MINSTREL. The English word minstrel re presents the French word minestral, which is itself a diminutive of ministre, and is applied to the class of persons who administered to the amusement of their patrons by their skill in music and poetry. Chaucer uses the word minister in the sense of minstrel in his Dreame (Richardson, sub vote, and Du Cange, Gloss.) The class of minstrels had iu medimval times a social position almost akin to the bards and scalds whose Sagas they sung and whose inspiration they imitated at humble distance. Musical sound has been an accompaniment of reli gious worship in all countries. The expert player on the musical instrument has been associated with the possessor of yet higher faculties (see Wilki• son's Ancient Egyptians, chap. ii. and represen tations of Harpers in the tomb Rameses Thebes ; hliiller s Hist. of Greek Literature, chap. xii.) The pleasant voice and lovely song,' and the art of playing well on an instrument,' were associated with the functions of prophecy (Ezek. xxxiii. 31-33). Various passages of Holy Scripture show that the skilful performance of sacred music formed a large portion of the education of the sons of the prophets ; I Sam. x. 5—' Thou shalt meet a company (xopos) of prophets coming down from the high place, with a psaltery, a tabret, a pipe, and a harp before them [Music AND MUSICAL STRUMENTS; PROPHET], and they shall prophesy.' It is not certain whether the prophets were here distinct from the players on instruments, but most probably they were the same individuals as those of whom we read elsewhere, that they 'should pro phesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cym bals' (1 Chron. xxv. 1) ; that they resembled the sons of Asaph, of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with a harp, according to the order of the king, to give thanks and to praise the Lord' (see also ver. 6, 7). In this passage the performance of sacred song and of choral music in the temple received the exalted designation of pro phecy. Sacred music, `a joyful noise unto the Lord,' and thanksgiving to the Lord upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery' (Ps. lxvi. I ; lxxxvii. 7 ; xcii. 1-3 ; c. t), were characteristics of close communion with God. The effect produced upon the auditors is described (1 Sans. x. 6) as being in that instance very re markable—Saul is assured that when he hears the prophetic minstrelsy, the Spirit of the Lord will come upon him, he shall prophesy with them and be turned into another man.' See ver. Is, and comp. I Sam. xix. 20-24, the account of the pro phets being instructed by Samuel, and the effect of the holy song under the influence of the Spirit of God upon SauPs messengers, and afterwards upon Saul himself. Saul is thus seen to be peculiarly accessible to the highest influences of music, and hence the advice tendered to him by his servants (I Sam. xvi. 16), Seek out a man who is a cunning player on a harp, and it shall come to pass that when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand and thou shalt be well,' The participial form pi:, (from )n, a verb in piel, which is used of striking the strings of a musical instrument) is here trans lated a player,' and in 2 Kings iii. x5, minstrel'
The effect produced on Saul will be discussed elsewhere. The custom of applying such remedy to mental disturbance may be traced in other writings. Thus Quintil. Orat., lib. ix. chap. 4) says, Pythagoreis moils fuit, cum somnum peterent ad lyram prius lenire mentes, ut si quid fuisset turbidiorum cogitationum componerent ' (comp. Plutarch, De Allica, and Aristotle, Pal., lib. viii. chap. 5 ; Apollonius Dyscolos, de Miris, quoted by Grotius in loco, large KarciXaucts atavoias balcrcts. See also Lear, act ii. sc. v., where music is used to bring back the wandering mind of Lear). Josephus (Antiq. vi. 8. 2), in his account of the transaction, associates the singing of hymns by David with the harp-playing, and shows that though the tragedy of Saul's life was lightened for a while by the skilful minstrelsy of David, the raving madness soon triumphed over the tranquillizing influence (comp. I Sam. xviii. to; xix. so). In many references of Holy Scripture the minstrel and the prophet appear to be identical, and their functions the same ; but in 2 Kings iii. 15 their respective functions are clearly distin guished. The prophet Elisha.needed the influence of 'the minstrel' to soothe the irritation occasioned by the aggravating alliance of Israel with Judah. Not until this was effected would the prophetic influence guide him to a sound vaticination of the duty and destiny of the allied forces. The min strelsy was produced, according to Procopius, by a Levite, who sung the Psalms of David in the hear ing of the prophet ; if so, he was thus the means of producing that condition of mind by which the pro phet was lifted above the perceptions of his senses, and the circumstances which surrounded him, into a higher region of thought, where he might by divine grace penetrate the secret purposes of God. Jo sephus (Aittig. ix., chap. iii. sec. 1) refers to the circumstance in these words-7 rpis rdv IkaNX6vra Ipecos Various interpretations have been offered, and reasons assigned for the demand of Elisha. Rabbi Solomon states that the Spirit of God had receded from Elisha on account of his excessive grief at the departure of Elijah, because the Spirit of God will not dwell in a gloomy soul. Ephraem Syrus suggests that he wished for the music of the minstrel to arrest the attention of the multitude. The references given above to the power and dignity of song may sufficiently explain the occurrence. The spiritual ecstasis was often bestowed without any means, but many instances are given of subordinate physical agencies being instrumental in its production (Ezek. ii. 2 ; iii. 24 ; Is. vi. I ; Acts x. 9, ; Rev. i. 9, so).
The word minstrel is used of the a0o)ras who in Matt. ix. 23 are represented as mourning and mak ing a noise on the death of Jairus' daughter. The custom of hiring mourners at the death of friends is seen on Etruscan amphorm, tombs, and bas reliefs (see Dennis' Etruria, vol. i. p. 295, ii. 344, 354, where music was considered appropriate; and Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians, p. 366 373). Skill in lamentation (Amos v. 16; Jer. ix. 17) was not necessarily skill in playing on the pipe or flute, but probably included that accomplish ment. [MOURNING.]—H. R. R.