1710 Description of a ball at Dudley Castle

As “recounted by her grandmother in 1776: While the band kept up the spirit with harp, pipe, tabor
and violin the floor rocked beneath the quick and measured steps of the gay company engaged in the dance....
that distinguished company ...consisted of the nobles of the land.  The ladies shone with glossy silks and jewels 
and the gentlemen with gold and silver lace....”

as reported in the County Advertiser & Herald for Staffordshire and Worcestershire - Saturday 16 February 1884

1759

“Musicians made a living by hiring themselves out through agents for balls and private functions. 
At Bedford House in 1759 an agent was paid 14 guineas to supply 3 ‘violas’, a hautboy (oboe?)
a pipe and tabor and two basses for a ball.”

quoted in Sheila M Nelson, “The Violin and the Viola” Dover, page 122

1761 Letter 76 To George Montagu, Esq. Strawberry Hill, May, 14

“Saturday morning, Arlington Street. I came to town yesterday for a party at Bedford-House,
made for Princess Amelia; the garden was open....... The tables were removed, the young people
began to dance to a tabor and pipe; the Princess sat down again, but to unlimited loo; we played till three”

Letters of Horace Walpole, (1717-1797) - Volume 3

'The Birth of the Music Business: Public Commercial Concerts In London 1660–1750' by Catherine Harbor 2012 Volume 2,
Appendix G. Calendar of Concerts at Wells, Spas and Gardens, page 214

1763 as advertised

“27th A Ball at the King’s Head NB the French Horn will accompany the minuets:
and the tabor and pipe the Country Dances"

The Ipswich Journal - Saturday 23 July 1763

1771 the band (different print)

1771 poem

“…Engag'd one morning, by my friend,
At his aunt's house the night to spend,
Where he assur'd me there would be,
Of friends select a company;
That there would be a pipe and tabor,
To entertain a country neighbour,…
And as the Lady did delight
In dancing,. —so they'd spend the night…
As oft I strove, throughout the dance,
To steal, so oft I met a glance;…”

‘Christianity Unmasqued; or, unavoidable ignorance preferable to corrupt Christianity. A poem. In twenty-one cantos. 1771 by Smith, Michael

In London dances were held at theatres. Pipe and tabor players were hired on occasion:
at the Covent Garden Theatre here is one record for 1749, two in 1767 and one in1768.

Between Dec 1774 and Nov 1775 there were 59 nights when the pipe and tabor player was hired at
Theatre Royal Drury Lane for dances.

1772 Letter, Matthew Boulton (London) to Mrs. Ann Boulton “…our Neighbour Sands kept his Wedding & gave a dance to a great number of his aquaintance which with the fiddles hautboys & Tabor & Pipe kept up a perpetual rally all night untill 6 o Clock in the Morng…”

1776 ‘Letter 2’ Mr. Inkle to Mrs. Dinah Inkle, at Glocester' “…And who at the Ball on that Night did appear, Who danc'd in the Van, and who limp'd in the Rear,… …At what Time they heard the Men puff and belabour With Mouth, Stick, and Fist, the gay Pipe and the Tabor,…” 'The New Bath Guide: AN ELECTION BALL, IN POETICAL LETTERS by Christopher Anstey page 221

‘Wealth and Poverty, an allegory’ (part) Caledonian Mercury - Saturday 08 August 1778

1779 “…The light-footed lasses led up the sprightly dance, and the enamoured youths tripped to the pipe and tabor ….In former days the card-table was introduced…It supplied the :::e of the tabor and the dance, and variety to the scenes of mirth and jocularity …” ‘Pictures of Men, Manners, and the Times: Interspersed with Descriptions of the Country and Rural Enjoyments’

1781 song ‘The Poor Peasant.’ Sung by Mr. Darley, at Vauxhall‘The Bull-finch. Being a choice collection of the newest and most favourite English songs which have been sett to music and sung at the public theatres & gardens.’ 1781

1781 KING'S THEATRE, HAYMARKET. "After L'Omaggio was concluded, a cold collation was served... After the company had supped, they danced cottilions [sic], minuets, and country dances. We left them perfectly happy, footing it, in short time, to the harp, tabor and pipe, and violin, at three this morning." Morning Chronicle 6 June 1781

1783reported in the Norfolk Chronicle - Saturday 10 May 1783

1784 review of a painting "A Grecian Harvest Home." “…The pictures were completed and publicly exhibited in 1783, and were presented to the Society in 1784 ….The season is, as the title expresses, that of harvest ; and as most of the persons represented are employed in rural sports, the evening is chosen, as the most proper time for such relaxation from the labours of the field… .young men and women, in beautiful forms and lightly habited, are dancing to the music of a rural pipe and tabor..." Journal of the Society of Arts, Vol. 16, no. 816, 1868

1787 “…make use of your pipe and tabor, and teach them all to dance the Minuet de la Cour, the Gavot, the Cotillion, or whatever you with the learned DOCTOR's concurring  opinion, may think will render them completest and best dancers…” 'The Whitsun Donative, Being a hasty Sketch of an intended Publication under the Title of THE LIFE and OPINIONS OF TRISTRAM'S PAPA, ‘1787

1784 letter: The Weekly Entertainer, and West of England Miscellany 1784-12-06: Vol 4 Iss 101

In Bath the pipe and tabor was added to the orchestra on ball nights. 1791 as reported in the Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Thursday 17 November 1791

The Season ran from October to early June. The Upper Rooms held two balls a week, a dress ball on Monday
nights and a fancy ball on Thursday nights. Fancy Balls were much more relaxed occasions. Ladies could appear
in hats or make any other elegant fashion statement they pleased. The band consisted of twelve performers including
the harp, tabor and pipe. 'Each performer to be allowed a sum not exceeding half a guinea on each ball night for his
attendance, which money is to be taken from the subscription of the respective balls'.
[Quoted in Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Thursday 27 May 1886]

'...personalities of social, political, literary, and artistic life took so much ......
'In this manner, and in these sets, rapidly, gaily, uncounted, and untutored, ......
a BALL, (With proper Musick accompanied with the Tabor and Pipe.) .....

The Great Dr. Burney, His Life His Travels, His Works His Family and His Friends
Vol. 1 Book by Percy A. Scholes; 1948

“If the peasants in the neighbourhood of any chapel dedicated to a saint, whose day 
is to be celebrated, have a mind to make a festin, in other 
words, a fair, they apply to the commandant of Nice for a 
license, which costs them about a French crown. This being 
obtained, they assemble after service, men and women, in their 
best apparel, and dance to the musick of fiddles, and pipe and 
tabor, or rather pipe and drum.

c 1766 'Travels Through France And Italy' by Tobias Smollett book 4

1707 religious treatise

“…I cannot forget, that in my Youth in those late times, when we lost the Labours of some of our Conformable
Godly Teachers, for not Reading publickly the Book of Sports and Dancing on the Lord’s-days, one of my
Father’s own Tenants was the Town-Piper, hired by the Year (for many Years together) and the place of the
Dancing-Assembly was not an hundred yards from our Door; and we could not on the Lord’s-day, either Read
a Chapter, or Pray, or sing a Psalm or Catechise, or instruct a Servant, but with the noise of the Pipe and Tabor…”

‘The Practical Works of the late reverend and Pious Mr. Richard Baxter’

1719

...Each bonny Lad shall with his loving Lass,
With Pipe and Tabor trip it on the Grass ;
With Chaplets gay my Jenny shall be crown'd,
And with her Loving Jockey 'Dance around : ...

from:' SONGS Compleat, Pleasant and Divertiv; SET TO M U S I C K' by Dr. JOHN BLOW, Mr. HENRY PURCELL, and other Excellent Masters of the Town

1719 Songs Compleat, Pleasant and Divertiv ;

JOAN to the MAY-POLE.

Come Will, run Gill,
Or dost thou list to lose thy labour ?
Kit Crowd, scrape aloud,
Tickle her Tom\ with a Pipe and a Tabor,....

.... If the Tabor do play, we thump it away,
And turn, and meet our Lasses to Kiss 'em...

SET TO M U S I C K By Dr. John Blow, Mr. Henry Purcell,
and other Excellent Masters of the Town

 "...we found a collection of the young fry of both sexes, the sons and daughters of farmers and miners,
met together in their holiday-clothes to learn to dance minuets, hornpipes, and country dances. The first
were over before we came, but the two last they executed in a manner that would have pleased and surprised
you. They were directed by a maitre de danse, a tight young fellow of a neighbouring village, to whose
taber and pipe they were exercised 3 times a week at the expence of one penny each time of performing...."

Historical Manuscripts Commission, 'Muniments of Edmond R. Wodehouse: Appendices',
in The Manuscripts of Rye and Hereford Corporations, Etc. Thirteenth Report, Appendix: Part IV 

1761 ARCADIA. A DRAMATIC PASTORAL.
THE Managers of Drury-Lane Theatre...the following little piece was written merely
with a view of manifesting such their loyalty and gratitude, to the best of monarchs:

"To the pipe and tabor beat
Frolic measures with your feet.
Ev'ry gift of time employ;
Make the most of proffer'd joy.....

So may all thy sylvan train,
Dryad, nymph, and rustic faun,
To the pipe and merry strain,
Trip it o'er the russet lawn!
May no thorn or bearded grass
Hurt their footsteps as they pass"

'Poems.' by Robert Lloyd, A.M: page 264

“…And dancing to the lively airs , of the pipe and tabor, was most agreeable to the gay and lively
….The instruments which they have, are of the simplest kind ; besides the pipe and tabor…”

‘The travels of Hildebrand Bowman, esquire, : into Carnovirria, Taupiniera, Olfactaria, and Auditante, in New-Zealand;
in the Island of Bonhommica, and in the powerful Kingdom of Luxo-volupto, on the great southern continent.’ by Bowman, Hildebrand

1779 story ‘LOVE at FIRST SIGHT.’

“…She was chosen queen of the May. Some gentlemen from the metropolis going that way, were stopped
by the sound of pipe and tabor. They alighted - Florinda was then going down in a country dance with her partner…”

Lady's Magazine : or, Entertaining companion for the fair sex, appropriated solely to their use and amusement. Volume 10, 1779.

1780 song ‘The Fair Maid's Love for a Farmer.’

1781 poem [also in ‘JOHNSON’'s LOTTERY SONG BOOK, 1776]

“…But, ah what a scene must appear,
Must the sweet rural pastimes be o'er,
Shall the tabor, the tabor, no more strike the ears
Shall the dance on the green be no more ?...”

'The Bird: containing a choice collection of love, hunting and bachanalian songs [&c.]'. by  Bird

1782 story: ‘LETTER from a Gentleman to his Friend, relating the melancholy effects of Seduction.’

“…the sight of the pretty rustic (drest as the queen of the May to welcome my visit to the Willows)
when she danced to the pipe and tabor…”

‘Literary amusements; or, evening entertainer. by a female hand. Containing, The history of Mr. Allen. The life of an authoress. ‘...
In two volumes. 1782: Vol 1 by Female Hand

1783 'Entertainment in a Field near Busby Street, Bethnal-Green, London':
“After Dinner there was a Ball on a Platform before the Tents,
with Violins, Tabor and Pipe, French Horns, Cymbaiines and other Music.”

Derby Mercury - Thursday 26 June 1783

1783 letter:

“…We are to have a grand-ball this evening, in the great saloon in the abbey; half the county are invited
:but that part of the entertainment I chiefly like is the preparations which have been made for the poor
for several miles round; for their reception, tents are pitched in the park—sheep are roasting whole,
whilst the young men and maidens are to dance to the pipe and tabor, on the lawn before the house….”

‘Peggy and Patty; or, the Sisters of Ashdale. In four volumes.’ ... 1783: Vol 4

1785 poem‘The Goldfinch, or new modern songster. Being a select collection of the most admired and favourite Scots
and English songs, cantatas, &c. 1785’

1786 poem ‘The RUSTIC FESTIVAL.’
“…And many a ruddy lass, and ploughman hale,
Their pastimes held in yonder's yellow dale;
With artless glee some deftly shift their feet,
In measar’d pace, to pipe and tabor sweet:…”

Town and Country Magazine, or Universal Repository of Knowledge, Instruction, and Entertainment 1786-09: Vol 18

1789 poem

“The pipe and tabor, violin and harp,
When dance and merriment occasion yield,
Cheer his glad soul; the boards resound the time;
Twin'd with the jumping lass with springing
He skims and floats, with ease, along the floor;
Graceful his step, in every feature joy; “ ....

from: 'The College Hero,' The Gentleman's Magazine, Volume 59, Part 1, May 1789

for other types of dance see:
the last dance of all (dance of death)
England: Regency dancing
Europe decorative arts: moresca
England: morris dancing
England:Victorian dance