the Editor hopes will ferve as an amulet to guard him from every unfavourable cenfure, for having beftowed any attention on a parcel of OLD BALLADS. It was at the request of many of thefe gentlemen, and of others eminent for their genius, and tafte, that this little work was undertaken. To prepare it for the prefs has been the amufement of now and then a vacant hour amid the leisure and retirement of rural life, and hath only served as a relaxation from graver ftudies." It has been taken up at different times, and often thrown afide for many months, during an interval of four or five years. This has occafioned fome inconfiftencies and repetitions, which the candid reader will pardon. As great care has been taken to admit nothing immoral and indecent; the Editor hopes he need not be afhamed of having bestowed fome of his idle hours on the ancient literature of our own country, or in rescuing from oblivion fome pieces (tho' but the amufements of our ancestors) which tend to place in a striking light, their taste, genius, fentiments,

or manners.

AN

AN ESSAY

ON THE ANCIENT ENGLISH MINSTRELS.

HE MINSTRELS feem to have been the genuine fucceffors of the ancient Bards, who united the arts of Poetry and Mufic, and fung verfes to the harp, of their own compofing. It is well known what refpect was fhewn to their BARDS by the Britons : and no lefs was paid to the northern SCALDS by most of the nations of Gothic race. Our Saxon ancestors, as well as their brethren the ancient Danes, had been accustomed to hold men of this profeffion in the highest reverence. Their fkill was confidered as fomething divine, their perfons were deemed facred, their attendance was folicited by kings, and they were every where loaded with honours and rewards *. In fhort, poets and their art were held among them in that rude admiration, which is ever hown by an ignorant people to fuch as excell them in intellectual accomplishments. When the Saxons were converted to chriftianity, in proportion as letters prevailed among them, this rude admiration began to abate, and poetry was no longer a peculiar profeflion. The Poet and the Minstrel + became two perfons. Poetry was cultivated by men of letters indifcriminately, and

So the ancient Danes, &c. intitled their Bards. See Pref. to "Five pieces of Runic poetry, 8vo. 1763.

* Mallet, L'Introd. a l'Hift. de Dannemarc. 4to. Bartholin. Antiq. Dan. 4to.

†The word MINSTREL is derived from the French Meneftrier; and was not in ufe here before the Norman conquest. It is remarkable that our old monkish hiftorians do not use the word Citharadus, Cantator, or the like, to exprefs a MINSTREL in Latin; but either Mimus, Hiftrio, Joculator, or fome other word that implies gefture. Hence it fhould feem that the Minfrels fet off their finging by mimickry or action: or according to Dr. Brown's hypothefis, united the powers of melody, poem, and dance. See his ingenious Hift. of the Rife of Poetry, &c.

many

many of the most popular rhimes were compofed amidst the leisure and retirement of monafteries. But the Minstrels continued a diftin&t order of men, and got their livelihood by finging verfes to the harp, at the houfes of the great. There they were ftill hofpitably and respectfully received, and retained many of the honours fhown to their predeceffors the Bards and Scalds. And indeed tho' fome of them only recited the compofitions of others, many of them ftill compofed fongs themfelves, 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 produced by this order of men. For altho' fome of the larger metrical romances might come from the pen of the monks or others, yet the finaller narratives were probably compofed by the Minstrels who fung them. From the amazing variations, which occur in different copies of thefe old pieces, it is evident they made no fcruple to alter each other's productions, and the reciter added or omitted whole flanzas, according to his own fancy or convenience.

In the early ages, as is hinted above, this profeffion was held in great reverence among the Saxon tribes, as well as among their Danish brethren. This appears from two remarkable facts in hiftory, which show that the fame arts of mufic and fong were equally admired among both nations, and that the privileges and honours conferred upon the profeffors of them were common to both; as it is well known their cuftoms, manners, and even language were not in thofe times very diffimilar.

When our great king Alfred was defirous to learn the true fituation of the Danish army, which had invaded his realm ; he affumed the drefs and character of a Minftrel*,

* Fingens fe JOCULATOREM, assumpta cithara, &c. Ingulphi Tift. p. 869.-Sub fpecie MIMI ... ut JOCULATORIE profeffor artis. Malmefb. 1. 2. c. 4. p. 43. One name for a Minstrel in old French was JOUGLEUR.

and

and taking his harp, and only one attendant, (for in the early times it was not unufual for a Minstrel to have a fervant to carry his harp †) he went with the utmost fecurity into the Danish camp. And though he could not but be known to be a Saxon, the character he had affumed procured him a hofpitable reception; he was admitted to entertain the king at table, and ftaid among them long enough to contrive that affault, which afterwards deftroyed 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 1, Anlaff, king of the Danes, went among the Saxon tents, and taking his ftand near the king's pavillion, began to play, and was immediately admitted. There he entertained Athelftan and his lords with his finging and his mufic: and was at length difmiffed with an honourable reward; though his fongs must have difcovered him to have been a Dane. Athelftan was faved from the confequences of this ftratagem by a foldier, who had obferved Anlaff bury the money which had been given him, from fome fcruple of honour, or motive of fuperftition. This occafioned a difcovery.

From the uniform procedure of both these kings, it is plain that the fame mode of entertainment prevailed among both people, and that the Minstrel was a privileged character among both. Even fo late as the reign. of Edward II. the Minstrels were easily admitted into the royal prefence; as appears from a paffage in Stow 4, which alfo fhews the fplendor of their appearance.

"In the yeare 1316, Edward the Second did folemnize "his feast of Pentecoft at Westminster in the great hall: "where fitting royally at the table with his peers about

† See this vol. p. 57. 65.

Affumpta manu cithara ... professus MIMUM, qui hujufmodi arte fipem quotidianam mercaretur Jujus abire pretium cantus accepit. Malmefb. 1. 2. c. 6. + Survey of Lond. 1603. p. 469. VOL. III.

* him,

him, there entered a woman ADORNED LIKE A MIN"STRELLI, SITTING ON A GREAT HORSE TRAPPED, "AS MINSTRELS THEN USED, who rode round about

the tables, fhewing paftime; and at length came up "to the king's table, and laid before him a letter, and "forthwith turning her horfe faluted every one, and "departed."-The fubject of this letter was a remontrance to the king on the favours heaped by him on his minions, to the neglect of his knights and faithful fer

vants.

The meffenger was fent in a Minstrel's habit, as what. would gain an eafy admiffion; and was a Woman concealed under that habit, I fuppofe, to difarm the king's refentment: For I do not find that any of the real Minftrels were of the female fex, and therefore conclude this was only an artful contrivance peculiar to that occafion,

In the 4th year of Richard II, t, John of Gaunt erected at Tutbury in Staffordshire, a COURT OF MINSTRELS, with a full power to receive fuit and fervice from the men of this profeffion within five neighbouring counties, to enact laws, and determine their controverfies; and to apprehend and arreft fuch of them, as fhould refufe to appear at the faid court, annually held on the 16th of Auguft. For this they had a charter, by which they were empowered to appoint a KING OF THE MINSTRELS,, with four officers, to prefide over them, Thefe were every year elected with great ceremony, the whole form of which is defcribed by Dr. Plott in whofe time however they feem to have become mere muficians,

Ornata HISTRIONALI habitu. Walfingh. p. 109. (That, Minstrels fometimes rode on horfeback, fee in this vol. p. 57. 65. &c.)

When the porter was blamed for admitting her, he answered, Non effe moris domus regia HISTRIONES ab ingressu quomodolibet prohibere, &c. Walfingh.

*Anno 1381

+ Intitled Carte le Roy de Miniftraulx. (In Latin Hiftriones. Vid. Plott. p. 437.)

§ Hift. of Staffordfh. Ch. 10. §. 69-76. p. 43 52 &c,.

+