Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Book of British Ballads
Although it was not the modern version that moved the great heart of Sidney more than a trumpet, it is undoubtedly that which, for centuries, has maintained its popularity, in England, more firmly, and, perhaps, more universally, than any other of the favourites of the people. And, whether we agree with Percy, in considering that the old ballad was expressly modernised, in consequence of the eulogium it received in the Defence of Poetry or with Scott, in believing the changes it has undergone to have been produced by the gradual alterations of numerous reciters, there can be but one Opinion as to its beauty, grandeur, force, and sim plicity, - qualities, in the happy combination of which, it is unsurpassed by any composition in the language.
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