It is a somewhat sad fact—fact it is, that the ballad is at its last gasp among us. It has gone through several phases, and it has now reached the last, when it disappears altogether.
The ballad was anciently a story set to music, and music to which the feet could move in dance. The ballet is the dance to which the ballad was sung. It was not always danced to, but it always could be danced to. It was of great length, but not too long for light hearts or light feet on a threshing-floor. The ballad was accommodated to the exigencies of the dance, by being given a burden, or bourdon, a drone that was sung by the young men, when no bagpipe was there. This burden appears in numerous ballads, and has usually no reference to the story told by the singers, and when printed is set in italics. In the scene in the “Winter’s Tale,” already quoted, the servant alludes to these burdens, “He has the prettiest love-songs for maids—with such delicate burdens of ‘dildos and fadings.’”
Thus:—
“There was a lady in the North country,
Lay the bent to the bonny broom,
And she had lovely daughters three,
Fa, la la la; fa, la la la ra re.”
or:—
“There were three sisters fair and bright,
Jennifer, Gentle, and Rosemaree,