Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, Volume 2 (of 3)
 Consisting of Old Heroic Ballads, Songs and Other Pieces of Our Earlier Poets Together With Some Few of Later Date

by Unknown

"Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, Volume 2 (of 3)" by Percy and Wheatley is a collection of ballads published in 1765. This landmark anthology rescued forgotten English folk songs and popular ballads from obscurity, including tales of Robin Hood, border warfare, and legendary heroes. Bishop Thomas Percy gathered these works from a manuscript rescued from being used as fire kindling, broadside collections, and oral tradition. The collection helped transform eighteenth-century literature, inspiring Romantic poets like Coleridge and Wordsworth while sparking a passionate interest in folklore across Europe.