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the dignity of this noble Science, and for putting thofe Laws into execution, by punishing all abuses and diforders happening by any of your fociety within this Honor; for which end you have a Governor appointed you, by the name of a King, who has feveral officers under him to fee to the execution of the feveral Laws and customs belonging to this ancient community.

ift. Gentlemen, you are to inquire into the behaviour of the feveral Minstrels, within this Honor, fince the last Court.

2d. Whether any of them have abused or difparaged their honourable profeffion by drunkenness, profane curfing and swearing, finging lewd and obfcene Songs, playing to any company or meetings on the Lord's day, or by any other vice or immorality, or by intruding into any company unfent for, or by playing for any mean or difgraceful reward?

3d. Whether any of the Minstrels within this Honor, that should be the known mafters of concord and harmony, have been themselves guilty of any brawls, quarrels, or disorders?

4th. Whether the Minstrels within this Honor have been decent in their apparel, and skilful in their art, and respectful to their fupreme, the King of the Minstrelfy? Whether their last year's officers of the Minstrelfy have well performed the duty of their refpective offices?

5th. Whether any Minstrels, that owe Suit and Service to this Court, have appeared and done their Suit? 6th. Whether any Minstrels have exercifed their Art within this Honor, not being allowed and inrolled in this Court? And, if you find any Minstrels within this Honor to have offended in any of these particulars, you are to present them.

And, in the last place, Gentlemen, it must be recommended to you, that you chufe Skilful and Good Men to be Officers of the Minstrelfy for the ensuing year. The King is to be chofen out of the four Stewards for the preceding, and one year out of Staffordshire, and another out of Derbyshire, interchangeably; and the four Stewards, two out of Staffordshire, and two out of Derbyshire, three of them to be chosen by you, and the fourth by the Steward of this Court and the Bailiff to the Earl of Devon "."

The original Charter granted at Tutbury, in Staffordshire, to the King of the Minstrels, by John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, dated the 22d of Auguft, 1380, in the fourth year of the reign of fweet Richard the Second, and intitled, Carta le Roy de Miniftralx, which was written in old French; fee Dugdale's Manafticon Anglicanum, Tom I. p. 355, and Tom II. p. 873, 2d edition; and partly tranflated in Plot's History of Staffordshire, Chapter the Xth, 69, 70, &c. and in Blount's Ancient Tenures, by Beckwith, p. 303, &c. with a farther account of the manner of electing the King of the Minstrels, and his Officers. Likewife, in all probability, there must be more information on this fubject to be found among the ancient records in the Dutchy Court of Lancaster, London; and in the poffeffion of the prefent Duke of Devonshire, lord of Tutbury. I must not omit to mention a remarkable anecdote of the origin of the Minstrel Jurifdi&tion, in Cheshire, which happened about the year 1214; and perhaps, the earliest inftance of the kind among the English. Ranulph Bowen Blaendaval', or Blundeville, the fixth earl of Chester, who is faid to have atchieved feveral military enterprises against Llewelyn ab Iorwerth, Prince of Wales; but one time meeting with the faid Prince, and being fenfible of his inability to withstand him, he was obliged to retire for refuge into the castle of Rhuddlan, in Flintshire, wherein Llewelyn befieged him: in confequence of this, he fent expreffes with the utmost privacy to his General, Roger Lacy, conftable of Chester, and earnestly defiring his immediate relief. Thefe expreffes found Lacy at Chefter, during the anniversary of the Midfummer Fair; and, as the occafion was critically urgent, from the imminent peril of the earl's life, the General immediately marched with a tumultuous croud of Players, Musicians, and all the perfons he could poffibly affemble; of whom great numbers had been tempted to Chester, by the celebration of this feftal anniversary. Llewelyn,

The steward who prefided at the court of the Minstrels at Tutbury, in Mr. Blount's time, was the Duke of Ormond, and Mr. Edward Foden his deputy. The earl of Devon was then Prior. 'he districts of the Honor of Tutbury, under the King of the Minfrels, anciently comprehended the counties of Stafford, Derby, Nottingham, Leicester, and Warwick; and all the Musicians within thole counties paid their fuit and fervice to the King of the Minstrels. Blount's Ancient Tenures of Land, by Beckwith, pp. 309, 311, &c. ed. 1784.—

In the reign of Edward the Fourth, a ferjeant of the king's Minstrels occurs; and in a manner, which fhews the confidential

character of that officer, and his facility of accefs to the King at all hours, and on all occafions. Warton's Hift. of English Poetry, Vol. II. pp. 105, 134, &c.

The Chefbire Minstrel meeting was difcontinued in 1758; and Tutbury in the year 1778. Shakespear flourished about the year 1610; Playford about 1670; Dr. Derham, and Boyle about 1680; who are all mentioned in the above Charge to the Minstrels: therefore, it must have been delivered fome time afterwards.

This Ranulph took the name of Blaendaval from being born in Powis, at Album Monafterium, near the town of Ofwefry.

alarmed

.

alarmed at the approach of this vaft multitude, raised the fiege with the utmost precipitation; and, after earl Ranulph's return in triumph, the effufions of his gratitude formed his first acts of fovereignty, by rewarding Lacy with an exclufive prerogative over thofe particular trades and myfteries, which had been exercised by these fortunate and fignal inftruments of his royal prefervation. The conftable's fon, John Lacy, reserved his exclufive privilege over fome of thofe mechanic occupations, but granted the Minstrel prerogative to Hugh Dutton, of Dutton, and his heirs; the son of that Ralph Dutton who is supposed to have particularly marched at the head of the band of Minstrels. Thus configning the rule and jurisdiction over this Mufical profeffion to that family, whofe ancestor had so valiantly commanded them, in the capaeity of a body of victorious foldiers.

It may be neceffary to add one thing more on the fubject, which I ought to have mentioned before. The Welsh term for the Harp is TELYN', which is not only of very high antiquity, but its etymology indicates, that it was applied to the first ftringed instrument, for, it means a thing stretched, or on the firetch; a name which could not, with any propriety, be applied to any one particular inftrument, if there were a variety of them when it was fo applied. The root of TELYN is Tél, i. e. what is straight, even, or drawn tight; whence alfo ANNEL, a ftretch, a tenfion, a prop, a springe; and ANNELU, to stretch, to bend a bow, to take aim. Hence it is very evident, that the name TELYN is coeval with the knowledge of a ftringed inftrument amongst the CYMBRI; and it followed, as a matter of course, that all the varieties. invented in after-times must have fome other appropriate appellation 4. The antiquity of the word TELYN is fingularly corroborated by the circumftance of the coaft of France, where Toulon is fituated, being anciently called the promontory of Cithariftes, and the town itfelf Telo Martius".

The Anglo-Saxon name for Telyn is Deanp, or happ, which is used through both the Teutonic and Roman dialects; and, I believe, the earliest mention of it under that name is by Venantius, about the year 600. In a manufcript of about the feventh century, in the monaftery of St. Blafius, quoted by Gerbertus, the prince Abbot of that monaftery 9, there is a reprefentation of a Harp, intitled, Cithara Anglica, which is precifely the fame fhape as the prefent Harps, only more fimple, and with a fewer number of ftrings. We find Harps fculptured, both in ftone and in wood, on feveral of the most ancient Cathedrals in England and Wales 10; and drawn in old miffals and illuminated manufcripts.

The manfion and lordfhip of Dutton, in Cheshire, are now the property of Mrs. Bullock, wife of John Bullock, efq. of Falkborne-hall, and reprefentative of the borough of Maldon, in Effex.

* See more on the subject in Lhoyd's Hiftory of Wales, by David Powel, edition of 1584, pages 296, 270. Sir Peter Leicester's Antiquities of Chefhire, Part II. Chap. VI. p. 141, &c.; and particularly in King's Vale Royal of England illuftrated, Part II. p. 29-Doomsday Book, Gloucefterfire, Berdic, Foculator Regis, habet iii villas et ibi V. car. nil redd. See Anftis, Ord. Gart. ii. 304. Jofeph Keebles Statutes at large, 39 Elizabeth, Chap. IV. 2. 10. Stat. 43 Eliz Cap. IX.-Stat. 4 Henry IV. Cap. XXVII. -Stat. 1 Jac. I. Cap. XXV. 20.-Walter Heming's Chronicle, Chap. XXXV. p. 591.-Hawkins's Hiftory of Mufic, Vol. II. pp. 48, 54, 61, 64, 106, 290, 296, &c. Vol. III. p. 479, &c. Vol. IV. pp. 26, 277, &c.--Burney's Hift. of Mufic, Vol. II. pp. 268, 367, &c.-Stow's Survey of London continued by Strype.--The Account of Queen Elizabeth's Entertainment at Killingworth Cafle, Warwickshire, &c.—And Warton's Hift. of English Poetry, Vol. II. p. 10:.

3 Telyn is mentioned by Taliefin about 540; fee p. 100.-Alfo, in King Howel's Laws, as early as the year 914, and probably much earlier, (becaule thofe laws were only collected, and part written at that period, by Blegabred;) which ftatutes were fince published under the title of Leges Wallicæ; pp. 70, 162, 266, 267, and 415, of that book; and pp. 94, 97, of this work.

Likewise, there is a township in Montgomery fhire, called Tre'r Delyn; and another place near Llancarmon, in Glamorganfhire, called Cae'r Delyn, or Llan Caer Delyn.-

Two Englynion to folicit a Harp-key:

Fforch gogurn cildwrn coel-dant, chwip dyllwir
Chwap dwyllwr y mwyndant;

Rheolwr tendiwr tyndant,

Cú arv têg cywirva tant.

Cupplysfforch aurdorch irdeg, cu rowndorch

Cywreindeb bleth landeg;

Cain irdorch canu aurdeg,

Cywreinforch yn deirfforch deg

4 I am indebted to Mr. William Owen for his affiftance in the above etymology; whom alfo on other occafions I have often confulted in obfcure paffages, owing to his fingular knowledge in the Ancient British language; and when his Geiriadur Cynmraeg a Saefoneg, or Welsh and English Dictionary, is completed, it will throw much light on Welsh literature; which work is now publifhing by Williams, N° 11, in the Strand.

5 Fliny.Gough's Camden, Vol. I. p. 15, of the account of the firft inhabitants of Britain.

6 Antoninus.--Camden fays, if you ask our Britons what they call a Harp, they prefently will anfwer you Telyn. And if you could raife an ancient Phanician, and ask him, what are fongs played on the Harp? and he would answer you Telin.Sammes's British History, p. 67.

7 Johnson's Dictionary.

8 Venantius Fortunatus, Lib. 7, Carm. 8.-Alfo, fee pp. 99, and 94, of this work.

9 Gerbertus, De Mufica Sacra, Tom. II. in Calcem.

10 There is a Harp carved on the entrance into the Chapterhoufe of Westminster-Abbey; another in the groin of the roof, over one of the North doors of the Abbey; and another in the East cloifter, over the door of the record-office, of the Abbey.-Ano ther on one of the capitals of the columns in the French church at Canterbury, fuppofed to be of about the year 900; Antiquarian Repertory, Vol. I. p. 57. There are two Harps carved on the outside of a door of the South ifle of the nave of Ely cathedral, and on the under-part of the feats of the choir of that cathedral; which latter was erected in the year 1328. And, on the front of Litchfield cathedral, there is a ftatue of King David playing on the Harp. Alfo, there are all forts of ancient mufical inftruments faithfully delineated in Carter's Specimens of Ancient Sculpture and Painting, Numbers 12, 13, 25, &c.-On the Staffordshire Clogg, or Ancient perpetual Almanack, there are hieroglyphics to exprefs the feftival days; from the first of March a Harp is the fymbol, fhewing the feast of St. David, who used to praife God on that inftrument. Plot's Hift. of Staffordshire, Chap. X. pp. 420, 429, &c.

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The Cruth is the fecond in rank of the Welsh mufical inftruments: its antiquity is fuch among the ancient Britons, that there is every reason to believe it to be the prototype of the Violin, and all the fidicinal inftruments'. The Cruth is fo called from its protuberant or bellying form, whence it is also a term for å box, or trunk; as Crwth halen, a salt-box. The found of the Crwth is very melodious, and was frequently used as a tenor accompaniment to the Harp; but is now become extremely rare in Wales.

After all the moft diligent investigation into Greek, Roman, and other, antiquities, the only thing that ever I met with; which had any fimilitude of form with our Harp, (the Hebrew excepted, which I have already mentioned,) was in a folio book intitled, Ser Turchifche Schau-plak, &c. (or a Series of Prints, faid to have been drawn from natural Turkish figures,) engraved by Melchior Lorick de Flensbourg, printed at Hamburg, A. D. 1685, and plate 86, where there is a Harffenfpielerin, or female Harpist deline ated, playing on a kind of Harp; the body of which inftrument is exactly the shape of an Indian canoe fet up an-end, and continued by a bar, nearly in a horizontal pofition on one fide of the bottom of it; which both together form an angle, (fomewhat of the figure of a fhort-footed fcythe with its blade upwards,) and filled with ftrings which are fcrewed in the bottom bar. The upright body, or boat-like curve of this inftrument, muft have been made of very pliant wood, and perhaps the only poffible way it could have been formed to fuftain the great tention of the ftrings without a pillar. The figure of this Harp appears fo extremely fimple, that one is rather led to believe there was fuch an instrument, and not altogether fancy. Likewife, I have feen an illuminated East-India drawing, where there was an Angel, or a Cupid, playing on a fimilar kind of Harp, formed fomewhat of the thape of a lizard. Notwithstanding the poffible exiftence of this intrument, after all the diligent enquiries which I have been able to make refpecting it, I am informed, from good authority, by Gentlemen who have travelled over those countries, that no fuch an inftrument is now used either in Turkey, Perfia, nor India; therefore, fince it is not to be found in thole regions at prefent, it ftill remains a doubt, whether it ever exifted; and originated only from the imaginations of the draughtsmen.

The Coromantee negroes of the gold coaft, in Africa, play upon a musical instrument called the Bentwo, which is fomething in the form of an archer's bow, and made of a piece of hoop of about three-quarters of a yard long, and ftrung with two ftrings. Refpecting the Theban Harp, which was communicated by Mr. Bruce to Dr. Burney, and laid to have been drawn from an ancient painting in one of the fepulchral grottos of the firft kings of Thebes: On this inftrument Dr. Burney makes the following obfervations: "The number of ftrings, the fize and form, and the elegance of its ornaments, awaken reflections, which, to indulge, would lead us too far from our purpose, and indeed out of our depth. The mind is wholly loft in the immenfe antiquity of the painting in which it is reprefented. Indeed the time when it was executed is fo remote as to encourage a belief, that arts, after having been brought to great perfection, were again loft, and again invented, long after this period." If one may offer a conjecture, after to judicious a critic as Dr. Burney, we have great reafon to doubt the authenticity of the Theban Harp. In the firit place, its antiquity, ornaments, and elegance, are fufpected; and particularly the want of a pillar to fupport the comb of it, which could not eafily be contrived to withstand the tenfion of the ftrings, even if it was made of mettle, and with that lightness with which it is defcribed. In the next place, it is delineated as if it was made to ftand without fupport in an equilibrium manner, which certainly is a very recent invention, even fo late as when the pedals were added to the Harp; that is, about 37 years ago.

Query, Whether the Theban Harp originated in a phantafm? or elie the drawing muit have been greatly exaggerated, from the fimplicity of the original painting. At the fame time it is a doubt whether painting was known at the early period which Mr. Bruce defcribes; or, granting it was, is it poffible that it should be preferved fo long as to exift at this day? After all, in all probability, the firft idea of the Theban Harp must have been taken (though confiderably altered) from the print, or from an imaginary India drawing, which I have juft mentioned in the beginning of this note.

Romanufque Lyra, plaudat tibi, Barbarus Harpå,
Græcus Achilliacá, Crota Britannà canat.

Venantius Fortunatus, Lib. VII. Carm. 8. "Pôb pencerdd o'r a eftynno Arglwydd fwydd iddo, yr Arglwydd ddyly geifar iddo Offer, nid amgen, Telyu i ún, Cruth i un arall,

Pibau ir trydydd: ac wyntau pan vont meira a ddylyant eu gadaw

i'w Harglwydd." Leges Wallicæ, pp. 69 and 70.

"Every chief Bard, to whom the prince fhall grant an office, the prince fhall provide him an inftrument; a Harp to one, a Crwth to another, and Pipes to the third; and, when they die, the inftruments ought to revert to the prince."

66

Wythved yw y Bardd Teulu: Telyn a gaiff gan y Brenin, a modrwy aur gan y Vrenines pan rodder ei fwydd iddo, y Delyn ni ad byth i gantho, nac ar werth nac yn rhâd, tra vo byw." Leges Wallicæ, PP. 35. 37.

"The eighth officer of the houfehold is the Family Bard, who fhould have his Harp from the king, and a gold ring from the queen, when initiated into his office; the Harp he is not to part with, neither by fale or gift, as long as he lives." And, fee the preceding page 94

"Tri gwyftyl ni ddygwydd yn benvåddeu: Telyn, a Phaeol, a Phlu. Os rhoddai dynoi vodd un o'r tri hyny i vod yn benvaddeu, eve a ddygwydd val gwylyl arall, canys eve ei hun a lygrwys ei vraint, pan y gwyflodd." Leges Wallicæ, p. 355.

I.e." The three pledges that fhall not be parted with; a Harp, a Bowl, and Feathers. If a man fhall, wilfully give either of these three to be conditional, it fhall go like another pledge, but without redemption; for, it is he himself that has difgraced his privilege in pledging them." Giraldus Cambrenfis's Topography of Ireland, Chap. XI. and Hawkins's Hift. of Mufic, Vol. III. p. 273.

There is a batfo-relievo, of an angel playing on the Crwth, carved on the under part of the feats of the choir of Worcester cathedral, which was built by King Edgar in the year 957. See Carter's Specimen of Ancient Sculpture and Painting, No. 13. Allo, I am informed there is the figure of the Crwth among the outfide ornaments of the abbey of Melrofs, in Scotland, which was built in the time of Edward the Second.

The Cruth, Crowd, or Crota, was invented by the Britons, (for, by fome of the poets it is called Crota Britanna,) which is commonly termed violin. Croth, or Crith, by the Britons, fignifies the calf of the leg, the womb, or belly; as alfo by the Syri ans (Crath,) and by the Grecians Kewood, fignifies the womb, or a water-veffel. Baxter's Gloffarium Antiquitatum Britannicarum, p. 92. And Richards's Welsh Dictionary. 3 In praife of the Cruth:

"Aur-lais gwin dyvais gan-dant, ar wiw grŵth
"Gwir-iaith pencerdd moliant;
"Gavael-grwth chwimmwth ei chwant,

"Cry' athrylith Croth Rolant." Margaret Davies, o'r Coedcae-du. Alfo, Rhys Grythor, who flourished about 1580, was esteemed a good performer on this inftrument. And John Morgan, of Newburgh, in Anglesey, who lived about the beginning of this century, was one of the last good performers on the Crwth. See likewife pp. 38, 49, &c.

The Groth is corrupted to Crowd in English; and a player upon it was called a Crowther, or Crowder, and fo alfo is a common fiddler to this day; and hence, undoubtedly, is derived the common furname of Crowther, or Crowder. Butler, with his ufual humour, has characterized a common fiddler, and given him the name of Crowdero, in the following paffage: "I'th' head of all this warlike rabble, "Crowdero march'd, expert and able. "Inftead of trumpet and of drum, "That makes the warrior's flomach come, "Whofe noise whets valour fharp," &c.

Hud. Part I. Canto II. v. 105.

Alfo, Dr. Johnson, in his Dictionary, derives the fiddle from the Crith.

"Hark, how the Minstrels 'gin to shrill aloud
"Their merry mufic that resounds from far;
"The Pipe, the Tabor, and the trembling Creud,
"That well agree withouten breach or jar."

Spenfer', Epith.

"His Fiddle is your proper purchase, "Won in the fervice of the churches; "And by your doom must be allow'd "To be, or be no moré, a Crowd." Hudibras.

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Dyvaliad Cruth, yn ol Gruffydd Davydd ab Howel:

Prennol teg bra a gwregis,
Pont a brán, punt yw ei brís;
A thalaith ar waith olwyn,
A'r bwa ar draws byr ei drwyn,
Ac o'i ganol mae dolen,
A gwar bwn megis gær hên;
Ac ar ei vreft gywair vrig,
O'r Mafarn vo geir Miwfig.
Chwe yspigod o's codwn,
A dynna boll dannau bwn;
Chwe' thant a gaed o vantais,
Ac yn y llaw yn gan llais;
Tant i bôb býs yfbys oedd,

A dau-dant i'r vawd ydoedd..

A delineation of the Cruth, by Gruffydd, ab Davydd ab Howel: (The original, oppofite, is very defcriptive, and feems to be a production of the 15th century.)

A fair coffer with a bow, a girdle,

a finger-board, and a bridge; its value is a pound;
it has a frontlet formed like a wheel,
with the fhort-nofed bow across;

and from its centre it winds in a ring,

and the bulging of its back is fomewhat like an old man; and on its breaft harmony reigns,

from the fycamore mufic will be obtained.

Six pegs, if we screw them,

will tighten all its chords;

fix ftrings advantageously are found,

which in the hand produce a hundred founds;

a ftring for every finger is diftinctly seen,
and alfo two ftrings for the thumb.

The length of the Crwth is 20 inches, its breadth at bottom 9; towards the top it tapers to 8 inches. Its thickness is I, and the finger-board measures 10 inches in length. This inftrument is much more extenfive in its compass than the violin, and capable of great perfection, therefore deserves to be confidered. It has fix ftrings, viz.

1. Y crás-dant,

2. a'i vyrdon.

3. Byrdon y llorv-dant,

4. Y llorv-dant.

5. r Cywair-dant,

6. a'i vyrdon.

}

1. The acute ftring,

2. and its burden.

3. The accompaniment of the low string,

4. The low firing.

5. The key note,

6. and its base.

The ftrings of the Crth explained, and the usual method of tuning them':

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The two lower ftrings of the Cruth are often struck with the thumb of the left hand, and ferve as a bass accompaniment to the notes founded with the bow; fomething in the manner of the Bariton. The bridge of this inftrument differs from that of a Violin, in being less of a convex at the top, a circumstance from which it is to be inferred that two or three ftrings are to be founded at the fame time, fo as to afford a fucceffion of concords. The bridge is not placed at right angles with the fides of the Crwth, but in an oblique direction; and, which is farther to be remarked, one of the feet of the bridge ferves alfo for a found-poft; it goes through one of the found-holes, which are circular, and refts on the infide of the back; the other foot, which is proportionably fhorter, refts on the belly before the other found hole; which the reader will ob ferve, on cafting his eye on the delineation of it in the trophy, at bottom of page 89.

According to a tranfcript from an old Welsh manufcript in [ Sir John Sebright's library, which mentions a clue that might lead one to find out the ancient notes of the Crwth; it tells me, "that one finger of the Crowder keeps 3 keys, viz. Ifgowair, Craf-gowair, and Lleddv-gowair; and that his indicial finger keeps the Go-gowair and Bragod-gowair." This hint might help a zealous investigator of antiquity to unravel the mystery; but unfortunately I have been deprived of my Crath by a fire, as well as other irreparable lofs of manufcripts, &c.

a

The following manner of tuning the Crwth was copied from manufcript of the late Mr. Lewis Morris:

"Y modd i gyweirio Crth:

yn

vurdin

"Yn gyntav codwch y Crafdant (1) cyvuwch ag y gellir heb ei dorri; yno codwch y Cyweirdant (5) bump not yn is; a chodwch y 6 wyth not yn is na'r Cyweirdant; ac yno gellir ei alw neu 'n vás iddo: cyweiriwch yr ail dant (2d) wyth not yn is na'r cyntav, ac ve vydd ynteu yn vyrdón i'r cyntav; a chyaweiriwch y trydydd tant (3), bump not yn is na'r cyweirdant; yno codwch y llorvdant (4) wyth not yn uwch, ac velly ve vydd y 3a yn vyrdón i'r 4, ar Cruth yn ei gywair naturiol."

There

There was likwife the Crwth Trithant, or Three-ftringed Cruth, which was a fort of Violin, or more properly, a Rebeck; fee the mufical trophy: the performers, or Minstrels of this inftrument were not held in the fame eftimation and respect as the Bards of the Harp and Cruth; because the three-ftringed Crath did not admit of equal skill and harmony, and confequently its power was lefs fenfibly felt: fee more in the preceding pages 33 and 85.

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The Pib-gorn', or Hornpipe, is fo called, because both extremities are made of horn. In blowing, the wind paffes through it, and founds the tongue of a reed concealed within. It has feven holes, befides the aperture, and measures about 19 inches in length. Its tone is a medium between the flute and the clarinet, and is remarkable for its melody. This inftrument of peace, or rural Pipe, is now peculiar to the Isle of Anglesey, where it is played by the fhepherds, and tends greatly to enhance the innocent delight of paftoral life. A fpecies of a country dance termed Hornpipe, originally derived its name from horn-pipe, and in being commonly danced to this inftrument. Also, there is a fort of Pipe used in fome parts of South Wales called Cornicyll, (from Cornig, a diminutive of Corn,) which has a concealed reed on the fame principle as the above, and the mouth-piece fcrews off in order to introduce it; in other refpects, this inftrument is made like a common clarinet.

The Pibau, or Bagpipes, I have omitted to enumerate at the beginning of this differtation, which evidently appears to have been a common inftrument amongst the old Britons at a very early period, and is recorded in King Howel's Laws about the year 9422: and Morvydd's pipes are mentioned as early as the feventh century; fee the preceding page 26. Likewise, according to Giraldus Cambrenfis 3, in the year 1187, it appears, that neither the Irish, nor their defcendants the Scots, had the Pipes at that period. A praisepoem on the warrior, Sir Howel y Vwyall, written by the Bard, Iolo Gôch, about the year 1400, contains the following couplet:

"A cherdd Chwibanogl a Chód, "Gwawr boenus, a gær hynod."

With the mufic of the Bag-pipes,

enlivened by the presence of a noted Hero.

P. 98.

Afterwards, it feems that the Irish had the pipes, which they used as an incentive to valour; see The Bagpipe was formerly a paftoral instrument in England; and Shakespear, who is faithful to national customs, mentions the drone of a Lincolnshire Bag-pipe': alfo, Spenfer, and others, mention it. But, in the

The Pib-gorn, or Hornpipe, was formerly a common inftru-, ment in Cornwall, as well as in Wales, which is evident by the following paffage from Chaucer:

"Controue he would, and foule faile "With Hornpipes of Cornwaile.

"In Flutes made he difcordance,

"And in his mufick with mischance "He would feine," &c.

Rommunt of the Rofe, fo. 135, ed. 1561. "Merry Michael, the Cornifh poet, piped thus upon his oaten pipe for merry England." Camden.

The mufical inftruments ufed by fhepherds were at first made of oat and wheat flaiks; then or reeds, and of the elder-tree; afterwards of the leg-bones of cranes, and horns and bones of animals; and, of late years, pipes and flutes are excavated of the box-tree, plumb-tree, cherry-tree, &c.

There is a fort of flute called the English flute, Fistula dulcis, feu Anglica, or the beaked flute. Merfennus fays, that fome of these flutes were a prefent from England to one of the kings of France, therefore were alfo called Fiftulas regias, or royal flutes. The Recorder feems to have been the fame as the Flageolet, Fife, or Helvetian Flute with feven holes, including the blowing aperture; likewife, there is a pipe with only three holes, which is the affociate of the Tabor. Merfennus mentions John Price, who was a famous performer on these inftruments.

Pan was efteemed, by the ancient Greeks, to be the God of fhepherds, and to prefide over rural affairs. He is faid to make fine melody with reeds, and to fing as fweet as a nightingale; he is faid to wear the fpotted fkin of a lynx. Pan's Syringa was

compofed of feven reeds, unequal in length, and of different tones, joined together with wax. Theocritus indeed mentions a pipe confifting of nine reeds, but feven was the ufual number.

Nec te pæniteat calamo triviffe labellum." Virgil, Ecl. II. 31. 36. Pindar Pyth. Ode XII-Lucret. Lib. V.-And fee the preceding page 97, which appears evident that the Romans derived their mufical inftruments from the Greeks, and the Greeks had theirs again from the Hebrews.

2

Leges Wallica, p. 70; and the preceding page 85 of this book; and note 1 in p. 114.

I

3 Giraldus's Topography of Ireland, chap. XI.-And pages
35 and 95 of this work. In the most ancient account of this
inftrument among the Welsh, it is called Pibau, (Fistulas,) or
Pipes:-Leges Wallica, p. 70. Therefore, we have reason to
believe that the Britons blew it with the mouth, instead of the
bellows, like the Irish pipes; (See Staniburfti Dublinienfis de rebus
Hibernia Geftis, p. 38, &c.) nor did they use the drone as the
Scots do, until a later period. A poet of the fifteenth century,'
in an Englyn on a piper, defcribes it thus:
"Garw-lais o clywais nid clod, i Bibydd,
"Ar babi brat gofod,

" Gerwin ynglev, gryn anglod
"Grydd gam yn gweiddi o'i Gôd."-

4 See p 95, and the notes in p. 114.

5 The first part of Henry the Fourth; and the Merchant of Venice, Act IV. fc. 1.

Shepherd's Calender.-Fairy Queen, Book VI. Chap. 10, s. 18. And Evans's Old Ballads, V. I. No. 3.ཨཽ

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