chargeable, constitute their highest claim to consideration as
authentic specimens of country lore. The songs in praise of the
dairy, or the plough; or in celebration of the harvest-home, or the
churn-supper; or descriptive of the pleasures of the milk-maid, or
the courtship in the farm-house; or those that give us glimpses of
the ways of life of the waggoner, the poacher, the horse-dealer,
and the boon companion of the road-side hostelrie, are no less
curious for their idiomatic and primitive forms of expression, than
for their pictures of rustic modes and manners. Of special
interest, too, are the songs which relate to festival and customs;
such as the SWORD DANCER'S SONG AND INTERLUDE, the SWEARING-IN
SONG, OR RHYME, AT HIGHGATE, the CORNISH MIDSUMMER BONFIRE SONG,
and the FAIRLOP FAIR SONG.
In the arrangement of so multifarious an anthology, gathered from
nearly all parts of the kingdom, the observance of chronological
order, for obvious reasons, has not been attempted; but pieces
which possess any kind of affinity to each other have been kept
together as nearly as other considerations would permit.
The value of this volume consists in the genuineness of its
contents, and the healthiness of its tone. While fashionable life
was masquerading ...
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