The Book of Ballads Quotes

“Another complication was that ballads written down and published from the eighteenth century onward had been edited, censored, or "improved" by folklore enthusiasts who were literary men, romantics, rather than rigorous academics. The prime example of this was Percy's famous Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. Child and other folklorists suspected that Percy had altered the text of ballads to suit the literary tastes of his day-particularly as Percy would not allow an examination of the ballad manuscript in his possession. Working with British scholar F. J. Furnivall, Child was instrumental in persuading Percy's descendants to finally release this manuscript, which did indeed confirm that Percy had edited and "improved" the original ballads. — Terry Windling”
― Charles Vess, The Book of Ballads