In the latter half of the eighteenth century two old soldiers, James Livingstone and Andrew Simpson, secured posts as Haddington's piper and drummer, respectively; they were recorded by R. Mabon.

This is a framed and glazed ink and watercolour painting. The subject is a piper, drummer, and follower dressed in eighteenth century costume. The brown colour has resulted from old varnish irrevocably adsorbed into the paper.

Haddington's drummer had some of the functions of a town crier, but his main duty was to wake the town (at 4am) and signal curfew (at 8pm). Both he and his colleague the piper had a small wage, but they augmented this by soliciting 'presents' from townsfolk.