CHAPTER IX. EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY LITERATURE
(1700-1800)probably influenced him in this. First, the different versions
of the same ballad varied greatly; and Percy, in changing
them to suit himself, took the same liberty as had many other
writers in dealing with the same material. Second; Percy was
under the influence of Johnson and his school, and thought it
necessary to add a few elegant ballads "to atone for the rude-
ness of the more obsolete poems." That sounds queer now,
used as we are to exactness in dealing with historical and lit-
erary material; but it expresses the general spirit of the age in
which he lived.
Notwithstanding these drawbacks, Percy’sReliquesmarks
an epoch in the history of Romanticism, and it is difficult
to measure its influence on the whole romantic movement.
Scott says of it, "The first time I could scrape a few shillings
together, I bought myself a copy of these beloved volumes;
nor do I believe I ever read a book half so frequently, or with
half the enthusiasm." Scott’s own poetry is strongly modeled
upon these early ballads, and hisMinstrelsy of the Scottish Bor-
deris due chiefly to the influence of Percy’s work.
Besides theReliques, Percy has given us another good work
in hisNorthern Antiquities(1770) translated from the French
of Mallet’sHistory of Denmark. This also was of immense
influence, since it introduced to English readers a new and
fascinating mythology, more rugged and primitive than that
of the Greeks; and we are still, in music as in letters, under
the spell of Thor and Odin, of Frea and the Valkyr maidens,
and of that stupendous drama of passion and tragedy which
ended in the "Twilight of the Gods." The literary world owes
a debt of gratitude to Percy, who wrote nothing of importance
himself, but who, by collecting and translating the works of
other men, did much to hasten the triumph of Romanticism
in the nineteenth century.