The book of British ballads . 1. =?v HE NUT-BROWN MAYD. The remote antiquity of thisbeautiful composition is unquestionable. There are,indeed, satisfactory reasons for believing that we mayassign to it a date so remote as the year 1400. Theonly ancient copy of it, known to exist, is to be foundin Arnolds Chronicle, where alone a discovery of ithas been, hitherto, made: this was first printed about1502; and although the old chronicler did not accom-pany it with any explanatory note or comment, it ismore than probable that, if it had been the productionof a contemporary, or of a writer not far r
The book of British ballads . 1. =?v HE NUT-BROWN MAYD. The remote antiquity of thisbeautiful composition is unquestionable. There are,indeed, satisfactory reasons for believing that we mayassign to it a date so remote as the year 1400. Theonly ancient copy of it, known to exist, is to be foundin Arnolds Chronicle, where alone a discovery of ithas been, hitherto, made: this was first printed about1502; and although the old chronicler did not accom-pany it with any explanatory note or comment, it ismore than probable that, if it had been the productionof a contemporary, or of a writer not far removed from his own time, the antiquarywould either have given the name of the author, or not have considered it hisbusiness to preserve the Poem. Dr. Percy printed it in his Reliques: its sentimental beauties, he says, have always recommended it to readers of taste, notwithstanding the rust ofantiquity which obscures the style and expression. He found in his ancient folioMS.,—to which we shall, hereafter, have occasion to ref
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