"We can all be minstrels to-night," said the chief cook.

From an almost contemporary period he has been the subject of song; and he who was chanted by wandering minstrels in the 12th century has survived to be hymned in revolutionary odes of the 19th.

Their most characteristic literature is to be found, not in their writings, but in the folk-tales which are trans mitted orally from generation to generation, and repeated by the wandering minstrels called by the people Peng-lipor Lara, i.

Englishmen must not speak the Irish tongue, nor receive Irish minstrels into their dwellings, nor even ride in the Irish fashion; while to give or sell horses or armour to the Irish was made a treasonable offence.

Their favourite pursuits were fighting, either against a common enemy or among themselves, hunting, hawking and listening to the minstrels who celebrated their exploits.