The "Battell" sequence from "My Ladye Nevells Booke" (1591) by William Byrd, which probably alludes to the Irish wars of 1578, contains a piece entitled "The bagpipe: & the drone". In 1760, the first serious study of the Scottish Highland bagpipe and its music was attempted, in Joseph MacDonald's "Compleat Theory". Further south, a manuscript from the 1730s by a William Dixon from Northumberland contains music that fits the border pipes, a nine-note bellows-blown bagpipe whose chanter is similar to that of the modern Great Highland bagpipe. However the music in Dixon's manuscript varied greatly from modern Highland bagpipe tunes, consisting mostly of extended variation sets of common dance tunes. Some of the tunes in the Dixon manuscript correspond to tunes found in early 19th century published and manuscript sources of Northumbrian smallpipe tunes, notably the rare book of 50 tunes, many with variations, by John Peacock.