But spare me as I go,
the conceit (from Martial) “does not overwell suit a popular ballad.”[305] The literary manner is thus to be contrasted with the popular. In Edward (13) “the word ‘brand,’ in the first stanza, is possibly more literary than popular; further than this the language is entirely fit.”[306] Of Earl Brand (7) “A a has suffered less from literary revision than ... A c.”[307] This revision may be illustrated by the following stanza:
To a maiden true he’ll give his hand,
To the king’s daughter o fair England,
To a prize that was won by a slain brother’s hand,
which c substitutes for a 32:
This has not been the death o ane,
But it’s been that of fair seventeen.
version from the English border, has unfortunately been improved by some literary pen.”[308] These improvements consist in part of descriptions of the lady’s states of mind;[309] for example:@
To think of the prisoner her heart was sore,