Sometimes Scott gives no source at all, and in these cases research
finds variants in old broadsides, or elsewhere.
In thirteen cases he gives no source, or "from tradition," which is
the same thing; though "tradition in Ettrick Forest" may sometimes
imply, once certainly does, the intermediary Hogg, or Will Laidlaw.
We now understand Scott's methods as editor. They are not
scientific; they are literary. We also acknowledge (on internal
evidence) his interpolation of his own stanzas in Kinmont Willie and
Jamie Telfer, where he exalts his chief and ancestor. We cannot do
otherwise (as scholars) than regret and condemn Scott's
interpolations, never confessed. As lovers of poetry we acknowledge
that, without Scott's interpolation, we could have no more of Kinmont
Willie than verses, "much mangled by reciters," as Scott says, of a
ballad perhaps no more poetical than Jock o' the Side. Scott says
that "some conjectural emendations have been absolutely necessary to
render it intelligible." As it is now very intelligible, to say
"conjectural emendations" is a way of saying "interpolations.
Pages:
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44