E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Ballads.
“Let me make the ballads, and who will may make the laws.” Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun, in Scotland, wrote to the Marquis of Montrose, “I knew a very wise man of Sir Christopher Musgrave’s sentiment. He believed, if a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws” (1703).
