Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 5.djvu/84

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. v. JAN. 27, 1912.

STATUE OF THE PIPER IN THE PLAGUE OF LONDON.

UNDER the heading ' The Old Highlander (10 S. vii. 92) is given an extract from Th Daily Graphic of 19 Jan., 1907, referring to the sale of what was called " Tottenharr Court Road's Oldest Inhabitant," viz., wooden figure of a Highlander from a tobacconist's shop in that neighbourhood.

I have just come across an extract from an old magazine called Baldwin's Londor Magazine for March or April, 1820, which appears to me to refer to a similar old figur which has a most interesting history, if the narrator in the magazine is to be relied on The extract is as follows :

" I forward you a rather remarkable anecdot relative to a statue (the original work of the famous Caius Gabriel Gibber) which has for many years occupied a site in a garden on the terrace in Tottenham Court Road. The statue in ques- tion is executed in a fine free-stone, representing a bagpiper in a sitting posture playing on his pipes, with his dog and keg of liquor by his side, the latter of which stands upon a neat stone pedestal.

" The following singular history is attached to its original execution. During the Great Plague of London carts Were sent round the city each night, the drivers of which rung a bell as intima- tion for every house to bring out its dead. The bodies were then thrown promiscuously into the cart and conveyed to a little distance in the environs, where deep ditches Were dug, into which they were deposited.

" The piper (as represented in the statue) had his constant stand at the bottom of Holborn, near St. Andrew's Church. He became well known about the neighbourhood, and picked up a living from the passengers going that way, who generally threw him a few pence as a reward for his musical talents. A gentleman who never failed in his generosity to the piper was surprised, on passing one day as usual, to miss him from his accustomed place ; on inquiry he found the poor man had been taken ill in con- sequence of a singular accident.

" On the joyful occasion of the arrival of one of his countrymen from the Highlands, the piper had made too free with the contents of his keg : these so overpowered his faculties that he stretched himself out upon the steps of the church and fell fast asleep. He was found in this situation when the dead- cart "went its rounds ; and the carter, supposing of course, as the most likely thing, that the man was dead, made no scruple to put his fork under the piper's belt, and with some assist- ance hoisted him into his vehicle, which was nearly full, with the charitable intention that our Scotch musician should share the usual brief ceremonies of interment.

" The piper's faithful dog protested against this seizure of his master, and attempted to prevent this unceremonious removal ; but failing success, he fairly jumped into the cart after him, to the no small annoyance of the men, whom he would

not suffer to come near the body. The streets and roads by which they had to go being very rough, added to the howling of the dog, had soon the effect of wakening our drunken musician from his trance. It was dark, and the piper, when he first recovered himself, could form no idea either of his numerous companions or his conductors. Instinctively, however, he reached for his pipes, and, playing up a merry Scotch tune, terrified in no small measure the carters, who fancied they had got a legion of ghosts.

" A little time, however, put all to rights, and the well-known living piper was joyfully released from his awful and perilous situation.

" The poor man fell ill, and was relieved by his former benefactor, who, to perpetuate the re- membrance of so wonderful an escape, resolved to employ a sculptor to execute him in stone, not omitting his faithful dog, keg of liquor, &c.

" The famous Caius Gabriel Gibber (father to Colley Gibber, the comedian) was then in high repute, from the circumstance of his having executed the beautiful figures which originally were placed over the entrance gate of Old Beth- lehem Hospital, and the statue in question of the Highland bagpiper remains an additional speci- men of the merits of this great artist. It was long after purchased by John, the great Duke of Argyll, and came from his collection at his demise into the possession of its present pro- prietor."

This statue seems to have a better claim than the other to be considered the " oldest inhabitant," and one wonders what has become of this example of a sculptor of such repute as Caius G. Gibber.

A. H. AKKLE.

Birkenhead.

[The piper's story seems to be a variant or an expansion of the story related by Defoe.]

ARMS OF THE SEE OF WINCHESTER. By which stirs my gratitude, I have a reprint of an article on the ' Arms of the See of Ixeter,' contributed by her to Devon and 'ornwall Notes and Queries. I should like suggest that the or and the argent cey in the Winchester blazon may have seen due to the passage in the ' Purga- orio ' (canto ix.) wherein the Angel on the hreshold drew from beneath his robe two
 * he courtesy of Miss ETHEL LEGA-WEEKES,
 * eys :

One was of gold, and the other was of silver ; First with the white, and after with the yellow, Plied he the door, so that I was content. Whenever faileth either of these keys So that it turn not rightly in the lock," He said to us, " this entrance doth not open, ifore precious one is, but the other needs More art and intellect ere it unlock, For it is that which doth the knot unloose, rom Peter I have them ; and he bade me err Rather in opening than in keeping shut, If people but fall down before my feet."