, indeed, insult his
accuracy and care. But in the case of texts from the Percy Folio, where
the labour is rather to decipher than to transcribe accurately, I have
resorted not only to the reprint of Hales and Furnivall, but to the
Folio itself. The whimsical spelling of this MS. pleases me as often as
it irritates, and I have ventured in certain ballads, _e.g._
_Glasgerion_, to modernise it, and in others, _e.g._ _Old Robin of
Portingale_, to retain it _literatim_: in either case I have reduced to
uniformity the orthography of the proper names. Transcripts from other
MSS. are reproduced as they stand.

In the general Introduction I have tried to sketch the genesis and
history of the ballad impartially in its several aspects, not for
scholars and connoisseurs, but for those ready to learn. To supply
deficiencies, I have added a list of books useful to the student of
English ballads--to go no further afield. Each ballad also is prefaced
with an introduction setting forth, besides the source of the text, as
succinctly as is consistent with accuracy, the derivation, when known,
of the story; the plot of similar foreign ballads; and points of
interest in folklore, history, or criticism attached to the particular
ballad. Where the story is fragmentary, I have added an argument. It
will be realised that such introductions at the best are but a
thousandth part of what might be written; but if they shall play the
part of _hors d'oeuvres_, and whet the appetite to proceed to more solid
food, the labour will not be lost.

Difficulties in the text are explained in footnotes. Few things are more
vexatious to a reader than constant reference to a glossary; but as
compensation for the educational value thus lost, the footnotes are, to
a certain extent, progressive; that is to say, a word already explained
in a foregoing ballad is not always explained again; and to the best of
my ability I have freed the notes from the grotesque blunders observable
in most modern editions of ballads.

Besides my indebtedness to the books mentioned in the bibliographical
list, I have to acknowledge my thanks to the Rev. Sabine Baring Gould,
for permission to use his version of _The Brown Girl_; to Mr. E. K.
Chambers, for kindly reading the general Introduction; and to my friend
and partner Mr. A. H. Bullen, for constant suggestions and assistance.

F. S.

INTRODUCTION

'Y-a-t-il donc, dans les contes populaires, quelque chose
d'inte