New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-07-01
BALLADS ON AMERICA
This Country in Old English
Popular Song.

"An American Garland: Being q Col
lection of Ballads Relating to America,
1563-1759," is the title OF a work edited,
with introduction and notes, by Protes-
sor G. II. Firth, of Oxford. Reviewing
this book, the Literary Supplement Of
The London Times" begins:
"The number of examples now in eX-
istence," says Professor Firth, "of
black letter ballads printed during the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
can scarcely be less than about ten
thousand. Of the more popular there
are many copies and several different
editions, so that if the duplicates are
deducted the total would be reduced to
four or five thousand. II is surprising
that so few of them deal with the new
countries which English sailors spent
so much pains 70 explore, and where so
many Englishmen found homes and
built new states"
In this Garland the editor has col
lected the most notable of these few
ballads relating TO the New World. and
has shown how the energies of the eX-
plorer, the colOnist and the builder of
empire were reflected in the vague pop
ular mind. Some of the larger aims Of
the builders Of Greater Britain do find
expression even among tho dOgCcrel
poets. Eve hope 10 plant q nation
where none before hath stood" sings,
or says, one Of them. But for the most
part they are preoccupied with the dis
comforts and disappOintmcnts Of the
process of settlement The ballad
makers were tire journalists of the
heroic age Of England. and they loved
realistic detail. Even Thomas Church
yard, who had no less a hero 10 cele-
I - 3.
concerned chiefly with the hardships
and perils OF the voyagers In his
poem of 1888, quoted by Professor
Firth, he pays tribute to the courage
and faith which inspired Gilbert's en-
f terprisc. These men, he says, lived in
wealth and credit at home, yet they
were willing to risk all for fame and
adventure:
This strange adiew Of yours doth argue
noble harts;
And in your brestes are noble CITIES,
and many noble parts.
Then he draws a picture Of the life
they have chosen for themselves:
They fare along the seas, they ssyle
and tide IL out
They hale ard stretch the shea.es aloft,
they toy!e, and dread no doubt
They feele on biskit hard, and drinck
but simple Deere.
Salt becfe and stock-Gsh dric as kecke,
is now their greatest checre.
And still a fulsome smell of pitch and
tarre they fccle;
And when sea-sickc God wot) they are,
about the shppc they reele.
Churchyerd is am ordinary kind OF
poet~ but he understands his subject
4 more amusing admiNture Of moral
and material considerations is found in
the satirica! ballad on the Puritan Set
tiers in New England:
There flights Of Fowl do cloud the
light.
Great Turkies Of sixty pound in weight,
As big as Estriges; there Geese
Arc sold with thanks for pence a piece;
OF Duck and Nailard. Widgeon. Tealc.
Twenty for two-pcnce make mcale;
Yea. and q Church Unspottcd pure.
Within whose bosome all are sure.
The church, in this ballad. is confined
10 the refrain. while the verses enlarge
on the material comforts 90 be enjoyed
by the elect. All the ballads selected
by Professor Firth TO illustrate Puri-
tan colonization are more or less satiri-
cal, not, we may be sure because the
editor rejected others of higher mood.
but because no others were 20 be found.
Some twenty-five ballads arc col
lcctcd i'm this Garland: among them
they set forth almost an the aspects Of
the New World as il appealed 10 the
English mind during two centuries Of
our history. First come the gentlemen