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SONG BOOK I

THE ESPERANCE MORRIS BOOK

PART I.

BERKSHIRE DANCERS. WHOSE TRADITION GOES BACK TO 1700.

■•The Squire" holJmg ftie sworJ. wooden cup. and collection box. also flie pole

on which is mounted the bull's head and horns lormerly carried by fl,e '■ Mayor

of the Morr.s" (see Chapter 2).

h'rontispiece. S'"M-

THE

Espdrance Morns Book

(CURWEN's Edition, 5694

PART I.

A Manual of Morris Dances
Folk-Songs and Singing Games

By MARY NEAL

Honorary Secretary, Esperance Girls' Club,
50 Cumberland Market, London, N.W.

THIRD EDITION.

LONDON : Price Five Shillings,

J. CURWEN & SONS Ltd.. 24 BERNERS STREET. W.

■^^ ^ ciC\

Emmeline and F"rederick Pethick Laavrence,

True and unfailing friends of

The Esp^rance Club,

This book is Dedicated

for
Old Sake's Sake.

CONTENTS.

TEXTUAL. PAGE

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vi

INTRODUCTION. By E. V. Lucas vii

ILLUSTRATIONS ix

I. SET TO MUSIC I

II. THE DANCES

III. THE MORRIS STEP

IV. DESCRIPTION OF THE DANCES

V. THE FOLK-SONGS

VI. THE GAMES 13

VII. COSTUMES 15

VIII. ENTERTAINMENTS 16

3
6

7
13

MUSIC.

MORRIS DANCES-

morris on 19

Shepherd's Hay 20

Rigs o' Marlow 20

Country Gardens 21

Jockey to the Fair 22

The Maid o the Mill 24

Pop goes the Weasel 24

Princes Royal 25

Sally Luker 26

A-NUTTING WE will GO 26

Constant Billy

Morris Off

27
27

FOLK-SONGS-

My Lady Greensleeves 31

A Wassail, a Wassail 32

Twenty, Eighteen
The Proposal
Little Sir William

Lavender Cry

The Barkshire Tragedy

III SINGING GAMES—

Wigamy, Wigamy, Water-hen
Old Roger's Dead

Looby Loo

London Bridge '., '.

When I was a School Girl; '>;
Here we come up the Greengrass ; ;
Here come three Dukes . . :■:"' :

34
36
40

41
42

50
52
53
54
56

APPENDICES.

I. SOME OPINIONS OF THE DANCES AND OF THE ESPERANCE INSTRUCTORS 57

II. OPINIONS OF THE PRESS 59

III. SPECIMEN PROGRAMME 63

IV. APPARATUS 64

{ VT )

PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.

TN this edition it will be noted that the instructions for the dances have been somewhat elaborated.

Originally they were intended chiefly as a reminder to those who have already learned the
steps and the dances, as it was felt then, as it is felt now, that the dances should be learnt in the first
instance from a teacher who had had them direct from a traditional dancer. But so many are unable
to learn in this direct way, and especially is this the case in America and the Colonies, that Miss
Warren has added considerably to the matter she contributed to the first volume.

I have just returned from a tour in the United States, and Miss Warren is still there, training
dancers and giving displays.

MARY NEAL.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

Thanks are due to : —

Mrs. Tuke for noting the tunes of the dances collected in Berkshire.

Miss Alice Gillington for permission to use the games in this book, all of wliich she collected.

Miss Lucy Broadwood for permission to use songs from her collections.

Mr. Fuller Maitland for permission to use songs from his collections.

Miss Florence Warren, who wrote the descriptions of the dances.

Mr. John Graham for permission to use dances from his collections.

Mr. J. W. Marsh for song " The Proposal," collected by him.

The many friends who have given me permission to use photographs.

The Proprietors of Punch and the Editors of the Pall Mall for permission to reproduce articles.

Mr. E. V. Lucas for permission to reproduce his Introductory Article from the County Gentleman.

Monsieur Charles Geoftroy for the coloured sketch illustrating the costumes.

Many others who have kindly helped in other ways to make the book of use to those who wish to help
in the revival of English Folk Music.

THE ESPERANCE GUILD OF MORRIS DANCERS.

A Guild with this title has been formed. All men and women of good will who wish to see a fairer
and a happier life for the people of England are eligible for membership, with a minimum subscription of
10s. annually ; elementary school teachers^ London, 5s., Provincial, 2s. 6d. annually. Members may
attend at one of the classed 'llpp fC-r .nint jmonthH; in the year at the Esperance Club for Morris Dancing
and Children's Singing Games : IVJondai'S, 8.30, men ; Friday, 7 and 8.30, women. A reserved ticket is
supplied to members for one conrevt ,§. •y.^4r, giwn by the Esperance Club, and there are other advantages
named in the syllabus of the Guild. •'. '..';■'.'.;', :

Crosby Hall, erected in HfeG'iE-Bishopsgate' Street, has been re-erected at More's Gardens, Chelsea,
facing the Thames, and the Directors have placed the Hall at the disposal of the Guild for a monthly
meeting, to take place on the first Thursday in every month. A monthly practice of Folk Dance takes
place, in which the aim is to have no spectators, but to have everybody present joining in the dancing.
Members of the Guild pay 6d. at the door, others Is.

The syllabus gives the terms for teachers sent into the country, and the terms for daily teachers in
and near London. Miss Mary Neal is the hon. secretary.

5691

( vii

THE ESPERANCE MORRIS BOOK.

INTRODUCTION.

By E. V. LUCAS.

TT is a great pleasure for one who is not musical, anil
■■■ has been in his time much harassed by scholarly
compositions, to attend a concert and find that every
song has melody, and simplicity, and charm. Such was my
experience a few nights ago, when I listened, in a kind of
trance, to some score of old English songs sung by a little
company of sweet voices from a girls' club. If all music
were like this, if all singing were like this, I said, I would
lose my heart to sound ; I would haunt concert rooms
with the assiduity with which I now avoid them.

The contemplation of the most satisfying work of art,
in whatever medium — the recognition of perfection —
always carries with it, with me, a smarting of the eyes,
a tendency to gulp. And since I have noticed in a theatre
that whereas intentional pathos rarely touches me, yet
if, after various vicissitudes, a consummation devoutly
to be wished is achieved, I am for a moment quite un-
manned, I am constrained to believe that the feeling of
satisfaction has a closer association with the lachrymose
gland than is either dignified or convenient.

Sorrows, whether my own or another's, I can bear
with more or less composure, but confront me with a
perfect thing in literature, art, or music, and I am
momentarily a wreck. This is absurd, but there it is.
Hence for a good half of this evening of old English song
I could not see the platform at all, except through a mist,
such was the effect of these lovely, lovely airs. Music,
when it touches me, touches me too deeply for words,
and has me utterly at its mercy.

Here, however, it was not only the music ; it was the
idea too. It was the thought of this lost England of ours
— the exquisite freshness of the early days — the old
simphcities and candours. I do not suppose that human
nature has changed very much, but there must, all the
same, have been a very different spirit abroad when these
were the people's songs than inspires us to-day. What do
we hear sung in the villages to-day? Last year's music
hall successes. It was the thought of the loss of that
spirit that perhaps formed part of my emotion. I do not
know that the words had much to do with it ; one did
not hear them all, except the refrains. But the idea of
a sweet and simple England was intensely vivid, and

5694

possibly one was conscious, too, of the contrast between
these songs and the singers themselves — the songs all lucid
open-air gaiety, and the singers the members of a club for
working girls in the north-western district of this grimy
latter-day London. Here, at least, for an hour or two,
they seemed to be doing what they were born to do — so
different a lot from that which circumstances have given
them. " Blow away the morning dew " they sang, with
all the vigour and happiness that young girls can display,
waving their innocent arms as they did so ; while one
knew that some of them had never seen a dewdrop.

Since that evening I have come into possession of the
four series of " Folk Songs from Somerset " which Mr.
Cecil Sharp has already published through Simpkin & Co.,
to be followed, I hope, by others. Of course, they want
the fresh young voices of these eager children to do them
full justice ; but even on the piano they are wonderfully
moving and beautiful. No songs could be simpler — a
single note to a single syllable, as it should be — but only
rarely are they at all obvious. In most cases the next
note is not the note that one expected ; at least not the
note that I expect. Perhaps if one had to pick out the
most distinguished and beautiful of all, one would say
" Lord Rendal ; " but it would be with a very fond and
lingering backward look to " Mowing the Barley " and
" Midsummer Fair " (the Somerset version of " Widdi-
combe Fair " with a less rollicking but tenderer setting)
and " Seventeen come Sunday," and the haunting " Keys
of Heaven," and the wistful cadence of " How do you do,
sir? " the refrain of one of the best of the morrice dances.

These morrice dances alone would draw me by invisible
threads to any hall where they were given — not only for
their own unusual alluringness and gaiety, but for their
essential merrie Englandism. Merrie ! Only super-
ficially, I fear, for here again I was carried into the realms
of melancholy. The revival of an old dance must perforce
bring with it thoughts of the old dancers. There is always
a certain wistfulness about the memory of old dancers, as
Thackeray knew well ; but how much more so when they
are not the dancers of the ballet but the dancers of the
village green? Perhaps if there were a more general
singing of these songs and more dancing of the dances

(viii)

(as Mr. Sharp wishes for lliem), one would be less affected.
But to hear them for the first time is to be too suddenly
attacked.

Will some one who knows about music tell me why it
is that I wake every morning with the shadow of a tune
in my head — the shadow, not the substance ; and perhajM
it is wrong to say in my head, because it is just outside it
really, beyond reach? By day, with the strongest desire
to recapture an air, I cannot ; but I wake, morning after
morning, with my hand almost on the elusive quarry.
Can it be true that our dreams give us what life is always
holding back ! Am I, who so long to make melody, and
know not a note — am I a musician in my sleep? I awoke
this morning fresh from " Mowing the Barley," but alas !
I have not approached it since. . . I wonder if others
are like this.

What is it that has happened to English music? I
asked myself as I listened. Where is England in English
music to-day? We have English composers in plenty,
but what has their country done for them, or they for
their country? One may hear modern English music by
the week and select no single phrase that has any native
racial character in it. Yet how exquisite was the natural
English music (before Germany came in) these old songs

5004

j)rove. Will there be no genuine music again? . . .
Well, even if there be none, we have a taste of the beautiful,
tender, humorous, real thing in these old songs ; and may
they be widely sung !

A word more as to one very curious thing that I noticed.
Near me was sitting an old lady with a somewhat bitter
cast of countenance. I had caught sight of her soon after
I sat down, before the performance began, and I observed
the rather testy way in which she shrugged into her cloak
and resented a draught, real or fancied, and her general
air of peevishness, and mentally decided that she was
probably not good to live with. Then came the singing,
and I forgot her absolutely ; forgot everything, in fact,
except Merrie England ; but suddenly chancing to catch
sight of her again, I noticed that her expression had become
benign and sweet. Wordsworth's words sprang to my
mind as I watched her :

And beauty, born of murmuring sound.
Shall pass into her face.

Nowhere, I thought, is an additional reason for popularising
these exquisite songs. Every note shall be a brooding
dove. We will sing peace and happiness into Englishmen.
■ — Reprinted from "The County Gentleman."

(ix)

MORRIS ON (p. 19).

SHEPHERD'S HAY (p. 20).

(X)

RIGS Q- MARLOW (p. 20i

JOCKEY TO THE FAIR (p. 22).

(xi)

MAID 0' THE MILL (p. 24).

LITTLE SIR WILLIAM (p. 40).

THE JEWS WIFE'S HOUSE, LINCOLN.

"Mother went to the Jew's wife's house
And knocked at the ring."

i XIV )

SHEPHERD'S HAY (o. 20)

ALL IN ip. 26).

XV )

BEAN-SETTING (see Book II).

AN ESPERANCH DANCER WITH BERKSHIRE
TRADITIONAL DANCERS.

( Nvi )

MISS FLORENCE WARREN.

Head Instructress of the
Espe'rance Club.

MISS MAY START.

Who teaches the games to the
Esperance Children.

MORRIS DANCES AT RED HOUSE, ASCOT.

CHAPTER I.

SET TO MUSIC.

" O fellow, come, the song we had last night,
Mark it, Cesario, it is old and plain ;
The spinsters and the knitters in the sun,
And the fair maids that weave their thread with bones
Do use to chant it."

Tweljlh Niglit.

I HAVE been wondering how to express in words the
interesting development which began in the Esperance
Girls' Club in September, 1905, and which since then
has gone so far beyond the limits ol that Club that to-day
it is in the best sense of the word national both in scope
and in importance. It seems to me that the title which
I have chosen for this chapter expresses, in the best way,
the movement for the use in daily life of our English
folk-music, and gives some indication of its purport and
meaning.

Begun in all sincerity and good faith for the greater
happiness and well-being of some hundred girls and boys,
with no consciousness then that there was more in this folk
music than just that, I know to-day that our work, our
aims, that all we most care for has in truth been set to
music. I know too that folk-music has its roots deep,
deep in the rhythm of earth and iieaven and sea; that
those who spin and weave have no tangled threads, no
puckered cloth when the shuttle and the loom go with the
rhythm of a song. I know that, as long ago the sailor
worked to the sound of the "chanty," so all work as well
as play may be set to a song. And so in' our work many a
difficulty has melted away, lagging feet have gained new
energy, life harmonious and more abundant has filled out
the form of social work. A door has been opened away
out into a new country, which is yet as old as England
itself, and we have learned sometliing of that realm of
imagination and beauty, of fear and of a sheltering power
which is all around us in our childhood, and which comes
again to us from the childhood of the world in the simple
folk who may still be found remote from town and city
life, dwelling by deep and silent waters, by swiftly
running rivers, deep in the woods and in sheltered valleys
among the hills.

To bring a little of this serene and joyous life into the
hurried, keen, and vivid life of city dwellers, and to return
it once more to the new generation of country folk with
some of the added charm of this vivid life has been the
work of the Esperance Club.

It happened in this way. For many years we had
made music and dancing and play-acting some of the
features of the Club work. One night a week for several
winters we had practised Scotch dances, reels, and
strathspeys ; one winter we practised Irish jigs, reels,
and Irish folk-songs. It is good for boys and girls to
dance and sing, and it is good for them to act. I have
seen the transformation of a naughty little girl into Saint
Elizabeth of Hungary for one night a week work wonders.
I have seen the effect of acting the part of a queen or a
great lady, add some permanent dignity of character and
bearing, and few would have recognised in the stately
minuet dancers of one year the mischievous Irish jig dancers
of the year before. Every year for some ten years we
had performed a cantata at Christmas time, which our
friends were kind enough to say they enjoyed, and the
learning of which kept the girls happy during the long
winter evenings. But an interview with Mr. Cecil Sharp

in the Morning Post, read by Mr. H. C. Macllwaine, who
was then our musical director, on English folk-songs, set
us on a new track.

Looking back it seems symbolic that the first English
folk-song sung by the Esperance Club should be " The
Seeds of Love." In a fortnight from the singing of the
first folk-song I could only say that the Club had gone
mad, for the girls were perfectly into.\icated with the
beauty of the music. Since then I have learnt a good
deal about folk-music, and I can better understand what
it was that made such instant appeal to these English girls.

Folk music is the creation and the possession of the
people. The words and tunes of the songs have come
generation after generation from the heart of the English
folk. Each generation and each individual who has sung
them has added or omitted some little touch, and so to-day
in these songs which have been mostly collected from old
people eighty and ninety years of age is the very heart
and soul of English sentiment.

The folk-songs are full of the love of the land, of the
flowers, and of healthy joyous life. There is no senti-
mentality, only the true sentiment of life and of passion.
The decadent verse maker of to-day would not under-
stand the love making of the country side, illustrated as
it is by the song of birds, the blossoming of flowers, and the
mystery which is only felt by those of simple and child-
like mind.

There is plenty of adventure, too, in the folk-songs
which tell of pirates and highwaymen, of press-gangs and
battles by sea and land.

By the time we had learned some six or eight songs
we wanted to find some dances which would fit in with
the spirit of the folk-songs, and on enquiry I found that
the tradition of morris dancing still lingered in country
districts, and I had given to me the names of two men
in Oxfordshire who still danced the morris. I went into
Oxfordshire and found that these men had had a set
of morris dances in their family for five generations directly
handed down from father to son. I invited them to
London, and set them to teach these dances to the
members of my Club. Thus began that revival of morris
dancing which is part of the national life to-day.

In two evenings we had learnt six or eight dances,
the men telling me that these London girls had learnt more
in two evenings than they could teach country lads in
six months. We have since learned that the London
girl is as quick to teach as to learn, and in one week she
has often taught six dances to fifty or sixty children.
Lately, in two weeks four hundred elementary school
teachers learnt the dances from Miss Warren.

We first sang the songs and danced the dances at our
Christmas party in 1905, an historic occasion as it turned
out. The result was startling and delightful. One after
another came to me and said how beautiful it was, and
I was urged to give a more public performance. This
we did, and in April a concert was given at the Small
Queen's Hall. Every seat was taken, and some fifty
people were turned away from the doors. The Daily
Chronicle said it was " a little entertainment which may
indeed light such a candle in England as will not
immediately be put out." This proved a true prophecy,
for since then over twenty concerts have been given in the
Small Queen's Hall, and we have been all round the

THE ESPERANCE MORRIS BOOK.

environs of London as far as Barnct, Haslemere, Maiden-
head, and Reading. We have twice been to Yorkshire,
and been most hospitably entertained for the night.
Next summer I am meditating a fortnight's tour by motor
'bus from London to Yorkshire and back, giving a display
in a different town or village every day but Sunday.

The ne.xt step was that I began to be asked by country
people interested in village life, by Poor Law teachers,
drill instructors, school - mistresses, club leaders, and
others where the songs and dances could be had. All
wrote with the same idea, the need of bringing back into
the lives of the English people their own folk music, an
inheritance which the dwellers in cities had lust entirely,
and which was fast slijiping away from the country people
as the old folk one by one died, leaving no record behind,
or a record safely imprisoned in the archive? of learned
societies or between the covers of collectors' books.

Answering letters about the songs was comparatively
easy ; one wrote and said where they were to be had in
book form. But with the dances it was different. These
had not been published, and there was then no manual
of instructions. So very tentatively at first I began
sending out the members of my Club whom I thought
the best dancers and who would be the most intelligent
teachers. This again proved an historic event.

Since then we have rivalled the traditional John
Kemp, " the nine-days' wonder," who danced the morris
from London to Norwich. The first county into which I
sent Miss Florence Warren was Norfolk, and since then
she and six or eight others have danced the morris from
one end of England to the other, north, south, east, and
west. To-day there are two counties in which we
have not taught, and into one of those our pupils have
penetrated. By the time this is in print it is possible
these two will have been included. In some counties we
have ten or twelve centres, and I believe we have taught
in every town of any size in West Sussex.

Besides this we have taught girls' clubs, boys' clubs,
polytechnic schools, and private individuals in all parts
of London, and many of our pupils have given demonstra-
tions both in London and in the ccjuntry to their own
and their onlookers' great enjoyment.

This autumn the Board of Education, in the new
Syllabus of Physical Exercises, has included morris
dancing, reels, lilts, and other country dances. So we
have started dancing classes especially for elementary
school teachers, which are very well attended. From
time to time we shall give these teachers an opportunity
of seeing the traditional dancers at work, so that they
may be equipped to hand on the dances to the school
children in the traditional form and spirit.

Everywhere the same result has followed. Clergymen
and helpers of all classes write to me that quite a new
life and interest has sprung up in their midst. Clergy
who have despaired of getting beyond the apathy and
dulness of modern village life have reached people through
the medium of the folk music. Music is the one art in
which the otherwise inarticulate can express themselves,
and so we have in this music the truest meeting ground
for all classes. For the first time we have something in
our possession for which others are glad to ask, and which
we are glad to share. This revival of the ]iractire and

use of our English folk music is, as many helpers have told
me, part of a great national revival, a going back from
town to country, a reaction against all that is demoralising
in city life. It is a re-awakening of that part of our
national consciousness which makes for wholeness, sane-
ness, and healthy merriment.

We can never, as a nation, go back to the days when
country life sulhced for csery thing. The town has come
too near to the country for that. But an interchange
between town and country is what we must look for in
the future. The musician will go into the country and
will set down for us dance and game and song from the
old folks in whose memory the music still lives. The
town folk will learn them and add something to them
of their own life and generation, something of the charm
and vivacity of the city, and they in their turn will teach
the young folk of the village.

Letters still come not only from all parts of England,
Inil from our colonies and foreign countries, Jaj)an,
Bulgaria, India, and the Canary Islands. The etfect
which having somelhing they are able to give has had
upon those who are passing on these songs, games,
and dances is quite beautiful. The hospitality which
they have cn;oyed in the country, the hospitality win h
they have given to the country folk who have come to
teach them, has been a great joy to both sides, and as
time goes on and we discover more of these traditional
dancers, we hope to make our Club room a centre to which
those will come who not only wish to learn the old-time
steps and tunes, but who will enjoy seeing the tra-
ditional dancers face to face, and who in this way will
catch the true and essential spirit of the almost lost art.
As I wiite I am just arranging for another set of dancers,
only nov/ discovered by me, to come and dance at the
Esperance Club.

From being merely a Working Girls' Club in an out-
of-the-way part of London, wo liave become jiart of a
national movement, and to-day in the oldest haymarket
in London, which is Crown land, and under the Com-
missioners of Woods and Forests, may be heard the
fascinating strains of Shepherd's Hay, I\Iaid o' the Mill,
Constant Billy, and other old-time melodies, the tinkle
of the morris bells and the clap of the morris sticks. Tiiis
practice of folk dances and songs and games has had a
splendid all-round effect on the general conduct and
character of the Club meml^ers, as any movement which
takes us out of our own little life and interest should
do. It has added a certain dignity to the smallest thing
we do.

It matters not what the actual agent is so long as that
part of us is touched where lives the deepest and best
of our nature. It is to tliis that music in tune and
rhythm speaks, it is this to which unconsciously the child
responds, and it is this v/hich is going to make English
children more alive, alert, and strong, and more responsive
to the best ideals and traditions of our land. One has
always felt that the national treasure was not all in gold
and silver and merchandise, nor with the great and
learned, but that somewhere, somehow, it was in the people
themselves. It has seemed to us that in this music we
have made a great discovery of a hidden treasure, and that
having discovered it we have become a medium through
which others may discover it too.

THE ESPERANCE MORRIS BOOK.

CHAPTER II.

THE DANCES.

" Harke, harke, I hear the dancing
And a nimble morris prancing ;
The bagpipe and the morris bells
That they are not farre hence us tells."

Old Madrigal.

IN writing this chapter 1 want to go right back to
first impressions and give a word picture of what is so
difficult to understand, without a Hving dancer, a
picture of the essence and spirit of the Enghsh folk dance.

It is a far cry from the twentieth century with its
teeming city life, its culture, its effete and luxurious
civilization, and its self-consciousness away hack to the
Elizabethan reveller, to the days when England was merry
England because her heart was young, to the days when
men took life in lioth hands and lived spaciously, fighting,
loving, adventuring, and making their dancing and singing
express the surging life within them. A writer in the
Times of July loth, 1909, says that the virility and vivacity
of the morris dances prove that they were not the inven-
tions of a down-trodden peasantry, but of free-born freedom-
loving Englishmen. And once when an old sailor, himself
a folk-song singer, saw some of the Esperance girls dancing
he said to me, "That is the dancing of my heart, it's clean
dancing, and I would not have missed the sight for two
big apples! " These sayings recall to me my first imjiressions
as I watched the first two countrymen who came to teach
the London girls to dance the morris. Freedom, cleanness,
sturdy vigour, robust jollity in most of the dances ; an
added seriousness of ceremonial in others.

But there was a total lack of self-conscious ])osturing,
of anything finicking or dainty, nor was there any
resemblance whatever to ordinary ball-room dances.
Now that these dances are sanctioned by the Board of
Education for use in our nation's schools, it is of the utmost
importance that their special national character should be
preserved. The very success of the revi\al of their
practice brings its dangers.

A lady, who is on the staff of one of the colleges of
physical training, told me the other day that, thinking to
make the morris dance more graceful and more suited
to modern use, she had, when teaching it, modified it
here and there, altering it where she thought it could
be made prettier. Then she came to a performance
given by the Esperance Club, and immediately saw that
she had quite spoiled the dances, and she said to me, " I
see now how entirely right you have been in keeping
true to the traditional way of dancing and to the spirit
which inspires it. I see now that by altering the dances
I completc'y spoiled them." Neither in describing these
dances can such words as subtlety and delicate nuances
be used. No words less descriptive of these peasant dances
danced to rejoice in the strength of fisticuffs, in the planting
of seeds in spring, in the hunting of Judas Iscariot, who
stands for all time as the treacherous friend, the riding to
the fair of " Jockie," and scores of other simple, healthy,
imlettered ideas, could possibly be imagined. No, if we
do not admire vigour, stamping, virile o]ien-air dancing,
with thick shoes and tinkling bells, the clash of sticks,
and the bright colours of tlie ribbons and rosettes we
must go elscwliere for our dances and to subtler people
than the English peasant.

Lately I spent some time talking to an old man, a
generation older than the Oxfordshire men who first
taught the dances in London, and I collected many stories
and old traditions about the revels in connection with
the morris, and always the same atmosphere was there,
all was simple, direct, unselfconscious, vigorous.

There are some interesting traditions in connection
with these dances which go back to the year 1700. At
that time the people in one street outside the borough
outnumbered those in the town proper, and thought they
ought to elect the mayor. A beast was slaughtered and
roasted, and a fight took place for the horns. These
were won by the people of the one street, who elected
their own mayor, who had the privilege of carrying the
horns mounted on a pole in the morris dance. A set
of horns is still in existence mounted on a bull's head
made of wood, painted black, and with flaming red nostrils
and lips. The date 1700 being painted across the head.

Our old friend who taught us the dances had been
mayor of the morris nine times. " The squire," another
dancer, carries a sword and a large wooden cup and a tin
box for collections. All these are still to be seen, and
are those in the photograph of the Berkshire morris dancers.
These dances are danced round the town on June igtli,
and are in connection with a fair which takes place on
June 2ist, the longest day. This date and the old tra-
dition of the slaughtered beast seems to point to the fact
that these dances are survivals of some ancient pagan
festival connected with the worship of the sun. As we
further investigate these matters and follow up all the
clues there will doubtless be many interesting traditions
brought to light which, from an arch;co!ogical as well as
a merry-making point of view, will be well worth knowing.

Another old morris dancer, aged 72, who used to dance
in his youth in Oxfordshire, told me that in his \'illage the
head of the morris carried a lamb in his arms and at intervals
he put the Iamb down while the dancers danced in front of
it. They danced near Whitsuntide, and the ceremony was
called " Lamb Ale." This again seems to connect the
morris with a pagan ceremonial sacrificial rite.

In reading a book on the history of theology called
" Orpheus : A General History of Religions," by Salomon
Reinach, I was interested to come across the following
passage : —

In a chapter on the Art of the Cave-dwellers, he says,
speaking of the pictures of animals pierced by arrows,
that perhaps these pictures were drawn with the idea
that the reality might be brought about by the image.
" We find the same conception in the Jliddle Ages, when
a spell was cast upon an enemy by sticking pins into a
waxen image made in his likeness. Here we lay hold
of the magic origins of art, the object of which is to attract
tlie animals, which served the tribe for food, by a sort of
fascination. It is very probable that these animals were
the totems of the different clans, that tl.e caves were the
scenes of totemic ceremonies, and that the engraved or
sculptured objects made of reindeer horn and called
coniiiuniJer's halons ))layed a magic part in the worship."
(I am quoting from the translation of Florence Simmonds.)
Is this possibly the origin of the batons used in the morris

THE ESl'ERASCE MORRtS ROOK.

dance? The fact that the morris is almost certainly a
survival of a pagan religious ceremonial makes even this
possible.

This again looks as if we might trace in the " baton "
used in the morris dances a survival of some very ancient
pre-Christian ceremonial dances.

Miss Lucy Broadwood called my attention to the
similarity between the dance tune used in " Shepherd's
Hay" and that used by Britaimy peasant children at
the summer fete of shepherds.

She sent me the following tune luul a little account of
the ceremony : —

ANN .\LIKE.

(LWi'iTL Diis Patres, dialecte de Cornouailb )

"Chants Populaires dc la Bretagne.
T. H. de la ViLLiiMARQui;, IS^e.
J, Allegretto.

pilg^^gjEg^^

ns^^p?^

Villcmarque ?ays that children have their fete as well
as the grown-uj)S, at the end of autumn, when " la Fete
des Patres " (sliepherds) is held. After a day spent in
feasting, dancing, and singing (on some wide " lande "
where the little shepherds and shepherdesses usually have
tended their flocks) the children return home singing the
old song, given above.

Ce qui a fait donner a cettc chanson Ic nom dc AHke, c'cst
qu' avant dc la conimcnccr, Ics petits patres, niontcs sur des
arbrcs, so jettent trois fois cc mot, d'unc montagnc a I'autre,
en gardaiit lours troupcaux, le gaigon prond le premier la
parole de la sorte : " Ali ! Ice ! all ! ke, ali ! kc ! " ".'\vis ! viens "
(repealed). Et, ajoutant le nom dc la jcune fille qu'il veut
appelcr il lui dit. "Le!" {" ecoutc ! ") Si cllc ne veut pas
ecouter elle s'ecrie : " N' cann ked — de " {" Je nc vais pas
vraiment "). Si, au contraire, cllc consent a I'entcndre, clle
repond : " Me ia ! ie " (" Je vais, oui "). Et aussitot son
icunc compagnon entonne la chanson (Ann Alike) jusqu'a la
dcrniere strophe, que la petite fille chante seule avec telle
variantc qui lui plait."

Chants Pop. de la Bretagne, Tome it, pp. 548-550.

There is also a similarity between parts of the ceremony
and the singing game called " Green Grass."

The Britanny version of Shepherd's Hay points again
to some religious ceremony connected with the seasons
and the gathering together of flocks and herds.

Miss Lucy Broadwood also sent me the following
mteresting note on the Cornish Furry Dance : —

" Furry " has various pronunciations and variants. I
think that it may possibly be a corruption of " Farandole "
(=Furrydance). See the account given by M. K. Soleville
in his " Chants Populaires du Has Quercy (1889) : —

"Ces danscs, encore en usage dans le Bas-Longuedoc et la
Provence, ont completement disparu du Quercy. On donnait
Ic nom de farandolcs a de longucs chaines de danscurs ct de

danscuses, qui, parcourant Ics clicmins ou Ics rues, sulvaient,
dans leurs ondulations, Ics courbes dccritcs par le chef dc file
dc la dansc." Soleville gives three airs, two of which arc in
2-4 time, and one, " Al Fount de Mountmurat," in 6-8 lime.
This latter is the same air as " Malbrouk s'cn va't en guerre "
(ist half only).

Is "Hal-an-tow" also a corruption of Far-an-dole ?

A Cornishman has told nie that soaie ethnologists say
that the Cornish people are of Basque origin. If so it
is not surprising that the farandole, formerly danced in
lias Quercy and i)rovinces adjoining the Pays de Basque,
should linger still in Cornwall.

These suggestions are jotted down for what they are
worth — merely as suggestions. "

But at Fishguard, in South Wales, I saw some stick
dances very like Shepherd's Hay in form, which had been
taught by two Irishmen, and these men told me it was
a war dance and danced in connection with a mummers'
play. This play had twelve characters, all warriors,
and included Nelson, Wellington, Prince George, St.
Patrick, etc.

This rather suggests the idea that when the morris
was first danced in England it came from Morocco and
represented a figld between English and Moors, heathen
and Christian.

Very little is really known as to its origin, but as facts
come to light and clues are followed up we may be able to
reconstruct its history. I shall always be grateful to those
who will tell me of morris dancers in the country or of any
remains of the tradition or folk lore in connection with
the subject.

As far as I know, the P)erkshire dances, with the exception
id Princes Roval, are published for the first time. It
may be of interest, therefore, to give a little account of
them and of the way in which we discovered them. I
was speaking at a very out-of-the-way village when a
young man, who had sung a folk-song as part of the
evening's entertainment, asked me if I had ever heard
of a dance danced in a certain small town in Berkshire,
and which had as part of its regalia two horns mounted
on a pole. I said " No," and asked for the address of
the family said to be the keepers of the old tradition.
This I got, and wrote off to the oldest member of the
family. The reply was delightful. It began :—
" Honourable and respected Miss, I am that party which
lias the old dances, and T shall be proud to show them
to you. Yours to command."

I found out, however, that the old man could neither
read nor write, but had deputed a friend to write. This
in itself is a recommendation in the exponent of folk
art — largely a lost art in these days of compulsory
education.

After letters exxhanged, my friend Mrs. Tuke and T
arrived in the town to find the old man waiting at the
station. We had a sort of triumphal march through
the town, he being greeted from one and another with
evident interest. I learned later in the day that the
town had considered my letters a hoax, and that the
meaning of the old man's evident pleasure in walking
through the town with one of us on either side of him
was in effect saying, " You see, the ladies have come after
all, they are no hoax."

He conducted us to a room in a small inn which he
had secured for us, and then the fun l.iegan ! He was
a little nervous and not a little forgetful, and the con-
certina which he ])layed not ^■ery satisfactory. Whenever
he forgot the tune he told us the note was missing in his
instrument. Later, in London, when he came to the
Esperance Club, I got him three more concertinas and

THE ESPERANCE MORRIS BOOK

they had a way of getting damp every now and then
when he put them in the fender to warm. In the end,
however, we got the tunes by dint of patience and making
him feel at home with us. When he came to town he brought
with him his " 3'oung brother," a grey-bearded man,
wonderfully agile on his feet, who very soon had our
girls dancing the dances he knew.

" They do step it well, miss," he told me, " I never
saw a man step better." The learning of a new morris
is an interesting sight.

The tune having been taken down, is played on the
piano, the old men marshall six girls into the middle of
the room ; there is a babel of voices, everyone seems to
be pushing everyone into her place. The piano stops,
a committee is held, all talking at once. The pianist
turns to me in despair. " They'll never get the dance,
they can't understand the old man's broad Berkshire
dialect, it's no use." " It's all right," I reply, " you
wait, I've seen all this sort of thing before ; in twenty
minutes they will have got it." And sure enough in
less than that " Sally Luker " is going merrily and to
the entire satisfaction of the teachers. The other dances
go through the same stages, and in two evenings we know
all those which the men can teach us.

Later on is given a description of the general morris
steps and the formation of the dances for wliich the tunes
are given, but I hope that in every case those wanting to
learn will have a teacher who will do what no book can
do, to teach the dance in the right way.

In my opinion the ideal teachers are those who have
learned these dances direct from the country dancers,
and who in the nature of things are in tune with them.

The principal things that make the working girls so
suitable as teachers is their youth, simplicity, and their
extraordinary vitality and charm. I might hesitate to
use these words had I not in my possession scores of letters

in which it is almost amusing to watch their constant
recurrence.

It is no wonder that these free-born laughter-loving
healthy girls, who are not two generations away from
the peasant class from which they sprung, should have
travelled from one end of England to the other taking back
to country children their joint inheritance of dances and
games.

After all, if folk music is the spontaneous expression
of a people's life, we of our generation too have a contri-
bution to make to it. And it is this contribution which
I believe these Esperance instructors have given to the
movement for the revival of folk music which is going
on to-day.

There must be nothing in this revival which cannot be
done by the average boy and girl ; it must be kept, in the
true sense of the word, a " vulgar " movement, under-
standed of the common people.

I am only afraid of the hindering touch of the pedant,
of the professional dance and music teacher. The move-
ment must be kept clear of all pedantry and of everything
precicux. These dances must from time to time be
learnt direct from the peasant, and be handed on by the
simple-minded, the musically unlettered, the young and
the happy. I thought it would take five years to cover
England with merry-making boys and girls. Now that
the schools can help, it looks as if we should do it in half
the time. Reports of progress still pour in, the merry
are becoming more merry, and the young more youthful,
and even the laggards in health and happiness are coming
into line, and I feel we have in this folk music a weapon
which will do as much as anything else to check
physical deterioration, and to make English boj's and
girls what every lover of our native land would like to see
them — upstanding, clean living, and joyous.

THE ES PL RANCH MORRIS BOOK.

CHAPTER III.

THK A [ORRIS STEP.

" And all of their singing was ' Earth, it is well ;
Ami all of their dancing was ' Life, thou art good.' "

Bliss CartnuH.

IN describing tlie morris dances it will be well to say
before going any further that there is no actual set step
wliich can be distinctly called the morris step. In saying
this, I know that I am going against the ojnnion of some
authorities, but my experience now extends over four years,
and during that time the Esperance Girls' Club has been in
touch with ten different traditional dancers from different
counties in England, and our experience has been that each
county and almost each neighbourhood has its ov.'n par-
ticular variant of the dance. For instance, a book

describing the Headington dances was shown to the men
of Bidford, and the descrij)lion of the step was read to
Ihem. They at once said it was all %vTong. A dance
learned at Ilminglon was said by the Headington men
not to be a morris at all, though included in a book of
morris dances. The Headington men say there is no such
thing as the foot being drawn back in the morris dance, but
two men living within seven miles of Headington, and who
have documentary proof of tradition going back to the
year 1700, never used the foot put forward, but in every
case did the step, which was one, two, three, and the foot
kicked backwards, exactly like the picture of the morris
dancers on the stained glass window in Staffordshire.

Again, I had two men up from Northamptonshire, and
they did the step hopping first on one foot and then with
the other leg making two distinct movements, one forward
and one to the side, with no sign of a back kick at all.
In Lancashire again the step was quite different ; it had
evidently been influenced by step dancing, of which it
was distinctly reminiscent. One must be prepared,
therefore, when going from place to place, and getting
fresh dances, to find the actual step different in every place,
and yet, curiously enough, when the dance is being danced,
one gets very much the same impression of the whole.
This, I think, is due a great deal to the vigour, robustness,
and general agility with which the dance is danced, and to
the ribbons, bells, handkerchiefs, and sticks which accom-
pany it. One can lay down no laws, for I have known
the same men change the step on three consecutive visits
to London, so that at the end one could scarcely recognize
it as the same step. Another difficulty is that the country
dancer at his best is unselfconscious, and dances quite
spontaneously, and that merely pulling hiin up and asking
him to repeat the step causes him at once to change, so
that even in one evening with one teacher in one dance,
one often evolves quite a variant. Of course all this very
much adds to the difficulty of writing a description of a
dance, because if the first impressions were (juite exact,
by the time the book was in print the dancer might have
changed his mind and be doing a different step. I think
it is largely owing to the different dancers who ha\-e taught

them that the sending out of the teachers from the
Esperance Club has been such a success, because they
have seen so much of the country dancers that they have
thoroughly imbibed the spirit of the traditional way of
dancing.

At the beginning of each dance the musician plays
the first section through once ; this is called " Once to
yourself." It might be noted here that Jlorris dance
tunes are not of necessity traditional tunes, as the dancers
often took popular contemporary tunes and adapted them
to their purposes. " Jockey to the Fair" is an instance of
this, being undoubtedl}' a composed tune which enjoyed
great popularity at the end of the eighteenth century.

Miss Florence Warren, our head instructress, has often
been asked to write flown the dances, exactly as she teaches
a class, without technical terms or involved description.
This has been done. A shorthand writer took the
description of the dances from Miss Warren, just as she
gives them to a class of children, to make sure that they
are clear and simple. In all of these dances, a " side "
consists of six dancers, who stand in the following positions :

5 j

AUUII'

;nce.

5094

THE ESPE RANGE MORRIS BOOK.

CHAPTER IV.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DANCES.

IN the dances of the particular set which include Country
Garden, Rigs o' Marlow, Shepherd's Hey, and Constant
Billy the form is the same, with a slight variation in
Shepherd's Hey, noted later. Each dance consists of
a series of evolutions, which are : chain, cross-over, and
back-to-back, and in between each of these movements
occur the steps and hand movements particularly
characteristic of each dance. The evolutions — chain,
cross-over, and back-to-back — are done to eight bars of
the music, and the steps for accomplishing them are : —

I Spring on the right foot ^^ R.
Spring on the left foot ^ L.
Spring on the right foot ^ R.
Hop on the right foot = hop R.

/ Spring on the left foot = L.

T bar I ^P""^"? °" *^^^ right foot = R.
"I Spring on the left foot = L.
[ Hop on the left foot = hop L.

/■Swing the right foot behind and alight on both
feet = both.
Hop on the back foot and take the front one away

to side = hop.
Swing that foot behind and alight on both feet

^ both.
Hop on the back foot and take the front one
away =^ hop.

I bar-

I bar— Feet together and jump.

The dancers would do well to bear in mind the
following general rules for performing the steps. Try to
dance on the ball of the foot towards the toe. The effect
should not be of stamping or of scraping, but one should
make a clean clear tap on the ground. The less noise
made the better ; it is the bells that we must hear, not
the stamp of the foot. The unemployed leg should, in
general, be straight, but not stiffened. The effect should
be one of naturalness and ease. At the beginning of a
step the foot which is about to be used is thrust forward,
and is brought back into position on the ground in order
to make the first step or spring. At the moment the foot
touches the ground the other foot is thrust forward. In
making the hop, the unemployed foot should not be raised
too high from the ground ; but the hop itself should be a
high one, as this act of restraining the unemployed leg
should give the effect of a shake to that leg, which makes
the bells "speak" The approximate position of the feet
can be seen in the lower picture on p. ix.

These dances, with the exception of " Rigs o'
Marlow," all start the same way, and the same steps are
used as for chain, etc. The set stand in position, the
music plays 4 bars, a slight jump is made on 2nd beat
of 4th bar, and the set then all dance forward, doing
R L R hop R, L R L hop L, and retire doing both, hop,
both, hop, together, and jump ; they then make a right
about turn and do the same thing the other way, and on
" together," being in their places they face partners and

jump ; this will be called Down and back turn ; Up and
back face.

Chaiit.~You start facing partners, and the leaders and
ends have to change places. To do this they all four
turn out and dance towards each other ; at the same time
the centres follow their leaders, so when leaders and ends
meet the centre should be in her leader's place ; the
leader then goes in fro:it of the end girl to her (end) place ;
the end girl dances to leader's place — she will have to
pass in front of centre, who will return to her own place.
This is a half chain and takes 4 bars ; to complete chain do
the same to own places, centre always following her leader.

In Chain, the dancers should have reached the places
they are making for by the time they have finished R L
R hop R, L R L hop L, so that both hop, both hop, etc.,
should be danced in position.

Cross-over. — To do this you cross to your partner's
place, right shoulders touching, doing R L R hop R, L
R L hop L. By this time you should have turned
in her place ; you then do both hop both hop together
jump, and cross to places in the same way.

Back-to-back.— You meet your partner, right shoulders
touching, doing R L R hop R. You then pass round
her without turning on L R L hop L, and back to your
own place on both hop both hop together jump ; you
then repeat, left shoulders touching.

Step for Ch.\in', etc.

Beats . . I I
Feet.... R

hop R I L R

Beats .
Feet ...

12 3412
both hop both hop ! together

; 4
; hop L

3 4
jump

SHEPHERD'S HEY {Stick Dance).

The evolutions in this dance are the same as those
just described, with one exception. In this dance crossing
is done by a movement called " go-and-come," which is
a little different from the ordinary crossing and back-to-
back. The dancers cross by a slanting movement, bearing
a little to the left, and come back without turning on the
same track ; they then cross bearing to the right, and
return on their own tracks.

The evolutions therefore are as follows : —

Partners knock sticks on last beat of " Once to yourself."

Down and back, turn ; Up and back, face partners.
8 bars.

Dance ; chain. 16 bars.

Dance ; go-and-come. 16 bars.

Dance ; back-to-back. 16 bars.

Dance ; go-and-come. 16 bars.

Face as at start and dance the same step as for chain
in position for 8 bars double quick time. Finish
by flinging both hands above head and cry.

For down and back and all evolutions, the step is the
same as described above.

THE EST' FRANCE MORRIS BOOK.

The Dance in this case is : —

Hold sticks upright in right fists and knock together
six times with partner on alternate sides of the
stick (as picture, p. xiv).

Keep sticks crossed and dance right, left, right, hop
right ; then left, right, alight on both feet (p. ix).

Repeat from clashing sticks.

When sticks are not being clashed, they must be held
upright in fists, and at 3rd beat of 4th bar in
chain, etc., they have to be knocked once. There
is }io step during this clashing of sticks.

Beats . .
Sticks..
Feet ..

In this diagram x marks the beats on which the sticks
are struck ; b = alight on both feet.

r 5

bar o

l>ur 7

bars

I 2

3 4

2 3

1^34

I 2 3

X X

R L R R

L R b

ir-,t and 2nd iieats in bar 12. 3rd and 4th beats in bar 14.

(I)
I (I)-

(2)-

1st beat, bar 15.

(2)
iftt beat.

RIGS 0' MARLO]V iStkk Dcincc).

In this dance partners tap sticks twice in the Sth bar in
chain, cross, etc., every time it occurs. The sticks
are held tightly in the centre as if for knocking.
The right hand side (2, 4, 5) hold them horizontal,
and the left hand side (i, 3, 5), tap the end nearest
to them with the tops of their own sticks.

The step is : —

Left, hop left (i bar) ; right, hop right (i bar) ; and
so on, except when tapping sticks.

The evolutions of this dance are as follows : —
Partners tap sticks on ist and 2nd beats of last bar of

"Once to yourself."
Start on left foot.
Hop down four bars, back four bars, tap on last two

beats. 8 bars.
Down four, back four, tap twice. 8 bars.
Face partner.
Tapping. lO bars.
Chain. 16 bars.
Tapping. 16 bars.
Cross. 16 bars.
Tapping. 16 bars.
Back-to-back, ib bars.
Tapping. 16 bars.
" AH in, " i.e., face as at start and strike sticks on last

beat.

Tapping :—

Right hand side holds sticks horizontal, left side taps
twice on ist and 2nd beat of bar 10. Then left
side holds sticks horizontal, and right side taps
twice on ist and 2nd beat, bar 12. Right side
holds sticks horizontal again, while left side taps
on 1st and 2nd beat of bar 14, and ist and 2nd
beats of bars 15 and 16 (as diagram). The round
dot shows the position of the hand.

(li-

st art.

-(-)

T.\PPIN'G.

1st and 2nd beats in bar 10.
(I) .-

(2)

(I)-

(2)

The whole figure is then repeated —
Feet.
bars I), 10 bars 11, 12 bars 13, 14 bars 15, 16
ist time L L L L I R R R R I L L L L I R L R L
2nd time R R R R I L L L L I R R R R I L R L R

Thus the whole of tapping is as follows : —

Beats
Sticks
Feet

ar 9

I 2

X \

X X

L L

R R

L L

R L

I 2
X X

R L

16
I 2

X X

L R

COUNTRY GARDENS [Handkerchief Dance).

In this dance a handkerchief is held in each hand
by the four corners, and while dancing down and back
turn, up and back face, chain, etc., the hands are
moved in the following way with the feet : —

ir q

Beats

I 2

Sticks

X X

Feet

R R

L L

R R

L R

Feet . . . • R L R
Hands . . ' down

hop R
up

Feet .
Hands

both hop ; both hop
circle circle

L R L

down

together
down

hop L
up

jump
up

For "Once to yourself" four bars of music is played ;
at 3rd beat in 4th bar all make a slight jump and throw
hands up to about level of face, then —

Down and back turn.| o u .<,

Up and back face. J

Hand clapping. 4 bars.

Half chain. 4 bars.

Hand clapping. 4 bars.

Half chain. 4 bars.

Whole chain. 8 bars.

Hand clapping. 8 bars.

Cross. 8 bars.

5694

THE ESPERANCE MORRIS BOOK.

Hand clapping. 8 bars.

Back to back. 8 bars.

Hand clapping. 8 bars.

All in. Face as at start.

Hand clapping is as follows : all clap hands twice,
partners clap right hands ; all clap twice, partners clap left
hands ; all clap twice, partners clap right hands ; partners
clap left, then fling hands above heads, this takes four
bars ; at the same time you hop on alternate feet as
follows : —

Beats . .
Hands . .
Feet . .

I 2

both both
L L

3
R
L

4
L

I 2

both both
R R

3 4

R R

Beats . .
Hands . .
Feet . . .

I 2

both both
L L

3
R
L

4
L

I 2

left
togc'thor

3 4

jump

CONSTANT BILLY {Stick Dance).

Hold sticks in centre. Always tap once on 2nd beat
in 4th bar in chain, cross, etc.

Partners tap sticks (as in " Ri^^s o' Marlow") on last

beat of "Once to yourself."
Down and back turn. \ g .
Up and back face. I
Tap sticks. 4 bars.
Half chain. 4 bars.
Tap sticks. 4 bars.
Half chain. 4 bars.
Whole chain. 8 bars.
Tap sticks. 8 bars.
Cross. 8 bars.
Tap sticks. 8 bars.
Back-to-back. 8 bars.
Tap sticks. 8 bars.
All in. Face as at start.

Tapping is as follows : —

Start. 2nd beat, bar 5.

. (I) i

(I) . 1

•—(2) \

2nd beat, bar 6.

(I)

(2)—

(2)
2nd beat, bar 7.

(I)-

ist beat, bar 8.

(2)
2nd beat, bar 8.

(2)

Feet

Feet for Tapping.
bar 5 I bar 6 | bar 7

JOCKEY TO THE FAIR {Morris Jig).

This is a solo dance, and can be danced by one, two, or
more persons. A very effective number is five, and in that
case the dancers should stand thus : —

4 I 2
3 5

No. 1 does each movement first, and the other four all
dance together after her, meeting in centre thus : —

A handkerchief is held in each hand.

In this dance the most common step is that used in
the first two bars of chain, etc., in the other Dances, that
is R L R hop R, and to save writing it out every time
it shall be called 123 hop. The dance is as follows : —

Once to yourself. — On the 2nd beat of bar 8 the hands
are thrown up and a jump is made.

First 8 bars of music. — i 2 3 hop six times, both hop,
both hop, together and jump.

Bars 9 to 22. — In the first two bars of this music
a new step occurs ; it will be called " side step " and is as
follows : Put left foot in front of right, make a quarter
turn right, and with feet in this position go to left corner,
taking weight of body first on left foot then on R L,
R L, R L, Ihcn hop on L, and swing R foot in front
of L. Make a quarter turn L, and do ihe same to right
corner, taking weight first on R, then on L R, L R, L R,
hop R. During side step the hands are circled 8 times.
Face front and dance forward, 123 hop si.x times, then
back to place, doing both hop, both hop si.x times together
and jump. In side step, dancer goes in this direction : —

Start.

THE CAPERS—

In this new movement, called " Capers," the dancer's
object is to jump as high as possible, keeping the knees
straight. A spring is made first on R foot, then on L,
then jump with both feet together, then again R L R
jump, R L R jump, R L R jump, then after a quick hop
on L foot dance 123 hop twice, and both hop, both hop
together and jump. The hands in this are as follows :-

Hands
Feet

down up down up down up down up

I 2 jump 4 56 jump 8

down up down up down up down

9 10 jump 12 13 14 jump

Or, if preferred, circles may be made as follows : —
Hands. . down up circle down up circle circle down
Feet . . I 2 jump 4 5 6 jump 8

L L

R R

L L

bar 8
R L

Hands
Feet

up circle circle down up circle circle
, 9 10 jump 12 13 14 jump

THE liSPE RANGE AfORRIS BOOK.

The dancer then repeats from bar 9 of music — that is
side step, capers, and again side step, and at end of side
step third time, instead of doing both hop, both hop six
times, slie only does it four, and finishes with four capers
and cries.

When there is more than one dancer, the music is
played twice for each movement.

These are the movements with music ; —

Music, First 8 bars. — i 2 3 hop, six times, etc.

Bars 9 to 22. — Side step, etc.

Bars 23 to 34. — Capers, etc.

Fig. I.
Hands : — down

Bars 9 to 22.— Side step, etc.

Bars 23 to 34. — Capers, etc.

Bars 9 to 22. — Side step and all in.

Jockey to the Fair can also be danced in a different
manner. A figure called Ifalf-Capers is danced in the
first movement, and the Capers are varied.

The start is made with left foot.

Feet :— L R L hop L R L R hop R L R L hop L R

circle up circle circle down up

L R hop K L R L hop L
Side step

Bars 9 to 22. — Side step as in ist version of Dance.
Bars 23 to 34. — Caper R, spring on L bending body
forward and with R leg thrown back | R L | spring on

R L (Rb)
Caper^

R (Lb) L

£EEr=£^

R hopR

R L hop L

these illustrations —
ft = feet together.
Rb = right foot behind.
Lb = left foot behind.

It will be seen that in the 5th and 6th bars of Fig. II
two quick capers are made.

MAID OF THE MILL—

This dance is danced by knotting handkerchiefs, holding
the unknotted corners in the right hand so that partners
are joined by the handkerchief.

The step is : —

Right foot just in front of left, hop on it \

Left foot just in front of right, hop on it J

At the same time a slight swing is made with the body
to the side of the front foot ; that is to say, when
the right foot is in front there is a slight swing
to the right ; and when the left is in front a swing
to the left ; the whole giving the effect of a sailor's
roll. This is the step throughout.

The evolutions are as follows : —

First 4 bars. — Hop down two bars, back two bars,
face partners.

2 bars.

Second 4 bars. — Hold hands above heads, cross under
handkerchiefs, left shoulders touching. When you
get across, turn so as to be able to look at partner,
when you will find yourself standing on the slant.
You then turn backwards under your own hand
to place.

Third 4 bars. — Leaders and bottom couple turn and
dance towards each other, leaders dancing under
centres and taking handkerchiefs over bottom
couple, bottom couple dancing under both leaders
and centres. Cross as in second 4 bars.

Hold handkerchirfs as high as eyes and dance 4 bars,
while the hobby horses dance underneath the raised
handkerchiefs.

Cross as in second 4 bars again.

All face opposite direction from start, and begin dance
all over again. This can be danced until the leader
calls " All in."

POP GOES THE WEASEL (Country Dance)—

Form up in two lines. Top couple join hands and
dance in a ring with the left hand dancer of the second
couple, who, at the words " Pop goes the Weasel," darts
under the hands of the others and goes back to her place.

THE ESPE RANGE MORRIS BOOK.

Repeat with the right hand dancer of the second couple.
Top couple then take hands and dance down the lines
and back, top couple and second couple take hands and
dance round each other and change places. The top couple
repeat dance with third couple ; after changing places with
them they dance with fourth couple, and so on down the
line until they have danced with every couple. The second
couple, when they have changed places with top couple,
stand still while top couple dance with third couple, but
when they have changed places and top couple are dancing
with fourth couple, the second couple dance with third
and follow top couple down the line, and so on with every
other couple ; when they get to the top they stand still
once, and then start dancing down the line until all are
dancing.

ABINGDON DANCES.
SALLY LUKER—

This is a corner dance. It differs from the previous
dances in that the centres never take part, only the four
at each corner. The evolutions are as follows : —

Dance down and back to eight bars of the music in
same formation as in previous dances, but don't
turn.

Face partners and dance. 8 bars.

First corners back-to-back. 8 bars.

Second corners copy. 8 bars.

Dance eight bars in position, facing partners.

All dance round to right in circle, when half way face
partners, 8 bars ; return to places, 8 bars.

Dance in position, facing partners, for eight bars, then
gradually get into a big circle for eight more bars,
and at end all jump on both feet into centre.

Throughout this dance the step is :^

Spring on the right.

Spring on the left.

Spring on the right and hop on the right.

Then : —

Spring on the left.

Spring on the right.

Spring on the left, and hop on left.

Thus the step is much the same as the polka step,
and the feet should be moved in the same way, and
not thrust forward as in the other dances. When
the hop is made, the unemployed foot is kicked
out behind. The movement of the dancer is from
side to side with each group of steps, right when he
begins on the right, left when he begins on the left.
The hands are moved as follows : —

Movement. . right

Feet R L R hop R

Hands down up

left

L R L hop L
down up

Added to this, on the ist beat of each 8 bars, a spring
is made on the right foot, the body is thrown forward
with arms up, and the left leg lifted behind ; and on the
3rd beat a hop is made on the right foot.

In corners, back-to-back, a different step is used, as
follows : the right foot is slightly raised behind,
the body is bent forward, and four slight hops
are given on left foot ; this takes one bar ; you
then hop four times on right foot and put left up
in front, and so on for seven bars ; the hands go
down when foot is raised behind, up when the
foot is raised in front. On the 8th bar the spring
is made as described in the previous paragraph.

PRINCES ROYAL—

The steps for this dance are the same as "Sally Luker,"
with the exception of a side step to be described below.

The evolutions are as follows : —

Dance down and back, and spring. 8 bars.

Face partners and dance. 8 bars.

Side step. 6 bars.

Clap both hands on ist and 2nd beats ; on jrd beat
put right hand out towards partner. Repeat this
for ne.\t bar. 2 bars.

Leaders, walking, change places with the bottom couple,
middles stand a few paces back that they may
pass easily. 4 bars.

Side step. 6 bars.

Repeat clapping. 2 bars.

Leaders return to their places. 4 bars.

Dance for 16 bars as " Sally Luker."

Jump to centre.

Side step. — Both sides start with the right foot, taking
four steps to the right and drawing up left foot, with the
right hand up, and left hand just out in front, then four
to the left, drawing up right foot, with the left hand up.
Then take two to the right, right hand up ; two to the
left, left hand up ; then clap hands. All this is done
facing partners.

Note that there is a spring and hop at the end of each
movement as in " Sally Luker."

A-NUrriNG WE WILL GO—

In this dance the set stand in the same formation as
for other dances, and the step throughout, hands and
feet, is the same as in " Sally Luker."

Dance down and back, turn. 8 bars.

Up back face. 8 bars.

Dance facing partner. 8 bars.

Back to back, as in " Country Gardens." 8 bars.

Dance facing partners. 8 bars.

Back to back again.

Dance facing partners. 8 bars.

Then gradually spread out into big circle at end of
another 8 bars. All make a jump into centre with
hands up.

In this dance, as in " Sally Luker " and " Princes
Royal," a jump is made at end of every 8 bars.

THE ESPERANCE ML) KRIS BOOK.

CHAPTER V.

THE FOLK-SONGS.

I WANT to make this chapter as practical and as hcli)ful
as possible to those who projiose to teach the folk-
songs to children, boys and giils, and to any who are
what all true folk-song singers are — musically unlettered.

The songs should be first of all sung quite simply and
naturally by the instructor to the class, and it will very
soon be evident whether the pupils like it or not, whether
it api>eals to them and takes their fancy ; if it does not,
it is best to drop it at once. If it does, they will be alile
to sing it quite easily when they have heard it about lour
times. It may be necessary to go over the words once
or twice if the song is a long one or if the story is not very
clear, but as a rule the folk-song tells a story, and so the
words are quite easily learnt. The Esperance girls and
children have never seen the words of the songs, and I
hope no one who learns them through this book ever will.
To-day our pu])ils can sing about fifty songs, and the result
is that wherever there happens to be half a dozen of our
singing class together, on the sea, rowing up the river,
out in the woods and meadows on our summer holiday,
or where one is working a sewing machine in a West-end
shop, or doing housework at home, no matter where or in
what occupied, the folk-songs are sung, and it is one of
my joys to-day to know that these songs are lightening
the hours of labour in many a London and country work-
room, and enhancing the joy of many a holiday hour.

The ne.xt question is what amount of acting and gestine
is permissible. I hope no one will ever call these songs
" action songs," the words convoy an entirely wrong
impression. Consulting with a lady of experience in
village folk dance, song, and drama, we decided to
describe some of the songs as " folk-songs with gesture."
This seems the best way to describe what is quite natural
to children and young folks in singing dramatic songs.

My plan is to take away all chairs, put the class in the
centre of the room, and then see what they naturally do
to express the meaning of the song. Their impulse is
generally right. Then one criticises anything unsuitable,
or ugly, gives a few hints, but in the end leaves them pretty
much to themselves. Anything which justifies the term
"action song" that is, any stereotyped action, must be
rigorously excluded. I have seen children v.ho, seen and
not heard, might well have been taken for a class of drill
students ! This is a danger for songs, dances, and games,
now that they are included in the school curriculum, and
if it becomes a fact will utterly destroy the meaning and
beauty of the revival of the use of folk music.

I think the two best sets of child singers and dancers I
have seen whose gestures and singing were most beautiful

were the Infant school scholars at Leicester and the
children at the Sompting school in Sussex.

It cannot lie too often repeated that at all costs the
singers and dancers and instructors must be made to enjoy
the dancing and singing, otherwise we have only added to
the burdens of life in introducing these songs and dances
into the school, and have done nothing that makes for
its uplifting and joyousness. The dance and game teachers
sent out from the Esperance Club do not profess to teach
the songs, but they will be found most helpful in suggestions
as to the general spirit and way of singing them. They
will gladly pass on to others all they have learnt in their
own class.

It would be a counsel of perfection to suggest singing
the songs as the traditional singer does, without accom-
paniment, though here and there will be found someone
with an exceptional voice who can sing a solo unaccom-
panied, but, speaking generally, the piano will be necessary,
and is the best instrument for the purpose.

Although we always say, when sending out a teacher
of the dances and games, that we do not undertake to
teach the songs, rumours constantly reach me that the
songs are taught — that is merely that they are sung and
learnt as traditional music should be learnt, and as the
songs were originally learnt and handed on from one
goneration to another. Only nowadays the songs are
sometimes handed back a generation or two as well as
taught to the children.

I had a letter this week which jileased me very much,
and this is an extract from it : —

" I have taught many of the songs ; yesterday in church
it was given out that the folk music class would be Tuesday
instead of Wednesday, because most of the village people
come to look on and enjoy it just as much as the dancers.
Many of the old people in the village have asked if I would
go and sing to them — they cannot get out."

And so to-day, in the very heart of rural England, the
children are dancing and singing, and the old folks sit at
home and the singer goes round, and once more they hear
the songs of their youth and rejoice. Who can say how
far this movement will go towards so changing and
brightening village life, that the fatal exodus towards
the cities may be at any rate held in check?

Who can say how much the deeper and inner life of
the English peasant may be stirred to new vigour and
new awakening? Who can say what effect this new
awakening may have on the ultimate ideals and destiny
of our native land?

THL tSPERANCE MORRIS BOOK.

CHAPTER VI,

THE GAMES.

For the good are always the merry,

Save by an evil chance,
And the merry love the fiddle.

And the merry love to dance."

W. B. Yeats.

AS in the songs, the gestures and the " business " used
in the games should, as far as possible, be left to the
initiative of the children. It has been my good
fortune, for many years, lo take parties of children out of
the city away into the country for a summer holiday, and
nothing has impressed me more than the charming and
dramatic way in which the children play when left to
themselves. I have often lain on my back out in a wood,
shut my eyes and pretended to be asleep, and then, when
they were absorbed in their play, had a quiet look at them
and listened to their improvisations. The more they play
the old English singing games in this way the better, and
the way in which they most easily get the spirit and the
right gestures is, I think, by being told the story of the
game in a dramatic way and being made to understand
what lies at the back of it, and then left very much to
themselves.

WIGWAMY, WIGWAMY, WATER HEN—

The other night I began to teach children this game,
which they had not seen before. I began by describing
a mother out in the woods with her children. She
suddenly sees an old woman picking up sticks, and, in
a friendly, neighbourly way, says to her, by way of passing
the time of day, " What are you picking up sticks for? "
The old woman answers quite simply and naturally,
" To light my fire." But something makes the mother
ask again, " What are you lighting your fire for? " To
which the old woman replies with a touch of irritability,
" To boil my kettle." It begins to dawn upon the mother,
in spite of the commonplace surroundings and quite
natural reply that things are not quite what they seem,
so she says, "What are you boiling your kettle for?"
The old woman replies in a harsh and grating voice, slowly
and deliberately, with a look at the children, " To boil my
knives and forks." Then terror enters into the heart
of the mother. Her children crowd round her, and with
a cold shiver of horror she says very slowly, " What are
you boiling your knives and forks for? " The murder
is out, so to speak. The old woman in the woods,
apparently innocently picking up slicks, makes a dash
for the last child furthest away from the mother, and
says, " To cut off your little girls' heads." There is a
general stampede, the old woman catches the child, and
the game begins all over again ; but as the chorus
" Wigamy, wigamy, water-hen," etc., is being sung, the
mother, pointing with her finger, looks backwards and
counts her children, throwing up her arms with a tragic
gesture when she realises that one is missing. I told
the children the story something in this form, and with
all my experience I was astonished at the dramatic power
which they managed to put into it. The simple little
nonsense rhyme, with the dialogue at the end, was some-
how filled with the tragedy of great things, and the child-

mother represented all the tragedy of the bereaved
motherhood of the world ; and the curious and quite
inexplicable part of it all is that the children enjoyed it —
even the tragedy perhaps more than the comedy.

OLD ROGER IS DEAD—

The children stand round in a ring with arms crossed
on their breasts, and at the refrain of each verse, "Dead
and gone to his grave," bend slowly backwards and
forwards. Four children should stand just outside the
ring, and should enter as follows : At the verse " Old
Roger is dead and gone to his grave," a child comes slowly
into the ring, lies down flat with closed eyes. At the verse
" They planted an apple tree over his head," another comes
in, stands at old Roger's head, stretching out her arms
over him, and at the next verse, " The apples were ripe
and beginning to drop," slowly drops and raises her
arms. At "There came an old woman a-picking them
up," a child comes in, pretending to pick up apples
from the ground and putting them into her apron. At
the last verse Old Roger, with a dazed look, gets up very
slowly, gives the old woman a knock, whereupon she goes
" hipperty-hop " out of the ring, followed by Old Roger.

The children might also be told about this game that it
represents the ancient Ijclicf that the souls of men after
death entered into trees and other living things, and that
Old Roger, having entered into his old apple tree, naturally
resented his old apples being stolen.

LOOBY LOO—

The children dance round in a ring, singing : —

" Here we go. Looby Loo,
Here we go, Looby Light,
Here we go, Looby Loo,
All on a Saturday night."

Then they stop, point the right hand out into the ring,
turn round, point the right hand outside the ring, and then
shake it and turn back, facing the centre of the ring as they
sing :—

" Put your right hand in.
Put your right hand out,
Shake it a little, a little.
And tiun yourselves about."

This is done with the left hand, the right foot, the left
foot, ears, noses, and noddles, until the final verse : —
" Put yourselves in.
Put yourselves out,
Shake them a little, a little.
And turn yourselves about."

When all the children go into the middle of the ring, spread
themselves out, shake themselves all over, and give a turn
right round.

Each verse ends with a sharp clap of the hands and a
call on the last note of the tune.

THE hSl'ERANCK MORRIS BOOK.

LONDON BRIDGE—

This is a game in which it is gDod to tell the children
the drama which lies at the hack of it. They should be
told how in olden days a human sacrifice was laid at the
foundation stone of every bridge, and liow when London
Bridge was broken down every suggestion for its re-
building was known to be of no use until " the prisoner "
was secured and accused of some crime. How, in less
barbarous days, a ransom was accepted instead of the
sacrifice. Once the children understand the world truth
lying underneath this old-world story, and a mind picture
is drawn for them, they will act it in exactly the right
spirit. The actual formation of the game is as follows : —

Two of the bigger children join hands and raise them
to the level of their heads to form a bridge. The other
children take hands, two and two, raise them to about
the level of the shoulder, hold out their skirts with the
other hand, form a line, and with a little dancing step,
one, two, three, and a little hop, go round and round each
time under the " bridge " until the line is reached " Some
one's stole my guinea gold chain," when the smallest child,
who should lead the procession alone, dancing as in the
coloured picture, is caught by the " bridge " and held,
while the other children stand round in a ring singing the
verse with gestures of consternation when the prisoner is
caught and the accusation made of having stolen a chain.
In the last verse " the bridge " walks away, still holding
the prisoner, and the other children follow with bowed
heads and mournful gestures. Or it can be played as
directed on the music page.

WHEN I WAS A SCHOOL GIRL—

In this game the children have the joy of imitating their
ciders in as many different ways as occur to them, and the
game may be indefinitely prolonged by their ingenuity or
that of their teachers. The children join hands in a ring,
singing the first part of the verse until they come to " It
was this way and that way," when they stop and do the
appropriate action. For instance, " When I was a school-
girl," they go slowly round, making a book of their two
hands, at which they look very intently. At the verse,
" When I was a teacher," they stand, turning from one

side to the other with an admonismng finger held up to
the child next to them, first one side, then the other.
At " When I had a husband," they walk round anri-in-arni
chatting and looking very pleasant to one another, and so
on to any number of verses.

GREEN GRASS—

This is another game illustrating courtship and marriage.
The children divide into two sides and one side dances
backwards and forwards saying, " Here we come up the
green grass," etc. Then one of them says, " Will you
come? " to a child on the opposite side. The first answer
is " No." Then the inviting side sing " Naughty girl,"
etc. The invitation is given again, and this time the
answer is " Yes." Then the child who said " yes" joins
the first side, and they dance round in a ring, singing
" Now we've got our bonny miss." The game then
begins again and goes on until every child has joined the
ring.

THREE DUKES—

This game is a survival of an old marriage custom, and
represents the exogamous marriage. Three children, who
represent the dukes, prance backwards and forwards,
singing " Here come three dukes a-riding." The other
side, representing the maidens of another tribe or village,
advance and retire singing " What is your good will,
sirs? " And so on, each side singing alternate verses
until the last is reached, " Through the kitchen," etc.
Then the three dukes dance in front of the maidens,
scrutinising them, finally choosing three, when the game
begins all over again with " Six dukes," " Twelve dukes,"
until all the maidens are chosen.

This game gives great scope for dramatic action, as the
" dukes " can express great scorn in singing " You're all
as black as charcoal," and the maidens can be quite as
scathing in their reply, " We're quite as clean as you,
sirs ! " The " dukes " come up very stiffly in the verse
" You're all as stiff as pokers," and the " maidens " bend
very low in their reply.

niE ESPE RANGE MORRIS BOOK.

CHAPTER VII.

COSTUMES.

Solo. — Do you know what sports are in season ?

Silvio. — I hear there are some afoot.

Solo. — Where are your bells, then your rings,
your ribbands friend, and your clean nap-
kins; your nosegay in your hat pinned up?

From "Women Pleased," Fletcher.

I HAVE had so many enquiries with regard to the best
costumes for dancing the morris dance, that a chapter
on that subject will not be out of place.
The morris dance was originally a men's dance, and
there are still survivals in country districts of the costumes
worn in the old days. We have generally adopted that
worn by the Bidford men in Shakespeare's country, and
this is very nearly illustrated by the coloured picture in
this book. But it may be taken for granted that the
more colour that can be introduced into the dress the
better, as in old days there was a rivalry amongst the
women as to who could send her man out to dance the
morris decked in the brightest colours. The best
adaptation of the dress for to-day is, I think, as follows :
White knee breeches, grey-blue thick stockings (which can
still be had in country districts), and fairly thick shoes.
A set of bells should be worn strapped round the upper
part of the shin, the bells being sewn on different coloured
braids. The shirt should be frilled, and the braces should
be decked with bright coloured ribbon, on which rosettes
are sewn, as in the picture. The hat should also be
decorated with plaited coloured ribbons, and the sleeves
of the shirt tied with black or coloured ribbons as in the
picture. I do not think the tall hats by any means a
necessity, though they are certainly worn at the present
day by the Bidford men. A close-fitting cap with lapels
over the ears is sometimes worn, and I do not think the
ordinary slouch hat, gaily decorated with ribbons, is
out of place. For boys, the same costume can be worn,
the set of bells, ribbons, etc., merely being made of suitable
size in proportion. I have a set of the original bells
in my possession, which reach further down the leg than
those in the picture, and the bells are sewn on to a piece
of canvas which is covered with inch long pieces of coloured
cloth, made after the fashion of the hearthrug, which most
of us have at some time or other had presented to us by
an old soldier or sailor.

For Girls and Women.
As there is no traditional dress for women morris
dancers, I will describe that which has been made jiopular
by the Esperance girls, and the first idea of which was
given to me by friends at Haslemere. The ghls should
be dressed in bright-coloured cotton frocks. The bodices
should be tight fitting, and the skirts gathered or pleated
on to them, only, however, allowing enough fulness to
hang comfortably when dancing. The skirts should well
clear the ankles, and the dancers should be encouraged to
have very little starch in frocks or petticoats. The
stockings, as the men's, should be blue-grey, and the
shoes stout and easy, and, where possible, ornamented
with plain steel buckles. Muslin aprons and fichus, white
collars and cuffs may be added to make ^-variety. I
think there should be as much difference as possible in the
colours of the dresses and little changes of make, so long
as simple lines are observed, because, as the idea is a

village festival on a village green at holiday time, of course
no two people would be dressed alike, and I do not myself
like the dresses which I have seen at different per-
formances where the children were all dressed rigidly
alike, however pretty the costume was, so that any
variation in the dress of men or women is, I think, an
advantage. One man, for instance, might have his shirt
gaily decorated with loops of coloured ribbon, even when
the others keep to be-ribboned braces. The dress of the
fool also makes a good variety, and may be worn by one
of the dancers of either sex. We have generally adopted
a straight-down dress of a bright orange brown, scalloped
round the edges, with a bell at the end of each scallop,
and a cap all in one with it, fitting tight over the head,
with holes for the cars, and two horns made of the same
stuff padded with cotton wool, and a bell at the end of
each. The fool's dress may also be made of a tunic of
dark spotted print with a frill of some bright spotted
material, and a cap very much the shape of a small tea-
cosey, covered all over with odds and ends of ribbon,
artificial flowers, and bits of feather. The fool always
carries a short stick, at one end of which is a cow's tail,
and at the other end a bladder, which is blown out, and
with which he flicks and whacks the dancers as the spirit
of fun takes him. The girls should wear a cottage sun
bonnet, made of print, either of the same colour as the
dress, or of a colour which harmonises with the dress. I
have found a very pretty effect for a fair girl in an apple
green dress with a pink sun bonnet, a pale blue dress with
a deep violet sun bonnet, a bright blue dress with a white
sun bonnet, and so on, and for dark girls nothing looks
so charming as a good scarlet or crimson dress and bonnet
with white fichu arrangement. The girls should wear a
strip of elastic round the ankles on which bells are sewn.

For the Children.
The girl children should be dressed in bright coloured
cotton frocks, made, if for a special occasion, with tight-
fitting, rather long bodices, short puffed sleeves, and skirt
pleated or gathered on to the bodice, and little tight-fitting
caps, generally called Dutch bonnets, and which every
village mother knows how to make. The ordinary
coloured print frocks in which the children go to school
will, however, quite serve, and I think if the mothers
were warned beforehand, in most instances they would
make a point of buying pretty colours, and then very
little expense would be entailed in dressing the children,
as the little bonnets can be added for a few pence, and
they, at any rate, should always be made of the very
brightest coloured sateen. I use violet, orange, emerald
green, indigo blue, scarlet, etc.. and they give a delightful
touch of colour when the frocks are, perhaps, a little
faded from being washed. I do not like the effect of
white pinafores over the dresses, nor are white dresses
effective either indoors or out. The little girls also wear
bells round the ankles. Each dancer — men, women, and
children — carries a stick and two white handkerchiefs,
which are used in the various evolutions of the dance.
The boy children should be dressed as the men are, tall
hats can be had from a shop at Eton, the address of which
is given at the end of the book.

THIi ESPE RANGE MORRIS BOOK.

CHAPTER VIII.

ENTERTAINMENTS.

IN getting up an entertainment, a great deal depends on
the spirit in which it is done, and the great thing is for
the performers to enjoy it as much as those who look on.
If it is out of doors, I do not think a stage is necessary ; in
fact, it rather spoils the appearance. The sound of the
bells, if the dancers know their business, sliould quite
sufficiently mark the rhythm, and the morris dance can be
quite suitably performed on a well-mown and well-rolled
lawn. A square of about 20 ft. should be allowed for a
set of si.\, and the ]iiano, if one is used, should be put on
a board of wood, and as far as possible concealed by plants,
branches, etc. It is often possible so to arrange it behind
bushes that the player can see the dancers without being
seen, and where this can be done it is most desirable. The
children should enter dancing and waving their handker-
chiefs, as they do in the first part of each dance, the effect
and the sound of the bells being most charming. Many
little additions to an open-air performance may be made,
as for instance : Miss Warren, when conducting an open-
air display at Hull, arranged the lawn like a meadow at
hay-making time, and had a swing put in the background,
and a see-saw. The children were told, when not actually
performing, to make hay and enjoy themselves on the
swing and see-saw, the only stipulation made being that
they should keep absolute silence. The result proved
very delightful, and children and audience enjoyed them-
selves enormouslj'.

At an indoor performance it is much more difficult to
create a right atmosphere and spirit for a folk music
concert. It is important, above all things, to keep out
the theatrical element, and for this reason the utmost
simplicity of stage arrangements should be observed.
The platform at the Small Queen's Hall, where we have
given most of our performances, is 25 ft. by 22 ft., and
two sets of dancers (si.\ in each) have danced, the rest
of the performers standing round at the back. About
thirteen children have played the games. It is more
effective on a platform of this size if only si.x dance at
a time, different " sides " taking turns, while the others
look on. The whole comjiany can, of course, dance the
Morris On and Morris Off. A curtain of fireproof green

material should be hung across the back of the platform.
The far sides may be decorated with plants and flowers,
but care should be taken to have nothing in front which
will obstruct the view of the dancers' feet, so that it is
best to keep the decorations strictly to the two ends.
The piano, where one is used, should be as far as possible
hidden l>y ])alms, etc., taking care, however, that the
pianist can see the performers. We have not found it
answer, however, to have the jiiano off the platform, as
with children it is difficult to keep them in tune when they
are too far away from the instrument. This is all the
stage property wliich we have ever had, and I very strongly
advocate a rigid adherence to its simplicity. Children,
especially, have enough imagination to turn a green curtain
and a few plants into magic woods and meadows full of
wild flowers and singing birds, and will get quite enough
inspiration from them to throw themselves heartily into the
music. The children should be told that they are their
great -great -grandfathers and great -great -grandmothers
dancing on a village green, and that there is no audience,
but that they arc only to enjoy themselves in the best
possible way.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS—

Of course a piano is quite out of place either indoors
or out, and yet we are at present almost obliged to use it,
because, unless the performers are very good and quite in
spirit of the music, it is difficult to keep up the verve and
spirit without a piano.

I have in my possession an old pipe and a tabor to which
the dances used to be danced ; the men from whom the
tunes were written played them on a concertina, and I
have tried fiddles and mouth organs. I think boys
should be encouraged to learn to play the dances on fiddles
and concertinas, especially for outdoor dancing, playing
by ear, and being able to stroll about amongst the dancers,
quite at their ease. But as to singing, I am afraid we shall
have to keep the piano, until the revival of folk-singing
has taught people to sing as the old folks do — without
accompaniment.

5<5'M

THE MORRIS DANCES

CONTENTS

PAGE

MORRIS ON .....^. 19

SHEPHERD'S HAY 20

RIGS O' MARLOW 20

COUNTRY GARDENS 21

JOCKEY TO THE FAIR 22

THE MAID O' THE MILL 24

POP GOES THE WEASEL 24

PRINCES ROYAL 25

SALLY LUKER 26

A-NUTTfNG WE WILL GO ....,„ 26

CONSTANT BILLY 27

MORRIS OFF 27

9694

RcprMuu-d h\ llic cviiftrsy i;/ the Pivpridors of ' Pitncli

MERRIE ENGLAND ONCE MORE.

MORRIS ON.

This is the tune with which the Berkshire dancers always begin.

Tune-'The Girl I've left behind me."

FIDDLE

r ^ l;

±E^

^^^^^

^*=^

F=^=f

^g=pi

Repeat ad lib.

-f-F-

r ' t

^^# > m-

r r

20 Each dance is independent. The instrumentalistplays the first section once before dancing begins. The music is repeated over
and over again until the leading dancer calls out' all in!' The fiddle and piano parts are complete. Either or both may be
used for the accompaniment. O XJ T7* T~) XJ TT* T3 Ti O T T \'\7'

From "Shakespearean Bidford Morris Dances!'

J=115

rnj J

f 'yi

PIANO.

(ad lib)

r r

mE¥

J J r

V V

J •' ^ J • J *

^^^ r r

JTI^^-^

.^ ^ ^rlr r r

■' Denotes the beats on which the sticks are struck.

Play bars 1 tci 4 lo yourself and twice fur dancing. Bars 5 to H twice. Bars 1 to 4 twice. Bars 5 to 8 twice. Bars 1 to 4 twice. Bars
5 to 8 twice. Bars 1 to 4 twice, -5 to 8 twice. Bars 1 to 4 twice at usual pace, and twice quicker.

RIGS 0' MARLOW.

The title is a corruption of 'RAKES OF MALLOW," a once popular ballad.
J 168. _ Collected and arranped by GEOFFREY TOYE.

FIDDLE. - ■ — " - -

PIANO.'

^'IJJjJiJiJ I'japqMg

V^V

V^ V

— ^ — ^'^ '•- I — ^ — >>^ I — I 1

CjiOcij-HJ^l^^^

1'^ > 13

^i^m

-J

-ni'|_-' mc.i^^fp-r^

^V^— IEl5

Play bars 1 to 4 unct to yourself. Fur dancing play the whole 16 bars, fuur tirrn-s ihruugh, repeating each half of the tune.

COUNTRY GARDENS.

The tune is & variant of "A COUNTRY GARDEN!' popularly known as 'THE VICAR OF BRAY."

J «120.

Collected and arranged by GEOFFREY TOYE.

m f m

wr=±

t=d

=2:

S=i^

P^i P

\>>i ^ '

■E^EE^

PIANO.

f=^

mF^

^ia

w-~t

r r f \F r 0 . } n

'^m

^^^

--i * ■:

* ^ ■#■

i:__Jl

V V

^ rrr r r

V V V

V V_ V

r p

±i

^rn J J.

^TT3J J

^=^^

:^:^^^=^

F^^^

7-S^

* ^

»=f

i— J

V denotes the beats on which the hands are clapped.

Once to yourself (bars 1-4). Play 4 times through making the repeat 1st time only.

JOCKEY TO THE FAIR.

FIDDLE.

— 116.

Coll«-cted and arranged by GEOFFRKY TOYE.

r=r^-* ^ im

SHAKE UP.

J-H=^

*=*

PIANO.

md-> '

jt fi-

f ff '■-

Ifcpl

*— ^

JN J ^

p^f^CT

T~'T"ri

en p :l :\i ;f t\f ^m

E ^- J ^ a^

SIDE STEP

C''>;|,' 1 -1

i^=^

^eI^

# 1^

F- -0- ■•-

^f—^

f w f

f ir'rr J, ^J^^

€-J ^

¥4=^^

Pt^

iE£*

17 18 19

^ *

v J J rr

• < ^ J

CAPERS. J ■ 104

» HIJ. J

0 » *

r •; I

J ^ J J J -t- <;

S f

f U J

-^ J ^

iS:

=6=

^7 ^7

♦=F

"> II

y-r^

8^-3

» >

^ES

1^=^

I t^ i g

i«

2?.S.

feiE

-"1-^

Play bars 1 to 8 once to yourself. For dancing play bars 1 to 34. Then bars 9 to 34. Finish with bars 9 to 22.
If this dance is performed by more than one dancer each section is played twice.

THE MAID O' THE MILL.

From Frank Kidsoii's "Old fountry Dance and Morris Tunes" by permission.

Moderate. J-= 88.

FIDDLE

%T?rr r

^^^

T.—r~^

f^-f^-^

fe=^

ttm:

tailLkir %rr r i crf^mtL^ ciz i r""^!' »

Play bars 1 to 4 to yourself first. Play 3 times through then finish with bars 1 to 8.

POP GOES THE WEASEL.

Play through as often as required.

PRINCES ROYAL.

Taken from Berkshire Dancers at the Esperance Club, by Mrs. Tuke.

J .- 118.

Berkshire version.

i ^^ir r r r iicx;^ r

t=»^

:j\^ J J u

s§

J J J J

^a^

fee

FP^Ff

PIANO.

(ad lib.)''

"(r^'l^c r

l?=*

g^^^^

^ J J J

■= ^ • Ig

i^^

^J J J J

^te^

('■'^^ r r r r

.rni

d d ^

^^^

p J J

p^^

• d ' •

±^

TTI , ^

^=i=*

:z±v:

ij ji

Play bars 1 to 8 to yourself, then twice for dancing. Play bars 9 to 24 twice.
Finish with bars 1 to 8 played twice.

SALLY LUKER.

Taken from Berkshire Dancers at the Esperance Club, by MrsTuke.

J^'.

^=PFf

J1lJJj|J-J'JrlJ]5

FIDDLE.

PIANO,
(ad lib.)

jhipJ^J J-)

^^^^

(''H'^r^-^

^^^

*=¥

g *

j^ jt J'j f

(r\ J r r

fe^

^^-^

Play bars 1 to 4 to yourself, then four times for dancing. Play bars 5 to 18 twice. Play bars 1 to 4 twice. Play 5 to 18 twice.
Finish with bars 1 to 4 played four times, or until "ALL IN" is called.

A -NUTTING WE WILL GO.

Taken from Berkshire Dancers at the Esperance Club, by Mrs Tuke.

M*; jJ J r lg

^m^

y-r""7^

FIDDLE.

PIANO

(ad lib.)*'

1 " ' «»

rrJJiJrJ^N^

m f -zn.

frH <'. f r

JviJ

^JJJ

J jij

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

j^-jftftMJ

p jijpp^^l^^^^^^

=f=T

"=^

itta!

Play bars 1 to 8 to yourself, then twice for dancing. Play bars 9 to 16 once, 1 to 8 twice, 9 to 16 once, 1 to 8 twice,9 to 16 once,
then for the finish 1 to 8 once.

CONSTANT BILLY.

From "Shakespearean Bidford Morris Dances"

FIDDLE

itrS:*

-^^T^

3=-a:

^^^^

i i''J7i

4=3

g r r r

f=^

r c f c

tZj

IJJ^

^^_ — i

t \f^l"

Play bars 1 to 4 once to yourself, and twice for dancing. Bars 5 to 12 twice. Bars 1 to 4 twice. Bars 5 to 12 once. Bars 1 to 4 twice.
Bars 5 to 12 once. Bars 1 to 4 twice. Bars 5 to 12 cnce.

MORRIS OFF.

(Invariably used for the finish of the dances.)

J = 80

jl^TJJ

4 0 0 0 f ff>

FIDDLE.

PIANO.;

(ad lib.)^

^=3fc= ' ^ S

:*:

TT^-^JrTi

^f=^

ist

Play once to yourself, then to dancing as often as required.

REPEAT CUES FOR THE ACCOMPANIST.

The ftjllowinq- fiq-ures indicatt^ the number of bars to be pl.ivcii or repeated.
The same intbrmation is given at the foot of each dance, but it is here given again
in a brief and graphic form for ready reference.

SHEPHERD'S HAY.

||: 1-4 :i|: 5-8 :ii: 1-4 :|1: 5-S ■,[. 1-4 :ii: 5-8 :'|: 1-4 :;|: 1-4 :|l

RIGS O' MARLOW.

||: 1—8 :i|: *)—!() :!i four times.

COUNTRY GARDENS.

il 1-8 |: 9-1 (> :||: 1-1(1 :ii 1-1(5 l|

JOCKEY TO THE FAIR.

II l-U II 9-34 II 9-22 ii

MAID O' THE MILL.

Ii: 1-16 ::l 1-1() II 1-8 II

PRINCES ROYAL.
II: 1-8 :i|: 9-24 :i|: 1-8 :|l

SALLY LUKER.

I|: 1-4 :ii: 1-4 :|1: 5-12 :||: 1-4 :||: 5-12 :i|: 1-4 :ii: 1-4 :|i

A-NUTTING WE WILL GO.
II: 1-8 :|1 9-16 Ii: 1-8 :ll 9-16 ll: 1-8 :|| 9-16 II 1-8 il

CONSTANT BILLY.

II: 1-4 :|i: 5-12 :1|: 1-4 :|| 5-12 l|: 1-4 :il 5-12 l|: 1~4 :il 5-12 II

OTHER DANCES.

Repeat ati' lib.
" Once to yourself" must always be played.

THE FOLK-SONGS

CONTENTS

CAGE

MY LADY GREENSLEEVES 31

A WASSAIL! A WASSAIL! 32

TWENTY. EIGHTEEN 34

THE PROPOSAL 36

LITTLE SIR WILLIAM 40

LAVENDER CRY 41

THE BARKSHIRE TRAGEDY 42

5694

MY LADY GREENSLEEVES.

J- =120

Key G

d :— -.d Id :-.r :m I r :- -t

Old English Air, arr.by P. E.F.
, :- :t, I d :- :1. ll,:-.t, :d. \

VOICE .

PIANO.

1. A . las! my love you do me wrong, To cast me off dis .

2. I bought thee petiLcoats of the best, The cloth so fine
3. Thy smock of silk both fair and white, With gold em . broi.dered

/^4. Greensleeves now fare . well! a . dieu! God, I pray, to

courteously; For I have lov.ed you so long, De . light.ing in your com.pa.ny.

as might be; I gave thee jew. els for thy chest, And all this cost I spent on thee,

gor.geously; Thy pet . ti . coat of sen.dal right: And these I boughtthee glad . ly.

pros.perthee! For I am still thy lov.er true: Come once a gain and love me.

^- - ^

For O green . sleeves was all my joy! AndO green

^as3i

sleeves was ray de-light! AndO

"T^

l^ ,

Vi/

Is :- .f :m I r :- .t, :8, is, :- :t, I d :- .t, -.1, It, :- :sc, I 1,:-:- 11,:-

N ^' 8 f

M ^- J J

sleeves was my heart of gold! And who but my La . dy Green . sleeves?

green

A WASSAIL, A WASSAIL.

from "Sussex Songs"by permission of Miss Lucj Braadwood & Messrs Leonard & Co.

:m, I 1^ ^ Im :r I d ^t, 11, :se, I 1, :t, Id :r

VOICE.

r— ^

A was - sail, a was . sail, a was.sail we be . gin, With

m m

^ g r J

^ttTt

PIANO.

^^#^

irt

-Wi'^ ''

te:

1, :ni In :r I d :t, II, :se, I 1, -.t. Id :r I m il m :fe I s :— Ife :m

y— ^

su-gar plums and cin-na-mon, and o. ther spi . ces in; With a was . sail, a

\} l-J J J ir.

^^^=^

ffi

fTf

^rr^

kt.

^ ^ ^ r r LCr

1 :— Im -.m I d :— It, :1, I r :— Id :r I m :— If :— .r I m : Im :r

was . sail, a jol . ly was . sail. And may joy come to you and to

fet

J J- ;

J r J J

^^^^

-J

^=^

^^-j J J J

i=^

^^-^

i^=p

f=fT=^

d :1, It. :se. I 1 :- Im :fe I s :- Iff :m I 1 :- Im :m Id :- It, :1,

r :— Id :r I m :— If :— .r I m

y'i> J J J I fi

-g-ir '' r r

d -A, \t, ^, ! 1, :- i- II

^ J J .J I -J ^

sail, And may joy come to you and to our was

k'lrj J J |J . ^- ;■

J . J J

sail.

IM"

'J J j J

i=^

-i ^ J

j^j

Effi

f=f=^

"F^^r

Good master and good mistress, as you sit by the fire.
Consider us poor wassailers, who travel thro' the mire;-
With a wassail, etc.

Good master and good mistress, if you will be but willing,
Come, send us out your eldest son with sixpence or a shilling;-
With a wassail, etc.

Good master and good mistress, if thus it should you please,
Come, send us out your white loaf, likewise your Christmas cheese;-
With a wassail, etc.

Good master and good mistress, if you will so incline,
Come, send us out your roast beef, likewise your Christmas chine;-
With a wassail, etc.

If you've any maids within your house, as I suppose you've none.
They'd not let us stand a.wassailing so long on this cold stone;-
With a wassail, etc.

For we've wassailed all this day long, and nothing could we find,
But an owl in an ivy-bush, and her we left behind;-
With a wassail, etc.

We'll cut a toast all round the loaf, and set it by the fire,
''We'll wassail bees, and apple trees, unto your hearts,desire;-
With a wassail, etc.

Our purses they are empty, our purses they are thin,
They lack a little silver to line them well within;-
With a wassail, etc.

Hang out your "^silver tankard upon your golden spear,
We'll come no more a.wassailing, until another year;-
With a wassail, etc.

For other versions of the time see Gilberts Carols, and Chappell's Popular Music of the Olden Time,
Vol 2, P. 752.

'^Alluding to the custom of repeating certain rhymes to the bees and apple trees.
^Or 'silken handkerchief as some sing.

TWENTY. EIGHTEEN.

Sung by a carpenter at Bcsthorpe, Norfolk, to the Rev. J. T. Howard, and collected by John Graham for The Musical

Htrt,ld, Scpterr;bcr. 1S9I.

An ';!d settler in Massaehu.sstts fifty v«ars &gv used to sinjr at the end nf ttie refrain," I ve done." instead of ' And one'.' This sug-
gest! that th.' "Charniing cr».-.iure" h»d to say "Yes" or ''Ko'' by the time the f'^ures were counted.

Allegretto.

VOICE

PIANO

It, .1, ;tj ^ I d :d It, .!, :t, .s,

fc=t

(HE.) Ho! von . der stands a

charm . ing crea . ture,

-T .

inp

d :d !r :m i

.d I d .r :rri .f

1 :t, Id

^^^

3-^^E

Who she is I do not know; Fll go and court her for her beau . ty, Un

EEC

^=i

f:__CJL^

i^^

5E^

f=T

il s :s Im :r

I m :1, llj ^ I d :d_J_, It, :s, I d :d .1, It, :s, 1

I I I I-- -^

P?^

3^5

til she do say "yes" or "no." Twen.tv, eight _een, six . teen, four . teen,

r7\ I -,_

^~Tm.

r f

j»

Twelve, ten, eight, six, four, two, none.

nine . teen, seven.teen, fii . teon, thir . teen e .

r :n .f

^ N-

:t. li. :2!

^^^55?

lev . en, nine, and seven, five, three and one.

Hoi Madam, I am come for to court you,

If your favour I may gain:
And if vou will entertain me

Perhaps I may come this way again.
Twenty, eighteen, Ac.

Ho! Madam, 1 have rings and jewels.

Madam, I have house and land
Madam T have wealth of treasure?;
All shall be at your command.

Twenty, eighteen, &c.

(SHE.) 4

Ho! what care I for your rings and jewels,

What care I for your house and land?
What care I for your wealth of treasures?
All T want is a handsome man.

Twenty, eighteen, &c.

(HEcrSHE?) 5.

Ho! first come cowslips and then come daisies,

First comes night and then comes day;
First comes the new love, and then comes the old one,

And so we pass our time away.

Twenty, eighteen,&c.
(SHE.) 6.

Ho! the ripest apple is the soonest rotten,

The hottest love is the soonest cold;
Lovers" vows are soon forgotten,

So I pray, voung man, be not so bold.
Twenty, eighteen, Ac.

THE PROPOSAL.

Allegretto.

Collected by Mr J. W. Marsh, of Westfield School, Woking.

Arcompaniment by P. E.F.
:8 .s 1 1 .d' :t .1 Is : .m I

Key F.

HE.

d .r :m .f

¥^

^^^^^

VOICES.

:^=±

Madam, I present you with six rows of pins, The

W-

19-=-

jjsf •--r, . r -^

PIANO. <

f .f :r \v\ .m -.d .d I r :t, Id : .d I s .s -.s .8 Im :m

b J J J J' J' j

^=t^=^

ve . ry first of. fer. ing my true love brings; And, mad. am, will you walk with

^=^

* 5t

naz

f :f Ir : .r I m .m :d .d Ir :t, id :- I-

SHE.
d .r :n .f

V/IJ-/ J-

?^^

^EEf

^--»

me, me, me? And, madam, will you mar . ry me?

I will not accept your

^^1

?=?

tr% P

1 .d :t .1 Is : .m If .f :r Im .m :d .d I r :t, id

f=f=f^

; J J J' J- J- 1 1^^

«.. N

six rows of pins, The ve . ry first of. fer. ingyour true love brings; And,

:s .s Im :m I f :f Ir : .r I m

J J |J J

:d .d Ir
rail.

■A. Id :- I-:

371

f«« T*

• m

d •

sir, I'll not walk with you, you, you, And, sir, I'll not walk with you.

Mad. am, I present you with a lit . tie sil.verbell, To call up your ser.vants when

1^1 j-tT7^^

'TT^'7^

wp a tempo

»");, O'

:t. Id : .d I s .s

Im :m

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you're not well. And, mad. am, will you walk with

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mad _ am, will you walk with me?

I will not accept your

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lit. tie sil.ver bell, To call up my ser . vants when I'm not well; And,

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sir, ril not walk with you, you, vou. And sir, I'll not walk with you.
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true love brings. And, rnad.am, will vou walk with me, me, me? And,

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Yes, I will accept your lit .tie gold .en ring, The

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will walk with you.

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lit. tie sil.ver bell," To call upyourservants when you're not well i But you would accept my

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madttm,vou would walk with me, me, me? Well, madam^^ I won't walk with you!

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LITTLE SIR WILLIAM.

Andantino.

Accompaniment by permission from
"English County Songs" by J. A. Fuller Maitland.

VOICE.

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Eas . ter . day was a hul . i . day, Of all days in the year; And

Mo . ther went to the Jews wife^ house, And knock, ed at the ring. Saying

The Jews wife o . penedthe door and said, "He is not here to - day; He is

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all the lit. tie school fel-lows went out to play, But Sir Wil . Ham was not there.
"Lit. tie Sir William if you are there, O let your mo. ther in!*'

with the lit. tie school.fel. lows out on the green, Playing some pret . ty play."

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Mother went to the Boyne water,

That is so wide and deep,
Saying "Little Sir William, if you are there,

O pity your mother's weep."

"How can I pity your weep,mother.

And I so long in pain?
For the little penknife sticks close in my heart

And the Jew's wife has me slain.

Go home, go home, my mother dear.

And prepare my winding sheet;
For tomorrow miorning before eight o'clock

You with my body shall meet.

"And lay the Prayer -Book at my head,

And my grammar at my feet;
That all the little schoolfellows as they pass by

May read them, for my sake.

From Miss Masons Nursery Rhymes & Country Songs, by permission.

This is of course a version of the Legend of Saint Hugh of Lincoln, which appears as the Prioress's
Tale in Chaucer. '"Sir" is obviously a corruption of Saint."

LAVENDER CRY.

From"English County Songs" by permission.

Andante, i

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J. A. FULLER MAITLAND.
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Will you buy my sweet lav.en.der? Sweet bloom.ing lav. en.der, O

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buy my pret . ty lav.en.der.

Six - teen branch . es a pen. ny!

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(Sung in the streets of K'e?isington about /8-SO.
Quoted, by permission,from''English County Songs."

THE BARKSHIRE TRAGEDY.

From"English Count}- Sr.ngs"by permission.

Allegretto grazioso

Key D.

VOICE.

J. A. FULLER MAITLANI).

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West Coun.tree, And he had daugh - ters, one, two and 'hree, (And

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ril be true to my love,

if my love'll be true to me.

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2 As they were walking by the river's brim
(With a hey down, bow down !)
The oldest pushed the youngest in.

(And I'll be true to my love, if my love'll be true to nie.)

3 O sister, O sister, pray gee nie thy hand

(With a hey down, bow down !)
And I'll gee thee both house and land."

(And I'll be true to my love, if my love'll be true to me)

4 " I'll neither gee thee hand nor glove,

(With a hey down, bow down !)
I'nless thou'lt gee me thine own true love."

(And I'll be true to my love, if my love'll be true to mc.)

5 S<> df'wn she sa!d<, and away she swam,

(With a hey down, bow down !)
Until she came to the miller's dam.

(And I'll be true to my love, it my love'll be true to me.)

6 Tlie miller's daughter stood by the door,

(With a hey down, bow down !)
As fair as any gilly flower.