Robin Hood’s Death (120): “B, though found only in late garlands, is in the fine old strain.” III, 103.
Certain ballads are expressly condemned as not “traditional” or “popular”:
Robin Hood Rescuing Will Stutly (141): “This is a ballad made for print, with little of the traditional in the matter and nothing in the style. It may be considered as an imitation of the Rescue of the Three Squires.” III, 185.
Robin Hood’s Birth, Breeding, etc. (149): “The jocular author of this ballad, who would certainly have been diverted by any one’s supposing him to write under the restraints of tradition....” III, 214.
The Lovely Northerne Lasse (217, Appendix): “There is an English ‘ditty’ (not a traditional ballad) ... which was printed in the first half of the seventeenth century. It is here given in an appendix.” IV, 192.
To these may be added a few examples of less specific condemnation:
The Earl of Mar’s Daughter (270): A Scandinavian ballad and this “are, perhaps, on a par, for barrenness and folly, but the former may claim some age and vogue, the Scottish ballad neither.” V, 39.
The Drunkard’s Legacy (267, Appendix): “The modern ballad ... used by Percy was ‘The Drunkard’s Legacy,’ an inexpressibly pitiable ditty.” V, 12.
John Thomson and the Turk (266): “This ridiculous ballad.” V, 1.
Robin Hood and the Tinker (127): “The fewest words will best befit this contemptible imitation of imitations.” III, 140.