INTRODUCTION.

THE way was long, the wind was cold,
The Minstrel was infirm and old;
His withered cheek, and tresses gray,
Seemed to have known a better day;
The harp, his sole remaining joy,
Was carried by an orphan-boy.
The last of all the bards was he,
Who sung of Border chivalry ;

Class Notes.

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INTRODUCTION.

1. Way. A.S., weg, a way (wegan, to move).
2. Infirm. L., in, not, firmus, strong.
3. Withered. A.S., wydern, dryness.

Tresses (F., Tresse; G., Tricha, threefold, because a braid is formed by plaiting three or more threads). Well-tended hair, curls, ringlets.

Gray. A.S., graeg, gray; akin to G.,graus, an old

woman.

4. Seemed to have known a better day. Perhaps by the evidence of careful tending that the tresses exhibited. Straggling hair would be called locks.

5. Sole (L., solus, alone)=only.

remaining.

Adv. modifying

Remaining. L., re, again, maneo, I remain.
Joy. F., joie; L., gaudeo, I rejoice.

6. Carried. F., charrier, to convey in a cart; L., carrus, a cart.

Orphan. G., orphanos, deprived of.

7. Bards (Wel., barda, a poet). A name given by the

ancient Celts to a class of Druids who devoted themselves to the composition of poems celebrating the brave deeds of their famous men, and who sang them to the music of the harp. By reason of the popularity both of the composers and of the composition, the word bard has come to signify a poet.

8. Border (A.S., bord, the edge).

Chivalry (F., cheval; Low L., caballus, a horse). The system of knighthood: deeds of heroic adventure. It here means adventures on horseback.

Border Chivalry. The contests waged between the dwellers on the borderland of England and Scotland.

For, well-a-day! their date was fled,
His tuneful brethren all were dead;
And he, neglected and oppressed,
Wished to be with them, and at rest.
No more, on prancing palfrey borne,
He carolled, light as lark at morn;
No longer courted and caressed,
High placed in hall, a welcome guest,
He poured to lord and lady gay

The unpremeditated lay:

Old times were changed, old manners gone,
A stranger filled the Stuarts' throne;

Class Notes.

ΙΟ

15

20

9. Well-a-day. A corruption of welaway. A.S., wà, woe, là, alas, wà, woe.

Date (L., datus, given). The period in which they flourished.

10. Tuneful (G., tonos, a tone).

Brethren. This is a double plural. The old plural of brother was brether, the suffix en was added later. Tuneful brethren his fellow bards. 11. Neglected. L., negligo, I neglect.

Oppressed. L., opprimo, I oppress. 13. Prancing. Dut., pronken, to display.

Palfrey (F., palefroi; Low L., palafredus) an ordinary riding horse as distinguished from a war horse.

14. Carolled (F., carole; L., chorus, a song with dancing). He sang in joy, celebrated in song. Lark. A.S., laferc, a lark; Ge., laren, to sing. 15. Courted (F., Cour, a court; L., cohors, an enclosed space). Made much of.

Caressed. F., caresser, to caress; L., carus, dear. 16. Hall. F., halle; L., aula, a courtyard.

Guest. A.S., gaest; akin to Sansk., ghas, to eat. 17. Lord. A.S., hlaford, a master; lit., a bread supplier.

Lady. A.S., hlaefdige, a mistress; lit., she who gives out the bread. Hlaef, a loaf, digan, to

serve.

18. Unpremeditated (L., in, not, prae, before, meditor, I think of). Composed and sung at the same time.

19. Changed. F., changer; L., cambire, to barter. Manners. F., manière; L., manus, a hand. 20. Stranger (Old F., estranger; L., extraneus, one who is outside). William of Orange was now reigning, and he, though, strictly speaking, a Stuart, was never recognised as such by the Scotch.

Throne. G., thronos, a seat.

The bigots of the iron time

Had called his harmless art a crime.
A wandering harper, scorned and poor,
He begged his bread from door to door;
And tuned, to please a peasant's ear,

The harp a king had loved to hear.
He passed where Newark's stately tower
Looks out from Yarrow's birchen bower:
The Minstrel gazed with wistful eye—
No humbler resting-place was nigh.

Class Notes.

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