Author: Ferguson, Rupert.

Examines Sir Walter Scott's lifelong obsession for the ballads of his native Scottish Borderlands, his editing and publication of 'Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border' - a valuable source for musicians and folklorists, and his own composition of songs and ballads. In addition to collecting the ballads themselves, Scott went to considerable effort to investigate much of the folklore surrounding them; as well as researching the legendary transitions of the areas where the ballads were originally composed. This shows that Scott was as much concerned with preserving the essence of the oral culture of which these ballads were a part, as he was with preserving the ballads themselves, portraying him as the true successor to the minstrel tradition, which can be traced right back to the magician Merlin and the Dark Age poets of the Arthurian period. We can thus recognise Scott for what he truly was; the last of the true bards.