The conclusion of Orfeo and Herodiis, in the Auchinlech MS, seems to prove that the lay was set to music:
That lay Orfeo is yhote,
Gode is the lay, swete is the note.
In Sir Tristrem also, the Irish harper is expressly said to sing to the harp a merry lay.
It is not to be supposed, what we now call metrical romances were always read. On the contrary, several of them bear internal evidence that they were occasionally chaunted to the harp. The Creseide of Chaucer, a long performance, is written expressly to be read, or else sung. It is evident that the minstrels could derive no advantage from these compositions, unless by reciting or singing them; and later poems have been said to be composed to their tunes.—Notes to Sir Tristrem.
NOTE II.
Baron De Brehan seem'd to stand.—p. 6. l. 10.
Brehan—Maison reconnue pour une des plus anciennes. Vraie race d'ancienne Noblesse de Chevalerie, qui dans les onxieme et douzieme siecles, tenoit rang parmi les anciens Barons, avant la reduction faite en 1451.
NOTE III.
Where does this idle Minstrel stay?—p. 5. l. 13.
It appears that female minstrels were not uncommon, as one is mentioned in the Romance of Richard Coeur de Lion, without any remark on the strangeness of the circumstance.