Annotation:Tappit Hen
X:1 T:Tappit Hen, The M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Jig B:Donald MacDonald – A Collection of Quicksteps, Strathspeys, Reels, and B:Jigs arranged for the Highland Bagpipe (1828, p. 61) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Amix a|AAA c2A|d2e f3|AAA c2A|dBG Bcd| eAA eAA|c2e fga|ece dBG|AAA AA:| |:e|c2e ecA|AAg f3|c2e ecA|B2c dBG| c2e ecA|AAg fga|ece dBG|AAA AA:|]
TAPPIT HEN, THE. Scottish, Jig (6/8 time). A Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The excerpt below, a short discourse on Tappit Hen, is from the book Golf at Gleneagles (1921), by R. J. Maclennan:
The Tappit Hen
Behind the green known as the Tappit Hen stands a clump of young trees, forming, in a manner of speaking, a crest on the crown of a little hill. The circumstance led to the choice of the name. A "tappit hen," as the old Scottish pewter quart measures were called in the taverns where convivial souls gathered, had usually an ornamental lid, the decoration on which was a crested (or "tappit ") hen. These measures are not in general use to-day, but are counted valuable by collectors of antiques and by others who treasure them on account of old associations. Allan Ramsay, in his Scottish poems, makes allusion to the "Tappit Hen." His interesting imitation of the famous Winter Ode of Horace, "Vides ut alta", is considered one of the happiest efforts of the author's genius. It carries successfully and with racy phraseology the mind and spirit of the original: -Drivin' their ba's frae whins or tee
There's no ae gowfer to be seen,
Nor doucer folk wysing ajee
The bias'd bowls on Tampon's Green.
Then fling on coals an' ripe the ribs,
An' beek the hoose baith but an' ben;
That mutchkin-stowp it hauds but dribs
Then let's get in the tappit hen.
This is another indication of the age of golf in Scotland, because Allan Ramsay was born in the year 1686.
Something of the fine spirit of a Scottish welcome is suggested in these lines, and the part played in it by the Tappit Hen is not inconspicuous. Another happy allusion occurs in the last verse of "The Laird o' Cockpen ": -Neist time that the Laird and the Leddy were seen, They were gaun arm in arm to the kirk on the green; Now she sits in the ha' like a weel tappit hen, And the late Mistress Jean is now Leddy Cockpen.
Returning, however, to the significance of the "Tappit Hen" as a measure for "Scotch yill" (ale), it is worth noting that it held two Scottish pints or about three English quarts. It was also favoured as a measure for claret. Sir Walter Scott wrote: - "I have seen one of these formidable stoups at Provost Hanvell's, at Jedburgh, in the days of yore. It was a pewter measure, the claret being in ancient days served from the top, and had the figure of a hen upon the lid. In later times the name was given to a glass bottle of the same dimensions. These are rare apparitions among the degenerate topers of modern days."
