Page:Bishop Percy’s Folio Manuscript. Ballads and Romances.djvu/42

 the girl's head to its pristine state. Reviews abused him, friends

alledge'd authoritys, from the begining to the end; many piecees, allso, being inserted, as ancient and authentick, which there is every reason to believe, never existed before its publication. To correct the obvious errours of an illiterate transcriber, to supply irre mediable defects, and to make sense of nonsense, are certainly essential dutys of an editour of ancient poetry ; pro- videe'd he act with integrity and pub licity ; but secretly to suppress the original text, and insert his own fabri cations for the sake of provideing more refine' d entertainment for readers of taste and genius, is no proof of either judgement, candour, or integrity. "

"In what manner this ingenious editour conducted himself in this patch'd up publication, wil be evident from the following parallel, which may be useful to future manufacturers in this line:"

[Ritson then prints the original, and Percy's version, opposite one another; and as you turn over the leaves, and see the blank pages of the original opposite Percy's fillings-in and alterations, and (in one case) a blank page of Percy's p. cxli. where he has left out a great piece of the original, you can hardly help smiling. It is a joke.]

"This mode of publishing ancient poetry displays, it must be confess'd, considerable talent and genius, but savours strongly, at the same time, of unfairness and dishonesty. Here are nume rous stanzas inserted which are not in the original, and others omited which are there. The purchaseërs and peruseërs of such a collection are deceive'd and impose'd upon; the pleasure they receive is derive'd from the idea of antiquity, which, in fact, is perfect illu sion. If the ingenious editour had publish'd all his imperfect poems by correcting the blunders of puerility or inattention, and supplying the defects of barbarian ignorance, with proper distinction of type (as, in one instance, he actually has done), it would not onely have gratify'd the austereëst antiquary, but allso providecd refine'd entertainment' for every reader of taste and genius.' He would have acted fairly and honorablely, and giveen every sort complete satisfaction. Authenticity would have been uniteëd with improvement, and all would have gone wel; whereas, in the present editions, it is firmly believe'd, not one article has been ingenuously or faithfully printed from the begining to the end: nor did the late eminent Thomas Tyrwhitt, so ardent a researcher into ancient poetry, and an intimate friend of the possessour, ever see this curious, though tatter'd, fragment; nor would the late excellent George Steevens, on the bishops personal application consent to sanction the authenticity of the printed copy with his signature.*

"*The bishop of Dromore (as he now is), on a former occasion, haveing him self, as he wel knows, allready falsify'd and corrupted a modern Scotish song, ' This line,' he says, ' being quoted from memory, and given as old Scottish poetry is [by no one, in such a case, except himself] now usually printed (Reliques 1775, I, xxxviii,)† ('?' ') to give it a certain appearance of rust and antiquity. This identical song, being, afterward, faith fully and correctly printed in a certain Collection of such things, from the earliest copy known, which, like all the rest, was accurately refer'd to,

(Scotish songs, printed for J. Johnson, 1794, I, 266) the worthy prelate thought proper, in the last edition of his allready reciteed compilation, to assert that his own corruption ' would have been readily corrected by that copy,' had not all confidence been destroyed by its being altered in the ' Historical essay ' prefixed to that publication to

the better,' he ads, with his usual can dour, ' to favour a position, that many of the pipers might live upon the borders, for the conveniency of attending "