I would here observe, once for all, that when the words Hiftrio, Mimus, Joculator, MINSTREL, &c. occur in old writers, it is not very certain that they are always to be understood in the same precife and limited fenfe for thefe names feem to have been fometimes applied to every fpecies of men, whofe bufinefs it was to entertain or divert (joculari) whether with Poefy, Singing, Mufic, or Gefticulation, fingly; or with a Mixture of all these. Yet as all men of this fort were confidered as belonging to one Clafs, Order or Community (all the above arts being often exercised by the the fame perfon) they had all of them doubtless the fame privileges, and it equally throws light upon the general Hiftory of the Profeffion to fhew 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, in all the foregoing inftances, whether the word Minstrel, &c. is to be underftood 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 Meneftrels de Trompes and Meneftrels de Bouche in the Suppl. to Du Cange, c. 1227. and it appears ftill more evident from an old French Rhymer, whom I fhall quote at large. "Li uns fet l' yvre, l'autre fot; Et li autres la jenglerie ; Fabliaux et Contes, 12mo. Tom. 2. p. 161. All this kind of Sports went by the general name of Miniftralcia, Miniftellorum Ludrica, &c. Charta an. 1377. apud Rymer. to. 7. p. 160. Peracto autem prandio, afcendebat D. Rex in cameram fuam cum Prælatis, Magnatibus & Proceribus prædictis: & deinceps Magnates, Milites & Domini, aliique Generofi diem illum, usad tempus cana, in TRIPUDIIS, COREIS & SOLEMPNIBUS MINISTRALCIIS, pra gaudio folempnitatis illius↑, continuarunt." Du Cange. Gloff. 772. que (Bb) "A charter.... to appoint a king of the * Minstrels, &c."] Intitled Carte le Roy de Miniftraulx. (In Latin Hiftriones. Vid. Plott. p. 437.) A copy of this charter may also be seen in Blount's Law Diction. 1717. (art. KING.) The MINSTRELS feem to have been in many respects upon the fame footing with the Heralds. The KING of the Minstrels, like the KING at Arms, was an usual officer both here and in France, as appears from Du Cange, whofe curious collections on this fubject I shall fubjoin entire. s. REX MINISTELLORUM; fupremus inter Miniftel"los de cujus munere, ac poteftate in cæteros Minifellos, agit Charta Henrici IV. Regis Anglia Gallica in Monaft. Anglicano, tom. I. pag. 355. Chartą "originalis Janglerie, babillage, raillerie. † This I fuppofe was the Coronation of Rich. II. originalis an. 1338. Je Robert Caveron Roy des Meneftreuls du Royaume de France. Aliæ ann. 1357. & 1362. Copin de Brequin Roy des Meneftres 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 Meneftrels. Charta an. 1387. apud Rymer, tom 7. P. 555 Supplicavit nobis Johannes Caumz Rex "Miniftrallerum noftrorum, qui verfus diverfas partes "tranfmarinas tranfire proponit." Du Cange Gloff. IV. 773 Regeftum Magnorum Dierum Trecenfium an. "1296. Super quod Joannes dictus Charmillons Juglator, " cui dominus Rex per fuas literas tanquam REGEM JU"GLATORUM in civitate Trecenfi Magifterium Juglato« rum, quemadmodum fuæ placeret voluntati, concefferat." Du Cange, c. 1587. (Cc)" Minstrels were retained in all great and "noble families, &c."] In the ancient MS. (defcribed at the end of this vol. p. 367. containing an Account of the Establishment of the Houfhold of the Earl of Northumberland, in the 3d year of Hen. VIII. at his Caftle of Lekinfield in Yorkshire) occur feveral very curious articles on this fubject, which I fhall here subjoin. Sect. V. "Of the Noumbre of all my lords Servaunts," "Item, MYNSTRALS in Houfhold iij. viz. A Ta"beret, a Luyte, and a Rebecc*. Sect. XLIV. 3. "Rewardes to his lordships Servaunts, &c. " "Item, My lord ufith ande accuftomith to gyf yerly, "when his lordschipp is at home, to his MINSTRAILLS This was a kind of Fiddle with three ftrings only. ** that that be daily in his houfhold, as his Tabret, Lute, ande Rebeke, upon New Yerefday in the mornynge "when they do play at my lordis Chamber Dour "for his Lordfchip and my Lady, xx. s. Viz. xiij. s. iiij. d. for my Lord; and vj. s. viij. d. for my Lady, if fche 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, ij. s. And for playinge at the chamber Doures of my lords "Yonger Sonnes, my yonge mafters, after viij. d. the pece for every of them. -xxiij, s, iiij. d.” Sect. XLIV, 2. "Rewardes to be geven to ftrangers, as Players, Mynftralls, or any other, &c. " 66 "Furft, my lorde ufith and accuftomyth to gif to the KINGS JUGLER;.... when they cuftome to come "unto hym yerely,-vj. s. viij. d. Item, my lorde ufith and accuftomyth to gyf yerely "to the kings or queenes Bearwarde, if they have "one, when they custom to com unto hym yerly, “ vj. s. viij. d. Item, my lorde ufith and accuftomyth to gyfe "yerly to every Erles MYNSTRELLIS, when they "cuftome to come to hym yerely, iij. s. iiij. d. And if "they come to my lorde feldome, ones in ij or iij yeres, than vj. s. viij. d. Item, my lorde ufith and accustomedeth to gife yerely to an Erls MYNSTRALLS, if he be his fpe"ciall lorde, frende, or kynfman, if they come yerely "to his lordfchip And, if they come to my .. ..... lord' feldome, ones in ij or iij yeres. * .... "Item, my lorde ufith and accuftomyth to gyf yerely a Dookes or Erlis TRUMPETTS, if they come vj together to his lordschipp, viz. if they come yerly, “vj. s. viij. d. And, if they come but in ij or iij yeres, than x. S. “Item, " Item, my lorde ufith and accuftometh to gife yerly, when his lordfchip is at home, to gyf to the Kyngs "SHAWMES, when they com to my lorde yerely, x. s." I cannot conclude this note without obferving that in this Ancient MS, the family MINSTRELS feem to have been Muficians only, and yet both the earls' TRUMPETS and the king's SHAWMES, are evidently distinguished from the earls' MINSTRELS, and the king's JUGLAR; whether this laft continued to be exactly the fame with the Joculator Regis in the Doomesday book, I cannot determine. (D d) "A fpecies of men who did not fing, &c."] It appears from the paffage of Erafmus here referred to, that there ftill existed in England of that species of Jongleurs or MINSTRELS, whom the French called by the peculiar name of Contours, or Reciters in profe: It is in his Ecclefiaftes, where he is fpeaking of fuch Preachers, as imitated the Tone of Beggars or Mountebanks: Apud Anglos eft fimile genus hominum, quales apud Italos funt circulatores [Mountebanks] de quibus modo dictum eft; 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 lingua monofyllabis fere conftat, quemadmodum Germanica; atque illi [fc. this peculiar fpecies of Reciters] ftudio vitant cantum, nobis fc. Erafmus, who did not understand a word of English] latrare videntur verius quam loqui." Opera, Tom. V. c. 958. (Jortin. Vol. 2. p. 193.) As Erafmus was correcting the vice of preachers, it was more to his point to bring an inftance from Moral Reciters of Profe, than from Chanters of Rhyme, though it may be easily fuppofed, that these were far more numerous and common, and would be in general more popular. (Ee) "A |