File:The rise of the ballad in the eighteenth century (1911) (14801997313).jpg

Identifier: riseofballadinei00heni (find matches)
Title: The rise of the ballad in the eighteenth century
Year: 1911 (1910s)
Authors: Henion, Lora Atkins
Subjects: Ballads Theses
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Contributing Library: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

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the eighteenth ;ind nineteenth centuries. The ballad seldom has a date for compositionthat may be definitely ascertained. The reason for thisis obvious. The ballad was not composed at one time, any-more than by one author. As it was orally transmitted,it v/as natural for changes to be made, and not until itwas printed, did it cease to change. A v/ord should be said regarding the broad-side. It usually consisted of a single large sheet,printed on one side only, and often without division intocolumns. As representing an outburst of popular feeling,it v/as m.ost commonly employed during the Civil War, andseems to have reached its culminating point in the timeof James II. ?rom that period, with the increase in thenumber of nev/spapers and the liberty of tho^press, itgradually died out, though still numerous even under theGeorges. Some seemingly true ballads have been printedin the form of broadsides. These printed broadsides are —0000 Definition of broadside from Universal Engyclopedia.
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liable to acoidents v/hioh shorten their existence, and wetherefore owe much to the collectors who have saved some of them from destruction. p Cottagers pasted broadside ballads on theirwalls, and sometimes collected them into bundles, Motherwellhad heard that in some parts of Stirlinfjshire a collierslibrary consists of four books,-the Confession of Paith,the Bible, Sir .Villiam Jallace, and a b^mdle of ballads.When ballads were intended for the exclusive use of theordinary ballad buyers they were printed in black letter,a type that v/as thus retained for more than a century afterit had gone out of use for other purposes. The black letterliterature seems to hcive been collected by antiquaries,rather than by ballad lovers who desired it for its power orbeauty. In the eighteenth century, we find many so-calledballads which will not stand the tests by v/hich we knowthe real or minstrel ballads, cis Percy calls them. Theprofessional ballad writer gives a reason for everything —0000—

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