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117 A DISSERTATION ON THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF THE WELSH. latter centuries, the Pibrach is more generally used in the highlands of Scotland than in any part of England or Ireland; and it has a most extraordinary influence, even at this day, on the native highlanders, in the time of action. The victory of Quebec, in 1760, is attributed by them to the infpiring effect of the Pibrach'. The term Píbra'ch implies the Arm-pipe, from its being blown with the arm.

The Tabwrdd, Tabret, or Drum, was anciently an inftrument of mirth, ufed upon festivals, public dancings, and at celebrations, to accompany other inftruments. Subsequently it was used in war, to direct the foldiers in their march, attack, retreat, &c.; for which purpose a larger drum was used than the tabor. This inftrument is faid to be an Oriental invention.

The old English march of the foot was formerly in high estimation as well abroad as with us; its characteristic is dignity and gravity, in which respect it differs greatly from the French; which, as it is given by Mersennus, is brifk and alert. Sir Roger Williams, a gallant Welsh foldier of queen Elizabeth's time, (and who has therefore a place among the Worthies of Loyd, and Winstanley,) had once a conversation on this fubject with Marshal Biron, a French general. The Marshal observed, that the English march beaten on the Drum was flow, heavy, and fluggish: "that may be true," answered Sir Roger, " but, flow as it is, it has traversed your master's country from one end to the other "."

The last, which perhaps should have been mentioned before, is the Corn Buelin, or Bugle-Horn. This inftrument was ufually made in the form of a femi-circle, and received its general appellation from its. being the horn of the Bugle, Buffalo, or wild Ox, an animal formerly common in this ifland. In the reign of King Howel; there were three principal Horns belonging to the Royal palace; the account of them I fhall extract literally from the ancient Welsh laws :

"Tri Chorn Cyweithas y fydd i'r Brenin,

ac a ddylant vód yn Vuelin

Ei Gorn Cyvedd, a yvo y Brenin o bonaw;

a'i Garn Cychwyn, o va yn ei gyweithas yn watad;
a Chorn Hela yn llaw y Pencynydd :
A phunt yw gwerth pob un o honunt."

Three focial Horns are allotted for the use of the King,
and thofe fhould be of the Buffalo :viz.
His banqueting, or drinking Horn; the War Horn
of his retinue, which was always in readinefs; and
the Horn of the Chace, in the hands of his chief
huntsman: And the value of each of them was

Leges Wallica, pp. 266. 311. a pound.

"Or & y Pencynydd ynanrhaith gan Deulu y Brenin, neu gan Lú, caned ei Gorn pan vo iawn iddo, adewifed eidion o'r anrbaith.”

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Leges Wallice, p. 42.

If the master of the hounds went out on a foraging expedition, with the family of the King, or with his army, he blew his Horn when it was neceffary, for which fervice he was to choose an ox from the military booty.

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Rhegain garm rhyw gwn gormes,
"Rhuglgroen, yn rhoi gwlaw a gwres.

A Poem on Thunder by David ab Gwilym ; fee p. 81 of this Work
King Arthur; and, Henry the Vth, both conquered France.
The above bon-mot is recorded in one of those entertaining

• The Bagpipe feems to have long been in ufe, and probably. invented about the fame period as when the bellows was added to the Regal, or the pipes of the Organ. Toward the clofe of Nero's reign, he vowed he would bring on the ftage, a (Hydraalam, Choraulam, and Utricularium.) Water-Organ, a chorus of Flutes and Bagpipes.—Suetonii Tranquilli, Lib. 11. Cap. 54.-And little books written by Crouch, under the fictitious name of Hughes's Tranflation of the fame: vide Nero. This is the earliek Robert Burton, entitled Admirable Curiofities, Rarities, and Wonmention of any thing of this kind, that I can find. Alfo, ac-ders of England, Scotland, and Ireland. cording to the Supplement to Montfaucon's Antiquities, tranflated by Humphreys, Vol. III. Book VIII. Chap. 1. which fays, the Latin name of the Bag-pipe is Tibia Utricularis, and in Greek. doxaves. It farther mentions a bas-relief of this inftrument in the court of the palace of Prince Sanda Crota, at Rome; and a fimilar one under the arms of a fhepherd, in the cabinet of Cardinal Albani. One thing more I fhall notice refpecting the Bag-pipe, which in French is fometimes called Mufette Gallica, and Cornamufe Bourdone; the latter term evidently originated from the Welsh Byrrdin, and whence the English word Burden, or Drone is derived. When any thing is got into general circulation, this old proverb is commonly applied to it:

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Ev a aeth hynny ar Gyrn, a Phibau.”

i.c. "That is become the note of the Horns, and Pipes.". • Genefis XXXI. 27-Exodus XV. 20.-Judges XI. 34." Pfaim CXLIX. 3-Virgil's Georgiçs. Lib. IV, 64.--And p. 85 of this work."

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The following poetical effufion on the Drum, by Scott, is fo
pretty and defcriptive, that 1 cannot forbear introducing it heres
"I hate that Drum's difcordant found,
Parading round, and round, and round:
To thoughtless youth it pleafure yields,
And lures from cities, and from fields,
To fell their liberty for charms
Of tawdry lace, and glittering arms;
And when ambition's voice commands
To march, and fight, and fall in foreign lands

I hate that Drum's difcordant found,
Parading round, and round, and round;
To me it talks of ravag'd plains,

And burning towns, and ruin'd swains,
And mangled limbs, and dying groans,
And Widow's tears, and Orphan's moans;
And all that Misery's hand bestows,
To fill the catalogue of human woes.”.

He

He likewife founded his fignal Horn in hunting, to animate the hunters and the dogs, and to call the latter together. The master of the royal hounds had the fame power of protection within the found of his Horn, while he was hunting 2, as the Chief Bard poffeffed while performing on his Harp. When his oath was required in a court of justice, he fwore by his Horn and his Leashes. By the old Welsh hunting laws it was decreed, that every perfon carrying a Horn was obliged to know the Nine Chases; and that, if he could not give a proper account concerning them, he should lose his Horn s.

This inftrument had lids occafionally at the ends of it, and was the cup out of which our forefathers quaffed mead, for which they valued it as much as for its cheering and warlike found. The merry Horn was sometimes a fubject of the Cambrian Muse. There is a charming spirited poem in the Rev. Mr. Evans's Specimens of the Welsh Poetry?, and versified by the Rev. Richard Williams', entiled Hirlas Owain, from a large drinking Horn used at feasts in his palace, and composed by the Bard Owain Cyveiliog, Prince of Powys, about the year 1160, and immediately after his great victory over the English at Maelor, which will give my Reader some idea, how our famed ancestors used to regale themselves after battle, in the days of Yore.

Hirlas 9, or the drinking Horn of Owen Cyveiliog, Prince of Powis.

UP-ROSE the ruddy dawn of day,
The armies met in dread array

On Maelor Drevred's 10 field;
Loud the British clarions found,
The Saxons, gafping on the ground,
The bloody contest yield.-
By Owen's arm the valiant bled;
From Owen's arm the coward fled
Aghaft with wild affright;

'From Christmas until the month of February, the Master of the Hounds ought to be with the King when ever he thinks fit. And, from the first week of the month of February, he ought to take his dogs, his horn, and his leafhes, to go a hunting of the Roes during the fpring; and from that time until the feaft of St. John, at Midfummer, he ought to hunt the roes. From the ninth day of October it is right for him to go to hunt the wild Boars, and from that time until the firft of November. Leges Wallica, pp. 40 and 41.

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Leges Wallice, p. 42.

See the preceding page 27.

4 Leges Wallica, p. 40.

See the Welth Hunting laws at the end of Dr. Davies, and Richard's Welsh Dictionaries.

"Corn Canu pieufo bynnag, dwygeiniawg a dál.” Leg.Wal. p. 274. i. e. A common founding Horn of every denomination, was valued at two pence.

• In the royal palace of the Ancient Britons, the Patron of the Family received a hornful of the best liquor from the hand of the King, another from the Queen, and the third from the Steward of the household. Leges Wallice, pp. 16 and 17.

The Comptroller of the Household was allowed the length of his middle finger of fine ale, and up to the middle joint of the fame finger of bragget, and up to the firft joint of mead. Leg. Wal.p.23.

The Mafler of the Royal Hounds was allowed three hornfuls of mead in every banquet; that is, one from the King, another from the Queen, and the third from the Comptroller, or the Patron of the Family. Leges Wallice, p. 39.

The Cup bearer; his province was to keep the mead cellar, and whatever it contained, complete; alfo, to serve out the liquor, and diftribute it to every one according to his right. He was entitled to a lawful waffail from every feaft in which there was mead; that is, as much as the veffels that ferved would contain of ale, and half their fill of bragget, and the third of mead. Leges Wallica, pp. 45 and 46.

Let then their haughty lords beware
How Owen's just revenge they dare,

And tremble at his fight.

Fill the Hirlas Horn, my boy,
Nor let the tuneful lips be dry

That warble Owen's praise;
Whofe walls with warlike spoils are hung,

And

open wide his gates are flung

In Cambria's peaceful days.

out of the horns, and the bowls. He was also allowed a hornful
from the King, another from the Queen, and the third from
the Master of the Horfe, out of the waffail of the followers,
which was ftyled Gwirawd yr Ebyfdyl, or the Waffail Cup of
the Apostles; whom they probably invoked at the time of drink-
ing.
Leges Wallica, pp. 47 and 48.

This cuftom was in frequent ufe in old times. The Danes invoked the highest powers to affift the mighty draught: Help Gor unde MARIA. And the Saxon ULPHVs, when he conveyed certain lands to the church of York, quaffed off the horn, DEO et St. Petro. Ulphus's curious horn is ftill preserved in the catheral at York.-(See the Archeologia, publifhed by the Antiquarian Society, Vol. III. p. 8.) On lefs ferious occafions, on festival days, the horn was emptied at one tip, and then blown to fhew that there was no deceit. Pennant's Journey to Wales, p. 287.

In former days, Mead was the Nectar of the Ancient Britons, and the Bards often celebrate it. Prince Llywarch Hên fays, in one of his Poems, " Yn veddw vêdd Trên.” i. e. The mead of Trên made me jovial."Cyn myned máb Cynan y dan dyward, "Ceffid yn ei gyntedd Vêdd a Bragawd." Meilir. Before the fon of Cynan was laid under the fod, The Mead, and Bragget were liberally received in his hall. "Gwlad Powys mamwys y mêdd." Dr. J. D. Rhys's Gramr. The region of Powys, the mother of mead."Croyw vir, cryv vêdd,

« Côv yw cyvedd.” ́S. Vychan, 1790. Pleafing is the remembrance of the clear ale, and strong mead in the banquet.

There is a place in Anglefey called Llannerch y Mêdd, or the Lawn of Mead. See the Mead Song by Taliefin, in p. 21. Also, the Welfh formerly ufed Clary-wine,& Mulberry-wine. See p. 21. Specimens of Welsh Poetry, p. 7. 3.Page 288, of Pennant's Wales.

9 Hirlas, the epithet of the Horn, from bir, long, and glás, blue, or azure.

The royal Porter had a veffel in the hall for receiving his waffail, the comptroller and all the cup-bearers with him, on the three primary feftivals, viz. Christmas, Eafter, and Whit- Maler is a part of the counties of Denbigh and Flint, funtide, complimented him, by giving wassail into his vessel'according to the modern division,

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119

THE POEM OF THE HIRLAS HORN, OF OWEN CYVEILIOG.

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Who oft has dy'd his fpear in blood.
When they hear their chieftain's voice,
Then his gallant friends rejoice;

But, when to fight he goes, no more

The feftal fhout refounds on Severn's winding fhore.

Fill the gold-tip'd horn with speed,
(We must drink, it is decreed.)
Badge of honour, badge of mirth,
That calls the foul of mufic forth!
As thou wilt thy life prolong,
Fill it with Metheglin trong.
Gruffudd thirsts, to Gruffudd fill,
Whose bloody lance is us'd to kill;
Matchlefs in the field of ftrife,
His glory ends not with his life:
Dragon-fon of Cynvyn's race,
Owen's fhield, Arwyftli's grace.
To purchase fame the warriors flew,
Dire, and more dire, the conflict grew;

When flush'd with mead, they bravely fought, Like Belin's warlike fons, that Edwin's downfall wrought.

Fill the horn with foaming liquor,
Fill it up, my boy, be quicker;
Hence away, despair and forrow!
Time enough to figh to-morrow.
Let the brimming goblet fmile,
And Ednyved's cares beguile;
Gallant youth, unus'd to fear,
Master of the broken fpear,
And the arrow-pierced shield,
Brought with honour from the field.
Like an hurricane is He,

Bursting on the troubled fea.

Arwyfli, the name of one of the cantreds of Powys.

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To Sely fill, of eagle-heart,
Skill'd to hurl the fatal dart;

With the wolf's impetuous force
He urgeth on his headlong course.
To Tudor next, great Madoc's fon,
They the race of honour run
Together in the tented field,
And both alike difdain to yield.
Like a lion in the fray,
Tudor darts upon his prey.
Rivals in the feats of war,

Where danger call'd, they rufh'd from far;

Till fhatter'd by fome hoftile ftroke,

With horrid clang their fhields were broke;
Loud as the foaming billows roar,

Or fierce contending winds on Talgarth's+ftormy fhore.

Fill the horns with rofy wine,

Brave Moreiddig claims it now, Chieftain of an ancient line,

Dauntless heart, and open brow. To the warrior it belongs, Prince of battles, theme of fongs! Pride of Powys, Mochnant's boast! Guardian of his native coaft!

Garthan, the name of a fort or caftle, fome where near the Severn.

Probably this alludes to the famous battle of Bangor-y-Gwygyr, in Flintshire, fought A. D. 633.
Talgarth, near Machynllaeth, in Montgomeryshire.

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But,

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Due remembrance, while we live;
And in fairy fiction dress'd,
Flowing hair, and fable vest,

The tragic Muse shall grace our fongs,

While brave Moreiddig's name the mournful strain
prolongs.-

Pour out the horn, (tho' he defire it not,)
And heave a figh on Morgan's early grave;
Doom'd in his clay-cold tenement to rot,
While we revere the memory of the brave..

Fill again the Hirlas Horn,

On that ever glorious morn,

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The Britons and their foes between,
What prodigies of might were feen!
On Gweftyn's plains the fight began ;
But Gronwy fure was more than man!
Him to refift, on Gweftyn's plain,
A hundred Saxons ftrove in'vain.
To fet the noble Meirig free,

And change his bonds to liberty,
The warriors vow'd. The God of day
Scarce darted his meridian ray,

When he beheld the conquerors steep'd in gore,
AndGweftyn's bloody fight, ere highest noon was o'er.

Now a due libation pour

To the fpirits of the dead,
Who, that memorable hour,

Made the hostile plain their bed.
There the glitt'ring steel was feen,
There the twanging Bow was heard;
There the mighty prefs'd the green,
Recorded by the faithful Bard.
Madoc there, and Meilir brave,
Sent many a Saxon to his
grave.

Pour the fweet transparent Mead,

(The fpear is red in time of need,)

And give to each departed fpirit
The honour and reward of merit.
What cares furround the regal ftate,
What anxious thoughts moleft the great,
None but a prince himself can know,

And Heav'n, that ruleth kings, and lays the mighty low.

For Daniel fill the horn fo green,

Of haughty brow, and angry mien ;
While the lefs'ning tapers fhine,
Fill it up with gen'rous wine.
He nor quarter takes, nor gives,
But by fpoils and rapine lives.
Comely is the youth, and brave;
But obdurate as the grave.
Hadst thou seen, in Maelor fight,
How we put the foe to flight!
Hadft thou seen the chiefs in arms,

When the foes rufh'd on in fwarms!

Round about their prince they stood,

And ftain'd their fwords with hostile blood.
Glorious bulwarks! To their praise
The prince devotes his latest lays.
Now, my boy, thy task is o'er,
Thou fhalt fill the horn no more.
Long may the King of Kings protect,
And crown with blifs, my friends elect;
Where Liberty and Truth refide,

And Virtue, Truth's immortal bride!
There may we all together meet,

And former times renew in heav'nly converse sweet!

I was fortunate in meeting with one of these celebrated Horns at Penrhyn, near Bangor, in Caernarvonfhire, formerly the fpot where Roderick Molwynog, Prince of Wales's palace ftood, and afterwards the feat of the Griffiths's. By the initials, and a creft on the Horn, I find that it belonged to Sir Rhys Gruffydd, and fubfequently to his gallant fon Sir Piers Gruffydd, a diftinguished naval officer, who shared in the honour of defeating the Spanish Armada, and other valiant actions; he was living in 1598. This Horn was found many years ago in removing some rubbish close to the tower of the old house'; from the top of which, probably, it had been dropped or loft, because every chief Lord of a district, formerly poffeffed a fimilar Horn, which occafionally was blown from the highest turret of his house, as a fignal to call around his vaffals in a cafe of danger. I made a correct drawing of it, which I have caused to be engraved in the trophy of the musical instruments in p. 89, where the Reader will fee it hanging on the top of the

The present owner of Penrhyn is now Lord Penrhyn, who married a defcendant of Archbishop Williams, and by which marriage he came to that estate. Trumpets were first founded before the English kings, by order of Offa, in the year 790,

triple

121

A DISSERTATION ON THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF THE WELSH. triple Harp. The original is the most elegant antique I ever faw; it is tipt with fculptured filver, and decorated with a beautiful filver chain'.

In the time of the princely Bard Llywarch Hen, about the year 560, the Bugle Horn was then in equal estimation, both to excite heroism, as well as for a mead cup, which appears by the following fragments: Urien, loudly found the Horn that I gave thee,

Y Corn a'th roddes di URIEN,

A'i arweft aur am ei ên,

Chwyth ynddaw o'th ddaw angen.

with the golden rim about its brim ;

found it when thou art put to extremity.

From Llywarch Hên's Elegy on his Sons.

Anoeth bydd brawd yn cynnull,
Amgyrn buely am drull,
Rhebydd viled Reged dull!

Anoeth bydd brawd yn cynnwys,
Amgyrn buelyn, amwys
Rhebydd viled Rhegedwys.
Handid Eurddyl avlawen henoeth,
A lluofydd amgen,

Yn Aber-Lieu lladd Urien!

It will be a cruel task for a brother to circulate the bugle-horn.
It grieves me to think of convivial banquets,

fince the lord of Rheged's numerous troops are flain.
'Tis unmeet to permit the circulation of the
drinking horns! 'tis doubtful,

whether the noble Chief was implicated or not.
Eurddyl is forrowful, and aged;

stript of her ornaments, deprived of a general

that had no rival: at Aber-lleu was Urien flain! From Llywarch Hen's Elegy on Urien Reged, King of Cambria.

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St. Patrick, the Briton, who was educated at Glastonbury Abbey, and being illustrious for his fanctity, was fent to Ireland, in the reign of Laogaire, fon of Nial the great, about A. D. 432, to convert the Irish to Christianity. Giraldus farther relates, "that St. Patrick had a Horn, which was not of gold, but of brafs; that Horn was afterwards brought to Wales from Ireland; but, what is remarkable of that Horn is this, that, by applying the opening of the larger end to the ear, one may hear a fweet-founding noise emitted through it, like the melody which is usually fent forth by the naked Harp gently touched "."

The Bugle Horn appears älfo at a very early period among the Gauls; for, Cafar, in the account of his wars, fays, “there is an animal in the Hercynian Forest called the Uri, (or Buffalo,) and they who kill the greatest number, and produce their horns in public as a proof, are in high reputation with their countrymen. The natives preserve them with great care, tip their edges with filver, and use them instead of cups on their most folemn feftivals "."

The Udgorn, or Trumpet: God himself vouchsafed to give direction to Mofes for the making of that inftrument; faying, " Make thee two Trumpets of filver; of a whole piece shalt thou make them; that thou mayeft use them for the calling of the affembly, and for the journeying of the camps *. Among the Hebrews, the privilege of founding the Sophar, or Trumpet, in religious ceremonies, was referved to

Alan Sylveftris received the Bailiwick of Wirral forest by the delivery of a Horn. See Cheshire, in Camden's Britannia.

• The dimenfions of the Horn are the following: the dia- Hereditary Steward of the two royal manors of East and West meter of the femi-circle 13 inches and . The whole line of Leake, in Nottinghamshire, Efcheator, Coroner, and Clerk of the the femi-circle 21 inches and . The diameter of the drink-Market, of the honour of Tutbury; the fecond of which offices, ing end 2 inches and The diameter of the blowing end viz. Efcheator, is now in a manner obfolete." Blount's Ancient rather above. And it contains about half a pint.- Tenures, by Beckwith, pp. 186, 303 ; fecond edition. • Giraldus's Topography of Ireland, Chap. XVI. Amongst fome papers of the late Mr. Edward Llwyd, the antiquary, dated 1706, I find the drawing of a brazen horn which was found at Belliniwr, near Carick-fergus, about 20 years before; two others were found at the fame time. This horn was then in the custody of Mr. Malcolm of Bellimagan, at Antrim, in Ireland; it refembles a fow-gelder's horn, but has no aperture in the fmalleft end, and probably the cap was on, as there is a ring at the point. It was two feet long, and of a curve shape.

In Staffordshire, formerly, there was a white Hunter's Horn, decorated in the middle and at each end with filver, gilt; to which also was affixed a girdle of fine black filk, adorned with buckles of filver, in the middle of which is placed a coat of arms, fupposed to be that of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, about the year 1390. That horn was the inftrument by which the Efcheator and Coroner, through the whole honour of Tutbury, in the county of Stafford, and the Bailiwick of Leyke, held his office. Mr. Samuel Foxlow of Stavely, in Derbyshire, now enjoys the post abovementioned, by this tenure, and in virtue of his being in poffeffion of the faid Hunter's Horn. The offices conveyed by the Horn were thofe of feodary, or bailiff in fee; i. s.

formerly was prefented to one of their ancestors by King The Pufey family in Berkshire have a Bugle Horn which Canute, the Dane, about the year 1019; and by which inftrument they still hold their lands. There is a print of that curious Horn in the Archeologia, published by the Antiquarian Society, Vol. III. p. 13; as well as of the Borstal Horn, in p. 1; and Lord Bruce's Horn, in p. 24 of the fame volume. Likewife, I am informed, there is a Bugle Horn belonging to the chapter or church of Durham; and another at Corpus Chrifti College, Cambridge. See alio the Gentleman's Magazine for January 1752.

The lager Horn, or hunter's mufic of Ruffia, ufed by the grand Mafter of the Hunt to his Imperial Majefty, is made of thin brass, and in form resembling the Tuba of the ancients, that is, ftraight, excepting a fmall part of the blowing end, which is bent nearly in a right angle. 3 Cafar's Commentaries, Book VI. 26.

Diodorus Siculus fays, the Gauls had Trumpets after the Bar4 Numbers, Chap. X. &c. Numbers XXIX. v. 1, & XXXI. barian manner; Book V. Chap. II.

the

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