PIPING COMPETITIONS. 485 



bagpipe was played, not by the ear alone, but to written 

 music. That chapel was erected by William Sinclair, 

 Prince of Orkney, as far back as the year 1446. The use 

 of this instrument in Scotland, therefore, can be traced for 

 a period of about four centuries, and it probably was of 

 much greater antiquity.' 



In 1824, on 28th July, before delivering the prizes. 

 Lord Strathaven, Preses of the Committee, said he was 

 deputed by the Committee and Judges to express the satis- 

 faction they felt at witnessing so brilliant and so numerous 

 an audience, by whose liberality the Committee were 

 enabled to send home, with substantial proofs of regard, 

 the highly meritorious rising candidates who had that day 

 been unable publicly to appear before them.* His Lordship 

 further added — I am desired by the Committee to mention 

 that I have lately received from the Secretary of the High- 

 land Society of London, a letter regarding a piece of plate, 

 voted by the Society, on the recommendation of this Com- 

 mittee, to Mrs Henry Siddons, in acknowledgment of her 

 liberality in having given the gratuitous use of the theatre 

 for this competition for several years. The plate voted is 

 an elegant silver vase, with an appropriate inscription, 

 expressive of the purpose of presenting it ; and but for the 

 illness of the artist employed to finish the vase, it would 

 have been received in time to be delivered on this occasion. 

 His Lordship's address, and the intimation it conveyed 

 regarding the plate to Mrs Siddons, were received with 

 much applause. 



At the competition on 9th July 1825, the Earl of Fife 

 (Preses of the Committee of Judges), dressed in the true 

 Highland costume, addressed the house in a speech replete 

 with excellent feeling and appropriate reference to Highland 

 bravery and worth. His lordship said that he felt con- 

 vinced from his own experience and intercourse with High- 

 landers, that the fostering and perpetuating of the warlike 

 music of their fathers essentially contributed to the uphold- 



* The Judges had at a previous rehearsal selected those who were to com- 

 pete for the prizes. This was often a duty of no little difficulty, from the 

 general excellence of the whole as players. 



