Bagpipe

The name of a musical warlike instrument, of the wind kind, used by the Scotch regiments, and sometimes by the Irish. Bagpipes were used by the Danes, by the Romans, and by the Asiatics. The Greeks also had an instrument composed of a pipe and blown-up skin. The bagpipe has been a favorite instrument among the Scots. There are two varieties, the one with long pipes, sounded with the mouth; the other, with short pipes, filled with air by a bellows, and played on with the fingers. The first, the loudest and most ear-piercing of all music, is the genuine Highland pipe, and was suited to the warlike genius of that people. It formerly roused their courage to battle, alarmed them when secure, and collected them when scattered, solaced them in their long and painful marches, and in time of peace kept up the memory of the gallantry of their ancestors by the tunes composed after signal victories. The other is the Irish bagpipe.