ces anciens Rimeurs, ainsi pour monstrer qu'il n'y a chose si belle qui ne s'anéantisse
avec le temps."
We see here that, in the time of Pasquier, the poor Minstrel was sunk into low
estimation in France, as he was then or afterwards in England; but by apology for
comparing theJouingleurs, 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 theBibliotheque des Romans, Amst. 1734,
12mo, vol. i. p. 232, to have composed the two romances in verse above mentioned,
and a third, entitledLe Roman de Bertin; all three being preserved a MS. written
about 1270. HisBon Duc Henry, I conceive to have been Henry Duke of Brabant.
(BB2)King of the Minstrels, etc.] 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 ofRoyin 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. 1. Regi Roberto Ministrallo
scutifero ad armo commoranti ad vadia Regis anno 5to [Bibl. Cotton. Vestas. c. 16. f.
3], as likewise [Libro Garderob. 25 E. I.] Ministrallis in die nuptiarun Comitissæ
Holland filio Regis, Regi Pago, Johanni Vidulatori, &c. Morello Regi, &c. Druetto
Monthaut, et Jacketto de Scot. Regibis, cuilibet eorum, xl. s. 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 dici Roy Brunhaud
[Pat. de terr. forisfact. 16 E. III.]." He adds below (p. 304) a similar instance of aRex
Juglotorum, and that the "King of the Minstrels" at length was styled in FranceRoy
des Violons(Furetiere Diction. Univers.), as with us, "King of the Fiddlers;" 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 quant advenuz devaunt ces heures en la terre de Gales
par plusieurs Westours Rymours, Minstralx et autres Vacabondes, ordeignez est et
establiz que nul Westour, Rymour Ministral ne Vacabond soit aucunement sustenuz
en la terre de Gales pus 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 asRymours,
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
Minstralxhad been mere nmsicians, 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 et 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 Welch 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 themselvesMinstrels, Rythmers, and Bards, had lately grown into