[375]. Heinzel, “Beschreibung d. isländ. Saga,” Sitzungsberichte, Vienna Acad., phil. hist. class, 1897, p. 117.
[376]. Said of the Castilian and Aragonese ballads in Wolf’s Proben portug. u. catalan. Romanzen, Vienna, 1856, p. 6. Here, too, he opposes the idea, presently to be considered, that ballads are degenerate epic or romance.
[377]. A broader account of the origin of ballads is given by Comparetti, Kalewala, pp. 282 f. He refers them to the romantic and chivalric sentiment of the late Middle Ages—beginning, say, with the eleventh century—which passed from the “Romanic-Germanic centre of Europe” into various tongues, was delivered to oral tradition as popular verse, spread and flourished down to the sixteenth century, where it was collected as romancero, romanze, kæmpevise, ballad. But Comparetti neglects the communal conditions.
[378]. Of course it was the revival of learning, the humanistic spirit, dividing lay society into lettered and unlettered, which really broke up the communal ballad.
[379]. Characters, “A Franklin.”
[380]. Brand-Ellis, under Harvest Home. The “mell-supper,” may not derive its name from mesler, as suggested, but the fact is clear enough.
[381]. Grosse, Formen der Familie, pp. 134 f.
[382]. Proben, etc., p. 6, as above, and also p. 31.
[383]. Popular Tales of the West Highlands, new ed., IV. 114 ff.
[384]. Proceedings, Internat. Folk-Lore Congress, 1891, p. 64.