Otterburn, fought between the Scots and the English, under the respective commands of an earl of Douglas (who was flain in the field), and the great and celebrated Henry lord Percy, furnamed Hotfpur, fon of the earl of Northumberland, who was carried prifoner into Scotland; the other, if not a different modification of this ballad, is on an imaginary conflict between a Douglas and a Percy, occafioned by a hunting match fuppofed to have been made by the latter in CHEVY CHACE (i. e. the heights of Cheviot in Northumberland, then within the Scotifh march), in which they are both flain. This is known to have been a popular fong in the time of queen Elizabeth. " I never heard," fays the accomplished fir Philip Sidney, "the old fong of Percy and Douglas, that I found έσι not my heart moued more then with a trumpet; and ઠંડ yet is it but fung by fome blind crowder, with no rougher voice then rude ftile: which being fo euill apparelled in the dust and cobweb of that vnciuill "what would it worke trimmed in the gorgeous eloage, quence of Pindare." Notwithstanding this eulogy, it feems to have been little known and much neglected; and, being modernifed in a fucceeding reign, became totally forgotten, till it was accidentally recovered by that induftrious antiquary, mr. Thomas Hearne, by whom it was first printed; and from him bishop Percy inferted it in his Reliques of ancient English Poetry; in which, likewife, The Battle of Otterburn, two copies whereof are luckily extant in the Museum, made its firft appearance. Thefe two fongs are by this ingenious writer afcribed to a body of men, who are fuppofed to have been, about this period, and for fome preceding centuries, very numerous and refpectable; and concerning whom he has favoured the world with a moft ingenious and elegant effay. The reader will immediately recollect-the "ancient English

minstrels," of whom, before we advance further in our little hiftory, it may not be impertinent or improper to take fome notice.

Without attempting to controvert the flighteft fact laid down by the learned prelate, one may be well

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per

mitted

mitted to question the propriety of his inferences, and, indeed, his general hypothefis. Every part of France, but more efpecially Normandy, feems to have formerly abounded in minstrels, whofe profeffion has been already defcribed. Many of these people, we can eafily fuppofe, attended the Conqueror, and his Norman barons, in their expedition to England; and perhaps were provided for, or continued to gain a fubfiftence by their profeffional art among the fettlers. The conftant intercourfe which so long fubfifted between the two countries, that is, while the English monarchs had poffeffions in France, afforded the French and Norman minstrels conftant opportunities of a free and unexpenfive paffage into England, where they were certain of a favorable reception and liberal rewards from the king, his barons, and other Anglo-Norman fubjects. French or Norman minstrels, however, are not English ones. There is not the leaft proof that the latter were a refpectable fociety, or that they even deferve the name of a fociety. That there were men in those times, as there are in the prefent, who gained a livelihood by going about from place to place, finging and playing to the illiterate vulgar, is doubtlefs true (133); but that they were received into the caftles of the nobility, fung at their tables, and were rewarded like the French minstrels, does not any where appear, nor is it at all credible. The reafon is evident.

(133) Puttenham gives us the following curious picture of the "Ancient English Minstrels" of bis time :

"The ouer bufie and too fpeedy returne of one maner of tune [doth] "too much annoy & as it were glut the eare, vnleffe it be in small "and popular Musickes song by these Cantanbanqui vpon benches and "barrels heads where they haue none other audience then boys or "countrey fellowes that paffe by them in the ftreet, or elfe by blind "harpers or fuch like tauerne minstrelles that give a fit of mirth for a 66 groat, & their matters being for the most part ftories of old time, << as the tale of fir Topas, the reportes of Beuis of Southampton, "Guy of Warwicke, Adam Bell, and Clymme of the Clough & fuch "other old romances or hiftoricall rimes, made purpofely for recreation "of the comon people at Chriftmas dinners & brideales, and in "tauernes & alehouses and such other places of base refort." Arte of English Poefie, 1589. p. 69.

The

The French tongue alone was used at court, and in the households of the Norman barons (who defpifed the Saxon manners and language), for many centuries after the Conqueft, and continued till, at leaft, the reign of Henry VIII. the polite language of both court and country, and as well known as the English itsfelf: a fact of which (to keep to our fubject) we need no other evidence than the multitude of French poems and fongs to be found in every library. The learned treatife above noticed might, therefor, with more propriety, have been intitled "An Effay on the ancient FRENCH Minstrels," whom the feveral facts and anecdotes there related alone concern. Of the English minstrels, all the knowlege we have of them is, that by a law of queen Elizabeth they were pronounced rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars (134);" a fufficient proof they were not very refpectable in her time, how eminent foever they might have been before (135). That fuch characters as thefe should have left us no memorials of theirfelves is not at all furprifing. They could fing and play; but it was none of their business to read or write. So that, whatever their fongs may have been, they seem to have perished along with them; for, excepting the two ballads which have been mentioned (neither of which, unless it be from the rude and barbarous jargon in which they are compofed, are neceffarily afcribable to minstrels), we have not a fingle compofition which can, with any degree of certainty, or even plaufibility, be given to a perfon of this description (136).

(134) 39 Eliz. c. 4. f. 2..

Ames,

(135) They are not reprefented to much greater advantage by the early hiftorians, "who," it feems, "can feldom afford them a "better name than that of Scurræ, Famelici, Nebulones, &c." PERCY (Notes on the Effay, xlii.).

(136) That the reader may not be misled by a term, it will be pertinent to remark that the word is frequently ufed for a mufician in general. Thus "the kings minstrels" were his band of mufic. The chorifters of a cathedral as well as the trumpets of an army are likewife often fo called. And in an ordinance of the rump parliament, 1658, which pays the minstrels no more refpect than Queen Elizabeth had done, the word is used as fynonimous with fiddlers, in which more expreffive and characteristic appellation it has been fince entirely loft.

Ames, the author of the Typographical Antiquities, is faid to have had in his poffeffion a folio volume of English fongs or ballads, compofed or collected by one John Lucas, about the year 1450; which fir John Hawkins thinks" is probably yet in being (137)." Whoever has it, would do the public an effential fervice, by informing them of the nature of its contents. As to Shirleys collection, in the Afhmolean mufeum, it is of very little value, and contains, at leaft in the prefent fenfe of the words, neither fongs nor bailads.

The reign of Edward IV. affords no particular information on the fubject. In that of his fon and fhort-lived fucceffor, we have a fong written by the learned Anthony Widville, earl Rivers, during the time of his imprifonment, by the arbitrary dictates of the ambitious and ufurping Gloucefter, in Pontefract caftle. This little piece, which is preferved by Roufe the hiftorian, and has been reprinted by Percy, is in imitation of the measure of one afcribed to Chaucer, and begins

Sumwhat mufyng, &c.

There is no fong extant which can be fafely afcribed to the reign of Richard III. Skelton, in the time of his immediate fucceffor, is a poet of fome eminence. He was a great writer of "balades" and "dities of plea"fure," a few of which we have left; but the best, at least the most humourous of them, is, at prefent, too grofs to be endured, and the others are too infipid to be regarded.

The late mr. Thoresby had a fair large manufcript collection of English fongs of this period, with the mufical compofitions of the moft eminent mafters, which had once belonged to the lord Fairfax. It afterwards came into the hands of a gentleman in the city, who permitted great part of it to be engraved and published. The mufic, according to dr. Burney, is fomewhat uncouth, but is ftill better than the poetry. To fing by note, appears to have been then an ordinary accomplishment.

The fongs ufed at this time, and, indeed, down to the Reformation, were moftly in French, Italian, or Latin (138). The mufic-book of prince Arthur is ftill ex(137) Hiftory of Mufic, 11. 91. (138) Burney, II. 551.

tant:

tant: it is full of fongs; and there is not an English word among them.

Of Henry the Eighths reign the writer of thefe pages has before him a tolerably large manufcript, fomewhat refembling the Fairfax collection, but more abounding in church fervices, hymns, carols, and other religious pieces. One of the fongs is much in the manner of Skelton, and not without humour. Another, intitled The kynges ballad, beginning

Paffe tyme with good cumpanye,

is probably the compofition of this or the preceding tyrant, each of whom is faid to have had a turn for mufic and fong (139). Caligula and Nero affected the fame.

tafte.

In the library of the Society of Antiquaries are several old printed copies of fongs, on the difgrace of Thomas Cromwell, earl of Effex, which fhould feem to have been fung and fold in the streets. The firft, and perhaps beft of them, is reprinted by Percy (140). It is fcarcely poffible that the fall of Wolfey was lefs diftinguished.

The Reformation appears to have given full as much employment to the ballad-makers as to the polemical divines. Perhaps, indeed, they were one and the fame fet. A few of these are to be found in the Reliques.

It is much to be regretted that we have no fongs of Surrey or Wyatt, the two best poets of that age, and the first who made any progress in polishing and improving the language: unlefs the latters exquifite addrefs to his lute can be properly deemed one.

(139) Puttenham (Arte of English Poefie, p. 12.) mentions " one "Gray" as having grown into great eftimation with Henry VIII. "and afterward with the duke of Somerset protectour, for making "certaine merry ballades, whereof one chiefly was, The bunte is up, "the bunte is up." There is likewife a 1pecies of poetical harmony, in old books, called "K. H. mirth, or Freemens Songs." For the meaning of the letters K. H. fir John Hawkins fays, we are to feek: there cannot be a doubt that they mean King Henrys.

(140) Reliques, II. 64.

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Lord