Gallery eBooks

{17a}
I give my reasons, though I entertain but slight hope of convincing
my courteous opponent. That is always a task rather desperate. But
the task leads me, in defence of a great memory, into a countryside,
and into old times on the Border, which are so alluring that, like
Socrates, I must follow where the logos guides me. To one conclusion
it guides me, which startles myself, but I must follow the logos,
even against the verdict of Professor Child, notre maitre a tous. In
some instances, I repeat, positive proof of the correctness of my
views is impossible; all that I can do is to show that Colonel
Elliot's contrary opinions also fall far short of demonstration, or
are demonstrably erroneous.

AULD MAITLAND

The ballad of Auld Maitland holds in The Border Minstrelsy a place
like that of the Doloneia, or Tenth Book, in the Iliad. Every
professor of the Higher Criticism throws his stone at the Doloneia in
passing, and every ballad-editor does as much to Auld Maitland. {19a}
Professor Child excluded it from his monumental collection of
"English and Scottish Popular Ballads," fragments, and variants, for
which Mr.


Pages:
27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51