_Much Ado_ II, iii, 13. Benedick, of Claudio in love.
_Ben._ I have known, when there was no _music_ with him but the _drum and the fife_; and now had he rather hear the _tabor and the pipe_: ... but till all graces be in one woman, one woman shall not come in my grace. Rich she shall be, that's certain; wise, or I'll none; ... of good discourse, an _excellent musician_, and her hair shall be of what colour it please God.
Besides these more civilised 'pipes,' the country-man's pipe of cornstalk is mentioned by Titania, in _Mids._ II. ii. 8. This was really a 'reed,' not a whistle of any kind.
The tabor leads one on to the Tabourine, which was the full-sized military drum, corresponding to the modern side-drum. See _Troil._ IV, v, 275. 'Beat loud the tabourines,' and _Antony_ IV, viii, 37, 'our rattling tabourines.'
The drum supplied the great proportion of military music in those days, besides having its importance as a means of signalling orders to the troops. This is dealt with more fully in the chapter on Stage Directions.
Parolles' sham anxiety about a lost drum is mentioned fourteen or fifteen times in _All's Well_ III. v. and vi.; and IV. i. Parolles earns his nickname of 'Tom Drum,' in Act V. iii. 320.
The following is an interesting passage of a more serious kind--
_Lewis_ [Dauphin.] Strike up the _drums_! and let the tongue of war Plead for our interest, and our being here.
_Bastard._ Indeed, your _drums_, being _beaten_, will cry out; And so shall you, being _beaten_. Do but start An _echo_ with the clamour of thy drum, And even at hand a _drum_ is ready brac'd, That shall reverberate all as loud as thine; _Sound_ but _another_, and another shall, As loud as thine, _rattle the welkin's ear_, And mock the deep-mouth'd thunder.
An entirely different use of the Drum is alluded to by Parolles, in his slanderous evidence against Captain Dumain.
_1 Soldier._ What say you to his expertness in war?
_Parolles._ 'Faith, sir, he has _led the drum before the English tragedians_, ... and more of his soldiership I know not.
There are several occasions in Shakespeare when _trumpets_ are sounded to herald the approach of play-actors, but _drums_ are not mentioned in this connection except here. Rimbault's Preface to Purcell's Opera 'Bonduca' (Musical Antiquarian Society) says that a Play was always introduced by the trumpet sounding three times, after which the Prologue entered. Dekker, referring to the list of _errata_ in his 'Satiromastix,' 1602, says--"Instead of the trumpets sounding thrice before the play begin, it shall not be amiss for him that will read, first to behold this short Comedy of Errors."
