polished nations, are ever Songs chanted by the reciter, and accompanied with inftrumental melody. tur.... (N)" With his Harp in his hand, and dressed like a "MINSTREL."] Affumptâ manu citharâ . • profeffus MIMUM, qui hujufmodi arte ftipem quotidianam mercareJuffus abire pretium CANTUS accepit. Malmesb. 1. 2. c. 6. We fee here that which was rewarded was (NOT any mimicry or tricks, but) his SINGING (Cantus); this proves beyond difpute, what was the nature of the entertainment he afforded them. Perhaps, it is needlefs by this time to prove to the Reader, that Mimus in Middle Latinity fignifies a Minstrel, and. Mimia, Minftrelfy, or the' Minftrel-art. Should he doubt it, let him caft his eye over the two following extracts from Du Cange. "MIMUS: Muficus, qui inftrumentis muficis ca"nit. Leges Palatine Jacobi II. Reg. Majoric. In domibus principum, ut tradit antiquitas, MIMI feu focu"latores licitè poffunt effe. Nam illorum officium tribuit "lætitiam. Quapropter volumus & ordinamus, quod "in noftra curia MIMI debeant effe quinque, quorum duo fint tubicinatores,& tertius fit tabelerius: [i. e. a player on the tabor*.] Lit. remiff. ann. 1374. Ad "MIMOS cornicitantes, feu bucinantes accesserunt." MIMIA * Thus Leod, the Saxon word for a Poem, is properly a Song, and its derivative Lied fignifies a Ballad to this day in the German tongue: And Cantare we have feen above is by Alfred himself rendered, Be heanpan ringan. The TABOUR or TABOURIN was a common inftrument with the French Minftrels, as it had alfo been with the Anglo-Saxon (vid. p. lii.): thus in an ancient Fr. MS. in the Harl. collection (2253 75.) a Minstrel is described as riding on horseback, and bearing his TABOUR. Entour fon col porta fon TABOUR, Depeynt de Or, e riche Açour. See alfo a paffage in Menage's Diction. Etym. [v. MBNESTRIERS.] where Tabours is ufed as fynonymous to Menefiriers. Another MIMIA, Ludus Mimicus, Inftrumentum. [potius, Ars Joculatoria.] Ann. 1482. "MIMIA & 66 cantu victum acquiro." Du Cange, Gloff. Tom. iv. 762. Supp. c. 1275. (O) "To have been a Dane."] The northern historians produce fuch inftances of the great respect fhewn to the Danish SCALDS in the courts of our Anglo-Saxon kings, on account of their Mufical and Poetic talents, (notwithstanding they were of fo hateful a nation) that, if a fimilar order of men had not existed here before, we cannot doubt but the profeffion would have been taken up by fuch of the natives as had a genius for poetry and mufic. 66 66 66 "Extant Rhythmi hoc ipfo [Islandico] idiomate AŃGLIE, Hyberniæque Regibus oblati & liberaliter compenfati, &c. Itaque hinc colligi poteft linguam Danicam "in aulis vicinorum regum, principumque familiarem fuiffe, non fecus ac hodie in aulis principum peregrina idiomata in deliciis haberi cernimus.--Imprimis Vita Egilli Skallagrimii id invicto argumento adftruit. Quippe qui interrogatus ab ADALSTEINO, Anglia rege, quo" modo manus Eirici Blodoxii, Northumbria regis, poftquam in ejus poteftatem venerat, evafiffet, cujus filium propinquofque occiderat, rei ftatim ordinem metro, nunc fatis obfcuro, expofuit, nequaquam ita narraturus non "intelligenti." [Vid. plura apud Torfæii Præfat. ad Orcad. Hift. fol.] 66 66 This fame EGILL was no lefs distinguished for his valour and skill as a foldier, than for his poetic and finging talents as a SCALD; and he was fuch a favourite with our king ATHELSTAN, that he at one time prefented Another frequent inftrument with them was the VIELE, a kind of Lute or Guitar. Il ot un Jougleor a Sens, Qui navoit pas fovent robe entiere ; Sovent eftoit fans fa VIELE. Fabliaux & Cont. II, 184, 5. 66 66 fented him with "duobus annulis & fcriniis duobus bene magnis, argento repletis. Quinetiam hoc addidit, ut Egillus quidvis præterea a fe petens, obtineret : bona mo"bilia, five immobilia, præbendam vel præfecturas. E"gillus porro regiam munificentiam gratus excipiens, Carmen Encomiafticon, à fe, linguâ Norvegica, (que tum "bis regnis communis) compofitum, regi dicat: ac pro eo, "duas Marcas auri puri (pondus Marce 8 uncios aquabat) honorarii loco retulit." [Arngr. Jon. Rer. Ilandic. Lib. 2. p. 129.] 66 66 See more of EGILL, in "The Five Pieces of Runic Poetry, &c. p. 45. &c. .... (P) "If the Saxons had not been accustomed to have "Minstrels of their own . . . . and to fhew favour and respect to the Danish Scalds,"] If this had not been the cafe, we may be affured, at leaft, that the ftories given in the text could never have been recorded by writers who lived fo near the Anglo-Saxon times as Malmefbury and Ingulphus, who, though they might be deceived as to particular Facts, could not be fo as to the general Manners and Customs, which prevailed fo near their own times among their ancestors. (Q)" In Doomefday Book," &c.] Extrac. ex Libro Domesday: Glowerestscire. Fol. 162. Col. 1. Berdic Joculator Regis habet iij villas, et ibi v. car. nit redd. That Joculator is properly a MINSTREL might be inferred from the two foregoing paffages of Geoffery of Monmouth, (vid. p. lvij.) where the word is ufed as equivalent to Citharifta in one place, and to Cantor in the other this union forms the precife idea of the charafter. But 66 But more pofitive proofs have already offered, vid: Supra, p. xliii. See alfo Du Cange's Gloff. Vol. III. c. 1543 JOGULATOR pro Joculator.-Confilium Mafil. an. 1381. Nullus Miniftreys, feu Jogulator, audeat pin"fare vel fonare inftrumentum cujufcumque generis," &c. &c. As the Minstrel was termed in French Jongleur and Fugleur; fo he was called in Spanish Jutglar and Juglar. "Tenemos canciones y verfos para recitar muy antiguos y memorias ciertas de los JUGLARES, que affiftian 66 en los banquetes, como los quæ pinta Homero." Prolog. a las Comed. de Cervantes, 1749. 4to. 66 "El anno 1328. en las fieftas de la Coronacion del Rey, "Don Alonfo el IV. de Aragon, tel JUGLAR RAMASET cantò una Villanefca de la Compoficion del.. infante [Don Pedro]: y otro JUGLAR, llamado NOVELLET, recito y reprefentò en voz y fin cäntar mas de 600 66 verfos, que hizo el Infante en el metro, que llamaban RIMA VULGAR." Ibid. "Los TROBADORES inventaron la GAYA Ciencia.. "eftes TROBADORES, eran cafi todos de la primera No"bleza. Es verdad, que ya entonces fe havian entro"metido entre las diverfiones Cortefanos, los Contadores, los Cantores, los JUGLARES, los Truanes, y los Bu "fones." Ibid. In England THE KING'S JUGLAR Continued to have an establishment in the royal houfhold down to the reign of Henry VIII. [vid. Note (Cc)] but whether the character was then precifely the fame with that of the ancient Joculator Regis, I have not been able to dif Cover. (R) "A valliant warrior, named TAILLEFER, &c."] See Du Cange, who produces this as an inftance, Quod ROMANSET JUTGLAR canta alt veux... Chron. d'Aragon. apud Du Cange. IV. 771, davant lo fenyor Rey. Quod Miniftellorum munus interdum præftabant milites probatiffimi. Le Roman DE VACCE, MS. Quant il virent Normanz venir "Mout veiffiez Engleiz fremir. . .. "De Kallemaigne & de Roullant; "Qui moururent en Rainschevaux. Qui quidem TAILLEFER a Gulielmo obtinuit ut primus “in hoftes irrueret, inter quos fortiter dimicando occubuit.” Glofs. Tom. iv. 769, 770, 771. "Les anciennes chroniques nous apprennent, qu'en "premier rang de l'Armée Normande, un ecuyer "nommé Taillefer, monté fur un cheval armé, "chanta la chanfon De Roland, qui fut fi long tems "dans les bouches des Francois, fans qu'il foit resté "le moindre fragment. Le Taillefer apres avoir EN"TONNE le chanfon que les foldats repetoient, se "jetta le premier parmi les Anglois, et fut tue." Voltaire. Add. Hift. Univerf. p. 69. (Obfervat. on the Anc. Stat. 4to. p. 293.) (9) An eminent French writer." &c.] "M. 1' Eveque de la Ravaliere, qui avoit fait beaucoup de "recherches fur nos anciennes Chanfons, pretend que "c'est a la Normandie que nous devons nos premiers Chanfonniers, non a la Provence, et qu'il y avoit parmi nous des Chanfons en langue vulgaire avant "celles des Provençaus, mais pofterieurement au Regne "de Philippe I, ou à l'an 1100*. Ce feroit une anVOL. I. teriorite d * Revolutions de la Langue Françoise, a l'a fuite des POESIES DU ROI DE NAVARRE. In pag. xxvii of the text, line 22. for “above a century, " read "near a century. " |