[Footnote 53: The Ettrick Shepherd, who, after reading the first two volumes of the _Minstrelsy_, sought an acquaintance with Scott, and offered assistance which was gladly made use of in the preparation of the third volume. Scott in his turn provided much of the material for Hogg's _Jacobite Relics_, published in 1819. The following note on one of the songs in that work adds to the reader's doubts concerning the accuracy of Scott's texts: "I have not altered a word from the manuscript, which is in the handwriting of an amanuensis of Mr. Scott's, the most incorrect transcriber, perhaps, that ever tried the business." (_Jacobite Relics_, Vol. I, p. 282. Note on song lxiii.)] [Footnote 54: Henderson's edition of the _Minstrelsy_, Vol. I, p. 284.] [Footnote 55: _Quarterly_, May, 1810.] [Footnote 56: _Lockhart_, Vol. III, p. 514.] [Footnote 57: Still more striking evidence that Scott lacked an infallible sense of the difference between genuine and spurious ballad material is afforded by his comments on Peter Buchan's collection, which is now considered particularly untrustworthy. He thought that with two or three exceptions the pieces in the book were genuine, and said: "I scarce know anything so easily discovered as the piecing and patching of an old ballad; the darns in a silk stocking are not more manifest." (_Correspondence of C.K. Sharpe_, Vol. II, p. 424.)] [Footnote 58: Scott's manuscript collections of ballads dropped partially out of sight after his death, and it was only about 1890 that their magnitude and importance became known. Professor Child and later editors have found them of very great service. (On Child's use of the Abbotsford materials, see the Advertisement to Part VIII of his collection, contained in Volume IV.) In 1880 appeared a reprint of the _Ballad Book_ of C.K. Sharpe, "with notes and ballads from the unpublished manuscripts of C.K. Sharpe and Sir Walter Scott," but the contributions from Scott's papers did not amount to much. Scott's materials were at the service of his friend for use in the original edition of the _Ballad Book_, published in 1823. See _Sharpe's Correspondence_, Vol. II, pp. 264, 271 and 325, for letters from Scott on this subject.] [Footnote 59: Note on _The Raid of the Reidswire_, in the _Minstrelsy_.] [Footnote 60: Henderson's edition of the _Minstrelsy_, Vol. III, p. 232.] [Footnote 61: Henderson's edition of the _Minstrelsy_, Vol. II, p. 57.] [Footnote 62: _Lockhart_, Vol. I, p. 360.] [Footnote 63: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 332.] [Footnote 64: First edition of the _Minstrelsy_, Vol. II, pp. 156-7.] [Footnote 65: _Edinburgh Review_, January, 1803.]