3 JUNE 1922, Page 24

English and Scottish 'Popular Ballads. Edited by Helen Child Sargent

and George L. Kittredge. (Harrap. 15s. net.)— This selection of ballads from Professor Child's great work will be welcomed by the general reader. With few exceptions, one or more versions are given of the three hundred and five distinct ballads contained in the Child collection. Of course, Professor Child sometimes gives as many as twenty-eight versions of one ballad and adds to each a full historical and bibliographical introduction. Again, he supplies elaborate indexes and a col- lection of folk tunes. This apparel= critic= could not possibly

lie included in one volume, and in its place the editors offer brief but informative introductions in which they have retained, where possible, Professor Child's own words. A complete list of sources, some concise notes in which specimens of other versions of the ballads are given, and good indexes add greatly to the book's usefulness.