Note 1137 — APPENDIX I. AN ESSAY ON THE ANCIENT MINSTRELS IN ENGLAND. (continued 2)
Reading edition
The fondness of the English (even the most illiterate) to hear tales and rimes, is much dwelt on by Rob. de Brunne, in 1330 (Warton, i. p. 59, 65, 75). All rimes were then sung to the harp: even Troilus and Cresseide, though almost as long as the Æneid, was to be "redde ... or else songe." l. ult. (Warton, i. 388).