Story of the Flute
many of them were foreigners), and also to a certain extent as drill instructors. Part of the duty of the Fife-Major in 1748 was to inflict corporal punishment, which was later relegated to the Drum-Major. Fifers were clearly of a higher rank than the ordinary soldiers, and were paid on a higher scale, receiving 1s. a day, whereas the private soldier only got 8d. They carried a case containing several fifes in different pitches at their side, as may be seen in many old pictures. Sometimes a banner was attached to the fife, as shown in Sandford's picture of the coronation procession of James II. The Soldier's Accidence (1629) mentions that the eldest fife marched along with the eldest drum. The march usually played by the English fifes and drums at this period struck the French Marshal Biron as "slow, heavy, and sluggish." On his remarking this to Sir Roger Williams, the latter replied, "That may be true, but still it has traversed your master's country from one end to the other."
In the reign of Charles I. the fife disappeared for a while from the English army, its place being taken byTemporaryDisuse
and Re-
instatement the bagpipe or the hautboy. Four drums and a fife, however, were used at the funeral of the Duchess of Saxony in 1666. It was re-introduced into the British Guards when at Maestricht in 1747. The re-introduction is attributed to the Duke of Cumberland; and at the termination of the war a Hanoverian named John Ulrich was brought over from Flanders specially to teach the fife to the Royal Artillery, and in June 1753 that corps
78
