This Minstrel, the author tells us a little below, "after three lowly courtsies, cleared his voice with a hem... and... wiped his lips with the hollow of his hand for 'filing his napkin, tempered a string or two with his wrest, and after a little warbling on his harp for a prelude, came forth with a solemn song, warranted for story out of King Arthur's acts," &c.-This song the reader will find printed in this work, Vol. iii. pag. 51. Towards the end of the sixteenth century this class of men had lost all credit, and were sunk so low in the public opinion, that in the 39th year of Elizabeth,* a statute was passed by which "Minstrels, wandering abroad," were included among "rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars," and were adjudged to be punished as such. This act seems to have put an end to the profession. (E e. 2.) VII. I cannot conclude this account of the ancient English Minstrels, without remarking that they are most of them represented to have been of the North of England. There is scarce an old historical song or Ballad, (F f.) wherein a Minstrel or Harper appears, but he is characterized by way of eminence to have been "of the North Countreye :"+ and indeed the prevalence of the Northern dialect in such compositions, shows that this representation is real. On the * Anno Dom. 1597. Vid. Pult. Stat. p. 1110, 39° Eliz. † See this Vol. Song vi. v. 156. 180. &c. This he Giraldus Cambrensis, writing in the reign of K. Henry II. mentions a very extraordinary habit or propensity, which then prevailed in the North of England, beyond the Humber, for symphonious harmony" or singing "in two parts, the one murmuring in the base, and the other warbling in the acute or treble." (I use Dr. Burney's Version, Vol. ii. p. 108.) describes, as practised by their very children from the cradle; and he derives it from the Danes [So Daci signifies in our old writers] and Norwegians, who long over-run and in effect newpeopled the Northern parts of England, where alone this manner of singing prevailed. (Vide "Cambria Descriptio," cap. 13. and in Burney ubi supra.). -Giraldus is probably right as to the origin or derivation of this practise, for the Danish and Icelandic Scalds had carried the Arts of Poetry and Singing to great perfection at the time the Danish settlements were made in the North. other hand the scene of the finest Scottish Ballads is laid in the South of Scotland; which should seem to have been peculiarly the nursery of Scottish Minstrels. In the old song of "Maggy Lawder," a Piper is asked, by way of distinction, "Come ze frae the Border?", The martial spirit constantly kept up and exercised near the frontier of the two kingdoms, as it furnished continual subjects for their Songs, so it inspired the inhabitants of the adjacent counties on both sides with the powers of poetry. Besides, as our Southern Metropolis must have been ever the scene of novelty and refinement, the northern countries, as being most And it will also help to account for the superior skill and fame of our Northern Minstrels and Harpers afterwards: who had preserved and transmitted the arts of their Scaldic Ancestors. See "Northern Antiquities," Vol. i. c. 13. p. 386. and "Five pieces of Runic Poetry," 1763. 8vo.- -Compare the original passage in Giraldus as given by Sir John Hawkins, i. 408, and by Dr. Burney, ii. 108. who are both at a loss to account for this peculiarity, and therefore doubt the fact. The credit of Giraldus, which hath been attacked by some partial and bigotted antiquaries, the reader will find defended in that learned and curious work, "Antiquities. of Ireland by Edward Ledwich, LL.D. &c. Dublin, 1790," 4to p. 207. & seqq. *This line being quoted from memory, and given as old Scottish Poetry is now usually printed, (see pag. 283. N.) would have been readily corrected by the copy published in "Scottish Songs, 1794." 2 Vol. 12mo. i. p. 267. thus, (though apparently corrupted from the Scottish Idiom,) "Live you upo' the Border?" had not all confidence been destroyed by its being altered in the "Historical Essay" prefixed to that publication (p. cx.) to "Ye live upo' the Border." the better to favour a position, that many of the Pipers "might live upon the border, for the conveniency of attending fairs, &c. in both kingdoms." But whoever is acquainted with that part of England, knows that on the English Frontier rude Mountains and barren Wastes reach almost across the island, scarcely inhabited by any but solitary Shepherds; many of whom durst not venture into the opposite border on account of the ancient feuds and subsequent disputes concerning the Debatable Lands, which separated the boundaries of the two kingdoms, as well as the estates of the two great families of Percy and Douglas; till these disputes were settled, not many years since, by arbitration between the present Lord Douglas, and the late Duke and Dutchess of Northumberland. distant, would preserve their ancient manners longest, and of course the old poetry, in which those manners are peculiarly described. The reader will observe in the more ancient ballads of this collection, a cast of style and measure very different from that of contemporary poets of a higher class; many phrases and idioms, which the Minstrels seem to have appropriated to themselves, and a very remarkable licence of varying the accent of words at pleasure, in order to humour the flow of the verse, particularly in the rhimes; as Countrie harpèr battèl instead of "country," "làdy," "hàrper," "singer," &c.--This liberty is but sparingly assumed by the classical poets of the same age; or even by the latter composers of Heroical Ballads: I mean by such as professedly wrote for the press. For it is to be observed, that so long as the Minstrels subsisted, they seem never to have designed their rhimes for literary publication, and probably never committed them to writing themselves: what copies are preserved of them were doubtless taken down from their mouths. But as the old Minstrels gradually wore out, a new race of Ballad-writers succeeded, an inferior sort of minor poets, who wrote narrative songs merely for the press. Instances of both may be found in the reign of Elizabeth. The two latest pieces in the genuine strain of the old Minstrelsy that I can discover, are No. iii. and iv. of Book iii. in this volume. Lower than these I cannot trace the old mode of writing. The old Minstrel-ballads are in the northern dialect, abound with antique words and phrases, are extremely incorrect, and run into the utmost licence of metre ; they have also a romantic wildness, and are in the true spirit of chivalry.-The other sort are written in exacter measure, have a low or subordinate correctness, sometimes bordering on the insipid, yet often well adapted to the pathetic; these are generally in the southern dialect, exhibit a more modern phraseo logy, and are commonly descriptive of more modern manners.-To be sensible of the difference between them, let the reader compare in this volume No. iii. of Book iii. with No. xi. of Book ii. Towards the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign, (as is mentioned above), the genuine old Minstrelsy seems to have been extinct, and thenceforth the Ballads that were produced were wholly of the latter kind, and these came forth in such abundance, that in the reign of James I. they began to be collected into little miscellanies, under the name of "Garlands," and at length to be written purposely for such collections. (F f. 2.) P.S. By way of Postscript, should follow here the discussion of the Question, whether the term, "Minstrels" was applied in English to Singers, and Composers of Songs, &c. or confined to Musicians only. But it is reserved for the concluding Note (G g.) THE END OF THE ESSAY. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS REFERRED TO IN THE FOREGOING ESSAY. . (A) "The Minstrels," &c. The word Minstrel does not appear to have been in use here before the Norman Conquest: whereas it had long before that time been adopted in France.*-Menestrel, so early as the VIIIth century, was a title given to the Maestro di Capella of K. Pepin, the father of Charlemagne ; and afterwards to the Coryphæus, or Leader of any Band of Musicians. [V. Burney's Hist. of Music, ii. 268.] This term Menestrel, Menestrier, was thus expressed in latin, Ministellus, Ministrellus, Ministrallus, Menesterellus, &c. [Vid. Gloss. Du Cange & Supplem.] Menage derives the French words above-mentioned from Ministerialis or Ministeriarius, barbarous Latin terms, used in the middle ages to express a Workman or Artificer (still called in Languedoc, Ministral) as if these men were styled Artificers or Performers by way of excellence [Vid. Diction. Etym.] But the origin of the name is given perhaps more truly by Du Cange "Ministelli. quos vulgo Menestreux vel Menestriers appellamus, quod minoribus aulæ Ministris accenserentur," [Gloss. iv. p. 769.] Accordingly, we are told, the word "Minister" is sometimes used "pro Ministellus," [Ibid.] and an instance is produced which I shall insert at large in the next paragraph. *The Anglo-Saxon and primary English name for this character was Gleeman" [see below; Note (I.) sect i.] so that, wherever the term "Minstrel" is in these pages applied to it before the Conquest, it must be understood to be only by anticipation. Another early name for this profession in English was "Jogeler," or "Joculer." Lat. Joculator. [See page xxviii. as also Note (V. 2.) and Note Q.] To prevent confusion, we have chiefly used the more general word "Minstrel": Which (as the Author of the Observ. on the Statutes hath suggested to the editor) might have been originally derived from a diminutive of the Lat. Minister, scil. Ministerellus, Ministrellus. VOL. I. d |