ABSTRACT
This chapter concerns Thomas Percy’s negotiations with various identities, including class, gender and nationality, in the Reliques. These identities are revealed not only explicitly in the text itself, but also in paratextuals (prefaces, illustrations, sheet music, etc.), in his sources, in revealing aural elements of the text, and in the mythology of the Folio Manuscript. This chapter explores these themes through the paratextual elements of the book, sound clues in the text, and the presentation of sources. The chapter addresses the following questions: How does Percy’s mythologising of his source interact with readings of gender and class implied by balladry? What editorial practices does Percy employ to suppress the oral impulse of the ballad and to what extent are they successful? What evidence is there that Percy is even capable of making more than the barest aesthetic appreciation of music, and what critical analyses can we make, if any, on the overall value of his work to ballad scholarship today? Does it matter that he didn’t, and possibly couldn’t, work in musical terms? Does the value of his work shift when considered from the perspective of class, gender or nationhood?
