Advertisement to the Edition of 1876. ...........................................................................
As early as the year 1794, when only the fourth edition of theReliqueshad
appeared, the Rev. Thomas Percy, acting as assistant-editor to his uncle, the Bishop of
Dromore, hinted at the difficulty attendant upon such a composition as a collection of
poems from a mutilated and incorrect manuscript. At that date Bishop Percy, his
nephew, and a few friends were alone enabled to pass this judgment. To-day,
however, the concealed manuscript is the property of the British Museum, its masterly
edition [1] by Messrs. Hales and Furnivall rests in the hands of the public, and our
knowledge of the original poems enables us to appreciate the extraordinary ingenuity
displayed by the Bishop in his manipulation of the forty-five numbers extracted from
his Folio Manuscript; nor is our admiration for his poetic genius other than redoubled
by the discovery.
The Folio Manuscript itself, which has been too closely connected in the
general mind with the Reliques, considering that the latter contains only about one-
sixth of the contents of the former, is a narrow book, about fifteen and a half inches
long by five and a half wide, which has been torn and cut, and is deficient in many
parts.
It consists of a mass of some two hundred Sonnets, Ballads, Historical Songs,
and Metrical Romances, transcribed, we are assured, "from defective copies, or the
imperfect recitation of illiterate singers; so that a considerable portion of the song or
narrative is sometimes omitted, and miserable trash or nonsense not unfrequently
introduced into pieces of considerable merit."[2]
Mr. Furnivall fixes the date of the handwriting to the year 1650, or
thereabouts, and observes, "The dialect of the copies of the MS. seems to have been
Lancashire."[3] Who this copier may have been still remains a mystery. Percy's
suggestion that it was Thomas Blount has been dismissed as incredible.
Concerning the treatment of the text in Percy's selections, we have Mr.
Furnivall's word that the Reverend Editor "looked upon it as a young woman from the
country with unkempt locks, whom he had to fit for fashionable society."[4]
Be that as it may, the Reliques have admirably served their purpose; they have
passed through at least thirty editions in various parts of the world; they rank among
those works which have supported popularity for more than a century, and they may
make their vaunt of having aroused the "Wizard of the North" to exclaim, "The first
time I could scrape a few shillings together,-- which were not common occurrences
with me,-- I bought unto myself a copy of the beloved volumes; nor do I believe I
ever read a book half so frequently, or with half the enthusiasm."[5]
The endeavour of the present Editor has been in no way critical, nor has his
end in view been the satisfaction of the "judicious antiquary" so much as the desire to
effect a correct reproduction of the Reliques as put forth during Percy's life.
Consequently, the four earliest editions have been carefully collated with the
Folio Manuscript, and with Professor Child's English and Scottish Ballads (edit. 1857,
Boston).
The result is, a refinement and correction of the text, an improvement in the
punctuation, and an enlarged Glossary. A comprehensive Index has also been
prepared.