Edicts Against Fiddlers
An idea may be formed of the strictness with which all popular amusements were prohibited when the Puritans had the ascendency, from the fact that in 1656-7 Oliver Cromwell prohibited all persons called fiddlers or minstrels from playing, fiddling or making music in any inn, ale-house or tavern, etc. If they proffered themselves, or offered to make music, they were adjudged to be rogues and vagabonds, and were to be proceeded against as such.