The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #143842   Message #3325448
Posted By: John Minear
19-Mar-12 - 08:23 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Child Ballads in 18th c. America?
Subject: RE: Origins: Child Ballads in 18th c. America?
The THE ELFIN KNIGHT—A, ERLINTON—C, THE TWA SISTERS—A, JUDAS, and KING JOHN AND THE BISHOP—B all come from an earlier period and are not actually attested to in the 18th century. They were around, but were they known or buried in a manuscript somewhere? Some of the earliest versions don't seem to have been actually "discovered" until the 19th century. I would choose not to count these five versions in the 18th century, which means that we don't have documentation for "The Elfin Knight" or "Judas" as actually being known in the 1700s.