The Bagford Ballads

Bagford Ballads, The,
illustrating the last years of the Stuarts' rule and the last years of the 17th cent. They were published by the Ballad Society in 1878 . They were assembled by John Bagford ( 1651 – 1716 ), originally a shoemaker, a book-collector who made for Robert Harley , first earl of Oxford, the collection of ballads that was subsequently acquired by the duke of Roxburghe , and at the same time made a private collection for himself.