Page:Transactions of the Second International Folk-Congress.djvu/73

 Rh same story may have sprung into existence in more than one place, despite resemblances which hardly seem—and which in truth are not—accidental. They are the necessary result of the working of the same laws of mental association in similar circumstances. Given an analogous state of culture, then, with the limited number of universal characteristics of human life, and the sequences which they naturally suggest in that state of culture, the probable modifications of plot and incident must be comparatively few.

I have spoken only of folk-tales; but our section of the Congress includes also folk-songs, We English must admit that we have done very little for the scientific study of ballads and folk-songs. The monumental work on English and Scottish ballads now m course of publication by Professor Child is to our shame an American undertaking. Count Nigra has issued a great work on the ballads and songs of his native Piedmont. And other writers have illustrated the folk-poetry of various countries, while we have done but little. The names of Ralston, Cover, and the Countess Martinengo-Cesaresco are almost all we can mention among English authors who have rendered service in this department of tradition. This is not creditable to us; and it is all the more to be regretted from the point of view I have ventured to take this morning, because it seems likely that the study of folk-poetry may have something to say on the problem of transmission. A ballad or a song is a more consciously artistic work than a tale. Not only must it develop the plot or the sentiment, but it has to conform to certain rules of metre, and usually to certain rules of rhyme. It thus offers a far greater number of opportunities for comparison than a folk-tale, and must consequently ensure greater certainty in the results arrived at. Can we venture to indulge the hope that the Congress of 1891 may induce some competent student to interest himself in this branch of our work? Professor Child's as well as M. Nigra's collection of analogues deserves and requires the most careful consideration. Nor should the study of folk-poetry be limited to European verse. The songs, ritual and narrative, of races in the lower culture are a mine well-nigh unwrought, and are calculated to yield important contributions to science, not only on the question of transmission, but probably on many other questions.