A minstrel's lay generally accompanied the wine and spices which concluded
the entertainment.[187] Kings and queens had their trains of songsters,
and partly from humour and partly from contempt, the head of the band was
called king of the minstrels.[188] But men of the first quality,
particularly the younger sons and brothers of great houses, followed the
profession of minstrelsy, and no wonder, if it be true that they gained
the guerdon without having encountered the dangers of war; for many a
doughty knight complained that the smiles for which he had perilled
himself in the battle field were bestowed upon some idle son of peace at
home. The person of a minstrel was sacred, and base and barbarian the man
would have been accounted, who did not venerate him that sang the heroic
and the tender lay, the magic strains of chivalry, and could shed a
romantic lustre over fierce wars and faithful loves.