[FOREWORD]
[MANDALAY]
[THE FROLICKSOME DUKE]
[THE KNIGHT AND SHEPHERD'S DAUGHTER]
[KING ESTMERE]
[KING JOHN AND THE ABBOT OF CANTERBURY]
[BARBARA ALLEN'S CRUELTY]
[FAIR ROSAMOND]
[ROBIN HOOD AND GUY OF GISBORNE]
[THE BOY AND THE MANTLE]
The source of these ballads will be found in the Appendix at the end
of this book.
LIST OF COLOUR PLATES
[KING ESTMERE]
[BARBARA ALLEN'S CRUELTY]
[FAIR ROSAMOND]
[THE BOY AND THE MANTLE]
[FOREWORD]
By
Beverley Nichols
These poems are the very essence of the British spirit. They are, to
literature, what the bloom of the heather is to the Scot, and the
smell of the sea to the Englishman. All that is beautiful in the old
word "patriotism" ... a word which, of late, has been twisted to such
ignoble purposes ... is latent in these gay and full-blooded measures.
But it is not only for these reasons that they are so valuable to the
modern spirit. It is rather for their tonic qualities that they should
be prescribed in 1934. The post-war vintage of poetry is the thinnest
and the most watery that England has ever produced. But here, in these
ballads, are great draughts of poetry which have lost none of their
sparkle and none of their bouquet.
It is worth while asking ourselves why this should be--why these poems
should "keep", apparently for ever, when the average modern poem turns
sour overnight. And though all generalizations are dangerous I believe
there is one which explains our problem, a very simple one.... namely,
that the eyes of the old ballad-singers were turned outwards, while the
eyes of the modern lyric-writer are turned inwards.