Joe re the sources of the ballads in Scott's Minstrelsy - I have "The Illustrated Border Ballads" by John Marsden which features a selection of the better known of the ballads and many of them do seem to have come simply from existing published texts which Scott has put together into a collection. Many of them were already published in the likes of Caw's "Poetical Museum"; in Allan Ramsay's "Evergreen"; in the Bannatyne MS etc. So he gathered these together and put them in a single collection - perhaps it is claimed adding some from his own hand with the likes of "Kinmont Willie" being one possible example.

Others were collected for him. Scott stated that the version of "Hughie the Graeme" was procured by his friend Mr W Laidlaw in Blackhouse.

That is not to say that he didn't also go looking for ballads though. In his diary for Thursday 9th July 1829 he writes "Heard of the death of Bob Shortreed the companion of many a long ride among the hills in quest of old ballads"

I think they would more often be visiting people to pick up texts though rather than some field excursion to hear the recitations. One "ballad raid" was to Dr John Elliot of Newlands in Liddesdale. He was an antiquarian who had previously lived nearer to Scott at Cleughead and who had seemingly previously provided Scott and Shortreed with various texts. Seemingly they expected the same again but this time was notable in that rather than simply having a text this time it was a live performance. An old man had been brought from 15 miles away. Jonathan Graham, the lang quaker, was seemingly a man in his 80s and according to Shortreed "gaunt and of terrifying mien" Scott wrote that he was "by profession an itinerant cleaner of clocks and watches and, perhaps, the last of our professional ballad reciters".

Graham was then said to have been lavishly plied with brandy before he started to perform "a sort of wild recitative....which swells into a long and varied howl, not unlike to a view hallo" This was Scotts first acquaintance with "by far the most uncouth and savage of all the ballads that have fallen into his hands" The Fray of Suport.

So I think this as such a specific event for Scott because there must have been a huge difference between being given a manuscript by a learned gentleman to actually confronting the common man of the country. Especially a frightening one who seemingly then collapsed through consuming too much brandy!