Nicholas Weft, Bishop of Ely (1532), "kept continually in his house an hundred fervants, giving to the one half of them 53s. 4d. the piece, yearly; to the other half, each 40s. the piece; to every one for his winter gown, four yards of broadcloth, and for his fummer coat three yards and a half. He daily gave at his gates, befides bread and drink, warm meat to two hundred poor people." "I have seen an account," writes the old chronicler, " made by H. Leicester, cofferer to Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, for one whole year's expenses in the Earl's house, amounting to 7,957. 135. 41d.” Amid all this rude magnificence the claims of charity were not forgotten, either by the laity or the clergy; and Bede tells that it was the custom among the prelates, "having peradventure but wooden churches," to have "notwithstanding on their board at their meals an alms dish, into the which was carved fome good portion of meat and of every other dish brought to their table; all of which was given to the poor, befides the fragments left; infomuch as in a hard time a poor prelate, wanting victuals, hath caused his alms dish, being filver, to be divided among the poor, wherewith to shift as they could till God fhould fend them better ftore." In the famous ballad of the "Blind Beggar of Bednall Green," we learn that All kinds of dainties and delicates sweete Were brought for the banquet as it was most meete; Partridge and plover, and venison most free, Against the brave wedding of pretty Bessie. In the time of Fuller, this profuse hospitality of the Barons had begun to disappear; but lufty yeomen still handed down from father to son reverence for the good things of this life, and due refpect to the demands of hofpitality. "Some hold," fays Fuller, "that when Hofpitality died in England, she gave her laft groan among the yeomen of Kent. And still at our yeomen's tables, you fhall have as many joints as dishes. No meat disguised with strange fauces, no ftraggling joynt of a sheep in the midst of a pasture of graffe, befet with falads on every fide; but more solid, substantial food; no fervitors (more nimble with their hands, than the guests with their teeth) take away meat before ftomachs are taken away. Here you have that which in itself is good made better by the ftore of it, and best by the welcome to it." 135 WANDERING MINSTRELS. ONG ago the lays of the minstrels were the delight of our ancestors. It was by the ftrains of the old bards, that infant genius was nurtured; the stern hearts of steel-clad knights, and heroic barons, grew foft beneath the harper's power and it was by the minstrel that the memory of illustrious actions and noble deeds was kept alive in the hearts of the people, and handed down to later ages. We fee through the haze of years the minstrels aroufing the paffions and awakening the flumbering energies of the people against the Norman and Saxon invader; anon, their harps refound in the regal halls, or cheer the rude banquets where lufty barons and warlike knights regale themselves; then in fofter accents, they recount to listening dames the stories of devoted knights, of gallant deeds of chivalry, and of ladies' fmiles that rewarded the valiant and the brave. In the palace, in the castle, in the rude manfion, amid the mirthful gatherings of the village wakes, among the merry men of Sherwood, and in the caves of outlaws, the minstrel always found a cordial welcome, and of him it has been truly faid Thine was the voice that cheer'd the brave and free, Pope thus apoftrophizes the memory of the old bards : Hail, bards triumphant! born in happier days, Whose honours will increase if ages grow, In England's merry days, the charms of mufic were widely felt; and in the days of Elizabeth, we had " musicians equal to any in Europe for their skill, either in compofing or fetting of tunes, or finging and playing on any kind of inftrument." Still earlier, in the time of the Venerable Bede, it was the custom “ to hand the harp from one person to another in the convivial meetings, and every one who partook of the feftivity played upon it in his turn, finging a fong to the mufic, for merriment fake." Even in this age of monfter concerts, Hullah-ism, Tonic-sol-fa Affociations, and mufic for the million, our focial meetings are not fo merry as were thofe of the old time, when it was Merry in the hall when beards wagged all. The love of mufic, which the minstrels created and sustained, was wide-spread through the country. Richard Edwards, in a fine old fong to the lute, fang Where gripinge grefes the harte would wounde And doleful dumps the mynde oppresse, There musicke with her silver sound, With spede is wont to send redresse: In joy yt maks our mirthe abounde, By musickes pleasant swete delightes: The charms and influence of mufic were well known to Shake speare : If music be the food of love, play on, And the people who thus loved mufic were grateful, hofpitable and kind to the minstrel who brought its influence within their reach. Wordsworth, in his "Excurfion," fays of the palmiest time of the minstrels : In days of yore how fortunately fared The minstrel wandering on from hall to hall, T |