54 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 
At its date of issue, in 1765, and for some time after, the book 
entitled ‘‘ Reliques of Ancient English poetry,” published by Thos. 
Percy, was the best collection of ballads known. Percy was a man 
of literary tastes, who enjoyed the friendship of Garrick, Johnson, 
Shenstone, and other men of note in his day. For a quarter of a 
century he was rector at Easton Maundit, a village near Nottingham, 
and afterwards, by favor of the Duke of Northumberland, he became 
Bishop of Dromore, the see once held by Jeremy Taylor. That 
Percy had qualifications for making a good collection of ballad 
poetry, may be seen from his own song, commencing : 
‘© Oh, Nancy, wilt thou go with me 
“ Nor sigh to leave the flaunting town ? 
‘*Can silent glens have charms for thee 
‘© The lowly cot and russet gown ?” 
Burns said of that song: “It is perhaps the most beautiful 
ballad in the English language.” The first edition of Percy’s book 
contained 176 pieces, 45 of which were taken from an old written 
ballad book. That old manuscript, since become famous, was a 
long, narrow, folio volume, containing 195 songs, ballads, and 
metrical romances. Percy found it on the floor at a friend’s house. 
He was just in time to save it from destruction, as the servants had 
begun to use it for lighting the fire. After Percy’s death, it passed 
into the possession of his son-in-law, and in 1868 was bought for the 
British Museum, where it remains. The handwriting of the old 
ballad book is held by experts to be of the time of the restoration. 
Mr. Furnival, the great authority on such questions of English 
literature, calls it “The foundation document of English balladry.” 
In conjunction with Mr. Hales, Mr. Furnival in 1867-68 printed the 
manuscript in full. Sir Walter Scott acknowledged his obligation to 
Percy’s Reliques, and their influence on his tastes and pursuits. He — 
says: ‘The first time I could scrape a few shillings together I 
bought a copy of these beloved volumes ; nor do I believe that I 
ever read a book half so frequently, or with half the enthusiasm.” 
Shortly after the Reliques were printed for Percy, Joseph 
Ritson published his ‘‘ Ancient Songs and Ballads.” Ritson’s book, 
though printed in 1787, and dated 1790, was not published 
until 1792. It is a collection of ballads, chronologically ar- 
ranged, from the time of Henry the Second to the Revolution ; 
and is edited with great care. Ritson made no _ pretension 
to genius, as that gift is usually explained, but by the 
