THE TALE OF THE YEARS.
“No stroke of art their texture bears,
No cadence wrought with learned skill,
And though long worn by rolling years,
Yet unimpaired they please us still;
While thousand strains of mystic lore
Have perished and are heard no more.”
The time of the Flood—Pipes in Scripture—In Persia—In Arabia—In
Tarsus—Tradition of the Nativity—In Rome—In Greece—In Wales,
Ireland, and Scotland—Melrose Abbey—In France—In England—At
Bannockburn—Chaucer—In war—First authentic Scottish reference—Oldest
authentic specimen—Became general—Rosslyn Chapel—Second drone added—
At Flodden—“A maske of bagpypes”—Spenser—Shakespeare—James VI.—A
poetical historian—Big drone added—The ’45—Native to Scotland—The
evolution of the Highlands.
_Gillidh Callum_ was (so goes the story) Noah’s piper, and (still
according to the story) Noah danced to his music over two crossed vine
plants when he had discovered and enjoyed the inspiring effects of his
first distillation from the fruits of his newly planted vineyard. So the
tune was named after the piper. This “yarn,” to give it the only
appropriate name, can easily be spoiled by anyone who tries, but the
dance alluded to does seem to have been originally practised over vine
plants. Swords, however, came to be more numerous in Scotland than
vines, and they were substituted. Some historians assert that the Celts
are descended from Gomer, the eldest son of Japheth, son of Noah, a
theory which would go far to support the _Gillidh Callum_ story, for if
there were Celts in the days of the ark, why should there not have been
a piper? There is, however, just about as much to prove either story as
there is to prove that
“Music first on earth was found
In Gaelic accents deep;
When Jubal in his oxter squeezed
The blether o’ a sheep,”
and that is little enough.
That the bagpipe is an instrument of great antiquity is an admitted
fact, but whether it is one of those referred to in Scripture is another
matter. The pipe without the bag is mentioned in I. Sam. x. 5, Isaiah v.
12, and Jer. xlviii. 36, but the pipe without the bag is not the
bagpipe. There have been many attempts made to identify the instrument
with one or other of those named in Scripture, and in histories of
Scripture times, but these are all based on conjecture. An instrument is
mentioned which was composed of two reeds perforated according to rule,
and united to a leathern bag, called in Persian _nie amban_; and in
Egypt a similar instrument is described as consisting of two flutes,
partly of wood and partly of iron. Another traveller tells of an Arabian
instrument which consisted of a double chanter with several apertures,
and in 1818 ancient engravings were found in the northern states of
Africa which seemed to prove that an instrument like the bagpipe had
existed in Scripture times. The Chaldeans and Babylonians had two
peculiar instruments, the _Sambuka_ and the _Symphonia_, and some
historians identify the latter as the _sackbut_, the alleged ancestor of
the bagpipe. Others assert that a form of the bagpipe was used in the
services of the Temple at Jerusalem, but this in any case, may be
treated as the merest of conjecture.
The historical references to the instrument as having existed at all in
these days are few and far between:—
385 B.C.—Theocritus, a writer who flourished about this date, mentions
it incidentally in his pastorals, but not in such a way as to give any
indication of what form it assumed.
200 B.C.—An ancient terra cotta excavated at Tarsus by Mr. W.
Burchhardt, and supposed to date from 200 B.C., represents a piper with
a wind instrument with vertical rows of reed pipes, firmly attached to
him. The instrument has also been found sculptured in ancient Nineveh.
A.D. 1.—There is a singular tradition in the Roman Catholic Church to
the effect that the shepherds who first saw the infant Messiah in the
stable expressed their gladness by playing on the bagpipe. This is, of
course, possible, but there is only the tradition and the likelihood
that the shepherds would have musical instruments of some kind to
support the theory. Albrecht Durer, a famous German artist of the 16th
century, has perpetuated the idea in a woodcut of the Nativity, in which
he represents one of the shepherds playing on the pipes, but his work
is, naturally, founded on the tradition. The illuminator of a Dutch
missal in the library of King’s College, Aberdeen, has taken liberties
with the tradition and given the bagpipe to one of the appearing angels,
who uses it for playing a salute.
[Illustration:
REPRODUCED FROM A CONTORNIATE IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
]
A.D. 54.—The cruel Emperor Nero was an accomplished musician, and a
contorniate of his time has given rise to many assertions connecting him
with the pipes. It is generally referred to as a coin, but it is in
reality a contorniate or medal, which was given away at public sports.
The sketch here reproduced (full-size) is from a specimen in the British
Museum, and very little study will show that it proves almost nothing
relating to the bagpipe. The obverse bears the head of Nero and the
usual inscription. On the reverse there seems to be the form of a wind
organ with nine irregular pipes, all blown by a bellows and having
underneath what is probably a bag. It is more closely related to the
organ than to the bagpipe, and, as has been said, it proves nothing.
Some writers call the instrument on which Nero played a flute with a
bladder under the performer’s arm, a description which does more to
identify it as the bagpipe. It cannot have been considered a very
honourable thing in Nero’s day to play the pipes, for the emperor on
hearing of the last revolt, that which cost him his throne and his life,
vowed solemnly that if the gods would but extricate him from his
troubles he would play in public on the bagpipe, as a sort of penance or
thank offering probably. Perhaps history has made a mistake, and it may
have been the pipes and not the fiddle Nero played on while Rome was
burning. The medal, it may be added, is believed by the authorities at
the British Museum to date from about A.D. 330, although it bears the
impress of Nero.
That the instrument was in use among the Romans is indisputable. A
historian, who wrote a history of the wars of the Persians, the Vandals,
and the Goths, states that the Roman infantry used it for marching
purposes, and he describes it as having both skin and wood extremely
fine. The name it went by was _pythaula_, a word of Greek origin, which
bears a striking resemblance to the Celtic _piob-mhala_, pronounced
_piovala_. There is in Rome a fine Greek sculpture in _basso relievo_
representing a piper playing on an instrument closely resembling the
Highland bagpipe, the performer himself being dressed not unlike a
modern Highlander. It is shown besides on several coins, but from the
rudeness of the drawings or their decay the exact form cannot be
ascertained. A small bronze figure found under Richborough Castle, Kent,
represents a Roman soldier playing on the bagpipe, but his whole
equipment is curious. The precise form of the instrument itself is
questionable, and the manner of holding it, the helmet, the ancient
purse on one side and the short Roman sword and dagger on the other, all
furnish matter for debate. About 1870 a stone was dug from the ground
near Bo’ness, on which was sculptured a party of Roman soldiers on the
march. They were dressed in short kilts, and one was playing the
bagpipe. The instrument was very similar to those of the present day
except that the drones were shorter.
A.D. 100.—Aristides Quintilianus, who lived about this time, writes to
the effect that the bagpipe was known in the Scottish Highlands in his
day. This, however, may be set aside as a reference of no value seeing
that the Highlands was then an unknown world to the Greeks. The Greeks
of the same age knew the instrument as _Tibia utricularis_, and from the
pipes, we are told, the Athenian shepherds drew the sweetest sounds.
Other books again tell us that the Athenians rejected the pipes because
they disturbed conversation and made hearing difficult. Still others—
English be it noted—contain the sentence, “Arcadia in Greece: the
bagpipe was first invented here,” but the statement is not substantiated
in any way.
A.D. 500.—In the sixth century the bagpipe is mentioned by Procopius, a
Greek historian, as the instrument of the Roman infantry, the trumpet
being that of the cavalry.
A.D. 800.—There is a picture of a primitive instrument copied from a
manuscript of the ninth century. It consists of a blow pipe on one side
of a small bag, with a sort of chanter having three or four holes and a
beast’s head instead of the usual bell-shaped end. The instrument was
held extended from the mouth, and the bag, if any pressure was
necessary, must have been elastic, as it could not be pressed in any
way.
A.D. 1118.—Giraldus Cambrensis, the historian, mentions the pipes about
this date as Welsh and Irish, but not as Scottish. But _The Complaynt of
Scotland_, written in 1548, states that the instrument was a favourite
with the Scottish peasantry “from the earliest periods.” Another
trustworthy record says it was in use in Scotland and Wales about the
end of the twelfth century. Besides, Pennant in his _Tour_ was told that
it was mentioned in the oldest northern songs as the “soeck-pipe.” There
is little doubt it was cultivated to some extent in Scotland in the
twelfth century.
A.D. 1136.—There are, or at least were, in Melrose Abbey, built in 1136,
two carvings representing bagpipes, but they are not supposed to be of a
date so early as the abbey itself. The first, that of an aged musician,
is given in Sir John Graham Dalziel’s _Musical Memoirs of Scotland_,
published in 1849, but it cannot now be found in the abbey. If it
existed when the book was written, it has succumbed since then to the
action of the elements or the vandalism of the ignorant. The second,
sketched on the spot, is one of those grotesque carvings which artists
of early days, in what must have been a sarcastic humour, delighted in
affixing to sacred buildings. It is a gargoyle in the form of a pig
carrying a rude bagpipe under its head with the drone, the only pipe now
remaining, on its left shoulder, and its fore feet, what is left of
them, clasped around the bag. The mouth is open and the rain water off
the roof runs through it. There is a tradition that as James IV. was not
agreeing very well with the Highlanders the pig playing their favourite
instrument was placed in the abbey as a satire. The chapel, however, on
the outside of the nave of which the carving is, was built before the
time of James IV. It is curious that all, or nearly all, the carvings on
the outside of the abbey are ugly, some of them gruesome, while the
figures on the inside are beautiful. This, it is supposed, was meant to
convey the idea of Heaven inside and earth outside. In the architecture
of the middle ages the gargoyle, or waterspout, assumed a vast variety
of forms, often frightful, fantastic or grotesque. So the carving in
Melrose Abbey may be simply the product of the artist’s imagination.
Besides, a French architect had a good deal to do with the abbey, so the
designs may not all be emblematic of Scottish life of the date when they
were made. In _Musical Memoirs of Scotland_ it is stated that the
instrument had two drones, one on each side of the animal’s head, and a
chanter which hung beneath its feet, these latter being placed on the
apertures. The figure seems to have been very much worn away since this
book was written.
[Illustration:
CARVINGS IN MELROSE ABBEY
]
A.D. 1200.—Coming down to ages of which we have better historical
records, we find a drawing of the thirteenth century which shows a girl
dancing on the shoulders of a jester to the music of the instrument in
its simplest form, the chanter only.
A.D. 1300.—About the end of the thirteenth century the bagpipe in France
was consigned to the lower orders, and only used by the blind and the
wandering or mendicant classes. Polite society, however, resumed it in
the time of Louis XIV. and Louis XV.
A.D. 1307.—Several payments to performers of the fourteenth and
subsequent centuries are recorded. In the reign of Edward II. there is a
payment to _Jauno Chevretter_ (the latter word meant bagpiper) for
playing before the king.
A.D. 1314.—The Clan Menzies are alleged to have had their pipes with
them at Bannockburn, and they are supposed to have been played by one of
the Mac Intyres, their hereditary pipers. The Clan Menzies claim that
these pipes are still in existence, at least three portions of them—the
chanter, which has the same number of finger holes as the modern
chanter, but two additional holes on each side; the blowpipe, which is
square, but graduates to round at the top; and the drone, of which the
top half only remains. These relics, which are now preserved with great
care, are supposed to be the remains of a set which were played to the
clan when they mustered at Castle Menzies, and marched to join the main
body of the Scottish army at Torwood, and in front of them on the field
of battle. There are said to be Mac Donald pipes in existence, which
consist of a chanter and blowpipe only, and which, it is alleged, were
played before the Mac Donalds at Bannockburn. This, most likely, also
refers to the Menzies pipes, as the Mac Intyres, who are credited with
having been owners of each, were at different times pipers to the
Menzies and to the Clan Ranald branch of the Mac Donalds. Bruce’s son,
says another tradition, had pipes at Bannockburn. Sir Walter Scott
represents the men of the Isles as charging to the sound of the bagpipe;
and David Mac Donald, a Clan Mac Donald bard, who wrote about 1838, in a
poem on the battle, says that when the bards began to encourage the
clans, the pipers began to blow their pipes. There is, however, no
historical proof that the instrument was used at the battle. Though
horns and trumpets are mentioned by reliable historians, it is not till
about two hundred years later that the bagpipe is referred to as having
superseded the trumpet as an instrument of war.
A.D. 1327.—In the reign of Edward III. two pipers received permission to
visit schools for minstrels beyond the seas, and from about that time
till the sixteenth century the bagpipe was the favourite instrument of
the Irish kerns.
A.D. 1362.—There is an entry in the Exchequer rolls of 1362 of forty
shillings “paid to the King’s pipers,” which indicates the use of the
pipes at that date.
A.D. 1370.—The arms of Winchester School, founded in 1370, show an angel
playing a bagpipe, and a silver-mounted crosier, presented by the
founder to the New College, Oxford, has among other figures that of an
angel playing the bagpipe. Some enthusiast might surely have adduced the
frequent connections of the instrument with angels as proof of its
sacred origin.
A.D. 1377.—One “claryoner,” two trumpeters, and four pipers were
attached to the fleet of Richard, Earl of Arundel (Richard II). The
bagpipe often appears in the English sculpture of the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries, and, of course, very frequently later.
A.D. 1380.—There are no English literary references to the pipes till
the time of Chaucer, when the poet makes the miller in the _Canterbury
Tales_ play on the instrument:—
“A baggepipe wel cowde he blowe and sowne,
And therewithal he broughte us out of towne.”
So it seems that the company of pilgrims left London, accompanied by the
strains of the bagpipe. It must have been in fairly general use, else
the poet would not have worked it into his composition, but there are no
means of discovering how long before this it had been in favour in
England.
A.D. 1390.—At the battle between the clans Quhale and Chattan on the
North Inch of Perth, Rev. James Mac Kenzie tells us in his _History of
Scotland_, which is generally accepted as authoritative, the clans
“stalked into the barriers to the sound of their own great war pipes.”
A.D. 1400.—The bagpipe is supposed to have been first used officially in
war in Britain at the beginning of the fifteenth century, quickly
superseding the war-song of the bards.
A.D. 1406–37.—James I. of Scotland played on the “chorus,” a word which
some interpret as meaning the bagpipe. Besides we are also told that he
played on “the tabour, the bagpipes, the organ, the flute, the harp, the
trumpet, and the shepherd’s reed.” He must have been a versatile
monarch. If he really wrote _Peblis to the Play_, the fact proves that
if he did not play the pipes he was quite familiar with their existence,
for he says:—
“With that Will Swane came smeitand out,
Ane meikle miller man,
Gif I sall dance have done, lat se
Blow up the bagpype than.”
And also in another place:—
“The bag pipe blew and they outhrew
Out of the townis untald.”
Except that he gives us the first really authentic historical Scottish
reference to the pipes, King James and his connection with the music is
rather a puzzling subject.
A.D. 1409.—What is believed to be the oldest authentic specimen of the
bagpipe now existing is that in the possession of Messrs. J. & R. Glen,
of Edinburgh, which bears the date 1409. Except that it wants the large
drone, which was added at the beginning of the eighteenth century, it is
very much the Highland pipe of the present day. The following is a
description of the instrument:—
“Highland bagpipe, having two small drones and chanter, finely
ornamented with Celtic patterns carved in circular bands. The drones
are inserted in a stock apparently formed from a forked branch, the
fork giving the drones their proper spread for the shoulder. In the
centre of the stock are the letters ‘R. Mc D,’ below them a galley,
and below the galley is the date in Roman numerals, M:CCCC:IX. The
letters both in the initials above the galley and in the numeral
inscription are of the Gothic form commonly used in the fifteenth
century. On the reverse of the stock is a triplet of foliageous scroll
work. Bands of interlaced work encircle the ends of the forked part,
which are bound with brass ferrules. The lower joint of one of the
drones is ornamented with a band of interlaced work in the centre. The
corresponding joint of the other drone is not original. The upper
joints of the drones are ornamented at both extremities with
interlaced work and the finger holes, seven in number, are greatly
worn. The nail heads placed round the lower part of the bell of the
chanter are decorated with engraved ornament. The bag and blowpipe are
modern.”
It should be added that very little is known of the story of this old
bagpipe, and the date carved on the stock is all that justifies us in
attributing it to the fifteenth century. Also that its claims to
antiquity are disputed by an instrument in the possession of the Duke of
Sutherland, which is said to have been played at the battle of
Sheriffmuir.
A.D. 1411.—We have the statement of Rev. James Mac Kenzie that at the
Battle of Harlaw the Highland host came down “with pibrochs deafening to
hear.” Mr. Mac Kenzie, however, wrote at quite a recent date, and it
would be interesting to know his authority. We do know, of course, that
what is now a pipe tune was played at Harlaw, but that in itself proves
nothing, since the earliest known copy of the music is not arranged for
the pipes.
A.D. 1419.—An inventory of the instruments in St. James’s Palace, made
in 1419, specifies “four bagpipes with pipes of ivorie,” and another
“baggepipe with pipes of ivorie, the bagge covered with purple vellat.”
A.D. 1430.—From this time on till the Reformation the bagpipe was fairly
popular in the Lowlands of Scotland, and it is most likely that its use
became general in the Highlands about 1500.
A.D. 1431.—At the battle of Inverlochy in 1431, we are told the pipes
were played. This may have been supposed from the fact that we have a
pipe tune of that date, but it is probable enough.
[Illustration:
THE OLDEST EXISTING PIPES
(_By permission of Messrs. J. & R. Glen and the Scottish Society of
Antiquaries._)
]
A.D. 1440.—In Rosslyn Chapel, Midlothian, built in 1440, there are two
figures represented as playing the pipes. The first, an angelic piper,
is of a class of which specimens are to be found in various sacred
edifices throughout England. It is in the Lady Chapel, and is not
therefore much noticed by visitors. The other figure is one of a pair
which are carved as if they were supporting one end of one of the arches
of the roof. What meaning they were supposed to convey it is impossible
now to determine, but the representation of the piper is obvious enough.
A.D. 1485–1509.—In Henry VII.’s Chapel at Westminster there is a
grotesque carving representing a bagpipe. Similar carvings appear at
Hull, Great Yarmouth, Beverley, and Boston.
A.D. 1489.—In July, 1489, we find there was a payment of £8 8s. to
“Inglis pyparis that com to the Castel (Edinburgh) and playit to the
king;” and in 1505 another to “Inglis pipar with the drone.” So the
instrument must have been as much English as Scottish at that time.
A.D. 1491.—Here again we find the “Inglis” piper to the front. In August
of this year a party of them received seven unicorns, that is gold
coins, at Linlithgow for playing to the king. Both of these payments are
recorded in the accounts of the treasurer of the Royal household.
A.D. 1494.—In the ninth year of Henry VII. there was paid to “Pudsey,
piper on the bagpipes,” 6s. 8d. Piping was not a short cut to fortune
then more than it is now.
A.D. 1500.—At a sale of curios in London in the summer of 1899 a jug was
disposed of on which there was a painting of a mule playing a bagpipe.
The article fetched £200, but it cannot be proved that the painting
dates from the sixteenth century, though that is the certified date of
the jug. About this time the second drone was added.
[Illustration:
CARVINGS IN ROSSLYN CHAPEL
]
A.D. 1506–1582.—George Buchanan is the first to mention the bagpipe in
connection with Gaelic-speaking people, and when he does mention it, it
is solely as a military instrument. The harp was still the domestic
musical instrument.
A.D. 1509–1547.—We have a curious set of wood-cuts of the time of Henry
VIII., one of which represents a piper dancing to the _Dance of Death_
clothed according to the fashion of that time. He is dancing with a
jester, who has the tonsure of a monk and wears a sort of kilt.[1] We
also know of a suit of armour made for Henry VIII. on which the figure
of a piper is engraved.
Footnote 1:
See Chap. XV.
A.D. 1513.—It is on record that John Hastie, the celebrated hereditary
piper of Jedburgh, played at the battle of Flodden. There is a painting
of this date by the German artist, Albrecht Durer, which represents a
shepherd boy playing to his sheep on the bagpipe, and another which
shows a piper leaning against a tree with a naked dirk at the left side
and a purse exactly like a sporran suspended in front. Olaus Magnus, a
Swedish prelate of the same century, affirms that a double pipe,
probably the bagpipe, was carried by the shepherds to the pastures that
their flocks might feed better.
A.D. 1529.—At a procession in Brussels in 1529 in honour of the Virgin
Mary, “many wild beasts danced round a cage containing two apes playing
on the bagpipes.” This statement may be taken for what it is worth. It
is difficult to construct a theory that will explain it.
A.D. 1536.—In this year the bagpipe was played at church service in
Edinburgh.
[Illustration:
GERMAN PIPER OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
_From the Painting by Albrecht Durer._
]
A.D. 1547–1553.—Among the musicians of Edward VI. at the Court of
England was “Richard Woodward, bagpiper,” who had a salary of £12 13s.
4d., not a princely sum. An entertainment was got up at court in this
reign, part of which was a “maske of bagpypes.” An artist “covered six
apes of paste and cement with grey coney skinnes, which were made to
serve for a maske of bagpypes, to sit upon the top of them like
mynstrells as though they did play.” The English of these ancient
writers is often a bit obscure, but this seems to mean that there was an
imitation of bagpipe playing by counterfeit apes. The Brussels incident
of 1529 may probably be explained in the same way.
A.D. 1548.—Among the eight musical instruments mentioned in _The
Complaynt of Scotland_, written in 1548, there are included “ane drone
bagpipe” and “ane pipe made of ane bleddir and of ane reid.”[2]
Footnote 2:
See page 18.
A.D. 1549.—A French officer describing warfare near Edinburgh in 1549,
says “The wild Scots encouraged themselves to arms by the sounds of
their bagpipes.”
A.D. 1556.—In 1556 the Queen Regent of Scotland headed a procession in
honour of St. Giles, the patron saint of Edinburgh, and she was
“accompanied by bagpipers and other musicians.”
A.D. 1570.—In 1570 three St. Andrews pipers were admonished not to play
on Sundays or at nights.
A.D. 1579.—We next come across Spenser and Shakespeare. In the
_Shepherd’s Calendar_, Spenser makes a shepherd ask a down-hearted
comrade:—
“Or is thy bagpipe broke that sounds so sweet?”
And Shakespeare, whose genius touched on everything above the earth and
under it, but who does not seem to have had a high opinion of the
“sweetness” of the bagpipe, says of a character that he is as melancholy
as a glib cat, or a lugged bear, or an old lion, or a lover’s lute, or
the drone of a Lincolnshire bagpipe. In another place he speaks of men
who “laugh, like parrots at a bagpiper,” and in yet another he infers
that the instrument was more powerful than others then in use. “You
would never,” he says, “dance again after a tabor or pipe; no, the
bagpipe could not move you.” He seems, however, to have known the
utility even of his English pipes for marching purposes, for he
concludes _Much ado about Nothing_ with “Strike up, Pipers.” This
phrase, by the way, must surely have been taken from the play, for it is
always held as referring more to the bagpipe than to any other
instrument. Generally speaking, Shakespeare’s references are more in the
way of sarcasm than of praise.
A.D. 1581.—In 1581 we find James VI. returning from church at Dalkeith
one Sunday with two pipers playing before him; and, strangely enough, a
little nearer the end of the century, we read, two pipers were
prosecuted for playing on the Sunday. At various times between 1591 and
1596 pipers from the Water of Leith bound themselves strictly not to
play on the Sundays. There was evidently one law for the king and
another for the subject.
A.D. 1584.—A poetical historian describing a battle between the English
and the Irish in 1584 says:—
“Now goe the foes to wracke,
The Karne apace do sweate,
And bagg pipe then instead of trompe
Doe lulle the backe retreate.
“Who hears the bagpipe now?
The pastyme is so hotte,
Our valiant captains will not cease
Till that the field be gotte.
“But still thei forward pearse,
Upon the glibbed route,
And with thar weapons meete for warre,
These vaunting foes they cloute.”
Then, when the battle was over, the piper having been killed:—
“The bagpipe cease to plaie,
The piper lyes on grounde;
And here a sort of glibbed theeves
Devoid of life are found.”
It is difficult to see how an instrument like the present Irish bagpipe
could be of any use in war; but in 1601 a traveller, visiting the same
country, confirms the statement that it belonged to the military.
In 1584 a man named Cockran “played on his bagpipe in a dramatic
performance in Coventry.” An Irish bagpipe has been seen in London
theatres on various occasions, and, of course, often enough in Scottish
concert rooms. In 1798 a Mr. Courtney “played a solo on the union pipes
in the quick movement of the overture with good effect” in a performance
founded on Ossian’s poems.
A.D. 1594.—At the Battle of Balrinnes, a witch who accompanied the Earl
of Argyll referred in a prediction to the bagpipe as the principal
military instrument of the Scottish mountaineers.
A.D. 1597.—In a court case at Stirling in 1597 we are told that “W.
Stewart brought into the kirkyard twa or three pyperis, and thereby drew
in grit nowmer of people to dans befoir the kirk dur on tyme of
prayeris, he being always the ringleader himself.” Mr. Stewart must have
had peculiar ideas of the fitness of things.
A.D. 1598.—An unpublished poem by Rev. Alex. Hume, minister of Logie,
about 1598, contains the lines:—
“Caus michtilie the warlie nottes brake
On Heiland pipes, Scottes and Hyberniche.”
So at this date there was a difference between the Highland pipes, the
Lowland, and the Hibernian. The instrument was, in fact, becoming
recognised as peculiar to the Highlands, in the one specific form at
least.
A.D. 1601.—In 1601 Moryson, the traveller, visiting Ireland during a
rebellion, says that “near Armagh a strong body of insurgents approached
the camp of regulars with cries and sounds of drummers and bagpipes as
if they would storm the camp. After that our men had given them a volley
in their teeth, they drew away, and we heard no more of their drummers
and bagpipes, but only mournful cries, for many of their best men were
slain.”
A.D. 1617.—When James I. came to Scotland in 1617 and decorated Holyrood
with images of many kinds, he did not clear out the bagpipes from the
Palace, jokingly remarking that as they had some relation to the organ
they might remain.
A.D. 1623.—Playing on the “great pipe” was a charge made against a piper
at Perth in 1623. The term great pipe would seem to indicate that the
instrument was evolved from a previous kind, and is an argument in
favour of the theory that the pipes were not “introduced” into Scotland,
but are of native origin, and have been gradually developed up to their
present condition.
A.D. 1650.—“Almost every town hath bagpipes in it,” says a writer of the
year 1650.
A.D. 1653.—In 1653 a woman pleaded for exemption from censure because
“English soldiers brought over a piper with them and did dance in her
house.” That, she thought, was sufficient excuse for any shortcomings in
the management of her household.
A.D. 1662.—A Kirkcaldy man, who shot his father in 1662, sought liquor
from an acquaintance to help to wile away his melancholy, and “there
comes a piper, and this wretched man went and did dawnce.” The music
evidently was enough to dispel all the terrors of the law.
A.D. 1700.—About the beginning of the nineteenth century the big drone
was added to the bagpipe, distinguishing it henceforth from the Lowland
and Northumbrian.
A.D. 1741.—On a political occasion in 1741 the Magistrates of Dingwall
were welcomed home by the ringing of bells, “while young and old danced
to the bagpipe, violin, and Jewish harp.” Rather a curious medley they
would make.
A.D. 1745.—Prince Charlie had a large number of pipers with him in his
rebellion of 1745. After the battle of Prestonpans his army marched into
Edinburgh, a hundred pipers playing the Jacobite air, “The King shall
enjoy his ain again:” and when he marched to Carlisle he had with him a
hundred pipers. Perhaps it was because of its prominence in his
rebellion that the bagpipe was afterwards classed by the ruling powers
as an instrument of warfare, the carrying of which deserved punishment.
A.D. 1775.—In this year we find the first reference to a professional
maker of bagpipes. In the _Edinburgh Directory_ for 1775, a book that
could be carried in the vest pocket, “Hugh Robertson” is entered as
“pipe maker, Castle Hill, Edinburgh.” It was this same Hugh Robertson
who made the prize pipes competed for at the meetings inaugurated by the
Highland Society of London some time later, and an instrument of his
make which took first prize at one of the competitions was recently in
the possession of Mr. David Glen, Edinburgh. Where it now is cannot be
discovered, as Mr. Glen parted with it to one of whose whereabouts he is
not aware.
It is not necessary to trace the instrument farther down through the
years. In Scotland, after it overcame the setback of the ’45, it became
more popular year by year until at last in 1824, we find an English
traveller saying that “the Scots are enthusiastic in their love for
their national instrument. In Edinburgh the sound of the bagpipe is to
be heard in every street.” The Lowland, the Northumberland and the Irish
pipes lost favour, and the Lincolnshire—that referred to by Shakespeare—
has been totally extinct since about 1850. The Great Highland Bagpipe is
the only form that has held its own.
The early history of the Celts affords abundant room for controversy,
and the origin of the pipes, their introduction into, or evolution in,
the Highlands, will always be debateable matter. The weight of evidence,
however, goes to show that the pipes and pipe music are far more likely
to have been evolved out of the life of the Highland people than
imported from any other country. The fact that the instrument is not
mentioned in early Scottish history is no proof that it did not exist.
Besides, we have now got away from the habit of trying to find the
origin of things peculiarly Scottish outside of Scotland. It used to be
the fashion to decry everything local to Scotland, and our clans, even,
traced their origin to Norman and Norwegian sources. That time, however,
is past, and now Highlanders pride themselves on an ancestry which,
however far back it is traced, is still Scottish. So with the pipes.
They have been in Scotland from all time, and it is in Scotland that
they have been brought to the highest degree of perfection. The
importation theory will not stand the test of inquiry. If the pipes came
from Norway, or Rome, or any part of the Continent, or even England, how
is it that in these places they have deteriorated almost to the point of
disappearance, while in Scotland they have been continually developing?
Ireland, indeed, can put forward a good claim—Christianity came from
there, the peoples are the same, and the relations between the two
countries in early days were very close—but there is less to uphold the
claim than there is to show that the pipes are native to the Highlands.
They are not mentioned in Ossianic poetry. In these times, however, the
pipes would be so subordinate to the harp that their passing-by by the
poet is a fact of little significance. If the Celts were the original
inhabitants of the Highlands, and can be identified with the Picts—a
theory for which there is very strong argument indeed—there is surely
nothing more likely than that the pipes were always in existence among
the people. Robertson, in his _Historical Proofs of the Highlanders_,
shows clearly that there has never been a radical change of race or
customs in the Highlands, that the music of the Great Highland Bagpipe
has ever been peculiar to the Gael of Alban, and that the Irish Scots
must have learned it from the Caledonian Picts. It is strong presumptive
evidence in favour of his contention that in no other country has the
instrument been developed in the same way, that it is one of the very
few national musical instruments in Europe, and that in no other country
is there such a quantity of peculiar music of such an age, composed
solely for the instrument, and fitted only for interpretation by it.
There is nothing in the music that connects it with any part of the
Continent, or that shows that it was borrowed from any particular place.
The pibroch cannot possibly have come from the Tyrol or Italy, neither
can the reels and other popular melodies. The importation theory grew
out of the ideas entertained of the rude and uncivilised state of
Scotland at an early period, which was considered altogether
incompatible with the delicacy of taste and feeling its poetry and music
displayed. But the student of Highland history soon discovers that, with
all the rudeness, there existed among the people just that delicacy of
taste and feeling which found expression in the music, and he at once
concludes that the music is a real growth of the home soil. The race
were always in the land: why not their language, their music, their
customs, in a more or less rude form?
Passing from debateable ground, the result of our assorting of
quotations seems to be that the first thoroughly authentic reference to
the bagpipe in Scotland dates from 1406, that it was well known in
Reformation times, that the second drone was added about 1500, that it
was first mentioned in connection with the Gaelic in 1506, or a few
years later, that it was classed in a list of Scottish musical
instruments in 1548, that in 1549 and often afterwards it was used in
war, that in 1650 every town had a piper, that in 1700 the big drone was
added, and that in 1824 the Scots were enthusiastic about the pipes.
There is not the slightest doubt, of course, that the instrument was
used in Scotland for many years, probably for centuries, before we can
trace it, but previous to the dates given we have only tradition and
conjecture to go by.
From 1700 till 1750 was perhaps the most critical time in the story of
the Great Highland Bagpipe. The disaster at Culloden nearly spelt ruin
for the pipes as well as for the tartan. The Disarming Act was very
stringent, and the pipes came in for almost as strict a banning as did
the kilt. The Jacobites were outlawed, the tartan was pronounced a mark
of extreme disloyalty to the House of Hanover, and the life of a
professed piper was hardly worth living. The Celt was crushed by the
severity of his defeat and broken by the inrush of innovation that
followed. Clanship, as such, ceased, and the chiefs, from being the
fathers of their people, became the landlords. The Highlander lost his
reckless passions, but he also lost his rude chivalry and his absorbing
love for the old customs. Traditional history and native poetry were
neglected, and theological disputes of interminable duration occupied
much of the time formerly devoted to poetic recitals and social
meetings. Poverty and civilisation did their work; taste for music
declined, and piping died away. Absentee landlordism took the place of
resident chieftainism, and Gaelic seemed likely to become a dead
language, for the people seemed willing to let it die. The destruction
of the crofter system completed the work of ruin begun by the
destruction of the clan system. What this meant for Highland feelings
and customs is vividly shown by the following extract from the writings
of the elder Dr. Norman Macleod, _Caraid nan Gaidheal_, as he was
called. The speaker is “Finlay the Piper.”
“There, indeed, you are right; he was the man that had a kind heart.
But this new man that has come in his place has a heart of remarkable
hardness, and cares not a straw for the pipes or anything that belongs
to the Highlands. He is a perfect fanatic in his passion for big
sheep. It brings more enjoyment to him to look at a wether parading on
green braes than to listen to all the pibrochs that ever were played.
If I were to compose a pibroch for him, I would call it ‘Lament for
the Big Wether,’ the wether that fell over the rock the other day, the
loss of which almost drove him mad. It’s not I that would be caring to
say this to everybody; but as you happen to be with me on the spot
there can be no harm in telling you how he treated the poor people
here. There is not now smoke coming out of single chimney or sheiling
in the whole glen, where you used to see scores of decent people
working at honest work. This man would as soon give lodgment to a fox
as to a poor crofter or a widow woman. You never heard in your life
what a mangling and maiming he has made of the population of this
glen. Not even a shepherd would he have from the people of the
country; he brought them all in from the south. Even his shepherd’s
dog does not understand a word of Gaelic. Mactalla of the Crag has not
sent back a single echo since good Donald went away. Everything must
make way for the sheep. There is not a single brake now in which a
bramble would grow; no tuft of brushwood on the slope where one could
gather a nut; he has shaved the country as bare as the gable wall of a
house, and as for sloes, where sloes used to be you may as well go and
look for grapes. The birds, too, have left us; they have gone to the
wood on the other side of the Sound; even the gay cuckoo cannot find a
single stunted bush where it might hide. He has burnt all the wild
wood that ran so prettily up the slope from end to end of this
property. You won’t gather as many sticks from the brushwood as would
serve to boil a pot of potatoes, or as many twigs as would make a
fishing basket. But no more of this; it makes my heart sick to think
of it. Better to be talking of something else.”
The new era dawned, however. The dawn came so slowly that it was hardly
noticed. The rabid anti-Highland feeling died away, the powers that were
took a sensible view of the situation, and in the reaction that followed
the music of the pipes quickly regained its old position of pre-
eminence. With this difference, however—it returned to popularity as a
social instead of a military force, destined in the Highlands to be the
pursuit of the enthusiast and the beloved of the common people, and in
the British army only, the inspiration that leads men on to slay one
another. In this respect the suppression of the rebellions of 1715 and
1745 marks a turning point in Scottish history, the importance of which
has never been recognised. With Culloden ended the influence of old
beliefs, and when, in 1782, the ban of the Disarming Act was removed,
the people were ready for new ideas. A spirit of improvement and an
enthusiasm for things Highland appeared, first modestly, then boldly,
and under the auspices of a renovated society, without the environments
of war and romance, a new order asserted itself. Competitions stirred up
the more clever of the piping fraternity, and further popularised the
music, books on Highland piping, written or compiled by leading pipers,
began to appear, and with the publication broadcast of histories of the
many tunes, the people began to take an intelligent and patriotic
interest in the music. The Highlands is not now a barbarous and unknown
land. It is classic ground, having been made so by the pens of clever
writers, but the old instrument is still the emblem of the homeland to
Highlanders all over the world, and, whatever dies out, many generations
will not see the last of the pibroch.