The English Lyric 27 



a literature of minstrel balladry. It antedated and persisted 

 through the major development. In it we see crystal-clear the 

 various facets of English character, — the turn that leads to 

 Puritanism, the metaphorical idealism, grim repression alternat- 

 ing with fancy free. As with the old epic and recitative, harp 

 accompaniment was long essential; but at the same time the 

 words were beaten into finer rhythms and rimes and metres — a 

 music of their own. Again, the moral of the tale, the ethos 

 of the literature, maintained itself ; but together with much 

 poignancy of mood. In the English ballad, in short, we have 

 a form half way between ethnic chant and the lyric flower of 

 civilization. 



I am aware that there is some present-day cavil against the 

 autochthonous character and origin of our balladry, companioned 

 with depreciation of its literary quality. Rechauffe is the term 

 applied, the ballad being viewed as consequence and expression 

 of an enervated Medievalism, the ballad-maker being reckoned 

 akin to the modern decadent. 4 I conceive that the broad com- 

 parative studies and keenly critical analysis of such men as 

 Francis Gummere have finally ' laid ' this spectre. " The min- 

 strel of more romantic associations had nothing to do with the 

 making of those typical ballads of tradition which form the 

 bulk and give the quality in any collection of note," he tells us. 

 While it is not for me to judge the contention, the interpreta- 

 tion of balladry lying in my interest applies whether it be con- 

 ceived as the product of a dying guild of Medieval poets or — 

 what the evidence favors — the untaught expression of the com- 

 mon folk preserved in " household and communal memory." 



What is crucial is to know tlxat the ballad was really popu- 

 lar and did lay vigorous hold upon the imagination of the race. 

 This we are sure of at least from the day when Langland's par- 

 son mastered " rymes of Robin Hood " in place of ritual ; and 

 for the rest, I conceive that one reference, ' transcribed from the 

 singing of a milkmaid ' or ' taken from the lips of a very old 

 countryman,' is worth some volumes of critical exposition, — cer- 

 tainly it precludes a doctrine of cult in ballad appreciation. Fur- 



4 G. Gregory Smith, The Transition Period, Ch. VI. 



369 



