"I will make no vain carpinge See also the Description of the Minstrel in note (E e) from Morte Arthur, which appears to have been compiled about the time of this last writer. (See T. Warton, ii. 235.) By proving that Minstrels were Singers of the old Romantic Songs and Gestes, &c., we have in effect proved them to have been the makers at least of some of them. For the names of their Authors being not preserved, to whom can we so probably ascribe the composition of many of these old popular rhymes, as to the men who devoted all their time and talents to the recitation of them, especially as in the rhymes themselves Minstrels are often represented as the makers or composers? Thus, in the oldest of all, Horn-Child, having assumed the character of a Harper or Jogeler, is in consequence said (fo. 92) to have "made Rymenild [his mistress] a lay." In the old Romance of Emaré, we have this exhortation to Minstrels, as composers, otherwise they could not have been at liberty to choose their subjects. (st. 2.) "Menstrelles that walken fer and wyde That made both see and londe," &c. And in the old Song or Geste of Guy and Colbronde (Series the Third, No. 4, p. 193), the Minstrel thus speaks of himself in the first person: "When meate and drinke is great plentye Then lords and ladyes still wil be And sitt and solace lythe *The fondness of the English (even the most illiterate) to hear tales and rhymes, is much dwelt on by Rob. de Brunne, in 1330. (Warton, i. p. 59, 65, 75.) All rhymes were then sung to the harp: even Troilus and Cresseide, though almost as long as the Eneid, was to be "redde.. .... or else Bonge." 1. ult. (Warton, i. 388.) Then itt is time for mee to speake Of keene knights and kempes great Such carping for to kythe." We have seen already that the Welsh Bards, who were undoubtedly composers of the songs they chanted to the Harp, could not be distinguished by our legislators from our own Rimers, Minstrels. (Vid. (B b 3) p. xliii.) And that the Provençal Troubadour of our King Richard, who is called by M. Favine Jongleur, and by M. Fauchet Menestrel, is by the old English translator termed a Rimer or Minstrel when he is mentioning the fact of his composing some verses. (p. xxxii.) And lastly, that Holinshed, translating the prohibition of King Henry V., forbidding any songs to be composed on his victory, or to be sung by Harpers or others, roundly gives it, he would not permit "any ditties to be made and sung by Minstrels on his glorious Victory," &c. Vid. p. xviii. and note (B b 4). Now that this order of men, at first called Gleemen, then Juglers, and afterwards more generally Minstrels, existed here from the Conquest, who entertained their hearers with chanting to the harp or other instruments, songs and tales of chivalry, or as they were called Gests* and Romances in verse in the English language, is proved by the existence of the very compositions they so chanted, which are still preserved in great abundance; and exhibit a regular series from the time our language was almost Saxon, till after its improvements in the age of Chaucer, who enumerates many of them. And as the Norman French was in the time of this Bard still the courtly language, it shows that the English was not thereby excluded from affording entertainment to our nobility, who are so often addressed therein by the title of Lordings: and sometimes more positively "Lords and Ladies." And though many of these were translated from the French, others are evidently of English origin,† which appear in their turns * Gests at length came to signify adventures or incidents in general. So in a narrative of the journey into Scotland, of Queen Margaret and her attendants, on her marriage with King James IV. in 1503 [in Appendix to Leland. Collect. iv. p. 265], we are promised an account "of their Gestys and manners during the said voyage." †The romance of "Richard Coeur de Lion," (No. 25), I should judge to be of English origin from the names Wardrewe and Eldrede, &c., vol. iii. p. 194, 195. As is also Eger and Grime (No. 12), wherein a knight is named Sir Gray to have afforded versions into that language; a sufficient proof of that intercommunity between the French and English Minstrels, which hath been mentioned in a preceding page. Even the abundance of such translations into English, being all adapted for popular recitation, sufficiently establishes the fact, that the English Minstrels had a great demand for such compositions, which they were glad to supply, whether from their own native stores, or from other languages. We have seen above that the Joculator, Mimus, Histrio, whether these characters were the same, or had any real difference, were all called Minstrels; as was also the Harper,* when the term implied a singer, if not a composer, of songs, &c. By degrees the name of Minstrel was extended to vocal and instrumental musicians of every kind: and as in the establishment of royal and noble houses, the latter would necessarily be most numerous, so we are not to wonder that the band of music (entered under the general name of Minstrels) should consist of instru mental performers chiefly, if not altogether: for, as the composer or singer of heroic tales to the harp would necessarily be a solitary performer, we must not expect to find him in the band along with the trumpeters, fluters, &c. However, as we sometimes find mention of "Minstrels of Music;"† so at other times we hear of " expert Minstrels and Musicians of Tongue and Cunning," (B b 3) p. xliii.,‡ Steel, and a lady who excels in surgery is called Loospaine or Lose-pain: these surely are not derived from France. *See the romance of "Sir Isenbras" (vol. iii. No. 14, p 194), sign. a. Harpers loved him in Hall With other Minstrels all. †T. Warton, ii. 258, note (a) from Leland's Collect. (vol. iv. Append. edit. 1774, p. 267.) The curious author of the "Tour in Wales, 1773,❞ 4to. p. 435, I find to have read these words "in toune and contrey;" which I can scarce imagine to have been applicable to Wales at that time. Nor can I agree with him in the representation he has given (p. 367), concerning the Cymmorth or meeting, wherein the Bards exerted their powers to excite their countrymen to war; as if it were by a deduction of the particulars he enumerates, and as it should seem in the way of harangue, &c. After which, "the band of Minstrels . . . . . . . . struck up; the harp, the crwth, and the pipe filled the measures of enthusiasm, which the others had begun to inspire." Whereas it is well known, that the Bard chanted his enthusiastic effualons to the harp; and as for the term Minstrel, it was meaning doubtless by the former, singers, and probably by the latter phrase, composers, of songs. Even "Minstrels Music" seems to be applied to the species of verse used by Minstrels in the passage quoted below.* But although, from the predominancy of instrumental music, Minstrelsy was at length chiefly to be understood in this sense, yet it was still applied to the Poetry of Minstrels so late as the time of Queen Elizabeth, as appears in the following extract from Puttenham's "Arte of English Poesie,” p. 9, who, speaking of the first composers of Latin verses in rhyme, says, "all that they wrote to the favor or prayse of Princes, they did it in such manner of Minstralsie; and thought themselves no small fooles, when they could make their verses go all in ryme." I shall conclude this subject with the following description of Minstrelsy given by John Lidgate at the beginning of the 15thVERSITY century, as it shows what a variety of enter tainments were then comprehended under this term, together with every kind of instruIBRARY mental music then in use: ILLINOIS "Al maner Mynstralcye, That any man kan specifye. Ffor there were Rotys of Almayne And eke of Arragon, and Spayne: Songes, Stampes, and eke Daunces; Divers plente of plesaunces: And many unkouth notys new Of swiche folke as lovid treue.† And instrumentys that did excelle, Many moo than I kan telle. Harpys, Fythales, and eke Rotys Well according to her [i. e. their] notys, Lutys, Ribibles, and Geternes, More for estatys, than tavernes : Orgay[n]s, Cytolis, Monacordys.There were Trumpes, and Trumpettes, Lowde Shall[m]ys, and Doucettes." T. Warton, ii. 225, note (*). not, I conceive, at all used by the Welsh; and in English it comprehended both the bard and the musician. "Your ordinarie rimers use very much their measures in the odde, as nine and eleven, and the sharpe accent upon the last sillable, which therefore makes him go ill favouredly and like a Minstrels musicke." (Puttenham's Arte of Eng. Poesie, 1589, p. 59.) This must mean his vocal music, otherwise it appears not applicable to the subject. + By this phrase I understand, New Tales or Narrative Rhymes composed by the Minstrels on the subject of true and faithful Lovers, &c. THE END OF THE ESSAY. ***The foregoing Essay on the Ancient Minstrels has been very much enlarged and improved since the first edition, with respect to the Anglo-Saxon Minstrels, in consequence of some objections proposed by the reverend and learned Mr. Pegge, which the reader may find in the second volume of the Archæologia, printed by the Antiquarian Society; but which that gentleman has since retracted in the most liberal and candid manner in the third volume of the Archæologia, No. xxxiv. p. 310. And in consequence of similar objections respecting the English Minstrels after the Conquest, the subsequent part hath been much enlarged, and additional light thrown upon the subject; which, to prevent cavil, hath been extended to Minstrelsy in all its branches, as it was established in England, whether by natives or foreigners. Reliques OF ANCIENT POETRY, ETC. "I never heard the old song of Percie and Douglas, that I found not my heart moved more than with a trumpet; and yet 'it' is sung but by some blinde crowder, with no rougher voice, than rude style: which beeing so evill apparelled in the dust cobweb of that uncivill · age, what would it work, trimmed in the gorgeous eloquence of Pindare !" SIR PHILIP SYDNEY'S DEFENCE OF POETRY. SERIES THE FIRST. BOOK I. I. The Ancient Ballad of Chevy-Chase. THE fine heroic song of Chevy-Chase has | MS. copy is subjoined the name of the author, ever been admired by competent judges. Those genuine strokes of nature and artless passion, which have endeared it to the most simple readers, have recommended it to the most refined; and it has equally been the amusement of our childhood, and the favourite of our riper years. Mr. Addison has given an excellent critique* on this very popular ballad, but is mistaken with regard to the antiquity of the common-received copy; for this, if one may judge from the style, cannot be older than the time of Elizabeth, and was probably written after the eulogium of Sir Philip Sydney: perhaps in consequence of it. I flatter myself, I have here recovered the genuine antique poem; the true original song, which appeared rude even in the time of Sir Philip, and caused him to lament that it was so evil apparelled in the rugged garb of antiquity. This curiosity is printed, from an old manuscript, at the end of Hearne's preface to Gul. Newbrigiensis Hist. 1719, 8vo. vol. i. To the Spectator, No. 70, 74. Rychard Sheale;* whom Hearne had so little judgment as to suppose to be the same with a R. Sheale, who was living in 1588. But whoever examines the gradation of language and idiom in the following volumes, will be convinced that this is the production of an earlier poet. It is indeed expressly mentioned among some very ancient songs in an old book entitled, The Complaint of Scotland,† (fol. 42), under the title of the Huntis of Chevet, where the two following lines are also quoted: memory. Indeed, whoever considers the style | this would naturally produce a sharp conflict and orthography of this old poem will not be inclined to place it lower than the time of Henry VI.: as on the other hand the mention of JAMES THE SCOTTISH KING,* with one or two anachronisms, forbids us to assign it an earlier date. King James I. who was prisoner in this kingdom at the death of his father,† did not wear the crown of Scotland till the second year of our Henry VI.,‡ but before the end of that long reign a third James had mounted the throne. A succession of two or three Jameses, and the long detention of one of them in England, would render the name familiar to the English, and dispose a poet in those rude times to give it to any Scottish king he happened to mention. So much for the date of this old ballad: with regard to its subject, although it has no countenance from history, there is room to think it had originally some foundation in fact. It was one of the Laws of the Marches frequently renewed between the two nations, that neither party should hunt in the other's borders, without leave from the proprietors or their deputies. There had long been a rivalship between the two martial families of Percy and Douglas, which, heightened by the national quarrel, must have produced frequent challenges and struggles for superiority, petty invasions of their respective domains, and sharp contests for the point of honour; which would not always be recorded in history. Something of this kind, we may suppose, gave rise to the ancient ballad of the Hunting a' the Chevait. Percy Earl of Northumberland had vowed to hunt for three days in the Scottish border, without condescending to ask leave from Earl Douglas, who was either lord of the soil, or lord warden of the marches. Douglas would not fail to resent the insult, and endeavour to repel the intruders by force: *Pt. 2, v. 36, 140. † Who died Aug. 5, 1406, in the 7th year of our Hen. IV. James I. was crowned May 22, 1424; murdered Feb. 21, 1406-7.(?) ? In 1430.-Henry VI. was deposed 1461; restored and slain, 1471. Item.... Concordatum est, quod.... nullus unius partis vel alterius ingrediatur terras, boschas, forrestas, warrenas, loca, dominia quæcunque alicujus partis alterius subditi, causa venandi, piscandi, aucupandi, disportum aut solatium in eisdem, aliave quæcunque de causa, absque licentia ejus.. ....ad quem....loca.... pertinent, aut de deputatis suis prius capt. & obtent. Vid. Bp. Nicolson's Leges Marchiarum, 1705, 8vo., pp. 27, 51. This was the original title. See the ballad, Pt. 1, v. 106, Pt. 2. v. 165. between the two parties; something of which, it is probable, did really happen, though not attended with the tragical circumstances recorded in the ballad: for these are evidently borrowed from the Battle of Otterbourn,* a very different event, but which aftertimes would easily confound with it. That battle might be owing to some such previous affront as this of Chevy-Chase, though it has escaped the notice of historians. Our poet has evidently jumbled the two subjects together: if indeed the lines,† in which this mistake is made, are not rather spurious, and the after-insertion of some person, who did not distinguish be tween the two stories. + Hearne has printed this ballad without any division of stanzas, in long lines, as he found it in the old written copy: but it is usual to find the distinction of stanzas neglected in ancient MSS; where, to save room, two or three verses are frequently given in one line undivided. See flagrant instances in the Harleian Catalog. No. 2253, s. 29, 34, 61, 70, et passim. THE FIRST FIT.‡ 5 THE Persè owt of Northombarlande, With him a myghtye meany; V. 5, magger in Hearne's P. C. [Printed Copy]. V. 11, The the Perse, P. C. V. 13, archardes bolde off blood and bone, P. C. See the next ad. † Vid. Pt. 2, v. 167. Fit, see ver. 100. By these "shyers there is probably meant three dis tricts in Northumberland, which still go by the name of shires, and are all in the neighbourhood of Cheviot. These are Islandshire, being the district so named from HolyIsland: Norehamshire, so called from the town and castle of Noreham (or Noriam): and Bamboroughshire, the ward or hundred belonging to Ban borough-castle and town. |