Complete Encyclopaedia of Music/B/Bard

Bard, or BARDD. (W.) An appellation originally given by the Cambro-Britons to their poets, or minstrels, and by allusion since applied to the poetic authors of all ages, from the rhapsodist of ancient Greece to the rhymist of modern times. The reputation, influence, and power of this order of men were formerly very high ; they were courted by the great, and seated at the tables of princes. Their power in stirring the courage and rousing the fury of armies is universally recorded ; and generals have often confessed themselves indebted for victory to their heroic strains. The bards were the chosen negotiators with the enemy ; the deeds of the day were at night recorded in their songs, and the fame of the fallen heroes perpetuated by their praise. The term bardus, according to Festus and Camden, is pure British or Celtic, and denote a singer. The term bard, however, denotes any professed musician and poet, or minstrel, of ancient times, whose office it was to celebrate in song the mighty deeds of heroes, or to lament, in pathetic strains, their untimely loss, or any great public calamity. Carolan was the last of this order in Ireland, and he died in 1738. To him we are indebted for a large proportion of the popular Irish melodies. (See CAROLAN TWALOGH.) Bochart derives the word bard from paint, to sing. It may be considered the old name for both poet and singer, as it is nearly synonymous with minstrel. In fact, there can be little doubt that the bards were ancient poets among the Gauls and Britons, who not only described, but sung, in verse, the brave actions of the great men of their nation, with design to paint and recommend virtue, and even sometimes to put an end to the difference between armies at the point of engagement.