Suetonius speaks of the bagpipe ; and it appears that Nero, the Roman emperor, played on it. On one of his coins a bagpipe appears, and we are told of a piece of sculpture, not long ago in Rome, of this instrument, greatly resembling its present form. The sculpture was supposed Grecian. St Jerome, in his epistle to Dardanus, alludes to the bagpipe in its more simple shape : antiquis tenzporibus futt chorus quoque simplex pellis cum duabus czczdis eereis, et per rtnram inspiratzim secunda vocem mittit. In France it appears likewise in :ts simple state, in the Douse des Aveugles, in the 15th century ; and it is among the instruments represented in the Dance of Death, at Basle, in Switzerland.
The bagpipe is said to be of great antiquity in Ireland, and to have been early known in Britain. In the twelfth, or thirteenth century, we see it re, presented without drones, or with only one, having a flag, bearing a coat-armorial, such as was recently used in the Highlands of Scotland. King Edward III.
had pipers ; and Chaucer, speaking of the minstrels, a vagrant tribe, describes the bagpipe under the name of cornmuse, which is the appellation at present, given to it in France : Cornmuse and shalmes, many a (byte and lydynge borne.
Among the musicians of Queen Elizabeth's house. hold are named pipers.
With regard to the introduction of the bagpipe into Scotland, we arc altogether uncertain. Erni• rent authors have affirmed, that it was not known at the battle of Bannockburn, in 1314. But a bagpipe, with one drone, appears among the sculptures on Melrose Abbey, which, we are told, is a very old edifice. James I. of Scotland, who was murdered in
1436, is said to have been a performer on this instru ment. We only know of its being in general use during the last, or perhaps the preceding century. At present it enters the list of military instruments, for every Highland regiment has a piper ; and, as a na tionhl instrument, we have heard of institutions for teaching it in the isles of Mull and Skye. Neither pupil nor preceptor, however, being able to read, musical notes were represented by pins driven into the ground. To encourage the cultivation of this instrument, annual premiums have been recently dis• tributed by the Highland Society to the most emi nent performers. A competition, generally in the end of July, takes place before a committee of that Society at Edinburgh, who decide on the merits of the candidates. The competition lasts several hours ; and Highland dances, introduced by way of interlude, are performed with uncommon skill and agility. We doubt if this kind of music can ever be brought to great perfection, on account of the defects insepa rable from the instrument. But the passionate attach ment which the Highlanders display for it, and the use of which it has actually been in gaining victories on the day of battle, render it a fit subject for en couragement. See Bartholinus De Tihiis rcterunt, Montfaucon Antiquit. expliq. Essai sin- la Musique, tom. i. Fordun Scotichronicon. Pennant's Tour in, Scotland, vol. i. ii. Kotzebue's Travels in Italy. Strutt's Sports and Pastimes of the People of England. (c)