Frank Sidgwick's second series of Popular Ballads of the Olden Time opens with a clear editorial purpose: to present ballads of 'mystery and miracle' alongside 'fyttes of mirth,' a pairing that sets the supernatural against the comic. The preface and notes reveal a meticulous editor who attends to textual variants, manuscript sources, and the 'ballad commonplaces' that recur across traditions. Sidgwick does not merely reprint; he contextualizes, as seen in his remarks on the Sloane MS. 2593 for 'Adam' and 'Saint Stephen and King Herod,' and his inclusion of a carol-like piece not found in Child's collection. The volume's structure—moving from eerie encounters like 'Thomas Rymer' to the grim humor of 'The Twa Corbies'—invites readers to consider how these ballads balance dread with wit, and how their formal patterns, such as incremental repetition and refrains, shape meaning.

Supernatural Encounters and Mortal Boundaries

The ballads in this collection repeatedly stage encounters between humans and otherworldly beings, often with dire consequences. In 'Thomas Rymer,' the protagonist is taken by the Queen of Elfland, a journey that blurs the line between this world and the next. 'The Queen of Elfan's Nourice' similarly involves a mortal woman nursing an elf-child, a transaction that carries implicit danger. Sidgwick's notes highlight the 'ballad commonplaces' that structure these meetings: the prohibition against speaking, the gift of prophecy, or the loss of years. The editor's attention to variant readings—such as the different endings of 'Clerk Colven'—underscores how these tales were fluid, adapted by each singer. Readers should note how the ballads use specific details, like the 'berry-brown sword' in 'Sweet Willie' or the 'silver grey' wings of the false cock, to ground the supernatural in the tangible. The tension between human agency and fate is palpable: characters often make choices that lead to their doom, yet the ballads rarely moralize, instead presenting events as inevitable.

Violence, Mourning, and the Unquiet Dead

A striking number of ballads in this series center on violent death and its aftermath. 'The Unquiet Grave' features a mourner who keeps a year-long vigil, only to be rebuked by the dead lover's ghost. 'Clerk Sanders' and 'Young Hunting' involve murders and the restless spirits of the slain. Sidgwick's editorial choices—such as including both 'The Three Ravens' and 'The Twa Corbies'—allow readers to compare how the same basic situation (a dead knight and his animal witnesses) can be treated with sympathy or grim irony. The 'Lyke-Wake Dirge' offers a liturgical framework for the soul's journey after death, while 'The Bonny Earl of Murray' and 'Bonnie George Campbell' lament historical killings. The ballads often dwell on physical remains: the 'head and yellow hair' hung in Mary Kirk, the 'riven' body of Sweet Willie. Sidgwick's notes trace these motifs across versions, showing how the 'unquiet grave' is a recurring concern. The editor refrains from psychological analysis, but the cumulative effect is a world where death is never clean, and the dead demand acknowledgment.

Comic Relief and the 'Fyttes of Mirth'

The second half of the volume, labeled 'Fyttes of Mirth,' offers a deliberate contrast to the preceding mysteries. Ballads like 'The Broomfield Hill' and 'Willie's Fatal Visit' mix humor with supernatural elements, while 'Adam' and 'Saint Stephen and King Herod' draw on carol traditions for comic or ironic effect. Sidgwick's note on 'Adam' explains its inclusion despite not being in Child's collection, citing the tradition of Adam bound in limbo until the Crucifixion—a theological joke that turns on the 'apple' as a felix culpa. 'Saint Stephen and King Herod' features a roasted cock that crows to confirm a prophecy, a miracle tale found across Europe. The editor's headnotes provide context for these comic pieces, such as the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus connection. Readers should observe how the 'fyttes of mirth' employ the same formal devices as the serious ballads—repetition, dialogue, incremental stanzas—but to different effect. The humor often arises from incongruity: a biblical story told in ballad meter, or a supernatural threat deflated by a clever response. Sidgwick's arrangement suggests that mirth and mystery are not opposites but complementary modes of traditional narrative.

Sidgwick's edition rewards readers who attend to the apparatus: the preface, the 'Additional Note on Ballad Commonplaces,' and the textual notes. These paratexts reveal the editor's hand in shaping the collection and offer clues to how ballads were transmitted and transformed. Rather than reading straight through, consider comparing versions of the same story (e.g., 'The Three Ravens' and 'The Twa Corbies') or tracing a motif like the speaking corpse across different ballads. The volume's strength lies in its juxtapositions—mystery and mirth, the sacred and the profane, the mortal and the supernatural—inviting the reader to see these ballads not as relics but as living, contradictory art.