their writers had been more fanciful and imaginative, or less
intent upon what they had to say than upon the manner of saying it.
But if not extremely poetical, they are extremely national, and
racy of the soil; and some of them are certain to live as long as
the language which produced them. For the convenience of reference
and consultation they have been arranged chronologically; beginning
with the discontents that inaugurated the reign of Charles I., and
following regularly to the final, though short-lived, triumph of
the Cavalier cause, in the accession of James II. After his ill-
omened advent to the throne, the Cavalier became the Jacobite. In
this collection no Jacobite songs, properly so called, are
included, it being the intention of the publishers to issue a
companion volume, of the Jacobite Ballads of England, from the
accession of James II. to the battle of Culloden, should the public
receive the present volume with sufficient favour to justify the
venture.

The Editor cannot, in justice to previous fellow-labourers, omit to
record his obligation to the interesting volume, with its learned
annotations, contributed by Mr Thomas Wright to the Percy Society;
or to another and equally valuable collection, edited by Mr J. O.
Halliwell.

December, 1862.



Ballad: When The King Enjoys His Own Again