The tabor and pipe, in the servant's first speech, were common popular
instruments. The tabor, of course, was a small drum, which was used as
accompaniment to the pipe, a small whistle with three holes, but with
a compass of 18 notes. (See Frontispiece.) In its curiously
disproportionate compass, it may be compared to the modern 'Picco'
pipe of the music shops. Mersennus (middle of 17th century) mentions
an Englishman, John Price, who was an accomplished player. It is
played on by Ariel, see a subsequent quotation from _The Tempest_ III,
ii, 126 and 152. Also _Much Ado_ II, iii, 13; and the tabor alone, in
_Twelfth Night_ III, i.
The Bagpipe[17] was very similar to the instruments of that name which
still exist. At the present moment there are four kinds in
use--Highland Scotch, Lowland Scotch, Northumbrian, and Irish. The
last has bellows instead of a 'bag,' but in other ways they are very
much alike. They all have 'drones,' which sound a particular note or
notes continually, while the tune is played on the 'chanter.'
Shakespeare himself tells us of another variety--viz., the
Lincolnshire bagpipe, in _Hen. 4. A._ I, ii, 76, where Falstaff
compares his low spirits to the melancholy 'drone of a Lincolnshire
bagpipe.'[18]
[Footnote 17: The Bagpipe appears on a coin of Nero. Also there is a
figure of an _angel_ playing it, in a crosier given by William of
Wykeham to New Coll.
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