[64] First edition of the Minstrelsy, Vol. II, pp. 156-7.
[65] Edinburgh Review, January, 1803.
[66] The Minstrelsy is arranged in three parts: I., Historical Ballads; II., Romantic Ballads; III., Imitations of the Ballad. The first part is preceded by the Introductory Remarks on Popular Poetry, and by the historical introduction. The second part is preceded by the essay on The Fairies of Popular Superstition; and the third by the essay on Imitations of the Ancient Ballad. The poems by Scott given in this third part are as follows: Thomas the Rhymer (parts 2 and 3), Glenfinlas, The Eve of St. John, Cadyow Castle, The Gray Brother, War Song of the Royal Edinburgh Light Dragoons. Besides these there are three poems by John Leyden (and he has also an Ode on Scottish Music preceding the Romantic ballads), two by C.K. Sharpe, three by John Marriott, who was tutor to the children of the Duke of Buccleuch, and one each by Matthew Lewis, Anna Seward, Dr. Jamieson, Colin Mackenzie, J.B.S. Morritt, and an unnamed author. In the other parts of the book there are a few imitations, notably the three by Surtees—Lord Ewine, the Death of Featherstonhaugh, and Barthram's Dirge, which Scott supposed were old; and one or two like the Flowers of the Forest, which he noted as largely modern, or which he had found, after arranging his material, to be wholly modern. Nearly forty old ballads were published in the Minstrelsy for the first time.
[67] Remarks on Popular Poetry, conclusion.
[68] Review of the Poems of William Herbert. Edinburgh Review, October, 1806.
[69] Stanzas 10-12, and 31, are noted by Child as particularly suspicious. "Basnet," which occurs in stanza 10, is not a very common word in ballads. It is used in The Lay, Canto I., stanza 25, and in Marmion, Canto VI, st. 21.
[70] Lockhart, Vol. I, p. 221.
[71] Memoir of William Taylor, Vol. I, pp. 98-99, and see Sharpe's Correspondence, Vol. I, pp. 146-7, for a letter to Sharpe on a similar point.
[72] Minstrelsy, Introduction to Lord Thomas and Fair Annie.
[73] Lockhart, Vol. I, p. 101.