Popular Ballads of the Olden Time. By Frank Sidgwick. (A.
II. Bullen. Is. 6d. net.)—This volume, the third of the series which is appearing under Mr. Sidgwick's care, contains "Ballads of Scottish Tradition and Romance." It begins with "The Hunting of the Cheviot" and "The Battle of Otterburn," and contains thirty-six in all, including one, "The Jolly Juggler," which Mr. Sidgwick claims to have discovered. The number, however, ought probably to be diminished by one, "Kinmont Willie," which, there is much reason to suppose, was largely written by Sir Walter Scott. It is astonishingly good, but now and then a modern note is discernible:—
" Then on we held for Carlisle toss,
And at Staneshaw bank the Eden we sross'd ; The water was great, and maikle of spad. But the nevir a horse nor man was lost."
The double rhyme here is, as Mr. Sidgwick suggests, a novelty. There are other things in the volume on which the higher criticism might be exercised. Sometimes when the poem, as a whole, is ancient, the new hand shows itself. As we are told in the introduction, which is a good piece of work, "the chances of corruption and contamination are infinite." But, after all, this may be said to give a new interest to these "Popular Ballads."
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