New-York tribune., 1911-03-04
BORDER BALLADS
Andrew Lang to the Rescue OF
Sir Walter.
SIR WALTER SCOTT AND THE BOR
Svo. pp. 157. Longmans, Green & co.

SIR WALTER SCOTT AND THE BOR-
DER MINSTRELSY. BY Andrew Lang
Svo, PIP. 157. Longmans, Green d 90
Did Sir Walter Scott unduly edit GER
tain Border ballads, transposing, adding
TO. and perverting in fashion distract
ing TO the true lover of olden song? And
did he write himself in its entirety that
stirring ballad Of "Kinmont Willy? A
recent critic, Colonel Elliot to Wit. has
made charges of this sort against the
great Scot, and now comes to the de-
fence the ever acute. sprightly and ac-
curate Andrew Lang. When Andrew
of the brindled hair marshals facts they
march TO the front like so many men
at arms, and the enemy might as well
blench and flee. Did Scott fake Aud
Maitland? No, says his doughty de-
fender. he did not; "he edited 1t with
unusual scrupulosity." That this is the
truth no one who follows Mr.. Lang s
carefully gathered reasonings will deny.
AS for Colonel Elliots charge that Scott
cor somebody" "made up 'Otterburne
partly of stanzas from Percy's Reliques,'
which have undergone emendations CAL
culated to disguise the source from
which they came, partly of stanzas or
modern fabrication and partly OF few
stanzas and lines from Herds version
Mr.. Lang leaves not one stone upon an
ether.
Colonel Elliot believes that in the bal
lads Of Jamie Teller" Scott changed the
theme TO glorify Buccleuch at the ex-
pense of the Elliots-here Mr.. Lang ad-
mits that for lack Of manuscripts he
must present prosumptions. But his pre-
sumptions are not without support.
Scott's share in "Knmont Willy his
champion declares. is also matter of pre-
sumption, not of proof. He shows that
there were traces of a genuine Kinmont
ballad. though an indefinite quantity
of it. and Improvements on the rest
are Scott's." Our author was never
more amusing and convincing than In
this volume We owe him gratitude for
a tour de force which he offers in con-
clusion. He recalls Professor kittredge's s
opinion that the traditional ballad ap-
pears 20 be inimitable" to-day, the ef-
forts of poets and poetasters' ending in
"invariabie failure" See met says
Lang. in effect-and he prints three bal
lads of his own, and doubts If Mr.. Kit
tredge can find any points In the imlta-
tions (which infallibly betray their
modernity." Let the reader judge. Here
is one of them:
THE YOUNG RUTHNEN.
The King has gi'en the Queen a gift,
For her May-day's propine.,
He's ei'en her a band O. the diamond
stane.
Set i'm the seller fine.
The Queen she walked in Falkland yaird,
Beside the hollans green,
And there she saw the bonniest man
That ever her eyes had seen
His coat was the Ruthven white and red,
Sac sound asleep was he pu,.
The Queen she cried on May BeatrlA,
That bonny lad TO see.
oh wha sleeps here, May BeatriX,
without the leave O me-
on wha sud it be but my young brother
FIae PadUa over the sea
my father was the Earl Gowre,
An Earl o. high degree.
But they hae slain him by fause treason
AT Padua hae they learned their leir
In the fields o Ialie:
And they hae crossed the saut a-faem,
And a FOR love o. me-.
The Queen has cruist her siller band
About his craig o Snaw.
But still he slept and naething kenned,
Aneth the hollans shaw.
The King was walking thro the yard,
lie saw the siller shine;
| And wha" quo he, is This caliard
That wears yoa siit o mine:
The King has game till the Queens ain
An angry man that day;
But bye there cam May BeariX
| And stole the band away.
And she's run in by the little black yeti.
Straight ull the Queen ran She:
"Oh tax ye back your siiler band.
or II gar my brother dec
The Queen has linked her siller band
About her middle sma';
And then she heard her ain Eudcman
Come sounding through the ha'.
"Oh, WHARF" he cried is the sillcr band
| Eied Sc late yastresn:
The KNOBS was a a. the diamond stare.
ee: I'm the sillcr sheen 80
"Ye hae cauped birlng al the vino.
A NIGHT Jll the dav Gid dGW,
or ye wad your siler hard
About my middle sma
Tho King le stude the King he gowcrod.
sac hard rs a man mcht stare.
"Dcil lee me- Like Is RIGHT III mark --
or saw II ithcrwhere'
Il saw IL round young Ruthvon's neck
- he lay sleeping Still
And, foith, but The wine was wondrouS
gild.
Ther" was IA game a week. week,
A week bat barely three.
| Tho King has bounded John Ramsey OUT,
TO gar young Iluthyen dee
They took him in hts brothers. house.
Nav sword was in mis- hand
And they hac slain nim youth Euthvcn,
The bunnicst IN The land,
And they hae slain his fair brother,
And laid him on the green.
And "a for a hand O the siiier fine
And blink a The eye % the Queen
Oh, had they set him man 90 man.
on even ac men % three,
There was ma knight o the Ramsey
hlud.
Had .ar Earl Gowrie dee!