"Many of the collectors/poets/editors of Scott's era had wealthy patrons and the likes of Scott & co altered ballads to put their patrons' families/ancestors in a better light..."
Is there anywhere we could read up this information Steve?
I have always understood that many of the colleectors, particularly in the Victorian era, were forced to edit material in order to get it published - not to say that some didn't deliberately 'improve' their songs, just that the motive you have attributed to the collectors seems a little too definitive to me.
The piece of blatent censorship that always rankles with me is that of E J Moeran when he announced of 'The Girl of Lowestoft' - or 'The Hole in the Wall'; "The words are indecent and not of interest or value, so they have not been noted".
As far as I know, the song has not survived elsewhere.
Jim Carroll