1890.] NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 135 



immigrants, but also in families of the purest English stock, 

 have evident connection with practices and beliefs widely ex- 

 tended among savage tribes. It was therefore necessary to ex- 

 tend the term folk-lore so as to cover these. There was some 

 protest against these, inasmuch as the name folk belongs properly 

 to races in which isolated tribes have been amalgamated into 

 something resembling a nation. But this difficulty could not be 

 allowed to prevent a convenient inclusion. So the expression 

 came to be used, first, in a definite sense, as including tales, be- 

 liefs, and practices now retained among the unlettered peasantry 

 of Europe ; secondly, with a wider connotation, as embracing tra- 

 ditionary tales, customs, and usages of uncivilized races. In its 

 broader meaning, therefore, folk-lore is a part of anthropology 

 and ethnography, embracing the mental side of primitive life, 

 with especial reference to the narratives in which beliefs and 

 habits are related or accounted for. 



The subject has two sides, the aesthetic or literary aspect, and 

 the scientific aspect. Remarks were made on folk-lore from 

 each of these points of view. 



In treating of the literary side of folk-lore, the lecturer took 

 his illustration from English ballads. The character of the bal- 

 lad as a dance-song (late Latin hallare, to dance) was pointed 

 out, and it was shown that dancing in couples, as a mere mode 

 of motion, was comparatively modern. According to more an- 

 cient usage, a dance Avas a dramatic performance, setting forth 

 a story, which was related in a song serving to guide the move- 

 ment. An illustration of this custom was still to be seen in the 

 "ring-games" of children. The date of collection of English 

 ballads, and the periods of their composition, formed the theme 

 of observations. It was shown that the circumstance of the late 

 recording of many ancient ballads in Scotland, had led to the er- 

 roneous supposition that Scotland had possessed a distinctively 

 national song, unlike that of England, — the fact being that so- 

 called Scottish ballads were only dialectic survivals of songs 

 formerly common to all parts of Great Britain. For the origin 

 of these compositions it is necessary to look beyond the limits 

 -of the English speech, mediaeval ballads not being the property 

 of any one European country, but in a measure a common stock. 



The qualities which rendered these songs of interest were re- 

 marked on, and popularity, simplicity, and antiquity were named 

 as constituting the charm of the ballad. What has been repeated 

 for centuries, has passed from lip to lip, and formed the joy of 

 all classes, must stand on a different level from sentences penned 

 for a chosen few. Ballads show that there was a period in which 

 the medifeval noble and the media?val serf stood nearly on the 

 same intellectual level. These compositions serve as a perpetual 



