ABSTRACT
One law in particular directed Against Wasters, Minstrels in Wales who peddled their verses to instill riot, read, Item, to eschew many diseases and mischief's which have happened before this time in the Land of Wales by many Wasters, Rhymers, Minstrels and other Vagabonds. It is ordained and stablished that no Waster, Rhymer, Minstrel nor Vagabond be in any wie sustained in the Land of Wales to make Commorthies or gathering upon the Common people there. Thomas Middleton's A Chaste Maid in Cheapsideand Ben Thomas Middleton's For the Honour of Wales, are the only extant plays to contain a substantial amount of Welsh. Surveying Celtic types on the early modern stage, J. O. Bartley lists over 30 plays that contain Welsh characters. Lady Mortimer's steadfast interest in speaking Welsh may merely be a byproduct of circumstances. In fact, Lady Mortimer and Glendower foreshadow what may come if Glendower, Mortimer and the Percies are successful.
