Reliques of Ancient English Poetry
Consisting of Old Heroic Ballads, Songs, and Other Pieces of our Earlier Poets
Reliques of Ancient English Poetry 3 Volume Set Series

While visiting a friend, the writer and cleric Thomas Percy (1729?1811) noticed a neglected folio whose pages were being used by the maids to light the fire. Upon inspection, this manuscript was found to be a seventeenth-century collection of historical ballads. Following this discovery, Percy collected further ballads and songs from a number of sources, which he published in this three-volume work in 1765, although ultimately only a quarter of the texts he presented came from that original manuscript. Although this work proved to be incredibly popular, Percy's idiosyncratic editorial practices also received much criticism. The collection centres on historical ballads and romances, demonstrating the development of language, customs and traditions, to which Percy added contemporary ballads for his readers' enjoyment. Volume 3 includes ballads of Sir Gawain, King Arthur and St George and the Dragon, and contains the additions and corrections to all three volumes.

Part I: 1. The boy and the mantle; 2. The marriage of Sir Gawaine; 3. King Ryence's challenge; 4. King Arthur's death, a fragment; 5. The legend of King Arthur; 6. A dittye to hey downe; 7. Glasgerion; 8. Old Sir Robin of Portingale; 9. The gaberlunzie man, a Scottish song; 10. Child waters; 11. Phillida and Corydon; 12. Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard; 13. The ew-bughts Marrion, a Scottish song; 14. The knight and shepherd's daughter; 15. The shepherd's address to his muse; 16. Lord Thomas and fair Ellinor; 17. Cupid and Campaspe; 18. The lady turned servingman; 19. Gil Morrice; Part II: 1. Legend of Sir Guy; 2. Guy and Amarant; 3. The shepherd's resolution; 4. Fair Margaret and sweet William; 5. Barbara Allen's cruelty; 6. Sweet William's ghost, a Scottish ballad; 7. Sir John Grehme and Barbara Allen, ditto; 8. The bailiff's daughter of Islington; 9. The willow tree, a pastoral dialogue; 10. The lady's fall; 11. Waly, waly, love be bonny, a Scottish song; 12. The wanton wife of Bath; 13. The auld good man, a Scottish song; 14. Lady Isabella's tragedy; 15. A hue and cry after Cupid; 16. The king of France's daughter; 17. The sweet neglect; 18. The children in the wood; 19. A lover of late was I; 20. The king and the miller of Mansfield; 21. Dulcina; 22. The wandering prince of Troy; 23. The witches song; 24. Robin Good-fellow; 25. The fairy queen; 26. The fairies farewell; Part III: 1. The birth of St George; [2.] George Barnwell; 2. St George and the dragon; 3. Love will find out the way; 4. The baffled knight, or lady's policy; 5. Why so pale; 6. The Spanish virgin, or effects of jealousy; 7. The aspiring shepherd; 8. Constant Penelope; 9. To Lucasta, on going to the wars; 10. Valentine and Ursine; 11. The dragon of Wantley; 12. St George for England, the first part; 13. St George for England, the second part; 14. Lucy and Colin; 15. Margaret's ghost; 16. The boy and the mantle, revised; Glossary; Additional notes to Volume 1; Additional notes to Volume 2; Additional notes to Volume 3; Errata; To the binder.