Magiciens and tregetours,
And phitonisses, charmeresses,
Olde wiches, sorceresses
That use exorsisaciouns
And eke thes fumygaciouns.”
(Chaucer’s “House of Fame,” l. 169.)
[291] Chambers, “Mediæval Stage,” i. 58, quoting, the “Summa Theologiæ”: “Sicut dictum est, ludus est necessarius ad conservationem vitæ humanæ,” etc. On the distinction between the higher and lower minstrelsy, see ibid. pp. 59 ff.
[292] Lib. i. chap. viii.
[293] “Historical Papers from the Northern Registers,” ed. Raine, Rolls Series, p. 398. Cf. Bodleian MS. 264, fos. 21, 51, 56, 91, etc.