e
obstacles, however opposed by the "durum, pauperies, opprobium," have
not been able to check his independent mind: he holds on his course in
the illustration of the true Norman remains; and to any antiquary who
visits this country, I can promise a great pleasure in the examination
of his port-folio.]

[Footnote 7: Its size at top is fourteen inches and a half, by six
inches and two-thirds.]

[Footnote 8: This difficulty, in the present instance, has yielded to
the extensive researches of Mr. Douce, who has afforded assistance to
me, which, perhaps, no other antiquary could have bestowed. He has
unravelled all the mysteries of minstrelsy with his usual ability; and I
give the information in his own words, only observing that the numbers
begin from the left.--"No. 1 was called the _violl_, corresponding with
our _Viol de Gamba_. As this was a larger violin, though the sculptor
has not duly expressed its comparative bulk, I conceive it was either
used as a tenor or base, being perfectly satisfied, in spite of certain
doubts on the subject, that counterpoint was known in the middle
ages.--No. 2 is the largest instrument of the kind that I have ever
seen, and it seems correctly given, from one part of it resting on the
figure, No. 3, to support it. Twiss mentions one that he saw sculptured
on the cathedral, at Toro, five feet long. The proper name of it is the
_rote_, so called from the internal wheel or cylinder, turned by a
winch, which caused the _bourdon_, whilst the performer stopped the
notes on the strings with his fingers. This instrument has been very
ignorantly termed a _vielle_, and yet continues to be so called in
France. It is the modern Savoyard _hurdy-gurdy_, as we still more
improperly term it; for the hurdy-gurdy is quite a different instrument.
In later times, the _rote_ appears to have lost its rank in concert, and
was called the _beggar's lyre_.--No. 4 is evidently the _syrinx_, or
_Pan's pipe_, which has been revived with so much success in the streets
of London.--Twiss shewed me one forty years ago, that he got in the
south of France, where they were then very common.--No. 5 is an
instrument for which I can find no name, nor can I immediately call to
memory any other representation of it. It has some resemblance to the
old Welsh fiddle or _crowth_; but, as a bow is wanting, it must have
been played with the fingers; and I think the performer's left hand in
the sculpture does seem to be stopping the