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 instrumental 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," (BB 3) p. xcviii.‡ 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

* See the Romance of Sir Isenbras (vol. iii. no. 14. p. 31) sign. a.

† 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 cruth, 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 effusions to the harp; and as for the term Minstrel, it was not, I conceive, at all used by the Welsh; and in English it comprehended both the bard and the musician.

.....

6 "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.

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 15th century, as it shows what a variety of entertainments were then comprehended under this term, together with every kind of instruinental music then in use.

"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 (*).

* By this phrase I understand, new Tales or narrative Rhymes composed by the Minstrels on the subject of true and faithful Lovers, &c.

END OF THE ESSAY,

been

The foregoing Essay on the Ancient Minstrels has

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 ARCHEOLOGIA, 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.

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 and cobweb of that uncivill age, what would it work, trimmed in the gorgeous eloquence of Pindare!

SIR PHILIP SYDNEY'S DEFENCE OF POETRY.

The Ancient Ballad of Cheby-Chase.

THE fine heroic song of CHEVY-CHASE has 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.

VOL. I.