cated versions as were given in the _Reliques_, and the exact
transcript of everything to be gathered from tradition, whether
interesting or not, that was attempted by Ritson. In his later revisions
he gave way more than at first to his natural impulse in favor of the
added graces which he could supply.[48]

It is easy to see how his own contributions of word and phrase might
slip in, since his avowed method was to collate the different texts
secured from manuscripts or recitation or both, and so to give what to
his mind was the worthiest version. Believing that the ballads had been
composed by men not unlike himself, he assumed, in the manner well known
to classical text-critics, that his familiarity with the conditions of
the ancient social order gave him some license for changing here and
there a word or a line. In determining which stanzas or lines to choose,
when choice was possible, he was guided by his antiquarian knowledge and
by the general principle of selecting the most poetic rendering among
those at his command. This was his way of showing his respect for the
minstrel bards of whom he was fond of considering himself a successor.

So far it is perfectly easy to take his point of view. But it is more
difficult to reconcile his practice with his professions. We find this
declaration in the forefront of the book: "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 rendering of the passage.... 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."[49]
In the face of this fair announcement we are surprised, to say the
least, at the number of lines and stanzas which scholars have discovered
to be of Scott's own composition.[50]

Occasionally his notes give some slight indication of his method of
treatment, as for instance this, on _The Dowie Dens of Yarrow_: "The
editor found it easy to collect a variety of copies; but very d