monafteries. But the Minstrels continued a diftinct order of men for many ages after the Norman conqueft; and got their livelihood by finging verfes to the harp at the houfes of the great. There they were still hofpitably and refpectfully received, and retained many of the honours fhewn to their predeceffors the BARDS. and SCALDS (F). And tho', as their art declined, fome of them only recited the compofitions of others, many of them ftill compofed fongs themselves, and all, of them could probably invent a few ftanzas on occafion. I have no doubt but most of the old heroic Ballads in this collection were composed by this order of For altho' fome of the larger metrical Romances, might come from the pen of the monks or others, yet the fmaller narratives were probably compofed by the Minstrels, who fung them. From the amazing variations which occur in different copies of these old pieces, it is evident they made no fcruple to alter each others productions; and the reciter added or omitted whole ftanzas according to his own fancy or conveni

men.

ence.

In the early ages, as was hinted above, the profeffion of oral itinerant Poet was held in the utmost reverence among all the Danish tribes; and therefore we might have concluded, that it was not unknown or unrefpected among their Saxon brethren in Britain, even if Hiftory had been altogether filent on this fubject. The original country of our Anglo-Saxon Anceftors is well known to have lien chiefly in the Cimbric Cherfonese, in the tracts of land fince diftinguished by the names of Jutland, Angelen, and Holftein*. The Jutes and Angles in particular, who compofed two thirds of the conquerors of Britain, were a Danish people,

a 3

* Vid. Chronic. Saxon. a Gibson. p. 12, 13. 4to.-Bed. Hift. Ecclef. à Smith. lib. I.. c. 15.- "EALDSEXE [Regio antiq. Saxonum] in cervice Cimbrica Cherfonefi, Holfatiam proprie dictam, Dithmarfiam, Stormariam, et Wagriam complectens. Annot. in Bed. a Smith. p. 52. Et vid. Camdeni Britan.

people, and their country at this day belongs to the crown of Denmark *; fo that when the Danes again infefted England, three or four hundred years after, they made war on the defcendents of their own anceftors +. From this near affinity we might expect to difcover a ftrong resemblance between both nations in their customs, manners, and even language; and in fact we find them to differ no more, than would naturally happen between a parent country and its own colonies, that had been fevered in a rude uncivilised state, and had dropt all intercourse for three or four centuries. Efpecially if we reflect, that the colony here settled had adopted a new Religion, extremely oppofite in all refpects to the ancient Paganism of the mother-country; and that even at firft, along with the original Angli, had been incorporated a large mixture of Saxons from the neighbouring parts of Germany; as afterwards, among the Danish invaders, had come vaft multitudes of adventurers from the more northern parts of Scandinavia. But all these were only different tribes of the fame common Teutonic Stock, and spoke only different dialects of the fame Gothic Language.

From this famenefs of original and fimilarity of manners, we might juftly have wondered, if a character fo dignified and diftinguished among the ancient Danes, as the SCALD or BARD, had been totally unknown or unregarded in this fifter nation. And indeed this argument is fo ftrong, and, at the fame time, the early annals of the Anglo-Saxons are fo fcanty and defective (G), that no objections from their filence could be fufficient to overthrow it. For if these popular bards were confeffedly revered and admired,

in

Anglia Vetus, bodie etiam Anglen, fita eft inter Saxones et Giotos [Futos] babens oppidum capitale.... Slefwick. Ethelwerd. lib. 1.

See "Defcript. of the Manners, &c. of the ancient Danes." Vol. I. pag. 7, 8. -185.259, 260, 201.

in those very countries which the Anglo-Saxons inhabited before their removal in to Britain; and if they were afterwards common and numerous among their own descendents here after the Norman Conqueft, what could have become of them in the intermediate time? Can we do otherwise than conclude, that this order of men ftill fubfifted here, though perhaps with lefs fplendour than in the North; and that there never was wanting a fucceffion of them to hand down the art, though fome particular conjunctures may have rendered it more refpectable at one time than another? And this was really the cafe. For though much greater honours feem to have been heaped upon the northern SCALDS, in whom the characters of hiftorian, genealogist, poet, and musician were all united, than appear to have been paid to the MINSTRELS and HARPERS (H) of the Anglo-Saxons, whofe talents were chiefly calculated to entertain and divert; while the Scalds profeffed to inform and inftru&t, and were at once the moralifts and theologues of their Pagan countrymen : yet the Anglo-Saxon Minstrels continued to poffefs no fmall portion of public favour; and the arts they profeffed were fo extremely acceptable to our ancestors, that the word which peculiarly denoted their art, continues ftill in our language to be of all others the most expreffive of that popular mirth and jollity, that strong fenfation of delight, which is felt by unpolished and fimple minds (I).

II. HAVING premised thefe general confiderations, I shall now proceed to collect from history such particular incidents as occur on this fubject; and whether the facts themselves are true or not, they are related by authors who lived too near the Saxon times, and had before them too many recent monuments of the Anglo-Saxon nation, not to know what was conformable to the genius and manners of that people; and therefore we may prefume, that their relations prove

at leaft the exiftence of the customs and habits they at tribute to our forefathers before the conquest, whatever becomes of the particular incidents and events themfelves. If this be admitted, we fhall not want fufficient proofs to fhew, that Minftrelfy and Song were not extinct among the Anglo-Saxons; and that the profeffor of them here, if not quite fo refpectable a personage as the Danish Scald, was yet highly favoured and protected, and continued ftill to enjoy confiderable privileges,

Even fo early as the first invafion of Britain by the Saxons, an incident is recorded to have happened, which if true, fhews that the Minstrel or Bard was not unknown among this people; and that their princes themselves could upon occafion affume that character, Colgrin, fon of that Ella who was elected king or leader of the Saxons in the room of Hengift", was fhut up in York, and clofely befieged by Arthur and his Britons, Baldulph, brother of Colgrin, wanted to gain accefs to him, and to apprize him of a reinforcement which was coming from Germany. He had no other way to accomplish his defign, but to affume the character of a MINSTREL. He therefore fhaved his head and beard, and dreffing himself in the habit of that profeffion, took his harp in his hand. In this dif guife, he walked up and down the trenches without fufpicion, playing all the while upon his inftrument, as an HARPER. By little and little he advanced near to the walls of the city, and making himself known to the centinels, was in the night drawn up by a rope,

Though the above fact comes only from the fufpicious pen of Geoffry of Monmouth (K), the judicious reader will not too hastily reject it; because if fuch a fact really happened, it could only be known to us through the medium of the British writers: for the firft Saxons, a martial but unlettered people, had no hiftorians of their own; and Geoffry, with all his fables,

* See Rapin's Hift. (by Tindal, fol. 1732. Vol. I. p. 36.) whe places the incident here related under the year 495.

bles, is allowed to have recorded many true events, that have escaped other annalists.

We do not however want inftances of a lefs fabulous æra, and more indubitable authority for later Hiftory affords us two remarkable facts (L), which I think clearly show, that the fame arts of poetry and fong, which were fo much admired among the Danes, were by no means unknown or neglected in this fifter nation; and that the privileges and honours which were fo lavishly bestowed upon the northern SCALDS, were not wholly with-held from the Anglo-Saxon MIN

STRELS.

Our great King Alfred, who is exprefsly faid to have excelled in mufic †, being defirous to learn the true fituation of the Danish army, which had in vaded his realm, affumed the drefs and character of a MINSTREL (M); when, taking his harp, and one of the most trufty of his friends, disguised as a fervant ‡ (for in the early times it was not unufual for a Minftrel to have a fervant to carry his harp), he went with the utmoft fecurity into the Danish camp: and though he could not but be known to be a Saxon by his dialect, the character he had affumed procured him a ho fpitable reception. He was admitted to entertain the king at table, and ftaid among them long enough to contrive that affault, which afterwards destroyed them. This was in the year 878.

About fixty years after*, a Danish king made use of the fame difguife to explore the camp of our king Athelftan. With his harp in his hand, and dreffed like a MINSTREL (N), Anlaff king of the Danes went among the Saxon tents; and taking his stand near the king's pavilion, began to play, and was immediately admitted. There he entertained Athelstan and his lords with his finging and his mufic, and was at

length

By BALE and SPELMAN. See Note (M), ‡ Vid. Note (M). * Anno 938. Vid. Rapin, &c,