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William Macmath and F. J. Child

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

James D. Reppert
James D. Reppert*
Affiliation:
Albright College, Reading, Penn.
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Extract

The Recovery of Professor Child's letters to William Macmath (1844–1921) makes it possible to answer an important question which has not been much investigated: what was the relationship between Child and Macmath with respect to The English and Scottish Popular Ballads?

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 71 , Issue 3 , June 1956 , pp. 510 - 520
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1956

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References

1 F. J. Child ed. (Boston, 1882–96), S vols. Hereafter, ESPB. This collection is the standard reference for traditional balladry.

2 Ballad Books and Ballad Men (Cambridge, Mass., 1930), p. 215.

3 To Bradshaw: Univ. Lib. Cam. Add. MSS. 2519 and 2592. To Halliwell-Phillipps: Univ. Lib. Edinb., Halliwell-Phillipps Papers, xi, Nos. 18, 19; xii, No. 29; l, NO. 52; LVIII, Nos. 27, 50, 66. To Murdoch: 39 letters, originals in possession of J. B. B. Murdoch, Thames-Ditton, Surrey. To Macmath: 10 MS. vols., originals in possession of E. A. Homel estate, Castle Douglas, Scotland. A distinction must be made between the Macmath MSS. (letters, as above) and the Macmath Ballad MS. (ballad texts). See n. 16. The present writer is responsible for locating and securing copies of these letters and holds written permission to publish them in further studies.

4 The following biographical details are derived largely from a miscellany of Macmath's writings, The Gordons of Craichlavi, ed. Thomas Fraser (Dalbeattie, 1924;, published posthumously by friends as a memorial. An appendix prints Macmath's 2 bibliographies of Scottish ballad MSS., both documents of interest for the sake of the names of the owners.

5 Macmath, Gordons, p. 41.

6 Jan. 1873 (4th Ser.), xi, 12.

7 Macmath MSS., i, Art. 1. The ballad is cited by Macmath as from John McDiarmid, Scrapbooh (Edinburgh, 1822), p. 428.

8 William E. Aytoun, The Ballads of Scotland, 2 vols. (Edinburgh and London, 1858). ESPB, “Sources of the Texts,” notes a 2nd ed., 1859, but not the revision, 1861.

9 Macmath MSS., i, Art. 76.

10 Child MSS., xii, Art. 28a.

11 Macmath MSS., i, Art. 80.

12 Academy, vii, No. 141 (16 Jan. 1875), 62.

13 Macmath MSS., i, Art. 109.

14 Macmath MSS., i, Art. 139.

15 The quotations concerning the Abbotsford Library are all from Macmath MSS., VI, Arts. 623–625.

16 I have not discovered that Child ever mentioned Macmath's letter collection, although he may have surmised its existence.