Professor Kith ge, of Harvard, with the help of the
late Mrs. Child Sargent, has published the present volume, which gives generally two, and sometimes more, versions of the three hundred and five ballads in the original work. In Professor Child's volume sometimes as many as twenty-eight versions of one ballad is given. In the book before us there are explanatory notes, a glossary, and an introduction by Professor Kittredge. Of the grandeur of the finest of the old ballads it is needless to speak. Merely to name Glasgerion, Army of Rock Royal, Clerk Saunders, or the Wife of Usher's Well is to raise a thrill of emotion. It is curious to note that a version of the last-named ballad exists taken down by a lady of North Carolina, "who notes that it has long been sung by the poor whites' in the mountains of Polk County in that State." The version has not the magic of one generally known, but it is remarkable for its preservation of a mediaeval atmosphere. It was, no doubt, often a hard task for the editors to decide which of the many versions of a particular ballad they were to choose. Sometimes we may regret that some particular favourite has not been selected, but the interest and charm of the book are immense. The book is one for students, for in it the texts are reproduced exactly with their outspoken directness, in which incidents are not softened and refined as in the case of more modern works.
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