Scotsmen were not likely to sit down tamely under an accusation by which their principal ballad treasures were thus stigmatized as false gems, and we find that several writers immediately took up their pens to refute the calumny. It will be seen that the charge is divided into two distinct parts, and it will be well to avoid mixing them together, and to consider each part separately.
I. Certain ballads, generally supposed to be genuine, were really written by one person, in imitation of the antique.
II. The author of this deceit was Lady Wardlaw, the writer of Hardyknute.
I. The ballads in the Reliques, which are instanced by Chambers, are as follows:—
- Sir Patrick Spence.
- Gil Morrice.
- Edward! Edward!
- Jew's Daughter.
- Gilderoy.
- Young Waters.
- Edom o' Gordon.
- Bonny Earl of Murray.
Two of these (2 and 7) are in the Folio MS., which was written before Lady Wardlaw was born; Edom o' Gordon also exists in another old MS. copy; Gilderoy (5) is known to have been a street ballad, and the remainder are found in other copies. It is not necessary to discuss each of these cases separately, and we shall therefore reserve what we have to say for the special consideration of Sir Patrick Spence.
Before proceeding, we must first consider how far Chambers's previous knowledge of ballad literature prepared him for this inquiry; and we cannot rate that knowledge very highly, for in his Collection of Scottish Songs, he actually attributes Wotton's Ye Meaner Beauties to Darnley, and supposes Mary Queen of Scots to have been the subject of the author's praises. At this period also his scepticism had not been aroused, for all the ballads that he thought spurious in 1859 had been printed by him in 1829 as genuine productions.
To return to the main Point at issue. Chambers writes:—