Widely different from the true popular ballads, the spontaneous products of nature, are the works of the professional ballad-maker, which make up the bulk of Garlands and Broadsides. These, though sometimes not without grace, more frequently not lacking in humor, belong to artificial literature, — of course to an humble department.
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English and Scottish Ballads (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1860), vol. 1, Preface, p. vii. Footnote: "This distinction is not absolute, for several of the ancient ballads have a sort of literary character, and many broadsides were printed from oral tradition."