characters in a morris-dance.

So have I seen
Tom Piper stand upon our village green,
Backed with the May-pole.

William Browne, _Shepherd's Pipe_ (1614).

_Piper_ (_Paddy, the_), an Irish piper, supposed to have been eaten by a
cow. Going along one night during the "troubles," he knocked his head
against the body of a dead man dangling from a tree. The sight of the
"iligant" boots was too great a temptation: and as they refused to come
off without the legs, Paddy took them too, and sought shelter for the
night in a cowshed. The moon rose, and Paddy, mistaking the moon-light
for the dawn, started for the fair, having drawn on the boots and left
the "legs" behind. At daybreak, some of the piper's friends went in
search of him, and found, to their horror, that the cow, as they
supposed, had devoured him with the exception of his legs--clothes,
bags, and all. They were horror-struck, and of course the cow was
condemned to be sold; but while driving her to the fair, they were
attracted by the strains of a piper coming towards them. The cow
startled, made a bolt, with a view, as it was supposed, of making a meal
on another piper. "Help, help!" they shouted; when Paddy himself ran to
their aid. The mystery was soon explained over a drop of the "cratur,"
and the cow was taken home again.--S. Lover, _Legends and Stories of
Ireland_ (1834).

=Piper of Hamelin= (_The Pied_), Bunting, who first charmed the rats of
Hamelin into the Weser, and then allured the children (to the number of
130) to Koppenberg Hill, which opened upon them. (See PIED PIPER OF
HAMELIN.)

=Piperman=, the factotum of Chalomel, chemist and druggist. He was "so
handy" that he was never at his post; and being "so handy," he took ten
times the trouble of doing anything that another would need to bestow.
For the self-same reason, he stumbled and blundered about, muddled and
marred everything he touched, and being a Jack-of-all-trades was master
of none.

There has been an accident because I am so handy. I went to the
dairy at a bound, came back at other, and fell down in the open
street, where I spilt the milk. I tried to bale it up--no go. Then
I ran back or ran home, I forget which, and left the money
somewhere; and then, in fact, I have been four times to and fro,
because I am so handy.--J. R. Ware, _Piperman's Predicament_.

=Pipes= (_Tom_), a retired boatswain's mate, living with