The dining-room at Glamis is a very
lofty hall, oak-panelled, with a great Jacobean chimney-piece
rising to the roof. After dinner it was the custom for the two
family pipers to make the circuit of the table three times, and
then to walk slowly off, still playing, through the tortuous stone
passages of the ancient building until the last faint echoes of
the music had died away. Then all the lights in the dining-room
were extinguished except the candles on the table, and out came a
tuning-fork, and one note was sounded--"Madrigal," "Spring is
Come, third beat," said the conducting brother, and off they went,
singing exquisitely; glees, madrigals, part-songs, anything and
everything, the acoustic properties of the lofty room adding to
the effect. All visitors to Glamis were charmed with this most
finished singing--always, of course, without accompaniment. They
sang equally well in the private chapel, giving admirable
renderings of the most intricate "Services," and, from long
practice together, their voices blended perfectly. This gifted
family were equally good at acting.
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