Which brings me to the question I raised on the other thread and should have raised here, whether or not there is a difference between Union and Uilleann pipes or if they are the same thing. I thought it was shuttle pipes that were the rarity, although there is a band from a city near here that uses them.

W. M. Thackeray mentions listening to the pipes, presumably Uillean pipes since he was serenaded at dinner and compared the sound to a clarinet. I can't remember the exact reference as to date but it was in his account of his trip to Ireland. (Always with an eye for the women, WMT appears to have been most impressed by the beauty of Irish womankind. He also liked the beer.)

The English presumably played pipes just like other Europeans, but the only pipes I've heard of from there are the Northumbrian pipes. {Presumably the English didn't ban the Northumbrian pipes.)

As I mentioned in the other thread, I like the pipes depicted in the paintings of the Dutch masters -- strange things which appear to have enormously long drones. I wonder what they sounded like.