Motherwell was in favour of scientific methods of editing. Given two
copies of a ballad, he says, "perhaps they may not have a single
stanza which is mutual property, except certain commonplaces which
seem an integral portion of the original mechanism of all our ancient
ballads . . . " By selecting the most beautiful and striking
passages from each copy, and making those cohere, an editor, he says,
may produce a more perfect and ornate version than any that exists in
tradition. Of the originals "the individuality entirely disappears."
Motherwell disapproved of this method, which, as a rule, is Scott's,
and, scientifically, the method is not defensible. Thus, having
three ballads of rescues, in similar circumstances, with a river to
ford, Scott confessedly places that incident where he thinks it most
"poetically appropriate"; and in all probability, by a single touch,
he gives poetry in place of rough humour. Of all this Motherwell
disapproved. (See Kinmont Willie, infra.)
Aytoun, in The Ballads of Scotland, thought Motherwell hypercritical;
and also, in his practice inconsistent with his preaching.
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