Ballads on historical occurrences apart, most of the plots belong to the mass of folk-tale which is the exclusive possession of no one nation or language. Many ballads tell stories, versions of which are found in almost every known tongue. The explanation of this world wide diffusion of story-material is one of the standing problems of folk-lore; but whatever theory of its cause be adopted, the fact that it is largely from this international treasury that the ballads derive their plots is a strong reason for regarding them as essentially *popular)) in mat ter as well as in manner.
Turning now to the nature of these stories, we find that by far the largest class is concerned with romantic love and its consequences. Many are tragic, the interference of fathers, mothers or brothers being perhaps the commonest cause of the fatal issue. Both in these and in the romantic ballads with happy endings the sym pathy of the audience with the lovers is in general assumed, and in cases of illicit love no moral judgment is passed or suggested. Some of the best are ballads of war by land or sea; and the irregular warfare of the Borderland between England and Scotland has given birth to a number justly famous. The largest group connected with a single personality is that of the Robin Hood ballads. Of these, some like 'A Lytell Geste) and 'Robin Hood and the Monk) represent not only the finest of the out law group, but rank with the best of all ballads. The later members of this group, however, show serious deterioration, and they finally sink into the degradation of broadsides manufactured by printers' hacks. The (Geste) itself is of especial interest as showing a significant stage in the process by which ballads are combined in the formation of the popular epic. In it four or more distinguishabi! ballad plots are woven to gether to form a miniature epic, the interweav ing being clearly the work of a conscious artist who at the same time was in full sympathy with the popular spirit. The supernatural also plays an important part in the ballads, and it is possi ble to gather from them much inforrnation as to popular belief on such themes as fairies, witches, the return of the dead, transformation by enchantment and the like.
The number of extant ballads in English may be gathered from the great final collection of Professor Child. Here, ignoring variants, we have 305, most of which are popular in the sense which has been defined, i.e., they fulfil these conditions, that even if written each by an individual author, that author belonged to the people, drew his material from the common stock of folk-tales, wrote in the popular spirit, and used the traditional method, had his product accepted by the folk and passed on and modified by them through centuries of oral transmission. Some few such as (The Boy and the Mantle,' (King Arthur and King Cornwall,) and 'The Marriage of Sir Gawain,) are closely associated with metri cal romances, and are usually regarded as writ ten by minstrels for more courtly -audiences, but are yet enough in the popular style to justify their inclusion as ballads. More are traditional ballads corrupted for the printing press and represented by broadside versions because no purer form has survived. And in
the case of almost every ballad surviving in several versions, some versions show a higher degree of purity from literary editing than others.
The localities from which the ballads have been gathered are widely scattered, versions of several having been picked up in America. But Scotland claims about two-thirds of the whole.
Spain possesses the richest ballad literature of all Latin peoples. The Serbians still main tain in popular use ballads of a primitive kind, whic.h have long since disappeared in other Occidental nations more under the influence of modern civilization. In Germany the oldest extant ballad, the (Hildbrandslied) dates from the 8th century. Ballad literature flourished there, reaching its highest point about the year 1300 and lasting until the 16th century, when a rapid decline set in. It was revived during the 19th century and aroused great literary interest.
Bibliography.—The completion of F. J. Child's exhaustive (English and Scottish Popu lar Ballads) (5 vols., Boston 1882-98), with its bibliographies and full account of the sources, makes unnecessary a list of previous less com prehensive collections. Every known version of every extant ballad in any English dialect was intended to be included by the editor, and little or nothing has escaped lum. The introductions give an account of parallels and analogues throughout the world. An abridged collection has been edited by H. C. Sargent and G, L. Kittredge (1 vol., Boston 1904). On the clues tion of origins, consult F. B. Gurnmere, 'Old English Ballads) (Boston 1894) ; (The Popular Baflad) (New York 1907) • (Democracy and Poetry) (ib. 1911) ; (The Beginnings of Poetry) (ib. 1904) ; (The Popular Ballad) (Boston 1907) • T. F. Henderson's edition of Scott's (kinstrelsy of the Scottish Border) (Edinburgh 1902) and his (Scottish Vernacular Literature) (Chap. xi, London 1£398) and Courthope's (History of English Poetry) (Vol. I). An excellent condensed statement of the whole matter by G. L. Kittredge forms the introduction to the one-volume edition of Child's collection. American ballads were col lected by J. A. Lomax in the volume (Cowboy Songs) (New York 1911). Of Spanish ballads the best collections are Marin (Cantos popo : lares espafioles' (5 vols., Madrid 1883) ; (Bibli oteca de las tradiciones popolares) (11 vols., Seville 1883). Consult also Bohl von Faber, (Floresta de rimas antiguas Castellanas' (3 vols., Hamburg 1825) ; Balaguer, (Historia de los Trovadores) (Madrid 1888) ; Lockhart, (Ancient Spanish Ballads) (London 1823) ; Fitzmaurice Kelly, (History of Spanish Litera ture) (New York 11398). For the Serbian con sult Bowring, (Serbian Popular Poetry) (Lon don 1827) ; Kapper, (Volkslieder der Serben) (Leipzig 1853) ; Krauss, (Sagen und Mirchen der Sfidslaven) (Leipzig 1884). For the Ger man consult Uhland, (Alte hoch und nieder deutsche Volkslieder) (4 vols., 3d ed., Leipzig 1892) ; Robertson, (History.of German Litera ture) (Edinburgh 1902) ; Scherer, (Die schon sten deutschen Volkslieder) (Leipzig 1868) ; Vogt and Koch, (Geschichte der deutscher Lit teratur) (2 vols., ib. 1904).