the last of our professed ballad
reciters, died since the publication of the first edition of this
work. He was by profession an itinerant cleaner of clocks and watches;
but, a stentorian voice, and tenacious memory, qualified him eminently
for remembering accurately, and reciting with energy, the border
gathering songs and tales of war. His memory was latterly much
impaired; yet, the number of verses which he could pour forth, and
the animation of his tone and gestures, formed a most extraordinary
contrast to his extreme feebleness of person, and dotage of mind.]

It is chiefly from this latter source that the editor has drawn his
materials, most of which were collected, many years ago, during his
early youth. But he has been enabled, in many instances, to supply
and correct the deficiencies of his own copies, from a collection of
border songs, frequently referred to in the work, under the title of
_Glenriddell's MS_. This was compiled, from various sources, by the
late Mr. Riddell, of Glenriddel, a sedulous border antiquary, and,
since his death, has become the property of Mr. Jollie, bookseller
at Carlisle; to whose liberality the editor owes the use of it, while
preparing this work for the press. No liberties have been taken,
either with the recited or written copies of these ballads, farther
than that, where they disagreed, which is by no means unusual, the
editor, in justice to the author, has uniformly preserved what seemed
to him the best, or most poetical, reading of the passage. Such
discrepancies must very frequently occur, wherever poetry is preserved
by oral tradition; for the reciter, making it a uniform principle to
proceed at all hazards, is very often, when his memory fails him, apt
to substitute large portions from some other tale, altogether distinct
from that which he has commenced. Besides, the prejudices of clans
and of districts have occasioned variations in the mode of telling
the same story. Some arrangement was also occasionally necessary, to
recover the rhyme, which was often, by the ignorance of the reciters,
transposed, or thrown into the middle of the line. With these
freedoms, which were essentially necessary to remove obvious
corruptions, and fit the ballads for the press, the editor presents
them to the public, under the complete assurance, that they carry with
them the most indisputable marks of their authenticity.

The same observations apply to the Second Class, here termed ROMANTIC