etc., etc.; but none of the Robin Hood ballads. Herder's preface
testifies that the "Reliques" was the starting-point and the kernel of
his whole undertaking. "Der Anblick dieser Sammlung giebts offenbar dass
ich eigentlich von _Englishchen_ Volksliedern ausging und auf sie
zurückkomme. Als vor zehn und mehr Jahren die 'Reliques of Ancient
Poetry' mir in die Hände fielen, freuten mich einzelne Stücke so sehr,
dass ich sie zu übersetzen versuchte."--_Vorrede zu den Volksliedern.
Herder's Sämmtlichee Werke_, Achter Theil, s. 89 (Carlsruhe, 1821).

[52] Stanzas 44-46, book i. bring in references to ballad literature in
general and to "The Nut-Brown Maid" and "The Children in the Wood" in
particular.

[53] Book I. stanzas 32-34.




CHAPTER IX.

Ossian

In 1760 appeared the first installment of MacPherson's "Ossian."[1]
Among those who received it with the greatest curiosity and delight was
Gray, who had recently been helping Mason with criticisms on his
"Caractacus," published in 1759. From a letter to Walpole (June 1760) it
would seem that the latter had sent Gray two manuscript bits of the as
yet unprinted "Fragments," communicated to Walpole by Sir David
Dalrymple, who furnished Scotch ballads to Percy. "I am so charmed,"
wrote Gray, "with the two specimens of Erse poetry, that I cannot help