Bag 
BAGTIPE, / [from bag and pipe j the wind being re¬ 
ceived in a bag.] A mu (Veal inftrumerit, confiding of a 
leathern bag, which blows up like a foot-ball, by meafis 
of a port-vent or little tube fixed to it, and flopped by a 
valve and three pipes or flutes, the firft called the gfeat 
pipe or drone, and the Iccond the little one, which pafs 
the wind out only at the bottom ; the third, called the 
chanter, has a reed, and is played on by compreifing the 
bag under the arm, when full; and opening and (lopping 
the holes, which are eight, with the fingers.—The bag¬ 
pipe takes in the compafs of three odfaves. Chambers. 
The following are the fpecies of bagpipes mod com¬ 
monly know'n in this country, i. The Irijh pipe. This 
is the fofted and mod melodious of-any, (o that mufic- 
books have been publiflied with directions how to play on 
it. The chanter has eight holes like the E’nglifli flute, 
and the bafs confilts of two (liort drones and a long one. 
The lowed note of the chanter is D on the German flute, 
being the open note on the counter-firing of a violin. 2. 
The Highland bagpipe. This eonlilts of a chanter and two 
fliort drones, which found in unifon the lowed note of the 
chanter, except one. This is exceedingly loud, artd is 
therefore mofily ufed in the field, for marches, See. It re¬ 
quires a prodigious blaft to found it; fo that thofe unac- 
cudomed to it cannot imagine how Highland pipers can 
continue t 3 play for hours together, as they are often 
known to do. For the fame reafon, thofe who ufe the 
indrument are obliged either to Hand on their feet or walk 
when they play. Thofe who are bed acquainted with it, 
affirm that it plays only the natural notes, without being 
capable of variation by flats or (harp's. 3. The Scots Low¬ 
land pipe. This is alio a very loud indrument. It is blown 
with bellows, and hath a bafs like the Irifir pipe. This 
fpecies is different from all the red, as it cannot play the 
natural notes, but hath F and C (harp. The lowed note 
of a good bagpipe of this kind, is unifon with C fliarp on 
the tenor of a violin tuned concert-pitch ; and, as it hath 
but nine notes, the highed is D in alt. From this pecu¬ 
liar con ft ruCtion, the Highland and Lowland bagpipes play 
two kinds of mufic, effentially different from one another, 
as each of them alfo is from every other fpecies of mufic- 
in the world. 4. The fmall pipe. This is remarkable for 
its fmallnefs, the chanter not exceeding eight inches in 
length; for which reafon, the holes are lo near each other, 
that it is with difficulty they can be clofed. This hath 
only eight notes, the lower end of the chanter being com¬ 
monly 'flopped. Some of this fpecies, inffead of having 
drones like the others, have their bafs parts confiding of 
a winding cavity in a kind of fliort cafe, and are turned by 
opening tliefe to a certain degree by means of Hiding co¬ 
vers ; from which contrivance they are called Jhuttle-pipcs. 
Befides thefe, there are a variety of others, called Italian, 
German , Organ, &c.-bagpipes, which have nothing diffe¬ 
rent in their condruftion from thofe above deferibed, nor 
any good quality to recommend them. 
As to the origin of bagpipe mufic, fome are of opinion 
that it is to be derived from the Danes ; but Mr. Pennant 
thinks differently, and gives the following reafons for de¬ 
riving it from Italy. “ Neither of thefe inflruments (the 
Highland and Lowland bagpipes above deferibed) were 
the invention of the Danes, or, as is commonly fuppofed, 
of any of the northern nations ; for their ancient writers 
prove them to have been animated by the clangor tuba- 
rum. Notwithftanding they have had their foeek pipe long 
amongft them, as their old fongs prove, yet we cannot al¬ 
low them the honour of inventing this melodious inftru- 
ment; but mult affert, that they borrowed it from the 
invaded Caledonians. We mud dill go farther, and de¬ 
prive even that ancient race of the credit ; and derive its 
-origin from the mild climate of Italy, perhaps from Greece. 
There is now in Rome a mod beautiful bas,relievo, a Gre¬ 
cian fculpture of the highed antiquity, of a bagpiper play¬ 
ing on his indrument, exactly like a rqodejrn Highlands/. 
The Greeks had their uay-a-vtos, or indrument compofed 
of a pipe and blown-up (kin : the Romans in all probgbi- 
jVoL. II. No.j}2. 
£ A H 6it 
lily barf'd wed it front them, and introduced it among their 
fwainsy who dill life it under the names of piva and eornu- 
tiufa. That matter of mufic, Nero, ufed one'; and, had 
hot the empire been fo fiuridenly deprived of that great 
artift, he would (as he gracioufly declared his intention) 
have treated the people with a concert, and, among othef 
curious inflrumeuts, would have introduced the utricula- 
rius, or bag'pipe. Nero perifhed ; but the figure of the 
indrument is preferred on one of his coins, but highly 
unproved by that great mafler : it has the bag and two of 
the vulgar pipes ; but was bioti n with a bellows iike an 
organ, and had on one fide a row of nine unequal pipes 
refembling the fyrinx of the god Tan. The bagpipe, in 
the unimproved date, is alfo reprefented in ah ancient 
feuiptyre; and appears to-have had two long pipes'of 
drones, and a Angle ihort pipe for the fingers. Tradition: 
lays, that the kind played on by the mouth was introduced 
by the Danes; as theirs was wind-mufic, we will admit 
that they might have made improvement, but more we. 
cannot allow : they were Ikilled in the ufe of the trumpet ; 
the Highlanders in the piohb, or bagpipe. 
Non tuba in ufu illis, conjeEla at tibia.in ulruri 
Dat belli Jignum, et manem vocat horrida in arm a.” 
The bagpipe appears to have been an indrument of 
great antiquity in Ireland, though it is uncertain whence 
they derived it. Mr. Pennant, by means of an antique 
found at Richborough in Kent, (hews that the bagpipe 
was introduced at a very.early period into Britain ; whence 
it is probable that both Irifh and Danes might borrow the 
indrument from the Caledonians, with whom they had 
fuch frequent intercoorfe. Aridides Qmntihanus informs 
us, that it prevailed in the Highlands in very early ages; 
and indeed the genius of the people feems to render the 
opinion highly probable. The attachment of.that people 
to this mufic is alhioft incredible. At the battle of Que¬ 
bec, in 1760, while the Britifli troops were retreating in 
great diforder, the general complained to a field officer 
in Frafer’s regiment of the bad behaviour of his corps. 
“ Sir, ((aid lie with fome warmth,) you did very wrong 
in forbidding the pipers to play this morning : nothing en¬ 
courages the Highlanders fo much in the day of action. 
Nay, even now they would be of ufe.”—“ Let them blow 
like the devil, then, (replies the general,) if it will bring 
back the men.” The pipers were then ordered to play a 
favourite martial-air ; and the Highlanders, the moment, 
they heard the mufic, returned and formed with alacrity 
in the rear. In the late war in India, Sir Eyre Coote, 
aware of the attachment of the Highlanders to their fa¬ 
vourite indrument, gave them 50I. to buy a pair of bag¬ 
pipes after the battle of Porto Nuovo. 
B AGPI'PER, /. One that plays on a bag-pipe. 
BAGSZELAR', a town of European Turkey, in the 
province of Bulgaria, twenty miles north-eaft of Ternova. 
BAGUET'TE,yi [Fr. a term of architeiTure. ] A lit¬ 
tle round moulding, lefs than an aftragal; fometimes car¬ 
ved and enriched. 
BAHAMA, or Lucay'a, Islands, are the.eaftermofi: 
of the Antilles, lying in the Atlantic ocean. They are 
Gtuated to the loath of Carolina, between 22 0 and 27 0 
N.-lat. and 73 0 and 8i° W. Ion. They extend along the 
coaft of Florida quite down to the ille of Cuba, and are 
fa id to be 500 in number, fome of them only mere rocks ; 
but tW'elve of them are large, fertile, and in nothing dif¬ 
ferent from the foil of Carolina: the principal of thefe 
are, Bahama, Eleutliera, Lucayoneqita, Yuma or Bxunia, 
Providence, and Guanahani. All are, however, uninha¬ 
bited except Providence', which is 200 miles eaft of the 
Floridas ; though fome others are larger and more fertile, 
oh vvhich tlie Lngliffi have plantations. Between them 
and the continent of Florida is the gulf of Bahama, or 
Florida, through which the Spaniffi galleons fail in their 
paffage to Km'ope. Thefe illands are the fir ft-fruits of Co¬ 
lumbus’s difeoveries; but they were not known to the 
Englifli till 1667, when captain Seyle/ffieing driven .among 
.9 '& them 
