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ON ENGLISH MINSTRELSY,
SONGS AND BALLADS.
CHAPTER I.
Minstrelsy from the Saxon Period to the Reign of Edward I.
Music and Poetry are, in every country, so closely connected, during the
infancy of their cultivation, that it is scarcely possible to speak of the one without
the other. The industry and learning that have been devoted to the subject of
English Minstrelsy, and more especially in relation to its Poetry, by Percy,
Warton, and Ritson, have left an almost exhausted field to their successors.
But, while endeavouring to combine in a compressed form the various curious
and interesting notices that have been collected by their researches, or which
the labours of more recent writers have placed within my reach, I hope I may
not prove altogether unsuccessful in my endeavour to throw a few additional rays
of light upon the subject, when contemplated, chiefly, in a musical point of view.
" The Minstrels," says Percy, " were the successors of the ancient Bards, who
under dilFerent names were admired and revered, from the earliest ages, among
the people of Gaul, Britain, Ireland, and the North ; and indeed by almost all
the first inhabitants of Europe, whether of Celtic or Gothic race ; but by none
more than by our own Teutonic ancestors, particularly by all the Danish tribes.
Among these, they were distinguished by the name of Scalds, a word which
denotes ' smoothers and polishers of language.' The origin of their art was
attributed to Odin or Wodin, the father of their Gods ; and the professors of it
were held in the highest estimation. Their skill was considered as something
divine ; their persons were deemed sacred ; their attendance was solicited by kings ;
and they were everywhere loaded with honours and rewards As these
honours were paid to Poetry and Song, from the earliest times, in those countries
which our Anglo-Saxon ancestors inhabited before their removal into Britain, we
may reasonably conclude that they would not lay aside all their regard for men
of this sort, immediately on quitting their German forests. At least, so long as
they retained their ancient manners and opinions, they would still hold them in
high estimation. But as the Saxons, soon after their establishment in this
island, were converted to Christianity, in proportion as literature prevailed among
them, this rude admiration would begin to abate, and poetry would no longer be a
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