Note E — APPENDIX I. AN ESSAY ON THE ANCIENT MINSTRELS IN ENGLAND.

[Minstrels ... at the houses of the great, &c.] Du Cange affirms, that in the middle ages the courts of princes swarmed so much with this kind of men, and such large sums were expended in maintaining and rewarding them, that they often drained the royal treasures: especially, he adds, of such as were delighted with their flatteries (præsertim qui ejusmodi ministellorum assentationibus delectabantur). He then confirms his assertion by several passages out of monastic writers, who sharply inveigh against this extravagance. Of these I shall here select only one or two, which show what kind of rewards were bestowed on these old songsters.