wn from the Druids. It is
full of a rude energy, making it impressive even to modern ears. By
successive migrations of Angles, Danes and Northmen, the Celts were
crowded into Wales, where they still remain. The harp has always been
their principal instrument, and for many centuries a rude kind of
violin called the crwth, of which there will be occasion to speak in
connection with the violin, at a later period in this work.

[Music illustration: OLD BRETON SONG.

Da-ik mab gwenn Drouiz, o-re;
Da-ik pe-tra fell d'id-de? pe-tra gan-inn-me d'id-de?--
Kan d'in euz aeur rann,
Ken a ouf-enn bre-man;--
Heb rann ar Red heb-ken:
An-Kou, tad ann an-ken;
Ne-tra kent ne tra ken.--
Da-ik mab gwenn Drouiz, o-re;
Da-ik pe-tra fell d'id-de? pe-tra gan-inn-me d'id-de?--
Kan d'in euz a zaou rann,
Ken a ouf-enn bre-man.]

According to the best authorities the bards were divided into three
great classes. The first class was composed of the historians and
antiquaries, who piqued themselves a little upon their sorcery, and
who, upon occasion, took up the roles of diviners and prophets. The
second class was composed of domestic bards, living in private houses,
quite after the custom of ancient Greece. These we may suppose were
chiefly devoted to the annals and glories of their wealthy patrons.
The third class, the heraldic bards, was the most influential of all.
They wrote the national annals. All these classes were poet-bards as
well as musicians.

The musical bards were divided into three classes. In the first were
the players upon the harp; they were called doctors of music. To be
admitted into this class it was necessary that they should perform
successfully the three Mwchwl--that is, the three most difficult
pieces in the bardic repertory. The second class of musical bards was
composed of the players upon the crwth, of six strings. The third
class were the singers. From the wording of the requirement it would
seem that these must have had the same qualification as the first
class, and therefore have been true doctors of music. For, in addition
to being able to accord the harp or the crwth, and play different
themes with their variations, two preludes and other pieces "with
their sharps and their flats," they had to know the "three styles of
expression," and accent them with the voice in different styles of
song. They had also to know the twenty-four meters of poetry as well