286 
It is interesting to observe, that in nearly all the instances 
recorded of eminent minstrels, they were of the “north countree.” 
The Border land was then one constant scene of warfare, and the 
minstrel played well his part in fanning the martial flame. Far 
removed from the culture and refinement of the court, the minstrel, 
like many a time-honoured custom, found in the north a fitting 
home, when elsewhere he was neglected and despised. These few 
examples will be enough.to shew that music was largely cultivated 
and highly esteemed in England. The other nations of Europe 
were not behind our own in this respect, and especially the 
Flemings, from whom Italy received its first great musical impulse. 
A French proverb of the time briefly describes the vocal 
peculiarities of the leading nations :— 
The French pipe, or sing (cantant. ) 
The English carol (judzlant. ) 
The Spaniards wail (Alangunt. ) 
The Germans howl («/ulant. ) 
The Italians quaver, as a goat (caprizant. ) 
As might be expected, very little of the actual notation of our 
early English music has come down to us, except the Gregorian. 
Printing was not invented till 1449, and its influence was not felt 
to any great extent till after the Wars of the Roses. The earliest 
part-song extant owes its preservation to the fact of its having been 
adapted to the words of a Latin hymn. It is a Canon for four 
equal voices, composed about the year 1250, and is entitled :— 
«« Summer is a comynge on, 
Loud sing cuckoo.” 
The theme is a very appropriate one after our long winter; and it 
will, I am sure, be a relief and pleasure to us all, if our minstrels 
will now give us a musical rendering of it. 
We have now arrived at the Tudor Period, when our modern 
history begins. The cruel wars were over; the influence of 
printing was beginning to be felt; and a new world was opened 
out for English commerce and enterprize. Under these favourable 
Ae a nce et 
SS 
