1923 book cover -  handkerchiefs, longsword lock, morris bells,
and pipe and tabor

2016 Bert Cleaver  playing for Barnsley Longsword

1788 a group of sword dancers from the north, Cumbria, came to London and performed at the Pantheon theatre.
They were accompanied by a 'fidler'. This is a term occasionally used for a pipe and tabor player [see 'terminology'].

Westminster Magazine:
“The most striking and eccentric groupe which appeared in the rooms, was a set of Morrice Dancers, consisting in all of nine characters, …, performed what we took to be the Cumberland Sword Dance; a spectacle of all others the most novel and whimsical to a London company. …”   The company also included a Fidler who all “... acquitted themselves with a very good effect….” The Musician was a whimsical satire on Palmer's musicals - and represented Apollo turned Stroller, with the Royalty Pegasus at his back, in the semblance ofan ass with his ears cropped. This character would have been an exceeding laughable one independent of the groupe….”

 ‘Folk Dance and Theatrical Performance in the Eighteenth Century’ by Michael Heaney
Folk Music Journal Vol. 11, No. 2 (2017), pp. 6-16 (11 pages) © 2017 English Folk Dance + Song Society