Chapter XXIII: Appendix: I (3)

[O] [_To have been a Dane._] The northern historians produce such instances of the great respect shewn to the Danish scalds in the courts of our Anglo-Saxon kings, on account of their musical and poetic talents (notwithstanding they were of so hateful a nation), that, if a similar order of men had not existed here before, we cannot doubt but the profession would have been taken up by such of the natives as had a genius for poetry and music.

"Extant Rhythmi hoc ipso (Islandico) idiomate Angliæ, Hyberniæque Regibus oblati & liberaliter compensati, &c. Itaque hinc colligi potest linguam Danicam in aulis vicinorum regum, principumque familiarem fuisse, non secus ac hodie in aulis principum peregrina idiomata in deliciis haberi cernimus. Imprimis Vita Egilli Skallagrimii id invicto argumento adstruit. Quippe qui interrogatus ab Adalsteino, Angliæ rege, quomodo manus Eirici Blodoxii, Northumbriæ regis, postquam in ejus potestatem venerat, evasisset, cujus filium propinquosque occiderat, ... rei statim ordinem metro, nunc satis obscuro, exposuit, nequaquam ita narraturus non intelligenti."--Vid. _plura apud Torfæi Præfat. ad_ _Orcad. Hist._ fol.

This same Egill was no less distinguished for his valour and skill as a soldier, than for his poetic and singing talents as a scald; and he was such a favourite with our king Athelstan that he at one time presented him with "duobus annulis & scriniis duobus bene magnis argento repletis.... Quinetiam hoc addidit, ut Egillus quidvis præterea a se petens, obtineret; bona mobilia, sive immobilia, præbendam vel præfecturas. Egillus porro regiam munificentiam gratus excipiens, Carmen Encomiasticon, à se, linguâ Norvegicâ, (quæ tum his regnis communis), compostum, regi dicat; ac pro eo, duas Marcas auri puri (pondus Marcæ ... 8 uncias æquabat) honorarii loco retulit."--_Arngr. Jon. Rer. Islandic._ lib. 2, p. 129.

See more of Egill, in _The Five Pieces of Runic Poetry_, p. 45, whose poem, there translated, is the most ancient piece all in rhime, that is, I conceive, now to be found in any European language, except Latin. See Egill's Islandic original, printed at the end of the English version in the said _Five Pieces_, &c.

[P] [_If the Saxons had not been accustomed to have minstrels of_ _their own ... and to shew favour and respect to the Danish scalds._] If this had not been the case, we may be assured, at least, that the stories given in the text could never have been recorded by writers who lived so near the Anglo-Saxon times as Malmesbury and Ingulphus, who, though they might be deceived as to particular facts, could not be so as to the general manners and customs, which prevailed so near their own times among their ancestors.

[Q] [_"In Doomesday Book" &c.] Extract. ex Libro Domesday_: et vid. Anstis, _Ord. Gart._ ii. 304.

"GLOWECESTERSCIRE.

Fol. 162. col. 1. _Berdic Jocu lator Regis habet_ iii. _villas, et
ibi_ v. _car. nil redd._"

That _joculator_ is properly a minstrel might be inferred from the two foregoing passages of Geoffery of Monmouth (v. Note [K]), where the word is used as equivalent to _citharista_ in one place, and to _cantor_ in the other: this union forms the precise idea of the character.

But more positive proofs have already offered, _vid. supra_, pp. 385, 399. See also p. 409 _note_ Du Cange's _Gloss._, vol. iii. c. 1543: "Jogulator pro Joculator.--_Consilium Masil._ an. 1381. Nullus Ministreys, seu Jogulator, audeat pinsare vel sonare instrumentum cujuscumque generis," &c. &c.

As the minstrel was termed in French _jongleur_ and _jugleur_; so he was called in Spanish _jutglar_ and _juglar_. "Tenemos canciones y versos para recitar muy antiguos y memorias ciertas de los Juglares, que assistian en los banquetes, como los que pinta Homero."--_Prolog. a las Comed. de Cervantes_, 1749, 4to.

"El anno 1328, en las siestas de la Coronacion del Rey, Don Alonso el IV. de Aragon, ...[1123] el Juglar Ramaset cantò una Villanesca de la Composicion del ... infante (Don Pedro): y otro Juglar, llamado Novellet, recitò y representò en voz y sin cantar mas de 600 versos, que hizo el Infante en el metro, que llamaban Rima vulgar."--_Ibid._

"Los Trobadores inventaron la Gaya Ciencia ... estos Trobadores, eran casi todos de la primera Nobleza. Es verdad, que ya entonces se havian entrometido entre las diversiones Cortesanos, los Contadores, los Cantores, los Juglares, los Truanes, y los Bufones."--_Ibid._

In England the king's juglar continued to have an establishment in the royal household down to the reign of Henry VIII. (vid. Note [Cc]). But in what sense the title was there applied does not appear. In Barklay's _Egloges_, written circ. 1514, jugglers and pipers are mentioned together. _Egl._ iv. (vid. T. Warton's Hist. ii. 254).

[R] [_A valliant warrior, named Taillefer, &c._] See Du Cange, who produces this as an instance, "Quod Ministellorum munus interdum præstabant milites probatissimi. Le Roman De Vacce, _MS._

"'Quant il virent Normanz venir
Mout veissiez Engleiz fremir....
Taillefer qui mout bien chantoit,
Sur un cheval, qui tost alloit,
Devant euls aloit chantant
De Kallemaigne & de Roullant,
Et d'Olivier de Vassaux,
Qui mourruent en Rainschevaux.'

"Qui quidem Taillefer a Gulielmo obtinuit ut primus in hostes irrueret, inter quos fortiter dimicando occubuit."--_Gloss._ tom. iv. 769, 770, 771.

"Les anciennes chroniques nous apprennent, qu'en premier rang de l' Armée Normande, un ecuyer nommé Taillefer, monté sur un cheval armé, chanta la Chanson De Roland, qui fut si long tems dans les bouches des François, sans qu'il soit resté le moindre fragment. Le Taillefer après avoir entonné le chanson que les soldats repetoient, se jetta le premier parmi les Anglois, et fut tué."--Voltaire, _Add. Hist. Univ._ p. 69.

The reader will see an attempt to restore the _Chanson de Roland_, with musical notes, in Dr. Burney's _Hist._ ii. p. 276. See more concerning the Song of Roland, vol. iii. appendix, sect. ii. note M.

[S] [_An eminent French writer, &c._] "M. l'Eveque de la Ravaliere, qui avoit fait beaucoup de recherches sur nos anciennes Chansons, pretend que c'est à la Normandie que nous devons nos premiers Chansonniers, non à la Provence, et qu'il y avoit parmi nous des Chansons en langue vulgaire avant celles des Provençaus, mais posterieurement au Regne de Philippe I. ou à l'an 1100."--v. _Revolutions de la Langue Françoise, à la suite des Poesies du Roi de Navarre._ "Ce seroit une antériorité de plus d'un demi siécle à l'époque des premiers Troubadours, que leur historien Jean de Nostredame fixe à l'an 1162, &c."--_Pref. a l'Anthologie Franç._ 8vo. 1765.

This subject hath been since taken up and prosecuted at length in the Prefaces, &c. to M. Le Grand's _Fabliaux ou Contes du XII. & du XIII. Siécle_, Paris, 1788, 5 tom. 12mo. who seems pretty clearly to have established the priority and superior excellence of the old rimeurs of the north of France, over the troubadours of Provence, &c.

[S2] [_Their own native gleemen or minstrels must be allowed to exist._] Of this we have proof positive in the old metrical romance of _Horn-Child_, (vol. iii. appendix), which, although from the mention of Sarazens, &c. it must have been written at least after the first Crusade in 1096, yet from its Anglo-Saxon language or idiom, can scarce be dated later than within a century after the Conquest. This, as appears from its very exordium, was intended to be sung to a popular audience, whether it was composed by, or for, a gleeman, or minstrel. But it carries all the internal marks of being the production of such a composer. It appears of genuine English growth, for after a careful examination, I cannot discover any allusion to French or Norman customs, manners, composition or phraseology: no quotation "As the Romance sayth:" not a name or local reference which was likely to occur to a French rimeur. The proper names are all of northern extraction. Child Horn is the son of Allof (_i.e._ Olaf or Olave), king of Sudenne (I suppose Sweden), by his queen Godylde, or Godylt. Athulf and Fykenyld are the names of subjects. Eylmer or Aylmere is king of Westnesse (a part of Ireland), Rymenyld is his daughter; as Erminyld is of another king Thurstan; whose sons are Athyld and Beryld. Athelbrus is steward of K. Aylmer, &c. &c. All these savour only of a northern origin, and the whole piece is exactly such a performance as one would expect from a gleeman or minstrel of the north of England, who had derived his art and his ideas from his scaldic predecessors there. So that this probably is the original, from which was translated the old French fragment of _Dan Horn_, in the Harleyan MS. 527, mentioned by Tyrwhitt (Chaucer iv. 68), and by T. Warton (Hist. i. 38), whose extract from _Horn-Child_ is extremely incorrect.

Compare the stile of Child-Horn with the Anglo-Saxon specimens in short verses and rhime, which are assigned to the century succeeding the Conquest, in Hickes's _Thesaurus_, tom. i. cap. 24, pp. 224 and 231.

[T] [_The different production of the sedentary composer and the_ _rambling minstrel._] Among the old metrical romances, a very few are addressed to readers, or mention reading: these appear to have been composed by writers at their desk, and exhibit marks of more elaborate structure and invention. Such is _Eglamour of Artas_ (No. 20, vol. iii. appendix), of which I find in a MS. copy in the Cotton Library, A. 2, folio 3, the II. Fitte thus concludes:

"... thus ferr have I red."

Such is _Ipomydon_ (No. 23, iii. appendix), of which one of the divisions (Sign. E. ii. b. in pr. copy) ends thus:

"Let hym go, God him spede
Tyll efte-soone we of him reed (_i.e._ read)"

So in _Amys and Amylion_[1124] (No. 31. iii. appendix) in sta. 3d. we have

"In Geste as we rede,"

and similar phrases occur in stanzas 34, 125, 140, 196, &c.

These are all studied compositions, in which the story is invented with more skill and ingenuity, and the style and colouring are of superior cast, to such as can with sufficient probability be attributed to the minstrels themselves.

Of this class I conceive the romance of _Horn Child_ (mentioned in the last note, [S2], and in No. 1, vol. iii. appendix), which, from the naked unadorned simplicity of the story, I would attribute to such an origin.

But more evidently is such the _Squire of Lowe Degree_ (No. 24, iii. appendix), in which is no reference to any French original, nothing like the phrase which so frequently occurs in others, "As the Romance sayth,"[1125] or the like. And it is just such a rambling performance, as one would expect from an itinerant bard. And

Such also is _A lytell Geste of Robyn Hode, &c._ in eight fyttes, of which are extant two editions, 4to. in black letter, described more fully in this volume, book i. No. 8. This is not only of undoubted English growth, but, from the constant satire aimed at abbots and their convents, &c. could not possibly have been composed by any monk in his cell.

Other instances might be produced; but especially of the former kind is _Syr Launfal_ (No. 11, iii. appendix), the 121st st. of which has

"In Romances as we rede."

This is one of the best invented stories of that kind, and I believe the only one in which is inserted the name of the author.

[T2] _Royer or Raherus, the king's minstrel._ He is recorded by Leland under both these names, in his _Collectanea_, scil. vol. i. p. 61.

"Hospitale S. Bartholomæi in West-Smithfelde in London." Royer Mimus Regis fundator."

"Hosp. Sti. Barthol. Londini. Raherus Mimus Regis H. 1. primus fundator, an. 1102, 3. H. 1. qui fundavit etiam Priorat. Sti. Barthol."--_Ibid._ p. 99.

That _mimus_ is properly a minstrel in the sense affixed to the word in this essay, one extract from the accounts (Lat. _computis_) of the priory of Maxtock near Coventry, in 1441, will sufficiently show, scil.: "Dat. Sex. Mimis Dni. Clynton cantantibus, citharisantibus, ludentibus, &c. iiii. s." (T. Warton, ii. 106, note q.) The same year the prior gave to a _doctor prædicans_ for a sermon preached to them only 6_d._

In the _Monasticon_, tom. ii. p. 166, 167, is a curious history of the founder of this priory, and the cause of its erection: which seems exactly such a composition as one of those which were manufactured by Dr. Stone, the famous legend-maker, in 1380; (see T. Warton's curious account of him, in vol. ii. p. 190, note), who required no materials to assist him in composing his narratives, &c. For in this legend are no particulars given of the founder, but a recital of miraculous visions exciting him to this pious work, of its having been before revealed to K. Edward the Confessor, and predicted by three Grecians, &c. Even his minstrel profession is not mentioned, whether from ignorance or design, as the profession was perhaps falling into discredit when this legend was written. There is only a general indistinct account that he frequented royal and noble houses, where he ingratiated himself _suavitate joculari_. (This last is the only word that seems to have any appropriated meaning.) This will account for the indistinct, incoherent account given by Stow: "Rahere, a pleasant-witted gentleman, and therefore in his time called the King's Minstrel."--_Survey of Lond._ ed. 1598, p. 308.

[U] [_In the early times every harper was expected to sing._] See on this subject K. Alfred's version of Cædman, above in note [H] p. 391.

So in _Horn-Child_, K. Allof orders his steward Athelbrus to

"--teche him of harpe and of song."

In the _Squire of Lowe Degree_ the king offers to his daughter,

"Ye shall have harpe, sautry,[1126] and song."

And Chaucer, in his description of the limitour or mendicant friar, speaks of harping as inseparable from singing (i. p. 11, ver. 268):--

"--in his harping, whan that he hadde songe."

[U2] [_At the most accomplished, &c._] See Hoveden, p. 103, in the following passage, which had erroneously been applied to K. Richard himself, till Mr. Tyrwhitt ("Chaucer," iv. p. 62) shewed it to belong to his Chancellor: "Hic ad augmentum et famam sui nominis, emendicata carmina, et rhythmos adulatorios comparabat; et de regno Francorum Cantores et Joculatores muneribus allexerat, ut de illo canerent in plateis: et jam dicebatur ubique, quod non erat talis in orbe." For other particulars relating to this chancellor, see T. Warton's _Hist._ vol. ii. addit. to p. 113 of vol. i.

[U3] [_Both the Norman and English languages would be heard at the houses of the great._] A remarkable proof of this is that the most diligent inquirers after ancient English rhimes find the earliest they can discover in the mouths of the Norman nobles, such as that of Robert, Earl of Leicester, and his Flemings in 1173, temp. Hen. II. (little more than a century after the Conquest), recorded by Lambarde in his _Dictionary of England_, p. 36:

"Hoppe Wyliken, hoppe Wyliken
Ingland is thine and myne," &c.

and that noted boast of Hugh Bigot, Earl of Norfolk, in the same reign of K. Henry II. vid. _Camdeni Britannia_ (art. Suffolk), 1607, folio

"Were I in my castle of Bungey
Vpon the riuer of Waueney
I would ne care for the king of Cockeney."

Indeed, many of our old metrical romances, whether originally English, or translated from the French to be sung to an English audience, are addressed to persons of high rank, as appears from their beginning thus: "Listen, Lordings," and the like. These were prior to the time of Chaucer, as appears from vol. iii. appendix (sect. ii.). And yet to his time our Norman nobles are supposed to have adhered to their French language.

[V] [_That intercommunity, &c. between the French and English_ _Minstrels, &c._] This might, perhaps, in a great measure be re-referred even to the Norman Conquest, when the victors brought with them all their original opinions and fables; which could not fail to be adopted by the English minstrels and others who solicited their favour. This interchange, &c. between the minstrels of the two nations would be afterwards promoted by the great intercourse produced among all the nations of Christendom in the general crusades, and by that spirit of chivalry which led knights, and their attendants the heralds, and minstrels, &c. to ramble about continually from one court to another in order to be present at solemn turnaments, and other feats of arms.

[V2] [_Is not the only instance, &c._] The constant admission granted to minstrels was so established a privilege, that it became a ready expedient to writers of fiction. Thus, in the old romance of _Horn-Child_, the Princess Rymenyld being confined in an inaccessible castle, the prince, her lover, and some assistant knights with concealed arms assume the minstrel character, and approaching the castle with their "gleyinge" or minstrelsy, are heard by the lord of it, who being informed they were "harpeirs, jogelers, and fythelers,"[1127] has them admitted, when

"Horn sette him abenche (_i.e._ on a bench).
Is (_i.e._ his) harpe he gan clenche
He made Rymenild a lay."

This sets the princess a weeping and leads to the catastrophe, for he immediately advances to "the Borde" or table, kills the ravisher, and releases the lady.

[V3] [... _Assumed the dress and character of a harper, &c._] We have this curious _historiette_ in the records of Lacock Nunnery in Wiltshire, which had been founded by this Countess of Salisbury. See Vincent's _Discovery of Errors in Brookes Catalogue of Nobility_, &c. folio, pp. 445-6, &c. Take the following extract, and see Dugdale's _Baron_, i. p. 175.

"Ela uxor Gullielmi Longespee primi, nata fuit apud Ambresbiriam, patre et matre Normannis.

"Pater itaque ejus defectus senio migravit ad Christum, A.D. 1196. Mater ejus ante biennium obiit.... Interea Domina charissima clam per cognatos adducta fuit in Normanniam, & ibidem sub tutâ et arctâ custodiâ nutrita. Eodem tempore in Anglia fuit quidam miles nomine Gulielmus Talbot, qui induit se habitum Peregrini (_Anglicè_, a Pilgrim) in Normanniam transfretavit & moratus per duos annos, huc atque illuc vagans, ad explorandam dominam Elam Sarum. Et illâ inventâ, exuit habitum Peregrini, & induit se quasi Cytharisator & curiam ubi morabatur intravit. Et ut erat homo Jocosus, in Gestis Antiquorum valde peritus, ibidem gratanter fuit acceptus quasi familiaris. Et quando tempus aptum invenit, in Angliam repatriavit, habens secum istam venerabilem dominam Elam & hæredem Comitatus Sarum; & eam Regi Richardo præsentavit. Ac ille lætissime eam suscepit, & Fratri suo Guillelmo Longespee maritavit....

A.D. 1226 Dominus Guill. Longespee primus nonas Martii obiit. Ela vero uxor ejus et 7 annis supervixit.... Una die Duo monasteria fundavit primo mane xvi Kal. Maii. A.D. 1232. apud Lacock, in quo sanctæ degunt Canonissæ.... Et Henton post nonam, anno vero ætatis suæ, xlv. &c."

[W] For the preceding account Dugdale refers to _Monast. Angl._ i. (r. ii.) p. 185, but gives it as enlarged by D. Powel, in his _Hist._ _of Cambria_, p. 196, who is known to have followed ancient Welsh MSS. The words in the Monasticon are: "Qui accersitis Sutoribus Cestriæ et Histrionibus, festinanter cum exercitu suo venit domino suo facere succursum. Walenses vero videntes multitudinem magnam venientem, relictâ obsidione fugerunt.... Et propter hoc dedit comes antedictus.... Constabulario dominationem Sutorum et Histrionum. Constabularius vero retinuit sibi et hæredibus suis dominationem Sutorum: et Histrionum dedit vero Seneschallo." So the passage should apparently be pointed; but either _et_ or _vero_ seems redundant.

We shall see below in note [Z] the proper import of the word _histriones_; but it is very remarkable that this is not the word used in the grant of the constable De Lacy to Dutton, but "magisterium omnium _leccatorum_ et _meretricium_ totius Cestreshire, sicut liberius illum (_sic_) magisterium teneo de comite" (_vid._ Blount's _Ancient Tenures_, p. 156). Now, as under this grant the heirs of Dutton confessedly held for many ages a _magisterial_ jurisdiction over all the minstrels and musicians of that county, and as it could not be conveyed by the word _meretrices_, the natural inference is, that the minstrels were expressed by the term _leccatores_. It is true, Du Cange compiling his Glossary could only find in the writers he consulted this word used in the abusive sense, often applied to every synonyme of the sportive and dissolute minstrel, viz. _Scurra_, _vaniloquus_, _parasitus_, _epulo_, &c. (This I conceive to be the proper arrangement of these explanations, which only express the character given to the minstrel elsewhere: see Du Cange, _passim_, and notes, [C], [E], [F], [I], iii. 2, &c.) But he quotes an ancient MS. in French metre, wherein the leccour (Lat. _leccator_) and the minstrel are joined together, as receiving from Charlemagne a grant of the territory of Provence, and from whom the Provençal troubadours were derived, &c. See the passage above in note [C] p. 387.

The exception in favour of the family of Dutton is thus expressed in the statute, Anno 39, Eliz. chap. iv. entitled, "An Act for punishment of Rogues, Vagabonds, and Sturdy Beggars."

"§ II.... All fencers, bearwards, common players of enterludes, and minstrels, wandering abroad (other than players of enterludes belonging to any baron of this realm, or any other honourable personage of greater degree, to be authorised to play under the hand and seal of arms of such baron or personage): all juglers, tinkers, pedlers, &c.... shall be adjudged and deemed rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars, &c.

"§ X. Provided always that this act, or any thing therein contained, or any authority thereby given, shall not in any wise extend to disinherit, prejudice, or hinder John Dutton of Dutton, in the county of Chester, Esquire, his heirs or assigns, for, touching or concerning any liberty, preheminence, authority, jurisdiction, or inheritance, which the said John Dutton now lawfully useth, or hath, or lawfully may or ought to use within the county-palatine of Chester, and the county of the city of Chester, or either of them, by reason of any ancient charters of any kings of this land, or by reason of any prescription, usage, or title whatsoever."

The same clauses are renewed in the last act on this subject, passed in the present reign of George III.

[X] [_Edward I ... at the knighting of his son, &c._] See _Nic. Triveti Annales_, Oxon. 1719, 8vo. p. 342.

"In festo Pentecostes Rex filium suum armis militaribus cinxit, & cum eo Comites Warenniæ & Arundeliæ, aliosque, quorum numerus ducentos & quadraginta dicitur excessisse. Eodem die cum sedisset Rex in mensa, novis militibus circumdatus, ingressa Ministrellorum Multitudo, portantium multiplici ornatu amictum, ut milites præcipue novos invitarent, & inducerent, ad vovendum factum armorum aliquod coram signo."

[Y] [_By an express regulation, &c._] See in Hearne's _Append. ad Lelandi Collectan._ vol. vi. p. 36. "A Dietarie, Writtes published after the Ordinance of Earles and Barons, Anno Dom. 1315."

"Edward by the grace of God, &c. to sheriffes, &c., greetyng. Forasmuch as ... many idle persons, under colour of mynstrelsie, and going in messages, and other faigned busines, have ben and yet be receaved in other mens houses to meate and drynke, and be not therwith contented yf they be not largely consydered with gyftes of the Lordes of the houses, &c.... We wyllyng to restrayne such outrageous enterprises and idlenes, &c. have ordeyned ... that to the houses of prelates, earles, and barons, none resort to meate and drynke, unless he be a mynstrel, and of these minstrels that there come none except it be three or four minstrels of honour at the most in one day, unlesse he be desired of the Lorde of the house. And to the houses of meaner men that none come unlesse he be desired, and that such as shall come so, holde themselves contented with meate and drynke, and with such curtesie as the maister of the house wyl shewe unto them of his owne good wyll, without their askyng of any thyng. And yf any one do agaynst this ordinaunce, at the firste tyme he to lose his minstrelsie, and at the second tyme to forsweare his craft, and never to be receaved for a minstrell in any house.... Yeven at Langley the vi. day of August, in the ix yere of our reigne."

These abuses arose again to as great a height as ever in little more than a century after; in consequence, I suppose, of the licentiousness that crept in during the civil wars of York and Lancaster. This appears from the charter, 9 E. IV. referred to in p. xlv. "Ex querulosâ insinuatione ... Ministrallorum nostrorum accepimus qualiter nonnulli rudes agricolæ & artifices diversarum misterarum regni nostri Angliæ, finxerunt se fore ministrallos, quorum aliqui liberatam nostram eis minime datam portarent, seipsos etiam fingentes esse minstrallos nostros proprios, cujus quidem liberatæ ac dictæ artis sive occupationis ministrallorum colore, in diversis partibus regni nostri prædicti grandes pecuniarum exactiones de ligeis nostris deceptive colligunt, &c."

Abuses of this kind prevailed much later in Wales, as appears from the famous commission issued out in 9 Eliz. (1567) for bestowing the silver harp on the best minstrel, rythmer, or bard, in the principality of North Wales: of which a fuller account will be given below in note [Bb3].

[Z] [_It is thus related by Stow._] See his Survey of London, &c. fol. 1633, p. 521 (Acc. of Westm. Hall). Stow had this passage from Walsingham's _Hist. Ang._ ... "Intravit quædam mulier ornata histrionali habitu, equum bonum insidens histrionaliter phaleratum, quæ mensas more histrionum circuivit; & tandem ad Regis mensam per gradus ascendit, & quandam literam coram rege posuit, & retracto fræno (salutatis ubique discumbentibus) prout venerat ita recessit," &c. _Anglic. Norm. Script._ &c. Franc. 1603, fol. p. 109.

It may be observed here, that minstrels and others often rode on horseback up to the royal table, when the kings were feasting in their great halls. See in this vol. book I, No. 6.

The answer of the porters (when they were afterwards blamed for admitting her) also deserves attention. "Non esse moris domus regiæ histriones ab ingressu quomodolibet prohibere, &c." Walsingh.

That Stow rightly translated the Latin word _histrio_ here by _minstrel_, meaning a musician that sung, and whose subjects were stories of chivalry, admits of easy proof; for in the _Gesta Romanorum_, chap. cxi. Mercury is represented as coming to Argus in the character of a minstrel; when he "incepit, more _histrionico_ fabulas dicere, et plerumque cantare." (T. Warton, iii. p. li.) And Muratori cites a passage, in an old Italian chronicle, wherein mention is made of a stage erected at Milan: "Super quo _histriones_ _cantibant_, sicut modo cantatur de Rolando et Oliverio." _Antich._ _Ital._ ii. p. 6. (_Observ. on the Statutes_, 4th edit. p. 362.)

See also [E] p. 388. [F] p. 389.

[Aa] [_There should seem to have been women of this profession._] This may be inferred from the variety of names appropriated to them in the Middle Ages, viz. Anglo-Sax. +Glip-meden+ (Glee-maiden), &c. +glypiendemaden, glypbydenestra+. (vid. supra, p. 393.) Fr. _jengleresse_, Med. Lat. _joculatrix_, _ministralissa_, _foemina ministerialis_, &c. (vid. Du Cange, _Gloss. & Suppl._)

See what is said in p. 371 concerning the "sisters of the fraternity of minstrels;" see also a passage quoted by Dr. Burney (ii. 315) from Muratori, of the chorus of women singing thro' the streets accompanied with musical instruments in 1268.

Had the female described by Walsingham been a _tombestere_, or dancing-woman (see Tyrwhitt's _Chaucer_, iv. 307, and v. Gloss.) that historian would probably have used the word _saltatrix_ (see T. Warton, i. 240, note M.)

These _saltatrices_ were prohibited from exhibiting in churches and church-yards along with _joculatores_, _histriones_, with whom they were sometimes classed, especially by the rigid ecclesiastics, who censured, in the severest terms, all these sportive characters (vid. T. Warton _in loco citato_, and vide _supra_ not. E, F, &c.).

And here I would observe, that although Fauchet and other subsequent writers affect to arrange the several members of the minstrel profession under the different classes of _troverres_ (or _troubadours_), _chanterres_, _conteours_, and _jugleurs_, &c. (vid. p. 385) as if they were distinct and separate orders of men, clearly distinguished from each other by these appropriate terms, we find no sufficient grounds for this in the oldest writers; but the general names in Latin, _histrio_, _mimus_, _joculator_, _ministrallus_, &c. in French, _menestrier_, _menestrel_, _jongleur_, _jugleur_, &c. and in English, _jogeleur_, _jugler_, _minstrels_, and the like, seem to be given them indiscriminately. And one or other of these names seem to have been sometimes applied to every species of men, whose business it was to entertain or divert (_joculari_) whether with poesy, singing, music, or gesticulation, singly, or with a mixture of all these. Yet as all men of this sort were considered as belonging to one class, order or community (many of the above arts being sometimes exercised by the same person), they had all of them doubtless the same privileges, and it equally throws light upon the general history of the profession to shew what favour or encouragement was given, at any particular period of time, to any one branch of it. I have not therefore thought it needful to inquire whether, in the various passages quoted in these pages, the word minstrel, &c. is always to be understood in its exact and proper meaning of a singer to the harp, &c.

That men of very different arts and talents were included under the common name of minstrels, &c. appears from a variety of authorities. Thus we have _menestrels de trompes_ and _menestrels de bouche_ in the suppl. to Du Cange, c. 1227, and it appears still more evident from an old French rhymer, whom I shall quote at large:

"Le Quens[1128] manda les _Menestrels_;
Et si a fet[1129] crier entre els,
Qui la meillor truffe[1130] sauroit
Dire, ne faire, qu'il auroit
Sa robe d'escarlate nueve.
L'uns Menestrels à l'autre reuve
Fere son mestier, tel qu'il sot,
Li uns fet l'yvre, l'autre sot;
Li uns chante, li autre note;
Et li autres dit la riote;
Et li autres la jenglerie;[1131]
Cil qui sevent de jonglerie
Vielent par devant le Conte;
Aucuns ja qui fabliaus conte
Il i ot dit mainte risée," &c.

_Fabliaux et Contes_, 12mo. tom. ii. p. 161.

And what species of entertainment was afforded by the ancient _juggleurs_ we learn from the following citation from an old romance, written in 1230:

"Quand les tables ostees furent
C'il _juggleurs_ in pies esturent
S'ont vielles, et harpes prisees
Chansons, sons, vers, et reprises
Et _gestes_ chantè nos ont."

Sir J. Hawkins, ii. 44, from _Andr. du Chene_. See also Tyrwhitt's _Chaucer_, iv. p. 299.

All the before mentioned sports went by the general name of _ministralcia ministellorum ludicra_, &c.--_Charta an._ 1377, _apud_ Rymer, vii. p. 160. "Peracto autem prandio, ascendebat D. Rex in cameram suam cum Prælatis Magnatibus & Proceribus prædictis: & deinceps Magnates, Milites & Domini, aliique Generosi diem illum, usque ad tempus coenæ, in tripudiis, coreis & solempnibus Ministralciis, præ gaudio solempnitatis illius continuarunt." (Du Cange, _Gloss._ 773.) This was at the coronation of K. Richard II.

It was common for the minstrels to dance, as well as to harp and sing (see above, note [E], p. 389); thus in the old Romance of _Tirante el Blanco_, Val. 1511, the 14th cap. lib. 2, begins thus: "Despues qui las Mesas fueron alçadas vinieron los Ministriles; y delante del rey, y de la Reyna dançaron un rato: y despues truxeron colacion."

They also probably, among their other feats, played tricks of slight of hand, hence the word jugler came to signify a performer of legerdemain; and it was sometimes used in this sense (to which it is now appropriated) even so early as the time of Chaucer, who in his _Squire's Tale_, (ii. 108) speaks of the horse of brass, as:

"----like
An apparence ymade by som magike,
As _Jogelours_ plaien at thise festes grete."

See also the _Frere's Tale_, i. p. 279, v. 7049.

[Aa2] [_Females playing on the harp._] Thus in the old romance of "Syr Degore (or Degree," No. 22, iii. appendix) we have (Sign. D. i.):

"The lady, that was so faire and bright,
Upon her bed she sate down ryght;
She harped notes swete and fine.
(Her mayds filled a piece of wine.)
And Syr Degore, sate him downe,
For to hear the harpes sowne."

The 4th line being omitted in the pr. copy, is supplied from the folio MS.

In the _Squyr of lowe Degree_ (No. 24, iii. appendix) the king says to his daughter (Sign. D. i.):

"Ye were wont to harpe and syng,
And be the meryest in chamber comyng."

In the _Carle of Carlisle_, (No. 10. iii. appendix) we have the following passage (folio MS. p. 451, v. 217).

"Downe came a lady faire and free,
And sett her on the Carles knee:
One whiles shee harped another whiles song,
Both of paramours and louinge amonge."

And in the Romance of _Eger and Grime_ (No. 12, iii. appendix), we have (_ibid._ p. 127, col. 2) in part i. v. 263:

"The ladye fayre of hew and hyde
Shee sate downe by the bed side
Shee laid a souter (psaltry) vpon her knee
Theron shee plaid full lovesomelye.
... And her 2 maydens sweetlye sange."

A similar passage occurs in part iv, v. 129 (p. 136.)--But these instances are sufficient.

[Bb] [_A charter ... to appoint a king of the minstrels._] Intitled _Carta Le Roy de ministraulx_ (in Latin _histriones_ vid. Plott. p. 437.) A copy of this charter is printed in _Monast. Anglic._ i. 355, and in Blount's _Law Diction._ 1717 (art. king).

That this was a most respectable officer, both here and on the continent, will appear from the passages quoted below, and therefore it could only have been in modern times, when the proper meaning of the original terms _ministraulz_, and _histriones_ was forgot, that he was called king of the fidlers; on which subject see below, note [Ee2].

Concerning the king of the minstrels we have the following curious passages collected by Du Cange, Gloss. iv. 773:

"Rex Ministellorum; supremus inter _ministellos_: de cujus munere, potestate in cæteros _ministellos_ agit Charta Henrici IV. Regis Angliæ in _Monast. Anglicano_, tom. i. p. 355. Charta originalis an. 1338. Je Robert Caveron Roy des Menestreuls du Royaume de France. Aliæ ann. 1357. & 1362. Copin de Brequin Roy des Menestres du Royaume de France. Computum de auxiliis pro redemptione Regis Johannis, ann. 1367. Pour une couronne d'argent qu'il donna le jour de la Tiphaine au roy des menestrels.

"Regestum Magnorum Dierum Trecensium an. 1296. Super quod Joannes dictus Charmillons Juglator, cui dominus Rex per suas literas tanquam Regem Juglatorum in civitate Trecensi Magisterium Juglatorum, quemadmodum suæ placeret voluntati, concesserat." _Gloss._ c. 1587.

There is a very curious passage in Pasquier's _Recherches de la_ _France_, Paris, 1633, folio, liv. 7. ch. 5, p. 611, wherein he appears to be at a loss how to account for the title of Le Roy assumed by the old composers of metrical romances; in one of which the author expressly declares himself to have been a minstrel. The solution of the difficulty, that he had been _Le Roy des Menestrels_, will be esteemed more probable than what Pasquier here advances; for I have never seen the title of _prince_ given to a minstrel, &c. scil.--"A nos vieux Poetes ... comme ... fust qu'ils eussent certain jeux de prix en leurs Poesies, ils ... honoroient du nome, tantot de roy, tantot de prince, celuy qui avoit le mieux faict comme nous voyons entre les archers, arbalestiers, & harquebusiers estre fait le semblable. Ainsi l'autheur du Roman d'Oger le Danois, s'appelle Roy.

"Icy endroict est cil Livre finez
Qui des enfans Oger est appellez
Or vueille Diex qu'il soit parachevez
En tel maniere kestre n'en puist blamez
Le Roy Adams (r. Adenes) ki il' est rimez.

"Et en celuy de Cleomades,

"Ce Livre de Cleomades
Rimé-je le Roy Adenes
Menestre au bon Duc Henry.

"Mot de Roy, qui seroit tres-mal approprié à un menestrier, si d'ailleurs on ne le rapportoit a un jeu du priz: Et de faict il semble que de nostre temps, il y en eust encores quelque remarques, en ce que le mot de jouingleur s'estant par succession de temps tourné en batelage nous avons veu en nostre jeunesse les Jouingleurs se trouver à certain jour tous les ans en la ville de Chauny en Picardie, pour faire monstre de leur mestrier devant le monde, à qui mieux. Et ce que j'en dis icy n'est pas pour vilipender ces anciens Rimeurs, ainsi pour monstrer qu'il n'y a chose si belle qui ne s'aneantisse avec le temps."

We see here that in the time of Pasquier the poor minstrel was sunk into as low estimation in France, as he was then or afterwards in England: but by his apology for comparing the jouingleurs, who assembled to exercise their faculty, in his youth, to the ancient rimeurs, it is plain they exerted their skill in rhyme.

As for king _Adenes_, or _Adenez_ (whose name in the first passage above is corruptly printed _Adams_), he is recorded in the _Bibliothèque des Romans, Amst._ 1734, 12mo. vol. i. p. 232, to have composed the two romances in verse above-mentioned, and a third intitled _Le Roman de Bertin_: all three being preserved in a MS. written about 1270. His _Bon Duc Henry_ I conceive to have been Henry Duke of Brabant.

[Bb2] [_King of the minstrels, &c._] See Anstis's _Register of the Order of the Garter_, ii. p. 303, who tells us: "The President or Governour of the minstrels had the like denomination of _roy_ in France and Burgundy: and in England, John of Gaunt constituted such an officer by a patent; and long before his time payments were made by the crown, to [a] king of the minstrels by Edw. I. 'Regi Roberto Ministrallo scutifero ad arma commoranti ad vadia Regis anno 5to.' (_Bibl. Cotton. Vespas._ c. 16, f. 3), as likewise (_Libro Garderob_. 25, E. 1): 'Ministrallis in die nuptiarum comitissæ Holland filiæ Regis, Regi Pago, Johanni Vidulatori &c. Morello Regi, &c. Druetto Monthaut, and Jacketto de Scot. Regibus, cuilibet eorum xls.' Regi Pagio de Hollandia, &c. under Ed II. We likewise find other entries, 'Regi Roberto et aliis ministrallis facientibus menistrallias (ministralcias, qu.) suas coram Rege. (_Bibl. Cotton. Nero._ c. 8, p. 84 b. _Comp. Garderob._) That king granted, 'Willielmo de Morlee dicto Roy de North, Ministrallo Regis, domos quæ fuerunt' Johannis le Boteler dicti Roy Brunhaud (_Pat. de terr. forisfact._ 16. E. 3)." He adds below, (p. 304) a similar instance of a _rex juglatorum_, and that the "king of the minstrels" at length was styled in France _roy des violons_, (Furitiere, _Diction. Univers._) as with us "king of the fidlers," on which subject see below, note [Ee2].

[Bb3] The statute 4 Hen. IV. (1402) c. 27, runs in these terms: "Item, pur eschuir plusieurs diseases et mischiefs qont advenuz devaunt ces heures en la terre de Gales par plusieurs westours rymours, minstralx et autres vacabondes, ordeignez est et establiz qe nul westour, rymour ministral ne vacabond soit aucunement sustenuz en la terre de Gales pur faire kymorthas ou coillage sur la commune poeple illoeques." This is among the severe laws against the Welsh, passed during the resentment occasioned by the outrages committed under Owen Glendour; and as the Welsh bards had excited their countrymen to rebellion against the English government, it is not to be wondered that the act is conceived in terms of the utmost indignation and contempt against this class of men, who are described as _rymours_, _ministralx_, which are apparently here used as only synonymous terms to express the Welsh bards with the usual exuberance of our acts of parliament; for if their _ministralx_ had been mere musicians, they would not have required the vigilance of the English legislature to suppress them. It was their songs exciting their countrymen to insurrection which produced "les diseases & mischiefs en la terre de Gales."

It is also submitted to the reader, whether the same application of the terms does not still more clearly appear in the commission issued in 1567, and printed in Evan Evans's _Specimens of Welsh Poetry_, 1764, 4to. p. v. for bestowing the silver harp on "the chief of that faculty." For after setting forth "that vagrant and idle persons, naming themselves _minstrels_, _rythmers_, and _bards_, had lately grown into such intolerable multitude within the Principality in North Wales, that not only gentlemen and others by their shameless disorders are oftentimes disquieted in their habitations, but also expert _minstrels_ and _musicians in tongue and cunynge_ thereby much discouraged, &c." and "hindred [of] livings and preferment," &c. it appoints a time and place, wherein all "persons that intend to maintain their living by name or colour of _minstrels_, _rythmers_, or _bards_ within five shires of North Wales, shall appear to show their learnings accordingly," &c. And the commissioners are required to admit such as shall be found worthy, into and under the degrees heretofore in use, so that they may "use, exercise, and follow the sciences and faculties of their professions in such decent order as shall appertain to each of their degrees." And the rest are to return to some honest labour, &c. upon pain to be taken as sturdy and idle vagabonds, &c.

[Bb4] Holinshed translated this passage from Tho. de Elmham's _Vita et Gesta Henrici V._ scil.: "Soli Omnipotenti Deo se velle victoriam imputari ... in tantum, quod cantus de suo triumpho fieri, seu per Citharistas vel alios quoscunque cantari penitus prohibebat." (Edit. Hearnii, 1727, p. 72). As in his version Holinshed attributes the making, as well as singing ditties to minstrels, it is plain he knew that men of this profession had been accustomed to do both.

[Cc] [_The Houshold Book, &c._] See Section v.

"Of the noumbre of all my lords servaunts."

"Item, Mynstrals in Houshold iii. viz. a taberet, a luyte, and a Rebecc." (The rebeck was a kind of fiddle with three strings).

"Sect. XLIV. 3.

"Rewardes to his lordship's Servaunts, &c.

"Item, My lord usith ande accustomith to gyf yerly, when his lordschipp is at home, to his minstrallis that be daily in his houshold, as his tabret, lute, ande Rebeke, upon New Yeresday in the mornynge when they do play at my lordis chamber dour for his lordschip and my lady, xx_s._ viz. xiii_s._ iv_d._ for my lord; and vi_s._ viii_d._ for my lady, if sche be at my lords fyndynge, and not at hir owen; And for playing at my lordis sone and heire's chamber doure, the lord Percy, ii_s._ And for playinge at the chamber doures of my lords yonger sonnes, my yonge masters, after viii_d._ the pece for every of them.--xxiii_s._ iiii_d._

"Sect. XLIV. 2.

"Rewards to be geven to strangers, as Players,
Mynstralls, or any other, &c.

"Furst, my lorde usith and accustomyth to gif to the kings jugler; ... when they custome to come unto hym yerly, vi_s._ viii_d._

"Item, my lorde usith and accustomyth to gif yerely to the kings or queenes Bearwarde, if they have one, when they custom to come unto hym yerly, vi_s._ viii_d._

"Item, my lorde usith and accustomyth to gyfe yerly to every erles mynstrellis, when they custome to come to hym yerely, iii_s._ iiii_d._ And if they come to my lorde seldome, ones in ii or iii yeres, than vi_s._ viii_d._

"Item, my lorde usith and accustomedeth to gife yerely to an erls mynstralls, if he be his speciall lorde, friende, or kynsman, if they come yerely to his lordschip.... And, if they come to my 'lord' seldome, ones in ii or iii years...."

* * * * *

"Item, my lorde usith and accustomyth to gyf yerely a dookes or erlis trumpetts, if they come vi together to his lordschipp, viz. if they come yerly, vi_s._ viii_d._ And, if they come but in ii or iii yeres, than x_s._"

"Item, my lorde usith and accustometh to gife yerly, when his lordschip is at home, to gyf to the kyngs shawmes, when they com to my lorde yerely, x_s._"

* * * * *

I cannot conclude this note without observing that in this enumeration the family minstrels seem to have been musicians only, and yet both the earl's trumpets and the king's shawmes are evidently distinguished from the earl's minstrels, and the king's jugler. Now we find jugglers still coupled with pipers in Barklay's _Egloges, circ._ 1514. (Warton, ii. 254.)

[Cc2] The honours and rewards conferred on minstrels, &c. in the middle ages were excessive, as will be seen by many instances in these volumes; v. note [E], [F] &c. But more particularly with regard to English minstrels, &c. See T. Warton's _Hist. of Eng. Poetry_, i. p. 89-92, 116, &c., ii. 105, 106, 254, &c. Dr. Burney's _Hist. of Music_, ii. p. 316-319, 397-399, 427-428.

On this head, it may be sufficient to add the following passage from the _Fleta_, lib. ii. c. 23: "Officium Elemosinarij est ... Equos relictos, Robas, Pecuniam, et alia ad Elemosinam largiter recipere et fidelitur distribuere; debet etiam Regem super Elemosinæ largitione crebris summonitionibus stimulare & præcipue diebus sanctorum, et rogare ne Robas suas quæ magni sunt precij histrionibus, blanditoribus, adulatoribus, accusatoribus, vel menestrallis, sed ad Elemosinæ suæ incrementum jubeat largiri." Et in c. 72: "ministralli, vel adulatoris."

[Dd] [_A species of men who did not sing, &c._] It appears from the passage of Erasmus here referred to, that there still existed in England of that species of _jongleurs_ or minstrels, whom the French called by the peculiar name of _conteours_, or reciters in prose. It is in his _Ecclesiastes_, where he is speaking of such preachers as imitated the tone of beggars or mountebanks: "Apud Anglos est simile genus hominum, quales apud Italos sunt circulatores [mountebanks] de quibus modo dictum est; qui irrumpunt in convivia magnatum, aut in Cauponas Vinarias; et argumentum aliquod, quod edidicerunt, recitant; puta mortem omnibus dominari, aut laudem matrimonii. Sed quoniam ea linguâ monosyllabis fere constat, quemadmodum Germanica; atque illi (sc. this peculiar species of reciters) studio vitant cantum, nobis (sc. Erasmus, who did not understand a word of English) latrare videntur verius quàm loqui."--_Opera_, tom. v. c. 958 (Jortin, vol. ii. p. 193). As Erasmus was correcting the vice of preachers, it was more to his point to bring an instance from the moral reciters of prose, than from chanters of rhime; though the latter would probably be more popular, and therefore more common.

[Ee] This character is supposed to have been suggested by descriptions of minstrels in the romance of _Morte Arthur_; but none, it seems, have been found which come nearer to it than the following, which I shall produce, not only that the reader may judge of the resemblance, but to shew how nearly the idea of the minstrel character given in this essay corresponds with that of our old writers.

Sir Lancelot, having been affronted by a threatening abusive letter which Mark, king of Cornwal, had sent to Queen Guenever, wherein he "spake shame by her and Sir Lancelot," is comforted by a knight, named Sir Dinadan, who tells him "I will make a lay for him, and when it is made, I shall make an harper to sing it before him. So anon he went and made it, and taught it an harper, that hyght Elyot; and when hee could it, hee taught it to many harpers. And so ... the harpers went straight unto Wales and Cornwaile to sing the lay ... which was the worst lay that ever harper sung with harpe, or with any other instrument. And [at a] great feast that king Marke made for joy of [a] victorie which hee had ... came Eliot the harper; ... and because he was a curious harper, men heard him sing the same lay that Sir Dinadan had made, the which spake the most vilanie by king Marke of his treason, that ever man heard. When the harper had sung his song to the end, king Marke was wonderous wroth with him, and said, Thou harper, how durst thou be so bold to sing this song before me? Sir, said Eliot, wit you wel I am a minstrell, and I must doe as I am commanded of these lords that _I bear the armes of_. And Sir king, wit you well that Sir Dinadan a knight of the Round Table made this song, and he made me to sing it before you. Thou saiest well, said king Marke, I charge thee that thou hie thee fast out of my sight. So the harper departed, &c." (Part ii. c. 113, ed. 1634. See also part iii. c. 5.)

[Ee2] [_This art seems to have put an end to the profession, &c._] Although I conceive that the character ceased to exist, yet the appellation might be continued, and applied to fidlers, or other common musicians: which will account for the mistakes of Sir Peter Leicester, or other modern writers. (See his _Historical Antiquities of Cheshire_, 1673, p. 141.)

In this sense it is used in an ordinance in the times of Cromwell (1656), wherein it is enacted that if any of the "persons commonly called fidlers or minstrels shall at any time be taken playing, fidling, and making music in any inn, ale-house, or tavern, or shall be taken proffering themselves, or desiring, or intreating any ... to hear them play or make music in any of the places aforesaid" they are to be "adjudged and declared to be rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars."

This will also account why John of Gaunt's king of the minstrels at length came to be called, like _le roy des violons_ in France (v. note [Bb2]), king of the fidlers. See the common ballad intitled _The Pedigree, Education, and Marriage of Robin-hood with Clorinda, queen of Tutbury Feast_: which, though prefixed to the modern collection on that subject,[1132] seems of much later date than most of the others; for the writer appears to be totally ignorant of all the old traditions concerning this celebrated outlaw, and has given him a very elegant bride instead of his old noted Lemman, "Maid Marian:" who together with his chaplain "Frier Tuck," were his favourite companions, and probably on that account figured in the old morice dance, as may be seen by the engraving in Mr Steevens's and Mr. Malone's edition of _Shakespeare_: by whom she is mentioned, 1 Hen. IV. act iii. sc. 3. (See also Warton, i. 245, ii. 237.) Whereas from this ballad's concluding with an exhortation to "pray for the king," and "that he may get children," &c. it is evidently posterior to the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and can scarce be older than the reign of K. Charles I. for K. James I. had no issue after his accession to the throne of England. It may even have been written since the Restoration, and only express the wishes of the nation for issue on the marriage of their favourite K. Charles II., on his marriage with the Infanta of Portugal. I think it is not found in the Pepys collection.

[Ff] [_Historical song or ballad._] The English word ballad is evidently from the French _balade_, as the latter is from the Italian _ballata_; which the Crusca Dictionary defines, _canzone che si canta_ _ballando_: "a song which is sung during a dance." So Dr. Burney (ii. 342,) who refers to a collection of _ballette_, published by Gastaldi, and printed at Antwerp in 1596 (iii. 226.)

But the word appears to have had an earlier origin: for in the decline of the Roman empire, these trivial songs were called _ballistea_ and _saltatiunculæ_. _Ballisteum_, Salmasius says, is properly _ballistium_, Gr. #Ballisteion#. "#apo tou Ballizô# ... #Ballistia# saltatio ... _Ballistium_ igitur est quod vulgo vocamus _ballet_; nam inde deducta vox nostra." Salmas. _Not. in_ Hist. Ang. Scriptores, iv. p. 349.

In the life of the Emperor Aurelian by Fl. Vopiscus may be seen two of these _ballistea_, as sung by the boys skipping and dancing, on account of a great slaughter made by the emperor with his own hand in the Sarmatic war. The first is:

"Mille, mille, mille decollavimus,
Unus homo mille decollavimus,
Mille vivat, qui mille occidit.
Tantum vini habet nemo
Quantum fudit sanguinis."

The other was:

"Mille Sarmatas, mille Francos
Semel & semel occidimus.
Mille Persas quærimus."

Salmasius (_in loc._) shows that the trivial poets of that time were wont to form their metre of trochaic tetrametre catalectics, divided into distichs. (_Ibid._ p. 350.) This becoming the metre of the hymns in the church service, to which the monks at length superadded rhyming terminations, was the origin of the common trochaic metre in the modern languages. This observation I owe to the learned author of _Irish Antiquities_, 4to.

[Ff2] [_Little Miscellanies named Garlands, &c._] In the Pepysian and other libraries are preserved a great number of these in black letter, 12mo. under the following quaint and affected titles, viz.:

1. _A Crowne Garland of Goulden Roses gathered out of England's Royal Garden, &c._, by Richard Johnson, 1612. [In the Bodleyan Library.] 2. _The Golden Garland of Princely Delight._ 3. _The Garland of Good-will_, by T. D., 1631. 4. _The Royal Garland of Love and Delight_, by T. D. 5. _The Garland of Delight, &c._, by Tho. Delone. 6. _The Garland of Love and Mirth_, by Thomas Lanfier. 7. _Cupid's Garland set round with Guilded Roses._ 8. _The Garland of Withered Roses_, by Martin Parker, 1656. 9. _The Shepherd's Garland of Love, Loyalty, &c._ 10. _The Country Garland._ 11. _The Golden Garland of Mirth and Merriment._ 12. _The Lover's Garland._ 13. _Neptune's fair Garland._ 14. _England's fair Garland._ 15. _Robin Hood's Garland._ 16. _The Maiden's Garland._ 17. _A Loyal Garland of Mirth and Pastime._ 18. _A Royal Garland of New Songs._ 19. _The Jovial Garland_, 8th edit. 1691, &c. &c. &c.