Chapter 27

For this good service Ranulph is said to have granted to De Lacy by charter the patronage and authority over the minstrels and the loose and inferior people; who, retaining to himself that of the lower artificers, conferred on Dutton the jurisdiction of the minstrels and harlots:[1059]and under the descendants of this family the minstrels enjoyed certain privileges, and protection for many ages. For even so late as the reign of Elizabeth, when this profession had fallen into such discredit that it was considered in law as a nuisance, the minstrels under the jurisdiction of the family of Dutton are expressly excepted out of all acts of parliament made for their suppression; and have continued to be so excepted ever since.[W]

The ceremonies attending the exercise of this jurisdiction are thus described by Dugdale[1060]as handed down to his time, viz. "That at midsummer fair there, all the minstrels of that countrey resorting to Chester, do attend the heir of Dutton, from his lodging to St. John's church (he being then accompanied by many gentlemen of the countrey) one of 'the minstrels' walking before him in a surcoat of his arms depicted on taffata; the rest of his fellows proceeding (two and two) and playing on their several sorts of musical instruments. And after divine service ended, give the like attendance on him back to his lodging; where a court being kept by his (Mr. Dutton's) Steward, and all the minstrels formally called, certain orders and laws are usually made for the better government of that Society, with penalties on those who transgress."

In the same reign of K. John we have a remarkable instance of a minstrel, who to his other talents superadded the character of Soothsayer, and by his skill in drugs and medicated potions was able to rescue a knight from imprisonment. This occurs in Leland's Narrative of the Gestes of Guarine (or Warren) and his sons, which he "excerptid owte of an old Englisch boke yn ryme,"[1061]and is as follows:

Whitington Castle, in Shropshire, which together with the coheiress of the original proprietor had been won in a solemn turnament by the ancestor of the Guarines,[1062]had in the reign of K. John been seized by the Prince of Wales, and was afterwards possessed by Morice, a retainer of that Prince, to whom the king out of hatred to the true heir Fulco Guarine (with whom he had formerly had a quarrel at Chess)[1063]not only confirmed the possession, but also made him governor of the marches, of which Fulco himself had the custody in the time of K. Richard. The Guarines demanded justice of the king, but obtaining no gracious answer, renounced their allegiance and fled into Bretagne. Returning into England, after various conflicts, "Fulco resortid to one John of Raumpayne, a Sothsayer and Jocular and Minstrelle,and made hym his spy to Morice at Whitington." The privileges of this character we have already seen, and John so well availed himself of them, that in consequence of the intelligence which he doubtless procured, "Fulco, and his brethrene laide waite for Morice, as he went toward Salesbyri, and Fulco ther woundid hym: and Bracy" (a knight, who was their friend and assistant), "cut of Moriceś hedde." This sir Bracy being in a subsequent rencounter sore wounded, was taken and brought to K. John; from whose vengeance he was however rescued by this notable minstrel; for "John Rampayne founde the meanes to cast them, that kepte Bracy, into a deadely slepe; and so he and Bracy cam to Fulco to Whitington," which on the death of Morice had been restored to him by the Prince of Wales. As no further mention occurs of the minstrel, I might here conclude this narrative; but I shall just add, that Fulco was obliged to flee into France, where assuming the name of Sir Amice, he distinguished himself in justs and turnaments; and, after various romantic adventures by sea and land (having in the true stile of chivalry rescued "certayne ladies owt of prison"), he finally obtained the king's pardon, and the quiet possession of Whitington Castle.

In the reign of K. Henry III. we have mention of Master Richard the King's harper, to whom in his 36th year (1252) that monarch gave not only forty shillings, and a pipe of wine, but also a pipe of wine to Beatrice his wife.[1064]The title ofmagister, or master, given to this minstrel deserves notice, and shews his respectable situation.

V. The harper, or minstrel, was so necessary an attendant on a royal personage, that Prince Edward (afterwards K. Edward I.) in his Crusade to the Holy Land, in 1271, was not without his harper, who must have been officially very near his person, as we are told by a contemporary historian[1065]that, in the attempt to assassinate that heroic prince, when he had wrested the poisoned knife out of the Sarazen's hand and killed him with his own weapon, the attendants, who had stood apart while he was whispering to their master, hearing the struggle, ran to his assistance, and one of them, to wit his harper, seizing a tripod or trestle, struck the assassin on the head and beat out his brains.[1066]And though the Prince blamed him for striking the man after he was dead, yet his near access shews the respectable situation of this officer; and his affectionate zeal should have induced Edward to entreat his brethren the Welsh Bards afterwards with more lenity.

Whatever was the extent of this great monarch's severity towards the professors of music and of song in Wales; whether the executing by martial law such of them as fell into his hands was only during the heat of conflict, or was continued afterwards with more systematic rigor;[1067]yet in his own court the minstrelsappear to have been highly favoured; for when, in 1306, he conferred the order of knighthood on his son, and many others of the young nobility, a multitude of minstrels were introduced to invite and induce the new knights to make some military vow.[X]And

Under the succeeding reign of K. Edward II. such extensive privileges were claimed by these men, and by dissolute persons assuming their character, that it became a matter of public grievance, and was obliged to be reformed by an express regulation inA.D.1315.[Y]Notwithstanding which, an incident is recorded in the ensuing year, which shews that minstrels still retained the liberty of entering at will into the royal presence, and had something peculiarly splendid in their dress. It is thus related by Stow.[Z]

"In the year 1316, Edward the second did solemnize his feast of Pentecost at Westminster, in the great hall: where sitting royally at the table with his peers about him, there entered a womanadorned likea minstrel, sitting on a great horse trapped,as minstrelsthen used; who rode round about the tables, shewing pastime; and at length came up to the king's table, and laid before him a letter, and forthwith turning her horse saluted every one and departed."——The subject of this letter was a remonstrance to the king on the favours heaped by him on his minions, to the neglect of his knights and faithful servants.

The privileged character of a minstrel was employed on this occasion, as sure of gaining an easy admittance; and a female the rather deputed to assume it, that in case of detection, her sex might disarm theking's resentment. This is offered on a supposition, that she was not a real minstrel; for there should seem to have been women of this profession,[Aa]as well as of the other sex; and no accomplishment is so constantly attributed to females, by our ancient bards, as their singing to and playing on the harp.[Aa2]

In the fourth year of K. Richard II. John of Gaunt erected at Tutbury in Staffordshire, a court of minstrels, similar to that annually kept at Chester (p. 363), and which, like a Court-Leet or Court-Baron, had a legal jurisdiction, with full power to receive suit and service from the men of this profession within five neighbouring countries, to enact laws, and determine their controversies; and to apprehend and arrest such of them as should refuse to appear at the said court, annually held on the 16th of August. For this they had a charter by which they were empowered to appoint a king of the minstrels, with four officers to preside over them.[Bb]These were every year elected with great ceremony; the whole form of which as observed in 1680, is described by Dr. Plott:[1068]in whose time however they appear to have lost their singing talents, and to have confined all their skill to "wind and string music."[1069]

The minstrels seem to have been in many respects upon the same footing as the heralds; and the king of the minstrels, like the king at arms, was both hereand on the Continent an usual officer in the courts of princes. Thus we have in the reign of K. Edward I. mention of a King Robert, and others. And in 16 Edw. II. is a grant to William de Morlee "the king's Minstrel, stiledRoy de North,"[1070]of houses which had belonged to another king, John le Boteler.[Bb2]Rymer hath also printed a licence granted by K. Richard II. in 1387, to John Caumz, the king of his minstrels, to pass the seas, recommending him to the protection and kind treatment of all his subjects and allies.[1071]

In the subsequent reign of K. Henry IV. we meet with no particulars relating to the minstrels in England, but we find in the Statute Book a severe law passed against their brethren the Welsh bards; whom our ancestors could not distinguish from their ownRimours, Ministralx; for by these names they describe them.[Bb3]This act plainly shews that far from being extirpated by the rigorous policy of K. Edward I., this order of men were still able to alarm the English government, which attributed to them "many diseases and mischiefs in Wales," and prohibited their meetings and contributions.

When his heroic son K. Henry V. was preparing his great voyage for France in 1415, an express order was given for his minstrels, fifteen in number, to attend him:[1072]and eighteen are afterwards mentioned, to each of whom he allowed xiid.a day, when that sum must have been of more than ten times the value it is at present.[1073]Yet when he entered London in triumph after the battle of Agincourt, he, from aprinciple of humility, slighted the pageants and verses which were prepared to hail his return; and, as we are told by Holinshed,[1074]would not suffer "any Dities to be made and song by minstrels, of his glorious victorie; for that he would whollie have the praise and thankes altogether given to God."[Bb4]But this did not proceed from any disregard for the professors of music or of song; for at the feast of Pentecost which he celebrated in 1416, having the Emperor and the Duke of Holland for his guests, he ordered rich gowns for sixteen of his minstrels, of which the particulars are preserved by Rymer.[1075]And having before his death orally granted an annuity of 100 shillings to each of his minstrels, the grant was confirmed in the first year of his son K. Henry VI.,A.D.1423, and payment ordered out of the Exchequer.[1076]

The unfortunate reign of K. Henry VI. affords no occurrences respecting our subject; but in his 34th year,A.D.1456, we have in Rymer[1077]a commission for impressing boys or youths, to supply vacancies by death among the king's minstrels; in which it is expressly directed that they shall be elegant in theirlimbs, as well as instructed in the minstrel art, wherever they can be found, for the solace of his Majesty.

In the following reign, K. Edward IV. (in his 9th year, 1469) upon a complaint that certain rude husbandmen and artificers of various trades had assumed the title and livery of the king's minstrels, and under that colour and pretence had collected money in diverse parts of the kingdom and committed other disorders, the king grants to Walter Haliday, Marshal, and to seven others his own minstrels whom he names, a charter,[1078]by which he creates, or rather restores a fraternity or perpetual Gild (such, as he understands, the brothers and sisters of the fraternity of minstrels had in times past) to be governed by a Marshal appointed for life and by two wardens to be chosen annually; who are impowered to admit brothers and sisters into the said Gild, and are authorized to examine the pretensions of all such as affected to exercise the minstrel profession; and to regulate, govern, and punish them throughout the realm (those of Chester excepted).—This seems to have some resemblance to the Earl Marshal's Court among the heralds, and is another proof of the great affinity and resemblance which the minstrels bore to the members of the College of Arms.

It is remarkable that Walter Haliday, whose name occurs as marshal in the foregoing charter, had been retained in the service of the two preceding monarchs, K. Henry V.[1079]and VI.;[1080]nor is this the first time he is mentioned as marshal of the king's minstrels, for in the third year of this reign, 1464, he had a grantfrom K. Edward of ten marks per annum during life directed to him with that title.[1081]

But besides their marshal, we have also in this reign mention of a Sergeant of the minstrels, who upon a particular occasion was able to do his royal master a singular service, wherein his confidential situation and ready access to the king at all hours is very apparent; for "as he [K. Edward IV.] was in the north contray in the monneth of Septembre, as he lay in his bedde, one namid Alexander Carlile, that wasSariaunt of the Mynstrellis, cam to him in grete hast, and badde hym aryse for he hadde enemyes cummyng for to take him, the which were within vi. or vii. mylis, of the which tydinges the king gretely marveylid, &c."[1082]This happened in the same year, 1469, wherein the king granted or confirmed the charter for the fraternity or Gild above-mentioned; yet this Alexander Carlisle is not one of the eight minstrels to whom that charter is directed.[1083]

The same charter was renewed by K. Henry VIII. in 1520, to John Gilman his then marshal, and to seven others his minstrels;[1084]and on the death of Gilman he granted in 1529 this office of Marshal of his minstrels to Hugh Wodehouse,[1085]whom I take to have borne the office of his serjeant over them.[1086]

VI. In all the establishments of royal and noble households, we find an ample provision made for the minstrels; and their situation to have been both honourable and lucrative. In proof of this it is sufficient to refer to the Household Book of the Earl of Northumberland,A.D.1512.[Cc]And the rewards they received so frequently recur in ancient writers that it is unnecessary to crowd the page with them here.[Cc2]

The name of minstrel seems however to have been gradually appropriated to the musician only, especially in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; yet we occasionally meet with applications of the term in its more enlarged meaning as including the singer, if not the composer of heroic or popular rhymes.[1087]

In the time of K. Henry VIII. we find it to have been a common entertainment to hear verses recited, or moral speeches learned for that purpose, by a set of men who got their livelihood by repeating them, and who intruded without ceremony into all companies; not only in taverns, but in the houses of the nobility themselves. This we learn from Erasmus, whose argument led him only to describe a species of these men whodid not singtheir compositions; but the others thatdid, enjoyed without doubt the same privileges.[Dd]

For even long after, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, it was usual "in places of assembly" for the company to be "desirous to heare of old adventures and valiaunces of noble knights in times past, as those of king Arthur, and his knights of the round table, Sir Bevys of Southampton, Guy of Warwicke and others like" in "short and long meetres, and by breaches or divisions (sc. Fits)[1088]to be morecommodiously sung to the harpe," as the reader may be informed by a courtly writer in 1589.[1089]Who himself had "written for pleasure a litle brief romance or historicall ditty ... of the Isle of Great Britaine" in order to contribute to such entertainment. And he subjoins this caution: "Such as have not premonition hereof" (viz. that his poem was written in short metre, &c. to be sung to the harpe in such places of assembly), "and consideration of the causes alledged, would peradventure reprove and disgrace every romance, or short historicall ditty for that they be not written in long meeters or verses Alexandrins," which constituted the prevailing versification among the poets or that age, and which no one now can endure to read.

And that the recital of such romances sung to the harp was at that time the delight of the common people, we are told by the same writer,[1090]who mentions that "common rimers" were fond of using rimes at short distances, "in small and popular musickes song by these Cantabanqui" (the said common rimers) "upon benches and barrels heads," &c. "or else by blind harpers or such like Taverne minstrels that give a fit of mirth for a groat; and their matter being for the most part stories of old time, as the Tale of Sir Topas, the reportes of Bevis of Southampton, Guy of Warwicke, Adam Bell, and Clymme of the Clough, and such other old romances, or historicall rimes," &c. "also they be used in carols and rounds, and such light or lascivious poemes, which are commonly more commodiously uttered by these buffons, or vices in playes, then by any other person. Such were the rimes of Skelton (usurping the name of a poetlaureat) being in deede but a rude railing rimer, and all his doings ridiculous."[1091]

But although we find here that the minstrels had lost much of their dignity, and were sinking into contempt and neglect: yet that they still sustained a character far superior to anything we can conceive at present of the singers of old ballads, I think, may be inferred from the following representation.

When Queen Elizabeth was entertained at Killingworth Castle by the Earl of Leicester in 1575, among the many devices and pageants which were contrived for her entertainment, one of the personages introduced was to have been that of an ancient minstrel: whose appearance and dress are so minutely described by a writer there present,[1092]and give us so distinct an idea of the character, that I shall quote the passage at large.[Ee]

"A person very meet seemed he for the purpose, of a xlv years old, apparelled partly as he would himself. His cap off; his head seemly rounded Tonsler wise:[1093]fair kembed, that with a sponge daintily dipt in a little capon's greace was finely smoothed, to make it shine like a mallard's wing. His beard smugly shaven: and yet his shirt after the new trink, with ruffs fair starched, sleeked and glistering like a pair of new shoes, marshalled in good order with a setting stick, and strut, that every ruff stood up like a wafer. A side (i.e.long) gown of Kendal green,after the freshness of the year now, gathered at the neck with a narrow gorget, fastened afore with a white clasp and a keeper close up to the chin; but easily, for heat to undo when he list. Seemly begirt in a red caddis girdle: from that a pair of capped Sheffield knives hanging a' two sides. Out of his bosom drawn forth a lappet of his napkin[1094]edged with a blue lace, and marked with a true love, a heart, and a D for Damian, for he was but a batchelor yet.

"His gown had side (i.e.long) sleeves down to mid-leg, slit from the shoulder to the hand, and lined with white cotton. His doublet-sleeves of black worsted: upon them a pair of poynets[1095]of tawny chamlet laced along the wrist with blue threaden points, a wealt towards the hand of fustian-a-napes. A pair of red neather stocks. A pair of pumps on his feet, with a cross cut at the toes for corns: not new indeed, yet cleanly blackt with soot, and shining as a shoing horn.

"About his neck a red ribband suitable to his girdle. His harp in good grace dependent before him. His wrest[1096]tyed to a green lace and hanging by. Under the gorget of his gown a fair flaggon chain (pewter,[1097]for) silver, as a squire minstrel of Middlesex, that travelled the country this summer season, unto fairs and worshipful mens houses. From his chain hung a scutcheon, with metal and colour, resplendant upon his breast, of the ancient arms of Islington."

This minstrel is described as belonging to thatvillage. I suppose such as were retained by noble families wore the arms of their patrons hanging down by a silver chain as a kind of badge.[1098]From the expression of squire minstrel above, we may conclude there were other inferior orders, as yeomen minstrels or the like.

This minstrel, the author tells us a little below, "after three lowly courtsies, cleared his voice with a hem ... and ... wiped his lips with the hollow of his hand for 'filing his napkin, tempered a string or two with his wrest, and after a little warbling on his harp for a prelude, came forth with a solemn song, warranted for story out of King Arthur's acts, &c." This song the reader will find printed in this work, vol. iii. book i. No. 3.

Towards the end of the sixteenth century this class of men had lost all credit, and were sunk so low in the public opinion, that in the 39th year of Elizabeth,[1099]a statute was passed by which "minstrels, wandering abroad," were included among "rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars," and were adjudged to be punished as such. This act seems to have put an end to the profession.[Ee2]

VII. I cannot conclude this account of the ancient English minstrels, without remarking that they are most of them represented to have been of the North of England. There is scarce an old historical song or ballad[Ff]wherein a minstrel or harper appears, but he is characterized by way of eminence to have been "of the North countreye:"[1100]and, indeed, the prevalence of the Northern dialect in such compositions shews that this representation is real.[1101]On the other hand, the scene of the finest Scottish ballads is laid in the south of Scotland; which should seem to have been peculiarly the nursery of Scottish minstrels. In the old song of Maggy Lawder, a piper is asked, by way of distinction, "Come ye fraethe Border?"[1102]The martial spirit constantly kept up and exercised near the frontier of the two kingdoms, as it furnished continual subjects for their songs, so it inspired the inhabitants of the adjacent counties on both sides with the powers of poetry. Besides, as our southern metropolis must have been ever the scene of novelty and refinement, the northern countries, as being most distant, would preserve their ancient manners longest, and, of course, the old poetry, in which those manners are peculiarly described.

The reader will observe in the more ancient ballads of this collection, a cast of style and measure very different from that of contemporary poets of a higher class; many phrases and idioms, which the minstrels seem to have appropriated to themselves, and a very remarkable licence of varying the accentof words at pleasure, in order to humour the flow of the verse, particularly in the rhimes; as

instead ofcoùntry,làdy,hàrper,sìnger, &c. This liberty is but sparingly assumed by the classical poets of the same age; or even by the latter composers of heroical ballads, I mean by such as professedly wrote for the press. For it is to be observed, that so long as the minstrels subsisted, they seem never to have designed their rhymes for literary publication, and probably never committed them to writing themselves; what copies are preserved of them were doubtless taken down from their mouths. But as the old minstrels gradually wore out, a new race of ballad-writers succeeded, an inferior sort of minor poets, who wrote narrative songs merely for the press. Instances of both may be found in the reign of Elizabeth. The two latest pieces in the genuine strain of the old minstrelsy that I can discover are No. 3 and 4 of book iii. in this volume. Lower than these I cannot trace the old mode of writing.

The old minstrel ballads are in the northern dialect, abound with antique words and phrases, are extremely incorrect, and run into the utmost licence of metre; they have also a romantic wildness, and are in the true spirit of chivalry. The other sort are written in exacter measure, have a low or subordinate correctness, sometimes bordering on the insipid, yet often well adapted to the pathetic; these are generally in the southern dialect, exhibit a more modern phraseology, and are commonly descriptive of more modern manners. To be sensible of the difference between them, let the reader comparein this volume No. 3 of book iii. with No. 11 of book ii.

Towards the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign (as is mentioned above), the genuine old minstrelsy seems to have been extinct, and henceforth the ballads that were produced were wholly of the latter kind, and these came forth in such abundance that in the reign of James I. they began to be collected into little miscellanies, under the name of Garlands, and at length to be written purposely for such collections.[Ff2]

P.S. By way of postscript should follow here the discussion of the question whether the term Minstrels was applied in English to singers and composers of songs, &c. or confined to musicians only. But it is reserved for the concluding note.[Gg]

THE END OF THE ESSAY.

FOOTNOTES:[1031]The larger Notes and Illustrations referred to by the capital letters[A][B]&c. are thrown together to the end of this essay.[1032]Wedded to no hypothesis, the author hath readily corrected any mistakes which have beenprovedto be in this essay; and considering the novelty of the subject, and the time and place when and where he first took it up, many such had been excusable.—That the term Minstrel was not confined, as some contend, to a meer musician in this country, any more than on the Continent, will be considered more fully in the last note[Gg]at the end of this essay.[1033]Vid. Pelloutier,Hist. des Celtes, tom. i. l. 2. c. 6. 10.[1034]Tacit. de Mor. Germ.cap. 2.[1035]Vid.Bartholin. de Causis contemptæ a Danis mortis, lib. 1. cap. 10.—Wormij Literatura Runic.ad finem.—See alsoNorthernAntiquities, or, A Description of the Manners, Customs, &c. of theancient Danes and other northern nations: from the French of M.Mallet. London, printed for T. Carnan, 1770, 2 vols. 8vo.[1036]Torfæi Præfat. ad Orcad. Hist.—Pref. toFive pieces of RunicPoetry, &c.[1037]Vid.Chronic. Saxon. à Gibson.pp. 12, 13, 4to.—Bed. Hist.Eccles. à Smith, lib. 1, c. 15.—"Ealdsexe [Regio antiq. Saxonum] in cervice Cimbricæ Chersonesi, Holsatiam proprie dictam, Dithmarsiam, Stormariam, et Wagriam, complectens."—Annot. in Bed.à Smith, p. 52. Et vid.Camdeni Britan.[1038]"Anglia Vetus, hodie etiam Anglen, sita est inter Saxones et Giotes [Jutos], habens oppidum capitale ... Sleswick."—Ethelwerd, lib. 1.[1039]SeeNorthern Antiquities, &c. vol i. pp. 7, 8, 185, 259, 260, 261.[1040]SeeNorthern Antiquities, Preface, p. xxvi.[1041]See Rapin'sHist.(by Tindal, fol. 1732, vol. i. p. 36) who places the incident here related under the year 495.[1042]By Bale and Spelman. See Note[M].[1043]Ibid.[1044]Anno938. Vid. Rapin, &c.[1045]So I think the name should be printed, rather then Anlaff, the more usual form (the same traces of the letters express both names in MS.), Aulaff being evidently the genuine northern name Olaff, or Olave. Lat. Olaus. In the old Romance ofHorn-Childe(see vol. iii. Appendix), the name of the king his father is Allof, which is evidently Ollaf, with the vowels only transposed.[1046]Rollo was invested in his new duchy of Normandy,A.D.912. William invaded England,A.D.1066.[1047]Vid.Hist. des Troubadours, 3 tom. passim, & vid.Fableaux ouContes du XII. & du XIII. Siécle, traduits, &c. avec des Notes historiques& critiques, &c.par M. le Grand. Paris, 1781, 5 tom. 12mo.[1048]See Notes[B]and[Aa][1049]See a pathetic song of his in Mr. Walpole'sCatalogue of RoyalAuthors, vol. i. p. 5. The reader will find a translation of it into modern French, inHist. littéraire des Troubadours, 1774, 3 tom. 12mo. See vol. i. (p. 58) where some more of Richard's poetry is translated. In Dr. Burney'sHist. of Music, vol. ii. p. 238, is a poetical version of it in English.[1050]Mons. Favine'sTheatre of Honour and Knighthood, translated from the French. London, 1623, fol. tom. ii. p. 49. An elegant relation of the same event (from the French of Presid. Fauchet'sRecueil, &c.) may be seen inMiscellanies in prose and verse: by Anna Williams, London, 1766, 4to. p. 46. It will excite the reader's admiration to be informed that most of the pieces of that collection were composed under the disadvantage of a total deprivation of sight.[1051]Favine's words are, "Jongleur appellé Blondiaux de Nesle," Paris, 1620, _4to_. p. 1106. But Fauchet, who has given the same story, thus expresses it, "Or ce roy ayant nourri un Menestrel appellé Blondel, &c." liv. 2, p. 92.Des anciens Poëtes François.He is however said to have been another Blondel, not Blondel (or Blondiaux) de Nesle: but this no way affects the circumstances of the story.[1052]This the author calls in another place,An ancient MS. of oldPoesies, written about those very times. From this MS. Favine gives a good account of the taking of Richard by the duke of Austria, who sold him to the emperor. As for the MS. chronicle, it is evidently the same that supplied Fauchet with this story. See hisRecueil de l'Origine de la Langue & Poesie Françoise, Ryme, &Romans, &c.Par. 1581.[1053]Tribales. "Retrudi eum præcepit in Triballis: a quo carcere nullus ante dies istos exivit."—Lat. Chron. of Otho of Austria: apud Favin.[1054]Comme Menestrels s'accointent legerement.—Favine. (Fauchet expresses it in the same manner.)[1055]I give this passage corrected, as the English translator of Favine's book appeared here to have mistaken the original:—Scil. "Et quant Blondel eut dit la moitie de la Chanson, le Roy Richart se prist a dire l'autre moitie et l'acheva."—Favine, p. 1106. Fauchet has also expressed it in nearly the same words.Recueil, p. 93.[1056]In a little romance or novel, intitled,La Tour Tenebreuse, etles Jours lumineux, Contes Angloises, accompagnez d'Historiettes, &tirez a'une ancienne Chronique composee par Richard, surnommeCoeur de Lion, Roy d'Angleterre, &c.Paris, 1705, 12mo. In the Preface to this Romance the editor has given another song of Blondel de Nesle, as also a copy of the song written by K. Richard, and published by Mr. Walpole, mentioned above (in Note[1049], p.357), yet the two last are not in Provençal like the sonnet printed here; but in the old French, calledLangage Roman.[1057]The words of the original, viz. "Citharisator homo jocosus in Gestis antiquorum valde peritus," I conceive to give the precise idea of the ancient minstrel. See Note[V2]. That Gesta was appropriated to romantic stories, see Note[I], PartIV.(i.)[1058]See Dugdale (Bar. i. 42, 101), who places it after 13 John,A.D.1212. See also Plot'sStaffordsh.Camden'sBritann.(Cheshire).[1059]See the ancient record in Blount'sLaw Dictionary. (Art. Minstrel.)[1060]Ibid.p.101.[1061]Leland'sCollectanea, vol. i. p. 261, 266, 267.[1062]This old feudal custom of marrying an heiress to the knight who should vanquish all his opponents in solemn contest, &c. appears to be burlesqued in theTurnament of Totenham(see vol. ii. book i. No. 4), as is well observed by the learned author ofRemarks, &c. inGent. Mag.for July, 1794, p. 613.[1063]"John, sun to K. Henry, and Fulco felle at variance at Chestes [r. Chesse]; and John brake Fulco[s] hed with the Chest borde: and then Fulco gave him such a blow, that he had almost killid hym."—Lel.Coll.1, p. 264. A curious picture of courtly manners in that age! Notwithstanding this fray, we read in the next paragraph, that "K. Henry dubbid Fulco & 3 of his bretherne knightes at Winchester."—Ibid.[1064]Burney'sHist.ii. p. 355. Rot. Pip. An. 36, H. 3. "Et in uno dolio vini empto & dato Magistro Ricardo Citharistæ Regis, xl sol. per br. Reg. Et in uno dolio empto & dato Beatrici uxori ejusdem Ricardi."[1065]Walter Hemmingford (vixit temp.Edw. I.) in Chronic. cap. 35, interV. Hist. Ang. Scriptores, vol. ii. Oxon. 1687, fol. p. 591.[1066]"Accurrentes ad hæc Ministri ejus, qui a longe steterunt, invenerunt eum (scil. Nuntium) in terra mortuum, et apprehendit unus eorum tripodem, scilicet Cithareda suus & percussit eum in capite, et effundit cerebrum ejus. Increpavitque eum Edwardus quod hominem mortuum percussisset."—Ibid.Theseministrimust have been upon a very confidential footing, as it appears above in the same chapter that they had been made acquainted with the contents of the letters, which the assassin had delivered to the prince from his master.[1067]See Gray'sOde: and the Hist. of the Gwedir Family inMiscellanies by the Hon. Daines Barrington, 1781, 4to. p. 386; who in the laws, &c. of this monarch could find no instances of severity against the Welsh. See hisObservations on the Statutes, 4to. 4th edit. p. 358.[1068]Hist. of Staffordshire, Ch. 10, Section 69-76, p. 433, & seqq. of which see extracts in Sir J. Hawkins'sHist. of Music, vol. ii. p. 64, and Dr. Burney'sHist.vol. ii. p. 360 & seqq.N.B. The barbarous diversion of Bull-running was no part of the original institution, &c. as is fully proved by the Rev. Dr. Pegge inArchæologia, vol. ii. No. xiii. p. 86.[1069]See the charge given by the steward, at the time of the election, in Plot'sHist.ubi supra; and in Hawkins, p. 67, Burney, p. 363-4.[1070]So among the heraldsNorreywas anciently stiledRoy d'Armesde North(Anstis, ii. 300). And the kings at armes in general were originally calledReges Heraldorum(Ibid.302), as these wereReges Minstrallorum.[1071]Rymer's,Fædera, tom. vii. p. 555.[1072]Rymer, ix. 255.[1073]Ibid.p.260.[1074]See hisChronicle, sub anno 1415 (p. 1170). He also gives this other instance of the king's great modesty, "that he would not suffer his helmet to be carried with him, and shewed to the people, that they might behold the dintes and cuttes, whiche appeared in the same, of such blowes and stripes, as hee received the daye of the battell."—Ibid.Vid. T. de Elmham, c. 29, p. 72.The prohibition against vain and secular songs would probably not include that inserted in our 2nd vol. No. v. which would be considered as a hymn. The original notes may be seen reduced and set to score in Mr. Stafford Smith'sCollection of English Songsfor 3 and 4 voices, and in Dr. Burney'sHist. of Music, ii. p. 384.[1075]T. ix. 336.[1076]Ibid.x. 287. They are mentioned by name, beingtenin number: one of them was named Thomas Chatterton.[1077]Tom. xi. 375.[1078]See it in Rymer, t. xi. 642, and in Sir J. Hawkins, vol. iv. p. 366, note. The above charter is recited in letters patent of K. Charles I. 15 July (11 Anno Regni) for a corporation of musicians, &c. in Westminster, which may be seen,ibid.[1079]Rymer, ix. 255.[1080]Ibid.xi. 375.[1081]Rymer, xi. 512.[1082]Here unfortunately ends a curious fragment (an. 9, E. IV.), ad calcemSprotti Chron.Ed. Hearne, Oxon. 1719, 8vo. Vid. T. Warton'sHist.ii. p. 134, note[C].[1083]Rymer, xi. 642.[1084]Ibid.xiii. 705.[1085]Ibid.xiv. 2. 93.[1086]So I am inclined to understand the term Serviens noster Hugo Wodehous, in the original Grant (see Rymer,ubi supra). It is needless to observe thatServiensexpressed a serjeant as well as a servant. If this interpretation ofServiensbe allowed, it will account for his placing Wodehouse at the head of his Gild, although he had not been one of the eight minstrels who had had the general direction. The serjeant of his minstrells, we may presume, was next in dignity to the marshal, although he had no share in the government of the Gild.[1087]See below, and Note[Gg].[1088]See vol. ii. book 2, No. 10.[1089]Puttenham in hisArte of English Poesie, 1589, 4to. p. 33. See the quotation in its proper order in vol ii. book ii. No. 10.[1090]Ibid.p.69. See vol. ii. book 2, No. 10.[1091]Puttenham, &c. p. 69.[1092]See a very curious "Letter: whearin, part of the entertainment untoo the Queenz Maiesty, at Killingwoorth Castl, in Warwick Sheer, in this soomerz Progress 1575, iz signified," &c. bl. l. 4to. vid. p. 46, & seqq. (Printed in Nichols'sCollection of QueenElizabeth's Progresses, &c. in 2 vols. 4to.) We have not followed above the peculiar and affected orthography of this writer, who was named Ro. Laneham, or rather Langham.[1093]I suppose "Tonsure-wise," after the manner of the monks.[1094]i.e.handkerchief. So in Shakspear'sOthello, passim.[1095]Perhaps, points.[1096]The key, or screw, with which he tuned his harp.[1097]The reader will remember that this was not a real minstrel, but only one personating that character; his ornaments therefore were only such asoutwardlyrepresented those of a real minstrel.[1098]As the house of Northumberland had anciently three minstrels attending on them in their castles in Yorkshire, so they still retain three in their service in Northumberland, who wear the badge of the family (a silver crescent on the right arm), and are thus distributed;viz.one for the barony of Prudhoe, and two for the barony of Rothbury. These attend the court leets and fairs held for the Lord, and pay their annual suit and service at Alnwick castle; their instrument being the ancient Northumberland bagpipe (very different in form and execution from that of the Scots, being smaller; and blown, not with the breath, but with a small pair of bellows).This, with many other venerable customs of the ancient Lord Percys, was revived by their illustrious representatives the late Duke and Dutchess of Northumberland.[1099]Anno Dom. 1597. Vid.Pult. Stat.p. 1110, 39 Eliz.[1100]See this vol. Song 6, v. 156, 180, &c.[1101]Giraldus Cambrensis, writing in the reign of K. Henry II. mentions a very extraordinary habit or propensity, which then prevailed in the north of England, beyond the Humber, for "symphonious harmony," or singing "in two parts, the one murmuring in the base, and the other warbling in the acute or treble." (I use Dr. Burney's version, vol. ii. p. 108.) This he describes as practised by their very children from the cradle; and he derives it from the Danes (soDacisignifies in our old writers) and Norwegians, who long over-ran and in effect new-peopled the northern parts of England, where alone this manner of singing prevailed. (VideCambriae Descriptio, cap. 13, and in Burney,ubi supra.) Giraldus is probably right as to the origin or derivation of this practise, for the Danish and Icelandic scalds had carried the arts of poetry and singing to great perfection at the time the Danish settlements were made in the north. And it will also help to account for the superior skill and fame of our northern minstrels and harpers afterwards: who had preserved and transmitted the arts of their scaldic ancestors. SeeNorthern Antiquities, vol. i. c. 13, p. 386, andFive pieces of Runic poetry, 1763, 8vo. Compare the original passage in Giraldus, as given by Sir John Hawkins, i. 408, and by Dr. Burney, ii. 108, who are both at a loss to account for this peculiarity, and therefore doubt the fact. The credit of Giraldus, which hath been attacked by some partial and bigotted antiquaries, the reader will find defended in that learned and curious work,Antiquities of Ireland, by Edward Ledwich, LL.D. &c. Dublin, 1790, 4to. p. 207, & seqq.[1102]This line being quoted from memory, and given as old Scottish poetry, would have been readily corrected by the copy published inScottish Songs, 1794, 2 vols. 12mo. i. p. 267, thus (though apparently corrupted from the Scottish idiom):"Live you upo' the Border?"had not all confidence been destroyed by its being altered in theHistorical Essay, prefixed to that publication (p. cx.) to"Ye live upo' the Border,"the better to favour a position, that many of the pipers "might live upon the border, for the conveniency of attending fairs, &c. in both kingdoms." But whoever is acquainted with that part of England knows that on the English frontier rude mountains and barren wastes reach almost across the island, scarcely inhabited by any but solitary shepherds; many of whom durst not venture into the opposite border on account of the ancient feuds and subsequent disputes concerning the Debatable Lands, which separated the boundaries of the two kingdoms, as well as the estates of the two great families of Percy and Douglas; till these disputes were settled, not many years since, by arbitration between thepresentLord Douglas, and thelateDuke and Dutchess of Northumberland.

[1031]The larger Notes and Illustrations referred to by the capital letters[A][B]&c. are thrown together to the end of this essay.

[1032]Wedded to no hypothesis, the author hath readily corrected any mistakes which have beenprovedto be in this essay; and considering the novelty of the subject, and the time and place when and where he first took it up, many such had been excusable.—That the term Minstrel was not confined, as some contend, to a meer musician in this country, any more than on the Continent, will be considered more fully in the last note[Gg]at the end of this essay.

[1033]Vid. Pelloutier,Hist. des Celtes, tom. i. l. 2. c. 6. 10.

[1034]Tacit. de Mor. Germ.cap. 2.

[1035]Vid.Bartholin. de Causis contemptæ a Danis mortis, lib. 1. cap. 10.—Wormij Literatura Runic.ad finem.—See alsoNorthernAntiquities, or, A Description of the Manners, Customs, &c. of theancient Danes and other northern nations: from the French of M.Mallet. London, printed for T. Carnan, 1770, 2 vols. 8vo.

[1036]Torfæi Præfat. ad Orcad. Hist.—Pref. toFive pieces of RunicPoetry, &c.

[1037]Vid.Chronic. Saxon. à Gibson.pp. 12, 13, 4to.—Bed. Hist.Eccles. à Smith, lib. 1, c. 15.—"Ealdsexe [Regio antiq. Saxonum] in cervice Cimbricæ Chersonesi, Holsatiam proprie dictam, Dithmarsiam, Stormariam, et Wagriam, complectens."—Annot. in Bed.à Smith, p. 52. Et vid.Camdeni Britan.

[1038]"Anglia Vetus, hodie etiam Anglen, sita est inter Saxones et Giotes [Jutos], habens oppidum capitale ... Sleswick."—Ethelwerd, lib. 1.

[1039]SeeNorthern Antiquities, &c. vol i. pp. 7, 8, 185, 259, 260, 261.

[1040]SeeNorthern Antiquities, Preface, p. xxvi.

[1041]See Rapin'sHist.(by Tindal, fol. 1732, vol. i. p. 36) who places the incident here related under the year 495.

[1042]By Bale and Spelman. See Note[M].

[1043]Ibid.

[1044]Anno938. Vid. Rapin, &c.

[1045]So I think the name should be printed, rather then Anlaff, the more usual form (the same traces of the letters express both names in MS.), Aulaff being evidently the genuine northern name Olaff, or Olave. Lat. Olaus. In the old Romance ofHorn-Childe(see vol. iii. Appendix), the name of the king his father is Allof, which is evidently Ollaf, with the vowels only transposed.

[1046]Rollo was invested in his new duchy of Normandy,A.D.912. William invaded England,A.D.1066.

[1047]Vid.Hist. des Troubadours, 3 tom. passim, & vid.Fableaux ouContes du XII. & du XIII. Siécle, traduits, &c. avec des Notes historiques& critiques, &c.par M. le Grand. Paris, 1781, 5 tom. 12mo.

[1048]See Notes[B]and[Aa]

[1049]See a pathetic song of his in Mr. Walpole'sCatalogue of RoyalAuthors, vol. i. p. 5. The reader will find a translation of it into modern French, inHist. littéraire des Troubadours, 1774, 3 tom. 12mo. See vol. i. (p. 58) where some more of Richard's poetry is translated. In Dr. Burney'sHist. of Music, vol. ii. p. 238, is a poetical version of it in English.

[1050]Mons. Favine'sTheatre of Honour and Knighthood, translated from the French. London, 1623, fol. tom. ii. p. 49. An elegant relation of the same event (from the French of Presid. Fauchet'sRecueil, &c.) may be seen inMiscellanies in prose and verse: by Anna Williams, London, 1766, 4to. p. 46. It will excite the reader's admiration to be informed that most of the pieces of that collection were composed under the disadvantage of a total deprivation of sight.

[1051]Favine's words are, "Jongleur appellé Blondiaux de Nesle," Paris, 1620, _4to_. p. 1106. But Fauchet, who has given the same story, thus expresses it, "Or ce roy ayant nourri un Menestrel appellé Blondel, &c." liv. 2, p. 92.Des anciens Poëtes François.He is however said to have been another Blondel, not Blondel (or Blondiaux) de Nesle: but this no way affects the circumstances of the story.

[1052]This the author calls in another place,An ancient MS. of oldPoesies, written about those very times. From this MS. Favine gives a good account of the taking of Richard by the duke of Austria, who sold him to the emperor. As for the MS. chronicle, it is evidently the same that supplied Fauchet with this story. See hisRecueil de l'Origine de la Langue & Poesie Françoise, Ryme, &Romans, &c.Par. 1581.

[1053]Tribales. "Retrudi eum præcepit in Triballis: a quo carcere nullus ante dies istos exivit."—Lat. Chron. of Otho of Austria: apud Favin.

[1054]Comme Menestrels s'accointent legerement.—Favine. (Fauchet expresses it in the same manner.)

[1055]I give this passage corrected, as the English translator of Favine's book appeared here to have mistaken the original:—Scil. "Et quant Blondel eut dit la moitie de la Chanson, le Roy Richart se prist a dire l'autre moitie et l'acheva."—Favine, p. 1106. Fauchet has also expressed it in nearly the same words.Recueil, p. 93.

[1056]In a little romance or novel, intitled,La Tour Tenebreuse, etles Jours lumineux, Contes Angloises, accompagnez d'Historiettes, &tirez a'une ancienne Chronique composee par Richard, surnommeCoeur de Lion, Roy d'Angleterre, &c.Paris, 1705, 12mo. In the Preface to this Romance the editor has given another song of Blondel de Nesle, as also a copy of the song written by K. Richard, and published by Mr. Walpole, mentioned above (in Note[1049], p.357), yet the two last are not in Provençal like the sonnet printed here; but in the old French, calledLangage Roman.

[1057]The words of the original, viz. "Citharisator homo jocosus in Gestis antiquorum valde peritus," I conceive to give the precise idea of the ancient minstrel. See Note[V2]. That Gesta was appropriated to romantic stories, see Note[I], PartIV.(i.)

[1058]See Dugdale (Bar. i. 42, 101), who places it after 13 John,A.D.1212. See also Plot'sStaffordsh.Camden'sBritann.(Cheshire).

[1059]See the ancient record in Blount'sLaw Dictionary. (Art. Minstrel.)

[1060]Ibid.p.101.

[1061]Leland'sCollectanea, vol. i. p. 261, 266, 267.

[1062]This old feudal custom of marrying an heiress to the knight who should vanquish all his opponents in solemn contest, &c. appears to be burlesqued in theTurnament of Totenham(see vol. ii. book i. No. 4), as is well observed by the learned author ofRemarks, &c. inGent. Mag.for July, 1794, p. 613.

[1063]"John, sun to K. Henry, and Fulco felle at variance at Chestes [r. Chesse]; and John brake Fulco[s] hed with the Chest borde: and then Fulco gave him such a blow, that he had almost killid hym."—Lel.Coll.1, p. 264. A curious picture of courtly manners in that age! Notwithstanding this fray, we read in the next paragraph, that "K. Henry dubbid Fulco & 3 of his bretherne knightes at Winchester."—Ibid.

[1064]Burney'sHist.ii. p. 355. Rot. Pip. An. 36, H. 3. "Et in uno dolio vini empto & dato Magistro Ricardo Citharistæ Regis, xl sol. per br. Reg. Et in uno dolio empto & dato Beatrici uxori ejusdem Ricardi."

[1065]Walter Hemmingford (vixit temp.Edw. I.) in Chronic. cap. 35, interV. Hist. Ang. Scriptores, vol. ii. Oxon. 1687, fol. p. 591.

[1066]"Accurrentes ad hæc Ministri ejus, qui a longe steterunt, invenerunt eum (scil. Nuntium) in terra mortuum, et apprehendit unus eorum tripodem, scilicet Cithareda suus & percussit eum in capite, et effundit cerebrum ejus. Increpavitque eum Edwardus quod hominem mortuum percussisset."—Ibid.Theseministrimust have been upon a very confidential footing, as it appears above in the same chapter that they had been made acquainted with the contents of the letters, which the assassin had delivered to the prince from his master.

[1067]See Gray'sOde: and the Hist. of the Gwedir Family inMiscellanies by the Hon. Daines Barrington, 1781, 4to. p. 386; who in the laws, &c. of this monarch could find no instances of severity against the Welsh. See hisObservations on the Statutes, 4to. 4th edit. p. 358.

[1068]Hist. of Staffordshire, Ch. 10, Section 69-76, p. 433, & seqq. of which see extracts in Sir J. Hawkins'sHist. of Music, vol. ii. p. 64, and Dr. Burney'sHist.vol. ii. p. 360 & seqq.N.B. The barbarous diversion of Bull-running was no part of the original institution, &c. as is fully proved by the Rev. Dr. Pegge inArchæologia, vol. ii. No. xiii. p. 86.

[1068]Hist. of Staffordshire, Ch. 10, Section 69-76, p. 433, & seqq. of which see extracts in Sir J. Hawkins'sHist. of Music, vol. ii. p. 64, and Dr. Burney'sHist.vol. ii. p. 360 & seqq.

N.B. The barbarous diversion of Bull-running was no part of the original institution, &c. as is fully proved by the Rev. Dr. Pegge inArchæologia, vol. ii. No. xiii. p. 86.

[1069]See the charge given by the steward, at the time of the election, in Plot'sHist.ubi supra; and in Hawkins, p. 67, Burney, p. 363-4.

[1070]So among the heraldsNorreywas anciently stiledRoy d'Armesde North(Anstis, ii. 300). And the kings at armes in general were originally calledReges Heraldorum(Ibid.302), as these wereReges Minstrallorum.

[1071]Rymer's,Fædera, tom. vii. p. 555.

[1072]Rymer, ix. 255.

[1073]Ibid.p.260.

[1074]See hisChronicle, sub anno 1415 (p. 1170). He also gives this other instance of the king's great modesty, "that he would not suffer his helmet to be carried with him, and shewed to the people, that they might behold the dintes and cuttes, whiche appeared in the same, of such blowes and stripes, as hee received the daye of the battell."—Ibid.Vid. T. de Elmham, c. 29, p. 72.The prohibition against vain and secular songs would probably not include that inserted in our 2nd vol. No. v. which would be considered as a hymn. The original notes may be seen reduced and set to score in Mr. Stafford Smith'sCollection of English Songsfor 3 and 4 voices, and in Dr. Burney'sHist. of Music, ii. p. 384.

The prohibition against vain and secular songs would probably not include that inserted in our 2nd vol. No. v. which would be considered as a hymn. The original notes may be seen reduced and set to score in Mr. Stafford Smith'sCollection of English Songsfor 3 and 4 voices, and in Dr. Burney'sHist. of Music, ii. p. 384.

[1075]T. ix. 336.

[1076]Ibid.x. 287. They are mentioned by name, beingtenin number: one of them was named Thomas Chatterton.

[1077]Tom. xi. 375.

[1078]See it in Rymer, t. xi. 642, and in Sir J. Hawkins, vol. iv. p. 366, note. The above charter is recited in letters patent of K. Charles I. 15 July (11 Anno Regni) for a corporation of musicians, &c. in Westminster, which may be seen,ibid.

[1079]Rymer, ix. 255.

[1080]Ibid.xi. 375.

[1081]Rymer, xi. 512.

[1082]Here unfortunately ends a curious fragment (an. 9, E. IV.), ad calcemSprotti Chron.Ed. Hearne, Oxon. 1719, 8vo. Vid. T. Warton'sHist.ii. p. 134, note[C].

[1083]Rymer, xi. 642.

[1084]Ibid.xiii. 705.

[1085]Ibid.xiv. 2. 93.

[1086]So I am inclined to understand the term Serviens noster Hugo Wodehous, in the original Grant (see Rymer,ubi supra). It is needless to observe thatServiensexpressed a serjeant as well as a servant. If this interpretation ofServiensbe allowed, it will account for his placing Wodehouse at the head of his Gild, although he had not been one of the eight minstrels who had had the general direction. The serjeant of his minstrells, we may presume, was next in dignity to the marshal, although he had no share in the government of the Gild.

[1087]See below, and Note[Gg].

[1088]See vol. ii. book 2, No. 10.

[1089]Puttenham in hisArte of English Poesie, 1589, 4to. p. 33. See the quotation in its proper order in vol ii. book ii. No. 10.

[1090]Ibid.p.69. See vol. ii. book 2, No. 10.

[1091]Puttenham, &c. p. 69.

[1092]See a very curious "Letter: whearin, part of the entertainment untoo the Queenz Maiesty, at Killingwoorth Castl, in Warwick Sheer, in this soomerz Progress 1575, iz signified," &c. bl. l. 4to. vid. p. 46, & seqq. (Printed in Nichols'sCollection of QueenElizabeth's Progresses, &c. in 2 vols. 4to.) We have not followed above the peculiar and affected orthography of this writer, who was named Ro. Laneham, or rather Langham.

[1093]I suppose "Tonsure-wise," after the manner of the monks.

[1094]i.e.handkerchief. So in Shakspear'sOthello, passim.

[1095]Perhaps, points.

[1096]The key, or screw, with which he tuned his harp.

[1097]The reader will remember that this was not a real minstrel, but only one personating that character; his ornaments therefore were only such asoutwardlyrepresented those of a real minstrel.

[1098]As the house of Northumberland had anciently three minstrels attending on them in their castles in Yorkshire, so they still retain three in their service in Northumberland, who wear the badge of the family (a silver crescent on the right arm), and are thus distributed;viz.one for the barony of Prudhoe, and two for the barony of Rothbury. These attend the court leets and fairs held for the Lord, and pay their annual suit and service at Alnwick castle; their instrument being the ancient Northumberland bagpipe (very different in form and execution from that of the Scots, being smaller; and blown, not with the breath, but with a small pair of bellows).This, with many other venerable customs of the ancient Lord Percys, was revived by their illustrious representatives the late Duke and Dutchess of Northumberland.

This, with many other venerable customs of the ancient Lord Percys, was revived by their illustrious representatives the late Duke and Dutchess of Northumberland.

[1099]Anno Dom. 1597. Vid.Pult. Stat.p. 1110, 39 Eliz.

[1100]See this vol. Song 6, v. 156, 180, &c.

[1101]Giraldus Cambrensis, writing in the reign of K. Henry II. mentions a very extraordinary habit or propensity, which then prevailed in the north of England, beyond the Humber, for "symphonious harmony," or singing "in two parts, the one murmuring in the base, and the other warbling in the acute or treble." (I use Dr. Burney's version, vol. ii. p. 108.) This he describes as practised by their very children from the cradle; and he derives it from the Danes (soDacisignifies in our old writers) and Norwegians, who long over-ran and in effect new-peopled the northern parts of England, where alone this manner of singing prevailed. (VideCambriae Descriptio, cap. 13, and in Burney,ubi supra.) Giraldus is probably right as to the origin or derivation of this practise, for the Danish and Icelandic scalds had carried the arts of poetry and singing to great perfection at the time the Danish settlements were made in the north. And it will also help to account for the superior skill and fame of our northern minstrels and harpers afterwards: who had preserved and transmitted the arts of their scaldic ancestors. SeeNorthern Antiquities, vol. i. c. 13, p. 386, andFive pieces of Runic poetry, 1763, 8vo. Compare the original passage in Giraldus, as given by Sir John Hawkins, i. 408, and by Dr. Burney, ii. 108, who are both at a loss to account for this peculiarity, and therefore doubt the fact. The credit of Giraldus, which hath been attacked by some partial and bigotted antiquaries, the reader will find defended in that learned and curious work,Antiquities of Ireland, by Edward Ledwich, LL.D. &c. Dublin, 1790, 4to. p. 207, & seqq.

[1102]This line being quoted from memory, and given as old Scottish poetry, would have been readily corrected by the copy published inScottish Songs, 1794, 2 vols. 12mo. i. p. 267, thus (though apparently corrupted from the Scottish idiom):"Live you upo' the Border?"had not all confidence been destroyed by its being altered in theHistorical Essay, prefixed to that publication (p. cx.) to"Ye live upo' the Border,"the better to favour a position, that many of the pipers "might live upon the border, for the conveniency of attending fairs, &c. in both kingdoms." But whoever is acquainted with that part of England knows that on the English frontier rude mountains and barren wastes reach almost across the island, scarcely inhabited by any but solitary shepherds; many of whom durst not venture into the opposite border on account of the ancient feuds and subsequent disputes concerning the Debatable Lands, which separated the boundaries of the two kingdoms, as well as the estates of the two great families of Percy and Douglas; till these disputes were settled, not many years since, by arbitration between thepresentLord Douglas, and thelateDuke and Dutchess of Northumberland.

"Live you upo' the Border?"

had not all confidence been destroyed by its being altered in theHistorical Essay, prefixed to that publication (p. cx.) to

"Ye live upo' the Border,"

the better to favour a position, that many of the pipers "might live upon the border, for the conveniency of attending fairs, &c. in both kingdoms." But whoever is acquainted with that part of England knows that on the English frontier rude mountains and barren wastes reach almost across the island, scarcely inhabited by any but solitary shepherds; many of whom durst not venture into the opposite border on account of the ancient feuds and subsequent disputes concerning the Debatable Lands, which separated the boundaries of the two kingdoms, as well as the estates of the two great families of Percy and Douglas; till these disputes were settled, not many years since, by arbitration between thepresentLord Douglas, and thelateDuke and Dutchess of Northumberland.

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