[568] See above, p. 162.
[569] Against those practices Langland strongly protests in his "Visions," text C. x. 133; xvi. 200. See following Chapter.
[570] Rymer, "Fœdera," April 24, 1469. The classic instrument of the minstrel was the vielle or viol, a sort of violin, which only true artists knew how to use well (one is reproduced in "English Wayfaring Life," p. 202). Therefore many minstrels early replaced this difficult instrument by the common tabor, which sufficed to mark the cadence of their chants. Many other musical instruments were known in the Middle Ages; a list of them has been drawn up by H. Lavoix: "La Musique au temps de St. Louis," in G. Raynaud's "Recueil des motets français des XII^e et XIII^e Siècles," vol. ii. p. 321.
[571] "Anatomy of Abuses," ed. Furnivall, London, 1877-79, 8vo, pp. 171, 172.
[572] Chaucer himself expected his poem to be said or sung; he says to his book:
And red wher-so thou be, or elles songe;
That thou be understonde, I God beseche!
(Book v. st. 257.)
I wille yow telle of a knyghte
That bothe was stalworthe and wyghte.
(Isumbras.)